OVERLOADING 
CURSE OR CURE

Overloading has been described as the curse of South African roads. It is also a practice which has been accepted by many operators as the only means of making a buck. Is this an easy cop-out or is it a reality? Patrick O'Leary looks at the issue of overloading from a different perspective.

It is so easy to get comment on why operators overload. What is not easy is to get these comments on record as the operators you talk to usually end the conversation with: "But don't quote me on that. We don't do it."

The reluctance to solicit 'open' comment from many reminds me of my good friend Dave Scott's observation on sex. He reckons everyone does it but no-one admits to the frequency.

Admittedly not all operators deliberately and consistently overload. There are many who try their best to operate legally but do occasionally get caught for load distribution transgressions rather than for gross mass overloads. This latter problem where, for example, an operator is caught for an overload on an axle or axle unit but the gross is legal, remains a big challenge.

However, those operators who regularly flaunt GCM limits are overloading to enrich themselves at the expense of our roads and other operators. They are the ones who are driving rates down and messing with the concept of a level playing field. They are also criminals - full stop! There's no half pregnancy here. 

AN AWFUL LEGACY The condition of South Africa's roads has deteriorated dramatically since 1988 according to a recent report commissioned by the AA. Lack of maintenance, lack of funding and overloading are highlighted as main contributory factors. These pictures show the horror of what we're talking about. Is this the legacy we're leaving for our children? It's a great network for cows but not for commerce.

That overloading continues to be a problem has been highlighted in a number of surveys recently released. The one, titled Situation Report on Heavy Vehicle Overloading Control, was compiled by Ray Sowman and Nick Poree of TMT Project (Pty) Ltd on behalf of the AA Road Traffic Safety Foundation. The other, titled Road Conditions & Funding 1988 - 1999, was compiled by Jeffares & Green Incorporated, also on behalf of the Automobile Association.

The latter report states that damage to the road network due to overloading amounts to around R650-million per annum. That's a massive annual addition to the existing backlog in funding which the report puts at around R65-billion. 

Why do it?
FleetWatch has copies of these reports but let's leave out the official facts and stats and leapfrog ahead to the point of acceptance that overloading is rife in this industry. You know it. I know it. Everyone knows it. So why do operators do it?

The common gripe is: "If we don't accept the load, we lose the business to operators who will accept it." Well now, hardly an approach that will win a prize for innovation is it? More like a wimpish attitude that. You know the saying: "If I jump into the fire, will you jump in after me?" The answer, obviously, is a definite NO! That 'cop-out' attitude plays directly into the hands of unscrupulous shippers and leaves you holding the can.

Why not rather report the operator to the traffic authorities - even if you do so anonymously. They'll watch out for his trucks on the road and hit him hard. I have it on good authority from the top that the cops would welcome this. Then take it a step further by spreading the word among your fellow operators not to do business with that shipper - that he's a rip-off and an exploiter. He'll soon come into line.

Continuing with the why, there is also a strong profit incentive to overload. Ray Sowman, in an executive summary of the above mentioned report, points out that a haulier operating a fleet of 10 rigs can increase annual profit contribution by R1.2-million by overloading each rig by only 5 tons per trip! "And a 5 ton GCM overload on a legal payload of 36 tons for a 56 ton maximum size interlink rig is only an 8.9% overload. Much higher percentage overloads are regularly recorded," he says.

He adds, however, that the other incentive is to use the increased profit to subsidise a lower price. So there we come back to it. The regular GCM overloaders are the guys who are driving rates down and messing with the concept of a level playing field.

Given these reasons, and especially the profit incentive, should overloading be accepted as a cure for low profits? Not at all says Kevin Martin, chief: planning and control at Freightliner Transport which operates out of Durban. It's no relative to DaimlerChrysler's Freightliner division by the way.

It's nonsense
"It's a cop-out. The contention that you must overload to make a profit is nonsense," says Martin, adding that he has no gripe with the legislation or the enforcers.That’s got to be a first. Let’s hear him out…

"I came up in the old school where the principle that the legislators aren’t there to mess you around ruled.The formulae have been worked out right. So much on each axle and it's there to protect your investment and the roads. If I'm running at 9t per axle, I'm imposing a certain amount of wear and tear on my rig. If I run at 10t, the wear and tear goes up. My contention is that my clients don't reimburse me to mess up my equipment so the only person who benefits from an overload is the client."

He also hits out at some of the big customers/shippers who, he says, "are totally unethical and adopt the approach that you either take their work or lose the load".
"I've heard of an operator getting whacked for a R10 000 fine on the Bayhead Road weighbridge. That's all his profit gone in one ticket - and certain shipping lines, brokers and freight forwarders have no empathy towards him or any other transporter. They're not interested in the fine- just in getting the lowest rate."

One would also expect – as is the norm – for him to moan about the Bayhead Road weighbridge which was put in early in 2000. But no, he welcomes it describing it as one of the best things to hit Durban in years. “It pays to work with the authorities not against them and I use the weighbridge for marketing. I still get pulled off every day and am offered no special treatment. In fact, I was recently caught with an overload and I went to the client with the weighbridge ticket and said the weighbridge is correct. How did it happen? He had to pay the ticket.

"My approach to my clients is based on a win-win scenario. Pay me the going price and we all win. They mustn't expect me to break the law, pick up tickets and then fight to get the money from them. And slowly but surely, people are starting to come round to the right way of thinking and operating."

The bottom line is that Martin insists on running legal - not because it's the right thing to do but because it pays him to run legal. "Those who haven't seen that it pays to run legal have missed the plot," he says. 

He has also been highly innovative in finding solutions to existing problems - and we will highlight one of these solutions, the Makzi (see accompanying photograph) in a future edition.

Commitment from Fleetwatch
Ag no man! I've run out of space and there's still so much to put forward from so many players. Why, for example, are organisations like Hulett Aluminium and the Aluminium Federation of Southern Africa, as well as companies like Meritor, BPW and TEE advertising in this magazine? On this point, a big congrats to Meritor for adding value by providing information on legal axle loads in the different countries in southern Africa. A most admirable and educational initiative.

But why are they here? Because they believe they can offer solutions - and we must hear them out. And we will. So here's FleetWatch's commitment to the industry.

We have started discussing the issue here but we are not ending it here. We will regularly feature overloading as an issue in FleetWatch - not solely to apportion blame and point fingers but also to highlight consequences (not always obvious and we have already started this - see story MyNight in Hell) and find solutions to this vexing problem.

The bottom line is that you and I - this generation - cannot allow the situation to continue to a point where our kids stand to inherit a wasteland of rutted and pot-holed roads. Remember that R65-billion backlog mentioned above. Well, as the backlog grows and operators keep ringing up the damage till to the tune of an additional R650-m per year, so the possibility of restoring the network to a reasonable condition diminishes.

It's the future potential for the prosperity of our kids that we are dealing with here and that responsibility is a much higher and more noble one than any other I can think of. And that is why we must fight back. Overloading is a curse on the present and the future - not a cure. Let's do it!

A POSITIVE LEGACY The N3TC road developments in full swing. This is the type of positive legacy we need to leave to our kids.
	INNOVATION Freightliner Transport in Durban finds solutions to problems rather than bemoaning them. This is the Makzi trailer - built by M.A.K. Bodies as a way to get round the problem of ensuring centre mounted 6-metre containers comply with load distribution requirements. The deck incorporates an air lift facility to level it with the container floor once the doors are opened (top pic). More of this in a later edition of FleetWatch.

A night in hell is how truck driver Lucky Bengu describes his arrest and subsequent confinement in a filthy, blood splattered jail cell. Not only does this case highlight that the law is an ass in having drivers arrested for overloading transgressions but it also highlight a hidden consequence of overloading that causes immense suffering to innocent victims writes Patrick O'Leary.

Load and Inflation Tables For Pneumatic Tyres

Keep It Legal

Axle Load Regulations