Taking care of business
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Dublin-based haulier Cargocare believes that staying compliant is the mark of an operator that is in the transport business for the long haul rather than just to make a quick buck.
Words: Guy Sheppard I images: Paul Sherwood After nearly three decades in business, acclaimed Irish haulier Cargocare has never been issued with a fine. Yet managing director Liam Brewer says there is little incentive to keep such an unblemished record, so why is compliance so important to him?
The motorway between Dublin and Galway shows how Ireland is developing its road infrastructure When opened in December, it extended the country's motorway network 10 550 kilometres, a figure due to reach nearly 750 kilometres by the end of 2010, says the National Roads Authority.
For Brewer, the network falls well short of UK standards in one key respect a complete lack of any service stations and rest areas. He says the discomfort his drivers endure when forced to spend a night in their cab makes this one of the main challenges of staying compliant in Ireland.
"If you pull over on an ordinary national primary route, you are quite likely lobe told to move on."
When Cargocare drivers say they will exceed their permitted hours if they drive back to its base at Cloghran near Dublin, there is a strong temptation to let them. Not only would this avoid messing up the next day's schedules, but it would put the firm on a more equal footing with those operators who turn a blind eye to such regulations.
You have two types of operators,explains Brewer. "There are those who try to be compliant all the time, and those who don't really pay any attention to regulations at all. It's galling and commercially damaging:
He describes enforcement in Ireland as extremely patchy, which allows numerous unscrupulous operators to compete unfairly So why does he make compliance such a hallmark of his firm, which has never been fined since its launch in 1983? "That question is frequently asked," he says. "The reality is that it's in some people's psyche to do it."
Compliance priority
Despite the challenges it poses. Brewer says compliance is an integral part of Cargocare's business ethos.
"I have three sons in the business, and we're in it for the long haul rather than to make a quick buck.We don't want to come to work dreading someone's going to catch us out for something that happened yesterday. It's about peace of mind and having a good working relationship with staff because you're not asking them to break the law." Despite Cargocare's relatively small size, with a fleet of five rigids and five artics, the company's compliance record has helped forge a national reputation for excellence. In 2003, it won the Irish Road Haulage Association's haulier of the year award.
A combination of factors reinforces the compliance ethos Driver training featured strongly well before the certificate of professional competence (CPC) requirements were brought in last year.
''We put the drivers through a defensive driving course and repeat that every two years or so," says Brewer. "That is not a regulation that is required but we find it pays dividends." The accident record of each driver is reviewed every year and in 2009 just two minor scrapes were recorded. "Last year was exceptionally good." says Brewer, who adds that if drivers are repeatedly involved in accidents, they face dismissal. "We just can't afford it. The industry is so finely tuned and the margins are so tight."
He adds that the company used to reward drivers with a bonus payment if they managed to avoid accidents. "But people expected to get their bonus anyway, and we found that with minor damage people were sneaking vehicles back in without reporting it."
A well established team of 10 drivers, including two who joined 20 years ago and two graduates from Poland, means Brewer is confident they can perform walk-round checks without the need of supervision.
Smart move -Drivers are smart fellows. You don't have to labour the point. The biggest problem we get, and, therefore, try to avoid it if we can, is mixing the drivers and the vehicles. A guy tends to look after his own vehicle, so we try to keep them with one vehicle as much as possible."
The vehicles are serviced through repair and maintenance agreements with Renault and MAN. "We have a tyre company that comes in every three weeks to check the tyres and their pressures,says Brewer.
The company issues drivers with a comprehensive manual that provides details of all the major legislation they need to know about. In addition, a laminated sheet is kept in their cab with details about the revision of drivers' hours legislation in 2007 "We try to make it as simple as possible and easy to refer to," explains Brewer.
Cargocare is a member of a 'How's My Driving?' scheme, where other road users are invited to comment
on how well its trucks are driven. -It's an extremely useful tool for keeping drivers focused," says Brewer. "We get a mixture of comments: some are totally unreasonable and some are complimentary." He adds that one driver who was on probation was dismissed after three complaints were made about him in one day.
He acknowledges that perhaps one of the main reasons why Cargocare has achieved its level of compliance is its size, saying it is much easier to instil the right ethos among 10 drivers than several hundred. "In terms of drivers' hours, for example, you know very quickly whether they are taking it on board or not."
He suggests another reason could be striking the right balance between compliance, efficiency and job security.
"You can't be running people ragged and expect that things will be done properly," he adds. 11.