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As seen in Railways Strategies Magazine - 1st March 2010

MAR 2010 | CONSOLIDATING GROWTH – Railway Strategies

From Railways Strategies Magazine

Since Railway Strategies last spoke to Roadways Container Logistics in June 2009, the company has grown its business and has continued in its mission to deliver efficient container haulage to the UK. As a specialist in the containerised haulage and storage arena, the organisation operates across strategically placed locations to maximise opportunity from port based depots in Felixstowe, Southampton, Liverpool and Tilbury. Its inland terminals at Leeds, Manchester and Tamworth cover over 100 acres of storage space and are designed to be close to key clients, contributing to Roadways’ winning infrastructure. Its fleet of 275 vehicles covers a wide geographical base, while its storage facilities can handle up to 10,000 TU (20 foot equivalent units) at any one time. The company’s core aim is to deliver benefits to customers by moving cargo inland ahead of demand therefore driving out cost, avoiding the high prices of ports and managing service by evading delay and congestion. By bringing cargo inland to one of its hubs as soon as possible Roadways remains in control of the inland supply chain through to end delivery, ensuring that customers need only contact a single supplier.

Where possible, transportation by rail is the mode of choice with two of the company’s terminals being rail connected and a third placed adjacent to a railhead. Nick Matthews, commercial director of Roadways, explains the reason behind this: “The shorter the distance between the terminal and the final destination the more likely it is to be delivered on time and we look to do this in two ways. At the first opportunity we use rail to move cargo inland effecting a number of advantages including speed to door, cost efficiency and reduced environmental impact. If this is not possible, then we transport cargo by road overnight, avoiding congestion and the associated delays to ensure that cargo is in place ready for the final delivery. Essentially we utilise our network and inland infrastructure to drive out the traditional costs of the supply chain, while pushing service levels up.”

Speaking in June 2009, he noted: “Rail Freight is fast-tracked through the port booking systems and our terminals lies within 30 miles of all the key ports, by using rail we are immune from most of the typical delays that container handlers have to deal with. In addition, we are able to react very quickly to the changing demands of retailers by offering substitutions and deferments. We can bring boxes forward, deliver them and push them back all within the same day through our infrastructure – not many other companies can do this.”

Roadways’ client base is made up of international shipping lines importing into the UK and large freight forwarding companies, with the majority of its cargo relating to high street sales and retailers. As a single operator the company is quite unique in being able to offer port management, road and rail manoeuvring options, and final delivery all under one roof. Over the past year the company has witnessed a 15 per cent growth in its business, achieved mainly from increased contracts from its core client base - a trend that is set to continue throughout 2010.

However, 2009 was not without its challenges, while changes in the market have brought a number of opportunities, the past six months have proved to be tough with operations having to be withdrawn from Scotland as a result of the lack of support in this area. The greatest demand came from the tremendous downward pressure on rates for the containerised haulage and freight industries. Managing cost and assets became essential factory drive to achieve service excellence for current customers rather than rapid market expansion.

The company’s three-year development programme with Network Rail and Advantage West Midlands to become gauge cleared at its Midlands terminal came to successful completion last year. Obtaining gauge clearance saw the terminal evolve from receiving three trains a day to seven trains a day, significantly increasing and improving Roadways’ rail link to the Felixstowe and Tilbury ports. “We worked very hard with these two partners to gain gauge clearance and it has had a massive impact on our terminal. By running more trains we are able to adhere further to our mission of a more sustainable cargo handling solution. We operate a hub and spoke principle, where we try to move everything both inbound and outbound through a hub. As mentioned before, if the rail network is busy or the seven trains coming into Tamworth are full, we have to transport by road so that all cargo is in place ready for early delivery. Over 60 per cent of our deliveries are done between the hours of 4am and 11am, the goal is to spread our capability in the future so that it can be utilised throughout off peak times as well, offering greater efficiency to our clients and reducing cost,” Nick explains.

In an industry where eliminating excess expenditure is of increasing importance, Roadways offers an ideal solution. By eradicating the type of costs traditionally associated with cargo transportation, such as storage and bureaucracy at ports, the company creates a situation where cargo is in close proximity to the end customer within hours of its arrival in the UK. Nick highlights his vision for the future: “We want to deliver something that is sustainable and profitable, working with our current client base to grow in a way that is both rewarding for them and for Roadways. The past has very much been focused on the downward pressure of cost and as a result, quality service has come to the forefront of the market – an asset that we hold in abundance. We hope to become the container haulier of choice over the coming years and we are confident that this will be achieved through our ability to provide swift delivery at an acceptable cost and with additional environmental benefits.”


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