Keeping Ireland’s shop shelves filled


12


Ireland is a compact country, although until 20 years ago the rather sketchy road system made it seem much bigger than it actually was. Nowadays, the country has a comprehensive network of motorways and fast dual carriageways, bringing most major towns and cities within about two hours of the capital, Dublin. Oakland International, for


example, can service all its retailer customers from a single base at Ashbourne, just north of Dublin on the main N2 road. It has since 2009 operated a consolidation service used by many of the country’s retailers such as Dunnes Stores or Musgrave and the international firms such as Lidl, Tesco and


Spar that have set up operations in the country. Most of the big retailers’ DCs are within a few miles of its site. Irish retail logistics has been transformed over the past few years. The myriad separate arrangements has largely been replaced by much more streamlined and comprehensive set-ups. Oakland also handles Irish


exports back to the UK where it has a much larger operation. General manager in Ireland


Richard Hill explains: “We break loads down and consolidate them all again and then feed it into the retailers’ central distribution systems. We also consolidate traffic from the UK with goods from Irish suppliers.”


Most retailers, even ones with


major UK operations, prefer to service their Irish stores via a DC in the country rather than direct from a UK DC, he explains. “It would be very difficult to supply direct from the UK, as most will order at lunchtime for delivery the following morning” - a schedule that would be hard to meet given that there is an Irish Sea crossing involved. Brexit might affect such


operations by introducing the need for some sort of customs clearance, but for Oakland, as with everyone else in Irish logistics, it’s a matter of waiting and seeing what the politicians come up with. Oakland International uses a range of Irish transport partners


International is Irish operator’s Ace


Brexit is already having a


tangible effect on trade


between Ireland and the UK, believes the boss of one of the country’s leading forwarding and logistics companies. Philip Tracey, managing director of Ace Express says that


there


has been a downturn in trade. “Exporters here don’t know what is happening in the UK, so they’re putting their efforts into other markets.” At the same time, trade in both


directions has been affected by the currency volatility


following the referendum. Ace Express though wouldn’t


necessarily suffer if Ireland looked to markets other than the EU. While the UK is indeed a major market – it despatches regular trailer loads and is also the Irish member of the UK Pall- Ex palletised freight network – over the past decade or so it has emerged as one of Ireland’s leading international freight operators. Ten years ago it signed a


deal with German forwarder Hellmann to become that


company’s sole representative in Ireland and international services – road, sea and air – have gone from strength to strength. Ace has also signed specific-


country agreements with Heppner in France, Essers (Belgium), Arcese (Italy), Emoms (Netherlands) and Intersped (Portugal). Ace Express can plug into


the 153-country Hellmann system either via its UK main hub at Lichfield, for airfreight via its Heathrow base, or twice


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Dean Attwell


to provide its capacity, including back-hauls aſter trucks have dropped their loads. Oakland also operates two


consolidations a week to the company’s main UK base in Redditch near Birmingham, along with full loads as required.


a week via Germany or weekly to a number of other hubs on the Continent. Road, sea and air services are available with an emphasis on groupage. Ace currently sends about 20 trailers a week to Europe, and it has the great advantage over most other forwarders in that it operates its own trucks, Tracey points out. He adds: “We plan to double


our business over the next five years” - and international is expected to be the major part of that. Like other operators in


Ireland, Ace has benefited greatly from the new motorway


network, but Tracey points out that it has come at a price. “Road tolls are high – it costs about £40 to get to Cork, and £40 to come back, for instance.” Tolls in fact


account for about 5% of truck running costs. Vehicle tax has come down,


admittedly, but that has been counteracted by a 70% increase in insurance costs. Frustratingly, this is not because of the trucking industry’s activities but because Ireland is the most litigious country in Europe – people sue each other for all sorts of reasons and payouts are much higher than in the UK. The


insurance industry


has responded by loading up premiums in all sectors, including transport. The other factor that has


increased costs is the driver shortage,


though Ace does


employ a lot of nationals from other EU countries. Unlike the UK, Irish operators will of course be allowed to continue to do this for the foreseeable future.


Issue 2 2017 - FBJ


///IRELAND


Oakland in the UK also has a lot of European traffic, but Oakland in Ireland tends to operate its own services to and from the Continent – a lot of Irish hauliers also cover Europe - although the option of plugging into the UK/ Continent operation is available if required. Since setting up its Irish


operation in 2009, business has grown and the company has signed a deal for 45,000sq ſt of space at the specialised Food Central site just north of Dublin airport, says Dean Attwell, Oakland’s chief executive and co-founder. He explains that pharma traffic will remain at Ashbourne but food operations will migrate to the new site. Attwell adds that Ireland


is exceeding expectations, growing 30% in the past year and that Irish exports to the UK and beyond are surging ahead: “We’ve had meetings with Bord Bia (the Irish government promotion agency for food exports) and they say there are 400 export-hungry Irish exporters. The Irish have a


Richard Hill


reputation for producing quality food and have done a good job of marketing themselves especially


in countries


like


Germany.” While the UK is the main target


market for many, Oakland has excellent links with countries such as France, Spain and Poland and can oſten offer Irish exporters very advantageous rates into those markets via Redditch. Sometimes it can even offer a good rate to further-afield places like China, Attwell adds. “If we’re consolidating a load in the UK for China, we can top it up with a part-load from Ireland at a very good rate.”


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