Value of Road Transport to economy

Bagenal

I thought I'd post this given that there are some people always moaning about trucks.

antoobrien

Bagenal wrote: »

I thought I'd post this given that there are some people always moaning about trucks.

O.P. that's not a great defense of trucks really because it's really to easy to poke holes in. It overestimates the impact in some sectors. As an example pharmacies with daily deliveries and hotels requiring daily delivery of sheets is bit much (I know a lot of hotels do at least a significant amount of their own laundry), and if any PT network went down after 2 days of no spare parts I'd be questioning the maintenance bills of the operators (if they said fuel I'd believe it).

However it does point out some things that are very true - fresh food, postal & fuel will be badly hit.

Bagenal

antoobrien wrote: »

O.P. that's not a great defense of trucks really because it's really to easy to poke holes in. It overestimates the impact in some sectors. As an example pharmacies with daily deliveries and hotels requiring daily delivery of sheets is bit much (I know a lot of hotels do at least a significant amount of their own laundry), and if any PT network went down after 2 days of no spare parts I'd be questioning the maintenance bills of the operators (if they said fuel I'd believe it).

However it does point out some things that are very true - fresh food, postal & fuel will be badly hit.

A lot of industries, both manufacturing and service, these days do require daily deliveries and in some situations multiple deliveries from the same supplier because they don't keep a large amount of stock.

antoobrien

Bagenal wrote: »

A lot of industries, both manufacturing and service, these days do require daily deliveries and in some situations multiple deliveries from the same supplier because they don't keep a large amount of stock.

Minimal stock usually means having a minimum of 1 week available. I worked in a factory that used "lean manufacturing" and kanban to reduce the stock they hold onsite - it doesn't need a truck stoppage to knock things out of whack, the idiots in purchasing did that all on their own.

There are cases where there's a daily delivery required, but not as many as this doc seems to think.

It reads like cycling & PT propaganda tbh.

L1011

Our JIT stock in work for a few products are down to days, but in the most part they'd be collectable by car... The extremely difficult to ship stuff would have two weeks supply minimum and we went to 6 since the earthquake in Japan (its sourced from there).

donkey balls

I,ve worked in the transport industry for over 15yrs now in different sectors and believe me if every truck was to stop for one week the place would be in sh*t,Were would hospitals get there medical oxygen from the big MNC that need daily delivery of industrial gases to keep the plants going how would they survive.
Then you have the ports(Air sea rail) were would they get the fuel from to operate etc emergency services and local services, then as another poster mentioned the delivery of mail and fmcg goods in to the super markets which I know for a fact having worked for a logistics company involved in the distribution to super market chains get a delivery every day.
Their is whole lot of things that people who don't work in the transport industry take for granted I'm convinced some think that most goods on a super market shelf arrive by van over night:rolleyes: which if it was true you would need in excess of 20 vans.
And what really p*sses me off is the tree huggers and others who complain about dirty trucks&diesel long before we had the NCT for cars all trucks had to under go a DOE test every year,Some companies including the ones I worked for had the trucks tested every 12 weeks to ensure that there was no problems with them how many people would do that with their car.
As someone who holds a full artic licence among other licences it baffles me when other road users drive up the inside of trucks while there turning left or won't give them enough room to make a turn etc in a difficult spot.
If only the public knew what some of these drivers get paid plus the responsibilty that goes with the job:mad: dealing with the RSA HSA &Gardai meeting deadlines etc.

Bagenal

donkey balls wrote: »

I,ve worked in the transport industry for over 15yrs now in different sectors and believe me if every truck was to stop for one week the place would be in sh*t,Were would hospitals get there medical oxygen from the big MNC that need daily delivery of industrial gases to keep the plants going how would they survive.
Then you have the ports(Air sea rail) were would they get the fuel from to operate etc emergency services and local services, then as another poster mentioned the delivery of mail and fmcg goods in to the super markets which I know for a fact having worked for a logistics company involved in the distribution to super market chains get a delivery every day.
Their is whole lot of things that people who don't work in the transport industry take for granted I'm convinced some think that most goods on a super market shelf arrive by van over night:rolleyes: which if it was true you would need in excess of 20 vans.
And what really p*sses me off is the tree huggers and others who complain about dirty trucks&diesel long before we had the NCT for cars all trucks had to under go a DOE test every year,Some companies including the ones I worked for had the trucks tested every 12 weeks to ensure that there was no problems with them how many people would do that with their car.
As someone who holds a full artic licence among other licences it baffles me when other road users drive up the inside of trucks while there turning left or won't give them enough room to make a turn etc in a difficult spot.
If only the public knew what some of these drivers get paid plus the responsibilty that goes with the job:mad: dealing with the RSA HSA &Gardai meeting deadlines etc.

And then there is the import/export of goods to keep factories/business' going therefore keeping people in employment. The lack of regard for the transport industry by some people in this country is appalling.