Welsh hauliers on
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their mettle••• by John Darker
HE MEDIA have made most 3ople aware that Wales has Ben facing specially difficult roblems in the last three )ars of recession, with the eel industry's over-capacity roblems dominating the :ens. Although those not osely aware of the actual mition could imagine that duced steel output would ake a sizeable impact on tad hauliers serving the eel industry, many would )sume that alternative )urces of traffic would fill le gap.
My recent visit to South tales brought home to me just Atv severe has been the impact road haulage. Numbers of large fleets of 50 to 70 vehicles have been cut down by as much as two-thirds, and this ratio applies to some smaller firms I spoke to.
Very few companies have been able to renew their fleets with new vehicles in the way that was done in the boom years to 1973. Some long established firms, including family firms which are able to shoulder the overheads burden better than other firms, have been reduced to purchasing second-hand vehicles for the majority of their necessary fleet replacements. Moreover, these second-hand replacements are much more likely to be subject to borrowing, through a finance house, than be purchased for cash, as was formerly possible.
I began my survey by contacting a random sample of road hauliers listed in the yellow pages telephone directory. I soon discovered that this is a joke, in poor taste, for my sample quickly demonstrated that numbers of firms have simply gone out of business. One firm listed had ceased to operate eight years ago, and the proprietor's wife told me that her husband had repeatedly asked for the firm's name to be deleted from the directory.
It appears that the road hauliers who have always carried steel, mostly on exclusively long-distance work have been helped as much as possible by the steel producers and stockholders. In short, what traffic was available has been shared out reasonably fairly.
Hauliers who in happier days could usually put in a few spare vehicles with the virtual certainty of loads, have not been able to continue to do this. Their too-numerous vehicles have mostly been withdrawn from the market, unless some other traffic sources nearby have opened up.
The effect of the steel industry's run-down would have been less terrible if light industries in Wales had all been flourishing. Welsh satellite factories controlled by British or multi-national groups have been subject to cut-backs or actual closures. A drastic reduction in overtime at a big Hoover. factory was announced during my Welsh visit.
Wherever one went, there would be talk of actual or potential redundancies in local factories. In every town I passed through there would be sad groups of young people going into Job Centres, more, I fear, in hope than in expectation of a worthwhile job.
Some road hauliers were shrewd enough to seek out alternative traffic sources long before 1-973. The general problems of Welsh industry were well known, and the risk faced by hauliers wholly or mainly dependent on steel output should have been more widely appreciated.
J. M. Watkins, a 20-vehicle operator at Abergavenny, said his long established family business was struggling to survive. Many of the vehicles in former days had worked from various British Steel Corporation plants but this traffic was greatly reduced in recent years. Anticipating the effect on the business, the firm had sought out alternative traffic in agricultural products. In particular, they had .undertaken the delivery of tractors and combine harvesters over a wide area of Wales.
The Watkins business operates 20 32-ton ERFs and in normal times would reckon to buy four new vehicles a year. In the past few years there has been "a progressive compulsion to buy second-hand vehicles, perhaps three year old, and at prices ranging from £.11,000 to £14,000. We started with one such second-hand vehicle in an annual replacement programme, but this year we are buying only one new vehicle, the others being second-hand."
Mr Watkins complained of "Phenomenally high interest rates" charged on vehicles purchased through finance houses. He was also troubled by the problem of getting second-hand vehicles in good order, since spares and maintenance costs were so high. He summed up by saying that if members of a family business were not prepared to work, or be on call, for 80 hours a week, the
business could easily founder, His firm simply could not afford to pay clerical staff, Merthyr Haulage, a clearing house, said they were not as, busy as they would wish. They helped many hauliers from the Midlands and North East with backloads of steel from GKN Cardiff. Traffic was patchy, falling off the last half of the month.
"Do you get complaints about rates?" I asked, The reply: "Very seldom. Hauliers would naturally like more but they are grateful for back loads."
John Evans (Transport Services) Ltd, Newport, said they worked from Spencer Works and several others but traffic was much reduced. Forty 32 tonners were operated and one diversification was Continental traffic to and from Wales, which was a great help to the business. "At one time" said E. T. Jones, transport manager, we could send in three to six vehicles and be assured of loads at any time. Now we are lucky to get one load a week."
Joint Motorways Hauliers Ltd, of Port Talbot, said longdistance steel traffic had fallen. greatly but they had been able to sustain their 25-vehicle fleet with increased short-distance steel movements. They had a problem to get up north to bring back steel scrap, with a big contract. In former years, said Mr Alan Jones, transport manager, and a director, this would have been no problem.
I asked Mr Jones if owner drivers caused problems in South Wales. "They certainly do," he said. "They mess the job about and then get out. There are some responsible ones, but not enough."
Greeves Haulage Ltd, who used to carry steel, now operate their six vehicles mainly on coal haulage with some aggregates. Their coal sales have suffered in the recession since many customers cannot afford to buy coal in the quantities formerly needed. Strikes in South Wales had also markedly affected their trade.
Although large numbers of hauliers have gone out of business, voluntarily or involuntarily, competition continues to be acute and there were — not really surprising — many allegations of rate cutting.
Welsh industry, not only the steel side, is so closely integrated with British industry that the British recession affects Wales and many other depressed areas very severely. Technological developments can have a bearing on transport needs.
John Elliott, head of transport, Metal Box Company Ltd, told me his firm were probably the largest buyers of tin plate from Wales, needing in good years perhaps 600,000 to 700,000 tons of it, half of which would be in road transport. Today, there was the trend of cans made in thinner gauge steel so that this factor alone could have much bearing on the number of vehicles needed. The dozen or so hauliers who assist Metal Box now provide around 40 vehicles. It was once 120 plus.
What are the ex-hauliers doing now? I heard of men working on quarry work, in light industry, and . some were
looking for jobs. Those wl have burned their fingers m be unlikely to return, yet, evi today, newcomers enter the i dustry.
If they are as lucky as co prominent South Wales haulie talked to who got in just at ti right time, less than ten yea ago, and with spectacular su cess, a minority of the ner corners may prosper. They w need to give a dedicated servil to a local company that is e pending rapidly; that is ti secret of rapid growth in rok. haulage in the present econom climate. But I would be su prised if newcomers make a fc tune, or even a living, t carrying steel in the next fe years.
Much more likely, as or steel haulier suggested, tlcrunch time is fast approachir when even existing fleets w not be able to be renewed present competitive rate level Customer resistance to highi rates is perhaps insufficient appreciated by Welsh lori drivers whose strike, earlier th year, affected much of the roE haulage activity for a week or s,
With steel in the doldrun and with much Welsh light ii dustry struggling, the issues i drivers' pay and haulage rati loom large in Wales, not lea amongst steel hauliers have, lfear, not yet reached tt top of the hill. A number of firms I spoke -t run by men of 55 plus, sa candidly they would like to sc up but the prospects of doing ! seemed remote at anything lil a reasonable figure. When business has been savage reduced in turnover, after yiE ding a reasonable 'income fl many years, the plight of owner is indeed unenviable.
One final thought seerr relevant in view of a talk wil instructors at Swansea Grou Training Association. This GT,i the second biggest in the coul try, is doing no maintenanc training, though it is ente prising enough to use sorr spare hgv instructors' time i training car drivers.
If, as looks likely, the Welt road haulage fleet will not t renewed with new vehicles quickly as is desirable, would not make sense to trai mechanics to help keep the ol wheels turning? With hundrec of millions of pounds c Government money bein poured into Wales, some resu gence of industry must be on tt way. Good vehicle mechanic will be needed by road hauliel and own account operatoi when the happier days return.