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144 
MARTINI FREIGHT
Page 46
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Alfie Mack says he joined the road transport business "by mistake—but if that is the case, it was a lucky mistake. He is deliberately vague about the birth of Martini Freight, but the basic facts are that about seven years ago he and his business partner, Colin Denton, found themselves in business with an old Transit van handling light removals and deliveries in the Liverpool area.
Today, they run a £5m-turnover company with 4 o vehicles and 6o staff They claim it is now the largest independent express haulier in the UK".
"We were in the right place at the right time," says Mack. We wanted to get into the local removals market and then someone asked us to do a Continental run. We got such a good rate that we went looking for more of the same."
The Continental work has not only provided Martini Freight with a good profit yield; it has also furnished Mack with a wealth of colourful anecdotes. Ask him what kind of load he carries and the answer is "anything from giant green frogs to ships' propellers". Martini Freight has trucked a pub bar all the way to the Russian-Norwegian border inside the Arctic circle. It also delivered a snow-machine to a film set in Casablanca and another to Germany which was used for the opening sequences in the blockbuster Gladiator.
Martini's vehicles have been blown up by land mines in Kosovo and run the gauntlet of angry Spanish hauliers for defying motorway roadblocks to bring Nissan car components over the Pyrenees. "We kept Nissan Sunderland going when the Spanish hauliers were on strike. Our Mercedes Sprinters were the only vehicles that could get through," says Mack.
Those Sprinters form the backbone of the Martini fleet. In fact, Mack says he would not buy anything else now. Martini Freight buys both new and second-hand as a matter of policy, although all the vehicles in the current fleet were bought new.
The work they do is demanding, not only for the vehicle but also for the drivers. Until recently
Martini employed all its own vers. But as it has grown it recruited a number of owner. vers to augment the fleet ( bring a number of artics to operation). Whether employe, self-employed they need an ab dance of stamina, plenty of in tive and a willingness to jumj a vehicle and go anywhere Europe at short notice.
That is the Martini ethos . that is also why the compan called Martini Freight. "WI never been afraid to go anywh the client wants us and we : work on a 24-hour call-out," s Mack. "We were a bit naive wl we started out and we used old Martini advertising sloj "anytime, any place, anywht on our vehicles. Then one someone from Bacardi, wh owns the Martini brand, folios one of our vehicles up the mo way. First we heard of it was a ter from their solicitors."
This marketing slip cost company £4,000. And, althot it kept the name, it had to d the slogan and have all its vt des re-painted.
Despite little setbacks such. that Martini Freight is going fr strength to strength, having j bought out a rival based in Mil Keynes and almost doubling size as a result.
If his main business ever run into trouble, Mack has a f back: hiring out stretch-lim That sleek, shiny Lincoln in latest Meadoalvideo? That's riE it's part of the Martini fleet.