Police support P&O wins a bigger share
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security check
• A Suffolk truck dealer has teamed up with local police to host a security day aimed at combating vehicle theft.
Drivers have been invited to visit Orwell Trucks in Ipswich to have their vehicles checked out and receive free advice on how to foil thieves.
The campaign is being backed by Suffolk police who helped out with inspections "To try and help reduce this type of crime, we have teamed up with Orwell Trucks to offer a security inspection and report so that owners, operators and drivers can identify accurately what type of vehicle, trailer or load security device is best suited to their needs," says a police spokesman.
"With pressure being exerted from a number of sources on those in the world of road haulage to reduce the opportunities for crime, we commend this initiative," he adds. • P&O has started the next phase of the transport shake-up at Reckitt & Colman by securing work to carry raw materials into the household goods manufacturer's factories.
The new business, although believed to be small in volume, is sig-nficant in that it furthers Reckitt & Colman's long-term plan to use a single haulier for its European distribution.
In a diplomatic move designed to minimise hostility to change, it is understood P&O approached the supplier—believed to be a Continental based company— without any direct input from Reckitt & Colman.
The P&O European Transport Services com pany Ferrymasters already carries out the international transport of finished goods from Reckitt's European factories. If Ferrymasters secures all the business it could carry more than 200,000 tonnes of goods a year in palletised loads. The manufacturer of Mr Sheen, Lemsip and Colmans Mustard hopes to reduce its international freight costs by up to 20% by co-ordinating the movement of raw materials into and the movement of finished products out of its factories.
It is understood that Reck itt & Colman has appointed a manager to study how best the company can distribute products in Europe from warehouse to customer.
In the UK Reckitt & Colman's own-account fleet and POETS companies Pandoro and P&O Distribution carry out the distribution.