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Industry is polarising
Page 5
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• Norbert Dentressangle (UK)'s sales soared by a massive 700% last year but more than a third of the UK's 2000 leading hauliers made a loss, according to a major study just released by Plimsoll Publishing.
Winners ranked alongside ND in the "top 10" performers include Exel, TNT, Hays Distribution, UPS, BEDS, Dart Group, Turners of Saban', WH Malcolm and Gregory Distribution. DEDS's sales rose 4606/0; Exel recorded growth of nearly 150%.
But behind the headlines other hauliers are struggling, with 37% of the top 2000 operators making a loss last year.
Andy Walker, commercial director at top-10 operator Gregory Distribution, insists it is still possible to make a living out of road transport, albeit with a lower margin: "The industry average is about 2.4% but our objective is to achieve at least 5%, although our latest accounts show that we are getting a 4.5% margin."
Peter Carroll, director of Kent-based Seymour Transport, agrees: "It is still possible to operate successfully in transport but it is vital that small and medium-sized operators add value as niche players."
Simon Chapman, chief economist at the Freight Transport Association, feels the industry is polarising. He predicts that the winners will be small operators with a niche market and major fleets with the critical mass to provide full supply-chain services.
Medium-sized operators without the right infrastructure or flexibility to exploit new markets are being squeezed, he adds.
Plimsoll senior analyst David Pattison warns that some of the loss-makers will disappear because "once you have lost ground it is difficult to regain it, particularly in the hightech business of road transport".
Pattison predicts the road haulage market will grow by 2.6% in 2002, but other industry experts argue that it is impossible to forecast growth so precisely.