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Aviation History
1921
1921 - 0061.PDF
Sff!. JANUARY 27, 1921 A COMPARISON OF THE COST OF TRANSPORT AND TON-MiLES BY LAND, SEA AND AIR* BY LORD MONTAGU OF BEAULIEU IN his introduction Lord Montagu pointed out that for comparative purposes the cost of ton-miles for various methods of transport formed a useful, although not the only, basis. The factor of speed must also be taken into account. He pointed out that air transport, like other means of transport, cannot survive eventually unless it earns sufficient revenue to pay for the cost of operation plus a reasonable interest on the capital involved. Speed, the lecturer pointed out, is a comparative and not an exact term. The route from England to India direct by airship is about 3,600 miles, and at an average speed of 50 m.p.h. this journey would take about seventy-two hours, or three days, while the fastest journey by train and ship takes fifteen to sixteen days. Thus about twelve days could be saved on this journey, and this saving in time would be of great value to certain passengers. The firm which provides fast aerial transport is not only selling the right of the indi- vidual to be transported from A to B, but is also selling a certain saving of time in comparison with the next most rapid means of conveyance. This is the real reason why high speed is commercially valuable. Having indicated the importance of the factor of speed, Lord Montagu turned his attention to the cost of ton-miles by land transport. He pointed out that in nearly all forms of land transport the cost of labour is now such a large propor- tion of the total cost of operation that those methods of transport which employ the least labour are those which now and in the future are likely to be the most popular and the cheapest. As regards road transport the cost of labour per ton-mile is high. In the case of air transport there is no permanent way to keep in order. For a 3 to 3^-ton lorry Lord Montagu arrives at a figure of 8d. per ton-mile, and for a smaller van of about 30 cwt. at a cost of about is. per ton- mile. The electric 3-ton lorry works out at about qd. per ton-mile. For motor-'bus and char-a-banc the cost works out at about \\d. per passenger mile. In the case of railways a cost of i.6d. was a fair average until about a year ago. This figure does not include recent rises in costs or labour, nor the cost of collection and delivery. Probably a fair figure for present conditions, and taking into consideration everything, the cost from station to station would be about 2$d. per ton-mile. Transport by sea is naturally the cheapest of all forms. As in the case of air transport, there is no permanent way to keep up. " I have," Lord Montagu said, " obtained a few typical figures of voyages from London to the East, returning to London. But as the cost per ton-mile by sea is such a small fraction of a penny, the following costs are shown per 100 ton-miles, calculated on the gross weight of the steamer and its contents " :— Cost per 100 ton-miles. Route. . . Fuel. Otheritems. Total. " • • d. d. d. London-Australia (via Canal)— 16-knot mail steamers .. 3.3 3.3 6.6 14-knot intermediates .. 2.4 2.7 5.1 London-Australia (via Cape)— Cargo liners .. 1.6 2.2 3.8 _ London-Bombay (via Canal)— 16-knot mail steamers .. 3.8 3.4 7.2 London-Calcutta (via Canal)— 14-knot intermediates .. 1.4 3.6 5.0 London-Japan (via Canal)— 12-to 14-knot intermediates 2.9 2.9 5.8 The estimated cost, on the other hand, of conveying saloon passengers per ship mile, exclusive of food, but assuming that the whole accommodation for passengers is occupied through the entire journey, is given below :— Routes (via Canal)— 7 •'-~- ' ':; /j"\ • ' &• London-Australia, mail steamers .. ""-•,.: 1.44 intermediate type .. 1.11 London-Bombay, mail steamers .. ».' 1.80 London-Calcutta, intermediate type -.» . 1.20 London-Japan, intermediate type .. .. 1.42 At i\d. average per passenger per mile and allowing fifteen passengers to the ton, then the cost of ton passenger miles is about zz\d. a mile, about the same figure as a motor-'bus or char-a-banc. • J - * Extracts from Paper read before tbe Royal Aeronautical Society onJanuary 30, 1931. Rough Estimated Cost of Carrying Cargo per 100 Jon-Miles Exclusive of Loading and Discharging Expenses d. London-Australia, mail steamers .. .. 10.1 ,, intermediate type .. 8.2 ,, cargo liner (via Cape) .. 6.7 London-Bombay, mail steamers type .. 12.0 London-Calcutta, intermediate type .. 9.7 London-Japan, intermediate type .. .. 9 •8 " It should be noticed that in these statistics no allowance has been made for interest on capital. Also that a port, like a railway-station, is seldom more than a point of distri- bution and collection, and that ' origin to destination ' should be the ultimate aim and motto of all transport." As regards the cost of conveyance by aircraft, Lord Montagu referred to the figure of 2&d. per "aeroplane mile given by Mr. White-Smith at the Air Conference. This figure was now thought to be too low, and he personally thought that about 44<2. per ion-mile would be a fair figure if a reasonable profit was to be included. " At this figure the aeroplane can only compete successfully with existing transport because of its speed." With regard to airships Lord Montagu gave the following figures for the concrete case of a flight from England to Cairo and India, allowing fifty hours for the journey to Cairo and fifty hours on— s. d. Interest on capital expenditure .. 7 oi mile over Cost of operating the airships .. 23 S ^d Cost of running the bases .. 11 o J or sea. - - 41 5 Or an " all-in " cost of 497c?. per mile made good over the ground. If the airship could carry, as a conservative figure, 15 tons of commercial load for a journey occupying 50 hours, this would make the "all-in" cost per ton-mile 35$d. for such a journey. Not a formidable figure in comparison with other methods of fast transport. Allowing seven passengers to the ton, which for practical purposes amounts to each passenger being allowed I cwt. of luggage free, and 1 ton of mails at 6d. per oz. for each stage of fifty hours, the following table is of interest:— Airship. Steamer. Approximate Mails Approximate England to Time (1 ton) Passen- 1st Class of Transit carried). gers. Steamer Pas- senger Fare.f days. oz. £ £ Egypt .. .. 2J 6d. 50 45 to 50 India . . .. 5 is. 100 65 to 70 South Africa .. 6J is. 3d. 120 70 Australia .. 10J 2s. 190 115 to 128 The above figures are based on airships actually under construction (" R. 38 " class), showing a profit of 15 per cent., and are based on the carriage of 75 per cent, of the possible passengers. The passenger ton-mileage in this case would work out at about 34<2., but no doubt these costs will be reduced later on. And while the cost is in this case moderate, there would be a great saving in time on a non-stop run for at least 2,500 miles—say London to Egypt, or 3,800 miles London to India. TABLE I.—Comparative Average Speeds by Land, Sea and Air. Miles per hour. Land. Average speed. Express and fast trains .. .. 40 Ordinary passenger train .. ..25 Ordinary goods train .. .'. .'. - 14", Motor-car or cycle .. .. .'. 20 Motor-'bus or char-a-banc .. .. 15 _ Motor-lorry .. .. .. .. 13. Sea. Mail ship. . .. .. .. ... i6 ~ Ordinary passenger ship ... .. « Ordinary cargo ship .. .•.•"•• .-> - 10AirS Aeroplanes for mails and passengers .. 100 .... Aeroplanes for goods .. .. .. 80 : Airship for mails and passengers .. 60 '.-.'." :-. Airship for goods .. .. .. 50 - "•'• f Now Increased about 20 per cent, beyond these figures. 6r
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