Plus Logistics is the new brand from Palletline that the pallet network has created to use when tendering for the sort of group distribution work that single hauliers alone can't win.
Palletline MD Kevin Buchanan has pulled no punches over the years when it comes to the current situation: namely you can charge a lot less for a pallet than you used to be able to.
Palletline is owned by its 69-member hauliers, which does give it a different set of motivations to those networks that are not - although it should be noted that The Hub is not espousing one business model over another.
Given that the Association of Pallet Networks each year publishes figures showing more and more pallets are travelling through its eight member networks than ever before (the grand total for last year is about to be revised now Pall-Ex is back in the fold), there is certainly no fall in demand. However, talking to hauliers day in day out backs up Buchanan's assertion that competition is fierce and pallet prices are under pressure. Period.
With that in mind, Palletline is trying new things already such as direct trunking (now rolled out and available to all members), and Plus Logistics is the latest bold step.
Being the original pallet network, Palletline is known and therefore pigeon holed. It's hard to go into larger customers and sell your services if all they think you are about is pallets. However, pitch the business as Plus Logistics a 69 company strong co-operative with 79 sites nationwide working in concert, and suddenly you have a viable alternative to the 3PLs.
Buchanan also makes the point about the "globalisation of customer ownership", put simply the traditional model of a local business phoning is local haulier doesn't hold true in all cases now. Many of those businesses are owned today by larger parent companies, often based abroad, that don't share this common link. They want to deal with equally big brands not individual hauliers in a pallet network. Perception is everything it seems.
A final neat point, is that where as many Palletline hauliers will work as subbies for the 3PLs for an anemic margin, if Plus Logistics wins the tender the sorts of margins its members (those same Palletline hauliers) will receive will be significantly more.
Plus Logistics carries the tag-line: The power of partnership. It's a partnership that could prove disruptive to rival pallet networks and the 3PLs alike.