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long time is that as clients grow your business can grow with them. For example, late last year ICI Polyurethane awarded a three-year, £10m contract to distribute the chemical aniline to Hanson Transport. It is Hanson Transport's biggest contract, but ICI has good reason to trust the Hanson name.
It was in 1935 that ICI signed its first distribution deal with a new sheepskin and textiles haulier called Joseph Hanson & Sons, It was Joseph Hanson's first major contract: the fact that Hanson is still winning major contracts from ICI 60 years on serves as proof, if it were needed, that good service is good business.
As ICI expanded into textile dyes and became a world-class chemicals manufacturer, Hanson Transport grew with it. But while ICI (and more recently its off-shoot Zeneca) remain Hanson Transport's major customers, Hanson Transport could never be accused of keeping all its eggs in one basket.
"Our business covers two extremes of the spectrum," says Hanson Transport managing director John Collings. ''At one end we are still handling bulk chemicals in tankers and curtainsiders, while at the other we are delivering furniture to peoples' homes with House of Fraser" Like the international conglomerate Hanson plc, Hanson Transport is chaired by Lord Hanson. However, Hanson Transport remains very much an independent and family-owned business. These days it concentrates exclusively in road transport and operates solely in the UK, but that wasn't always the case.
As Joseph Hanson & Sons its interests included the oper ation of car hire fleets, bus services, travel businesses, petrol stations, driver training schools, parcels delivery and freight forwarding. At one time its interests included 22 companies, 38 depots and more than 1,200 vehicles.
After losing control of some of its road haulage activities during nationalisation, the company was renamed Hanson Transport and, determined to retain its haulage interests, invested in a Canadian carrier. After privatisation it returned to UK operations, beginning the gradual process of concentrating on road transport and moving into distribution and warehousing.
"The company has always sought to seize an opportunity whenever and wherever it is presented. That also meant selling an operation if favourable terms meant it was the right thing to do," says Collings. That philosophy inspired the company's recent investment in a specialist accident response vehicle to deal with chemical incidents which could involve its own vehicles. It carries trained staff and all the equipment necessary to retrieve and move any dangerous chemicals.
Hanson Transport will be quite happy if this vehicle's services are not required, but it is evidence of a commitment to excellence that helps explain Hanson's success for the past 155 years.