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Issue 4 2014 - Freight Business Journal Scots forwarder takes independent line


Being an independent Scottish freight forwarder is a David against Goliath - or Partick Thistle versus Celtic - affair these days. For Grant Stupart, executive chairman of Glasgow-based TPC Freight Management, “being a local, family-owned company does have its advantages, which we keep pushing, but it is a very competitive business and we are up against all the big multinational forwarders” However, “we have had a couple


of breakthroughs, and are bringing in more people and trying to grow the business. We’re known as the East European experts and a lot of the expertise we have is unique.” TPC’s


approach to


development is to partner with or acquire other businesses that are not necessarily directly connected with freight but which can help drive logistics business into TPC. For example, last year it bought a controlling stake in Logos Logistics, a company which specialises in removing and installing machinery. Logos, which is now housed within TPC’s head office at Paisley near Glasgow Airport has a staff of about half a dozen and also has


around 15 contract engineers, who work all over the world. It can move anything from a semiconductor plant to a turbine using specialised air floatation systems and lately, it has been moving a lot of machinery out of China to Europe, says Stupart. “For example, we did a big move out of China and re-established a factory back in Scotland, and there’s also a lot of manufacturing moving out of China to the rest of Europe.” As a forwarder, Stupart well


knows the cost of moving manufactured goods from China and there are issues with getting space on a vessels, a trend that can only continue if the shipping lines succeed in forming ever- bigger consortia and alliances, he suspects. And Chinese labour costs are no longer quite as low relative to Europe as they once were. The latest venture that TPC is


involved with is Kytra Consulting, which Stupart says specialises “in getting products into countries, acting as a


facilitator or go-


between.” Again, it’s an activity that should generate freight business for the forwarder. Warehousing is also growing


for TPC. The 15,000sq ſt facility at Paisley, used mainly for high value items, is pretty full, as is a 60,000sq ſt general facility at nearby Renfrew. But TPC is planing to set up an even larger operation with pick and pack capacity, and is currently searching for suitable premises. The Glasgow airport area is very expensive, but rental rates tumble drastically a few miles further away and recent improvements to the road system has made many new areas practical from a distribution point of view. What Stupart has in mind is


not so much long-term storage in the traditional sense but what he terms “active warehousing” in which stock is turned around quickly. TPC took over fellow Scots


forwarder Thistle in February 2011. At that time, the companies were managed as two separate entities but over the past 12 months the operations have gradually been merged and the merger was formalised on 1 March, says commercial director Steven Pinkowski. The Thistle brand name will probably disappear in time, though it won’t be formally


wound up. When it was acquired, Thistle


had a large ships’ spares business which is still ongoing, although it has reduced because ship operators tend to store parts locally around the world now and the need to airfreight them over long distances has reduced somewhat. You don’t normally talk long


to Scottish logistics peoples before whisky gets mentioned and most forwarders have some involvement with the trade, Scotland’s biggest export and among the largest from the whole of the UK. Rates though can be pretty cut throat and Stupart considers that the demise of the TransPal service out of Hull to Sweden earlier in the year was in part due to the low returns from this traffic. “We have picked up a bit of business from TransPal to Sweden,” he says. It’s not only whisky, though. TPC has also had enquiries about shipping tequila and rum to various overseas destinations. “Aſter all, I’ve got 48 years’ experience in the logistics of the drinks industry – so there will always be opportunities for us.”


Specialist offers a unique blend of service to whisky exporters


JF Hillebrand Scotland


continues to develop its unique blend of freight and logistics


services dedicated


to the beverage industry, says managing director James Bryson. As well as continuing to develop groupage services to major European, Asia, Middle East and Americas destinations, consolidated at its receiving depot in Renfrew, near Glasgow, JF Hillebrand is also in the process of setting up a network of additional service centres, following the successful


unveiling of the concept in Singapore in 2011. “We are now investing within other areas besides Singapore, including other Asian, European and Baltic sites,” Bryson confirms. Airfreight has also remained


strong in the past 12 months – bucking the trend seen in much of the rest of the freight industry – following a major investment in JF Hillebrand’s capabilities in that area. Also growing are bulk beverage movements, both exports and imports, with the company investing in its fleet of ISO tankers, dedicated to the wine and spirits trade, to over 700 last year. “We are now reaching a significant investment phase within our bulk division and our focus remains on the efficiencies of two ways flows in to and out of Scotland” Bryson explains. Despite economic difficulties in many parts of the world, the Scottish whisky industry continued to see growth


throughout 2013, Bryson continues. Single malts have increased


their popularity, up 5% in 2013, although in general some Asian markets such as Taiwan, Japan and China were below 2012 levels. There has though been good growth in France, Brazil (up 20% for reasons probably not unconnected with the World Cup), Mexico the UAE, Australia and India. JF Hillebrand continues to


offer its customers a plethora of value-added products from contract and supply chain management solutions, to in- house contract management, temperature controlled tools via such products as the


insulated Vinliner and


insulated pallet covers and flexible bulk transport. Information is as important as hardware these days, and the logistics company has also been working with its


customers to provide


integrated supply chain solutions with enhanced global visibility and full


reporting,


using its own dedicated IT team. One interesting innovation is Vinroute, a combined database of shipping routes and the climatic conditions that cargoes can expect to encounter en route, giving customers a good idea of what precautions they need to take to ensure that cargoes reach the customer in perfect condition.


///SCOTLAND


The beers are on us, says KC


It pays to specialise, especially for a small, independent Scottish forwarder, says John Hepburn, logistics team leader at Glasgow- based KC Shipping. “We very much fly under the radar as far as the bigger forwarders are concerned,” he explains. “A lot of the big forwarders are all chasing the same business – but we had a very good year in 2013, and I think being a specialist certainly helped us.” One of KC’s niche areas is


movement of the specialist lubricants and chemicals used in the oil and gas industry, oſten in small chartered tankers, adds account manager Dave Robinson. “These go all over the world – to West Africa, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan – anywhere in fact where’s there’s oil and gas.” Like many a Scots forwarder, KC


is involved in the alcoholic drinks trade, but again there is a difference. Rather than whisky, it moves beer all over the world, and both into and out of the UK. Unlike whisky, beer is not thought


commonly The move of manufacturing


out of Scotland is reflected in the freight industry. There aren’t too many fully independent Scottish forwarders these days and many of the shipping lines have shut down their Scottish offices; around half a dozen retain a presence north of Hadrian’s Wall, including CSAV, MSC, Hapag Lloyd, APL and CMA CGM. This is a pity in a place and an industry where personal relationships are important, says Hepburn. “Scotland can be quite a parochial place and it is difficult to build relations with a line hundreds of lines away. And also Scots people do have an understanding of the needs of local industries and what the issues facing them are.” Every piece of business at KC


of as an


internationally traded product – conventional wisdom is that it is too heavy and too localised – but an increasing amount is shiſted around the globe, says Hepburn. There is a growing interest in speciality beers from different countries and hot summers and the football World Cup can also lead to a spike in demand. The surge in the number of micro-breweries has led to a resurgence of interest in beer, which is no longer seen solely as the drink of fat bearded men in pullovers. Again, it’s a niche business that is


well suited to a specialist forwarder able to devote time and effort to understanding


the customer’s


needs and it’s well-suited to the Scottish market, Hepburn argues. “Scottish industry has become a lot more niche. The days when a forwarder could concentrate on only electronics, for the IBMs and Compaqs, sending out hundreds of trailerloads every night, are long gone. In fact, we have a lot of English as well as Scottish customers, and we’ve had some for over 20 years.”


is assigned an account manager and the customer is given two contacts, so there should always be someone available to handle any queries. “Some forwarders have gone down the call centre route, but people don’t like dealing with them,” Hepburn explains. There are currently 14 staff at KC.


The company isn’t actively looking for more, but if the right people come along it would be interested, Hepburn continues. But in fact, “we don’t see a lot of school leavers coming into the business. It’s not like Europe, where you can take a qualification in forwarding; here, it’s never mentioned by school careers services.” Most people get into the industry because of a connection through family or friends. Traditionally, hard work,


attention to detail and showing an interest are the route to personal success in freight, rather than piles of certificates, although Hepburn would personally welcome a formal qualification system to encourage youngsters: “It is a good industry to be in, though it’s hard to explain to outsiders what it’s all about. When I explain that I’m in shipping, some people I’ve talked to think I’m working down at the yard in Govan.” There is a thriving Glasgow


Freight Club, though there aren’t as many young members as there might be.


It pays to specialise, says KC’s John Hepburn


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