Fuel allocation challenged

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33424, 4 January 1974, Page 1

Fuel allocation challenged

(from Our Own Reporter)

NELSON, January 3.

Road transport companies such as Transport Nelson, Ltd, could well have most of their vehicles parked before the end of each quarter if they were not given relief from the diesel fuel allocations, the managing director of the Transport Nelson Group (Mr G. Butler) said today.

Road transport operators have been advised that their future allocations of diesel fuel will be based on their consumption for the respective quarters of last year.

His company could not be expected to discriminate be-

tween customers nor could it be asked to decide which cartage operation was more important in the national good, said Mr Butler. “Companies such as ours, I feel, would have to operate on demand until our allocations were exhausted.” Mr Butler was speaking for New Zealand’s largest transport group, a group that runs more than 500 vehicles between the West Coast and Marlborough. One of the problems to be faced by the company was that its activities had increased. Add to this the probability of a substantial apple crop this year and greater cartage this year of hay and other crops (last year’s drought affected such cartage markedly), and the problem of allocating diesel fuel on the basis of consumption for the same quarter last year was apparent, said Mr Butler. The company had already tightened its operations and introduced several measures (a tighter disposition of vehicles. reduced speeds and a closer inspection of the diesel fuel injectors of all vehicles) to bring about at least a 10 per cent saving in consumption. he said.