eading fro the front
Page 22
Page 23
Page 24
Page 25
Page 26
Page 27
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Mark DoeL is a man of strong opinions – and keeps a firm hand on the tiLLer at the Cambridge-based transport company that carries his name
Words: Dave Young Images: Tom Cunningham An empty yard is a basic, but frequently effective, indicator of a busy haulage company. On CM’s visit to Mark Doel Transport (MDT) there’s a large empty space with just three trailers parked in a corner and two vehicles in the adjacent workshop – a Daf CF 85.460 undergoing repair and a new XF 105.460 having a catwalk itted before its maiden voyage.
Flanked by site security – two rottweilers – the eponymous boss conirms our visual impression that the irm has all its trucks out working, although trading conditions are far from easy. According to conventional wisdom, a 13-truck enterprise such as this should have a varied client base. Mark Doel, on the contrary, works solely for one – very large – customer, but makes a persuasive case for doing so. Having run the family irm for more than 25 years and managed to survive two recessions without having to park up wagons or lay off drivers, he’s learnt some survival mechanisms. Doel’s stock in trade is pulling containers, but rather than battle on the pad at Felixstowe to get a share of low-margin conventional trafic, he offers a specialist service to the multimodal Interbulk Group. This involves transporting 30ft-long ISO containers, capable of tipping and blower discharge on tri-axle ‘skelly’ trailers.
Long-serving workforce
The chances of a driver being able to just hop in the cab and make such a delivery are precisely nil. Rare new recruits – Doel has a loyal and long-serving workforce – undergo week-long training with another driver and must master the customer’s intimidating comprehensive trailer and load manual before running solo.
The ‘boxes’ usually contain plastic granulates from Holland – raw materials for diverse manufacturing processes ranging from syringes to milk containers – which is one reason the trafic has largely weathered the recession. These are collected from ports such as Purleet and Tilbury or railheads and distributed to end-users in the UK. A truck might manage two locals in a day or be away overnight – most are out all week.
The driver is responsible for load safety and security and operating the discharge equipment. Boxes usually return empty to the port but, if reilled, a new disposable plastic liner must be itted.
Doel has been working on this dry bulk ‘bag in a box’ job throughout the life of the company he founded in 1986. There have been ups and downs, but client and contractor seem to have settled into a relationship based on mutual respect and shared experience. Doel adds: “You have to be really sharp on this job. If you haven’t got a bloke like me you won’t get it delivered properly. I like to think it’s a partnership, you have to have a bit of trust. When I talk to them [Interbulk] they listen because I’m doing it for their beneit. If I do a good job, I hope for more work.” Doel is the epitome of a hands-on boss. “You’ve got to be involved. When you’ve got suits who never come out of the ofice they don’t know what’s happening.” Despite MDT’s location, immediately west of Cambridge, Doel is a London boy, from Ponders End in the Lea Valley. Previously a butcher, slaughterman and UK and Continental truck driver, he also worked for his father’s engineering business.
Doel expects his drivers to be on top of the job, but is sympathetic to the appalling lack of roadside facilities in the UK. He’s also angry at the way drivers are often not allowed to use toilets on delivery premises and recently experienced this personally when, after repairing a wagon, wasn’t permitted to wash his hands. “They’re infringing human rights, it’s ridiculous. My drivers are just trying to earn a living. When delivering on the Continent He thinks drivers deserve to earn more, but is frank about the obstacles. “We’re proitable, but on tight margins with ever-increasing costs – diesel has shot up from £65,000 to £82,000 a month in the past year.” True, there’s a fuel escalator built into the Interbulk contract and Doel counts himself fortunate to own a mortgagefree yard, yet he claims to take a smaller weekly wage from the enterprise than those he employs.
New technology
Unapologetically old-school, he is by no means resistant to new technology. Doel was an enthusiastic early adopter of automated gear-changing. “I didn’t think you could better the ZF, but Optidriver in the Renault is the best.” High praise from an avowed Eaton twin split enthusiast.
He prefers to buy lorries outright and undertake repairs in house. “We spend a hell of a lot on maintenance.” Units for the all-44-tonne GVW line-up are purchased both new and recent used, often bargain cancellation deals with the benchmark. “This job isn’t worth more than £70,000 for a unit, mind you, I said that of £60,000.” At present, Daf occupies the role of leet favourite, thanks in no small measure to Doel’s close contact with local dealer Ford & Slater’s salesman Steve, who, says Doel, “seems to have pretty much settled in our airing cupboard and become part of the family; he’s treated us very well”. He cites Daf’s impressive reliability, comparative simplicity, competitive price (via Paccar inance) and excellent breakdown back-up as reasons to buy.
Doel is full of praise for his mechanics, busy during CM’s visit repairing a Daf drive shaft. “A design fault,” claims
Doel, who also attributes the same explanation to blown cylinder heads, over which he waged a successful campaign to avoid a replacement part surcharge. “Every vehicle has weak spots, in Daf’s case the centre bearing on the prop.” Doel’s knowledge of the vehicles he runs is encyclopaedic.
Over the years he’s tried most manufacturers. There were once seven (now only one) Iveco Stralis on the leet. According to Doel, a “bullet-proof” driveline, but don’t get him started on the subject of turbocharger failures.
Of his two Magnums, one has been a “cracker”, the other “rubbish, weekly something goes wrong, it’s cost us a fortune” . Volvos are deemed “too expensive, a new Daf is better value than a secondhand Swede”. Mercedes is highly rated, but not currently run, while MAN did not impress.
Trailer repairs
MDT also undertakes repairs of Interbulk trailers. However, true to form, Doel has gone one step further; in an effort to increase payload, he’s designed and had built a skeletal frame using hydraulic power from a PTOdriven wet kit on the tractor unit (as opposed to a red diesel-fuelled donkey engine on the trailer, and as a consequence much quieter running).
Doel’s greatest regret is health problems, which at 70 have deprived him of the HGV licence he gained through grandfather rights when just 19.
“I didn’t realise how much I’d miss it,” he says, believing a weekend shift behind the wheel to “see what’s going on” concentrated his business focus. “You can always learn something.” The hierarchy at family irm MDT is near horizontal. “Everyone’s treated the same here,” says Doel, puzzled at similar-sized leets employing several managers. In this set up there are 13 drivers, including son Scott, Doel as day-to-day manager, one fulland one part-time mechanic and his wife Carol and daughter-in-law Alison in charge of inance and administration.
MDT has a well-established IT system with the latest software. The performance of every vehicle is analysed as a separate proit account on a spreadsheet and expected to achieve minimum earnings of £400 a day to earn its keep. “Even though they are working all the time, we don’t make a huge amount of money,” reveals Doel.
On such unaerodynamic vehicles, 8.5mpg, “dropping to 7mpg if windy” , is the average consumption and, according to the MD, AdBlue useage is an important indicator of how a truck is being driven. Doel doesn’t use telematics for detailed monitoring of driver behaviour, preferring the direct approach of talking to drivers and stressing the importance of trust.
Through his Road Haulage Association membership, Doel is putting everyone through the Driver CPC, but in common with many irms, he worries about replacing drivers in the future. Most of his employees are signiicantly older than 40, with few younger applicants, and even fewer up to the task.
He admits there have been times when he’s considered retiring, but Doel has a keen sense of responsibility to employees. “This is only the second year we’ve started taking holidays,” he says.
Niche market
For the future, Doel is watching the overall economic outlook closely and pondering the possibility of adding a couple of extra motors. He aims to continue working with Interbulk. “I’ve always gone for a niche market,” he says.
“Interbulk treats me well, it’s all mileage work except priced jobs close to home. Payment is on time and at decent intervals, so we don’t have a problem with cashfiow. The trouble with too many perfectly sound small businesses is they don’t have enough cash in hand to ill the diesel tank if kept on 60-90 days payment.”
Clad in overalls, indistinguishable from his staff, MDT’s owner provides a succinct conclusion: “If you don’t enjoy coming to work, it isn’t worth doing.” ■