Greetings pop-pickers, here’s the movers and groovers from this weeks Pick of the Pops Top Twenty,
Dropping out of this weeks chart are “I’m still Standing” by Elton John, “I will survive”, by Gloria Gaynor, and “Money” by Pink Floyd
In at number three is “Born under a bad sign” by Albert king with Stevie Ray Vaughan,
still holding on at number two is Roxy Music’s rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Hard rain is gonna fall”
Which means there’s no change at number one, for the umpteenth week running, it’s Queen with “Another one bites the dust”
I suspect the work was going to the big names and that was the cause of these guys doing badly.
I can envisage the industry’s future as being polarized, with general haulage being the province of big names only, and “speciality work” (eg grab wagons, hiab, the various types of waste carriage etc) being the area for smaller, more independent operators.
How does it happen when part of a network like Palletline goes under? Let’s say you want to send a pallet to Leicester (which is where S&J are/were based), but the Leicester ‘spoke’ has popped out of the wheel. Do they just say no (at least until another local firm steps up), or do they get another operator to take it there?
The company may be sold as a going concern mayn’t it? It is in trouble but hasn`t folded. So it might just continue with new owners.
Other existing operators will probably simply step in to fill the gap if another operator ceases trading. When Palletline started with fewer depots, each one covered a larger area. In time another depot might open in Leicester area, and that could be owned by a new company or another depot for an existing operator based elsewhere.
I would bet shed loads of money that Palletline would not turn away work especially to a busy city like Leicester.
Yes, any work the outgoing company was supposed to fulfill will simply be hoovered up by another part of the network in an organic fashion.
As these guys are “entering administration” there’s still a number of options, most likely for one of the big guys to buy it: The company can be purchased with it’s O-licence still valid, so it could potentially become Big Guy Logistics Ltd, (trading as Gone To The Wall Logistics Ltd). You can sell a company and the O-licence is part of the sale, but the O-licence must remain in the name of the original operation, hence the “trading as” element.
No doubt some people may wonder about TUPE in these circumstances: TUPE can apply with “relevant” insolvency, but if assets are to be liquidated in a “terminal” insolvency, TUPE does not apply.
If any company does go to the wall and staff are made redundant they will still get payment even if the company owes money elsewhere. They will be in the front of the queue for cash, and even then the Gov will provide some form of backstop if there is absolutely zilch left.
It’s not the name of the company it’s the profit margin that’s left or lack of it after operating centre, vehicle purchase and depreciation, drivers wages and fuel costs v the quote that the customer is willing to pay.
So the ‘pallet’ gets stuffed into a container and gets sent by rail then there’s not enough miles left in the job to pay for 1,2 and 3.
Or it gets put on a van of which there seems to be more of on the roads now than trucks.
One van, one or two pallets?
One train, six hundred pallets?
Trains are very good at moving bulk loads, long distances.
Vans are very good at moving small loads short distances.
Trucks can do it all, but are not the best solution at the two extremes.
We need a combination of all three to have a sensible and balanced transport system.
Fact of the matter is. There isnt enough work to go around so the least efficient outfits get weeded out in the subsequent battle for survival.
A lot of problems in the world make “things” expensive which in turn slow demand for “things” that means less “things” to move from place to place.
This year is going to be a tough one.
So now we’ve got 600 pallets at the rail head and the standing fixed costs of the trucks needed to move them the final miles are more than the job is worth.
That’s when the Polish one man bands with a curtainsider van say we’ve got an idea.If not local plumbers, electricians and decorators etc with a van who want some easier money going by the amount of them I see running from one end or one side of the country to the other every day.
I din`t imagine that 20 or 30 trucks will be parked at railheads awaiting the arrival of the 06-15 from Rugby. Neither will vans be waiting to pick individual plts or parcels off of dry freight vans. Most rail freight is bulk in specialist carriers, or plts in containers.
If foreign contractors are doing domestic UK work? Who is to blame? Since Brexit UK cabotage has been strictly limited in the EU. Hasn`t it happened here? I know there was derogations applied at first but I do not know the current state of play.
Do you think plumbers and sparkies will be earning more in a van than on their tools?
Were actually talking about those pallets in those containers that I see regularly trundling up and down the main lines holding up passenger services and making my day longer.
As for those traders vans supposedly not being used for haulage work.
If not I’d guess there’s not going to be much left out of the money they get for the plumbing or wiring job after paying for the fuel and time spent on the road most of the day running between London and Newcastle or Cardiff etc etc.
So…take those 600? odd pallets off the rail, the rail you see out of your side window …put them on 30 extra trucks?..onthe same road as you…
Will that make your journey quicker?
Or maybe build a dedicated, high speed passenger line, and get more routine freight on the rail, to free up more space for the cars and trucks that need to be there?
Can we count on your support for HS2.
Regular viewers to the CarryFast Channel will be eagerly anticipating the answer, as I am. Can`t imagine at all if he is for/agin rail?
As you’ve said yourself you’ve taken loads of work for trucks off the road.
As for HS2 I’m not seeing any widespread public celebration at being driven from their homes and environmental destruction on an epic scale.
I’m a retired truck driver who still earns my living driving things out on the road.Why would I be pro rail freight.
Sometimes that means using passenger rail services.I’m not hearing any cheering from passengers at every announcement that yet another journey is being delayed by a slow or stopped or broken down bleedin freight train getting in the way.
What did I say?
Freight was taken off the steam rail by the internal combustion engined lorry.
Freight was taken off the road away from horse traffic by steam rail before that.
Recently road freight traffic has bounced around but rail has dropped a little.
Rail is about a tenth of road tonne/km.
So, a doubling of rail traffic would mean a ten% drop in road traffic. (Very approx)
Those who had homes compulsory purchased were very upset. If it was me I would be too.
I am sure you would upset if a new rail line was put through your garden or front room.
Would it be OK to put a new motorway in your garden though? Or a new truck park?
The idea of a complete HS2 was to give a dedicated high speed passenger link and enable more freight on the rail. That would enable a little less traffic on the roads, and help the traffic that cannot or chooses not to use rail.
The HS2 when finished would be less damaging than the M25.
You Mr CF get to drive with fewer traffic jams on the way out, have a better rail passenger service going back, and get to keep your allotment.
Let’s just say that it’s easier to create decent road routes with what we’ve got if it wasn’t for numerous needless traffic management schemes that are clearly all about deterring road use.Or environmental vandalism like the M25/A3 interchange just to get traffic a bit quicker to and from the former at Tolworth and Roehampton.As for truck stops we seemed to manage fine during the 1970’s before the urban development spree wiping out truck parking space and transport cafes.
Places like Shropshire still seeming to manage fine in that regard.
While the South East gets turned into a mega city stretching from Hertfordshire to the Kent coast.
While HS2 just adds to the ongoing encrapification of the country.
The fact is roads have proven to be more environmentally and lifestyle friendly than rail lines and marshalling yards and junctions and stations which is why the Vercors is a much nicer place to be than Rouen or Lille.
Allotment indeed.
There is sooooo much data contradicting that statement, I scarcely know where to start, however, this is probably a decent point: Each tonne of freight transported by rail reduces carbon emissions by 76 per cent compared to road and each freight train removes 43 to 76 lorries from the roads
What if anyone thinks that CO2 is a good gas that directly translates as Oxygen via photosynthesis.Assuming you don’t chop down the trees to burn as bio mass and for rial lines and marshalling yards and warehousing transhipment terminals and needles road junction projects like Wiseley interchange.
There is sooooo much data contradicting that statement, I scarcely know where to start, however, this is probably a decent point: