INDUSTRY WOULD WELCOME CLOSE CONSULTATION ON TURN-ROUND
Page 42
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
111ffRAISE for road haulage, admiration for its drivers, a willingness to consult more closely on improving handling and vehicle turn-round and an anxiety over the possibilities of transport nationalization were expressed by Mr. L. A. W. Jenkins. president of the National Association of British Manufacturers, when he proposed the toast of the Road Haulage Association at the annual dinner in London on Wednesday.
Mr, Jenkins said that many of the manufacturers he represented were perhaps inclined to take for granted many of the services available to them, and perhaps this had been partly due to them being ill-informed. For this reason, the R.H.A.'s recently expressed determination to stress publicly the importance of road transport should bring dividends to both parties, he said, ' He welcomed the opportunity to pay tribute to haulage drivers; there must be the greatest admiration for the courtesy and high standard of driving of all but a very small minority of the long-distance and heavy haulage men.
Mr. Jenkins heartily endorsed the R.H.A.'s plea that the motoring public should !ay blame rather more where it belonged, namely on the roads. Better roads, said Mr. Jenkins, were needed as a vital contribution to faster and more efficient transport in order to reduce costs.
Another direction in which far greater economies were possible, he said, was in tosses due to terminal delays. He knew that the R.H.A. was tackling this but he questioned whether the cost of waiting time had been given as much attention as other fields for increased productivity. Had industry as a whole realized the potential savings and additional service that could be made possible, not only by a comprehensive study of this major problem but an acceptance of much information already available on the subject, asked Mr. Jenkins. There was ample scope here, he said, for even closer consultation between hauliers and industry and the N.A.B.M, would like to play a useful part.
Speaking of the haulage industry's progressive approach, notably in developing international road goods transport and in collaboration with B.R.S. and the railways, Mr. Jenkins said that provided there was always competition on equal terms, such collaboration must benefit transport users. Manufacturers thus welcomed it but were watching with some anxiety the renewed threat to renationalize road haulage. "Remembering what happened last time, Heaven forbid!" said Mr. Jenkins.
The Labour Party's statements on the subject were vague but he feared they were none the less real; all too many people in industry had the feeling that "it can happen to the other fellow but not to me ". Those who could collectively stand secure were isolated by this attitude and so could all too easily be picked off and absorbed.
There were, unfortunately, those to whom nationalization was a political issue on which they were committed by their party's programme but there were many people still free to make a choice on the issues involved in the country's economy, and to aid a wider understanding was not the real problem as to how the process of education could be speeded up. asked Mr. Jenkins.
Just as this country led the world in the late 19th century, could it not now do the same again by being, as a nation, the first to match its economic understanding with its industrial progress, he asked. This challenge of the technological age could only be met, he suggested, if it was understood from the shop floor, the driver's cab, through the manager's desk right up and into government itself.
Customer Comes First Replying, Mr. D. 0. Good, the R.H.A. national chairman, said that sacred cows were thicker on the ground in transport than in any other field and for many years the railways were the protected favourite. Time and again progress had been blocked because the obstacle was somebody or other's sacred cow.
But, said Mr. Good, the road haulage industry had only one sacred cow—the customer. Its dedication to the customer provided a simple clue to the haulage industry's history, its present policy and what was hoped for in the future.
Less than 10 years ago most of the association's members were restricted to a 25-mile radius. Only in the past 10 years had they been able to develop a comprehensive service for their customers. Mr. Good referred to the Ministry of Transport's survey showing that the traffic carried by hauliers considerably more than doubled within the 10 years from 1952. But there were people who would not be content until they had put the clock back 10 years, he said. There was one simple question to which such people should try to give an honest answer; In what way did they think renationalization of road haulage would help the customer?
Recording that the Association soon hoped to have a committee to examine the possibilities of closer inter-working among member hauliers, Mr. Good said they also wished to be left alone to get on with the job of co-operating with the railways and B.R.S. The Association had also had close collaboration with B.R.S. on the turn-round campaign; it had been the hauliers' hope. said Mr. Good, that they would not have to resort to the Rochdale Report proposal for charging demurrage. They would much prefer the customer's co-operation in getting vehicles turned round more quickly.