HANDLING COSTS

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 117, 20 May 1930, Page 10

HANDLING COSTS

EFFORT TO REDUCE

CONTAINER-CONVEYANCE

PERFECT TYPE NOT YET

A huge proportion of the cost of goods is the cost of handling them. An apple when it leaves the apple tree is generally a finished article (unless intended for the cider trade or to be the base of strawberry jam)-- So far as dessert consumption is concerned, an apple intended for local use needs no further manufacture; it has not to go to a factory, in order to be turned'into something else; it simply has to reach a consumer's mouth, yet it generally; arrives by a most circuitous route, a route full of intermediate costs. In New Zealand at one time these costs were so high that while the grower dare not think in terms of more than a penny per pound, the consumer hardly ever had occasion to think in terms of less than sixpence a pound. Things are slightly better now. TREE TO TABLE TRANSPORT. Through tho railways service and through .transport co-ordination, there are now low freights on fruit per case; and in cities and large towns there is a very cheap delivery rate of 6d per case operating to any address within a wide radius.. In some fruits, this coordinating organisation is creating new trade. For instance, Tauranga lemons delivered to a Wellington home last February are still in use there (not one has gone bad), and the cost of these lemons (railway freight Sd per ease, delivery freight to home 6d per case) worked out at not more than three farthings each (2d each in February in the shops). And those lemons had to undergo an intermediate .process (curing) at Tauranga. „ Wheat goes through two main intermediate processes before i,t reaches the consumer as bread; it goes through tho mill, • and through the bakery. There still seem' to be two opinions in Australia about the bulk handling of wheat —but the industry in New Zealand has not tho Australian or Canadian scale. But breaks in direct distribution of fruits, foodstuffs, and general goods are not all due to necessary intermediate processes of manufacture or partialmanufacture. There- are those breaks arising from different mechanical systems of transport. There is -the break between land and sea, and there is the break between rails and place of delivery. Goods that- do not require .any, manufacture (or any further manufacture than- they already possess), and which only need a definite point-to-point transportation may yet be'subjected to heavy intermediate costs of handling (of packing, unpacking, repacking, etc.) between sea and rail, rail and road, etc. An inclusive ifreight is' an aid to cheapness, but does not attack those costs at their' root. Can they be attacked by means of a system, of containers in which goods can go as undisturbed units by ship and', over rail and over road to the place of unpacking? ■ ■ ' '. . > TERMINAL CONVEYANCE. A phase of that interesting question is the subject of the leading article in tuis month's issue of the "New Zealand Railways Magazine," which writes: "The whole question of goods transport is so closely associated with the competitive conditions arising out of motortruck development that concentrated at-, tention; is now being devoted by railway executives the .world over to containers for terminal traffic. In/these they see a possible solution of the difficulties mot with in their endeavour to give a door-to-door transport service fOr merchandise. . - . . "In a recent number of 'Modern Transport,' it is pointed out .that-door-to-door transit of goods by railwayowned containers has passed the experir mental stage in Great Britain, and; a gratifying measure of success has'been achieved. The" traders have expressed satisfaction with the scheme, which gives many of the advantages of a private siding, minimises 'the risk of damage and pilferage, saves handling, and effects considerable economy in packing, in the cost of packing materials, and in the carriage thereof. On their part, the railway companies have seen a return for their outlay in a steady but appreciable return to rail of traffic which ordinary conveyance had failed to retain. As a general rule, the railway companies add a small percentage charge to tho rates for traffic so conveyed, but, as the addition is small,.being often as low as 5 per cent., and usually representing less than tho saving effected on packing costs, the supplement is considered a reasonable business arrangement. Container-con-veyed goods are charged at net weight only, nothing being added for th» weight of the receptacle.

"At the Fifth. World Motor-Trail*., port Congress held at Koine in. 192^ Signor Silvio Crespi initiated .a move? ment,.■which .has now resulted in a coinr petition, organised by a representative group of transport bodies, to determine the best system, of container forinteii; national traffic.

COMMON TO SEA, BAIL, AND ROAD,

"In stating .the ■ conditions'" of this competition, the joint committee announces that it is desired to find tht>' most practical solution of the problem" of combined goods transport, by rail, sea, anil road, in order, to reduce as far as possible the cost of packing, storing,and sorting, and to convey the good* from the "point of: production to the point of consumption by the most rapid' and economical means. , •

"Although numbers of containers have been tried out, designers have still to produce a container suitable for universal adoption. The greatest interest will, therefore, centre round this competition, which may be expected to spur inventors and manufacturers to fresh: efforts in order to win both the valuable prizes offered for designs and the' business which' will accrue to those1 holding patents for the best types of containers. , , ■ \ >

. "In New Zealand, as"in other countries, door-to-door collection and "deliv-. cry o" goods traffic, if-,it could be done by the use of adaptable ■ and easily: handled containers, would greatly reduce packing and transhipment costs for rail-bprno goods, and would be particularly useful for through booked inter-Island traffic. It is to be hoped, tIS-rcforo, that the competition above referred to may produce a container of outstanding merit such as any railway might adopt with confidence."

A container system might revolutionise goods traffic, but unfortunately can. not be applied to • passenger traffife. Since rubber competition arrived, mankind has ceased to be railway goods oii^ the hoof—in fact, has almost ceased to be on hoof at all. Eecapture of passenger traffic by a container system will not be possible until a standardised humanity has been evolved to fit a. standardised human container, this side up. Such is not in sight, even in America.