Kinaxia Logistics has made its eleventh haulier purchase, snapping up Fresh Freight Group (FFG) in Gateshead.

The buy is Kinaxia’s first in the North East and comes after it added Manchester-based AKW Group to its ranks last month.

Peter Fields, director at Kinaxia Logistics, said: “It should come as no surprise to the market that Kinaxia has broadened its reach to include the North East.

“The group strategy remains to acquire successful, professionally operated, service-focused, family-owned companies and our purchase of the FFG is further evidence of this.”

Dominic Quigley, MD Fresh Freight, said: “Joining the Kinaxia group was a natural decision for FFG, the Kinaxia strategy is one that we can truly identify with and one that has been long awaited in the industry.

“We are proud to be aligned with the existing members of the Kinaxia group and look forward to a fruitful sustainable future, with access to additional services providing further opportunities for growth, whilst maintaining the values and strengths of the business that we have grown over the last 40 years.”

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Kinaxia Logistics said that as with all previous acquisitions, all management and staff at the business will be retained.

Originally founded by Eamon Quigley, Fresh Freight started by delivering flowers from Holland to the UK. Today it provides services including temperature controlled, general transport, pallet network, warehousing and freight forwarding.

FFG now employs around 135 staff, has a fleet of 75 vehicles, has an O-licence authorisation for up to 100 trailers, and operates 100,000ft2 of warehousing.

It is a shareholder member of the Pallet-Track network.

FFG’s last published full accounts recorded annual turnover of £9.4m in the year to 31 May 2016 and a pre-tax profit of £85,000.

Pallet networks

Fields said: “So far, our purchases have been met with positivity from the pallet networks who fully understand the group’s strategic intent. FFG are the first Pallet-Track member to join the group and we are excited to work with them moving forward, as we have only heard good things about their network.

“Being a member of a pallet network is not a pre-requisite of the businesses we acquire but is more a characteristic of their operational astuteness. It is, and always has been, the strategic intent of Kinaxia for its companies to remain within the network that the acquired business originally aligned themselves to, and our focus remains the provision of high-quality service as a member of whichever pallet network we work with.”

His comments come after Palletline moved to limit the number of Kinaxia Logistics owned members in its network over concerns in regards their influence.

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