All posts by Kim Taylor

Cranleigh Freight Services Ltd drives to success at Pall-Ex Awards

News

The palletised haulage network presented Cranleigh Freight Services Ltd, with Highest KPI Performer Category A award at a prestigious ceremony in the East Midlands, which brought together over 90 haulage firms from across the UK.

Held at De Vere East Midlands Conference Centre, the awards event was hosted by comedian Paddy McGuinness, who shares his hometown of Bolton with Pall-Ex founder Hilary Devey CBE.

The event marked the end of a successful year for Pall-Ex, which saw the firm win a number of new contracts, increase pallet volume, launch new IT software to improve member and user experience and become the first logistics company to be awarded the ISO 45001:2018 in occupational health and safety management.

Cranleigh Freight Services was selected as a winner by Pall-Ex due to its growth, compliance, quality distribution and communication over the last 12 months.

Kevin Buchanan, Group managing director at Pall-Ex, comments: “We’re proud to support SMEs around the country and to be able to help them grow through the Pall-Ex network. We value the contribution of every member and are proud of their hard work over the last 12 months, which has enabled Pall-Ex to secure its reputation as the leading pallet network in the UK.

“Cranleigh Freight Services is well-deserving of the Highest KPI Performer Category A and we are delighted to celebrate their commitment to providing exceptional service and maintaining the high standards our network is known for. The team has gone the extra mile to help us excel and we hope that this celebration will motivate the entire network for the year ahead.

“Our network shows that by working together, we can win together and it enables our customers to benefit from a cost-effective, efficient and reliable service across the UK and Europe. We are looking forward to a successful 2019 and strengthening our service over the next 12 months.”

Becky Young, Group Sales & Marketing Manager at Cranleigh Freight Services Ltd comments: “to win the Highest KPI performer is a fantastic achievement for the whole UK team and highlights their commitment & dedication to high standards throughout the year.

Pall-Ex Group was formed by renowned entrepreneur Hilary Devey CBE in 1996 and is an award-winning network of quality hauliers, which collaborate to deliver leading palletised freight distribution services throughout the UK, Europe and beyond. With its headquarters and central UK hub located right at the heart of the Midlands, Pall-Ex has grown phenomenally since its inception in 1996.

Pall-Ex 2017 Winners!

Blog

We were proud to be crowned Pall-Ex ‘Depot of the Year’ at this years prestigious awards ceremony. David Wells, Joint Managing Director of CFS said “We are absolutely delighted to win the Pall-Ex Depot of the Year award, made all the more special as it is voted for by our fellow member depots. It is also testament to our UK teams’ hard work & dedication to service delivery to both our clients and network member depots”.

Depot of the Year - CFS2

Our very own Lissa Gallimore, CFS UK Manager, won the Pall-Ex ‘STAR’ Award. This is a brand new award to recognise individual outstanding performers within the network. Lissa said “I am absolutely thrilled to have won the Pall-Ex STAR award and I would like to thank all the network members for voting and also a huge thank you to my UK team”

Pallex Awards 3

Kevin Buchanan, Group managing director at Pall-Ex, commented: “ The winners of the Pall-Ex awards were selected for their service quality, compliance, communication and partnership with Pall-Ex. The awards are a chance to celebrate those within our network whom have gone the extra mile to provide exceptional service to our customers and to the network. We are therefore delighted to present CFS with ‘Depot of the Year’ and Lissa, with the Pall-Ex STAR award, which is recognition of their high standards and achievements in 2017.

£206m set aside for rail freight improvements

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Network Rail has earmarked £206 million for strategic rail freight network developments between next year and 2019.

Set out in its ‘Strategic Business Plan 2014-19’, the body said that its aim is to encourage UK freight firms to use road transport less and rail freight more.

Indeed, it has set itself a target of removing more than one million lorry journeys from the country’s roads each year, while increasing rail freight tonnage by 22 per cent.

Network Rail said that the funds will be used to identify and correct potential areas of improvement in England and Wales. It also feels that strategic plan will help to stimulate economic growth and provide significant environmental benefits.

The body also revealed that since privatisation, the rail freight sector has grown by 62 per cent.

The announcement comes in the same week that Network Rail unveiled plans to provide 170,000 extra seats to commuters on normal trains in the same timescale.

Continued growth in European new car sales

European

A small-scale increase in sales was recorded among new car buyers, the latest figures from JATO Dynamics have shown.

According to the organisation’s latest market analysis data, May witnessed an annual increase in sales volumes of just 0.8 per cent in comparison to the same month in 2014, although the segment’s year-to-date results continued to be seven per cent higher.

The most popular models purchased across Europe during the month were shown to be the Volkswagen Golf, Ford Fiesta and Renault Clio.

The top European new car manufacturer in May was Volkswagen, followed by Ford and Opel/Vauxhall.

Vice president of data at JATO Dynamics Brian Walters commented “The number of trading days can affect monthly volumes, disguising underlying trends.

“The fact that growth continued despite this, along with the strong year-to-date growth gives us reason to be confident about the health of the car market in Europe.”

£1.2bn spent on repairing damage caused by potholes

News

UK freight drivers have been warned to expect more potholes in the UK’s roads due to recent adverse weather conditions.

According to the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), there are more than two million potholes in British roads and routes are likely to deteriorate further in the next few weeks as the country is battered by rain, ice and snow.

The risk to commercial vehicle operators is potentially massive, with Halfords Autocentres estimating that the cost of repairing vehicles reached £1.2 billion last year.

In excess of 8.9 million vehicles sustained steering or suspension damage, while FleetNews.co.uk reports that the number of potholes reported to local authorities rose by 18 per cent.

Rory Carlin, Halford Autocentres’ director of marketing, said: “The surface of our roads is deteriorating to the point where drivers are now likely to encounter a potentially-damaging pothole during most journeys.”

The average bill for pothole-related repairs is £140, but the Freight Transport Association estimates the cost of taking a vehicle off the road is around £3,000.