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TOUGH T IVIES

8th November 1990
Page 36
Page 36, 8th November 1990 — TOUGH T IVIES
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Car transporting is a big-money operation. But interest rates, wage demands and rates cutting are giving companies, even the market leaders, a tough time. CM talks to three of the major players.

• Car transporting is big business, with some 2,500 transporters on Britain's roads carrying billions of pounds worth of vehicles every year.

Graham Houghton of the Road Haulage Association says that his car transporter members expect to carry cars worth ,21.2bn retail — and two of the biggest operators, Toleman and Abbey Hill, are not in the RI-IA.

But times are tough and failing car sales coupled with high interest rates are beginning to bite.

Manufacturers are demanding higher standards of delivery with shorter lead times. Although car transporters are often at the leading edge of distribution technology, they still face the age old hauliers' bugbear of low rates. Customers are simply not prepared to pay for quality.

The carriers are in a weak bargaining position because many firms are chasing a limited amount of work which, to make matters worse, is controlled by a handful of major customers such as Rover and Vauxhall.

Many operators are also having to face the problem of drivers wages, which have raced ahead unchecked for many years.

Commercial Motor talked to three major car transporters in the UK: Toleman, BRS Automotive and the Richard Lawson Group.

TOLFJVULN

Founded in 1926, Toleman delivered about 900,000 cars and trucks in the UK

last year about 30% of the total market. This year it expects to deliver only 760,000. Toleman has forged strong links with Ford and currently transports around 50% of all its product in the UK. It carries all of Ford's imports through Southampton along with imports of Alpha Romeos and Lancias. It also handles half of the work on offer in the UK for Volvo, Fiat and Renault. Until recently it looked after big delivery zones for Vauxhall, although a bitter strike at Toleman's Halewood depot has put paid to all that.

Winning the Fiat contract in 1985 was a major success, but since then Toleman has lost part of the Rover contract, as well as being beaten by the Richard Lawson Group to the Land Rover contract.

As Toleman's marketing director Peter Pegg explains, Toleman has invested heavily in new technology, and the fall in new car sales could not have come at a worse time. "Overall, car sales are down about 13.5%, but we have suffered more than most because we are so attached to Ford, which is down by 19.3% at the latest count.

"We have lost a couple of contracts on one hand but picked up new work with the other. We've just won the Nissan export contract for Primeras produced at the Sunderland plant. It's a job that will grow. Nissan took a fresh look at car delivery and chose us over a shortlist of firms

Tags

Organisations: Road Haulage Association
Locations: Southampton

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