The demise of King Coal has forced hauliers dependent on
Page 50
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
that once great industry to consider their options. Nantwich-based Anglo Distribution has emerged from the coalface dusty but unbowed.
When the Government finally called time on the coal mining industry nearly four years ago, many of the sector's specialist hauliers folded. One of the survivors hit the headlines last month when it was sold as part of a deal worth £26m. But Nantwich-based Anglo Distribution has not merely survived. It has evolved from being a regional coal haulier into a national distributor of bulk products.
"Three years ago we were predominately an own-account business. Today, with less than 30% of our business in coal, over 80% of our turnover is drawn from outside originated traffic," says distribution director Jim Weir. He arrived at the company two years ago as an independent transport consultant, liked what he saw and was invited to stay.
Anglo's strategy has been to support its fleet with a carefully chosen list of subcontractors. More than 200 of them take on regular work for the company, operating from seven depots around the UK. Another 50 work in Anglo livery under close "partnership" agreements, The new owner of Anglo Distribution is a solid-fuel manufacturer, Chesterfield-based Coal Products, which was one of Anglo's regular clients.
Evolution
Coal Products is keen for Anglo's evolution to continue, says marketing director Bill Clarke. Expansion plans are designed to increase turnover by £4m to £16m over the next three years. Two more Anglo depots will open later this year, and a powder tanker operation is about to be added to an already impressive list of bulk transport activities.
Bulk-coal distribution is still a major part of Anglo Distribution's operations, with clients such as RJB Mining and the power generating companies. However, Anglo has widened its customer-base considerably to include big names such as British Steel, and food manufacturer Baxters.
Weir says that while the development of Anglo's fleet remains crucial to its plans, it was decided that a more flexible and professional operation could be achieved by making use of subcontractors with experience in the company's new markets. "After years of delivering coal to power stations, shipping ash out of them was an obvious move," he explains. The ash by-product is sold off and used as a raw material in the manufacture of solid blocks for building work.
"That took us into the construction market," says Weir. "From block materials the progress into aggregates and decorative stone haulage was fairly straightforward. Stone is a much cleaner product and from there it was a small step across into the agricultural sector and the transporting of food products."
Anglo's expansion into new markets has been reflected in the changes to its name. About three years ago the transport operation ran under the name Hargreaves Industrial Services, the largely own-account distribution division within Anglo Coal. A year later it was amended to Anglo Hargreaves to reflect the company's diversification away from coal product movements.
The adoption of the Anglo Distribution title indicates the company's ambition to become a bulk traffic operator on a national scale: with the name comes a smart new green and gold livery More than Lim will be spent on additional and replacement vehicles over the next financial year, taking the in-house fleet to 45 tractors, most of them ERFs.
Anglo's subcontractors provide a mixture of artic tippers and rigids from four to eight-wheelers, Anglo's distribution general manager Nick Maskrey explains why the company needs so many: "Work might involve long hauls of malt up to the Scottish distilleries with backloads of stone. It might also include rapid bulk movements of up to 4,000 tonnes of coal per day to a local electricity generating plant. It might even mean longer hauls to a dockside for export to Scandinavia or South America."
Subcontractors operate from all seven of Anglo's depots, at Tirbach in South Wales; Walsall and {Merton in the Midlands; Hollinhurst in Yorkshire; Birtley in County Durham; and Mossend and Elgin in Scotland.
Some of Anglo's subcontracting partners will also be used to support the in-house vehicles operating the fleet management contracts which are another string which has been added to the company's bow.
One of these contracts is with Bora! Lytag, a major manufacturer and supplier of light aggregate materials to the construction industry Maskrey takes up the story: "About two years ago we were one of a number of companies providing vehicles on a regular basis into its Rugeley plant in Staffordshire. It wanted to cut down on its subcontractors so we offered a traffic management package. Last month we installed a computer terminal which links its Eggborough plant to our depot at Hollinhurst. This has made the operation even more professional."
Anglo is recruiting more subcontractors in preparation for the opening of its next two depots, in west London and the Manchester area. Some of the new subcontractors are expected to agree partnership deals.
Weir explains that partners need not run in Anglo livery, although about 50 of them have chosen to do so. There are incentives, including up to 50% of the cost of conversion; an Anglo agency fuel card at a nominal rate; a favourable deal on trailer hire; and exclusive access to Anglo work. Regular, prompt payment is guaranteed.
Dedicated subcontractors and exclusive work deals are not uncommon in the tipper sector but Weir says the way Anglo manages its contracts and handles its relationship with its subcontractors sets the Anglo partnership scheme apart.
"We continually monitor feedback from our customers," Weir explains, "and analysis of our performance is linked either to penalty clauses or performance bonuses. That is not something particularly common in the tipping industry "We also treat our subcontractors fairly," he says, "unlike some who regard them as a necessary evil. We pay a good rate per load and if we are paid more for the job, the rate goes up as well. That's not a particularly common thing in the tipping industry either."
E by Steve McQueen