ISSUE 1 2011


ScOTLANd A lot of bottle for global drinks specialist


JF Hillebrand does nothing but beverage logistics and JF Hillebrand Scotland’s prime export trade is, hardly surprisingly,


predominantly


whisky with a little gin, vodka and a small amount of wine. Managing director for Scotland James Bryson explains: “We here in Scotland are mainly concerned with the exports - primarily to the US, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia, South America, the Caribbean and Africa – in other words, pretty much the whole world.” JF Hillebrand Scotland


handles mostly cased whisky; the distillers have yet to follow the mass-market wine trade by shipping in tanktainers and bottling locally. (Much of the Scotch whisky’s industry’s bottling capacity is conveniently concentrated in the central belt.) That ‘Produced and bottled in Scotland’ label still counts for a great deal in the Scotch whisky industry’s many and growing export markets around the world. JF Hillebrand moves most of the traffic in containers, both FCL and, for LCL, on its own consolidation services. There is


The latest development for


JF Hillebrand Scotland was the opening, in September 2010, of its own dedicated Customs- approved warehouse at Renfrew. It is officially classified as an ‘In transit’ facility rather than a wet bond; the latter is used mainly for long-term storage. “What it means is that we


James Bryson


also some airfreight. “Being a dedicated provider


to the beverages industry, we are in a strong strategic position,” Bryson explains. “We have never dabbled in anything else. It gives us a very clear identity and the customers know that their business is being dealt with by knowledgeable people.” Despite the recession, JF Hillebrand Scotland’s business is still growing. Most of it, as explained, is whisky but there are other beverages too – even bottled mineral water.


The whisky export trade was


up 17% in the first half of 2010 compared with the same period of 2009 and, speaking in mid- December, Bryson said there was nothing to suggest that the second half of 2010 would not also show a market growth over 2009. There is still something of a mystique about Scotch whisky, Bryson suggests. “It’s a little piece of Scotland into which has gone a lot of love and attention and it’s something that you just cannot really replicate anywhere else in the world.”


Distillers instil sense of professionalism


Whisky does many things to people, but as far the freight industry is concerned it has instilled a degree of professionalism that isn’t always found in other parts of the industry, says Grant Stupart. The owner of Bellshill-based TPC Freight Management says: “The whisky industry works to very high KPIs, it’s all timed deliveries and in my view, if you can move whisky to Kazakhstan, you can move anything.” Timed deliveries are the norm


in the drinks industry, “and you also need very high liability cover”. TPC, which Stupart describes


as “a little more than just a forwarder” does indeed shift a lot of the Water of Life to Kazakhstan and many other places in central Asia and the former Soviet Union. “Two of my directors are from the Scotch whisky industry and I think if you set the bar high enough, it improves you in other sectors too.” That might include dangerous goods, where the requirement for advisors has likewise raised standards. The benefits cut both ways. Scotland’s freight and freight


purchasing communities might seem a little small and incestuous at times, but there is less ‘rate tramping’ – customers to stay loyal and are willing to pay good money for good service. Grant Stupart also tries to use


Scottish ports wherever possible, and it’s not just out of a sense of patriotism. “There have often been problems importing though English ports. It can also be cheaper and quicker to use Grangemouth.” The industry in Scotland does


face some unique problems though, December’s severe weather being only one of the difficulties facing freight operators. “The challenge is always to


get stuff here in time – though when the weather is normal the roads are good, as are our hauliers.” One concern is the closure or rundown of many of the big container shipping lines’ presence north of the border. Most now only maintain a sales presence in Scotland – in some cases not even a physical office – and very few have operational staff in Scotland. “The other big problem is finding boxes for Scotland’s exports. With most


of the imports coming into the south, it is a real challenge for the lines to find containers.” TPC has in its eight year existence among other things set up an office in Sweden to service the Baltics and established a joint venture with Transmodal in St Petersburg. Business has grown in every year of the company’s existence, says Stupart, albeit at a more modest 5% recently compared with the heady 40-50% rate recorded in some years. Its approach is to take away


the burden of managing day to freight activities, allowing its clients to properly concentrate on their core activities. TPC has 70,000sq ft of warehousing near Glasgow airport and hopes, through a soon to be finalised acquisition, to add 20,000 more. A further acquisition is also on the cards, adds Stupart. While Scotch is one of the


main commodities, TPC has also started to handle online retailer Amazon’s business north of the border, at a facility in Greenock, west of Glasgow. Other big areas are food, chemicals and engineering.


can have control of our own loading. It’s also less costly than a wet bond.” Needless to say, the facility is state of the art, with security cameras, security doors and IT systems. The facility, on a former Babcock manufacturing site, covers 30,000sq ft and there is room for expansion. JF Hillebrand Scotland has also


created its own logistics division to facilitate consolidations in and out of Europe as well as deepsea using an approved list of transport partners. Bryson adds: “The new logistics division has also opened up a larger platform for wine imports into Scotland, and while we’re not operating on the scale of JF Hillebrand in England, it is a growing market here.” There are even some wine exports from Scotland; in fact, they are re-exports – no one has


managed to set up a vineyard on the slopes of the Munroes yet. The new logistics division will


also help the company increase its customer base and diversify into other parts of the supply chain, if customers demand it. JF Hillebrand could also increase its in-house contract activity. It already has a team in place with a major customer and would be interested in doing more of this type of work – again, if the customers need it. JF Hillebrand Scotland splits


its deepsea export traffic between feeder services from Grangemouth and Greenock - respectively Scotland’s east and west coast ports and the Freightliner rail service south to the major English ports. Bryson states: “We feel it’s important to maintain both the sea feeder and the rail links, so we split our traffic between them. And we get a very good service from both.” Contrary to what many people believe, the rail service is in fact very flexible, able to adapt to traffic demands and lay on extra train services at busy periods. “But we tend not to use road. it’s partly because of


the green issue but also because security is better on rail or sea.” Sadly, there are now no direct deepsea container services from any Scottish port although CMA CGM-owned MacAndrews does have a regular link from Greenock to Spain and Portugal. Of the perennial Scottish shortage of export boxes, Bryson says: “It is always an issue at this time of year (December) but we haven’t encountered any major problems because we offer our carriers a pre-planned forecast. So while we’ve had challenges we haven’t seen any actual problems. Perhaps more forwarders should do this.” James Bryson shares other forwarders’ concerns over the closure of liner shipping offices in Scotland, but lack of an office north of the border would not prevent him from using a particular line. That said, forwarders and their customers would prefer to support Scottish people, not necessarily out of blind patriotism but because they tend to have a better understanding of the country’s pinch points and its logistics issues.


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