Wish upon a Goldstar
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CM talks to the air-freight specialist that seems to have struck gold during the recession.
Words: David Harris/ images: Nigel Spreadbury
ANYONE WANTING to understand how best to manage a haulier through a recession could do worse than look at air-freight specialist Goldstar Heathrow.
About 90% of Goldstar's business is carrying air freight. Since it was founded in 1998 it has expanded steadily, last year being no exception.
Its turnover, which was £500,000 in its first year, doubled in 1999 and had doubled again to 1.2m by 2003. It has since increased by more than £500,000 a year to reach approximately Dm in its latest financial year. So what is the Ashford, Middlesex-based firm doing right? Specialisation seems to he one factor choosing to operate in a sector it knows
intimately as welt as placing an emphasis on independence and efficiency
It's not that the recession did not affect Goldstar, rather that it dealt with it in a positive way. Director Charlie Fulk says he actually quite enjoyed the downturn, which Goldstar got through without any redundancies, partly because it made the firm more efficient.
He says: "We looked at things like equipment we didn't use which we sold and examined exactly what all our staff were doing. To he blunt, we often found that people could do a lot more than they were doing, so we made sure we got the most out of everybody. Basically, we made ourselves more efficient." The result was that last year was Goldstar's best yet in turnover terms, even if. as Fulk admits, today's profit margins range from 7% to 8% as opposed to 10% two or three years ago. It might be a fall, but many hauliers would be more than happy to operate on a 7% margin.
Ever since Goldstar was set up by Fulk and MD Mark Bassil it has aimed to have complete control over its own operations. Says Fulk: "From the start we wanted to buy our own trucks, have our own workshops and employ our own fitters We wanted to build our own company. It's a pride of ownership thing."
And build it they have. When Goldstar was set up there was one Mercedes-Benz truck, driven by Fulk and anothe r driyer.Now the all-Mercedes fleet consists of 60 vehicles, most of the.m 44-tonners and 38-tonners,:. alongside 35 trailers and six vans trainer and health and safety manager.
Fulk doesn't drive much himself anymore his main role now is attracting new business but occasionally he does feel the need to get out on the road. Last Year he had one trip to Cambridge and says "it was bliss".
Most of Goldstar's business is carrying consumer goods out of I leathrow for consolidation Or delivery. It works directly for freight forwarders, hut the goods in its trucks include products destined for high street retailers.
All of Goldstar's freight is picked up landside at the airport, with one of the continuing frustrations being the amount of time trucks have to sit waiting to pick up their cargo. often between four and eight hours for a single vehicle.
Although Goldstar has a warehouse at its Ashford headquarters, it does not store valuable goods there. The reason for this is quite disturbing. Fulk says he has heard too many stories of haulage
directors having their homes broken into and being taken at gunpoint to their warehouse to unlock it. Ti is simply nut worth the risk, he says. and Goldstar insists on r110VillO, valuable goods straight on to their destination.
The seriousness with which Goldstar regards security both its own and its customers is underlined by the regard Fulk has for Operation Grafton:This is a form of neighbourhood watch for hauliers around the iii port. or rather was, because the scheme was wound up in May. Its closure is much lamented by Fulk.
Still, security fears have not stopped Goldstar from expanding healthily, and the company would clearly like to continue this in the future.
One possible route is to expand beyond its core air-freight specialism into sea-freight by way of consolidated LCL (less-than-contai ner load) cargo. Goldstar already picks up some consolidated sea freight from ports. including Felix
stowe, and has just applied for a licence to deal with bonded sea freight.
Says Fulk: " Once we have got freight into the shed, it's just freight as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't matter where it came from, Other expansion plans include the possibility of adding another depot to those it already has in Ashford, liarmondsworth and Birmingham. Manchester is one possibility.
One area Goldstar is unlikely to expand into is taking freight directly to the Continent. 'Ihe recent problems caused by the volcanic ash cloud, which prompted many operators to consider taking freight overland that would normally have travelled to Europe by air merely emphasised to Fulk how difficult this market is, with most UK hauliers easily undercut by East European competitors In fact, the ash cloud had a far more direct effect on Goldstar than the recession as a whole. It did cost the firm money, admits Fulk. adding that April (when the cloud was haying its most malign effect) was one of the very few months in its 10-year history that the firm ran at a kiss. Goldstar is hoping that the worst of the volcanic disturbances are behind us. •