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WAYMAN . TRANSPORT Wayman Transport runs 16 44-tonne LGVs, the line-up comprising
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chiefly Oafs, with a smattering of ERFs. Its mixed trailer fleet is made up of powder tankers, reefers, tippers and curtainsiders. Not surprisingly potatoes are staple loads for this transport outfit based in Sutton Bridge, Lincs.
Crops that perish easily have to be harvested and transported promptly. Potatoes. however, are hardy. Once taken from the ground they can be stored for months in farmers sheds, so Wayman can handle them nearly all year round. This extended shelf life means the haulage season lasts from mid-July to the end of June, although the potatoes are actually harvested in July and August.
Appearance is important to modern consumers so the potatoes are graded according to looks. The prettier examples are palletised and trucked to wholesalers and supermarket RDCs; less attractive potatoes are transported in bulkers to an unglamorous destiny in chip factories.
Changing sector
However, the potato sector is changing. Imports are having an effect on domestic producers, but foreign crops aren't such bad news for the operators who transport them from dock to customer. Among them is Wayman. After delivering timber to Sheerness its trucks pick up imported potatoes. They also collect potatoes from Herefordshire and bring them back to Lincolnshire. This sounds like hauling coals to Newcastle, but the customer demands the Herefordshire potatoes, and Wayman is paid to do the job.
Wayman also takes locally grown potatoes to five pre-packers who sell them on to the supermarkets, However, as mentioned, those supermarkets like to use large, centralised prepack operations rather than a scattered network of small concerns. And while total demand will not be affected, not all operators will have a prepack site in their vicinity.
Wayman is rewarded for its efforts with decent money, although the potatoes are subject to strict quality-control checks.
"It's a better rate of pay than in general haulage. But at some places it can be a couple ofhours to tip, and every load is sampled. If the potatoes are not up to scratch, they are rejected," says director Michael Wayman.
"We may have a load for a wholesaler, to be bagged," he explains. "If they say they aren't having it, they will ring other wholesalers to see if another one will buy it."
Jobs can be extended
Because of this a straightforward trip can turn out to be a longer affair. Wayman is paid by the mile, but the extra distances involved might still put a spanner in the works by affecting the scheduling and routeing of other jobs.
Supermarkets demand refrigerated spuds so for this work Wayman uses reefers to haul the potatoes at 4-5°C. That's not the firm's only vegetable load, however; it also hauls cabbages. From May to October, the fleet handle lettuces as well, which are delivered to sandwich and salad makers in York, Staffordshire and Worcestershire.
Farmers need seeds to grow the crops in the first place and once again Wayman is happy to oblige. "Seeds are brought in by other operators before being dressed, treated, and packed," he explains. "We also take dried peas from their sites. The seeds are distributed to farms across the country; it varies from one drop to eight drops per vehicle per day."
Seed runs typically last six to eight weeks, which is the duration of the sowing season.
However, this market is shrinking. "There are fewer and fewer of them in the UK; land is going to other uses, such as building, rather than agricul ture," says Wayman. But the f irrn cannot survive on potatoes alone, so a variety of work is important to its survival. "We have a strategy not to put all our eggs in one basket," he concludes.