UK NORTH WEST\\\ >> 20


departments outside London, the three-man


team writing up to around a million tonnes of business a year, and boasts its own road transport fleet. The


port also


Ports operated barges that ply the Ship Canal between Liverpool and Manchester - Ellesmere Port being its only call not operated by Peel itself. The port can take ships of up


handles


containers. The numbers vary, but can be as much as 150 a week, says Kent, on the weekly Peel


to about 15,000 tonnes, though most of those actually handled are around 4-5,000t. The smaller vessels also suit Quality Freight’s ethos of turning ships round as


Growth at home and away for Cardinal Maritime


It’s hard to guess whether North- west forwarding and consolidation firm Cardinal Maritime is growing faster at its Manchester base or overseas, says Rick White. Mr White - who is managing


director of Cardinal Maritime.com, the wholesale part of the business which offers consolidation services to freight forwarders - explains that local MP Mike Cane recently cut the ribbon on a new 40,000sq ſt warehouse, fully racked out, that will cater to Cardinal’s retail customers – direct shippers and importers. This will be the company’s


third facility at its base at Sharston,


in Wythenshawe in


south Manchester. However, the company is going through the planning process to build a fourth purpose-built warehouse, which will be a consolidation facility, which will help take the pressure off the existing sites. Cardinal Maritime’s


consolidation services have been growing, with the recent launch of a service to Chicago, both from the North-west and from its southern base at Basildon. Many consolidations now have separate boxes from both the north and south UK. However, in the Far East,


Cardinal Maritime’s network in China has now grown to five facilities, four years aſter the launch of its first site, in Hong Kong; the others are at Shanghai, Xaimen, Qingdao and, opened in March this year, Ningbo. The retail business in China really taken off since


has


Cardinal Maritime set up its own organisation in the country, says White. “That has really helped fund our expansion and I’d say that our Asian business is now 40% of the total – though perhaps it’s now approaching 50%.” The Chinese arm is developing a lot of intra- Asian business in its own right, he adds.


White continues: “Having our


own people on the ground in China has given us a true understanding of the business – and it has also massively helped our container purchasing power there.” Cardinal has made a point of


sending its UK-based staff over to China to understand the business, which has also been a good education for them, although all but one of its permanent staff in the country are locals. The next


stage of Cardinal


Maritime’s expansion will probably be in Vietnam and Singapore. The company’s preferred route to expansion is organic growth, says White, including opening new offices. “We’re not in the business of taking over other companies,” he explains. Buying other concerns can oſten be counter-productive; try as you might, it creates insecurity among staff and there is no guarantee of being able to keep people if they fear their jobs are under threat. All this expansion at home and


abroad has helped the company push its turnover up to £85 million but its Project 100 plan will, as the name suggests, boost it to £100m or more this year, a target that White is “absolutely confident” will be reached. “We’re engaging with all our colleagues to do that,” White explains. “For instance, we’ve got 100 blank cheques waiting to be written out for colleagues that do something innovative or perform outstanding customer service.” One employee baked a Project


100 cake; another has been very active in mentoring youngsters from local schools, for example. Another


boost to turnover


has been the setting up 12 months ago of a roadfreight arm, offering consolidation services throughout Europe to Cardinal’s base of seafreight and airfreight customers. White says: “Most of our customers have a requirement for all the different modes of transport and the road arm allows us to do that.”


Issue 3 2018 - Freight Business Journal


quickly as possible. Quality Freight however now


has a second North-west operation in Liverpool’s Alexandra Dock, which it started 12 months ago, which can handle much larger ships if required, and which has a 92,000sq ſt warehouse attached. As for Ellesmere Port, Quality


Freight has room to expand and is looking at developing new warehousing. There is room for organic growth, both new build on brown field areas and re- development of existing facilities.


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