Brewery coup for TNT
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• TNT has won Britain's first major dedicated brewery distribution contract to go third party, in a multi-million pound deal with the Boddingtons Group of Manchester.
Boddingtons has decided to close down its three retail distribution centres at Manchester, Liverpool and Oldham on 19 February, 1988, and allow TNT to run its distribution network from a new, computerised central warehouse near Wigan in Lancashire. It will be a major change for Boddingtons and the brewery industry.
Brewery distribution is one of the last bastions of ownaccount transport says Jim Morris, contracts manager at TNT. "We could revolutionise the business. We know that a lot of breweries are going to look with great interest at this contract and how it develops," he asserts.
Boddingtons is seen in the industry as a poor performer, and it was the subject of a takeover threat last October from Midsummer Leisure, a pub and disco operator half its size. The action has hardened the company's resolve to become more competetive. A total of 135 transport jobs will be lost with the switch and another 65 will go when a keg racking plant is transferred to Manchester in October. The firm is investing about £2 million in the developments and the TNT contract will run for "several years".
TNT declined to reveal how much the deal is worth, but says that the contract is one of the largest it has won for some time. This is also the first contract the TNT Brewery Distribution operation has won since it was established nine months ago.
The company is taking on 30 new vehicles and trailers for the contract, which are all Leyland Daf. TNT usually runs Scanias but it has switched to Leyland Daf for Boddingtons because, according to Jim Morris, "the client has a long and successful relationship with Leyland trucks".
A new type of Leyland Daf Freighter 1316 urban artic has been specially designed for this contract by TNT Engineering and Gilbraith Commercials, a major Leyland Daf dealership in the North West. Major trunking runs will be undertaken by 38-tonne artics.