34


IRELAND


ISSUE 2 2011


Growth is still possible, despite the economic storm


Express groupage operator Primeline express, based in Ashbourne County Meath has seen sustained growth in the UK/Ireland express market over the last four years. Commercial director Steve Bell also anticipates further expansion and growth despite the underlying economic difficulties facing the Irish economy.


“When we started this venture four years ago neither myself or any of the other directors could have realised the storm that was brewing in the world economic markets or the profound impact this would have on Ireland’s economy in particular. At that time the Celtic Tiger was still purring away and the sky seemed the limit for any new venture into the UK/Irish groupage sector. Paradoxically that is how it has turned out.”


Bell says that, despite the stormy economic weather, traffic has grown from around 4,500


consignments in January 2010 to 11,000 in March 2011 and the customer base is now over 500. “This is from a standing start in May 2007,” Bell points out. The secret of Primeline’s success, he continues, is that for several years, the Irish express groupage market had been dominated by a handful of, in the main, Irish owned operators, most of whom understood their local market place and serviced it accordingly. However,


“in the recent


past several of the old guard have either closed or been sold leaving a very large gap in the market for an Irish owned carrier with local expertise to fill. This is where Primeline express has flourished.”


Along with its 40,000 sq ft facility in Ashbourne Primeline is operating daily services to and from five sites in the UK covering all areas


of Northern and


Southern Ireland with dedicated next day delivery services.


The company has also recently moved into a new 20,000 sq ft facility in Warrington, which will allow later collection times and earlier delivery times thanks to easy access to the M6 and M56 corridors.


Bell sees further opportunities in the Irish market ahead. “It is our belief that regardless of the local or indeed global economy there is always a place for a proven high- quality price competitive carrier. The key word today is value, if you can demonstrate value for money then you are in with a realistic shout.”


The aim now is to strengthen Primeline’s position in its core automotive, retail, aircraft parts and fast-moving consumer goods markets. Bell explains: “Take the airline sector - how many carriers are collecting aircraft parts from areas as diverse as Bournemouth to Prestwick on day one for delivery the following day to any airport in Ireland? Not only


that but at a standard rate, not with a heavy surcharge? The same applies to our automotive business which is delivering to all areas throughout Ireland on a timed delivery schedule including Saturdays and Sundays.” He argues that the aircraft and automotive sectors are a good gauge of a carrier’s capabilities. Neither industry tolerates poor service and high standards are taken as a given. “It’s all about knowing your customers needs and ensuring all your staff are completely in tune with them.” As for the freight sector’s future prospects, “there is no question that the recent hard times have sorted the men from the boys and that there will almost certainly be further casualties in the industry. But we believe that if you keep faith in


your core values and maintain the ‘customer is king’ philosophy and ensure that your staff buy into it, then growth can be sustained.


“Clearly the instability around fuel prices is a major headache and shows no signs of abating, but it is the same for all of us. You just have to keep getting smarter, trying harder to reduce


costs rather than the easier route of passing increased operating costs on to the customer.” He adds that the recent reductions in ferry services will also have an impact at some point, probably later in the year around the peak freight periods of September and October - particularly if there is an upswing in volumes.


Dublin Port consults on growth plan


Dublin Port Company has started consulting with its stakeholders on its future development plans. The consultation process, with community groups, business representatives and customers will go towards creating a Masterplan to determine how the port will be developed over the next 30 years. Among the issues that will be considered are current and future land use within the 260-hectare port estate and how to maximise Dublin Port’s position as the hub of Ireland’s road and rail networks. There are over 13,500


daily truck movements in and out of the port and 17,000 ship movements a year. It will also consider how the port links to and interfaces with the rest of the city, environmental and sustainability priorities, the relationship with local communities and on the identification and securing of new lands for development of port facilities.


Dublin Port is Ireland’s largest and busiest port handling over €35 billion of trade a year. In a statement, the port said: “It is vitally important that when


economic


growth


returns we


have the infrastructure to handle the growth. Even at modest levels, Dublin Port will double its existing trade volumes by 2040 handling 60 million tonnes of imports and exports. We have already seen some evidence of a return to growth with a 6% rise in throughput during 2010 to 28.1 million tonnes.”


Growth is continuing in 2011 with throughput volumes up by 6.4% in total with exports up by 10.6% and imports by 3.8% in the first two months of the year.


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