1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156 
n a soupy winter's morning, the Amsterdam train passes tranquil
Page 40
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
canals, tulip fields and cycle tracks on its dream-like journey to Rotterdam. From this massive industrial port, CM travels onward by road to e shrouded island of Stellendam to meet the ighty Stok Cargo Service, a business which careful acquisition has grown to 150 trucks II Renault) in an astonishingly brief ro years. Commercial director and partner Sjaak van !r Linden and Stok founder Jan Stok are on Ind to explain the genesis of an operation at is now a major fleet operator by any stanads. In fact, the company is such a valued istomer of Renault that the manufacturer as installed a joint-venture workshop and IOT centre on site, staffed by Renault techanics to service the Stok fleet.
Stok began in 1992 running just 20 trailers id employing agency drivers and hired tacit' units. Trailer ownership grew to 400, hie much of the transport remained subintracted. By the end of the decade, the cornany's lack of its own traction was presenting roblems. "We found there was a shortage of ecent hauliers," explains van der Linden. tVe had to decide what to do and, in 2000, re acquired two specialist transport compaies."
Ill-Renault fleet
'hese were Pam de Jong and Hessels 'ransport. Pam de Jong owned JW Transport 1 Zeebrugge, which has continued as a Stok ffice. Pam de Jong specialised in transport to pain which Stok continued with for six nonths until it found it unprofitable. As a esult, many of Pam de Jong's drivers left iecause they preferred long-haul work—or as an der Linden puts it, "they were not intersted in driving round the church."
Stok continues to service Spain and Italy hrough owner-drivers. "There are so many lpanish owner-drivers here and they are nuch cheaper than we could be," says Jan ltok. Hessels ran only Renaults which led itok to the decision to switch to an all-Renault leet. Van der Linden explains the thinking: "If you stick to one brand you can have a very strong relationship. If you feel you have made the right decision you should be able to trust your partner. You can't have the same relationship with several companies. When we started with Renault, there was such a good feeling we felt this was the right partner." A fleet policy of replacing new every three years means that trucks are so recent that problems have been encountered sourcing spare parts in the UK, the company's principal destination.
Jan Stok is very keen that the drivers get vehicles with every home comfort, "I have ordered 35 new Renault Magnums with automatic gearboxes to be delivered in February. The cabs are spacious, they have leather seats and CD players." H, chuckles: "Two years ago we had only Scanias. We had drivers with Scania in their veins. They were the first we put into the Magnums and now they are very happy."
The company has a straightforward mission in life. "England is our core business, both fitll and part load," explains van der Linden, "We transport from the Benelux countries, Germany and France into the UK and back again.' Most loads go unaccompanied with trailers collected by its UK partner, Davis Freight. Around 5% of customers insist on a door to door service. Stok specialises in paper products but also carries steel, cherni cals, timber, computer parts, "anything that can be carried on curtainsiders," says van der Linden. The company has invested in trailers with sliding roofs to save time unloading. This is an important factor because the trailers sometimes return empty from Britain. "The profit margins on back loads are small. We make our profit from the westbound cargo to the UK—the return loads are just against costs," says Jan Stok.
Market volumes
No one is pretending that times are easy but Stok claims to be holding its own. "We feel the economy is bad, not just in the UK but here on the Continent too," says van der Linden. "People are complaining about business, prof. its and labour costs but we have no complaints at the moment. We have our volumes in the market and a good trailer range. If you also have good people who are flexible in their work you can play in the market as you like."
Despite its closeness to the British market, Stok is clearly pleased that it is operating from the continent instead of the UK. For a start, it does not have a recruitment problem—half of its drivers are under 30—and it does not have to pay for expensive UK diesel. It is on return loads from the UK that it encounters the British disease of low rates but, as it says, these payments are just considered a contd. bution to costs.