22 Middlesbrough-based


Issue 6 2013


Dangerous goods prove a safe bet for Evolution


Evolution


Forwarding has come a long way in the two and a half years since it was set up by Terry Goldspink and has found itself an important niche in dangerous goods packing. Now, companies from as far afield as Torquay and Aberdeen use its specialist services – and not only shippers, but forwarders and couriers as well. “The speed with which we can


turn around orders is the game- changer,” Goldspink explains. Evolution can offer a much faster turnaround than most other dangerous goods packers, he says.. Most orders – other than very large ones – can be turned around within 24 hours and be on their way again to destination; packers in other parts of the country oſten need several days to do the same job. And with pallet delivery networks able to deliver goods anywhere


in the country for a virtual flat fee, there is no particular disadvantage to being located in the North-East of England as opposed to, say Heathrow. Evolution has also gained


greatly from Royal Mail International’s decision to stop handling dangerous goods, which has pushed cosmetics firms in particular towards the private sector operators. Business has grown to the


extent that Evolution has taken on an additional 1,500sq ſt next door to its existing warehouse and office in Middlesbrough and more staff have been recruited. Some of the larger jobs handled


by Evolution include paint for Luis Vuitton’s twice-yearly rebranding of its stores worldwide and a contract for the MoD. Dangerous goods packing was always going to be part of


Evolution’s offering when he set the company up, but Terry Goldspink admits that he didn’t expect demand for the service to take off in quite the way it did. The secret of success he believes, is the ability to throw resources into the packing operation as and when required. All staff – even those whose main duties are in areas like accounting or sales – are dangerous goods packing-


“Small firms have


been one of the great unsung success stories of the North-East ”


trained, and will help out when a large order comes in. And it is not enough to have a piece of paper saying that the member of staff has attended an IATA-approved


course, adds Goldspink. “The IATA course doesn’t actually tell you how to pack dangerous goods.” “You need to have a niche


market to succeed,” he explains. “Profit margins in other work such as trailers have dropped to a point where they’re really not attractive any more.” The DG rules continue to


evolve, the biggest change being the new rules on Lithium batteries in airfreight. Evolution does much of its


training in-house, but does need to supplement that with external training from time to time, and it can be hard to find in the North- East. While it is always possible to bring in a consultant for a spell of bespoke training, the range of public courses available in the region is extremely limited. In fairness to training providers, it is a chicken-and-egg situation; some previous attempts to organise scheduled BIFA or IATA courses have foundered on a lack of interest, rather surprising in a area that is, as it were steeped in chemicals. “There isn’t perhaps enough emphasis on dangerous goods among forwarders here,” Goldspink muses. While much of Evolution’s comes from further


work Photograph courtesy of Brian Winstanley Photography


Over 75 years of freight handling services from our River Tees base


afield, there is still a reasonable locally-originating traffic in ‘fine chemicals’ mostly manufactured by smaller firms, such as trace elements, components of epoxy resins or ingredients for cosmetics. These micro-firms are oſten a better prospect for smaller providers like Evolution; the multinational chemical firms tend to deal with multinational forwarders.


Small firms have indeed been


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one of the great unsung success stories of the North-East, as the region moves from an economy dominated by a handful of giant firms to a much more diverse and, indeed, entrepreneurial and export-minded industrial base, and there’s no reason why the local forwarding industry shouldn’t prosper alongside them, Goldspink believes: “It is a great area to work in, there’s a lot of new businesses and there’s a really good buzz here. Perhaps people don’t shout about it enough.”


///UK NORTH EAST


We’ll stay put and grow in the North- East, says Woodland


Many of the big forwarders have retreated from the North-East, but Woodland is still growing, says Peter Wilkinson, branch manager at the forwarder’s Seaham office. “Some of the other operators have cut back, but we aim to handle and serve the local market, which we’ve been doing for the past 17 years.” Northeasterners like to deal


with northeasterners, he says, and the availability of direct trailer services from the region to a range of European destinations is another plus-point. “Our biggest market is Ireland, to where we have 2-3 services a day, and we also go twice-weekly to France, Germany, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands. But we’ve also got the full array of Woodland air and ocean services here, which is a rapidly developing market for us.” While Woodland is known


nationwide as a deepsea and airfreight forwarder, in the North- east


it has paradoxically been


known more for its trailer services, although the company’s recently recruited forwarding sales executive is working to change that. “And we’re also developing or third party logistics and supply chain activities, investing in IT solutions, warehousing and pick and pack operations. There is more and more of a demand for that sort of service here,” says Wilkinson. So much so that Woodland is


seriously considering setting up a logistics operation somewhere in the region, though it hasn’t yet formulated its exact plans. The company has been investigating the local property market and has come to the conclusion that, while there is plenty of cheap space around, there is relatively little suited to logistics. There is quite a hunger for


supply chain expertise in the region, Wilkinson continues. “A lot of companies feel that they haven’t the expertise in-house, but they all want to minimise stockholding, but still offer the same level of service. And UK Trade and Industry and the Chamber of Commerce have put a lot of effort into encouraging small and medium companies here to export.” The Nissan plant was a magnet


for a lot of engineering firms in the area but with the car industry


only now recovering from tough economic times, local firms have had to look for new markets, and that oſten means venturing into exporting for the first time. Woodland is always willing to help new exporters with any concerns, if not directly, then by pointing them in the right direction, for example banks or the chamber of commerce. There are a huge variety of


manufacturers in the region, making anything from filtration equipment through automotive components to gaming equipment. “If you take out Nissan and Corus steel, there is no one single product in this area,” Wilkinson says. There have been relatively


few casualties from the recession among Woodland’s customer base and “the next 2-3 years could be good ones for the North-East,” Wilkinson hopes. He adds: “Our business has


already grown hugely in the last year and as well as taking on an air and ocean salesperson we’re also added an apprentice and we’ve plans for more.” The team currently numbers just over a dozen people. Staff turnover is low and


Woodland is very happy to train people, although it is also in the market for people with forwarding expertise and experience. That can sometimes be tricky to find. Apart from a small nucleus of forwarders at Newcastle airport, there is no one single focused area for the freight industry in the North-East, so there isn’t the same nucleus of people circulating between different firms as in some other areas of the country. “The industry is fairly evenly spread throughout the region, with perhaps a small concentration of forwarders in the Tees region,” Wilkinson points out. Woodland has been at its


present site in Seaham for the past 13 years, having moved there aſter outgrowing its original location at Bowburn in County Durham. It has good road links and it is more or less equidistant between the big cities of the region. “We can be with any of our customers within about an hour if they have a problem,” says Wilkinson. “That’s one of the advantages of being local.”


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