When you deliver as far afield as North Africa it
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helps to have God on your side. West Country haulier Eric Vick is taking no chances—one of its drivers is a vicar.
Continuity of management, a reliable pool of players and a consistent performance are three essential requirements for any team seeking longterm success.
As a member of both Gloucestershire County Cricket Club and Gloucester Rugby Football Club, haulier Eric Vick knows that a team's ability to improvise and take the right risks can add the necessary dimensions to make a good team outstanding.
The successful squad he has assembled at his Gloucester-based international haulage business, Eric Vick Transport, has all these requirements plus an ISO 9002 certificate of quality
After founding the company as an animal haulage business, Eric Vick promoted himself to managing director in 1971. He was succeeded as transport manager by Marion Hall, who still controls the fleet of 22 vehicles. Many of the drivers have been with EVT for as long, if not longer than she has.
Five clients dominate the customer-base, as they have for more than two decades, which is as good an indicator of consistent performance as any haulier can expect.
Regular runs as diverse as container loads of diesel engine parts and spares to North Africa, and tanks of live eels to Russia and Eastern Europe have surely tested the operator's ability to improvise.
Take the rising cost of packaging materials, for example: "We devised a system of double and treble decking the containers using a standard deep sea container. We load the engines and kits unpacked on different levels. This has reduced the cost of boxing the engines by around two thirds," says Vick.
Imaginative
Transporting live eels to Eastern Europe required some more imaginative work and thanks to the design and construction of a special trailer equipped with 18 temperature controlled and oxygenated water tanks, the elvers arrive at their destinations as lively and as slippery as a Gloucester rugby pitch on a wet Saturday in February.
Eric Vick was born of traditional farming stock, but shunned the family activity in favour of a different game.
He is a man with strong managerial opinions, and draws on the farmers reputation for directness when considering the practicalities of running a haulage operation. "I've a policy here that I've always practised. If a vehicle doesn't pay, park it up at the top of the yard, let the grass grow underneath and buy some sheep to eat it from underneath."
It was an opinion formed in 1970 that led to a tactical change which with hindsight appears to be one of those risks that were worth taking. The mix of animal and freight haulage was broken up: "I could see there were going to be problems with wages in the future because although the livestock drivers were more highly skilled, the greatest amount of revenue was coming on the international side," he says.
In the light of recent countrywide developments on the live animal side, the switch proved productive. Since then, the business has developed as the markets of its freight customers have been extended.
"If the customer asks you to go somewhere, you go. If the customer is travelling at 100mph and you are only travelling at 75mph, it won't be long before you lose the business altogether," he says.
These days the game plan revolves around the storage and haulage of heavy electrical equipment and computer products from its main customers, as well as the transport of aluminium extrusions and engine components throughout Europe and to North Africa.
A groupage service allows many other smaller customers to use the benefit of his regular services to destinations such as Holland, Italy, Germany, Austria and France. Traffic for the more remote parts of mainland Europe and Scandinavia can also be delivered through EVT's longstanding relationship with international freight moving consortium TCG, of the Netherlands.
Massive company
"When we started working with TCG it was just three guys working in a yard in Nijmeegen. It has grown into a massive company—warehouses, food packing and everything. We might have groupage for Stockholm or somewhere like that, and it takes it because it has that area covered. We also back-load some of its vehicles from our own warehouse here," says Vick.
The North African journeys represent some of EVT's longer running international fixtures. Regular drops to places such as Morocco and Tunisia are channelled either via Marseilles-Casablanca or Algeciras-Tangiers. It might be engines and spares on the way out, with loads of fruit or clothing on the way back. The round trip usually takes two weeks, with drivers expected to be flexible enough to re-load for North Africa after the week-end break if necessary.
Vick is aware that drivers are exposed to elements of risk on journeys like this, not least because of the dangers of drugs being hidden inside the load. However, he says there are just as many problems travelling back from European countries: "You have to expect the driver to be vigilant, but you can never be sure about groupage. If you've 14 packages coming from Italy you've no idea at all what's in there. You have to rely on the driver's common sense," he says.
Two key elements at the heart of EVT's consistent performances over the years, demand special mention.
In the past, Eric Vick's fleet management has been called eccentric, based largely on his fascination for Gardner engines, and not entirely without foundation. For example, he tried and failed to pester ERF into allowing him to supply his own Gardner engines to be fitted to the standard ERF chassis.
Vehicle selection these days is limited to a fleet made up entirely of ERFs, fitted for the most part with the Perkins engine option which came with a better guarantee.
"Mind you I still bought a 410 Cummins to try alongside them. So far the Perkins is far better on fuel. Good fuel consumption and a long-term engine guarantee is enough for me," he says.
Dependable
Driver selection is similarly dependable, with several drivers having more than 10 years on the team, while five more can boast awards recognising 25 to 30 years service. This says as much about the conditions under which they work as the performances to which they contribute. Even the substitute relief driver is part of EVT's long-service club.
This follows an investment made by EVT 20 years ago. Rather than put its faith in the hands of a driver supply agency, EVT can turn first to the Reverend Geoffrey Stickland, the local vicar, if it needs an experienced spare driver. On a whim, EVT trained Stickland to drive articulated trucks and as a result he now holds a vocational licence in every sense of the word and has been a late replacement on occasional European and North African runs ever since.
Maybe the sides Eric Vick watches on Saturday afternoons can match many of the qualities evident at EVT. However, thanks to the Reverend Stickland, the haulage operation retains one significant competitive edge. It has a much greater team spirit.
7 by Steve McQueen