Forwarders help Railway profit

Press, 2 September 1980, Page 6

Forwarders help Railway profit

PA Wellington The Railways earned $38.5 million hauling goods under contract with freight forwarders during the last financial year, a commission of inquiry was told yesterday. The system contributed 15 per cent of the. total rail goods revenue said, the General Manager of Railways (Mr T. M. Hayward),, when presenting ' submissions to the commission of inquiry into the freight forwarding industry. . .The commission is investigating the effect the freightforwarders have had on the profitability of the Railways. ' The commission comprises a Wellington lawyer, Mr B. Bornholdt (chairman), and Messrs N. H. Chapman and L. G. Clarke. They will hear submissions on four days each week for.as long as necessary. .

| The parties represented at the hearing are the Railways iDepartment, .National Union of Railwaymen, Freight Forwarders’: Association, Road Association, Ministry of Transport, and Railway Officers’ Institute. ; " The Government agreed to hold the inquiry’ after the National Union of Railwaymen last year said the industry- was, creaming money away from the Railways. The road firms . pick: up goods, deliver them to railway waggons and rail them to their destination. Road carriers then unload and deliver the goods. Mr Hayward said the Railways ' thought the freightforwarders did not have an unduly large share of the total tonnage moved. He said arrangements with the forwarders had been beneficial. Rates charged were profitable to the department. Their services were diverse and complemented rather than competed with Railways. Mr Hayward said the industry had improved the economics of distributing a large volume of goods and it had benefited the community by providing a more complete transpoit package at a lower cost than otherwise have been the case.