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224 
APW TRANSPORT
Page 66
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66 started as an owner-driver in
I 1986. I had a Ford Cargo—the 'escargot—which had no heater and no bunk!" quips Adam Wilkinson, managing director of APW Transport, a Consett-based car delivery specialist. In the late 1980s he transported caravans. "But caravans are a cottage industry so I decided to haul cars instead." he says.
With hindsight, his decision to diversify was a sound one. Car transporters are expensive pieces of equipment. but Wilkinson chose to invest wisely. Today he owns 12 car transporters: three drawbar combinations, two rigids and seven units with semitrailers.
"The vast majority of our business is in ex-fleet hire cars," explains Wilkinson. "We pick the cars up and then deliver them to dealerships."
The business is 80% ex-fleet motors; hauling new imported cars accounts for the remaining 20% of turnover. The company sometimes subcontracts for the large car transport fleets.
APW transporters pick up cars from the ports of Sheerness, Grimsby, Portbury and Teesport. Teesport, Britain's second largest port, generates most of this work; Wilkinson's HGVs run into Teesport between 20 and 30 times a week.
New cars are expensive commodities—especially in the U10—and this puts extra pressures on specialist car hauliers. "The price of the goods-in-transit insurance is ridiculous, and the excesses are high. As soon as we pick the car up we are liable for it. The driver must thoroughly check the vehicle when he picks it up, to record any dents or scratches that may be there."
Collection delivery notes are tailored to the job: "CR" stands for "Cracked", "T" for "Torn" and "D" for Dent.
His drivers are given a bonus if they deliver a car in perfect condition. Cars are precious objects, and the firm's equipment is too.
"The 32-tonne semi-trailers can carry 12 cars. They cost £50,000. The drawbars cost .E125,000. We do regular servicing: we have our own workshop so we are on top of things," says Wilkinson.
"The drawbar units are the newest trucks in the fleet, and they have a capacity for eleven large ears, They are very flexible, they can also carry vans and 4x4s."
One rigid can accommodate seven cars, the second rigid can carry five.
'Car transporting Is a competitive business. There are so many people chasing the work which means that the rates are taking a hammering," he says frankly.
There is sufficient work for Wilkinson's fleet, but he admits that there is not an ounce of extra business to be had. He is taking delivery of a £125,000 38-tonne drawbar in June, but this vehicle will replace an existing HGV. Hots not expanding APW at the moment.
The depot Is immaculate, and the workshop looks like a textbook example of a professional HGV maintenance area. The pit is specially designed to look after the car transporters.
Last summer, though, the yard resembled a Hollywood film set. There Is a furnace In a small factory, which stands a few yards beyond the perimeter fence. Wilkinson was flabbergasted to witness the sight of 20ft flames spewing from the building's exhausts, right across his yard, It was like Concorde's afterburners," he remembers. Firefighters extinguished the blaze.
The local council has caused hassles, too. Wilkinson put a new £14,000 fence up. Planning officers demanded that he painted it—which he duly did at a cost of £600. The council refused a request to grit the public road outside the APW base, so Wilkinson bought a small gritting trailer which he tows with the firm's Peugeot van.
Haulage, though, is his chief preoccupation. lie believes that British operators generally do things by the book, which means that regulations hit them hard. "I am less enthusiastic than when I started, and I think that the Working Time Directive will bring more pressures. In Britain we do everything down the line, everything is done to a tee."
Wilkinson rattles off a list of the people that have helped him along the way. "I'd like to thank my parents. Maureen and Ian for their guidance and assistance. My mum did a lot of invoicing, especially in the first few years of the business. My dad was an engineer in the Merchant Navy, and he's given me a lot of help. For him, nothing is insurmountable."
He pats Ray English, his transport manager, on the back. "He has a great way of dealing with the customers and the drivers," enthuses Wilkinson. He also passes on his thanks to Helen Robson, office adminstrator. Wilkinson thanks his drivers for their unstinting service. He has installed showers for them, and on Easter Monday is taking all his coveted Class 1 holders to see Newcastle United play at home.
"The good drivers that we have tend to stay here...hopefully this is because it is a good job."