Real culprits in UK lorry driver shortages

 Logistics has long been the poor relation of Britain's economy and despite all the breast beating by interested parties not much has changed but who are the real culprits who have given the industry a reputation for low pay, which is a key driver for workplace shortages?

Right now there is a clutch of problems plaguing global logistics but many of these, like the chaos surrounding container shortages and long shipping delays, are short-term. Years before Brexit and Covid 19 the seismic change in the way we all shop exposed the perennial problem of driver shortages, currently estimated at 60,000 in Britain. The ingredients of this shortage were low pay, long unsocial hours, dreadful roadside facilities for drivers to wash, eat and feel secure in their parking compounds, all experiences unknown on the Continent where drivers are treated with more respect.

The factors that led to this parlous state ultimately lie at the door of manufacturers and retailers whose obsession with maintaining good profit margins was at the expense of the 3PLs' margins which were often wafer thin, causing bankruptcies. This is important because much of Britain's goods movement is done by 3PLs often locked into 5-year contracts where they have little room for manoeuvre when their costs rise. In short the 3PLs were screwed long term by their clients and were helped in this by their exploitation of cheaper, foreign drivers.

It has been aired that the labour shortages are being blamed for distress in other areas outside logistics, like in food production, and here the post Brexit return of EU nationals, including drivers to their native countries, is blamed. Such distress, however, is short-term and can be addressed by a mixture of automation and better pay and conditions. In the broccoli picking fields of England, for example, a robo veg picker has been successfully trialled and while costing £400,000 it can replace seven human pickers who can earn up to £30 an hour and such robots are likely to fall in cost when economies of scale improve. 

So if we see driver and warehouse operators' incomes rise would the downside by significant inflation? This is a difficult one to call but we should remember that logistics (distribution and storage) forms less than 10% of a product's retail price and when the current, transitory logistics upheavals have normalised it should not be too worrisome. Meanwhile some mea culpa would be in order by the ultimate culprits, namely manufacturers and retailers, who are hoist by their own petard.

More respect for drivers would see less of this

Britain's first electric general cargo port crane proves 'green' economics

 As a UK general cargo port Ipswich may not be big league but it surely ranks with the best when proving the case for 'green' port economics. Ports going fully electric when handling container movements, particularly on mainland Europe, have been around for over a decade but when handling a wide range of general cargoes they are much scarcer but the owners of Ipswich, Associated British Ports, saw not only the business case for going all electric with their cranes but also listened to their customer's desires.

Hitherto, Ipswich, which handles over two millions tonnes of general cargo a year, worth over £600 million, making it the biggest export port for agricultural products, relied on a Mantsinen 95R diesel crane. Its two new, free-ranging cranes on order, the 95RE, part of a £4 million investment, are due to begin service next year and are believed by Cooper Specialised Handling, Mantsinen's UK partner in the supply contract, to be the first fully mains electric powered hydraulic cranes in a general UK port application. What's more they have been configured around the idiosyncrasies on the quays of the Orwell river. 

The new models, for example, will benefit from a 4mt centre undercarriage, some 2.5mt narrower than the standard crane yet does not compromise operational speed. They will be capable of handling over 500 tonnes an hour and its Insight telematics system will work out the cost per tonne moved. 

So what of the economic case? ABP has already reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 35% at Ipswich since 2014 and its latest investment will mean all its cargo handling operations will be fully electrified within five years, much reducing its CO2 emissions and noise. This is helped by the existing 4,000 solar panels which will generate enough energy for the two new cranes. Its investment in an electricity sub station infrastructure will future-proof it to accommodate up to four electric cranes working concurrently on the same quay. ABP, which plans to decarbonise all its ports, estimates the electric cranes will save over 40% in energy costs and to quote a company spokesman: "Going green does not cost the Earth."

A Mantsinen 95ER electric crane at work in Rauma

  

Very narrow aisle working gets safer

 Long-known for their space-saving advantages, articulated forklifts, however, require higher safety-conscious drivers when working in aisles 1.6mt-1.8mt wide than needed for drivers of conventional, counterbalanced and reach trucks in much wider aisles. This is one reason the more conventional forklift drivers need to retrain on articulated trucks. 

Collisions between forklifts and racking are a major cause of the worst kind of accidents after fire, namely domino-style rack collapses. Many of these collisions may be minor but how often are they reported to management? Accumulated, unreported damage of that nature if left ignored can lead to a disastrous collapse eventually. 

Now, however, that risk can be significantly cut if the trucks are fitted with Smart Stop, 'touch-sensitive' sensor, a recent, innovative device from Narrow Aisle fitted to their Flexi trucks which disables a truck after a collision with racking or pallets when in aisles. The drivers cannot override the system and so are forced to report the accidents to management for appropriate action. 

Smart Stop is quickly fitted to a truck's left and right-sided flanks and should go a long way to negating the problems of drivers who fail to pass on details of racking collisions. In Britain alone there are about 100 domino-style racking collapses, some involving fatalities.

To cut the risk of this with articulated forklifts consider adding touch-sensitive Smart Stop sensors to Flexi trucks.  

Why climate change solutions may fail

 Throughout history Man has faced many threats but none has reached the global level posed by climate change today. The many causes have been highlighted and solutions proffered but are we shying away from one cause because it is considered almost taboo to discuss it? 

It will surely never be enough to rely on cleaner energy technologies alone to stem Nature's indifference to Man's proposes. The source of the problem, Man, will not only need changing of long-treasured habits like meat-based diets but a much greater effort to control population numbers responsibly. 

We all know that in developed countries the social fabric and high incomes have seen reproductive rates  fall to at or below replacement levels but that is far from so in developing countries where social and religious mores play a role. There is no reason to believe that if these countries reach a higher level of prosperity that they too will not feel the need to maintain higher reproductive levels but it will need non-economic changes. The migration flows, for example, are not only fuelled by economic pressures but political and religious clashes. The former will not be relieved until misgoverance and corruption have been excised and the latter will hold back economic progress. 

Comprehensive policies to fight climate change should, therefore, include demographic, political, social and religious changes if the cleaner energy technologies proposed are to have any chance of success. If not, Nature may do it for us in frightful ways.     

    Nature reflects the four horsemen of the apocalypse?

Reform e-commerce habits or face road gridlock?

 If humanity is to pay more than lip service to the need for a sustainable environment it seemingly has no choice but to reform its attitudes towards e-commerce or face the perfect storm that could lead to the UK's road network , in particular, grinding to a halt by the end of this decade. That, at least, is the view of Colliers' UK head of research and economics, Walter Boettcher, and is one hard to gainsay. 

When some 40 years ago I wrote in Materials Handling News on e-commerce potential I said that the coming of e-commerce could deliver an environmental boon by reducing weekly car journeys to supermarkets and accidents. What I had not envisaged was the way that boon would be undermined by the fatuous way online shopping has been allowed to develop, namely consumers ordering just single, small low-value items and multiple items with every intention of returning all but one, a practice today that most online retail suppliers admit can be loss-making through reverse logistics costs. 

The current e-commerce distribution model has a substantial environmental footprint that may equal, if not exceed, that to traditional bricks and mortar retailing, averred Mr Boettcher, adding that the anticipated large scale repositioning of these assets into other uses could unwittingly exacerbate the problem and undermine the path to net-zero.

Colliers predicts that more than 38,000 additional HGVs will be required in Britain to satisfy existing demand, impacting all pledges to reach net-zero. This predicted increase in HGV movements risks counteracting any decarbonisation of transport seen in the shift to electrifying vehicles and highlights the challenge of balancing economic growth, our changing way of life post Covid and the increasing, pressing needs to counteract the climate emergency. 

Unless consumers become more aware of how their e-commerce deliveries affect their carbon footprint so their decisions go beyond the most convenient or cost effective, then Nature's recent warnings will surely be just a mild foretaste of far worse to come. 

                Recent devastating flood destruction in Germany a foretaste of things to come?

Climate change poses new logistics problems

 Much has been said about climate change remedial action but little progress has been made. Climate change deniers still point to much bigger changes long before the advent of Man and while that is true there are still, nevertheless, uniquely new conditions today, in particular a huge number of people totally dependent on global logistics for survival through trade. 

The threat to humanity from climate change is, perhaps, greater than most people imagine. There are basically two kinds of threats: the destruction of the means of production and the damage to infrastructure that facilitates the distribution of that production. Droughts, floods, heat, typhoons and hurricanes can all damage food production as well as destabilise society through mass migrations and conflicts over resources, like water. 

The second threat, namely damage to the infrastructure like roads and railways, is no less worrying. Extreme heat can buckle train rails, melt roads and close airports, making them unusable while extreme floods can wash away roads, bridges and railways. Rising temperatures will also raise the risks of forest fires while melting permafrost would release methane gas far more harmful than CO2 emissions. 

There is one other uncomfortable problem which is almost taboo to discuss. We cannot deny that growing population numbers is part of the climate change problems and if we do not address that properly Nature's insouciant ways may do it for us savagely. 

                                           The effect of heat-buckled rails

Beware the banksters

As global wealth grows so does the level of rapacious greed and nowhere is this more evident than among the global banks which took on a new dimension following their role in the American sub-prime housing mortgages scandal that burst in 2008.

Pressed to rebuild their weakened balance sheets, they egregiously embarked on criminal devices helped by complicit lawyers, accountants, land valuers and insolvency practitioners to steal an estimated £100 billion from their own customers with viable, profitable businesses.  

Labelled the biggest bank robbery in history, the ruses used were vehicles euphemistically described as global restructuring group, specialist manning devices and restructuring business experts brought in by the banks who, once in control of companies after suddenly calling in their loans would sell them off at a fraction of their worth to American vulture funds. Just one senior UK bank manager was found guilty of defrauding the bank's customers of £1 billion.

In this monstrous culture of "sometimes you let customers hang themselves because missed opportunities mean missed bonuses" it is hardly surprising that the banks left a swathe of SME owners suffering from marriage breakdowns, homelessness and suicides. 

The lesson is choose the smaller banks if feasible and always check the small print, even if it needs bringing in independent contract assessors.

London's towers to mammon the new reptilian dinosaurs?

 

New articulated forklift entrant promises UK market shake-up

The UK articulated forklift market faces its biggest potential upset in years as a new entrant makes its debut with truck prices that could undercut its three rivals by up to 30%. The company is MiMA, founded in China 27 years ago and offering a broad range of electric handling trucks, tow tractors and specials like die-handling trucks of up to 30t lift capacity This last expertise is what particularly attracted Wilmat Ltd,* newly appointed UK agent for MiMA, who produces similar specials but only up to 15t capacity. They will be handling the MiMA articulated product range roll out across the UK and Ireland in the second half of this year.

MiMA developed its articulated forklift range last year with rated capacities between 1,500kg and 3,000kg but only the 2,000kg model will be available in the UK at present in two versions: 1) narrow aisle up to 10mt lift in safe working aisle widths of 1.9mt (800mm x 1200mm pallet) and 2) a wider version for 2.1mt aisle widths. All models will be electric only with lithium-ion offered as an option. There is optional fingertip control with the hydraulic steering.

Wilmat is currently looking for UK and Irish agents to sell and service in their areas. Truck provision will be through a range of options, including purchase, lease purchase, long-term contract hire and full maintenance and short-term hire.

While the articulated MiMA trucks will be the flagship of Wilmat's new Chinese venture its product profile will be greatly enhanced by other MiMA trucks, including reach, electric pallet trucks, stackers tow tractors, counterbalanced forklifts, order pickers, stand on-and seated man-down VNA trucks, and sideloaders, both stand-on and seated. 

When the articulated forklifts appeared on the UK market in any meaningful form back in the 1980s the perception was that they were expensive in relation to reach trucks, a hopelessly wrong approach to truck comparison values because it underestimated the productivity gains and huge savings from interface costs like rent, rates, utilities, truck numbers and servicing that the artics' versatility ensured. The true coast of any forklift is its life-cycle costs in which productivity rates play a key role. No other type of forklift has transformed warehouse economics so much. In certain circumstances where the space they save in a main warehouse allows the closure of satellite warehouses the added savings in transport costs could yield truck paybacks in under one year. 

* sales@wilmat-handling.co.uk    

                                         MiMA articulated forklift set to shake up UK

                                         market 

Why pallet rack collapses need not be worst warehouse nightmare

 Unique system offers full protection

After warehouse fires every manager's worst nightmare is a domino-style racking collapse but in one sense the latter is worse. Fires can be quickly detected and contained by sprinklers and other devices but total racking collapses cannot when, for example, forklifts hit upright posts (legs) and that is where RCP's* patented, unique Rhino system comes in. Until five years ago all pallet protection measures outside of best practices depended  on post protectors, bollards and guard rails but these offered very  limited post protection to no more than about 1.2mt above ground. The Rhino system, however, suitable for both new-builds and retrofits, uses steel cables suspended from roof structures to the upright aisle posts so that it does not transfer the compromised rack load but stops it leaning past the point of no return, thus preventing progressive rack collapse. 

One of RCP's latest Rhino contracts is for garden shed supplier Kybotech, of Worksop, whose 20,000+ pallet store typically has a top beam height of 14mt, served by Bendi articulated forklifts in 2.6mt wide aisles. Pallet weights are typically 600kg and some pallets are special sizes for abnormal loads. Kybotech sell to the trade on timed deliveries, which stresses the importance of uninterrupted deliveries. Before the Rhino installation Kybotech's racking safety measures comprised routine inspections and rack leg guards, very common throughout warehousing. Previous rack damage was dents from small impacts on the lower legs, which if undetected can cause rack failure. So why did Kybotech feel the necessity to step outside the safety norm?

"Safety for its employees was paramount above all else," explained Craig Atwell, RCP's MD. This is commendable but it also makes sound financial sense. Whatever extra safety measures may cost the cost of an accident like total racking collapse is far worse and not fully covered by insurance. In certain situations like a large charity's warehouse responding to an emergency call, a total racking collapse would be unthinkable.

Trying to measure the immediate cost of a total pallet racking collapse is easy enough and will largely be covered by insurance but will the insurance pay out for the consequential costs like permanently lost business through failed timed deliveries. And if it can be shown that the management was negligent in a fatality any hefty fines would likely not be covered. Moreover, future insurance premiums would soar. "Insurance companies would look to the bare minimum and challenge continuation costs," added Craig. But with a Rhino system in place warehouse operators could expect noticeable insurance premium reductions given that total stock loss has been eliminated and therefore this should be reflected against risk.  

UK fatal racking collapses are rare, about one a month, but serious injuries are measured in their hundreds and there is at least one major rack collapse every week. The main causes or rack collapses can be summarized as: 1) Inadequate design, 2) Incorrect installation, 3) Overloading at pallet locations, 4) Damage, 5) MHE impacts, 6) Supporting floor failure, 7) Environmental or chemical deterioration, 8) Change of configuration away from which the racking was originally designed, 9) Poor weight distribution on pallets or pallet failures. There is a 10th but that only applies in earthquake-prone zones. 

Good advice on all the angles of racking safety can be had from the UK's Storage & Equipment Manufacturers' Association (SEMA) and HSE. 

*Rack Collapse Prevention Ltd. www.rcpsystem.com 

Rhino at Kybotech gives far more than peace of mind

 South China Sea tension rises

Any plan Bs international logisticians may have for dealing with disruptive political events in the South China Sea should be re-examined for their resilience as events in that sea took a turn for the worse in late January. 

Having spent considerable sums illegally developing and militarising shoals, reefs and atolls in the Spratly and Paracel islands since 2013 China has just passed a new law that for the first time explicitly allows its coastguard to fire on foreign vessels around these islands, said to be rich in oil an gas reserves. It has also sent its coastguard to chase away fishing vessels from other countries, sometimes sinking them. The law allows the coastguard to use "all necessary means" to stop or prevent threats from foreign vessels. The law also allows coastguard personnel to demolish other countries' structures built on Chinese-claimed reefs and to board and inspect foreign vessels in waters claimed by China. 

Responding to international concerns, the Chinese foreign spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said the law is in line with international practices and needed to guard China's sovereignty, security and maritime rights, despite the Permanent Court at the Hague ruling against China's so-called Nine Dash Line claiming about 90% of the South China Sea, through which about two thirds of world trade passes, worth over US5 trillion each year. China has indicated that it has no intention of respecting the Court's ruling.

Brinkmanship rises 

On January 23 China cranked up the tempo when it sent a large group of bomber and fighter jets into Taiwan's air defence zone near the Pratas Islands. On the same day, America sent a carrier group headed by the USS Theodore Roosevelt into the South China Sea to conduct routine operations "to ensure freedom of the seas, build partnerships and foster maritime security," said the fleet's rear admiral Verissimo, adding "it is vital that we maintain our presence and continue to promote the rules-based order which has allowed us to prosper."

Losing face in the Chinese psyche is akin to committing hara-kiri, a mindset that like a fever in the blood can ignore powerful economic reasons to steady the boat in the interests of all parties. China will continue to probe with its military might, testing the resolve of others, and its recent history of success, as when it bayonetted its way to Lhasa when the international community just indignantly huffed and puffed in response, leaves no cause to be unworried. Yet, the matter may be resolved without man's proposes, for just as man proposes Nature disposes. 

China's illegal artificial islands are badly exposed to the frequent threat from regular typhoons and tsunamis, with the latter deriving from megathrust earthquakes generated by the Manila Trench. These could easily overwhelm such low-lying islands. Longer term, global warming's cause of rising sea levels combined with huge wave surges will leave much of China's densely-populated coastal cities at grave risks. China's wealth would be better spent here than in military threats, but when politics clashes with economics the former usually wins to the harm of the people.   

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                                                     USS Theodore Roosevelt exercising

                                                     its "rights of passage" in the South

                                                     China Sea.

Container ship insurers ignoring the warning signs?

Since my last blog in December on the growing problem of container ship sizes chasing the economies of scale ("Container ship sizes need rethink") the problem has been emphasised by more worrying container losses at sea, which now far exceed the average annual loss of 778 over the three-year period 2017-2019. On January 16 the 13,100 TEU-capacity Maersk Essen, on route from China to Los Angeles, lost 720 containers in severe weather. This comes only one month after the ONE Apus lost 1,816 containers overboard, also after hitting stormy weather on a similar Pacific voyage.

Evidently insurance companies have become complacent over containers lost at sea because they represent less than 1,000th of 1% of the roughly 226 million sea-borne containers transported in 2019. While it is true that such losses can be diminished by toughening up on cargo securing equipment and practices, et al, marine insurers are now worried that more action is needed to reduce container stack heights but are they oblivious to the signs blowing in the wind? If growing container ship sizes of 20,000+ TEU containers combine with climate changes' taste for more and greater storms abetted by rogue monster waves, believed to be the major cause in many such mysterious losses with all hands, then the marine insurance market must expect much diminished reserves to come.

About two thirds of the world container ship trade passes through the South China Sea, an area highly prone to typhoons and earthquake-generated tsunamis. The latter can generate waves over 100ft high, leaving container ships at high risk of capsize. Such waves are also quite able to punch a hole through both sides of the hull. The total loss of a 20,000 TEU container ship with, perhaps, many smart mobile 'phones on board could easily run to well over £10 billion losses.

If the marine insurance industry does not call time soon on the unwise pursuit of ever-bigger container ships chasing the economies of scale then they will have only themselves to blame for the inevitable mega losses to come, especially as they should have the same concerns for mega cruise ships also drunk on the lure of economies of scale

 

The Maersk Essen loses 720 containers to Davy Jones' bosom

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