The Best and Worst Transport Contracts

There are good transport contracts, and bad transport contracts - learn more about the main differences between them!

The Best and Worst Transport Contracts

If you are working in the haulage industry, whether you are an owner operator or a salaried employee, you'll know enough about transport contracts to know that no two jobs are the same. You'll have had jobs where everything went right, and loads that you simply couldn't wait to be rid of.

Sometimes it is hard to foresee which one will turn out to be unpleasant until you've signed on the dotted line - other times, the signs are there from the outset that there is going to be trouble! Of course, there are also the dream jobs where a company treats you right, pays you well, and you have a straightforward, stress free drive to your destination and back.

But while it may not always be possible to know whether a job will be heaven or hell before you take it, there are a few common characteristics of good and bad transport jobs...

A Good Job Means...

You'll be working with a decent company that takes care of its drivers, issues professional transport contracts, pays a decent wage and legally complies with all the necessary industry regulations. If they are providing the vehicle, it will be well maintained. They will give you clear instructions, communicate with you in a coherent fashion, and the loading and unloading process will be nice and smooth. There's nothing worse than wasting time sitting around waiting to load or unload!

On a good job, you'll have a secure load that isn't fragile, and that is evenly weighted so that it doesn't cause problems with your vehicle's handling. An ideal job will give you plenty of opportunities to pick up backloads for your return journey, and might even have one of these built into the contract. Another final little perk is to be given a scenic route to drive through - spending your whole day on the road is made more enjoyable if you've got some decent scenery to look at along the way!

A Bad Job Means...

Above all else, if you've got an unpleasant job it is usually because your employer isn't up to scratch. Their transport contracts will be filled with small print that is seemingly designed to make your life a nightmare. If they provide a vehicle, it'll be poorly maintained and potentially dangerous to drive. They will be difficult to deal with, and there will be endless delays and huge amounts of paperwork every step of the way.

You'll be dispatched to the middle of nowhere with unclear instructions and no chance of picking up a backload on your way back, and the load you've got will be poorly secured and liable to shift around and break along the way. If you are sent abroad on a nightmare job, you'll be sent somewhere with overzealous police and complicated regulations to comply with. The entire job will be time consuming hassle from start to finish, and to cap it all off, they will be late paying you once you do finally finish your work!

Every haulage worker will have to deal with good jobs and bad jobs - but if you learn to recognise the signs of good transport contracts, you'll have a much better chance of picking up the right kind of jobs!

Lyall Cresswell is the Managing Director of Haulage Exchange, the leading online trade network for the road transport industry across the UK and Europe. It provides services and transport contracts to buy and sell road transport and freight exchange in the domestic and international markets.

Cutting Carbon Emissions Through Haulage Loads

This may seem an unlikely article for me to write at first. Working in the road transport industry, many people assume it is automatically impossible to have a green conscience. This isn't surprising, given that my job depending on hundreds of haulage vehicles dragging loads up and down the country, producing all those environment damaging carbon emissions along the way. Actually, the truth is that my job allows me to be both a green advocate and a road haulage representative while still helping me claim a salary. No, I haven't invented a device that changes exhaust emissions into pure oxygen - it's simply thanks to the nature of freight exchanges.

It works like this: under normal circumstances, drivers or companies manage their own loads with their customers, make their delivery and then return home to the depot for the next load. Environmentally and on a human level, this isn't efficient. The driver is, in effect, only being paid for the outbound journey, and in these times when the price of fuel seems to be rising on an almost daily basis, this is financially crippling. Now consider a freight exchange - a network of suppliers and drivers/companies who distribute their loads between them meaning that the return journey can contain another job. This means the trip is paid for (both ways) and therefore the haulage company is not operating at a loss (even for a minute) and profits can rise.

All well and good, but this still isn't looking particularly environmentally friendly is it? Wait, I'm getting to that.

Now, if this return load is being distributed back to someone who is already out on the road, it won't be given to a driver for whom that would be the sole purpose of the trip. This means that there are less wasted journeys (every mile involved has a delivery attached) and therefore less unnecessary carbon emissions all over the place. Better still, if this collaboration for efficiency continues across the industry, then less trucks will be required to shift all the work, and we may even see the decommissioning of these carbon-emitting behemoths. The environment will surely jump for joy.

Unlike most environmentally friendly solutions which require an element of self sacrifice, the freight exchange actually creates benefits across the board: the haulage companies/owner operators make more money, the roads get less congested and the environment becomes less polluted. Everybody wins - and for that reason, we have seen impressive pick up for our online freight exchange for the 7.5tonne and above market: Haulage Exchange.

I can't say whether our customer base is growing for monitory or environmental reasons (or both), but whichever it is, the gradual migration to us and other freight exchanges is great news for the environment. And if our drivers save themselves significant money as well, then all the better.

Luke Humble is the Website manager for The Transport Exchange Group. Their website for the 7.5 tonne and over market, Haulage Exchange, is one of the UK's leading independent and fastest growing freight exchanges.The exchanges are neutral, actively managed and with strict quality control to ensure smooth running.

Vehicle Tracking - What Benefits Are Actually Being Achieved?

Everyone will agree that GPS vehicle tracking is an interesting application, that can provide a company's management with detailed and up-to-date information on their fleet, but many will ask themselves what actual value it can deliver to the bottom line.

This article takes a look at just three examples of published case studies related to GPS vehicle tracking to illustrate how different types of business that rely of road transport have themselves stated that they gain real business benefit simply through being able to make use of the information arising from GPS vehicle tracking systems in their wider operations.

The first example relates to a typical small business that has around half a dozen engineers who maintain heating systems around the local region.

Even with a relatively small fleet of six vehicles it was clear that improvements in its management could be made. Keeping track of vehicles and allocation of jobs was time consuming relying on regular calls in and out of the office. Emergency call-outs required calls to every engineer to determine the most appropriate response. Scheduling required a significant element of guesswork and the large amounts of paper-based management records were a challenge to maintain.

The adoption of GPS vehicle tracking enabled the business to make immediate savings. Initial savings stemmed from reduced private usage. Now, 18 months on, fuel bills have on average more than halved. In addition, the comprehensive reporting made possible has made compliance with VAT regulations and business planning straightforward. In terms of customer service and efficiency savings, just having reliable information about each engineers location makes emergency call-out management much more effective than previously possible.

A second example relates to a regional distribution business. Again the immediate benefit was found to be a saving in fuel. On fuel savings alone, the return on investment was four-fold - after just three months the measured savings were sufficient to offset the cost of the system for the whole year. Moreover, the effect on management was significant. In this case the company monitored the vans to every stop they made and as a result they could clearly identify where they encroached on each others' areas. Now, the workload is more evenly distributed across drivers, vans and geography in order ensure that the workload is properly distributed and mileage is more evenly distributed across the whole fleet.

A third example is from a mid-sized road haulage company operating a fleet of around 50 vehicles. Here the challenges for the transport management team include compliance with limited drivers' hours, the need to maximise vehicle usage whilst reducing fuel costs and overheads

With fleet tracking now operational, customers are kept up to speed with accurate arrival estimates and the system helps with planning; driving time, wasted fuel and inaccurate overtime payments have all been reduced, making the best use of the entire fleet. Even small reductions in distance travelled can yield a very worthwhile saving when a vehicle does just six to eight miles to the gallon.

So, from these three very diverse examples of real case studies, ranging from a small fleet of vans up to a large fleet of HGV trucks, to common themes emerge.

Firstly, all cases report a significant saving in fuel expenditure - and that financial saving alone far exceeds the subscription costs of the tracking system itself. Secondly, each business in its own way has found it relatively straightforward to improve their overall operational efficiency through applying the additional knowledge that fleet tracking can deliver, to either working more efficiently or delivering enhanced customer service.

Iain Jones works with Zest Tracking who are a leading UK provider of fleet and vehicle tracking solutions.

The 7 Secrets to Successful Skip Hire

Our research suggests that there are over 17 million skips hired in the UK every year for domestic use alone! That's a lot of skips and if you've ever looked in Yellow Pages you'll see that there are a lot of skip companies out there to choose from with no real way of knowing what kind of service you're going to get before it turns up!

If, like us, you've ever hired a skip, chances are you will have had a good experience with a professional, licensed waste collector with no hassles or grief.

Unfortunately, this is not always the case. If you called more than one company before you actually hired a skip you may have found that some of them:

- won't quote prices over the phone

- won't tell you what time it will be dropped off, or picked up

- will only accept cash payments to the driver

You might have even had a bad experience where the driver has refused to take away your skip without throwing some of the rubbish back in your garden, demanded more money before taking it away, damaged your property by bad handling of their wagon and the skip...

This guide is for you: It answers all the most common questions associated with skip hire so that you know exactly what you're getting into when you hire a skip and understand the whys and wherefores involved in skip hire so you never have a bad experience...EVER!

1. How can I tell which skip companies in the Yellow Pages are the good ones?

Unless you personally know the company, you can't. Any fool with a wagon and a skip can get an advert designed and printed to entice you to call them, but mainly it's a lottery not just in terms of prices and service, but also in terms of what actually happens to your waste - something that depressingly few of us actually think, or even care about.

Skip companies are not actually regulated at the time of writing. The good ones operate their own licensed waste transfer stations (regulated by the Environment Agency) and are members of the Institute of Wastes Management (a professional body that promotes education and raising standards in waste management).

The bad ones are just cowboys that often fly-tip your waste and therefore add to your council tax bill - cos the council are the ones who have to clean it up! (Flytipping is now costing local councils over £2.5 million a year! That's our tax money!)
Did you know? "Every 35 seconds, somebody, somewhere is fly-tipping in the UK"

2. Why do skips cost so much money?

No-one is pretending skip hire is cheap, but think about the overheads involved:

Skip Wagon £35,000+

Skips £500/each for standard builderskip

Vehicle Insurance £2000/year per vehicle

Public Liability £1250/year per vehicle

Employer's Liability £1250/year per vehicle

Skip Wagon driver £25,000/year

Fuel £20,000/year

Office staff £18,000/year per member of staff

Landfill taxes £18/ton increasing by £3 every year until 2010 where it will stand at £35/ton

Recycling costs Cost of buying shredders, trommels, weighbridges, picking stations etc - £millions

Soon adds up doesn't it? Getting rid of waste is not a cheap business, but it has to go somewhere!

3. Why isn't my skip dropped off and picked up when I ask for it?

This isn't always the skip company's fault - too many people don't understand that hiring a skip is not like calling a taxi. Just think about what goes into the average skip lorry driver's day - it's heavy haulage we're talking about here, and lots of things can go wrong on a pick-up or drop off that will slow down the whole day's schedule, such as a customer putting toxic waste in a skip, overfilling it, or the driver being given incorrect drop off details by a customer.

We publish a national trade magazine for the industry called "The Skip" (www.theskip.net) and through this we are pushing for more skip companies to incorporate new technology like Vehicle Tracking to improve delivery schedules and take-up of this kind of improvement is increasing all the time.

In the meantime, you should be patient waiting for your skip because it's rarely a case of deliberately bad customer service.

4. Why won't they take the skip away if the rubbish is just over the fill line?

It's not the skip driver being unreasonable - it's the law! They are legally bound to not carry unsafe loads and unfortunately many people order smaller skips than they need in order to save a few quid. Our advice - order a larger skip than you think you need because you will always fill it - just don't go over the line!

5. What actually happens to my rubbish when they take it away?

If you're not asking this question, you should be. Landfill space in the UK is running out fast. It is estimated that by 2010 there will be virtually no landfill space left in Britain and the government is increasing the landfill taxes that waste management companies have to pay every year. The best skip companies are investing heavily into new plant and technology to the point that many of them are recycling over 90%! Using these companies will eventually reduce prices and massively increase recycling rates - something we should all be interested in.

The bottom line is - the cheaper the skip, the less likely it is that the waste is being responsibly managed.

6. Why won't my local skip company take a credit card or even tell me prices over the phone?

This is mainly a historical thing. Most skip hire companies have evolved over the past 25 years from construction and demolition companies, and the traditional way they do business is either by issuing invoices or cash-in-hand! Also, a lot of companies still charge for waste disposal by the tonne and won't always quote an exact price because they don't know exactly how much it's going to cost them to get rid of until it comes in.

7. Why do I get quoted so many different prices for the same service from different companies?

The answer's in the question - you don't get the same service from different companies! You get different levels of service from different companies. Most of the time, you get what you pay for. After you've had a bad experience, you'll wonder whether it really was worth saving £20 by going with the cheapest you could find.

Plus there are other factors such as skip permit prices. All skip companies are supposed to tell you that you need a permit if the skip is to be on a public highway. These permits are provided by the local council - sometimes the company by law has to sort it out for you, sometimes you'll have to go direct to the council yourself.

The variances in skip permit price across the UK are staggering - some council's charge nothing and issue them the same day, some charge £70 and make you wait weeks before issuing.

In the end...

It's up to you. You now know pretty much everything necessary to make an informed choice about which skip hire company to use.

If you want all the guesswork taken out of the job and a guarantee of:

- excellent customer service levels
- fully online secure payment system
- a free-phone number so it won?t cost you to enquire about anything
- responsible waste management and a commitment to recycle at least 70% of waste collected
- fixed, published prices
- full UK-wide service

Then you could always use http://www.topskips.com. We have over 400 agents throughout the UK that go the extra mile to please our customers because, most of the time, WE are their biggest customer!

Happy skipping!

Mark Attwood http://www.topskips.com

Recycled Clothes and Textiles - What Happens to Them?

One product they end up as are cleaning rags and wipers. Made from recycled clothing and textiles they are an environmentally friendly alternative to disposable paper towels, and are not going to fall apart at the slightest sign of water and can be reused time and time again.

Textiles are sorted and the clothes that can be reused are sent for export. Those that can not be reused due to blemishes or rips are baled together according to garment and grade, and sent to recycling centers to be turned into wipers. In addition to this, textiles are also sourced from commercial laundries that dispose of bed sheets, pillow cases, and tablecloths, when their life is exhausted these make the best lint free wipers for the automotive cleaning industry.

The manufacturing (or recycling) process for all wipers is exactly the same. The textiles are firstly sorted to ensure that they are clean, dry and suitable as a wiper - this basically means that they are cotton rich and therefore absorbent. They are then graded together and sent to a cutting facility where they run along a conveyor belt to be cut into a specified size, dependent upon garment. This produces a wiper of a uniform dimension, which is free from zips, buttons and any other encumbrance.

Specially-built machines are used to ensure clean cut wipers, and once made each wiper is passed through a metal detector for final quality control prior to packaging. Due to the diverse nature of wiping cloths there are a few points to keep in mind when choosing your supplier:

Industrial wipers are sometimes regarded as a 'waste or bi-product' and not all wiper companies take the same time and effort ensure that their grading and quality is of a high standard.

An increasing number of companies simply export clothes for sorting and cutting in Eastern Europe and then import them back into the UK. The environmental footprint of all this haulage is massive. Find a company that does all there sorting and cutting in the country they are destined for reduces the need for long haulage whilst also employing local people.

Industrial wipers offer a valuable means of recycling thousands of tonnes of unwanted clothing and textiles. This must be a better solution to simply throwing away more than 1 million tonnes of textiles into landfill sites. Due to the high carbon footprint associated with the manufacture of cotton based materials - they will conform with and enhance your organisations' eco-friendly policies.

For more information on Rags & Wipers or other janitorial supplies, please visit our website at http://www.lmb-supplies.co.uk.

Could You Be Using Eco Friendly Removals?

Using?eco friendly removals?isn't just about some half-baked notion of offsetting CO2 emissions or planting a tree. Any company that professes to be green needs to do the best they can to reduce not only carbon emissions, but waste as well. Even if the company you are looking at for your removals isn't setting themselves up as a green company, you can always look for a company who make the effort.

Eco Friendly Removals - What To Look For

Obviously one of the most important aspects of any?eco friendly removals?company is that they have some form of reduced CO2 emission system. This could include using LPG, or Liquid Petroleum Gas. Now, just because a vehicle uses LPG, doesn't mean it's great for the environment. It releases something like a 20 per cent less CO2 over petrol, but is the most available option for most haulage and removal companies.

Similarly, packing material is often a massive cause of waste in house moves. Some companies will collect your waste free of charge, and either reuse of recycle it. In this instance, everyone wins. Taking the right route is also something that an eco friendly removals service should do. It might seem minimal on your run, if the engine is running another couple of minutes, but over the van's lifetime, this has a dramatic effect. Make sure your removal company has satellite navigation to maximize efficiency.

Where To Find Eco Friendly Removals

The best place to look if you're after an eco friendly removals company is a delivery auction website.?The great thing about this is that it's free to use, and will allow you to find exactly the right company for you. Also, because? these companies ?are using return load space, they are going there anyway, so it really helps to reduce CO2 on our roads.

If you're looking for removals companies, try http://www.anyvan.com/removals/ for access to thousands of FREE bids from delivery, courier and removals companies.

Heavy Haulage - A Big Part of Most Businesses

Nearly every one of us has had to move something from point A to point B with some significant distance between the two at least one time in our lives. Moving into or out of a home, apartment, or campus dorm are just some of the examples. However, some of us do this on a constant basis, and some of us move more than just the contents of an apartment. For those people heavy haulage is a constant factor in the success or failure of their business. Finding the right company to do this in a given time frame safely can impact the bottom line significantly.

For the purposes of this article, heavy haulage is multi-ton shipments via a long distance system of transport and delivery. This can be by rail, highway, ship or even airplane. While exceptions do exist, typically the shipments are raw materials to be used in a construction environment or waste being taken from the same. Sometimes this is called dryage, which originally meant to transport by a sideless cart.

Typically this service is provided by either a national trucking company or an international brokerage firm. Heavy haulage services includes the shipment of goods to and from the origin point, completion of both inbound and outbound documents, and storage of empty cartons and crates while not in use (which can take up a significant amount of essential space otherwise).

Those companies having need of heavy haulage services typically also need to prepare a place for convenient pickup and delivery. Because of the size of the shipments, parking a long haul semi in the front parking space would be inconvenient and could violate some traffic restrictions depending upon the locality. So this area, commonly known as the dock, is set aside for inbound and outbound traffic. Depending upon the size of the organization employing this service, separate docks may be established as well.

When choosing a heavy haulage service, much more than price has to be considered. It is well and good to get a bargain rate price, but if that comes at the cost of late pickups or drop-offs or the product, and the name of the employing business being spread over the interstate because of an inexperienced or unsafe driver, the cost may be too much to bear. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Regularly checking safety records and recommendations from others in a similar field will help to expose those flaws and make choosing the right shipper as opposed to the cheapest one much easier.

Heavy haulage information can be found online. Heavy haulage makes moving heavy loads easy.

Freight Exchange Or Baked Beans?

Truckers and haulage drivers have a tough choice sometimes. And while the sweet taste of a juicy breakfast may seem the perfect end to a job well done, a well planned backload from a freight exchange can create more paid work on completion of a job.

Let me explain.

In traditional haulage and freight transportation a trucker gets a delivery, and takes it from A to B (let's say Aldershot to Basingstoke). Trucker gets paid, company get their delivery - everyone's happy.

Except that the trucker has the trip back to their Aldershot to look forward to, and this time without any pay to cover the distance - or dead mileage. It wastes time, it wastes money and it eats into profits - whether the driver is an owner operator or works for a big haulage company.

And this is where freight exchanges come in.

Think of a freight exchange as a dating service for cargo. Freight forwarders post the loads they want to be delivered and the truckers sign up for loads they want to deliver. Then the two parties agree an appropriate fee and the delivery is made.

But how does this help our friend making the lonely journey back from Basingstoke? Simple - if he's aware in advance that he's going to be running empty back to Aldershot that afternoon, he can visit the 'freight dating' scene and look for any freight forwarders looking to send a package from Aldershot to Basingstoke - or any town en route. If he finds a backload (as they are known in the business), the company get their package delivered in a timely manner, the driver cuts down on his time driving unpaid, and the freight forwarder gets their load delivered. Everybody wins - except as mentioned earlier, our haulage driving friend delays his juicy breakfast reward, but life's a compromise.

Freight exchanges are nothing new, and have been around for decades, but as technology develops we're seeing new technologies in the industry, making things even easier. The freight exchanges I represent (Haulage Exchange and Courier Exchange) have their own e-payment system for the quick transfer of invoices, a mobile phone network allowing drivers to be contacted by the freight exchange while on the road and a system of freight alerts which inform haulage companies and owner operators when new loads are posted on the freight exchange which are suitable for them.

It's come a long way from just driving freight from A to B, and no doubt there are some interesting developments for the humble freight exchange in the future.

Luke Humble is the Website manager for The Transport Exchange Group. Their two exchanges, Courier Exchange (http://www.courierexchange.co.uk) and Haulage Exchange (http://www.haulageexchange.co.uk), are two of the UK?s largest and fastest growing independent freight exchanges. The exchanges are neutral, actively managed and with strict quality control to ensure smooth running.

A Comparison on Cotton Carrier Bags With Other Products

Environmental hazards and the urgency to protect our planet has become a great determination in the entire universe. Due to these serious environmental issues, the entire population is opting for greener alternatives in their daily lives - for the present and the future.

Today, carrier bags are a popular consumer product. People need them everyday of their lives; manufacturers have gone to great heights with their creativity. They too have given serious thought to the environmental hazards and now produced an appropriate product to protect the environment. Cotton Carrier Bags are more advantageous and beneficial when compared with the common plastic bags or even the paper bags.

One of the prime advantages of this eco-friendly bag is that they can be used over and over again; they are long lasting and will reduce waste to a great extent. For example, unlike the many other bags found in the market which are binned after use, this bag can be used longer; explaining the reduction of garbage/waste. Apart from this feature, it also slows down the need for reproduction of more bags. The majority of bags that are used in the retail market are produced in bulk; simply because they are not reusable. They are used once and they got to be disposed. This proves the importance of producing reusable bags, which can be used a number of times rather than getting a new bag each time you go out shopping. Consider the amount of production that will reduce if more products such as Cotton Carrier Bags are introduced to the market.

Paper is also a good alternative for packaging needs, but it does have its issues towards the environment. The disadvantage is - to make paper you need to cut down trees. Consider the time required growing a tree to its fullest and the time needed to cut it down. The damage to the environment is devastating. The next drawback with paper bags is the volume of the product. It is bulky and it requires much more haulage than plastic bags. For example, you will only require one lorry to deliver 10,000 plastic bags and to deliver 10,000 paper bags you will require about ten lorries. Here again you could see the damage to the environment with fuel fumes of ten lorries compared to only one to transport plastic bags.

Considering these two environmental hazards it is very clear that Cotton Carrier Bags can be rated much more advantageous than the paper bags.

With plastic bags there is very little benefit if any, to the environment. The disadvantage with this type of bag is the damage done to landscapes with plastic bag litter. The more people use plastic bags the more will landfills increase. Eventually these bags end up littering the seas, beaches, streets and parks. It does not only litter the environment, but it also kills animals when it is consumed by them. The chain goes on because of the length of time taken for plastic to break up.

To summarise this article on the debate of which is the most environmentally friendly bag, the best solution will be to opt for Cotton Carrier Bags.

Here is a good opportunity to take your brand name into the market using this eco-friendly bag and also to stress and show the important aspect of your concern towards the environment.

For more information on Cotton Carrier Bags visit Promotional-Merchandise.org.uk. Here you will find more articles and tips on marketing items as well as a Quick Quotes form where you can conveniently submit your request in one form and get responses from multiple suppliers so that you can find the best price and promotional items for your marketing needs.

What You Need to Know About Cetane Improvers

If you're involved in the fuel industry, then you're probably aware of cetane improvers, and how important they are. If you're not, then perhaps you don't know much about them, and how they can improve the performance of your fuel and your diesel vehicles.

Here's what you need to know about cetane improvers.

1. The cetane number is used as a measure of the ignition quality of diesel. This number is the delay between ignition and combustion. Fuels with a higher number have a shorter delay, which is better.

2. This number is not the only factor to judge diesel on. The sulfur content, stability and cloud point might also be important to you, depending on the operating environment and the sort of vehicles you are using.

3. There is no benefit of using fuel with a higher cetane number than the engine manufacturer recommends. The engine should ideally work at its best with as low a number as possible to ensure compatibility with the widest range of fuels

4. Lower cetane diesel can cause problems if an engine manufacturer recommends that the vehicle is used with a higher number. The vehicle might be more difficult to start when the weather is cold, produce increased emissions and more smoke.

5. Cetane improvers work by modifying the combustion of the diesel, to ensure that the diesel burns more efficiently and the engine runs better.

6. These cetane improvers help to improve power. This is because the fuel is burnt at the optimum temperature and wastes less fuel, and means that more power is generated by the engine.

7. Because less diesel is wasted, there is an improvement in fuel economy, which helps to save money. This is even more important if you run a fleet of vehicles, such as public transport, a haulage company or taxis.

8. As the engine is more efficient, emissions are reduced, which means that the engine is much better for the environment

9. Cetane improvers can help with cold starting, which means that your engine will be under less stress in the winter, and less likely to not start due to the weather. This can be invaluable in colder climates, or countries that are cold for much of the year.

10. Cetane improvers help to improve fuel quality, and so the overall performance of the vehicle. Even though the performance is improved, less fuel is used, which helps to reduce the running costs of the vehicle. As the engine is working more efficiently, there is also less maintenance needed, so vehicles will spend more time on the road, and less time being serviced or repaired. This means that cost savings can be passed on to customers.

Now you know more about to make your diesel engines or fuel more effective, perhaps you need to think about Cetane Improvers.

Discover more about Cetane Improvers, and Diesel Additives, and find out how to make your fuels more effective.

Effects of the Economic Slump on the Road Haulage Industry

Now that the price of fuel has somewhat subsided, the road haulage industry is now gaining back a sense of normalcy. The global economic slump raised a lot of questions as to how the once booming road haulage industry would ever recover. It is very much common knowledge that once fuel prices finds itself in a volatile state, the price of transporting essential goods from one place to another is also very much affected. Companies are likely to jack up the prices of the goods they are transporting which eventually will leave the ordinary consumer confused as to why prices have gone up so much.

The once rising price of oil also had a toll on those who wanted to delve into the road haulage industry. Since trucking companies also had to drive up the prices of their services, the manufacturing institutions had no choice but to either limit the production of goods or to just raise their prices as well. Let's explore the pros and cons of these options. If manufacturing companies were to limit the production of goods, this would bode ill for the road haulage industry as they would have to also limit the number of truck drivers that they have on their roster. This means that those drivers fresh out of LGV training school would have spent their hard earned money in vain. If these companies went for the second option and raised their prices, consumer demand would drop as well. Less demand means manufacturing companies will have to cut production. This means more people with no jobs.

So if you're one of those fresh graduates of LGV training school, what you would be looking for is for the prices of fuel to be relatively stable. Yes, you'd want them to go down as well, but stability means that companies can more or less predict and make preparations when it comes to pricing their goods and services. This is good for you because this means that you will have a greater chance of getting a gig. After all, you did undergo LGV training and you wouldn't want this to go waste. And of course, as a consumer yourself, you'd want the prices of the goods that you buy to be at least stable.

This is the effect that the prices of oil have on not only the road haulage industry, but also the entire economy as well. From this point of view, you can clearly see how important the road haulage industry really is. The goods that you buy in the supermarket or at the mall were all transported using the very able truck drivers of the road haulage industry. If this fundamental industry is weakened by outside factors (like the unstable prices of oil), you can bet that everything else is also affected.

These are just a few concepts that is essential for everyone, especially those who've just had LGV training and are planning to go into the industry, should be aware of. A little knowledge goes a long way.

Pathway HGV have been at the forefront of LGV Training [http://pathwayhgv.co.uk] for over 10 years and have seen the effects of fuel prices and are in a informed position to offer a expert point of view of what is on the horizon.

Alternate Fuels For Lorries

So, we all know that the price of haulage fuel in the UK is ridiculous at the moment, with lorry fuel costing 50p per litre in the UK as compared to 25p per litre in mainland Europe. It really is a rip off bleeding us dry.

With many owner operators and haulage companies struggling with the increased strain on their budget, is there an alternative? Well the good news is yes, but the bad news is that some of the strange and wonderful haulage fuel sources aren't exactly widely available alternative to groupage techniques as a solution to cash flow problems...

Gas doesn't grow on trees y'know... oh wait

It may surprise some readers to learn that oil can in fact grow on trees! Well, not any tree, but the Brazillian Copaifera langsdorfi which can be tapped for a natural diesel fuel that needs just a little filtering before it is poured into your lorry's fuel tank. With just 182,500,000 acres of these plants, you could match the annual oil output of Saudi Arabia (to put that into perspective, the USA alone has 6,050,697,738 acres of land).

Of course there is a catch - this particular lorry fuel only has a shelf life of 3 months. The trees also take 15-20 years to mature, and who knows what solutions scientists may have found in that time?

Nothing says go like a cup of joe!

It may not exactly be practical but some bright sparks have managed to get their lorry fueled by coffee grounds. The concept-vehicle has a wood gas generator running and the coffee is burned into a combustible gas, which is then filtered through to the engine and bingo: a fully fledged caffeine-mobile! Turns out your pick-up-truck may be in need of a caffeine pick-me-up!

Trucks powered by illegal alcohol

On the opposite end of the spectrum, most people would argue that alcohol typically slows them down rather than making them more productive, but lorries, buses and trains in Sweden have found the reverse to be true!

Customs services in Sweden were getting so tired of pouring away the 185,000 gallons of alcohol seized each year, that they needed a new solution, which is where the idea of converting the booze to biogas to use as haulage fuel came from. It now powers over 1,000 trucks and buses and 1 train, making not only for a cheap (well, it's free for the customs officers!), but environmentally friendly solution.

One truck's trash is another truck's treasure

Last month, plans were announced for 300 rubbish trucks in California to switch to being powered by the very waste they take to the landfills. Landfill gas is to be purified and liquefied producing a massive 13,000 gallons of liquefied natural gas per day. As well as being a novel idea, it will reduce carbon emissions by more than 30,000 tonnes per year!

Would you like fries with that?

Last year, McDonalds announced that it would be recycling its cooking oil to be converted into biofuel for its delivery fleet. Previously the company's delivery fleet used 6 million litres of oil while delivering stock to its 1,200 restaurants when those very establishments had their own lorry fuel literally under their noses! As well as having great green credentials (don't they all?) the fuel does not have any odour, despite Matthew Howe, the senior vice-president of McDonalds UK pointing out what brilliant marketing that would be: "If our trucks drove around the High Street and it smelt of our fries, what a Pavlovian effect, it would be fantastic but unfortunately it does not".

So for the moment at least, it's probably best for haulage companies and owner operators to stick to traditional haulage fuels and make use of groupage techniques to keep costs down, but it's good to know that virtually anything can be used to power our vehicles in the future, when the government succeeds in bleeding our industry dry...

Lyall Cresswell is the Managing Director for the Transport Exchange Group. Haulage Exchange, their freight exchange for the 7.5 tonne and above market, offers an independent environment for its members to exchange loads and manage their groupage.

The Advantages of Shopping for Cheap Van Insurance Online

There are plenty of people who own a business that operate using vans or are private owners of vans who wonder if they should shop online for a van cover. It is extremely necessary for a person who is using a van to have a motor insurance or van cover that is adequate. Today insurance companies in the UK give extensions to drive in countries of the European Union either automatically or as a permanent/temporary adjustment to your van cover policy.

Online van cover is most often found to be cheaper because policy benefits are reduced and the policy excess is increased. Most insurance companies do not like to scrimp on the benefits and like to provide you with a van cover quote that has the best price! The advantage is that an online quote is immediately generated without wasting any time.

It is possible to compare numerous van cover quotes from different insurance companies and choose the one that is best suited to you. Not only are you able to get all the information you need within a few minutes but you are saved from tons of paperwork!

However, insurance companies make sure that it is easy to buy a policy by just making a telephone call to their offices. Account handlers and a team of consultants are well trained to make comparisons between insurance and van cover quotes in order to provide you with the best type of policy that is tailor made for your needs.

Since there are options and driving restrictions like named/insured and specified drivers etc., there is a need to make out van cover policies that suit your requirements. Therefore it is possible to avail of quotes online for inexperienced or young drivers, those with driving convictions, etc. There are plenty of vehicles that fit into insurance for vans. These are the small vans used for smaller loads, light vans, medium vans that carry loads that range from small to loads that are medium sized and the large vans that are the typical long wheeled vans.

Getting an appropriate van cover insurance policy will depend on whether you are using the vehicle for business or for personal purposes. Insurances for carrying goods for your business or hire etc. and also for other purposes like haulage and domestic/pleasure purposes are available.

Online van cover quotes will also mention the different levels of benefits, cover as well as excesses. These are confirmed by trained and qualified account handlers who can be spoken to on the phone. If you want to have peace of mind while driving on the road it is prudent and wise to get cheap van insurance as quickly as possible.

It is a fact that everyone's business is different and therefore policies should be designed in such a way that they meet the needs of the van owner. Therefore it is very important that a customer should pay only for the actual cover that is needed. If you are in need of the perfect cheap van insurance policy, then you should apply for it online so that you can be back on the roads! Make sure you engage the services of an insurance company that do not take short cuts in order to provide you with cheap insurance cover. Getting quality cover is important for you and your business.

For further information regarding cheap van insurance visit Swinton one of the UK's leading insurance companies.

Top Five Most Hazardous Lorry Loads

Most lorry drivers transport ordinary goods to their destination, pickup their backload if they've arranged one, and drive back. Most will need some kind of identification, even if it's only a name tag, or possibly a security pass. Few will need armed guards or refractive armour, but some do, and these are the truck and lorry drivers that transport hazardous and life threatening loads.

5. Toxic and Very Toxic

Many products and items in every day life have toxic elements or chemicals in them, but are rendered inert by their combinations, compounds and mixtures. Still, there is a definite need for businesses and factories to be provided with some toxic and very toxic chemicals. The sign for these is skull and crossbones - rarely a good thing - and you'll find this on the side of more lorries than you might think. The difference between toxic and very toxic is denoted by a small "T+" on the sign, but either way it's not a good idea to play about with these kinds of materials.

4. Weapons and Missiles

The army has an entire corps of lorry drivers and flatbed hauliers, most carrying innocent enough loads and backloads, including medical supplies, food and stationery. However, they also move ground to air rapier missiles, Javelin anti-tank missiles, 30mm chain gun ammo, HESH rounds and 120mm shells. Not the sort of thing you want involved in a pileup on the motorway. The army is careful with its haulage, but it certainly ranks high on the list of dangerous and hazardous loads.

3. Bio Hazard loads

You'd think that guns and ammo would be higher on our list than number three, but there are potentially much worse haulage loads to be transporting. Biohazard waste and active substances are classified into levels one to four, with four being the worst or most hazardous. Level one loads might be chicken pox or similar substances and are handled with gloves. However, level four substances are incredibly infectious, highly dangerous and usually need full hazmat suits to be handled. Loads that are labelled as bio hazards are very dangerous to transport, but are very import for scientific, medical and research purposes.

2. Nuclear loads

The last and two most hazardous types of haulage on our list are unlikely to be taken on the usual commercial carriers. It's highly unlikely that you could pick up a backload when dealing with substances that are radioactive, so these types of haulage are also unlikely to be taken on freelance. Nuclear loads (which can include fuel rods, waste or weapons grade radioactive materials) need very specific types of carrier to withstand both the radiation and any possibility of highjack.

1. Chemically and Biologically harmful loads

Schedule 1 chemical and biological substances are incredibly harmful to human, animal and plant life. Some of the substances are so virulent and destructive that only a small amount could wipe out all life in a large radius of any contamination. Worse even than nuclear spills or meltdowns, these substances can mutate and spread into water supplies, and through entire populations and across the world in a very short space of time. So moving them around the country in a regular lorry is probably not going to happen. This type of haulage is usually accompanied by armed guards and high security - with good reason.

Lyall Cresswell is the Website manager for The Transport Exchange Group. Their exchange for haulage operators, Haulage Exchange, offers exchanges and backloads for their clients with strict quality control to ensure smooth exchanges.

Road Haulage Services - Areas and Aspects Involved

The road haulage industry is an essential and vital part of any transportation system of a country. It is important in both developed and developing markets. It is important to manage even at places where the market is mature and there is little real growth potential.

The industry mainly comprises of three main sectors including

* The own-account distribution

* Contract distribution

* Shared-user distribution

Contract distribution and shared-user distribution together are known as public haulage or hire and reward haulage. Contract distribution companies are mostly involved in the broader area of supply chain management and logistics management.

The services that are provided on the road by the road wheeled vehicles. These services are sold from companies to companies. The word haulage refers to the charges made for transporting goods on carts or trucks and is nothing but the business of transporting goods from one place to other.

Different types of services include: road, local, overseas, refrigerated, group age, national, international, express, backloads and European haulage.

Normally these services are used for transporting iron ore, coal, supplies, and waste material. Road haulage service also amounts to carrying agricultural equipment, international, tankers, temperature controlled transport, tipping and constructing, warehousing and distribution. The cost incurred in loading such raw material into the machines at the mine site and then transporting the same to the processing site is called as service cost.

The main tasks include:

* Warehousing: Providing enough space for storage of freight and goods

* Distribution: Ensuring proper distribution of goods to the proper customers

* Transportation: Proper handling of freight to ensure minimal losses during transit and faster delivery

These provide different services and normally specialize in different areas like some of them are specializing in abnormal loads, crane vehicles, heavy and time critical assignments. Some of them also provide full and part load options.

Also these include providing specific services for the chilled and frozen food markets. Many companies simply concentrate in the area of general food, retail goods and automotive product markets.

Brought to you from Paul Black @ Freight 2 Transport - Road Haulage Services

Skip Hire In London - Keeping The Costs Down

London, it goes without saying, is big. Very big. Twelve million people, 117 square miles, it is the largest city in Europe and the most important financially. It has an extremely complicated infrastructure with varying degrees of efficiency. So much so that skip prices vary massively from Cockfosters to Morden and from Ealing to Walthamstow.

This is mainly down to real estate prices, haulage and landfill costs (although we recycle most of the waste in our skips, there is a small percentage that has to go to landfill).

One of the biggest expenses pertaining to skip hire in London is the cost of the skip permit. If a skip is placed on a public highway then permit must be obtained from the council. In a city like London where driveways are scarce and on road parking even scarcer, many people looking to hire a skip will find themselves with this extra expense.

In London, there is no set rule for these permits - each borough has their own set of rules. Some councils like Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham and Islington insist that the customer has to organise the permit. Others demand that the skip company has to arrange it. This is because it is sometimes necessary for the house owner to outline fully where the skip will be positioned. Some councils like Wandsworth charge up to £107 for a permit, others like Ealing cost £20. Some permits last one week, others last three months. The variance is incomprehensible, but one thing is certain, they are STRICTLY NECESSARY. Without one, both the skip hire company and the customer could face fines running into thousands of pounds.

Of course there are other charges, including the infamous congestion charge. If you need a skip in the following postcodes, W1, W2, W8, W10, W11, W14, WC1, WC2, SW1, SW3, SW5, SW7, SW10, EC1, EC2, EC3 or EC4, you are required to pay congestion zone charges. This charge is £8 each day the skip wagon enters the zone. So if you want the skip delivered on Monday and picked up Thursday it will cost £16. If the skip is going to be delivered and collected on the Monday, it will only be £8.

To keep the cost of skip hire London down to a minimum, Topskips can offer is a 'wait and load' service. This is where the wagon arrives at your site with an empty skip and waits for 30-45 minutes while you load all your waste in to it. This eliminates the cost of a permit and keeps the congestion charge (if you live in the zone) to the £8 minimum. It also prevents the old and extremely irritating problem of your neighbors using your skip to get rid of their waste!

Marge Dubois runs you through the complications of hiring a skip in the capital. For more info click here for your FREE guide - http://www.topskips.com/seven-secrets-skip-hire.php The Seven Secrets to Successful Skip Hire

Mechanical Haulage in the Cornfields, a Steam Wagon Helps Bring in the Harvest Photographic Poster Print, 18x24

Mechanical Haulage in the Cornfields, a Steam Wagon Helps Bring in the Harvest is digitally printed on archival photographic paper resulting in vivid, pure color and exceptional detail that is suitable for any museum or gallery display. Finding that perfect piece to match your interest and style is easy and within your budget!

Price: $39.99

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Medium/Heavy Duty Truck Technician Certification Test Preparation Manual

Updated to reflect the most current ASE tasks, this book combines a clear writing style, in-depth coverage, and abundant practice questions and tests to deliver a tool that will help trucking technicians and students successfully prepare for all eight areas of the Medium/Heavy Duty Truck certification exams. Each chapter of the Medium/Heavy Duty Truck Technician Certification Test Preparation Manual, 2nd Edition is devoted to thoroughly covering one specific ASE truck test, resulting in eight core chapters that instill the knowledge and skills needed to get certified. These chapters include extensive coverage of all the ASE tasks associated with each test, ASE-style questions to familiarize users with the testing format, as well as hints to encourage users to be actively involved in the problem-solving process. Pre-tests, post-tests, and sample tests are all accompanied by answers and answer analysis so users can receive immediate feedback for a continuous learning process.

Price: $67.95

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Matchbox Models of Yesteryear Y62 1932 Model AA Ford 1 1/2 Ton Truck "G.W. Peacock Haulage" Lime Green 1:46 Scale Diecast

Matchbox Models of Yesteryear Y62
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"G.W. Peacock Haulage"
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Historic Print (M): Electric locomotive for mine haulage under construction in erecting shop, Baldwin Locomo

This is a museum quality, reproduction print on premium paper with archival/UV resistant inks.

Date: Meadville, Pa. : Keystone View Co., manufacturers, publishers, c1905.

Subject: Baldwin Locomotive Works--Facilities--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--1900-1910. Railroad locomotive industry--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--1900-1910.

Notes: H70660 U.S. Copyright Office. No. 7089.

Format: Stereographs 1900-1910.Photographic prints 1900-1910.

SOURCE: Library of Congress

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3842 1/24 DAF XF105 Road Haulage Tractor

This is a great sweatshirt. Great gift. All TopExpressions products are made under strict quality controls. 100% cotton, weight aprox 25oz.

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Faller HO Haulage Contractor 'Kowalski' Kit

DISCONTINUED WHEN SOLD OUT 14 x 10-3/8 x 4-1/4"

Perfect for any period layout where horse-drawn carriages and wagons are a staple! Features various buildings and accessories to complete the scene.

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EXCLUSIVE PARKING " ONLY WORLD'S BEST HEAVY HAULAGE DRIVER " PARKING SIGN OCCUPATIONS

This sign is made of indoor/outdoor weatherproof.040 polystryrene (plastic as thick as 2 credit cards on top each other).This sign comes with rounded corners and one hole at each end for hanging.This is a great gift

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Sweatshirt Woman Navy Blue " Word Heavy Haulage Driver " Occupations

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" HEAVY HAULAGE DRIVER PARKING ONLY " PARKING SIGN OCCUPATIONS

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Heavy Lifting and Hauling

One of the problems with large cranes is the difficulty of transporting them from site to site. Complete containerisation is now seen as a solution, and in this video we see the world's first containerised crane - with a lift capacity of 2,000 tonnes - transported from Rotterdam to New Brunswick, Canada. At a petrochemical site, it is reassembled and begins its lifting duties. A second feature shows an industrial vessel transported on SPMTs through night-time Bratislava, Slovakia. It is then lifted by a hydraulically operated 3,000-tonne-lift crane whose counterweight is made of transport containers that are filled with locally available materials. High in the Austrian Alps, a dredger, barge and associated equipment are transported by road to a dam reservoir 2,200 metres up at the foot of the Gross Glockner mountain. This is demanding terrain for the truck combinations and their drivers. Finally, a brick-built factory recreation room is moved in one piece for preservation in Groningen, Holland. New steel H-beams are placed under the building which is then hoisted on to SPMTs for transport.

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Electric locomotive for mine haulage under construction in erecting shop, Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.A. Reprint (15 x 12 inches)

High quality reproduction of a photograph from the Stereograph Card Collection of the Library of Congress. 1860-1945, with the bulk being from 1870-1920. Stereo card photographs, featuring sites around the world and popular topics such as expositions, industry, disasters, and portraits of presidents. This photo is of the following Electric locomotive for mine haulage under construction in erecting shop, Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.A. Reprint (15 x 12 inches). These are High Quality Prints offered by Blackstone Lithographs.

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Saucy Haulage Ballads

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Heavy Transport [VHS]

For machinery enthusiasts, this is a film showing seven exceptionally heavy or bulky loads moved by road in Europe and the United States. Perhaps the most striking item is the 1000-ton U-boat, salvaged off the coast of Denmark and loaded for shipping to Liverpool's Merseyside maritime museum.

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Sweatshirt Woman Red " World S Best Heavy Haulage Driver Occupations

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Big Brown: The Untold Story of UPS

Although its brown vans are on every block and its delivery service reaches more than 200 countries, UPS is among the world’s most underestimated and misunderstood companies.

For the first time, a UPS “lifer” tells the behind-the-scenes story of how a small messenger service became a business giant. Big Brown reveals the remarkable 100-year history of UPS and the life of its founder Jim Casey—one of the greatest unknown capitalists of the twentieth century. Casey pursued a Spartan business philosophy that emphasized military discipline, drab uniforms, and reliability over flash—a model that is still reflected in UPS culture today.

Big Brown examines all the seeming paradoxes about UPS: from its traditional management style and strict policies coupled with high employee loyalty and strong labor relations; from its historical “anti-marketing” bias (why brown?) to its sterling brand loyalty and reputation for quality.

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Transporting Exceptional Loads

Perhaps the highlight is the road transport of a Boeing 747 on three different trailers to a German museum. Although the fuselage of the aircraft was 70 metres long and 18 metres high, it is not the largest item on the video. That was the new bollard-shaped head office of the Dutch company Mammoet seen transported whole over land and water to its permanent site. Other items included are the transport of bridge sections, boats and a pair of valuable equestrian bronze sculptures. Throughout the programme, the skills of the transport companies and their personnel are explained and a feature is included on how modular trailers are built.

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Alaska Highway [VHS]

There are three strands to this video filmed in 1998 in the Canadian North-west. Firstly, the highway itself, built through beautiful wilderness in 1942 as a military supply line when the American continent was threatened by the Japanese from the Alaskan coast. This all-year route offers extreme conditions from temperatures 50 Celsius below and freezing rain to mud and soft going. Keeping the highway open and safe are major operations. Then there is the main industry - forestry. The video gives insights into the exploitation and stewardship of the world's second largest forestry area, and examines a variety of machines in operation including a 300hp Chieftain D LGP crawler. But the stars are the truckers and their vehicles, working under pressure for timber haulage, wood products or the oil industry. The respect they show the highway and their trucks is clear - an example of highly professional transport work.

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Goodheart-Willcox Automotive Encyclopedia: Fundamental Principles, Operation, Construction, Service, and Repair (Goodheart-Wilcox Automotive Encyclopedia)

A complete automotive library all in one book. In addition to exploring the many sciences involved in vehicle operation, this text also details the design, construction, operation, troubleshooting, service, and repair of today's cars and light trucks. Previous edition: c1995.

Price: $50.64

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Heavy Lifting and Hauling [VHS]

Transport enthusiasts should be intrigued by the items included in this video by Dutch trucking specialists, Videoprofessionals. One of the problems with large cranes is the difficulty of transporting them from site to site. Complete containerization is now seen as a solution, and in this video we see the world's first containerized crane - with a lift capacity of 2000 tonnes - transported from Rotterdam to New Brunswick, Canada. At a petrochemical site it is reassembled and begins its lifting duties. A second feature shows an industrial vessel transported on SPMTs through night-time Bratislava, Slovakia. It is then lifted by a hydraulically operated 3000-tonne-lift crane whose counterweight is made of transport containers that are filled with locally available materials. High in the Austrian Alps, a dredger, barge and associated equipment are transported by road to a dam reservoir 2200 metres up at the foot of the Gross Glockner mountain. This is demanding terrain for the truck combinations and their drivers. Finally, a brick-built factory recreation room is moved in one piece for preservation in Grogingen, Holland. New steel H-beams are placed under the building which is then hoisted on to SPMTs for transport.

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Historic Print (L): Electric locomotive for mine haulage under construction in erecting shop, Baldwin Locomo

This is a museum quality, reproduction print on premium paper with archival/UV resistant inks.

Date: Meadville, Pa. : Keystone View Co., manufacturers, publishers, c1905.

Subject: Baldwin Locomotive Works--Facilities--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--1900-1910. Railroad locomotive industry--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--1900-1910.

Notes: H70660 U.S. Copyright Office. No. 7089.

Format: Stereographs 1900-1910.Photographic prints 1900-1910.

SOURCE: Library of Congress

Price:

Click here to buy from Amazon

Heavy Transport

Perhaps the most striking item is the 1,000-ton U-boat salvaged off the coast of Denmark and loaded for shipping to Liverpool's Merseyside maritime museum. On the road, the 87-metre-long transport is managed by computerised platform trucks, and the same technology is seen in use in Florida to move the central core of a coal gasification unit across Interstate 75. At the destination, the world's largest crane, a Demag CC-12000, hoists the equipment to complete the plant. The other loads shown are moved by truck combinations along highways and past the obstacles presented by small towns and villages. Most of the loads are industrial units ranging between 100 and 460 tons, though some lighter freight is included. The commentary draws out the skills of the drivers and operators, working patiently to minimum tolerances and with various degrees of forward planning and assistance.

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Transporting Exceptional Loads [VHS]

Each of the exceptional loads shown in this programme was a project requiring individual attention and equipment. The skills of the transport companies and their personnel are explained and a feature is included on how modular trailers are built.

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Hauliers agree to stay away from Cambridgeshire residents

Construction and waste hauliers in Cambridgeshire have reached an agreement with the local council to re-route hundreds of truck journeys away from residential areas.

Mick George Ltd, based in St Ives, Cambs, has agreed with Cambridgeshire County Council to direct about 200 truck journeys away from the villages of Sutton, Bluntisham and Earith each week by ordering drivers to use the road to Block Fen via the A141 Chatteris bypass.

Cambridge waste management specialist Donarbon will divert about 220 lorries away from Haddenham and Wilburton, although its smaller skip vehicles will continue to access the villages to service local businesses and households.

In addition, Cambridge aggregates company M Dickerson will re-route the 80 journeys per week that have previously used the A1123/A1421 through Wilburton and Haddenham.

The move follows years of complaints from residents about noise coming from trucks driving past their homes.

Jon Stump, finance director at Mick George, says: "We always have a number of planning applications with the council and we look to maintain good relations with them.

"This is about working in co-operation with the council to minimise disruption for local residents."

Gary Bell, MD at M Dickerson, adds: "We have listened to the concerns of local communities and in response we took action earlier this year to re-route our through mineral traffic."

Cllr Philip Read, chairman of Cambridgeshire County Council's development control committee, says: "What is very pleasing is that these local haulage companies have been eager to bring in their own routes or enter agreements."

View the original article here

Council Consultation A Waste Of Time

 State Member for Kawana Jarrod Bleijie addresses last night's meeting.

OVER 1600 submissions, mostly from residents in the Sippy Downs community and the word that was continually uttered at the local association’s meeting last night was, ‘disappointing’.

That was the response to Council’s Structure Plan for the new Palmview development which will now see up to 17,712 residents neighbour the existing Sippy Downs community.

Member for Kawana Jarrod Bleijie was visibly angry at the lack of support from Council to the local community’s concerns over the adjacent Greenfield development site.

“Despite all of the rhetoric about our place, our future, the countless community submissions, parliamentary petitions, deputations to Ministers and Councillors, it all seems to have been just a waste of time,” Mr Bleijie said.

“Council’s planning portfolio spokesman Russell Green, while patting himself on the back over the approval of the Palmview development, says it showed the Government that Council could also handle the massive Caloundra South site.

“It shows we are able to do this, we have the skill sets, we have the political will.........we believe we can do it with the Caloundra South site too.....let the Council and the community chart its own destiny,”  he said.

“The point is that the reverse is true - the Council is not allowing the community to chart its own destiny,” Mr Bleijie said.

“The north-south Greenlink route which cuts the master planned community of Sippy Downs in half, access to the Bruce Highway through a service road, the sequencing of the development and the amount of access points has been the major concerns of Sippy Downs residents.

“The main fight has been to ensure that this new development will not adversely impact on Sippy Downs.

When Mr Bleijie questioned Council last night at the public meeting about the route of the east west Greenlink, Council could not give a definitive answer as to where it would be located, what environmental impact have been considered, let alone the cost and who was going to pay for it.

“This highlights the sense that people should be concerned when Council are submitting Structure Plans to Ministers for rubber stamping, when so many issues remain unanswered and not costed,” Mr Bleijie said.

“Claymore Road, the major initial access point is not even being duplicated to a four lane road.

“The east-west Greenlink is just pie in the sky planning, it will cost a lot more than Council’s anticipated $100 million and nobody wants to pay for it.

“There are also huge environmental concerns to consider in the actual location of this so called ‘Green’-link.

“The proposed southern access to Caloundra Road crosses the Mooloolah River and straight through a 50 year sand mining project – with the road acting as one of the major haulage routes to cart sand from the mine.

“The other access point is the south-west road directs the traffic straight to Meridan - which has its own traffic problems at the moment.

“In a perfect world, it would be nice to think that the majority of the residents in Palmview are going to throw away there car keys and use buses, but the reality is that in the short term this isn’t going to happen.

“This development was a test for the current Council and the majority of the Councillors failed the local interest test in a big way,” Mr Bleijie said.

Only two Councillors voted against the proposal – Cr Christian Dickson and Cr Ted Hungerford.

“I haven’t given up hope yet and nor should the community,” Mr Bleijie said.

“Last week I informally spoke with the Minister, Stirling Hinchliffe and there are still opportunities where the state can intervene in the second state interest check.

“I will continue to pursue these opportunities and work through the options with the local community association.

“It begs the question that if Council can’t get a 16,000 population development at Palmview right, then how will it cope with the planning for a 50,000 population development at Caloundra South.

“Why does Council bother with community consultation when clearly retaining the north south Greenlink is against the majority of submissions,” Mr Bleijie said.

View the original article here

Company profile for Unilever - The Guardian

Unilever is a multinational corporation selling consumer goods including foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. Unilever is a dual-listed company consisting of Unilever NV in Rotterdam and Unilever PLC in London.

Unilever owns more than 400 brands including 11 "billion-dollar brands", which each achieve annual sales in excess of €1 billion.

Revenue (£m and currency as quoted)

39,823 (2009)

Number of employees

163,000

Origin of ownership

UK/Netherlands

Geographical presence

Operates in 100 countries

Key contact

Santiago Gowland

• Measured by voliume, around half of Unilever's raw materials are agricultural or forestry products. As a result, the company's principle environmental concerns are changing weather patterns, water-scarcity and unsustainable farming practices.
• Unilever measures its product categories against four green indicators covering water, waste, sustainable sourcing and greenhouse gas emissions.
• Most CO2 emissions associated with Unilever brands occur during consumer use as products require energy to heat water for cooking and washing.

Emissions & Energy

• The company's aim is to reduce the carbon intensity of manufacturing operations by 25% by 2012 (measured as tonnes CO2 per tonne of production against a 2004 baseline).
• In 2008, the company reduced CO2 emissions by 1.6% per tonne of production compared to 2007.
• Unilever has reduced the carbon intensity of its energy use by 39% between 1995 and 2008. This represents a 43% reduction in absolute terms.
• The company is investing in more efficient power and steam generation technology and the development of less energy intensive manufacturing processes. For example:
- In Europe, Unilever has at least three CHP plants which use waste steam and hot water to generate electricity.
- The Cu Chi factory in Vietnam uses solar panels to preheat water for steam generation.
- 2m point-of-sale ice cream freezer cabinets are being replaced with energy-efficient HC alternatives.
• The company plans to reduce indirect impacts by working with customers and suppliers to address wider impacts. For example, Ben & Jerry's has a Lick Global Warming campaign and an ice cream flavour called Fossil Fuel.
• Around 4m tonnes of CO2 are produced each year because of Unilever's transport and product distribution requirements.

Water

• Unilever relies on water for:
- Sourcing: the cultivation of agricultural raw materials
- Manufacturing operations: cleaning, cooling, as an ingredient
- Consumers: use of home care and personal products
• Unilever aims to:
- Reduce water in manufacturing
- Work with suppliers on issues such as crop irrigation
- Innovation on product design
• Since 1995, Unilever has reduced the amount of water used per tonne of production by 63% by minimising water use and maximising water recycling.
• During 2008, there was a 3% reduction in water intensity compared to 2007 – from 3.05 m3 to 2.96 m3 per tonne of production.
• The water intensity of food production has dropped from 5.27 m3 in 2003 to 4.23 m3 in 2007 per tonne of production.
• Products aimed at reduced consumer water consumption include the One Rinse Comfort fabric conditioner. In Vietnam, One Rinse Comfort reduces the water needed by two-thirds and sales rose by nearly 30% in 2008.

Waste

• Waste intensity has reduced by 68% per tonnes of production between 1995 and 2008, despite a 4.3% increase in the last year (7.56 kg/tonnes in 2007 to 7.89 kg/tonne).
• The company says this increase was due to:
- Legislative changes
- Under-capacity in effluent treatment
- Planned disposal of accumulated and inherited hazardous waste
• Changing packaging design is one of the ways in which the company wants to use to reduce waste impacts.
• The PVC policy commits to replacing PVC in all packaging by the end of 2010, where there are viable alternatives.

Resources

• Agricultural and forestry crops make up around half by volume of raw materials used by Unilever.
• Unilever buys approximately 12% of the world's black tea, 6% of the world's tomatoes and 3% of its palm oil.
• Unilever established guidelines for good agricultural practice based on 11 indicators including water, energy, pesticide use and animal welfare. Growers and third-party suppliers are encouraged to comply.
• Most of the world's oil palm is grown in South-East Asia where the clearance and burning of forests contributes to global warming.
• Following a public challenge by Greenpeace, Unilever has agreed to draw all their palm oil from certified sustainable sources by 2015.
• Unilever have also agreed to support a moratorium on further deforestation in South-East Asia.
• At the end of 2009 around 80% of Lipton Yellow Label and PG tips tea sold in Western Europe came from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms.
• Unilever also uses paper and board, plastic, glass, aluminium, steel and mixed material laminates (for sachets and pouches) in its manufacturing processes.

• Founding member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which it continues to chair.
• Worked with Greenpeace to build a global coalition of companies, banks and NGOs to break the link between deforestation and the cultivation of oil palm.
• Unilever worked alongside Tesco to persuade the Consumer Goods Forum, a global alliance of 300 leading manufacturers and retailers, to work together to end deforestation.
• Working with Greenpeace on climate-friendly refrigerants in an alliance called Refrigerants Naturally!
• Founding members of the Carbon Disclosure Project's Supply Chain Leadership Collaboration.
• CEO Paul Polman co-chairs a sustainability steering group of The Consumer Goods Forum with Sir Terry Leahy. They have set out the vision for the sustainability programme to drive and communicate sustainability improvements throughout the value chain of the consumer goods industry.
• Participated in a 2008 event hosted by Wal-Mart on water stewardship, sharing expertise on reducing water use at all steps of a product lifecycle.
• Participated in an initiative with Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA), the UK Department for International Development and Wageningen University to train smallholder farmers in sustainable tea cultivation.

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Recycling and work permits on States agenda - Channel Television

Jersey's States have adopted 31 to 11 a proposition by the Deputy of St John to identify a site on publicly owned land which would lend itself to the recycling of waste materials.

The States have agreed to undertake a review of suitable sites and to report back to the States within six months. The idea is that such a site would then be run by a licensed haulage contractor.

The Council of Ministers responded to the proposition suggesting it was not the responsibility of government to identify land requirements for private waste operators who would eventually be running the site.

There was also debate about whether the search should be limited to just one site and indeed whether the search shouldn't include private land as the aim surely was to identify the best suited site.

Also on the agenda Deputy Paul Le Claire asked members to set up a working group to consider the merits of introducing a work and residence permit system for the island. A controversial measure he thinks would protect jobs and housing for locals. That proposition was defeated but as a compromise Deputy Le Claire agreed to join the Migration Scrutiny Sub Panel - which is already reviewing the island's migration legislation.

The next States meeting is on October 12th.

Currently displaying the top 1 commentsPosted By: Cynic - St.Brelade on 01-Oct-2010
So we are building a new incinerator and NOTHING was put into plans for recycling. Seems a bit damn obvious to me....put it all in the same damn place.
Currently displaying the top 1 comments

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FIRMS would pay a quarry owner in Paignton hundreds of pounds to tip

FIRMS would pay a quarry owner in Paignton hundreds of pounds to tip construction waste at the site, a trial has been told.
Alexander Sim, 56, who ran Alex Sim Plant Hire, had lorries arriving several times a day to use the Yalberton Tor Quarry.
Many of them would bring waste from major construction projects in the Bay.


Sim denies 10 counts of illegally using the quarry as a waste tip.
He claims the deliveries were used to build an access ramp for the quarry. Illegal waste was not accepted, he said.
The third day of the trial heard more prosecution evidence, some of it about the nature of construction waste and whether it could be legally dumped.
The trial has already heard metal, wood, tyres and other illegal materials were found by Environment Agency investigators.
The jury was told haulage firms would bring lorry-loads of waste to the quarry, have it weighed and tipped over the edge.
The Environment Agency claims some of this waste was not suitable to be dumped at the site.
Invoices produced in court showed Sim charged about £5 a tonne for the tipping.
One witness, Kenneth Wade, of Bay Skips, said his firm dumped clean soil at the site for at least five years from 2000.
He said inappropriate waste, such as plastic and metal, was not taken to the quarry. Bay Skips, he said, would take up to 60 loads a month, each weighing six tonnes.
Cross examined by Adam Vaitilungham QC, he said the dump was 'professionally run' and had strict rules about what type of waste was tipped.
"Mr Sim made it known to staff that contaminated waste was totally unacceptable," he said.
Sim denies 10 counts of operating an illegal installation except under a permit and failing to complete signed waste transfer notes.
The trial continues.
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