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Beamish Transport describes itself as "a vehicle haulage company—as MD
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Darrin Pickering puts it: "We're diverse specialists." That diversity extends to moving cars, caravans, vans, 4x4s, motorhomes and light plant. As such Beamish's customers range from motor dealerships and national car auction houses to caravan manufacturers, importers, fleet suppliers and individuals. Beamish runs a varied f leet of trucks, ail allocated to particular drivers and all tram pers. With a staff of just 48, everything operates from a single two-acre site at Chester Le Street, Co Durham (on which it prudently holds the freehold).
The 34-vehicle fleet uses a range of bodywork, from 11-car drawbars to flats, both artic and rigid. Company policy is to buy second-hand, avoiding the biggest hit on depreciation, and operate the trucks for around four years with a rolling buying programme to spread costs and support residuals.
Beamish was launched in 1992 when Pickering, a driver, and Steve Fenwick, a panel beater, set up a parcels delivery operation with a combined capital of just £6,000. With an eye for an opportunity they began shifting caravans, and this led them into car transport. Initially growth was steady but, says Pickering, "around 1998 we had to expand the business at a terrific rate". This was needed to keep a contract with an important customer but "in 2003 we were caught out; the cash flow started to get soaked up by the expansion programme'.
He is frank about the consequences of learning financial lessons the hard way: "We are now four years into a CVA (voluntary creditor agreement). We could have gone bankrupt but we're paying our creditors back at 77p in the pound over six years." Pickering and Fenwick realised they knew about transport but were weak on management. Former bank manager Richard Foster, now a co-director, was drafted in and turned the company round financially. 'When I was in charge I didn't know if a job was profitable," says Pickering. "Now every job is profitable or we don't do it. Richard's been a godsend.
"We now only buy vehicles outright we used to have a lot of finance. If you come into hard times you can sell trucks and release some equity." Leasing can be OK, he believes, but is best reserved for fixed-term contracts, and "there are few of those in this business".
Beamish is purely a transport operation, adding value with special kit and individual service. Caravans and motorhomes account for around 30% of turnover. Motorhomes are especially awkward, and valuable; because of their long rear overhang and fragile bodywork a low entry angle is essential. Beamish uses sloping artic trailers to keep overall height down with air suspension on the unit's drive axle and trailer to adjust the loading height.
The firm has moved away from &Hest° rigids for caravans, as small chassis are cheaper to run, have lower driver wages and can do the same work as an artic if one caravan is towed instead of carried. There has also been a rethink on smaller transporters. As cars get bigger and heavier, a typical three-car rig with an 8.25 tonne GCW risks being overweight. Pickering believes a 13-tonne GVW offers a safer margin so the decision was made to sell the small fleet.
Beamish is now finding work for five-car, 18-tonne, double-deck rigids but tries to avoid trailers because a lot of deliveries are to individuals in residential areas with restricted access.
Although relatively small, the firm is committed to driver training. New recruits go out with an experienced hand for two weeks before going solo and Beamish 'grows its own' by putting drivers through their LGV C+E test.
The firm doesn't go in for marketing, although it has a website (www.bearnishtransport. co.uk). Prospective drivers and customers tend to "walk through the door", says Pickering -the latter in such quantities the firm has to turn work down. Having previously expanded too quickly the Beamish board is wary of putting on extra vehicles to meet short-term peaks in demand. The answer, Pickering believes, lies in better fleet utilisation.
He is full of praise for customers who have stood by the firm in tough times: "Explorer Caravans has been great. We have a very good working relationship, with meetings every week. We understand each other's business is like a partnership." The current vogue for selling and leasing vans fitted with roof racks and other accessories, as well as new type approval rules that encourage manufacturers to offer chassis already bodied, is starting to generate premium price work as such vehicles won't fit on conventional car transporters.
Application of the striking gold, red and green livery, as well as all vehicle maintenance and much of the bodywork modification, is handled by an in-house team run by Mickey Smith.
The beauty of the current Beamish fleet, according to Pickering, is its flexibility. It can carry "almost anything on wheels"; a promising new line is the movement of small plant. Rather than relying on a couple of large contracts the firm now has "hundreds of customersa lot in the South ranging from individuals to big concerns such as Dovercourt and CAT GB." Pickering hopes this diversity and wide customer base will ease the pain should a customer disappear or default.
He has trenchant views on trade associations: "We pay a fortune to the RHA but when we ask it for legal advice it just says 'I wouldn't do that'." Pickering feels the RHA is too risk-averse.
In the past Beamish preferred to run Oaf and Scania but Mercedes is flavour of the month: "The drivers love the big MegaSpace cabs, parts are cheap and they get them here quickly too."
And the future? "We take it day by day." Although there are frequent changes of tactic, any major new strategies will await the end of the OVA. Meanwhile Pickering is happy to work for the company rather than the bank.