Queries on
Page 64
Page 65
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
SUGAR BEET TRANSPORT
Selected Answers to Queries of General Interest which will at the Present Juncture be Helpful to Readers
" S.T.R."
Obtaining Work.
J'OW can I obtain work in hauling sugar-beet? Do I apply to the beet factories or get in tbuch with the farmers?
Either course is open to you. If you apply to the local factory you will be sent a list of standard rates for the road haulage. These rates are based upon the distance that the beet has to be carried from farm to factory, and usually range from 2s. 6d. per ton for a four-mile lead, upwards. If you apply to the factory and you agree to haul at the rates specified you will be put on a list of "approved haulage contractors " and as such your name will be given to growers. You may just as well go direct to the grower and • offer your services. You are not likely in any event to find the factory rates remunerative.
What Size of Lorry ?
Tins season i am considering going in Lot' the haulage of sugar-beet, and should like some advice as to the best type and size of lorry to use.
The most economical size of vehicle can be determined only when the mileage that the beet is to be carried is known. For particularly short hauls of three miles and four miles a three-tonner can be made satisfactory, but a four-tonner is better and a.five-tonner perhaps best of all. For distances greater than 10 miles a bigger vehicle becomes more profitable and a six-tonner or eight-tonner could . be used with advantage. When the lead is over 20 nines a 6-ton. lorry and trailer, carrying 10 tons to 12 tons in all, is the best proposition. Since, however, most beet-haulage contracts involve leads of anything from three miles to 20 miles, with the vehicle engaged one (lay on short hauls and the next day on journeys of medium length. a 5-ton or 6-ton lorry generally proves to be the most useful and economical. If you have prospects of a majority of long-distance work, keep a trailer available for occasional use. This you will find to be a great help.
042
From a Farmer.
I HAVE about 1,200 tons of beet to deliver from my farm to the factory 'about 20 miles away. Would it pay me to buy a lorry for this work or to hire one? I am assuming that I could keep the lorry engaged on other work during the rest of the year.'
You yourself cannot cart 1,200 tons of beet in 12 weeks. Even with a 10-ton lorry, which you are not likely to be able to use apart from beet haulage, you could, under favourable conditions, only just manage 100 tons per week. I suggest that you buy a 4-ton or 5-ton lorry and look to haulage contractors for assistance to enable you to complete the work.
High-sided Lorries Needed.
I UNDERSTAND that a high-sided lorry.is necessary for beet cartage. Can you tell me what the height should be in the case of a vehicle with a platform 17 ft. by 7 ft.? It is intended to carry six tons.
High sides are necessary because sugar-beet is comparatively light in weight. The actual volume per ton varies somewhat, but 56 cubic ft. is a good average figure. Your six-ton load will, therefore, occupy approximately 336 cubic ft. The area of the platform of your lorry is 119 sq. ft. Divide 336 by 119 and you determine the height, which is approximately 2 ft. 9 ins. You will find it better to make the top 12-in. section detachable, in order to facilitate loading and unloading.
Assistance in Unloading. wHAT is the prevailing custom in
sugar-beet haulage as regards provision for loading and unloading? Do the farmers and factories provide assistance or is the haulier supposed to arrange the matters himself?
There is no standard procedure. Farmers sometimes offer to provide assistance in loading and sometimes, too, a little assistance is available at the factory. It is more economical in the long run for the haulier to provide his own labour and make terms accordingly. If he relies on the farmer for assistance he is more likely than not to be let down. there being no assistance there when he arrives with his lorry. At the factory end the prospects of help are remote and entirely fortuitous.
Methods of Unloading. T UNDERSTAND that beet is usually
loaded by hand and that two men can load five tons or six tons in half an hour to three-quarters of an hour. What is the method of unloading? Can the beet be tipped?
There are several methods of unloading sugar-beet from motor vehicles. The best is by a jet of water which sluices the beet from the lorry into conduits conveying it straight into the factory. The speed is almost one ton per minute. Only a. limited number of vehicles can be dealt with in that way. The others are unloaded as they are loaded, namely, by hand, and the time is approxiniately, on the average, the same as for loading.
Return Loads of Pulp.
IN the figures you quote for the cost
of sugar-beet haulage and the profit to be made therefrom, you do not refer to the possibility of return loads of pulp from the factory. The local factory, in asking for tenders, states that these return loads are available at half rates.
I seldom refer to the possibility of return loads ot pulp because they are so irregular, and, in practice, so few. Often there is not a ton of pulp to be carried per 10 tons of sugar-beet. The principal reasen is that only a minority of farmers will accept the pulp. Even those who do usually take only about a ton of pulp to four tons or five tons of beet, hence the low average.
Causes of Delay.
WE NOTE that in some of your re plies to correspondents concerning the haulage of beet you allow two hours for loading and unloading a five-ton load. Surely that is excessive ; two men ought to be able to load five tons in half an hour, Or thereabouts, and unload in less time than that.
The two hours usually allowed in connection with the collection and delivery of beet includes provision for terminal delays, which, whilst they vary considerably, usually result in an average of about two hours per round trip. At the loading end these are brought about by unreadiness of the farmer, inaccessibility of the heap of beet and the necessity of covering and uncovering the heap during frost. At the delivery end there is time lost in waiting for a turn to pass on to the weighing machine, to go under the unloading device or for room to get to the silo into which the beet is to be unloaded. The actual work of unloading is sometimes as arduous as that of loading.
Overloading is a Mistake.
I AM about 20 miles from a sugar-beet factory and am thinking of employing a 30-cwt. lorry on sugar-beet haulage. I reckon to be able to carry three loads per day, making about seven tons in all. How much should I charge in order to make a profit of £3 10s. to A per week?
It is folly even to consider persistent overloading of a chassis in the way you contemplate. There is far too much of it done in beet haulage and hardly a day passes but some beet-transport lorry falls by the wayside with a broken frame or axle. You cannot profitably haul beet for 20 miles at competitive rates with a lorry of 30-cwt. capacity.
Carting Beet Direct from the Field.
L.A.TELYI have been considering the
subject of beet haulage, and it seems to me that considerable expense and trouble could be saved if it could be loaded straight into the lorry by the pickers. I am told that a six-wheeled subsidy-type 30-cwt. vehicle carrying three tons of beet would be suitable for this purpose. What are your views?
I do not think that the proposition you have in view is practicable for a haulage contractor, so long as the conditions of delivery at the factory remain as they are. Only from certain selected fields will you be able to load direct. In the majority of cases the ground will not stand constant passage of the vehicle. The farmer's contract with the factories may allow delivery of only a certain specified quantity of beet per week and this may not be sufficient to keep your lorry employed. On the other hand, he is bound to get the beet out of the ground as quickly as possible while weather conditions are favourable and must thus in any event dump a considerable proportion of it, pending its admission to the factory under his quota.