'PETITS CAMIONS'
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Speedline Freight Express believes that it can beat air freight on Continental delivery as far as Rome. One reason is that its sixtonne GVW vehicles are not delayed by paperwork at borders. David Wilcox reports on a permit-free international operation THE LACK of permits has frustrated many a would-be international haulier. Such Jperators usually end up by staying in he UK or running to countries such as Belgium or the Netherlands for which permits are not required.
An alternative is to run vehicles plated it six tonnes GVW or less. These conic below the permit regulations and give the operator the freedom of Europe. With a payload of around only three tonnes, no six-tonner is going to compete on a rate-per-tonne basis with a 38-tonner, but it can offer unrivalled flexibility.
Neither should six-tonners be viewed as poor relations to the big stuff; Speedline Freight Express of Stockport has quickly carved itself a useful niche in the international haulage business using the small vehicles and does not view them as a stepping stone towards 38tonne work. The vast majority of Speedline's work is for a large international express freight carrier which has its own scheduled services and gives door-to-door transit times into Europe of 48-72 hours. Sometimes that is just not fast enough; then the work is sub-contracted to Speedline.
Speedline will receive a telephoned request for the immediate despatch of a dedicated vehicle to pick up a consignment — usually less than a tonne — and to deliver it to an address which can be anywhere in Europe.
Speedline started its contract with the express freight company two years ago and has since developed a reputation for fast response to pick-up requests, reliability and door-to-door transit times that are consistently quick. Proprietors Steve and Joyce Swain reckon that they can beat air freight to destinations as far away as Rome.
It is by sticking to the sub-six-tonne limit that Speedline can offer this level of service. No permits mean no restriction on the number of trips. The client company arranges forward inland clearance so that delays at the ports are minimised. Because there is usually only one consignment there is only one Tform to deal with and questions from Customs officials about permits on arrival in France can be brushed aside with the simple explanation: "Le petit carnion".
Furthermore, six-tonners escape most countries' Sunday driving bans (in Italy the Sunday ban applies to vehicles over five tonnes GVW).
A lot of organisation is required to make the operation run smoothly. Explains Joyce Swain: "We try to cover all eventualities before the drivers go out. They are issued with money, Barclaycards. UTA fuel cards, breakdown tool kits, snow chains and a list of important telephone numbers. And the drivers are properly trained; they go as second man on quite a number of trips first."
To achieve the necessary response time when the nature of the work is so unpredictable, Speedline has to operate with some spare capacity. The vehicles are kept in a state of readiness for any trip and drivers are on call at home. They are instructed always to carry their passport and a change of clothing with them.
Inevitably, vehicles are sometimes stood spare. This is offset by the price for each job — a dedicated van and man into Europe is never cheap. Frequent consignments are vehicle parts, ship spares, computer components — anything that costs a lot of money if it is here instead of there.
TI1E FLEET is now 10 vehicles, all below 7.5 tonnes. Speedline's first two vans when it started in September 1982 were a pair of Nissan (Datsun) panel vans. Steve Swain recalls that their major failing was their high downtime while waiting for parts. Next came a Renault Trafic 12001) which covered 225,000km (140,(X)0 miles) in around two years before it was replaced last month.
The Trafic suffered from gearbox problems, consuming seven of them during its life with Speedline — one lasted only 800km (51)0 miles). Steve Swain criticises Renault's policy of channelling vans via its car dealers because warranty work cakes too long to arrange: "They don't realise the importance of vans."
The company has tried to standardise on one manufacturer as far as possible. This has turned out to be Iveco, whose models account for seven of the 10 fleet vehicles. (The others are an Astra van, an Escort van and a Renault JK75.) The first lveco was a six-tonne GVW 60.10 panel van, now a little over a year old and with 145,000km (90,000 miles) on the clock. Looking for a highvolume panel van that scraped in under the six-tonne limit, Steve Swain also considered the Mercedes-Benz 6081), but found it noisy and slow by comparison.
The 60.10 is the long-wheelbase, high-roof version that gives 18.3m 3 (650ft3) of volume and 2.8 tonnes of payload capacity. The sliding door in the bulkhead behind the driver is permanently scaled for customs purposes. The van has proved reliable and maintenance (carried out by Speedline) has been largely restricted to replacing consumables like oil and filters. It is not most people's idea of an international haulage vehicle, but Steve Swain says it is quiet and has a good ride. Performance from the 75kW (100hp) engine is adequate for most
continental speed limits. The average fuel consumption is a very respectable 15-12 lit/100kin (19-23mpg).
There are areas, Steve Swain believes, where the 60.10 panel van could be improved for Speedline's work. He would like to see the rear doors extended so that they go right up into the high roof, giving a more generous aperture height. Similarly, the rear wheelboxes could be made a little smaller to give more interior width. There is just 1,010mm between wheelboxes and so metric pallets have to be lined up very carefully if they are to slide in.
Neither is engine accessibility (via a cowling in the cab) a strong point. Checking the oil via the dipstick is awkward and Steve Swain distrusts the oil level indicator in the cab. For ease of maintenance he would opt for the chassis-cab version of the 60.10 next time and put a tilt body on it.
ALTHOUGH it makes the most of the six-tonne limit, the 60.10 needs a tachograph and its drivers have to adhere to the EEC international drivers' hours regulations, so the vans are normally double manned. Speedline frequently has to position drivers en route to keep the wheels turning, even flying them back occasionally to save valuable time.
Although a foldaway bunk is installed on the 60.10's bulkhead, the vehicles cannot be regarded as a comfortable means of continental travel for two men. Eberspacher cab heaters help, but Joyce Swain says that a less powerful, more compact heater is being sought for the smaller vans.
She admitted that working for Speedline is not an easy job for for a driver. The vehicles are new and the drivers are well-prepared, but the job is unpredictable, the journeys long and the schedules tough. All this is done in vans not built specifically for international transport. Not surprisingly, most of Speedline's drivers are young, single men; responsible but perhaps a touch "cab-happy".
Even more cramped are the four lye( Daily 35.8 vans in the fleet. At 3.3 tonnes GVW they do not need tachographs and their drivers are subjec to the more generous domestic driving hours rules (1(1-hour driving day), witI7 no requirement to keep records.
One of these Dailys has tilt bodywot (the others are panel vans) which is useful for loading large, cumbersome objects. A problem, though, is that Speedline finds it impossible to get a small tilt body that does not leak.
The replacement for the departed Trafic is a turbo Daily 35.10 which wil eat up the kilometres even quicker.
An alternative to buying a six-tonner is to downplate a 7.5-tonner. Speedline has done this with a Renault JK75 tilt, with the supplying dealer doing the downplating from new. This involved changing the rear springs and the loadsensing valve.
According to Steve Swain, some operators running at the permit-free six tonne level use 7.5-tonners without bothering to downplate them, and still get away with it. He added that the JK75 (now rebadged as a JK60 to placal continentals) has been "super reliable", but its progress is slow as its fourcylinder 64kW (86hp) engine struggles to overcome the drag of the tilt and the additional weight of a roof-mounted sleeper.
Because of the distances they cover, all of Speedline's vans are dieselpowered, even the two Astra and Escoi vans. In the UK the savings are not great, but diesel is very much the the better buy abroad, particularly in Italy and Norway where diesel is only 55-60 per cent of the price of petrol.
After three years of continental work and repeated requests. Speedline has been allocated 12 French permits. The company has a 7.5-tonne GVW Iveco 79.14 and is considering something a little larger to utilise the permits. But it has no intention of forsaking its forte' in the sub-six-tonne sector.