controlling transport
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operation Hewson Brothers by David Lowe, m I nstTA
TO MANY PEOPLE the thought of a base near Goole would be a daunting prospect— "it's out in the wilds, in the middle of nowhere," they would think. But according to Mr Peter Everingham, manager of Hewson Brothers, the Howden-based subsidiary of Bullens Transport Group, there are advantages in the company's depot being where it is. And it is obvious that he utilizes these fully.
Howden is on the main Leeds-Hull trunk road about four miles from Goole on the north side of the well-known Booth Ferry Bridge and 25 miles from Hull. Mr Everingham considers this to be an ideal geographical position particularly since the drivers' hours were reduced in March; his drivers can make a trip to Manchester or Liverpool and return during the day—something his Hull-based competitors cannot do legally.
The Howden base is also very near to the South Yorkshire industrial areas of Sheffield, Barnsley. Wakefield and Leeds and easily accessible from Ml.
Despite the fact that about 98 per cent of the company's all-year-round traffic originates in Hull, 25 miles away, this is not felt to be detrimental to operations. All it means to Mr Everingham is that he places a greater emphasis on maximum articulation to obtain the most effective use of his vehicles.
Two shunters are employed permanently in Hull on the loading and unloading of trailers and a night-shift shunter ferries them back and forth to Howden. A driver setting out on his journey from base in the early morning is then 25 miles nearer his destination.
Hewson Brothers originated as a family business specializing primarily in agricultural work for local farmers. However, some work in connection with dock traffic was undertaken. The firm was taken over by Bullens in 1965 and Mr Everingham was appointed manager in 1968. Since that time a trend towards container carrying and TIR work has built up to comprise 90 per cent of the company's traffic today. The heavier vehicles acquired to match this trend have attracted new customers who had difficulties in finding suitable large vehicles elsewhere. The company has a large fleet of trailers with which it undertakes to move full ships' cargoes, loading direct to trailer sometimes as much as 200 tons in a day and moved by the shunt vehicles.
Mr Everingham has seen the change-over from the old fleet of light vehicles to the present 30-strong fleet of mainly maximumcapacity A-licensed artics—AECs and Atkinson tractive units and the latest acquisitions, three F88 Volvo tractive units plated for 48 tons gross. The Volvos were specified in an attempt to improve the reliability of operations on the Continent where experience has shown that spare parts for British vehicles are not always readily available.
Work for shipping companies loading TIR trailers has resulted in a number of journeys to Holland and Italy with the firm's own vehicles and drivers; these operations have proved reasonably successful. One of the objects of these trips was to establish costs as a basis for future charging. Following these exercises it is planned to commence regular Continental services.
Groupage service
A groupage service is operated from a small warehouse at Howden and four staff are employed solely on loading and unloading. Quite a lot of the groupage traffic on flats or in containers is for Sweden and Switzerland and a trailer is loaded for the nightly ferry to Rotterdam.
Five four-wheeled vehicles are engaged on collection and delivery work of smalls for this service. Much of this traffic originates from customers who have first asked Hewson to move full loads and then odd lots, which it could hardly refuse.
Although most of the traffic now handled by Hewson is of a general nature connected with the port, agricultural work is still important. During the pea season collections are made from local farms and the peas, carried in tanks packed with ice, are taken to canneries at King's Lynn, Peterborough and Montrose (Scotland). Delivery, of course, has to be made as soon as possible.
During 1969 Hewson built a 325,000 cu ft cold store on its Howden depot site to store the products of a farming consortium, Garden King Frozen Foods Ltd. The cold store is leased to Garden King but the contract includes provision for Hewson to do all the haulage originating from Garden King. This involves the distribution of frozen vegetable produce to wholesalers or in bulk to other cold stores.
Three tractive units on B licence are used for this work with 35ft 18 tons carrying capacity refrigerated trailers. These vehicles are also used for Continental journeys carrying frozen fish, meat and vegetables to Holland and Belgium and plans are afoot to run to Germany. Two further fridge vans are to be put into service, 40-footers this time, and this increase in the refrigerated fleet will enable a better interchange between Continental and domestic work. A good tie-up with a reputable and reliable Dutch haulier helps considerably in obtaining return loads from the Continent.
A useful sideline which has generated more refrigerated traffic was carrying turkeys for Marks and Spencer to their shops from local producers at Bank Holiday times. In some cases when shops are unable to accept immediate delivery, the trailer vans are used as mobile deep freezes until delivery can be effected.
Another line of business operated by Hewson is its agency for Star, Tiederman Interpool and Winnic containers; it stores and leases them out to clients. This activity attracts haulage business because if a shipper wants a container he usually also wants haulage. Container carrying and handling demands special attention which Hewson is rightly giving it. Two substantial fork-lift trucks are employed for handling and all flat trailers are being equipped with twistlocks for container carrying. The company does not believe in carrying unsecured containers.
Mr Everingham's passion for articulation means careful traffic planning to keep track of the 50-odd trailers. Before he joined the company very little was done in the way of documentation and he believes that many loads were thought not to have been charged if drivers lost the proof-of-delivery ticket— which they do occasionally.
One of his first actions, therefore, was to institute a diary in which all jobs ordered are entered and a weekly traffic sheet on which all the vehicles and their respective drivers—drivers usually keep to their own vehicles—are listed in the left-hand columns with columns to the right for each day of the week. Entered in these columns alongside the vehicle number are the trailer number, and where appropriate, the container number, and details of the load (ie customer, weight, destination) with which the vehicle is engaged for that day. The sheet then provides a reliable record and indicates at a glance where vehicles are, and, what is more important because they easily become lost, where trailers and containers are at any time, and what vehicles are available on that or the next day.
Right combination All entries on the sheet are made in pencil so that the traffic man can play about with it during the afternoon to arrive at the right combination of vehicles and loads for the most effective utilization. This is completed where possible by 6 p.m. so that next day instructions can be issued.
A list of all trailers to go into Hull is written on a blackboard in the warehouse and the shunter crosses them off when they go. A similar list in Hull of trailers for Howden is also made.
When journeys planned on the sheet indicate a night out for the driver, he is paid in advance for this and it is marked on the sheet. Also if drivers report waiting time, dock stoppages and the like these facts are entered on the sheet so that it presents a fairly accurate and up-to-date picture of the operations.
On the subject of waiting time Mr Everingham said that a charge of £4 per hour is rendered to the customer after four hours. This, he agreed, was expensive, and he realized it was not an accountant's daydream of a system—but it did act as a deterrent. "We don't make money out of vehicles standing," he added., As to payment of the demurrage charges, these were mainly raised on shipping companies and it was up to them to recover the payment from the consignee. About 75 per cent of the demurrage charges were accepted and paid, the other 25 per cent usually being resolved by some sort of agreement.
Sub-contracted work, of which there is quite a large amount, is shown on the weekly sheetat one time "loads refused" was written when this was the case, for use in supporting licence applications.
The information from the weekly sheet is transferred to a day-sheet first thing in the morning by the traffic man while everything is still fresh in his mind. The vehicle number, driver's name, details of journey, load and customer together with the docket number and rate for the job are put on this sheet. When all the jobs for the day have been completed and proof-of-delivery notes received from drivers (some of whom, of course, do not return until the next day) the job pricing is done and invoices are sent out. By Ii a.m. daily from this sheet the manager knows what each of his vehicles earned the previous day.
Drivers bonuses are also calculated from this sheet. Mr Everingham does not want me to reveal details of the bonus system. However, it is sufficient to say that a productivity scheme instituted with the co-operation of the drivers from March 1 when the hours were reduced has been successfully implemented and has resulted in no loss of turnover as a result of the reduced hours.
The third principal document used is the company's own set of drivers' notes, a set of which is made out even if the consignor supplies suitable notes. The notes are in an eight-part set made up of a delivery note, customer invoice, collection note, consignment note, an office copy, an accounts copy, a confirmation note (which is given to sub-contractors) and a computer copy for the head office organization of Bullens (who send out computerized statements).
The accounts department is based at Hull where the group accountant for Bullens North East Ltd has his office. The accounts copy of the note set is sent to him and so are all purchase invoices after approval and classification (which spares for which vehicle) by Mr Everingham. The group accountant acts as "Chancellor of the Exchequer" and does the paying out. He also prepares a d,etailed quarterly statement of accounts for the manager in the form of a balance sheet which indicates revenue, direct costs, office expenses and staff wages, management charges and .a share of the group directors' fees and expenses. The direct cost item shows for each vehicle its earnings and its maintenance and running costs. Incidentally, the company has its own workshop and staff at the Howden depot where all maintenance work is undertaken.
Clearing house Once I had looked at the basic Howden operation it was soon obvious to me that Hewson has even more strings to its bow. Mr Everingham's philosophy is that he must give a good service to his customers, while his vehicles operate economically to make the best profit possible. His view is that the only way this can be done is by taking on more work than his vehicles can carry— particularly important, he feels, if the best is to be gained from articulation. In order to achieve this position a clearing house has been established in Hull operated by a manager. The clearing house obtains work and sub-contracts whatever Hewson's own vehicles cannot handle.
The manager at Hull, being something of an enthusiast for the job in hand, has a novel way of obtaining vehicles to move traffic out of the docks. He knows where 90 per cent of vehicles in the city park overnight and he goes round these areas in the very early morning looking for empty vehicles from areas where he has traffic moving. A note asking the driver to contact the office if a return load is wanted is left on the vehicle. At the time of my visit the Hull office had been established only for a few weeks. However, Mr Everingham plans to forge a strong link between the traffic operator at Howden and the manager at Hull to further increase the efficiency of the firm's own-vehicle operations. This is another aid to reduce the disadvantages of being 25 miles from his main source of traffic.