P&O to expand
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• P&O Distribution, the UK distribution arm of P&O European Transport Services, is investing .E18m to set up a secondary distribution service.
About 120 17-tonne trucks, 100 additional drivers and possibly more warehouses will be taken on over three years.
The company currently has about 900 trucks, mostly heavier than 17-tonners, and 185,000m2 of space in 14 warehouses. About 40% of its trucks are dedicated: most of the company's work is from ports to regional hubs.
The announcement of the expansion comes at the same time as a reorganisation of divisions. Container distribution arm P&O Roadways has become a division of P&O Distribution, which handles non-container distribution and warehousing.
The P&O UK Transport Group umbrella, which P&O Roadways and P&O Distribution previously came under, will no longer be used but the name Roadway will be retained. Roadway is currently called P&O Roadway, but the P&O part is being dropped because other shipping lines which use its services do not like to see their hired trucks promoting a competitor.
P&O Distribution's managing director John Turner, previously P&O UK Transport Group managing director, says the expansion of P&O Distribution's services, including its merger with Roadway and its plans for a secondary fleet, is "the key to providing a total delivery service from the port to the end user".
There are unlikely to be any job losses from the reorganisation: P&O Road Tanks remains a separate division.