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Ian Group shake ip to cost 200 jobs
Page 6
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ly Guy Sheppard rund 200 workers will be id in the transport and distriion division of Dart Group as esult of depot closures and merger of two subsidiaries. vler Welch and Coolchain, ich specialise in delivering sh food, flowers and fruit to )ermarkets, will become Nler Welch-Coolchain from I end of March.
Depots in Portsmouth and ddock Wood in Kent will close, t a new depot in the ichester area is due to open er this year and an existing pot in Southampton will be panded.
A Dart spokesman says the job losses, which amount to one sixth of the combined workforce, include packers, administrative staff and senior management. But the 420 drivers working for the two companies—which have a combined fleet of 350 tractors and 500 trailers—will not be affected.
"We don't anticipate any change in the number of deliveries we make or the general focus of the business," says the spokesman.
He adds that most job losses will be at Coolchain's Teynham depot in Kent, which is closing down its packing operation because supermarket produce is increasingly being packed in the country of origin. Business handled by Paddock Wood will be transferred to Teynham.
The spokesman says the eventual number of redundancies may be higher or lower than 200, depending on how many employees decide to transfer to new sites.
"Obviously, we are sad to see people going but, like everybody else, we need to move the business forward to concentrate on what our customers want from us. Supermarkets are changing and evolving all the time and, in response to that, we had a review of how we organise our business."
Bournemouth-based Dart, which was founded 30 years ago by chief executive Philip Meeson, is not the only operator to experience difficulties in the chilled sector. Over the last three months, Christian Salvesen has announced the closure of its Evesham depot and the transfer of 96 jobs in Spalding to Gist ( CM12-18 Dec 2002).