H auliers enter the indus
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try in a variety of ways. Some inherit a family business; others start as drivers or warehousemen and work their way up. Ken Knight, partner at Hull-based Knights Transport, did it the hard way. "I was working in a large warehouse, drhring fork-lifts for Smith and Nephew, but I got fed up with this," he says, In February 1885 Ken and his brother Graham teamed up and got their own business underway.
Ken admits that getting a foothold was not easy: "We bought a secondhand Volkswagen 3.5-tonne van from somebody in Bradford." So was it a good buy? "Put it this way," says Ken, "it would be easier to tell you what was right with it than what was wrong with it. We just had to persevere with it."
The brothers pressed on, regard less of mechanical drawbacks. They were fortunate enough to secure work with Smith and Nephew, Ken's old employer. "Smith and Nephew gave us our first haulage job, which was on an as-and-when basis," says Ken.
Sixteen years on the Volkswagen van has long gone, but the work with Smith and Nephew remains. About 40% of the Knight brothers' business is with this firm, which produces wound dressings. Ken gets his priorities right: "We bought a 40ft curtainsider, which we use solely for Smith and Nephew work. We transport their products from Hull to sterilisation plants in Doncaster and Bradford. After they have been sterilised we pick them up then bring them back to the Hull factory." Knights Transport makes a daily return run to the Doncaster and Bradford factories, Ken continues: "Each load comprises 28 pallets and the curtainsider is ideal for these trips; it's about volume rather than weight." The trailer is hauled by a Mercedes 2035 tractor.
Harforcls is another valued Knights Transport customer; it manufactures buckets for JCBs earth movers. "We are the sale transport supplier for the firm's Hull factory," Ken explains. Three loads are delivered to JCB's littoxeter base each week; for this job Ken and Graham field a Mercedes 1820 six-wheeler rigid curtainsider. They also run a Mercedes 1720 rigid and two Ford Cargos for general haulage.
The fleet is carefully tailored to the firm's requirements; Ken picks his vehicles to carry out the job in hand. His theory is that overstretching is not worth the risk. When the business started Ken ran It from home, but within two years he and Graham had moved into a depot.
"Customers were asking us for more storage space, so we moved to
the depot in Marfleet, Hull," he says. "That depot had 1,40Dm2 of warehousing space. We were there for 10 years but then customers started getting into just-in-time delivery— this effectively took away the demand for our warehouse."
Ken and Graham acted promptly. The large warehouse was surplus to requirement so the brothers moved to a depot near Hull Docks. It has a 370m2 warehouse, which is big enough for their needs. Ken reckons that dispensing with their old depot was a wise move because large accommodation carries a large price tag. "If we had stayed there we would have been bankrupt by now," he remarks.
For now It's a case of steady as she goes, but Ken's keeping an open mind: "We have no plans to expand the warehouse, and the fleet will stay the same size—although if more work comes up we are willing to buy a sixth vehicle."