MOTOR HAULAGE PROBLEMS.
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Why the Stabilization of Rates is Not Practicable Just Now. The Influence of the Merchant Haulier.
T"prospects, of a revival of trade, which is what the motor haulage contractor is looking for, are very modest about manifesting themselves, but meanwhile the wreckage in rates continues.
Much ink has been spilt on the subject of "unfair competition," which, of course, implies the operation of commercial motor vehicle at charges below what the general body of motor hauliers consider a fair standard, and this is likely to persist until some formula is adopted which. will ensurejor the contractor who plies vehicles for hire a just return for his services. But; before one can go so far, there are certain general aspects of the road transport industry that call for attention.
What has accentuated the trade slump, so far as the general haulier is concerned, is the development of privately owned fleets by manufacturing and other firms, who, two years age, had not a single vehicle to their name. Big concerns of this description, who could provide a continuous flow of traffic, were the bappyshunting ground for scores of budding haulage contractors, and it was only to be expected that these companies, after trying the road way of delivering the goods, should, when the opportunity came for using the railways • with a prewar freedom, weigh up the advantages of road as compared with railway transport.
The-, last 18 months have shown phenomenal progress in road transport organisation in connection with manufacturing service, and there can be no gainsaying that the motor haulage contractor was an important factor in expediting the progress which has thus been made. Before spending their money, private firms utilized isis services and his vehicle, and, profiting by the. restilt•of their experience, built pp a traffic department of their own. No longer is the haulage trade uttering tirades against ,the., owner-driver for " ruining " the trade by running at Fates which barely cover operating costs and overhead charges—the problem is far bigger than that—and a retrospective glance will show that the circumstances in which many a discharged M.T. man iavested his bard-earned savings were not such as would • offer the prospects of success in normal times.
C22 The influences of congested railways in fosteringthe growth of road traffic cannot be underestimated, and it was when trade and industry were crying out for increased transport facilities that scores of firms of haulage contractors came into being and to the rescue, and, for a time tasted the sweets of boomieg trade. With full rates-for outward and return loads, they had no reason what ever to complain: • The progress made was too haphazard and lacking consolidation, the haulage contractor outgrew his strength. At the first manifestation of a scarcity in loads, rates lost their stability, until they were cut so fine that some men reduced outward freights to snch a point that they became dependent upon the return load for a profitable day's work. These circumstances became pretty general, and the result was that those who were tlie least fit to suirvive, in the commercial sense, left the business to those who had conserved their resources and who had prepared to weather the storm of industrial depression.
There is not the slightest doubt that even long-established firms have encountered heavy pecuniary losses during the last few months. Loads are scarce, vehicles are plentiful, and rates, in consequence, are low. Sueli are the conditions at the present time, yet the future is looked forward to hopefully. Efforts have been made, in the recent past, to .arrest the drifting tendency of the motor, haulage trade as an entity, but the stumbling block seems to have been the emphasis that is laid on the difference between one motor user's .business and another's. To talk of stabilizing rates when the haulage trade has been sapped of its vitality is useless, for the simple reason that the general contractor is compelled to take into consideration the 'rates which merchants and manufacturers are prepared to accept for the conveyance of loads. They, too, have -been feeling the pinch of theprevailing 'industrial quietude and have been aatisfied if,they have been able to .run their vehicles at a mere fraction of profit. Their operation is a charge on the business, and so long as the traffic manager 'can show that the road transport department is justifying its existence, then all is well.
The conditions of the general haulage trade cannot be stabilized until all those engaged in it--motor haulage contracture as well as private owners who engage in open-market transport—determine that they shall be. The former category ofmotor user is naturally far more aggrieved by the existing and admitted anomalies with regard to goods transport than the latter, for reasons that are very obvious, and that is why it seems to us that, if a remedy is to be found, it is better that it should be by agreement than in the pursuance of a policy of elimination.
Private owners are very frequently satisfied to bring hack empties rather • than return light. Anyload that may be accepted for an outside firm is bound to be more remunerative. Or take firms in some of the principal seaports running daily delivery services to towns within a 30 or 40-mile radius. Rather than that the vehicles shoald depart wily half loaded, the carrying capacity is made, up by the acceptance of bther traffic, which might have been acquired at a rate which no haulage contractor could entertain.
These are some of the problems of daily occurrence. To talk of etabilizing rate at the present juncture seems absurd. The first step should be to get the industry sufficiently organized, and, when this is done, not only will the trade he in a position to tackle the vexed question of rates, but also to concentrate its attention on those classes of goods haulage which the railway companies would have liked to have secured, but, so far, have been unsuccessful in obtaining.