SIMON VEALE, DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL FREIGHT SOLUTIONS
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“If you take the entire carrier market and examine the property portfolios and fleets, you will see that collectively there is an overcapacity, so for this reason it will always be very competitive with companies undercutting each other,” says Veale.
He estimates that for the first half of 2011, B2B volumes have declined, while B2C consignments are likely to have increased by single digits from the first six months of 2010.
Veale claims there is a mixture of operators using either a subcontractor or full-time driver model, but admits the former is currently a more popular mode, as carriers look to cut overheads and work using a local courier network.
A GFS White Paper published in February calculated that £6.8bn worth of goods were purchased online in December 2010 – a 25% hike on the same period in 2009 – equating to an extra four million parcels daily for couriers to handle. However, as is fresh in the memory, Britain was blighted by snow, leaving some firms unable to make deliveries on time, and with no capacity to store unforeseen volumes.
Veale comments: “No one knows just how much busier this December will be with B2C volumes, compared to last December, but I think it’s safe to say certain firms have learnt lessons, and will be committed to investing in extra staff and resources to be able to cope with any circumstances.”