T ell youngsters today that hauliers transporting fresh food once managed
Page 44
Page 45
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
perfectly well without the benefits of refrigeration and they'd laugh at you But that's how it was when in 1963 when John Harding started trading in Bath with a small fleet of insulated trailers.
The business is now run by his five sons who have taken the fleet up to 51 tractor units and 70 refrigerated trailers carrying food for suppliers into supermarket distribution centres. It has moved to a smart trading estate in Frome and the transport is backed up by a coldstore with 9,500 pallet spaces and two chill stores with 12,500 pallet spaces.
Cheese, pizzas, chicken, ice cream, seafood and dairy products all find a home here until called off by customers. The surprising thing is that most of this food is produced within 50 miles of the depot, proving, if prove were needed, that hauliers flourish where manufacturers are based. Mendip Dairy Crest, for example, is based in Frome and Harding runs eight trailers in its colours. Pizza maker Schwan Foods Europe has a plant in Devizes
It .1 DOW
AIan Brunt is one of the new generation of hauliers. He set up in 1983 after deciding to leave the family Farm in the tender care of his Father, Roland. With no previous history in haulage, and just £9,000 capital, he has built up a business that now runs 25 vehicles. They were all purchased new on the advice of his bank manager as Brunt recalls: "He said, if you buy new you know what you will be paying for the next two or three years. The firm's first truck, a new Volvo cost 226,500: "I thought I was crazy!" says Alan. Mary adds: 'We asked for the cheque back to frame it—now we spend more than that per month on fuel" The couple's children have joined in the fun with daughter Caroline invoicing customers while son Martyn proudly drives a Scania Centurion which is a former winner of the Best Kept Working Truck award at Commercial Motor Truckfest.
The firm's First major job was distributing national magazines for a Bristol-based printer. Another haulier, D Mortimer, which has since gone out of business, offered to do the work for a lower rate and Brunt lost it, "It was worrying at the time because it was 90% of our business," says Alan. "Fortunately, other work came along." Customers include BOC and Smith Klein Beecham, Having 9,300m2 of warehousing on-site has proved a distinct advantage: 'We recently won a contract from Rexam Packaging storing and distributing carrier bags for Tesco, Asda and other supermarkets," Alan reports. "They take 2,800m2 of our storage space." What is doubly sweet about this contract is that Rexam abandoned its own fleet to turn the work over to Brunt. Two new vehicles—a Scania 4 Series and a Renault Premium—joined the fleet this month to meet Rexam's expanding needs. Much of the firm's other work relates to packaging and printing: it collects paper reels From London docks For printers in Bristol and it stores and distributes 2,000,000 IKEA catalogues. Against this papery grain is a contract to store and
distribute Cu pri nol Wood Preservative For Beck and Poll itzer.
The good times may be here, but Alan and Mary reckon they have earned a Few breaks. As Alan says: "Until two years ago we never took a holiday." and six trailers run in its colours.
Harding handles all of Schwan's UK transport—pizza distribution has been one of the fastest growing areas of its business.
Unlike some family-run firms where lines of responsibility are blurred, the five brothers have neatly divided their duties: John is managing director; Ray is engineering director; Roger is distribution director, Stephen looks after cold storage and David takes care of Information Technology One trend the brothers have noticed in recent years is that the chilled/frozen food industry is less prone to seasonal demand.
Just in Time deliveries mean the trucks are in constant demand and there have been changes in the attitude of consumers: "People can eat what they want all year round because goods are coming out of coldstores," says John. "A few years ago you were very rushed between September and December but now it is more planned because people have freezers.
With so many vehicles, 110 staff and a monthly fuel bill of £60,000 its vital not to rely on chance to keep the wheels rolling, as Roger says: "We have very little spot hire. It's a planned operation but it does require quite a lot of effort to keep the trucks full." ButJohn is quick to disabuse the notion that, because people have to eat, the food industry is fireproof: "The recession in the early nineties slowed the industry down and we are just coming out of it now."
Although he has been chosen as managing director, transport was not his first choice. He worked for several years as an electrician before joining, at his father's request, in 1970. Does he have any regrets? "No, it's such a challenging industry. You come in at 7am and you think you have your day planned but it changes by the minute."