Potter loses Guinness
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• Yorkshire haulier Potter Group is to lose a Guinness contract because of next month's closure of Speedlink. Operator Otis Euro Transrail of Manchester is set to benefit as a result.
Guinness was using Speedlink to deliver wagon loads to three regional hauliers, Potter, Otis and Deanside Transit in Glasgow, all with road-rail facilities. Now it will use Railfreight Distribution's full train load services from its London, Park Royal brewery to send all its beer for the North to Otis.
Speedlink closes on 8 July. Although unprofitable, many consignors took advantage of its networked, timetabled services to send smaller, wagon loads around the country. The biggest advantage, says Railfreight, was that wagons could carry 50 tonnes of freight, twice that of a full-sized artic.
Railfreight says it is still in talks with Guinness, but it is understood that the brewer will announce soon that it is moving from Speedlink to the larger Railfreight service.
Potter managing directer Steven Barlow says: "We have been hurt (by the closure of Speedlink). We are a fairly large Speedlink user." The company has rail heads in Ripon and Ely and puts 20% of the total goods it carries on rail.
Railfreight says it approached all Speedlink's customers last year when it was announced that the service was closing, and offered to carry their goods on its full-train operations or on container service Freightliner. It says it has saved 70% of Speedlink's business.
The move to shut Speedlink was criticised by pressure groups keen to see more freight go to rail from road.
Potter handled most of Guinness's north-east distribution, while Otis and Deanside handled the north-west and Scotland. Guinness does much of its south of England deliveries directly from London.