Savings estimate disputed

Press, 24 November 1982, Page 41

Savings estimate disputed

PA Wellington Figures produced by grocery manufacturers in support of arguments for easing the railway-protection legislation contradict each other, say road carriers. The president of the Road Transport Association, Mr J. L. Stuart, of Auckland, said that the vast sums able to be saved by changes to transport legislation were contradicted by the fact that transport was only 4.2. per cent of costs for a grocery manufacturer.

“About 9.3 per cent of sales value is taken up by warehousing, packaging, and inventory, costs which any such enterprise would have to meet if it was to offer a good service to the consumer,” said Mr Stuart. “We do, however, agree with the manufacturer’s idea of freeing-up rail protection, but only gradually so that the Railways can adapt and hence the huge public investment in the railway-system can be safeguarded.

The grocery manufacturers had also said that the transport industry was inefficient, he said. “This is nonsensical when you consider that the Ministry of Transport found that own-account users, such as manufacturers, are the most inefficient users of their own trucks with a utilisation factor of less than half that of the professional carrying industry,” Mr Stuart said.