Transport and Distribution. Made Simple

290 Pages·1975·11.353 MB·English

by  Don Benson and Geoffrey Whitehead (Auth.)

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TRANSPORT AND DISTRIBUTION Made Simple
Don Benson, M.C.I.T., M.Inst.T.A., and
Geoffrey Whitehead, B.Sc. (Econ.)
Made Simple Books
W. H. ALLEN London
A division of Howard & Wyndham Ltd
Copyright © 1975 by D. Benson and G. Whitehead
All rights reserved, including the right
of reproduction in whole or in part
in any form whatsoever
Printed and bound in Great Britain
by Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press) Ltd, Bungay, Suifolk
for the publishers W. H. Allen & Company Ltd,
44 Hill Street London W1X 8LB
This book is sold subject to the
condition that it shall not, by
way of trade or otherwise, be lent,
re-sold, hired out, or otherwise
circulated without the publisher's
prior consent in any form of binding
or cover other than that in which it is
published and without a similar condition
including this condition being imposed
on the subsequent purchaser
ISBN 0 491 01674 3 casebound
ISBN 0 491 01684 0 paperbound
Foreword
This book introduces the reader to the whole field of transport and physical
distribution, as practised in the 1970s. It is an exciting study, for we have just
experienced the greatest leap forward in distribution since the railway-building age.
Transport has become a world-wide intermodal activity. Enormous capital expendi
ture has made it possible to move cargoes directly, or with a minimum of transship
ment, from continent to continent and door to door.
This book will prepare the reader for a wide range of examination syllabuses at an
intermediate and higher level. It covers the introductory syllabuses of the Chartered
Institute of Transport and the Institute of Traffic Administration. It is ideal for
adoption by H.N.C. and H.N.D. students selecting a transport option, or seeking
background knowledge for this aspect of Applied Economics. It will be excellent
reading for a CNAA degree with a transport option, and for Sociology students
considering the impact of transport on the environment.
In describing the latest responses of engineers and administrators to the basic
problems of transport we have assumed little prior knowledge on the part of the
reader. In places we may be accused of stating the obvious, but we have found over
many years of experience that students, especially those new to the industry, fail to
see what seems obvious to experienced practitioners. Many other readers, particu
larly in developing countries, are unfamiliar with the rich transport background of
developed countries like the United Kingdom, and appreciate the detailed descriptions
included in the text.
In other places we may stray from what is strictly relevant to the chapter heading in
order to comment upon problems, causes and effects which could not be inserted
conveniently elsewhere. We have devoted considerable space to discussing terminals,
as we feel that in some previous publications these have not received the attention
they deserve. In this area, we feel, lies the greatest scope for future increased efficiency.
In preparing this book we have received help from many firms and institutions,
who have courteously supplied illustrations, photographs and detailed descriptions
of their equipment, organisation, procedures, aims and objects. We have had
inevitably to leave out a good deal of the material supplied, but have included a very
considerable amount. The courtesy of these firms is gratefully acknowledged, as is
the co-operation of the institutions listed in phaptqg TwonfrftOne. While acknowledg
ing this help we must emphasise that the statements made in this book in no way
represent the firms, organisations or institutions concerned but are essentially our
own points of view on controversial matters.
We are grateful to Mr. F. R. Pywell for his appraisal of the script and the many
useful suggestions he made.
DON BENSON
GEOFFREY WHITEHEAD
Acknowledgements
Australian High Commission, Office of Her Majesty's Customs
Bacat Line Her Majesty's Stationery Office
Boltless Systems, Link 51 Ltd. Jaloda Transport Equipment Ltd.
British Airports Authority Lancer Boss Ltd.
British Aircraft Corporation Ltd. Lansing Bagnall Ltd.
British Railways Board London Transport
British Rail Hovercraft Ltd. Lufthansa German Airlines
British Road Services Mathews Conveyor Company (Canada)
British Waterways Board Ltd.
Carmichael and Sons (Worcester) Ltd. National Data Processing Service
George Cohen 600 Group Ltd. National Freight Corporation
Crane Fruehauf Ltd. Overseas Containers Ltd.
Croner Publications Ltd. Peninsular and Orient Steam Navigation
Dover Harbour Board Co. Ltd.
J. Evershed & Co (Bow) Ltd., St. Albans Port of London Authority
Felixstowe Dock and Railway Co. Ltd. Ready Mixed Concrete Group Services
FIATA Airfreight Institute Ltd.
Finspa Engineering Co. Ltd. Shell International Petroleum Co. Ltd.
Freightliners Ltd. St. John's Ambulance Headquarters
Gibbons Brothers Ltd. Tibbett and Britten Ltd.
Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Co. (Great Townsend Thoresen Car Ferries Ltd.
Britain) Ltd. Transmeridian Air Cargo Ltd.
Gush and Dent Ltd.
CHAPTER ONE
TRANSPORT AND THE MODERN WORLD
Transport in the Framework of Production
Production occurs as a result of economic activity of one kind or another.
The natural resources and the human resources of the earth are combined
for the purpose of creating some marketable product wanted by mankind.
Usually in this process {} is helpful to take advantage of tools, equipment and
techniques made available in previous periods. These 'producer goods' or
'capital goods' speed up production and raise output. Economic activity is
therefore a combination of three 'factors of production': land, labour and
capital. Land, to an economist, means all the non-human natural resources
of the earth; 'labour' means all the human resources; and 'capital' means all
the accumulated wealth of tools, equipment, techniques of production, etc.,
inherited from the previous production period. Economic activity aims to
satisfy man's wants by creating 'utilities'—the name given by economists to
any good or service which yields satisfaction. Food has utility, for it satisfies
hunger; clothes have utility, for they keep us warm; dentistry has utility; so
have theatrical performances, holidays on the Cote d'Azur and power from
atomic reactors. Few of the satisfactions available to men in sophisticated
societies are possible without transport, which must either move the goods
to where we can enjoy them, or move us to where the goods and services are
located.
Transport is that part of economic activity which is concerned with
increasing human satisfaction by changing the geographical position of goods
or people. It may bring raw materials to places where they can be manu
factured more easily, or finished goods to places where consumers can make
best use of them. Alternatively it may bring the consumer to places where he
can enjoy services which are being made available; patients to hospital; the
weary to centres of recreation; the young to institutions of education and
learning; the bored to places of entertainment.
Many areas of the world, even today, are largely uninhabited and their
resources unexploited. We may not experience quite the same thrill that
Balboa felt when he climbed a tree on the Isthmus of Panama and saw the
Pacific Ocean stretched limitlessly before his eyes; but the television screen
daily depicts for us out-of-the-way places where simple men still lead simple
lives ignorant of the wealth that lies in their sun-drenched hills or frozen
tundra. Transport can release these resources. It has been said that 'Transport
creates the utility of space'. It is a liberating force, setting free natural, man-
made and human resources from situations where they are yielding little
satisfaction, and transferring them to places where their full utility can be
realised. But equally it may, by giving access, release utilities which have been
unable previously to realise their true potential in situ. The canals built in
Britain in the eighteenth century transformed the districts through which they
1
2 Transport and Distribution Made Simple
were cut. The countryside was opened up, populated and developed. Wild
heathland became farmland; ores, stone, coal and other natural products
could be exploited; villages and towns grew up. It is a process that is taking
place even today. It is no accident that the African republics have only now
begun to exert an influence on world affairs, for the jet aeroplane has at last
liberated their utilities. In a single generation the camel has been replaced by
the V.C.10. The beaches of Tanzania have always been beautiful, with coral
strands scented with cloves and spices, but until the long-haul jet made them
accessible to European tourists they were of little value.
Transport releases resources from their geographical bondage. It makes
available formerly inaccessible utilities. The breakfast cereal made in North
London reaches the housewife in Birmingham, Aberdeen or Penzance. The
power supply of Kittimat in British Columbia is released as aluminium
saucepans for the kitchens of West Germany, the United States or Argentina.
We may therefore define transport as a means for increasing human satisfaction
by the movement of goods and passengers, so that inaccessible goods may
be moved to those points where consumers require them or consumers may be
moved to those points where otherwise inaccessible service facilities may be
enjoyed.
The Nature of the Modern World
The earth today is commonly described as a 'shrinking' world; one in
which transport has reached such a level of performance that very rapid
movements of goods and people can be made, from one part of the globe to
another. Goods manufactured in Finland or Sweden on Monday arrive in San
Francisco by 8 a.m. the next morning. It is possible to leave Seoul in Korea on
Thursday afternoon, spend a day in Alaska and, with a little help from the
international date line, reach London on Friday morning. The distances we
have to cover are as great as ever, but the time required to traverse them has
shrunk drastically.
The chief features of this shrinking world affecting transport may be listed
as follows:
(a) a complex pattern of trading nations;
(b) a growing population;
(c) an increasing affluence of nations;
(d) a decline in strategical interferences with transport;
(e) a ceaseless quest for economies of scale in transport operations;
(f) increasingly serious environmental problems.
While these are dealt with more fully later in this book, a preliminary
glance at the outstanding features is desirable at this point.
The Pattern of Trading Nations
The modern world still consists of a collection of nation states, each
exerting its own dominion over its territory or territories, and imposing its
own legal and administrative controls over its citizens and the economy which
provides for them. While the ultimate destiny for mankind must be world
citizenship, we are not likely to see this ideal attained for many years yet.
Instead we see a tendency for all but the very largest states to associate
together in trading groups. These groups at least as far as the free-enterprise
Transport and the Modern World 3
nations are concerned are not based on the domination of a single powerful
member, as in former times. Instead nations tend to link up with nations
similar in size and wealth to themselves. Their mutual interests draw them
together, and their similar bargaining strengths incline them to arrive at
agreements acceptable to all. Besides the two major powers—themselves
really federations of states—America and Russia, we have the European
Economic Community as a really affluent grouping of nations. There is also
a residual E.F.T.A., or European Free Trade Area. At less affluent levels we
have organisations like CAR1FTA, the Caribbean Free Trade Area, E.A.C.,
the East African Community, C.A.C.M., the Central American Common
Market, and L.A.F.T.A., the Latin American Free Trade Area. There is also
an Eastern European block, COMECON, which forms a Communist
Economic Community in association with Russia. These bodies and others
like O.P.E.C. (the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) represent
member nations at international conferences on trade and transport matters,
and bargain for the best possible terms in international negotiations.
Despite these groupings, the essential feature of the modern world economic
scene is the mutual interdependence of all nations. The essence of trade, and
the transport associated with it, is that it must be mutually beneficial. Where
it is not, the nation that is at a disadvantage will eventually cease to trade.
While it is to some extent true that the strong can still extort what they want,
and the weak still yield what they must, the general tendency is towards
greater egalitarianism. The balance of power is more evenly divided between
nations today, and economic power is more susceptible to international
opinion than perhaps at any time in history. In transport this has led to a
series of international conventions in the last fifty years which have regulated
most aspects of international transport. The resulting agreements have done
much to ensure fair play between nations and between carriers and customers.
They have also done much to eliminate the more wasteful features of free
competition.
The Growth of Population
One feature of the modern world that affects transport is the enormous
increase in population. Tables 1.1 and 1.2 show the same facts in two different
ways. In Table 1.1 the growth in world population to the year A.D. 2000 is
shown, as estimated by the demographers.
Table 1.1. Estimated World Population, 1650-2000
Estimated world
Year population {millions)
1650 450
1900 2,000
1960 3,000
1970 3,600
1980 4,000
2000 6,250
A convenient unit for considering the change in population is the megabirth.
A megabirth is 1,000 million people. The term 'megabirth nightmare' has
4 Transport and Distribution Made Simple
been used to describe the incredible growth in world population envisaged in
the last two decades of this century. In Table 1.2 we have these figures
presented in a different way, by showing the speeds with which a megabirth
increase has taken place.
Table 1.2. World Population Trends
Number of years
needed to produce
an increase of one
Population Reached thousand million
(thousand millions) by A.D. inhabitants
1 1830 From the dawn of
life, say 100,000 years
2 1930 100
3 1960 30
4 1980 20
5 1990 10
6 2000 10
The staggering increase predicted for 1980-2000 (twice as large an increase
in 20 years as was produced in the period from the dawn of history to 1830)
gives some idea of the transport problems to be faced. Not only will this
enormous population need to be fed, clothed and housed, it will increasingly
demand to see the world. In 1972, after serious crop failures in Russia and
China the movements of grain from the United States and Australia sent
freight rates soaring to record levels. The shipping capacity just was not
available. The greatest increases in population are likely to come in precisely
those areas where famines most easily occur. If the population of the develop
ing world is to double by the year 2000 it may well prove impossible to fulfil
the demand for shipping in times of emergency. Population growth requires
increases in transport: transport of raw materials, vegetables and other crops,
meat, milk, cheese and other proteins, of manufactured goods and of the
people themselves.
The Increasing Affluence of Nations
The volume of traffic reflects not only the numbers of people requiring to be
fed, clothed and sheltered, but also their affluence. Not only are more nations
affluent today than ever before, but the spread ofthat affluence down into the
masses of their populations is greater than at any time in history. Egalitarian-
ism is inevitable in modern societies, for it is easy enough for the dispossessed
to disrupt the pleasures of the well-to-do. A rich nation whose wealth is
enjoyed by the few generates little trade, and that chiefly in luxury goods.
An affluent nation which has an egalitarian structure generates enormous
volumes of trade, for there are millions of people demanding broad ranges of
goods and services. Home trade, community trade within a free trade area,
and international trade must inevitably grow, and generate increased demand
for and use of transport facilities of every type.
It is not only the volume of goods transported which increases in an
egalitarian society, the people themselves are on the move. Nations pass
Transport and the Modern World 5
successively through a bicycle era and a motorcycle era to a private motorcar
era. A good test of an affluent nation is the extent to which the mass of the
people have personal transport. A second guideline at present is the volume
of air passenger traffic, which only becomes possible for the vast mass of the
people once they have achieved a certain affluence. The enormous growth of
packaged holidays by air has been one of the most significant developments
in European transport since 1960, reflecting as it undoubtedly does the
increased affluence of the ordinary European.
The Decline of Strategical Interferences with Transport
Transport is vitally affected by geography, particularly the topographical
features, mountain chains, plains, valleys and coastlines. These features
represent major problems to the various modes of transport. Political and
strategic interferences with access are also obviously a great inconvenience,
particularly where the natural, or shortest route to a given destination lies
across territory which may not be traversed for these reasons. The most
notable example of such restrictions was the almost total closure of the Soviet
Union in the first half-century of Soviet rule. This particularly handicapped
the development of logical air routes to the Far East and the Antipodes. The
aircraft is the one form of transport which is little affected by geographical
topography, but this advantage could not be fully used while the trans-Soviet
routes were closed.
In the last few years some relaxation of these strategic restrictions has been
made, because of the development of satellite observation techniques. When
satellites can observe every 90 minutes the developments of even the most
inaccessible installations there is little point in preventing air traffic flying
along normal corridors. The short air routes across the Soviet Union, first to
Malaya and Singapore, later to Vladivostok and Japan, have been opened up,
while the Trans-Siberian railway route for containerised traffic is becoming
increasingly important. The latter route achieves a saving of two to three
weeks on the shipping time to the Far East.
The Search for Increasing Efficiency in Transport
At one time the concept of efficiency in production was largely associated
with the manufacturing processes. Henry Ford's definition of mass production
as 'the focusing upon a manufacturing project of the principles of power,
accuracy, economy, system, continuity, speed and repetition' enabled him to
achieve enormous economies of scale in the manufacture of motor vehicles.
His ideas were quickly copied, not only by rival motorcar manufacturers but
throughout the whole manufacturing field. By the 1950s firms were forced to
look elsewhere for economies which would keep them ahead of their rivals.
Naturally transport and distribution activities came under scrutiny, if only
because an increased scale of manufacturing operations inevitably requires
longer distribution chains to market the increased output. The result has been
the focusing of attention upon the total distribution process, and a continuing
search for economies in transport operations. This search for a system
offering the 'smallest total distribution cost' has revolutionised transport
since 1960. (For a full description of this concept see page 106.) The most
notable changes to achieve economies in physical distribution are the follow
ing: