L ocated in the port of Goodwick, west of Fishguard, WF
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Hall is a family-run general haulier which has turned the challenge of its west coast location to advantage. The company was founded in 1947 by Bill Hall on leaving the army. He saw action in North Africa and Europe and his army gratuity and overseas pay were enough for him to buy his first truck. He used it to ferry workmen to the construction site of a Royal Navy arms depot being built at nearby Trecwn. At that time he was based in picturesque Lower Fishguard, used in 1971 as the location for the filming of Under Milk Wood starring Richard Burton and Liz Taylor. "It's a beautiful place but it's cost me a fortune to live here because I could never load a vehicle down here," says Bill Hall. "I had to run five or six vehicles to Swansea every morning empty because that's where the factories and steel works were."
Bill finally stood down a year ago; the company is now run by his son Martin. He is also a director of Roche Ireland, which handles the Irish side of Hall's unaccompanied trailer operations to and from Rosslare in the Irish Republic. "The Roche boys are a family business like ourselves and we pride ourselves on our service," says Martin Hall. "We run anything from a box to a full load into Southern and Northern Ireland, but for 12 years our mainstay has been Southern Ireland."
Roche acted as Hall's Customs clearance agents when the company was moving steel products into Ireland. The removal of Customs barriers in 1992 coincided with a drop-off in steel exports so the two companies decided to join forces in an unaccompanied trailer operation.
Although the Irish economy is booming, the strong pound is causing a downturn of business going from the UK, says Martin. However, business out of the Republic continues as new industries come on-line: "There is the regular throughput of the cheap products such as wood and peatmoss and cheese. But Ireland is becoming very high-tech with the computer industry, and it's these higher price products and electronics which are the growing area." Martin Hall is moving toward an all-Mercedes fleet; he has a good relationship with his dealers Euro Commercials in Swansea and Cardiff: "They're excellent and that's the main reason why I have Mercedes in here. I get a lot of support from them and they look after me in many ways."
The company now has three depots, with six vehicles based at its yard in Swansea; the main part of the fleet running out of the Goodvvick depot; and eight vehicles flagged out to Rosslare Harbour, in the Irish Republic.
"All my 02 tractor units will be flagged out to Ireland," says
Martin. "VED on a 4 t-tonner is IRD ,to7 and fuel is 30p/lit cheaper. One thousand litres of Irish fuel will pay for my vehicle
to go over and come back as a tractor cab, as well as a day's
wages for the driver—and I still save izoo." Hall has forthright
views on who is to blame: "Tell John Prescott to jump off a pier and tell Tony Blair to join him! My philosophy is block the ports, same as the French, and bring the country to a standstill and say to Mr Blair 'now listen to us'. My average fuel consumption is 90,000 litres a month and our monthly fuel bill now is upwards of £73, o oo."
FACTIFILE W F Hall & Sons
BASED Goodwick, Pembrokeshire.
FOUNDED 1947, Lower Fishguard.
CONTACT Martin Hall, director.
Nonetheless, Hall wants to see his three sons carry on in the business as he has from his father. His eldest son, Rory, is 18 and is off to Loughborough University to study transport and logistics, so it should be in good hands.