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I n an industry where tradition and heritage are valued so

7th February 2002
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Page 32, 7th February 2002 — I n an industry where tradition and heritage are valued so
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

highly, it's not surprising that many brewers still keep distribution inhouse. Their trucks are seen as an important marketing tool and their drivers an essential point of contact with their customers.

Peter Macleod, distribution manager of Manchester brewer Frederick Robinson, says there is little prospect of scrapping its 15vehicle fleet: "Robinson's are a traditional family-run brewery and they like to run their own show." Wayne Ashcroft, transport manager of Aston Manor Brewery in Birmingham, reckons: "Keeping it in-house is a good form of advertising and it gives the personal touch to customers. We've had people come in and try and quote for it but they don't do it as cheaply." Aston Manor, which specialises in bottled beer and cider, has a nine-vehicle fleet.

However, Kent-based Fast Forward international is one haulier that is thriving in the brewery sector. It began handling nationwide distribution for Shepherd Neame in 1988; just over a year ago it

began delivering to some of its local pubs and clubs as well. "It started off very small and has grown quite considerably," says managing director Colin McKay. He originally made contact with the brewery's transport manager when they were both on a visit to the Daf truck factory in Holland. From one or two brewery loads a week the operation has expanded to more than half a dozen a day throughout the UK.

Specialised

A pair of 7.5-tonners are used for local deliveries to customers where access is too restricted for Shepherd Neame's own fleet. "We had always been a proper haulier rather than someone involved in dray work, which is a bit more specialised," says McKay.

"Obviously, drivers who go on a regular basis build up a rapport with the guys on the back door or even the owners and managers themselves. There is quite a lot of personal contact with our customers' customers and that helps to oil the wheels. Everyone knows when they are going to get their delivery and that sort of thing."

A major concern for McKay is ensuring that correct health and safety procedures are followed: "Beer barrels are pretty unpredictable when rolling around. Our guys get training in manual handling techniques—there's a whole raft of guidelines we have to follow." These are covered by the Manual Handling Operations Regulations r992.

Manual hancEng

The risk of accidents caused by manual handling is particularly high in this sector as kegs not only have to be removed from trucks but often transferred some distance to cellars (see overleaf). Employees also have to be alert to the safety of passers-by.

"You don't want members of the public falling down a hatch in the pavement—that has happened to other brewers in the past," says McKay, "You have to have extendible guards to close off the area."

AIVI Transport (Liverpool) delivers guest ales to the JD Wetherspoon pub chain in the North. Director Peter Sleeman says training for the work takes about a month: "A 36-gallon keg is fairly hefty so you need to know what you are doing."

The company also works for Hydes Brewery in Manchester, but this work mainly involves delivering to wholesalers. "As such it is virtually a general haulage job," Sleeman reports.

"We load up at the brewery and go to the wholesalers' depots—we can mix-and-match that work witlgeneral traffic."

Although brewery haulage does not command premium rates one of its big advantages is that backloads are usually taken care oi by empty casks and kegs. Fasi Forward's McKay says: "If a vehi. cle comes back half empty it's unfortunate, but you can't take thE risk of selling space to someone else. From that point of view ii makes it an easier operation that general haulage."

Sleeman says that these guaran teed backloads are built into thE price structure, For him, the majoi advantage of working in this sectoi is prompt payment: "If we say it is 30 days, they pay us in 30 days. They're either very disciplined or don't have cash flow problems."

Wines and spirits account for a much bigger slice of AM Transport's work than beer: it delivers nationwide for Halewood International, the Liverpool-based importer, bottler and wholesaler. Deliveries are all palletised; Sleeman says the main consideration is making sure loads are properly secured to prevent breakages. Loaded trailers are never parked overnight away from Halewood's guarded premises so no special security features are fitted to them. "We make sure they deliver on the same day," says Sleeman—and drivers are required to stay alongside their vehicles during breaks.

Delivery sizes

Octavian, the Cert subsidiary which specialises in wines and spirits distribution, says all its vehicles have to be properly alarmed but when it comes to specification the most important factor is the type of delivery they will be doing. Managing director Michael Lainas says: "We use everything from 3.5-tanners to 40tonne artics. The challenge in the drinks industry is that delivery sizes vary from one case of wine to a full load in a 40ft trailer. Many people can move the odd pallet or more but there aren't many people who can offer a good service for below a pallet-sized delivery at a competitive price."

Pallets hold up to 56 cases of wine and, because a 12-bottle case Df wine could be worth £3,000,

Lainas insists that subcontractors follow the established security and handling procedures on each delivery: "You have to have people who have an empathy with the product and care that they are carrying expensive goods."

In brewery distribution theft of drink is not the only consideration—every year the industry loses more than Liam through the theft and misuse of kegs and casks. Fast Forward's McKay says its curtainsiders now have a protective steel mesh to prevent petty pilfering, adding about ft, 000 to the cost of the vehicle.

The 7.5-tormers used for ontrade deliveries (to pubs, clubs and hotels) have low-slung bodies to cope with restricted access. McKay accepts this probably reduces residual value but isn't concerned because his entire fleet is on contract hire.

John Cutler, general manager of Sutton Coldfield-based Hammond Logistics, says barrel cranes costing some £3,000 each are fitted to vehicles involved in its ontrade work for a number of regional brewers. "It's fine delivering down cellars; it's when you have to bring it back up again that's the problem."

But Dave Toon, secretary of the British Transport Advisory Committee (BTAC), which originally focused solely on the brewery sector, says most operators do without specialist kit: "All you need to do the job is a standard low-bed trailer so that draymen can get the product off without the need for a crane or tail-lift or anything." BTAC is holding a seminar on improving performance and increasing mar

gins at the Hanover International Hotel in Daventry on 5 March (see contacts panel).

MRS Distribution, based at Bathgate in Scotland, is one of the three main subcontractors for Hays which delivers for Scottish Courage. Its role is mainly to deliver from Hays' warehouses in Livingstone and Manchester to regional depots and supermarket RDCs. General manager Donald Carmichael says MRS relies on standard curtainsiders for this work: "You have to be aware of security for any products in this day and age so security is something we take a strong interest in whatever the product."

Phil Storer is the commercial director of Tradeteam, the biggest third-party player in the sector. He says: "If a subcontractor can deliver good customer service and excellent reliability it puts them pretty high on the list to work for us. At the moment customers are asking for better service levels and response times—and keeping costs to an absolute minimum."

He accepts that subcontractors can often do a job more economically than Tradeteam's in-house fleet: "Say we have a one-way trip to a Tesco RDC and can't utilise our vehicle to a high level, it's far better to use a haulier who can construct a backload."

Ian Collier, director of Hays' contract with Scottish Courage, says subcontractors are generally used when a return trip is more than a day's journey for Hays' dedicated fleet of Ho tractors and 420 trailers.

Tradeteam's Storer says brewers feel less need than they did five years ago to retain control for marketing purposes and to maintain direct links with their customers; Over time people are becoming less possessive about the need to control their distribution."

Oxfordshire-based WI-I Brakspear & Sons certainly has no regrets about scrapping its inhouse fleet two years ago. Its products are now distributed through the nearby Scottish Courage depot in Reading. A brewery spokesman says the big advantage for Brakspear is that it is now far easier to deliver its products outside the brewery's chain of wo pubs.

Short-lived

Any haulier considering a move into the drinks sector needs to be aware that contracts are often short-lived because of continuing upheaval in the industry. Cider maker Bulmer, for example, has conic full circle after contracting out its secondary distribution to Tradeteam six years ago. Since acquiring the national drinks wholesaler The Beer Seller two years ago the firm has taken the work back in-house.

Last year Sutton Coldfield-based Hammond Logistics Group added Hydes to its portfolio of brewing customers, which includes Thwaites, Robert Cain and Wolverhampton & Dudley. But it may soon lose Liverpool-based Cain, which is up for sale. John Cutler, Hammond's general managing director, says the company entered the sector through a take-over in 1998 with its eyes wide open: "We know the sector is volatile. Fortunately the vehicles we put on a contract are fairly standard." Devon-based Gregory Distrib. ution used to deliver for Usher. and Greenalls but has not worker in the brewery sector for more than a year. Managing directoi John Gregory says: "We lost out ir mergers and take-overs. Wher brewers are taken over by othei people they get absorbed into dif ferent distribution systems." Hii advice to any would-be entrant tc this sector is simple: "Make sun you have a contract that protect you. The chances of the busines being involved in a take-over an fairly high."


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