12


Issue 2 2012


Headford adds M&A service


Headford Consulting has started a Mergers & Acquisitions service specialising in the freight forwarding and allied sectors. Managing director Craig Headford said: “It’s a natural fit with our existing recruitment business and we already have five privately-owned freight forwarders who are looking to sell their businesses and around 50 companies who are looking to buy. We have developed an active approach to selling a business that connects you with the buyers most likely to pay the best price.” Some forwarders looked at buying other operators primarily


as a means of boosting their headcount, he added. “Not all the companies looking to sell are necessarily one-man bands; we also have some quite substantial businesses on our books,” he said. Headford Consulting will


specialise in M&A activity for forwarders, along with similar business including liner agents or road hauliers. “But we wouldn’t extend it to other non-related sectors, such as IT,” Craig Headford explained. “For most company owners


selling their freight forwarding business is the most important financial transaction of their life,” he added.


DSV offers ‘Daily’- style air service


Danish-owned logistics and forwarding specialist DSV Air & Sea has launched a new daily air freight service from the Far East to the UK. DSV Everyday, offers daily flights from Hong Kong and South China to the UK. Three service levels - Priority,


Classic and Economy – offer, respectively, a fixed Hong Kong-UK transit times of two days, four days or six days. Mirroring the approach taken by


fellow Danes Maersk Line with its ‘Daily’ seafreight service from the Far East, transit time is measured from receipt of cargo at origin, to arrival UK airport. Under normal circumstances customs clearance


is on the same day as arrival, with delivery the following day. Richard Lawford, Director, Sales,


DSV Air & Sea, said: “The new service provides our clients peace of mind by guaranteeing transit times. By offering three service levels we’re also increasing the amount of choice our clients have, so if they need something urgently, we can get it to them in time. If cost is the main concern, we can provide extremely competitive rates while still utilising airfreight.” DSV already runs a similar


service from Hong Kong to locations in Europe but DSV Everyday aims to give more reliability and flexibility to its clients in the UK.


Poland-UK train to go twice-weekly


DB Schenker says it will add a second weekly train service from Wroclaw, Poland to Barking, East London in September this year and plans to raise the frequency to five trains per week


in 2013. Currently, a regular weekly


FBJ advert 170x133 2012:Layout 1 23/03/2012 10:43 Page 1


container train, launched last year, operates between the two cities and, thanks to its use of the Continental


loading gauge High Speed 1 route in the UK, is capable of carrying European-sized curtain-sided swap bodies.The swap bodies, with an internal height of three metres,


Flexible Warehouse Solutions...


n Over 200,000 sq ft of space


n Mixture of temperature controlled and ambient


n Within the Port boundary


Por t of Liverpool Multiuser Warehouse


Port of Liverpool and Manchester Ship Canal Tel: 0151 949 6110 Email: liverpool@peelports.co.uk Website: www.peelports.co.uk


allow two standard pallets to be transported stacked on top of each other. DB Schenker Rail UK has also


upgraded five class 92 locomotives, the only rail freight locomotives approved to work on HS1, following the service’s launch. Special signalling equipment is being installed in the locomotives, enabling them to work with the signalling systems on HS1. Earlier, DB Schenker announced


plans to boost its connecting weekly service for standard-sized wagons between Mossend in central Scotland and Barking to three times a week by the end of this year and up to five a week within three to five years. The increased frequency would tie in with expansion of the Barking to Poland service and would increase the amount of freight that can be exported from Scotland to Europe from around 2,000 tonnes to 10,000 tonnes per week. DB


Schenker’s managing


director for logistics Carsten Hinne said in an interview with the Herald Scotland newspaper on 7 February that he was prepared to work with other rail freight operators to achieve a critical mass. Increased rail exports from Scotland would also help DB Schenker to achieve a better balance on its trains, which are currently biased towards imports from Europe to the UK. The firm, which has terminals Inverness,


at Aberdeen,


Grangemouth and Mossend, is also in discussions with Government agency Transport Scotland and infrastructure firm Network Rail about plans to operate longer trains in Scotland.


///NEWS


NEWS ROUNDUP ROAD & RAIL


A UK transport lawyer has warned that hauliers can lose their vehicles through ignorance of smuggling and is calling for more definitive ways for companies to defend themselves as Customs appear to be taking stricter measures against errant operators. Anton Balkitis, a partner at Rothera Dowson solicitors, told a International Road Transport Union (IRU) conference in Geneva recently that truckers can face penalties of around £30,000- £50,000 to get back impounded lorries whilst drivers can be sacked, even if they have no knowledge of the smuggling. Where it can be proved that the carrier has made previous smuggling trips Customs will also as a matter of course seek a compensation order for the revenue evaded.He explained that being ‘innocent’ of the crime of smuggling does nothing to protect companies or drivers from “extremely robust” Customs protocol.


The International Road Transport Union (IRU) has laid out the steps needed to reactivate the TIR system in Afghanistan at a regional conference to discuss the issue. The event, in Herat, was attended by senior economic advisor to the President of Afghanistan, Sham Bathija, and deputy minister of transport, Dr Mohammaddullah Batash, who confirmed the government’s strong commitment to reactivating TIR in Afghanistan in the near future. On 24 February, the first TIR transport tests were held using two trucks loaded with agricultural products, departing from the border crossing of Islamquala in Herat province to the Iranian port of Bandarabas. The event was used to train transport operators and customs officials.


The European Commission hosted a Transport Corridor Europe- Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA) Investment Forum on 28 February to help attract investment between the EU and Central Asia. Some 12 projects were presented to potential donors and investors in logistics centres and road, rail, maritime and air transport. Improvements to border crossing procedures were also discussed.


Van der Vlist UK part of Dutch-owned Van der Vlist Transport Group, is relocating to Burma Drive in Hull, less than a mile from the port, from 1 March. The company provides provide out-of-gauge and oversized transport along with associated services including permits, escorts and route surveys. Facilities and equipment include over 200 trucks, trailers, a range of modular axles, storage and port facilities, project management capabilities and fully equipped assembly, maintenance, modification and inspection workshops.


Hull-based container and general haulier A R Lunn Transport has gone into administration. The company operated a fleet of 102 articulated artics from a 7.5-acre site near the port. Administrator Price Waterhouse Coopers confirmed that 115 jobs would be lost.


The Haven Gateway Partnership has launched a Low Carbon Freight Dividend project that will offer financial incentives for smaller firms to switch container movements from road to rail. The scheme, which enjoys nearly £3 million of support from the European Regional Development Fund will operate for three years with firms being offered a dividend of up to 30% for firms that traditionally have only used road transport.The initiative is expected to shift 30,000 containers from road to rail and eliminate at least 11.7 million kg of carbon emissions from the supply chain. As well as the dividend, the project will feature six ‘Optimisation of Freight Movements’ workshops across the East of England. They will provide advice and practical examples of how to reduce carbon emissions in the movement of freight, including loading techniques, better driving and fuel efficiency.


DB Schenker Rail UK has agreed terms with two property developers to operate two proposed new intermodal terminals in the south-east of England. The interchange at Radlett in Hertfordshire is being promoted by SEGRO, while a second at Colnbrook in Berkshire is being promoted by Goodman. Both schemes include major warehouse capacity and are ideally placed to serve London and the Home Counties, says the rail company, which believes that significant new terminal capacity will be needed close to major consumer markets to meet forecast demand.


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