Palletline launches Plus Logistics to take on the 3PLs

Palletline has revealed Plus Logistics, a new brand that the pallet network plans to leverage to take on the 3PLs at their own game.

Launching Plus Logistics at an event at Palletline’s central hub in Birmingham last week (11 April),  MD Kevin Buchanan said that while the Palletline name had served the business well and had great brand value of its own, it was now beginning to constrain growth.

“We are repositioning the business, rather than replacing the Palletline brand, to better showcase the range of services that we can offer,” said Buchanan.

While Palletline has grown to 69 owner-members operating across 79 locations in the more than two decades of its existence, consolidation amongst clients has meant that in some cases the traditional model of local businesses using their local hauliers has become outmoded.

Buchanan also believes that pitching to large retailers and supermarkets to win multi-location work – the sort typically handled by 3PLs – will be much more successful under the unified Plus Logistics brand. The network already counts the likes of Amazon and Sainsbury’s amongst its customers.

“It won’t just be distribution however, you can expect quite a bit of warehousing and pick and pack work,” said Buchanan.

“Pitching for work as Plus Logistics will allow us to play in an area with better margins for our members. It also allows us to highlight the capability that exists within the network,  and what we can do for customers free of certain perceptions that come with being known foremost as a pallet network.

“As standalone hauliers, despite their abilities,  members aren’t always seen as credible alternatives to the 3PLs and 4PLs in the marketplace. However, under the Plus Logistics banner this will no longer be the case, allowing them to once again punch above their weight,” he said.

Longer term, Palletline PLC will be changed to Plus Logistics PLC. Palletline  will then sit as a distinct brand underneath the renamed PLC (as in effect will Plus Logistics the brand).

Plus Logistics will be used for all group tenders with immediate effect, while Palletline remains in place for all pallet network activity.