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Harlequin consortium offers national service
Page 6
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CM COVER STORY By Christopher Walton A NEW TRANSPORT consortium of five hauliers has been formed, promising to bring the regional haulier to the forefront of the tendering process in contracts normally reserved for the largest logistics operators.
Harlequin Logistics, comprising Currie European Transport; Jack Richards & Son; John Raymond Transport; R Swain & Sons and Prestons of Potto, was brought together by former Jigsaw Solutions founder Paul Smith.
The members say the formation of the consortium will give the regional, family-run, haulier the chance to compete with the likes of DHL, Wincanton and Kuehne + Nagel.
Peter Brown, MD of Jack Richards & Son and a director at Harlequin, tells CM: "This is an opportunity for us to really try and sell to the market something that is needed: a solution where we have control of the assets, where we can give customers direct control. If something is wrong, they are not calling a third party, they can speak directly to our drivers. "All of us as individual hauliers can provide an individual service for a customer who wants 70 loads a day, for example, but for the customer looking at 150,000 loads a day we [Jack Richards] cannot, but Harlequin can."
Paul Johns, MD at John Raymond and also a Harlequin director, adds: "Because we are regional hauliers, those type of customers think we can't do it, but they do not really realise the capabilities we have."
While Harlequin is still in talks with its first customers, it has drawn up a business plan whereby volumes will be sub-divided between all five shareholder hauliers on a geographic basis.
The Harlequin consortium guarantees its clients that 75% of all freight will be handled by shareholders, with the remainder sub-contracted.
Smith says that Harlequin is currently in discussions with three potential customers: "Our target market is large-scale manufacturers and retailers. The ideal would be FMCG customers, but not exclusively. They need to fit with the asset base we have."