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Where the Living is Eeze

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2nd September 2010

Page 16

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Page 16, 2nd September 2010 — Where the Living is Eeze

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From a man with a van to a £5.5m-a-year turnover, parcels and pallets specialist Eezehaul has had a quick 12 years of growth. And it isn't finished yet.

Words: Christopher Watton / Images: Graham Richardson

EEZEHAUL MOVED depots at the beginning of the year. Not far, but just enough to confuse the sat-nay on CM's trip down to Crawley. West Sussex. It was our fault for using outdated equipment. As we would soon learn, this is not the kind of mistake that Eezehaul would make.

The company has been trading for the past 12 years primarily in the parcels and pallets market. It has been a longstanding partner of APC Overnight and TPN (The Pallet Network) and, in the 12 months ended 31 May 2009. EHC Skytrack (which trades as Eezehaul) posted a turnover of f...5.5m and a pre-tax profit of £133,316. Not had for a company that started out as a 'man with a van'. Literally.

Mark Duggan, director at Eezehaul, was that man: "We started in 1998 and I was the founder. I was at a point where I was ready to stop working for someone else and I was looking at my options. I had a Class 1 [licence] and lots of people said I should really become a courier as I would make a lot of money!"

Duggan started off with an L-registered Ford Transit, and his first run was from Crawley to Southampton. Today the firm has more than 60 staff and runs some 20 vans and 18 HOVs, and he says that it was Eezehaul's approach to partnership that really gave the business a kick-start.

Proactive stance

We joined APC in 1999. We had quickly realised that waiting for the phone to ring as a same-day courier was not a sensible business. And at the time, many networks were not very well developed. One of the things that we unwittingly got correct was getting the right volumes at the right time. We have been able to grow our business with them."

He adds that the increase in same-day delivery busine.ss led it to look at TPN and move into what is now a trusted business model: parcels and pallets. "We must have been an early adopter. At the time when we joined TPN, we must have been among the first in the APC network to even consider joining a pallet network, and the barriers for entry were really quite high. You had to have the capability to deliver 200 pallets a day in the RH [Red hill] and BN !Brighton] postcodes."

This even goes for the recession, says Simon Duggan, commercial director and Mark's youngest brother. "We were lucky in one sense because in our business plan we had just completed an expansion phase and we were going through a consolidation phase when it hit. We were profitable throughout the whole period and it really focused the mind on every aspect of the business.

"We are in double-digit growth al the moment," he adds. "But there arc still parts of the market that are very low and very competitive as well."

Safety compliance

Part of focusing on costs was putting its drivers through a SA.FED course to change driver behaviour and encourage fuel-efficient running. Mark Duggan also calls on Transport for London to keep its Freight Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS), despite budget cuts.

"FORS is an excellent scheme. It enables people to benchmark in every area, which is essential for operators of our size. I hope they keep it accessible, rather than putting fees in place for it. It is one of the things that we can use to improve standards in the industry."

Eezehaul has spent some £625,000 during the past year to move from its old 20,000f1.2 warehouse in Lowfield Heath, Crawley, to its new 80,000f1.2 site A Simon Duggan I Left I, on Gatwick Road in Crawley. The site commercial director, and was formerly an RDC for Canon. MD Mark Duggan (right' Mark Duggan explains: "We want to be a logistics partner, rather than a pallet and parcels courier. Pick and pack has become an important part of our business and now we are extending what we do to the next level."

Unlike CM's sat-nay, Fezehaul certainly won't be getting lost on their way to that goal. •