Parcels push begins
Page 5
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IATIONAL Carriers.oadline, the National reight Consortium's limmed down and merged arcels subsidiary, is to have 6 branches and 1,000 fewer obs than now, but is trengthening its marketing :sources.
In an exclusive interview vith CM, NC-R managing
irector Graham Roberts evealed that the new consany, formed by merging the est parts of Roadline UK vith National Carriers' Parels Division, will have 16 [lain branches in England and Vales and another .20 outsta
ions. .
There will be a net loss of ,000 jobs from the 4,200 urrently employed by the wo companies.
Roberts expects that the nerger will be completed by he end of April and that the iew company will end the • urrent financial year with sIFC parcels losses cut from :8.8 million last year to £2 Milton. By building up traffic t aims to break even in 986/87.
NCPD and Roadline
alady share branches at xeter, Southampton, Ips-. vial, Birmingham and Newastle, arid Roadline branches Lt Gloucester • and Swansea CM, February. 15) have been ransferred to the new cornany.
be
ng taken .over, and NCPD's Preston depot is being closed and transferred to the former Bridges Transport site at Leyland to create more space" for parcels handling.
Some vacant Roadline sites are being -transferred to other NFC companies. At Bristol, PickfOrds Homespeed is to expand its borne delivery ser
vices which benefited from Littlewoods mail order business won last year when Roadline withdrew from the mail order market.
Around £250,000 is being invested in branch improvements to increase platform space, but Roberts is still TC111Ctilllt to commit NFC to large-scale mechanisation of its parcels business.
"If all we carried were neat little parcels, mechanical handling wouldbe no problem," he says.
• Nor is he following the example of Lex Wilkinson and TNT, the private-sector parcels carriers Which he identifies as NEC's biggest coin Graham Roberts is aiming fir the top.
'It is not necessarily the way or the future. We have an extensive direct trunking system, and I believe that customers prefer the current way because it reduces handling and potential damage and losses.'• Although there will he a net loss of 1,000 jobs, -NC-R
• is also recruiting new labour for branches which are being expanded, largely in SouthEast England and at Derby.
At least the 730 Roadline staff at Gloucester and Swansea have agreed to transfer to the new company, but many others appear likely to opt for redundancy.
"Outside the South-East, there are many more who want to retain a job, hut in the South-East some still see redundancy as a bit of a windfall,Roberts told CM.
The new company, which may change its name after a year, is planning a marketing strategy to try to win market leadership from TNT.
A 34-year-old marketing specialist, Theo De Pencier, has been recruited from Watney, Mann and Truman, the brewery company, to become sales and marketing director with NC-R. As director of group brands at Watneys, he was responsible for a £12 million budget including the introduction of Fosters and Budweiser lagers to the UK.
Harold Lodge, finance and operations director at NFC's Waste Management subsidiary, is NC-R's COtn mercid director and is to preside over a "hefty" expenditure programme to update computer systems.
A career NCPD manager, Cyril Oliver, is operations director of the new company.