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Issue 1 2020 - Freight Business Journal


///UK SOUTH COAST


employers to attract the top talent. It’s a similar story for


If any operator can claim to be the leaders in freight consolidation on the South Coast, that company is Southampton-based Meachers Global Logistics. From its nine warehouses in and around the city, plus its Midlands hub in Derby, the company makes up or breaks down loads destined for the Isle of Wight, cruise ships, the Caribbean and the city of Southampton itself, explains commercial director Gary Whittle. Meachers is both freight


forwarder and logistics operator and, in the latter guise, has signed a contract to operate a consolidation centre on behalf of the city council. While edge-of-city consolidation centres are oſten talked about, and one or two other specialist facilities exist for construction materials or to feed the Heathrow airport area, the Meachers Southampton site is one of very few in the UK that is actually operational and, moreover, runs on a commercial basis without subsidy. It receives full trailer loads of freight from around the country, breaks the loads down onto smaller delivery vehicles – including electric ones – and feeds it into local universities and a major hospital. The secret of its success is


that Meachers also runs another consolidation operator, for the Isle of Wight, a short sailing away from Southampton on Red Funnel’s ferries. This operation is in fact the other way round – the site takes in dozens of smaller deliveries and consolidates them into artic trailer-loads and sends them over to the Isle of Wight. A few years ago, Meachers signed an agreement with island transport specialist Steve Porter Transport Group to open a receiving facility about two miles from Southampton docks that can receive a wide range of freight from single pallet and groupage through to full loads, 24 hours a day, as well as hazardous goods. There is also a similar arrangement


for the North and


Midlands in Derby. But while the IoW operation is


different from the City Logistics scheme, it uses the same Southampton premises and staff, Whittle explains. Other consolidation operations have struggled because they were saddled with large fixed overheads on staff and premises that were not always fully utilised. As well as cutting pollution


and costs, consolidation can have wider benefits, Whittle


brakes on Southampton car trade


As a stevedore of primarily deepsea cargo, SCH isn’t directly affected by Brexit, says director Lee Davis, but


the continued


uncertainty is weighing on the market. The two brexit deadlines that came and went in 2019 also led to peaks and troughs in traffic, particularly cars which are a major part of SCH’s business. “Up to the March deadline,


everyone was very busy. All the manufacturers were trying to export, just in case there were problems with selling cars with EU-sourced parts aſter Brexit. But then volumes fell off a cliff in April.” The effect around the October


Brexit deadline was much less pronounced, though. The continued uncertainty


has also had some effect on SCH’s workforce. The stevedore uses a mix of full-time and temporary


labour (recruited through its own in-house agency) and for the latter there appears to have been a move from East European to domestic-based workers. The tumbling Pound has made the UK a less attractive place to work for people exchanging their earnings into euros. “But that said, we don’t have a huge turnover of labour in terms of our own staff. In fact we


Uncertainty puts the


explains. It could, for example, allow organisations like the NHS increase its buying power because Meacher’s, unlike the hospital, has plenty of space to store supplies before they are used – an advantage that could be maximised if, as Whittle hops, the consolidation operation can be extended to feed other areas, such as nearby Portsmouth. Consolidation is also the


name of the game for Meacher’s other major activity, cruise liners.


It operates a dedicated


facility a long-term supply chain management contract with global operator Carnival UK, whose brands include Cunard, Princess, Seabourn and P&O Cruises, receiving, warehousing and picking and packing anything from food and other passenger consumables to ship’s parts and equipment. These are delivered not only to Southampton (a major ‘turnaround’ cruise port) but are also containerised and shipped to ports all over the world. Meachers is in fact one of


the country’s biggest export forwarders to the Caribbean, which in turn has allowed it to develop a sizeable general export freight business to that region. It operates


lose more people to retirement than anything else,” says Davis. At the time of writing, in early


December, the looming general election was also weighing on customer confidence, along with a general downturn in the global car market, he continued. “There are no new services coming through the port of Southampton at the moment and there are some projects that should have been up and running by now that seem to have been put on hold.” “They will happen, obviously,


but for the moment they’re stalled,” Davis says.


yet another consolidation service to the Caribbean for Geest Line, which has just moved its vessel calls back to Portsmouth from Dover. These carry mainly fruit inbound but return loads can be anything and everything and are oſten less than container load. The Caribbean business


involves customs clearance, of course, which is another strand of Meacher’s business. It has long run a sizeable air and sea forwarding operation and has recently augumented this by acquiring specialist airfreight forwarder Kepair. Meachers’ also handles plenty of


traffic to and from Europe through UK and European subcontractor hauliers. It is possible that, aſter Brexit, an element of customs clearance will be needed for this traffic too, and while customers are regarding the prospect “with a certain degree of nervousness”, Meachers does have customs expertise in-house and indeed has recently extended it by recruiting


The UK car industry is also


going through a fallow period with Honda announcing the end of production. While it is possible that another manufacturer will step in to fill the resulting gap in the market, that is by no means certain yet. Even the mighty Nissan plant in Sunderland appears to have paused for thought, with new models being built elsewhere. Nor are the new generation of


electric car makers rushing to set up UK plants. “So it’s a pretty turbulent time


in the car industry and I think it’s in for a pretty uncertain period,” Davis states, adding: “We do need some clarity over Brexit. There needs to be a trade deal and some clarity over what is happening. That said, it hasn’t directly affected us too much.” The cruise industry presents


a much more encouraging business and this, so far at least, appears to be Brexit-proof. SCH does baggage and store handling in Southampton, Portsmouth and Liverpool, and also sends its


two import clerks and apprentice and by adding Kepair’s staff to its team. In the short term, at least, Meachers could expect to gain if customs clearances were to be needed for EU cargo, Whittle considers. “There is a slight shortage of import cleraks in the region at the moment, but it is our business, so if there are to be more customs entries it can conly be good for us,” he explains. Finding freight and logistics


staff in Southampton is though a challenge for all operators, Whittle continues. “It’s not unique to Southampton, but there is a shortage across the business. Here, there’s under 1% unemployment, so that obviously has an impact.” Southampton is almost


unique in the UK in being both a major seaport and a big city (a distinction it shares with, arguably, Liverpool) and while that does mean a large population-base to recruit from, it also means that the logistics industry has to compete with a myriad of other potential


teams to other ports from time to time. There is a strong freight element to the business – as well as stores, a ‘turnaround’ cruise call may entail shiſting 10,000 pieces of baggage on and off the vessel, in a tightly-defined time window. And while it’s unlikely that SCH’s cruise activities will rival its freight stevedoring in the immediate future, it is very fast- growing as the British public’s appetite for this type of holiday seems insatiable. It can also be labour-intensive


and requires quick thinking. SCH has at times had to improvise to get stores onto vessels following machinery breakdowns. “Luckily, we have a


phenomenal workforce, who will work whenever and wherever we ask them to,” says Davis. High and heavy cargo on the


ro ro vessels is another important business for SCH. These include exports of UK-manufactured JCBs and farm equipment to all parts of the world, including an important


items. The latter has become


warehousing and logistics property. The city of Southampton is bounded on one side by the sea and the other by one of the country’s foremost national Parks – the New Forest – so despite the best efforts of the local authority and the Local Enterprise Partnership, space is tight. There is competition from all the other land uses such as housing and retail, despite a recent encouraging upliſt in speculative logistics developments. However, all these are arguably


‘nice problems to have’, argues Whittle. Meachers organic growth has been going well in the last few years and labour and land constraints are a sign of port and city that are doing well rather than one where there is excess capacity. It’s a similar story with road


congestion. In fact, Meacher’s trunking operation to and from Derby can avoid most of the problems by operating overnight and as for the daytime, the worst problems can at least be predicted. Roads in and around the port are always noticeably busier 2-3 days aſter an 18,000teu mega container ship has docked in the port and the cruise liners can have a similar effect in terms of cars and taxis. Work is ongoing to enhance the capacity of the motorway system, and Whittle is philosophical about that: “In order to improve things, you have to take a bit of pain.”


much more mainstream in recent years and is seen by buyers as a quality alternative to new gear. SCH used to keep mechanics on hand to get pieces of equipment started, but their services are rarely needed these days. SCH also places heavy


machinery like generators onto maafi trailers so that they can be towed on board ro ro vessels for export. There is also a trade in imported


secondhand cars, oſten bought online by private purchasers. This is all in the hands of agents who arrange customs clearance, payment of duty and any other paperwork. At one stage there was quite a brisk business in Toyota Prius cars destined for the minicab trade in the UK. In Portsmouth,


SCH’s services in sister


company Southern Maritime Services also provides vessel mooring


nearby trade in secondhand


Portsmouth Port, backing up the port’s own regular staff. It moors all the ships using the Portico general


cargo operation and some in the ferry terminal too.


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