Morrison shops around
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• Northern food retailer William Morrison Supermarkets is considering contracting out more of its distribution.
Morrisons is believed to be talking with food and drink distribution experts including NFC subsidiary Exel Logistics. But Morrison is not planning to contract out all of its distribution: if it decides to increase the use of third-party operators it will be "piecemeal" and for "certain product groups" currently handled by its in-house fleet of 70 trucks and 200 trailers.
It is thought that it would want to get third-party agreements in place by October, before the busy Christmas period gets underway. But it is not releasing any details: "We are keeping our finger on the pulse of outside costings," says a spokesman, "and have held talks over the past 12 months."
It already contracts out haulage and warehousing of frozen food, and at peak times it subcontracts haulage to its chain of nearly 70 supermarkets. Recently it has given at least one of its food suppliers backloads to one of its stores.