NORTH WEST\\\


Keeping it local is a plus for Maltacourt


These are exceptionally worrying and diffi cult times for freight forwarders, but at least Runcorn- based Maltacourt has the comfort of knowing that it has the port of Liverpool on its doorstep. At a time when containers are piling up on quaysides, because retailers and wholesalers are unable to take delivery of them, it is much easier to deal with the situation when it is in your own local port rather than one a couple of hundred miles away, says commercial director Adam Williams. Finding places to put stranded


boxes and dealing with issues such as keeping reefer gensets


going is much simpler when the port is close by than trying to perform the same task over long distances. “It gives a degree of fl exibility, a degree of confi dence. And we know the infrastructure here like the back of our hands,” Williams explains. Long before the covid-19 crisis


struck, Maltacourt was a big fan of the port of Liverpool. While deepsea services through the new Liverpool2 terminal perhaps didn’t develop as quickly as some commentators would have liked, it takes time to build a reputation among shipowners and the signs are that business, either in the form of deepsea services or


enhanced feeder links, is building. The hope is that growth will


resume again once the Covid-19 crisis is fi nally over. Maltacourt operates in several


industry sectors, including pharmaceuticals – although this hasn’t led to a sudden boom in business, Williams


points out.


The government has stepped into to prevent companies from exporting certain types of pharma goods and has diverted them to the domestic market, so this has if anything reduced Maltacourt’s business in this segment. That said, it is still doing brisk


inbound business in pharma from the Far East, although some of the $10 a kilo rates being quoted by the air cargo industry are pretty eye-watering and are perhaps fi ve times what they were only a few short months ago.


Issue 3 2020 - Freight Business Journal


Small scheme could unlock


Network Rail is awaiting Treasury funding for a relatively small but important project planned for the Liverpool- Earlestown line, says Freight Transport Association multimodal policy manager, Zoe McLernon. It would remove the one remaining block to W10a container gauge between the port of Liverpool and West Coast main line, she says. In the recent Budget, the


Government also provided up to £500,000 to support Bradford in its regeneration and development plans to increase the benefi ts of Northern Powerhouse Rail connections; there are potential for freight opportunities but these aren’t clear yet, McLernon explains. The High Speed 2 passenger


line also has the potential to release capacity on the existing


Before the current COVID-19 lockdown measures were imposed, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire-based Neon Freight had been expanding, taking on additional staff to handle an increasingly diverse range of international business,


to and


from all parts of the world. Since mid-March, growth


has continued strongly, says managing director, Ian Mallon, but the business environment has inevitably became a lot more volatile. For one thing, airfreight costs


for medical goods have soared and this has now developed into “one of the largest problems that we have now.” At the time of writing, he says the master co-loaders in the Far East are now charging plus $10 per kilo and sometimes even more for medical goods, despite the recent reductions in the cost of airline fuel. But like all things, it’s probably


quite complicated and not black and white. It’s rather hard to tell where the upward pressure on rates is coming from – interestingly, it didn’t seem to be the airlines themselves, said Mallon. Meanwhile, rail services


from China to Europe have been touted as an alternative to airfreight. The trouble with these, though, is that the trains have to pass through several other countries en route and some national governments


are not above requisitioning


container loads of medical goods that they feel they have a greater need for than the intended recipient country. Carriers of all modes also


want payment for freight up front he says. Still, Neon Freight has


probably coped better with the chaos than many larger competitors Mallon considers, speaking in late March. All its staff can work from home, via the Cloud and indeed were already well used to doing so long before the crisis struck. Unlike some of its bigger brethren, Neon does not have large overheads such as offi ce rentals to off set. It is broadly based from


an intermodal point of view, handling air, sea, rail and road transport, and deals with shippers and consignees throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas. It also deals with a couple of niche countries in central Asia and northern Europe. It is a member of two global forwarding networks, which further helps diversify its business spread. At the time of writing, the


only goods that seemed to be moving in any quantity were medical supplies, although Mallon believes that sooner or later there will be revival in oil and gas work, despite the recent collapse in global energy prices. It will take time for industries


such as retail, or the holiday trade, to get their feet back on the ground when the crisis is over, although there could well be a short-term blip when travel restrictions are fi nally liſt ed. Mallon has noted that many


of his customers had already started to switch to dual- sourcing for many essential supplies, long before the current crisis, and as a fl exible forwarder, Neon has been able to facilitate this. “We’re not in the position of, say, a large forwarder handling, say, just a single large sea freight contract just to pay the bills.” Neon Freight has always had a


fl exible, multi-tasking workforce, capable of handling more than one mode of transport and across multiple trade lanes. Any slack time that it has had since the crisis has been put to good use with


additional training


to help improve resilience still further. Mallon himself


has also


just been voted regional BIFA chairman and will be helping out with the Young Forwarder Network when it resumes its activities. “So it’s all a matter of keeping


fl exible and changing with the times. In future times, we might be moving fewer consumer goods, clothing and the like, and more heat-exchangers or pumps for large projects. But I think any forwarder than can be a bit fl exible and avoid bad debts should be OK.”


Transaid_LEJOG_A4_Ad_AW.indd 1 13/02/2019 13:01


network, which would free up possibilities for additional freight paths on the West Coast main line. Meanwhile, Peel Ports has invested £400 million over the past three years to construct Liverpool2, which will expand the UK’s largest transatlantic port and create one of Europe’s most advanced container terminals, McLernon continues, adding: “Liverpool2 will off er exporters based in the North a more competitive route to international markets. The company is to invest in equipment and port infrastructure works to expand the terminal and introduce further leading-edge port technology solutions.” The Liverpool2 terminal is


one of the most operationally effi cient and modern terminals


17 Liverpool rail container potential


in Northern Europe, capable of accommodating the world’s largest container vessels and giving global shippers ‘ship-to- door’ access to major import and centres at the heart of the UK. More technology and


equipment is being added to serve larger vessels and the port’s quayside and landside throughput in October exceeded all previous fi gures on record with year on year growth of 12%. For airfreight, better


utilisation of regional airport capacity at Manchester Airport would provide more freight opportunities, says FTA. An increase in intercontinental frequencies on passenger aircraſt could drive bellyhold volumes from Manchester, as has already been seen over recent years.


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