Motor Transport 4 October 2021

Sharp ■ Informed ■ Challenging

4.10.21

NEWS INSIDE Not going green

Operators stick with diesel

p3

EU driver U-turn

Short-term visas confirmed p4

Vox pop: driver crisis

Will DfT’s plan be enough?

p6

OPERATORS INSIDE Advanced Supply Chain Group........................ p4 Construct IT .................................................p20 DFDS Logistics.............................................. p4 DHL .............................................................. p8 Eddie Stobart ................................................ p8 EVCL Chill ..................................................... p3 Expect Distribution.......................................p24 Hermes......................................................... p3 ICT Logistics.................................................. p4 Knowles Transport ........................................ p8 Swain Group.................................................. p8 Wincanton.................................................... p3 Wren Kitchens .............................................p22

HITTING THE GAS: North Yorkshire family haulier Campeys of Selby has taken delivery of the first of 11 new compressed biogas (CBG)-powered tractor units. The new Scania R410 4x2 is driven by a 13-litre, CBG engine that runs on renewable biomethane. It delivers an 85% reduction in CO2 emissions, helping the firm to hit its sustainability targets without compromising on performance. The first unit features a new green livery to highlight its environmental credentials and help it stand out on the 100-strong fleet. A further four Scania units, supplied by Scania Hull, will arrive later this month followed by six Iveco S-WAY 6x2 CBG tractors in 2022. Those additions will mean over 10% of Campeys’ fleet will be run on CBG.

Union Unite warns of empty shelves this Christmas as 3,500 workers reject a 2.5% pay increase

Tesco drivers to vote on strike

By Chris Tindall

Tesco has played down the prospect of strike action among its 3,500 HGV drivers and warehouse workers after a union claimed the supermarket didn’t believe it needed to increase wages.

Unite said members had rejected a below inflation 2.5% pay increase that was in effect a substantial real terms pay cut.

It said if drivers and other staff at four distribution centres across the UK voted to down tools, Tesco’s shelves would quickly empty, with Christmas potentially being affected for millions of people.

But the supermarket giant told MT it was in discussion with Unite to agree a pay award.

The affected sites are Belfast, Didcot, Doncaster and Thurrock.

Unite national officer Adrian Jones said: “The arrogance and disdain for its workforce currently being displayed by Tesco’s management is shocking; they have either forgotten, don’t know or don’t care that the company’s success is due

to the hard work and diligence of its workers.

“If full industrial action resulting in empty shelves does follow, then consumers should understand that this dispute is entirely of Tesco’s own making.”

A Tesco spokeswoman said: “We are in ongoing talks with Unite representatives regarding pay and are working closely with them to find a resolution.

“We look forward to meeting with them again soon to work towards an agreement on a pay award for our colleagues in those

four distribution centres.”

In July, Tesco said it was offering a £1,000 signing-on bonus for HGV drivers joining before 30 September.

■ Yodel has not given up hope on striking a deal with the GMB union after more than 250 of its drivers voted to walk out in a dispute over pay and conditions.

The union said 98% of the drivers, who deliver for Marks & Spencer, Aldi, Very, and others, voted to go out on strike and the company faced a “complete delivery shutdown”.

It claimed the dispute was over apparent “unworkable driver schedules”, offering agency workers more money than directly employed drivers, outstanding annual leave payments and a failure to honour contractual agreements relating to holiday and sick leave.

The GMB said it would now meet with the drivers and agree dates for the first round of industrial action.

Nadine Houghton, GMB national officer, said: “GMB members working for Yodel will immediately be agreeing dates for their first round of strikes and with the majority of Yodel’s drivers voting to walk out, parcel deliveries will be significantly hit.”

However, Yodel said “meaningful” talks with union officials were continuing. A spokeswoman added: “We will continue to work in good faith and remain committed to finding a resolution for our valued transport colleagues on any outstanding matters.”

Business barometer p10 Viewpoint: Christmas crunch p12 Euro-7 emissions requirements p14 Motor Transport Awards winners p20-27

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Frustrated operators sticking with diesel The majority of operators are not yet planning to invest in alternatively-fuelled vehicles, with cost and lack of government support the prominent barriers, according to a new survey.

Asset Alliance Group found 80% of those surveyed were planning to stick with diesel for the time being, with many also concerned at the current lack of refuelling infrastructure in this country.

More than half (52%) said they would be more inclined to try alternative fuels if the government had a financial incentive such as reduced tax or a scrappage scheme, and 41% were put off by initial up-front costs associated with new technology.

For those willing to make the

Photo: Shutterstock

By Chris Tindall

leap, 8% were looking at LNG and 6% were considering CNG. A further 9% planned to plug into battery electric vehicle technology, while 6% had explored rangeextended electric options.

Hydrotreated vegetable oil and gas to liquid fuels, as well as hydrogen, caught the eye of 2% of operators.

“Uncertainty regarding residual values also remains a blocker for

a quarter of those we surveyed, while extended trial periods for testing new technology on the job was selected by 18%,” said the Asset Alliance Group report.

“Operators would also be keen to see non-financial incentives being explored for new technology.”

■ Mercedes-Benz has suggested the total cost of ownership (TCO) of running battery electric trucks, could be the same as diesel trucks in just four years. Andreas von Wallfeld, head of marketing, sales and services, said: “Although it depends on many factors, such as subsidies, kWh pricing of energy, and of course the local situation, we expect to see TCO parity on battery vehicles by between 2025 and 2027.”

RHA rejects suggestion it triggered petrol pump crisis

Photo: Shutterstock

The RHA has issued a “categorical” denial that it triggered the petrol pump crisis by leaking remarks made by a BP executive at a private government meeting.

The claim was made in the Mail on Sunday by “a senior government source” who threatened to “deal

Electromobility event

Volvo Trucks is addressing the transformation to electric transport with a global online event on 12 October at 2pm. ‘The Leap – How to Go Electric’ can be accessed via Volvo’s website and aims to inspire transport firms to get started. It will answer common questions and highlight the business aspects of electromobility. In addition to Volvo Trucks experts, it will include representatives from transport buyers such as Amazon and IKEA, as well as executives from DFDS.

4.10.21

with the RHA” after the crisis.

The claim has been slammed by the RHA as a “disgraceful” attempt at diverting attention away from the government’s handling of the HGV driver shortage.

The article claimed that RHA MD of policy Rod McKenzie had “selectively” leaked remarks made by a BP executive at a private government meeting and “weaponised” the remarks to deflect blame away from the haulage industry for the driver shortage.

The source also claimed the RHA regularly leaked information from meetings it had attended

with government officials.

“McKenzie is just a moaning Remainer and he and the RHA are entirely responsible for this panic and chaos,” the source claimed.

The RHA said it “completely refutes” the claims. In a statement it said: “Firstly, Rod McKenzie was not in the meeting where the BP issue was discussed.

“Secondly, he is not the source of the leak. The first he heard of the comments was when journalists rang him asking for comment after the ITV News story had been broadcast.”

SPRINTING TO EVs: Parcel delivery firm Hermes has placed an order for 168 fully electric MercedesBenz eSprinters, following the successful trial of two of the vehicles from its Enfield depot.

The order, which also includes 132 diesel-powered Sprinter 315 CDI variants, will be fulfilled by Intercounty Truck & Van and Hermes has commissioned Pod Point UK to install charging points at its network of depots. Hermes said it planned to undertake all ParcelShop collections with electric vehicles “at the earliest opportunity”, adding that its order of the diesel vans was to “tide it over” ahead of the rollout of its charging infrastructure programme and the introduction of next-generation battery-powered variants. David Landy, Hermes head of fleet, said: “This will not be an easy journey. Whether in terms of range, payload or volume, a van with an internal combustion engine beats an electric one hands-down.”

EVCL Chill collapse leaves 400 jobs at risk EV Cargo company EVCL Chill has collapsed into administration, forcing customers Asda and Sainsbury’s to overhaul their chilled logistics operations.

PwC was appointed to the firm on 25 September and 658 staff were transferred to its key customers. However, its collapse leaves over 400 staff unsure about their futures.

The administration does not affect the wider EV Cargo Group, which continues to trade.

EVCL Chill, which ran 374 trucks and 432 trailers, operated mainly in chilled food logistics.

Based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, it employed 1,092 full-time employees and had warehouses in Daventry, Alfreton, Rochdale, Crick, Bristol and Penrith.

According to PwC, in the year to December 2020, EVCL Chill’s turnover exceeded £167m and it was cashgenerative; however, it began to struggle with the loss of key customers and the ongoing driver shortage.

In a statement, PwC said: “A number of sale options were explored, but generated limited interest, and management took the difficult decision to enter administration. Meanwhile, 658 roles and a number of services have been transferred to key customers under their contractual arrangements, which provides continuity for parts of EVCL Chill and those customers.

“Regretfully there are a number of roles that have not been transferred and we will update the remaining employees early next week.”

Asda confirmed it had taken in-house a collection service provided by EVCL Chill, protecting 290 jobs. Asda said it was opening up vacancies at its Lutterworth site to any EVCL Chill employees who were not eligible for TUPE but wished to join the retailer.

Wincanton operates Asda’s Rochdale depot, which will receive 122 EVCL Chill colleagues. Sainsbury’s said it had “continuity plans in place”.

MotorTransport 3

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Government U-turn will see 5,000 short-term visas introduced to allow overseas drivers to work

DfT announces new measures to ease the driver shortage

Logistics UK has welcomed the government’s new package of measures to ease the HGV driver shortage.

In a U-turn on its previous stance, short-term visas for overseas drivers will be introduced, as well as free intensive HGV driver training, using MOD examiners to test civilian drivers and writing to one million HGV licence holders to encourage them back to the industry. Also, 3,000 places will be available on new Skills Bootcamps to provide short, intensive courses to gain category C and C+E licences, with a further 1,000 courses

Photo: Shutterstock

By Colin Barnett

accessed locally and funded by the government’s adult education budget.

ADR qualifications will also be fast-tracked to provide more tanker drivers. Funding for the training and medical costs for HGV qualifications accessed through the

Adult Education Budget in 2021/22 will be paid by the government, and will be backdated for those who began such training since 1 August 2021.

The DfT has obtained an agreement with DVSA to reduce the backlog of already trained candidates awaiting a test appointment.

The Ministry of Defence is immediately deploying its Defence Driving Examiners. The measures are intended to deliver 1,000 additional test slots per week.

One million HGV licence holders will shortly receive a letter thanking those still driving for their support, and encouraging

inactive drivers to return to the industry. However, a separate release giving advice on returning to driving makes it clear that the Driver CPC is staying. And 5,000 short-term visas for overseas drivers to work in the fuel tanker and food distribution sectors will be available until 24 December.

However, Elizabeth de Jong, policy director at Logistics UK, said she feared the temporary visa scheme may only be for two months, rather than three, and would therefore be very unlikely to attract EU drivers. n For operator reaction, see Vox Pop, page 6

DFDS Logistics continues European Logistics firm Advanced Supply expansion with new acquisition Chain bought by Reconomy Group DFDS Logistics has acquired the Danish freight forwarding firm ICT Logistics, which it said would strengthen and develop its eastern European position.

ICT transports full and part loads between east and west Europe via road, air, sea and rail.

Its services include oversize cargo, warehousing, distribution, and customs clearance.

As well as in the UK, it also has offices in Germany, Latvia, Romania, Ukraine and Germany.

It runs a fleet of around 20 HGVs and 600 trailers, employs 80 people and last reported an annual revenue of DKK 260m (£29.9m).

Niklas Andersson, DFDS executive vice president and head of logistics, said: “ICT Logistics greatly improves our offering to customers trading with eastern Europe.

“The expansion of our logistics network also complements our Baltic ferry route network.”

Yara raises AdBlue prices amid gas squeeze AdBlue producer Yara said it was increasing the price of its product by 5p/l after a spike in natural gas values led to a cut in ammonia production. The fertiliser firm said it was committed to continuing supplies of the exhaust fluid, but that in order to do so it needed to implement a temporary surcharge on sale prices.

Jorge Noval, president of Yara Industrial Solutions, said: “We are committed to maintaining reliable supplies to our customers wherever possible. These temporary price surcharges are necessary to cover costs.”

A worldwide squeeze on gas supplies has left stored levels depleted and helped push prices up in the UK, Europe and Asia.

Yara added that it would continue monitoring the situation and wouldn’t rule out curtailing AdBlue production “where necessary”.

It said there would also be a temporary suspension of all minimum take-or-pay and exclusive supply obligations.

The measures will remain in place until further notice.

4 MotorTransport

Fast-growing logistics firm Advanced Supply Chain Group (ASCG) has been acquired by the Reconomy Group, which specialises in outsourced services to drive the circular economy.

Reconomy said the transaction would enable ASCG’s customers to benefit from its sustainability credentials and help them deliver social and environmental objectives.

ASCG will continue to operate under its own brand and Reconomy said that as e-commerce continues to grow, the two busi-

nesses would work together to support retail brands as they managed their environmental impact. As part of the deal, ASCG chairman and founder Mike Danby will exit the business.

He said: “It’s extremely rewarding to be leaving the business in the hands of such a capable management team and with fantastic, forward-thinking owners.”

ASCG MD Claire Webb remains in her role and Ben Balfour remains business operations director.

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VOX POP Will the DfT’s plan to ease the driver shortage work?

Moreton Cullimore, MD, Cullimore Group The government woefully underestimates the issue and most of the plans it is ‘unveiling’ are only just enough to cover those leaving the job, let alone creating an actual tangible net gain. It’s little more than a sticking plaster on the smallest part of a much bigger issue.

Kevin Buchanan, group chief executive officer, Pall-Ex These are all positive steps, but why was there no plan to deal with these issues from the outset? We all knew that we had driver shortages before Brexit and that it would make matters worse, but all the government’s actions are reactionary instead of organised and pre-planned.

Grant Shapps should have been replaced in the last cabinet reshuffle as he is ultimately responsible for the lack of planning, and it is one of his departments – the DVLA – that is so dysfunctional that we have an estimated 20,000 licence applications backed up. The man is an idiot

and not fit for public office. I wrote to him months ago asking what his plans were to deal with all the issues and never even got a response.

Bob Terris, chairman, Meachers Short-term visas are not the answer. Why will they not give them skilled status and put them on the skilled shortage list as this will be a more long-term solution?

Stuart Charter, MD, Aztek Logistics Whichever way you look at this, the granting of temporary visas represents a government U-turn, or, if you prefer, an ‘EU turn’. After the rancour and furore over Brexit, the last thing the government wanted to do was re-introduce EU drivers, even temporarily, as it smacks of desperation and a failure of a flagship policy.

Now, we have the worst of all worlds because the suggested number of EU drivers is too little too late. The figure of 5,000 temporary visas is simply not enough to solve even our short-term problems.

The second strand to this is equally perplexing: with a shortage of drivers in Europe and more competitive salaries there, why would you want to come back to the UK on a temporary visa? The end date of the visa does not reflect the government’s desired end-game – it is not an attractive proposition.

David Jinks, head of consumer research, ParcelHero Begging for EU-based drivers to return to Britain, but then capping their number at 5,000, will please no one. Brexiteer ministers are foaming at the mouth, while retailers and logistics bosses are howling that the move is far too little, far too late.

Other panic measures, such as using Ministry of Defence examiners to increase HGV testing capacity, will also do little to fix the immediate problem. The plan to send a million letters to former HGV drivers begging them to get back in the cab is frankly astonishing.

And you cannot let a newly qualified lorry driver take over the wheel of a petrol tanker, especially after the government recently dumbed down the HGV driver’s test.

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Start-up DigiHaul wins £14.6m funding boost from DHL and Ezyhaul

DHL and Ezyhaul have invested £14.6m in UK start-up DigiHaul in a bid to offset the impact of the UK driver shortage crisis and drive supply chain digitalisation.

DHL and Ezyhaul, which is a major South Asia digital freight platform, will both take a share in DigiHaul, with the investment used to support “ambitious” growth plans.

DigiHaul connects shippers to

transporters, including hauliers, via a digital freight platform, providing access to haulage capacity across the UK and upfront pricing.

The company says its model offers a solution to the HGV driver shortage by tapping into capacity created by empty running, which it says accounts for 20% of trucks on the road.

Transporters can use the DigiHaul platform to secure jobs and invoice automatically. It also offers shippers a streamlined way of connecting to hauliers without having to manage multiple subcontractors.

DigiHaul currently has a base of 700 carriers and manages more than 2,000 shipments a week.

Expanded Daventry presence heralds greater interest in road and rail

Eddie Stobart invests in bespoke DIRFT units

By Carol Millett

Eddie Stobart has commissioned a new £75m two-unit campus at Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT) as it moves to expand its road and rail operations.

The logistics company, which has operated a facility at DIRFT since 1997, will vacate its existing properties when the new unit is completed in Q3 2022.

The bespoke project will see logistics park developer Prologis provide two buildings with a total area of 538,000sq ft, separated by a shared loading yard that can be

split, if needed. The buildings will have a clear internal height of 18m, and will feature level access points, allowing for loading and unloading of curtain-sided HGVs. Sally Duggleby, vice president

in the leasing and development team at Prologis UK, said: “There is a huge amount of development going on across DIRFT, including £100m of infrastructure works and a new rail freight terminal.”

Co-op warns of challenges ahead Co-op has blamed “product availability issues” and the effects of Covid after it slipped into the red during the first half of the year.

It also warned that unplanned supply chain challenges and the ongoing costs of Covid-19 would bring greater levels of uncertainty and put pressure on its forecast profitability for year end.

Underlying operating loss before tax was £15m, down £71m from last year’s profit of £56m.

T he results came as it announced a new partnership with Amazon, as well as moves to accelerate ‘robot deliveries’ through an extended deal with Starship Technologies.

The Amazon deal allows Prime customers to do their Co-op grocery shop on Amazon, with same-day delivery and two-hour scheduled time slots.

Knowles Transport sees profits rise on back of smart decisions Knowles Transport overcame “one of the most challenging periods” ever faced by the industry to report a 24% increase in pre-tax profits last year.

Latest financial results for the Cambridgeshire haulier showed that for the year ending 31 December 2020, it made a profit of £2.5m – up from £2m in 2019.

Turnover also increased by 5.8% to £38.4m.

The company said decisions

8 MotorTransport

implemented by the directors and the management team led to the continued improvement in performance, which was expected to continue in 2021.

MD Alex Knowles said: “Our agile strategic model, coupled with the commitment and dedication of the team, has not only enabled us to enjoy continued growth but also deliver the high levels of service for which our brand is built upon, despite unprecedented volumes.”

Knowles said 2021 had been a year of record investment with purchases of new vehicles, trailers and warehousing. This included new pallet racking at its 300,000sq ft warehouse in Wimblington, as well as boosting efficiencies and productivity.

Swain Group builds with Brett deal Swain Group is paving a way to success after landing a five-year contract to provide distribution services to Brett Landscaping.

The Kent-headquartered haulier’s specialist brick and block division will take on the role of delivering materials to customers from four Brett sites nationwide.

Swain said it had been working with the Brett team for several

months to transition the workload.

David Emslie, Swain Group sales director, said: “Brett’s requirements suit us perfectly. They require an extensive range of mechanical offload, cranes, wagon and drags and flatbed solutions to support the delivery of their landscaping and building products and we are eager to get going with the relationship.”

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Fuel costs, wages and truck registrations all increase, but UK gross domestic product falters

Growth stalls, costs rise

Oil and fuel

The monthly average price of Brent crude oil topped out at $75.2/barrel in July, the highest monthly figure for almost three years.

August’s average sank to $70.8, but Brent was volatile last month, climbing in the second half to push September’s average back to around $74. This is just within the $65-$75/barrel range that is reputed to be the target of the world’s oil producers, aiming for sustainable profits by avoiding scarily high prices that incentivise more shale oil production.

Analysts expect oil output will rise in line with demand during the rest of the year, suggesting Brent will hover around $71 to $73 in Q4.

The US government’s Energy Information Administration anticipates output will outstrip demand next year, so expects Brent’s average to decline from $69 in Q1 2022 to $63 by Q4. This is line with the median of independent forecasts published last month by the Bank of England.

10 MotorTransport

GDP GROWTH 104 102 100

M onth l y G D P ind ex

Although the oil price eased after its July peak, bulk diesel prices did not move much: most operators will have paid an average of 101-106p/litre throughout July, August and September, keeping the price at a two-year high.

A relative disconnect between oil and diesel prices is often due to fluctuating currency exchange rates, but on this occasion the pound to dollar rate has been stable since July.

Truck registrations

After a sluggish first quarter, UK registrations of new heavy trucks (over 16 tonnes GVW) have rebounded strongly in recent months.

Data collated by the European vehicle manufacturers association ACEA shows UK registrations in H1 2021 were 40% up on the same period of last year. This is in line with the average rise in heavy truck registrations in the EU, which are up 39% as economies accelerate.

But Poland is really setting the pace, posting an increase of 106%.

This is no flash in the pan. Rewind to 2005, Poland’s first full year of EU membership: its heavy truck market was ranked only eighth in Europe and was dwarfed by the UK’s, which was almost five times bigger. Now, Poland looks poised to overtake the UK soon and claim third spot.

The irony of this reversal will not be lost on UK hauliers dealing with Brexit fallout and seeking drivers, not least to replace those who have returned to drive all those new trucks in Poland. The shortage of drivers there is no less acute than in the UK. Things are different in the UK van sector (up to 3.5 tonnes GVW).

Thanks to the huge surge in online shopping, first-half registrations are 76% up on the same period last year. That is twice the growth rate for van registrations for the EU as a whole.

Inflation

Consumer prices index (CPI) annual inflation jumped from 2.0% in July to 3.2% in August, the highest monthly figure since March 2012.

Inflation is now expected to top 4.0% in the next few months, propelled by higher pay settle-

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The latest monthly estimate reveals this year’s rapid gross domestic product (GDP) growth stalled in July, rising just 0.1% above June’s figure.

Our chart shows GDP’s monthly index, where 100 represents the average monthly GDP in 2018.

The index rose to 101.4 in 2019 and then plunged to 92.1 last year as Covid struck. July’s GDP index was 99.1.

Manufacturing was broadly flat, reportedly restrained by staff shortages – not least due to Covid selfisolation. A decline in construction output is attributed to price increases and delays in building materials. July’s small GDP growth came mainly from the service sector, such as IT, finance and entertainment.

The first estimate of August’s GDP comes next week (13 October). Hopefully, it will show a return to more robust economic activity.

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Summary for September has just cut its growth forecasts, and now expects GDP to rise by 2.1% in Q3 of this year, still leaving the economy 2.5% below its prepandemic size.

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NEW TRUCK REGISTRATIONS (OVER16 TONNES) 35000

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ments (averaging 8.3% in May to July), expensive fuel and escalation in wholesale gas prices, which led to last week’s 12% hike in the energy price cap set by regulator Ofgem.

But analysts reckon this inflation is just a spike, and the latest independent forecasts (September)

UK

Poland

Italy

Spain

point towards CPI dropping back to 2.4% by Q4 next year.

Tasked with maintaining CPI inflation at 2%, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee decided last month that it still did not need to hike interest rates to dampen inflation, keeping the bank rate at 0.1%. ■ 4.10.21

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A matter of logistics T he sight of the army on British streets is always a sure sign that the government is ‘doing something’ about a crisis – remember the Green Goddess fire engines put on standby during the firefighters’ strike 20 years ago?

Steve Hobson Quite how much help 150 army drivers Editor behind the wheels of road tankers will Motor actually be in solving the fuel shortage is Transport unclear bearing in mind everyone says the problem is excess demand rather than a lack of fuel or drivers.

Short-term shortages such as loo roll and fuel due to panic buying show how stretched supply chains have become as just-in-time has replaced long-term storage for most commodities. There is no money in storage – except for the companies providing it – so it has been eliminated wherever possible.

The far bigger question is how can the logistics industry get through the Black Friday and Christmas peaks. Operators are already busting a gut to keep the show on the road and there are going to be a lot of disappointed retailers and consumers if the products the public regard as essential at this time of year – toys and electronic gadgets, for example – can’t be delivered on time.

It is now that the government and the industry through its trade associations

need to work together to solve the problem, which makes the spat between the DfT and RHA over the alleged leaking of conversations at private meetings – leading to a threat by “a senior government source” in the Mail on Sunday to “deal with” the RHA – all the more worrying. After a brief honeymoon period when Grant Shapps was first appointed transport secretary, relationships with the RHA have steadily sunk – at one extraordinary RHA annual lunch chief executive Richard Burnett played back to the audience an admonishing voicemail he had been left by Shapps.

Logistics UK has managed to stay onside with Shapps and, although the association’s call for 10,000 temporary visas for EU drivers was initially slapped down by government, there has since been a partial U-turn and 5,000 will now be granted.

There is of course little the government can actually do to fill the 100,000 HGV driver vacancies – even putting more drivers through their tests won’t achieve much because studies have repeatedly shown it is retention rather than recruitment that is the real issue. Wage hikes should encourage more drivers back into the industry temporarily but they will probably disappear along with the tinsel and wrapping paper once the festive season is over.

Numbers prove sector’s importance A Paul Holland MD UK Fuel, Fleetcor

s lockdown restrictions ease across the UK, it is time to step back and reflect on the impact the pandemic has had on the British mobility sector. By identifying the ways in which commercial fleets have been affected, we can understand the performance of the economy across the pandemic.

Although data showed a sharp decline in commercial fleet activity, businesses across the key haulage and logistics sector remained in demand, although many other sectors came to a complete halt. So what does fuel data through the pandemic show us about the last 18 months?

In total, miles travelled dropped from around 1.2bn a month in February 2020 to just over 550m in April, more than halving over a two-month period. However, if we look specifically at the logistics sector, miles travelled dropped less dramatically, from 55m to just below 38m in the same period.

Unlike many other sectors which are now climbing back to pre-pandemic miles, the logistics sector measured 61.2m miles during March 2021, compared with pre-

12 MotorTransport

pandemic rates of around 59m miles in January 2020. While demand for food and medical supplies went up over the course of the pandemic, this has now been joined by retail, so mileage is likely to continue rising.

The total miles travelled by diesel vehicles declined by almost half between March and April 2020. In the same period, petrol milage declined by over two-thirds due to the unessential nature of car usage, especially in the early stages of the pandemic.

Interestingly, from March 2020 to March 2021, we have also seen a dramatic rise in the use of alternative fuels, up from 1m miles per month to just over 2m miles.

While diesel is likely to dominate the logistics sector for years to come, the government’s Road to Zero strategy and a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030 means we are likely to see a rise in EVs in logistics fleets across the UK.

The newspaper for transport operators

To contact us: Tel: 020 8912 +4 digits or email: name.surname@roadtransport.com Editor Steve Hobson 2161 Head of content Tim Wallace2158 Events and projects editor Hayley Pink 2165 Group production manager Isabel Burton Layout & copy editor Nick Shepherd Senior display sales executive Barnaby Goodman-Smith 2128 Event sales Tim George 0755 7677758 Classified and recruitment advertising rtmclassified@roadtransport.com Sales director Emma Rowland 07900 691137 Divisional director Vic Bunby 2121 MT Awards Katy Matthews 2152 Managing director Andy Salter 2171 Editorial office Road Transport Media, First Floor, Chancery House, St Nicholas Way, Sutton, Surrey SM1 1JB 020 8912 2170 Free copies MT is available free to specified licensed operators under the publisher’s terms of control. For details, email mtsccqueries@roadtransport.com, or call 01772 426705 Subscriptions Email:customercare@dvvsubs.com Quadrant Subscription Services, Rockwood House, Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 3DH Rates UK £146/year. Europe£176/year.

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Emissions standards

In seventh heaven?

As the automotive sector awaits an announcement about Euro-7, John Kendall looks at what the new emissions standard might include and the likely implications for tomorrow’s commercial vehicles

W

hatever we might think, the Europewide road vehicle emissions reductions programme that began in the early 1990s has been a notable success story. Official data has consistently confirmed the reduction in particulate emissions (PM) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx), helping to improve the quality of the air we breathe, particularly in our cities.

Inevitably, it has not all been plain sailing. We have seen truck manufacturers choose one means of reducing emissions, then switching to another as they try to juggle with the competing needs that cleaning up emissions has inevitably meant. Put simply, if you take steps to 14 MotorTransport

motortransport.co.uk

reduce PM emissions, it usually leads to an increase in NOx emissions from an engine, and vice versa. That is why exhaust gas aftertreatment systems have been vital in achieving what many thought was impossible 30 years ago.

When it comes to diesel emissions, vehicle and engine manufacturers have been able to call on exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and enhanced EGR to control PM formation in exhaust gases, and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) to control the formation of NOx in exhaust gases. As Euro-5 was reached, it was usually necessary to call on both technologies to reach the ever-tightening legal limits.

The focus of the legislation was on the toxic emissions in exhaust gases, but it left greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane largely untreated. Now that we are facing the prospect of irreversible climate change as a result of the rise in GHGs in Earth’s atmosphere, the focus is very much on reducing GHG emissions too. With petrol and diesel engines emitting large quantities of CO2, the transition to electric power for cars and vans by 2030 should help turn the tide.

Looming announcement

An announcement regarding the next round of European emissions limits for trucks, which may possibly be called Euro-7, is expected before the end of the year. Although the UK has left the EU, the pressure to reduce GHG emissions means the UK is unlikely to depart from the new, tighter limits. It is not yet clear what is likely to be included.

MAHLE Powertrain is an engineering consultancy with skills in electrification as well as internal combustion engines and has facilities in the UK, Germany, Brazil, the USA, Japan and China. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the component manufacturer MAHLE and is fully integrated with the MAHLE research and ➜ 16 4.10.21

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Emissions standards development centre network. At the company’s Northampton RDE Centre in the UK, an independent Real Driving Emissions (RDE)-rated internal test centre includes a climate and altitude 4-wheel-drive dynamometer to carry out testing.

Although final details of the new limits are not yet known, Simon Williams, senior principal calibration engineer at MAHLE Powertrain, can provide an indication about what is likely to be included. “Fundamentally, everything from a legislative point of view is going to become a lot tougher, to be more representative, more ‘real world’, increasing the challenge, moving to a condition where the emissions testing is starting from lower temperatures,” he says.

“Emissions are going to be measured from low temperatures, from when the vehicle first starts as well, from -7C to 35C, rather than as now with heavy-duty engines, where you’re starting with a cold start at 30C, or once the coolant temperature rises above 30C. “Then vehicle testing can also be started from zero distance, while the power that the engine can be run at will be increasing as well. The new rules will really increase those boundary test conditions that the vehicles can be run over. That makes it a significantly bigger challenge for the truck manufacturers to develop the vehicles to meet all these requirements. This will include what emissions abatement technology will be required to ensure the powertrain is Euro-7 compliant; then the validation of that technology to make sure that the application is robust for all the new test requirements is a significant challenge as well.”

Overall, this will mean that any emissions control equipment will have to be effective over a wider range of engine temperatures, particularly to be more effective from a cold start, when engine emissions can be among their highest. Inevitably, emissions control systems such as EGR and SCR cannot be effective as soon as the engine is started, because such systems have to reach their own effective operating temperatures first. Where previously the regulations allowed time for this, it looks as though the systems will have to be effective far more quickly, which could involve pre-heating them before the engine can start, or other procedures to clamp down on these cold-start emissions.

Wider scope

As Williams explains, the regulations are also likely to include other pollutants that need to be controlled: “There are additional pollutants that will be required to be measured as part of the Euro-7 requirements. Initial proposals include ammonia, nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane, which are becoming regulated pollutants. These will require additional developments in the aftertreatment system. This is compounded by the proposed limit reductions for the current measured pollutants, like NOx emissions, particulate number, particulate mass, carbon monoxide and then NMOG (non-methane organic gases). Together these will drive aftertreatment technology to become more comprehensive and more complicated as well.”

‘More complicated’ and ‘more comprehensive’ are likely to mean ‘more expensive’, too, as the GHG emissions that are currently not directly covered by Euro-6 are brought into scope of the new legislation, including methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide, because of growing concerns about global warming from the use of fossil fuels.

Methane is the principal element of natural gas, whether compressed (CNG) or liquefied (LNG). It has a far greater global warming effect than CO2, even though in air quality terms, it produces far lower levels of toxic pollutants than burning diesel. Currently, there are emissions controls for natural gas engines, but compared with Euro-6 diesel emissions control they are relatively light touch. Clearly that is set to change.

16 MotorTransport

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THE BIG FREEZE: A cold chamber at MAHLE in Stuttgart, Germany

“The way I see it is you’ve got the GHG emissions and that’s really covered with carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide,” says Williams. “Those are your key GHGs within the regulation, and then the other emissions – carbon monoxide, NMOG and PM – have a big impact on inner-city air quality.

“The key for this regulation really is to help improve inner-city air quality. It is expected to improve inner-city ambient air quality, then also include CO2 and GHG regulations. The move towards electrification and other alternative fuels is there really to look at reducing the GHG emissions and keeping the temperature increase globally under control. So there are two slightly different regulatory directions to try and make improvements in both areas – global warming and inner-city air quality.”

The other thing that the MAHLE Powertrain team is expecting is that emissions limits will be the same regardless of the fuel being used, whether diesel, CNG or LNG.

Manufacturer expectations

Most of the truck manufacturers are not in a position to share information about the forthcoming regulations.

“At the present time Iveco is not in a position to be able to comment publicly regarding the future development of our engine range,” says Jorge Asensio, alternative fuels manager at Iveco UK. The company expects its natural gas engines to comply with Euro-7 when the limits are made public.

“Euro-7 is not really structured or finalised yet, but there are strong rumours about where that focus will go,” says Phil Rootham, pre-sales technical manager at Scania GB. “Where Euro-7 looks to be heading ➜ 18 4.10.21

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Emissions standards

THE ROAD AHEAD: Scania is basing it plan around three main principles: energy efficiency, electrification and alternative fuels, and smart and safe

seems to bring us a lot more in line with the agenda, with the problems we all need to solve from a planetary point of view, bringing in line those demands around carbon dioxide, but not forgetting the local emissions elements of NOx and PM. So there is a feeling that future legislation is pulling in the same direction as industry.

It feels like that’s a very positive scenario compared with perhaps where we were with Euro-4, Euro-5 and Euro-6, when fuel consumption was perhaps increasing as we battled with NOx and PM. “Certainly, the trend from the Scania point of view for the last little while, as we’ve matured through EGR to EGR and SCR and to a range now that is SCR-only, has been to look to sweat the technology in the right places.

So let’s make an engine as efficient as we possibly can to drive down our operating costs and our fuel use and by result our carbon dioxide production, and if that comes with a higher creation of NOx, let’s look to the technology and our aftertreatment system to really address that, so that we take the efficiency at the right point as opposed to compromising our combustion process to produce less NOx, which then has a detrimental effect elsewhere.”

Looking both at the future and what can be done in the short term, Rootham identifies three pillars that Scania is building on: energy efficiency, electrification and alternative fuels, and smart and safe.

Electrification is clearly high on everyone’s agenda, but there are many issues to resolve. The hydrogen fuel cell looks set to play a part in long-haul transport, but hydrogen also has advantages as a combustion fuel, not least when operating as a range extender.

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under optimum conditions, resulting in zero NOx emissions and particulates and with effectively negligible hydrocarbon emissions. The engines would be lightweight and compact and could be used in pairs or threes to provide the electrical power for a range-extended maximum size truck.

“The overall objective is to create a low-stressed rangeextender power unit that exceeds the efficiency of the best fuel cells, with lower weight, longer times between overhaul and at a fraction of the manufacturing cost,” says Garside. “The expectation is that after 2030 the majority of the world’s larger electric vehicles will be fitted with range-extenders of this type.”

Garside’s track record and detailed knowledge of the Wankel engine seem to offer an alternative to the as-yet under-developed hydrogen fuel cell. He is seeking backers to develop the technology and launch the products.

So could the Wankel engine be about to find its niche?

Watch this space. ■

Wankel solution

CLEANING UP: The Scania P320 PHEV 4X2 for urban and regional transport

18 MotorTransport

One idea is being pursued by British engineer David Garside. He is probably the leading authority on the Wankel rotary engine outside Mazda and was the engineer behind the range of Norton Wankel rotary-powered motorcycles in the 1970s and 1980s. For many years he has successfully developed rotary engines for unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) and his company has produced thousands of these engines, operating successfully.

Running a Wankel rotary engine on hydrogen at a single load and speed with 50% excess air in a range extender application would enable the engine to operate 4.10.21

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MT Awards 2021 winner profile Livery of the Year

Badge of honour New kid on the block Construct IT lights up the construction transport sector with a bold fluorescent livery that is already getting the company noticed

W

hen BJS Haulage launched a new construction transport subsidiary earlier this year it was crucial that, as the new kid on the block, its brand and livery sent a clear message to clients that it was here to make a difference.

Enter Construct IT, which is livening up Britain’s highways and building sites with a livery that is taking the construction haulage sector into the 21st century with its bold, vibrant fluorescent yellow on black design.

Wednesbury-based Construct IT makes no bones about its determination to shake up the construction transport industry. It believes the building sector has had a bad deal from the haulage industry so far, citing poor service levels and safety standards, slow take-up of technology, and a lack of responsiveness and reliability from incumbents.

Construct IT’s mission statement is to “provide a safe pair of hands for industry-leading construction product manufacturers”, adding: “We’re hell-bent on improving the status quo, because as tough as this industry is, we love a good challenge.”

Fighting talk from a company that clearly wants to make a splash. So when the team sat down to decide on the new subsidiary’s brand and livery, they knew it had to stand out from the competition in a fresh, new and contemporary way.

Construct IT operations director Amarat Gill explains: “We wanted to get noticed as a new company entering a health and safety-focused world, as a reassuringly safe supplier, and as a company with a desire to make a difference with its fleet of specialist vehicles kitted out with advanced IT, which we knew would bring a fresh approach to a very traditional industry.”

After considering myriad designs and consulting with the wider workforce, the team came up with the brand Construct IT, which clearly signals the sector the company serves and highlights its cutting-edge use of information technology (IT).

This is no idle boast. Construct IT’s trucks bristle with camera and monitor systems, including the ICanProve.

IT multi-camera lens system, close proximity sensors, driver-audible alerts, turning and manoeuvring speaker systems, and visual warning decals.

The brand Construct IT also gives the company the 20 MotorTransport

added benefit of being able to adapt it to tell the story of what the company offers, using straplines such as PARKIT, LIFTIT, LOADIT, STRAPIT and MOVEIT. Gill comments: “The name Construct IT really works for the title of the business. It clearly shows that the business is led by IT, reveals the industry we specialise in, and – this is the really clever bit – it is also a call to action once we have delivered the building materials.”

The final and equally important touch was the colour scheme. By choosing a vivid neon yellow for the livery, reminiscent of the construction industry’s bright yellow hi-viz jackets and safety signs, the team ensured that their brand would stand out from traditional fleets and that their trucks would be highly visible on busy building sites and highways, as part of the firm’s overriding commitment to high safety standards.

Gill says: “We needed the Construct IT livery to communicate that we are a company that takes health and safety seriously and this is immediately evident in our use of a hi-viz colour on the vehicles and trailers to increase visibility on sites, for the benefit of our employees and also the benefit of other site workers and road users.”

He adds: “The final design is deceptively simple, but actually works on all the levels to which we aspired to be seen – as scalable, innovative, trusted and easy to deal with.

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“Our fresh, design-led approach also demonstrates how we want to drive the industry standard of the future, through our IT systems and our service offerings.”

The bold design is as flexible as it is impactful and works well across the range of Construct IT vehicle types, Gill points out.

The new livery, applied by Penrith-headquartered branding specialist AST Signs, has also been given a warm welcome by the company’s drivers and workforce, who are reporting that both family and friends are noticing the firm’s fleets on their travels.

“Our drivers are still getting used to all the attention they are receiving on the road and are reporting that they never find it difficult to locate their trucks in a busy truckstop. They are so proud of their trucks that they took along 17 in total to the recent Commercial Vehicle show in Peterborough,” Gill reports.

The livery is also proving a hit with clients, he adds.

“We have had a positive reaction all round and we receive comments such as, ‘Seen one of your trucks in our yard today’. They are a great reminder of why this colour works so well for high visibility, whilst working on-site.”

MAKING A STATEMENT: Constuct IT’s fleet now has a bold fluorescent yellow and black design that makes it stand out from the crowd

With so much positive feedback from the workforce, clients and the general public, the Construct IT team were confident they had a winner on their hands when they entered the 2021 Motor Transport Award for Livery.

Judges were immediately impressed with what one described as the “bold, visible and clear” messaging.

One judge commented: “This is simple but very striking livery. I like the few, but highly effective, words on the trailer. The colour selection is great, especially for a business involved in the construction sector. The focus on safety is clear.”

Another added: “I really like the choice of colour as it will be so recognisable on the road. The unit and trailer complement each other well, with the strapline of PARKIT, LIFTIT, LOADIT, STRAPIT, MOVEIT, and the Construct IT logo on the unit and rear of the trailer.”

Gill says the team were delighted to win the award.

“It felt like a real moment – to have made such an impact in the industry so soon, amongst so many grand and established brands. To be noticed – literally and metaphorically – that’s just what we hoped for as the new kids on the construction block.” ■

A FLEET TO BE PROUD OF Launched in February this year, Construct IT has arrived on the construction materials transport scene, confident it can transform the sector.

It makes no bones about its plans, stating on its website: “We’re hell-bent on improving the status quo, because as tough as this industry is, we love a good challenge.”

It breezily adds: “From bricks to bagged aggregates, we can shift most construction materials safely and reliably without fuss. To achieve this, we’ve built a team of well-trained, service-led and generally likeable drivers (how often can you say that?), and invested heavily in a modern haulage fleet and expertly managed state-of-the-art IT systems.”

4.10.21

The company currently runs a fleet of 27 Construct IT vehicles, including two tippers, and as part of the group has a further 65 artic curtainsider vehicles, within the BJS Haulage fleet. Another 40 new additional vehicles, currently being built, are set to arrive by the end of this year.

Construct IT’s fleet has been designed to maximise the useability and accessibility of each vehicle. Five of the trucks have closed extender adjustable trailers, which have been designed in conjunction with Atlas Cranes and Dennison Trailers to offer increased stability and payload.

These can be mechanically reduced in length to allow drivers into sites with restricted access.

A further five drawbars have been built

by Massey Truck Engineering – which can be split in half; these are effective in limited space when two smaller loads are more suitable than one large load.

The company also offers a mix of centre-mount and roll-along artic cranes, drawbar cranes, 6-wheel rigid cranes, and urban cranes for use on sites with restricted access.

In addition to its cranes, the company also operates vehicles with a demountable forklift truck for collection and delivery of goods, as well as rigid tipper vehicles.

“This is an exciting new brand that will be easy to spot as it lifts and loads the nation’s building materials,” says Amarat Gill.

MotorTransport 21

MT Awards 2021 winner profile Safety in Operation Award

Safe as houses Wren Kitchens has taken a fresh and focused approach to its health and safety strategy and ingrained it into the culture of the business

L

et’s face it, health and safety can often be a dry and tedious subject. Talk to most drivers and they will claim that excessive red tape is making their jobs more and more difficult. Not helped, of course, by the added safety procedures forced on them by the pandemic.

As far as some are concerned, much like political correctness, health and safety has officially gone mad.

Which is why Wren Kitchens’ approach makes for a refreshing change, and ultimately helped it win our 2021 Safety In Operation Award.

Headquartered in Barton-on-Humber, the company has opted to put an entirely new spin on safety, favouring a more holistic strategy that starts with prevention. But as ever, the little things also make a difference – rewarding good driving skills with vouchers for bacon butties and coffee, for example. And making sure there is a stock of Wren-branded clothing and boots to keep drivers looking their best. That kind of thanks and encouragement can go a long way when a penalising culture so often breeds resentment.

“We refer to it as procedures and policies rather than health and safety,” explains national fleet manager Lee Thompson-Halls. “We have them in the fleet, in the operation and in the training. We have one big Wren family in the middle with all the branches coming off and it’s the same thought processes that go into all of those areas. We leave no stone unturned with safety.”

Also key to Wren’s success, and unusual for the transport sector, is having a dedicated SHEQ manager: “Tim Pearson is thorough, focused and extremely knowledgeable,” Thompson-Halls says. “His background was in health and safety long before Wren.

“There aren’t many companies that employ an outand-out H&S specialist for transport and logistics; they tend to get pulled into the warehouses. More normally, a few extra roles are added to someone else’s job. So the fact that we have time purely for transport really does pay off. Tim works closely with the depots, making sure we’ve got all the risk assessments covered.”

Self-funded and privately owned, Wren manufactures its own kitchens in its own UK factories and delivers them direct to customers’ homes in its own fleet of trucks.

Last year it safely delivered 96,296 of them, appliances included.

Pearson works alongside national transport compliance and training manager David Cooper. Both report directly into transport and logistics director Lee Holmes,

22 MotorTransport

who discusses safety initiatives with the board on a regular basis before rolling them out across the organisation.

Investment in H&S increased by 30% last year to more than £500,000.

Train and retain

Wren’s safety focus also neatly overlaps with its impressive training initiatives. The fast-growing firm was only launched in 2009 and Thompson-Halls admits that for a couple of years people didn’t really understand the health and safety aspect. However, the training process has helped enormously.

“Because you don’t have a constant flow of people you can focus on setting the foundations of training and the state of mind of health and safety and then it grows with you,” Thompson-Halls explains. “Tim’s been quite fortunate in that the people coming in have had that initial health and safety understanding given to them and then developed it with him. So it’s that family-orientated part again, because he’s not got a constant new depot supervisor that he’s having to train. It’s about retaining and progressing staff. The whole approach to health and safety is an attitude and Tim’s worked really hard to change that attitude.”

Wren’s agile business model helped it quickly realign its focus in the pandemic. From facilities, induction and

WREN SAFETY HIGHLIGHTS n 12% drop in road accident/incident frequency in 2020 n Introduction of revised Accident Emergency & Disaster Response Procedure n Bi-annual CPC training for all managers and drivers, including specific vulnerable road users and manual handling modules n Green GO3 OCRS status for all sites since 2009 n FORS accredited with 15 FORS practitioners across the business n GOAL (Get Out And Look) initiative introduced to remedy rise in third-party incidents n Regular COVID, H&S checklist and site audits undertaken by industry specialists n Pre-employment assessment, five-day induction course, advanced driving skills: All drivers have to pass each stage before going solo, promoting low accident/incident rates across the business n Innovative safety equipment developed/introduced reduces physical burden, mitigates personal injury and protects products n Quarterly safety campaigns introduced – ‘Hard Hats’ resulted in 100% drop in incidents n Mental health first aiders promoted/available for everybody 4.10.21

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But there’s clearly a risk in trying to force all this down the necks of reluctant staff. So how exactly does Wren ensure its 770 transport employees fully engage with its policies and procedures?

“It’s about listening to their ideas and making them feel part of the team,” says Cooper. “Give them the time of day, don’t just tell them, ‘We’re doing it this way’. There are driver reps from each depot who interact with us and that gets it from the ground floor back up.

“The key is the extra mile and we’re forever improving it,” he adds. “For drivers we have a process in place for delivery – dynamic risk assessments of every delivery point. That’s challenging because they’re all different.

From rubble on a pathway to an uncarpeted house or freshly painted doors.”

Wren is also keen to examine new safety innovations such as ‘alcolocks’ on trucks and introduce fresh information about the correct PPE. “We bring the drivers back for training where necessary,” Cooper continues. “We look at the camera and tell them they’re not wearing their hard hat in that delivery, ask them why, then tell them what the risks are. We re-educate them to make sure health and safety is put at the forefront.

“We also do post-accident analysis, from personal injury to a truck accident, although these are very rare.

Delivery point is where we need to be on our guard. Safe working procedures are constantly reviewed and we make sure they’re happening. We police that as well so if they’re not doing it we’ll view the camera footage. If they’re not doing it right – say not putting a guard on the tail-lift or lifting in the wrong way and risking their back – we issue them with a safe working procedure note. But if they do it right, we ring them up and say ‘We’ve just watched you and well done mate!’ ”

Online engagement

workplace training to best practice, manual handling, transportation and customer service, its operations are subject to safety scrutiny of the highest level.

Through T100 Risk Manager, Wren reported consistently low workplace accidents with a 56% reduction of RIDDORS, 92% reduced delivery incidents, and less than 1% damaged goods for a third year in 2020.

Staff and drivers now complete a daily health questionnaire and a temperature check before entering the Wren premises, whose security was at Fort Knox levels on the day of our visit. Drivers wear protective equipment for contactless deliveries. Vehicles are disinfected daily or when there is a change of driver. Workplaces and showrooms have been issued with social distancing signage, floor markers and guidance sheets; work stations are a minimum of 2m apart and fitted with perspex screens.

Wren has 15 assessor/trainers (RHA, IOSH, FORS, Level 3 PTLLS and Transport Manager CPC trained/ accredited) and its Training Academy promotes a safetyconscious culture across the business.

All Wren training assessors, drivers and managers are Smith System trained. This focuses on collision prevention through one-to-one practical training. The company has also introduced innovative safety equipment and physical training sessions focused on reducing musculoskeletal disorders.

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ALL BASES COVERED: Wren Kitchens has comprehensive safety protocols for all staff.

As well as reassuring customers, the measures minimise workplace accidents and injuries, and help foster a team spirit that helps retention

Wren has also developed interfacing online systems to manage all things ‘safety’, which facilitates efficient analysis of individuals, vehicles and incidents, consistent and immediate sharing of information, action plans and resolutions, and single-point data storage.

Drivers instantly log vehicle defects using FlexiPod, which links to Wren’s network of service/repair workshops, automatically booking repair and maintenance work and resulting in reduced VOR. In-cab telematics, Brigade dash-cams, cab-cams and load-area cameras (live-linked to the delivery team) provide live and recorded footage of journey/traffic, driver styles and goods-in-transit. These are monitored daily.

‘Tool Box Talks’ and ‘Drive On’ weekly and quarterly electronic/hard copy bulletins/newsletters have also been introduced, Quarterly safety campaigns were launched in 2020, with the first –‘Hard Hats’ – coming in response to seven minor head injuries as a result of not wearing a hard hat in undesignated areas. The next campaign is aimed at increasing the reporting of ‘Near Misses’.

“Tim has monthly health and safety meetings with the depots and we invite drivers from each depot,” Thompson-Halls says. “We check what they report to see what’s been actioned and the outcome. That’s then put on the noticeboard. It’s all about communication, so people know what we’re doing and getting everyone involved. Our health and safety is spot on. That’s what retains drivers.” n MotorTransport 23

MT Awards 2021 winner profile Haulier of the Year

Victory repeated Expect Distribution’s great financial performance and clear strategy helped it become the first company to win the same MT award in consecutive years

T

COUNTRY COVERAGE: Expect has three sites in and around Bradford.

Informal partnerships with other hauliers allow it to deliver a national service

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his is the second year on the trot Expect Distribution has picked up the Haulier of the Year trophy, making it the first company to pull off this feat. In addition, it is the second company, after Abbey Logistics, to win it three times since the awards were launched in 1986.

Palletline member Expect Distribution put in another outstanding financial performance last year and, although the events of 2020 slowed turnover growth, it still saw a 68% improvement in net profit to £3m as margins widened to an enviable 9.15%.

In an entry described by our judges as a “great submission”, Expect says that at the start of the pandemic “we decided that our commercial strategy would not change, we just needed to adapt the way in which we achieved our objectives”.

The headline strategy for 2020 centred on growing organically by 10% to 12% by winning new business and retaining existing customers, and widening profit margins to 7.15% by targeting growth in the warehousing and contract logistics division.

Expect MD Neil Rushworth says margins have been improving steadily for the past two or three years. “While we haven’t moved away from our traditional pallet network and general haulage and groupage work, that isn’t the fastest-growing part of our business,” he explains. “We have three key divisions: contract logistics, which has been the key to our success; warehousing, which also makes a good contribution and is interlinked with a lot of our contract logistics business; and general haulage, which three years ago was causing us real concern as

margins were just 1% to 2% and we were handling a lot of business for little return.”

Rushworth says the “sweet spot” for winning profitable new business is SMEs, where it can add most value and form “true partnerships”. “If someone just wants a transactional relationship, it won’t be with us because we are rarely the cheapest,” he says.

This is not to say it avoids large firms – it holds the national distribution contracts for Card Factory and O2 Telefonica, for example. Expect works out of three sites in and around Bradford, West Yorkshire, and has informal partnerships with other hauliers who share its ethos around the UK to deliver a national service.

“We deal with many other Palletline members on a direct trunk or partnership basis, especially Welch’s Transport in Cambridge, where we have a really good relationship. That is a far better option than acquiring a business or premises down there. We have also dealt with Bullet Express in Scotland for many years, and there are four or five of these key partnerships that allow us to avoid ploughing work through the pallet network.”

Tough competition

That is because while pallet networks have been phenomenally successful, competition between them is fierce and margins have shrunk in recent years, especially as B2C volumes have grown rapidly in the pandemic.

“It just becomes more and challenging every day and we are not immune,” says Rushworth. “We have vehicles parked up every day and it is getting very difficult.

“B2C is a section of business that none of the networks have dealt very well with. Even in pre-Covid times we saw the build-up of it as web sales generated that type of business and for a long time we have all done it at the same rate as a B2B delivery. This has set a market expectation and the networks are the obvious place to put that work because it is generally one pallet and we don’t want our own fleet going around the country delivering onepallet consignments.”

Rather than turn it down, Rushworth would prefer to see the whole industry “charge the right rate” for this type of delivery. At least on the inputting sides, Expect does not get involved with heavy pallets destined for home addresses. “We wouldn’t deal in the aggregates market for that sort of pallet,” says Rushworth. “It just isn’t attractive to us. Our B2C is mainly things like bathrooms and wood burning stoves, so our average weight would be around 200kg.”

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It does, however, have to accept deliveries of any pallet up to 750kg in its area that has been put into the network by other members. “We really need to reduce that limit, though Palletline was the first network to move on the electric pump trucks,” says Rushworth. “That was a good move, but a tail-lift delivery to a residential address is still the highest area of risk.

On the warehousing side, the firm will complete a new 18m high-bay facility in February 2022 with a capacity of 22,000 pallets. “The three sites we have now total 700,000sq ft and they are all full, so this will handle our short-term growth,” says Rushworth.

“We are taking on another 125,000sq ft of a site that we share with the catalogue company Grattan, ripping out an automated system and replacing it with VNA [very narrow aisle racking].

“Phase one of that is 60,000sq ft and is already full with three new contracted customers in there. We haven’t started marketing the high-bay development yet.”

Rushworth handles all the firm’s sales and says that a lot of Expect’s contract logistics work has moved to open book, with a gain share mechanism that gives a rebate to customers if their contracted vehicles are able to carry third-party volume. “That works as long as the client can get their head around it,” he says. “It helps if they have operated that model before. If we can’t do open book, we will operate on a fixed day-rate model.

More customers are beginning to understand the challenges faced by the logistics industry, which range from Brexit and the driver shortage to Covid and the need to cut carbon emissions. “The last six months has seen a real shift in that understanding,” says Rushworth.

“A lot of that comes down to communication at the owner level. I regularly write to customers to update them, and particularly during Brexit and Covid that was essential.

“The real shift in approach this time around has been that customers have seen container shipment costs go through the roof, with increases of 10 or 12 times what they were paying. That has helped us get the message through that we are not just talking about a 2% increase.

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If we have gone to a UK customer with a 10% increase they have found it more palatable because they know what is going on.

Despite the pandemic putting pressure on the business, Expect stuck to its ethos that its people are the key to its success. It stopped using agency drivers – which dramatically cut accident rates and insurance premiums – and moved its drivers from an hourly rate with weekly overtime to a monthly salary where they work banked hours, a change that improved driver productivity without increasing wage costs. While Rushworth knows there is a limit to what he can offer drivers in the way of worklife balance, the company has “worked hard” to improve the wages and benefits package it offers.

“We can only do it if there is a supply of drivers that enable us to offer flexibility in the hours they work,” he says. “Most hauliers we know are just busting a gut to get through the day and get enough drivers to make the deliveries. We are heading towards peak season and this will test us even more. We will end up with a set of customers who can’t find a carrier because there won’t be enough resource to meet demand. I would suggest buying your Christmas turkey early and freezing it!

WINNING WAYS: Expect’s trophy cabinet in head office is already full, so room will have to be made for the latest addition to its collection of five Motor Transport Awards – which now includes three for Haulier of the Year

Keen investor?

One of our judges said Expect’s entry “demonstrates they have grown significantly as a business and have recognised that their people are at the heart of everything they do”. Another commented that “their delivery through Covid has been exceptional”. One of our judges with a strong entrepreneurial streak said: “This company is, in my view, fully engaged in all areas of the business. It knows what it is and where it wants to go. This is a business in which I would be keen to be an investor.”

While Expect has now picked up five MT awards, winning Haulier of the Year in successive years was special for Rushworth. “It was really amazing,” he says.

“It was an ambition of mine to be the first one to do that.

It is a coveted award and we have been a consistent finalist, but winning the award is huge.” n MotorTransport 25

MT Awards 2021 winner profile Service to Industry Award

The voice of experience Donald Burton set up his company in the 1980s as a back-street local bodybuilder; today Don-Bur is an internationally recognised manufacturer

D

onald Burton was born in Longton, Stokeon-Trent, on 10 October 1933, a birthday he shares with the opera composer Giuseppe Verdi. He was academically bright and passed his 11-plus before going to the local grammar school, Longton High, where he also excelled in sports and his passion for boxing resulted in an unbeaten record.

His first job was in 1949 for Hassells, a coachbuilder in Portland Road, Stoke-on-Trent. Unknowingly he was working only 100 yards away from one of the current Don-Bur service sites.

“We lived in a house owned by the local pot factory and my dad was the senior slip maker,” Burton explains.

“There were stables where they kept the cart horses and next door was a motor bodybuilding company called Hassells. All I wanted to do when I left school was play football, but my mother got me a job there right next door, which was how I got into the business.”

Burton then worked for Metalcraft, which made coaches, before joining the Coldstream Guards on 11 January 1952.

After leaving the army in 1954, Hassells had gone bust and Burton started at Tom Byatts, a van dealership and bodyshop, at the princely rate of 1/10 ½d per hour – the equivalent of 9p per hour today.

Being a keen footballer, in 1955 he left Tom Byatts and grasped the opportunity to play at a professional level for Derby County, where he played at number eight, but an Achilles tendon injury put a premature end to his professional career and he went back to Tom Byatts in 1956.

In 1960, Tom Byatts built a new coachbuilding shop and Burton was selected to be foreman until 1962, when he became general manager after the incumbent sadly died.

In the early 1970s, Tom Byatts was sold to Bristol Street Motors, which also owned Welford Truck Bodies and Burton was asked to take over the management of Welfords, where the business become known affectionately as ‘Donny-Burtons’.

“I’d worked my way up to be a director of Tom Byatts, a big Bedford and Vauxhall agent, and they were bought out by Settle Speakman, a small local group which in turn was taken over by Bristol Street Motors,” Burton says. “They had a bodybuilding place that they didn’t know what to do with and they also owned Welfords in

26 MotorTransport

Birmingham, which wasn’t doing very well. The company I ran was called Tom Byatt Engineers and they asked me to take over Welfords and get it into shape.”

In 1979, Bristol Street came close to bankruptcy and Burton saw an opportunity to carry out one of the firstknown management buyouts, which completed in 1981.

“I wasn’t too happy at Bristol Street Motors,” says Burton. “They were car dealers and not interested in manufacturing anything. When the credit crunch came there were certain things I didn’t agree with and I tendered my resignation. They didn’t want to accept it so I said ‘Sell me the business’. I didn’t want Welfords in Birmingham, but I took the old Tom Byatt business. I managed to raise the £950,000 to buy the company – I couldn’t do it now and I was too highly geared even in those days.

“I was sitting with my accountant John Archer and the MD of Bristol Street Tom Cannon talking around the board table after we had done the deal. Tom asked me what I was going to call the company and I said ‘Something like Punch Bodies’. He said ‘We’ve always call it Don Burton’s because you never allowed anyone else to get inside – why don’t you call it Don-Bur?’ “I asked John if he had any objection and he said ‘No’ and that’s how it became Don-Bur.”

Well connected

The company was still a major Bedford and Vauxhall dealer with good connections with the factory at Luton and its main business was putting wooden bodies on trucks and vans up to 18ft in length. As steel and later aluminium gradually replaced wood, Don-Bur moved with the times and the business grew apace.

“We started off with 20 people and when we did the buyout we were employing 120,” Burton says. “Then Gerald at Boalloy came up with the Tautliner and that revolutionised the trailer industry. Before the fifth wheel came along there was the old Scammell coupling where the truck backed under it and the legs went up automatically. The maximum weight was 10 tonnes and then in the late 1950s they came up with the fifth wheel.

What sent us into trailers was always being let down by the chassis manufacturers – we would do a deal for 15 chassis on a certain date, but they were always three or four weeks late. We had started doing a lot of work for the big clothing carriers like Tibbett & Britten and began building them frameless trailers with no chassis.”

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GOING STRONG: Although Don-Bur has been operating for 40 years, chairman Donald Burton has no plans to retire just yet

That lesson remained with Burton and he has always kept as much of the manufacturing as possible in-house.

Five years ago the company made a substantial investment in the latest German Trumpf laser welding and STOPA storage and material handling technology. “Predominantly we try to do everything ourselves.” he says.

Home advantage

In contrast with the large German trailer builders, who focus on huge volumes of standardised trailers, Burton argues that the UK market is very different from continental Europe, where the 4m-high, 13.6m-long box van is the market staple. “Everyone said that trailers would simplify, but the advantage we have in the UK is that we have no height restriction.”

“As things got more complicated, operators wanted to transport their goods in various ways, and that is where we score to this day. Everybody wants something different and that is how we make a living here.”

The birth of double-deck trailers led to the development of the lifting deck to enable both decks to be unloaded safely.

“We came up with the lifting deck trailer, which is now our staple product,” says Burton. “That was led by two major FMCGs wanting to avoid unloading on the bay with forklifts. Again it was just us listening to people who want to deliver as effectively as they can. If a business opportunity comes up, we make it happen.”

Another concept that became synonymous with Don-Bur was the Teardrop aerodynamic trailer. “We thought ‘How can we make this big square thing different?’,” Burton says. “We had previously added a few fairings and tried to make our trailer different, but then we came up with the Teardrop when fuel became very expensive because we are always trying to create value and make it more presentable. We did patent the Teardrop and people have been trying to mimic it ever since.”

Don-Bur has built a lot of longer semi-trailers during the DfT trial and looks forward to embracing the opportunity which arises as they become legally mainstream in 2022. Burton says they present another bespoke option.

“LSTs fall right into our lap,” he says. “We’ve already been building and improving them for a decade and we are well suited to manufacturing double-deck versions.”

At 87, Burton remains chairman of Don-Bur and continues to go to the factory every day. He is a man of 4.10.21

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presence and obvious drive, but shies away from recognition. Despite being the focus of numerous awards over a period of 40 years, there are no award ceremony photographs on his walls or trophies gracing his window ledges.

But winning the Service to Industry Award has been slightly special, he admits. “I had a very nice letter from my local MP,” he says. “It is amazing how much publicity there is from the Motor Transport Awards. So it does have an impact and I really enjoyed the evening, though I’m not one for fuss.”

Burton has driven the company from being a backstreet local bodybuilder, to the internationally recognised manufacturer Don-Bur is today. Looking ahead to the future he has no plans to retire and keeps a close eye on future developments, including the use of new materials.

“Weight is important, and when aluminium first came in, we made our name in the 1980s with very light trailers,” he says. “We offered people a better payload – occasionally we got it wrong, but we kept evolving and that is what we majored on.

“I think that carbon fibre will start coming in, but trailer buyers are very price conscious. Trailers have got heavier with all the regulations, however, so people will be looking for new materials.”

Burton is however more sceptical about kinetic energy recovery systems. “They are great in principle, but again it is going to cost money,” he says. “Fleet operators are very cost conscious and we have to be able to offer solutions that make a good business case.”

Outside the factory walls, Burton still enjoys golf and took an opportunity in 2011 to acquire his own 18-hole golf course and club, which has thrived ever since.

When asked what continues to drive him, he says simply: “I suppose it’s in my blood. It’s been my life and I’ve always enjoyed it.”

Don’s son, David, is the current managing director of Don-Bur and has been actively running the business for almost 15 years. n

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