All in the family
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CM meets the brothers in charge of Howard Tenens, and discovers that the Welsh haulier is one to watch
Words: Joanna Bourke / Images: Nigel Spreadbury
MORE THAN HALF a century ago, Ted Morris set up Howard Tenens with three other founders. He was ahead of his time, capitalising on a booming automotive market, making packing cases for knocked-down cars and handling the distribution of them.
Its business in Cardiff and Newport expanded steadily, with Morris’ son Peter completing a management buyout of the irm in 1983 for a £1 price tag, an agreement to take on the company debt, before moving to its Swindon home.
Fast forward to 2009, and Peter Morris divested 46% of his sole ownership equally between his sons Ben and Dan Morris. Here, the brothers reveal how they intend to take a leaf out of their grandad’s book, and ensure the irm is leading the way in terms of innovation.
In 2010, chief executive Peter Morris named Dan as MD property and Ben as MD operations. Both agree that maintaining a strong and trustworthy family brand is vital, as is forging ahead with their father’s ambitions of creating a green and sustainable business.
Ben says: “I believe my father and grandfather were pioneering, not only in providing warehousing and transport services, but they also were involved in the manufacture and sub-assembly for the automotive industry.
“The challenge for my brother and I is to keep innovating and adhering to our green strategy, despite the tough economic climate.” Indeed Howard Tenens, which now has depots in Ashby de la Zouch, Andover, Aveley, Boston, Dagenham, Sharpness, Swindon and west London, was no stranger to the recession, but it has managed to keep strong despite losing some of its transport partners.
Howard Tenens now runs 50% of its haulage activities in-house, while the other half is managed by subcontractors.
Dan refers to two former long-term subbie partners, Gloucester haulier Joseph Rice & Sons, which went into liquidation in March, and East Lancashire Warehousing, which collapsed in April.
Recession bites
He says: “It’s always sad to see a longestablished family operator go under. It shows how volatile the sector is, but also serves to reinforce how you need to keep working to ensure you are proitable and winning new work.” Howard Tenens has implemented a few changes at a number of depots in order to keep the business in a strong position, including acquiring extra building space at the Andover and Sharpness sites, as well as diversifying from its prominent automotive work at Swindon, to also include a number of major retail clients.
This was relected in its last set of accounts for the 53 weeks to 2 October 2010, which records a £46.5m turnover compared to £38.3m in the year to 30 September 2009, so clearly sales are performing well.
Pre-tax proit did slip, down 3.9% to £1.2m, but the brothers concur that as long as its operating costs remain stable, they are determined to invest in leading the way in sustainable logistics.
During the inancial period, the operator showed its conidence and ambition by opening a state-of-the-art 243,000ft2 sustainable warehouse in Dagenham, known as Voltaic, to service its contract with Coca-Cola Enterprises, featuring solar roof panels and skylights.
Ben says: “This was an ambitious move, but the fact is that many clients are demanding modern green initiatives, and the return on the investment is already apparent in terms of us cutting carbon emissions and cutting our fuel costs.”
Natural is best
He adds that gas refuelling stations have been installed in its depots in Andover, Boston and South Ockendon to power its new dual-fuel HGV leet, which is running on natural gas and diesel. Ben claims natural gas is a stepping stone to biomethane, which, when used as fuel, should reduce Howard Tenens’ carbon emissions even further.
Following the success of the initial trial in 2009 (which saw the irm run two dual-fuel trucks), a further 12 vehicles were then converted. In 2011, another 10 vehicle conversions will take place. In 2010, the Howard Tenens leet replaced 90,901 litres of diesel with nat ural gas, preventing 77,143kg of carbon being released into the environment, showing a reduction of 27% on a well-to-wheel basis.
Howard Tenens will also offer gas for sale from the three gas refuelling stations so that other operators can enter the dual-fuel vehicle market without the high cost of the refuelling infrastructure.
Ben says: “We have been so impressed by the dual-leets and believe that others will too.
“I also think that manufacturers and retailers will see that their competitors are extremely pleased with the sustainable logistics operations we are doing for them. More companies will eventually follow suit, and de mand more green work for their logistics partners.” Ben and Dan’s original backgrounds are in accountancy and property respec tively, and when you couple this with their entrenched haulage roots and family members determined to be ahead of their peers, CM gets the impression that this business has a solid
and exciting future. ■
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