Network set to expand
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• Beck and Pollitzer Network Distribution is poised to develop its European activities in the white goods, groceries and paper fields, says Neil Gould, the company's european developments manager.
"We are now looking right across Europe," he states, "and although France features large in this because our first steps have been there, we are considering activities and customers in other countries."
Beck and Pollitzer already handles the movement of chilled goods from the Continent in conjunction with its Transport Development Group sister company Transport Clergue. The French end of the operation consolidates goods at its depot at Wissous, south of Paris, trunking over to Beck and Pollitzer's Barking depot on a weekly basis, although the company is now aiming for a twice-weekly operation.
"We are keen to develop our European activities because of our geographical location in Kent and because we have already been dealing with imported goods such as textiles, canned goods, chilled products and white goods," says Gould. "We will be looking to take over the whole of a customer's supply chain, with warehousing, distribution and stock control, not to compete with French hauliers. We are looking at services where we can use our expertise to add value for the customer."
One of Beck and Pollitzer's main interests is in shared user consolidation services, receiving and consolidating small freight and distributing it. "This is different from groupage as we are looking at moving freight on a regular basis," Gould continues. "We can collect, consolidate and deliver as part of our national business."
This would appeal mainly to small customers with a steady flow of business who are currently paying a premium for goods carried as part of a groupage consignment, Gould reckons. "We would not be any more expensive than a groupage operator, yet we would be treating them as one of our own customers," he says.