Latest Industry news – Page 222
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News Extra: A golden future for skills?
Between now until 2017 the logistics sector will need to find half a million recruits, simply to replace those forecast to leave the sector due to retirement. Put another way, this equates to replacing a fifth of the logistics sector’s current workforce, a considerable challenge by any measure.Last month’s launch ...
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Fresh supermarket win for Wincanton
Wincanton has won a multi-million pound, five-year contract to set up and run a new DC in London for supermarket giant Morrisons.The deal will see Wincanton handle transport and warehousing for Morrisons from a 100,000sq-ft cross-dock facility to open in Feltham, west London early next year.The Feltham DC will be ...
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No easy answer to price pressures, say operators
The industry needs to re-examine its relationship with its customers if it is to end the rate squeeze, according to Bullet Express MD David McCutcheon.Responding to news last week that despite growth in the pallet sector, rates remained under acute pressure, McCutcheon said: “As a haulier of more than 22 ...
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Logistics Guild launched by SfL
Skills for Logistics (SfL) has started the roll-out of its Logistics Guild and revealed it will be free to join.The modern day guild, which MT revealed had secured funding last month (17 September), is described as “a member network run by members”.It is intended to meet the development needs of ...
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Culina goes nuts over new shared-user contract
Liverpool-based nut processor and packer Trigon Snacks has awarded a new contract for warehousing and distribution of its brands, including Planters and BigD, to Culina.Under the deal, Trigon products will be stored at Culina’s Middleton depot, near Manchester, and delivered using a shared user-model to wholesalers and retailers throughout the ...
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FFUK repeats calls for duty rethink as fuel sales plummet
Campaign group FairFuelUK (FFUK) has made a fresh call for the Chancellor to scrap January’s planned 3ppl rise in fuel duty, after figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) showed a sharp fall in fuel consumption.Sales of transport fuels fell 6.3% in the second quarter compared to ...
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Kuehne + Nagel and DHL get involved with labelling initiative
Kuehne + Nagel and DHL Tradeteam are working with Costa owner and customer Whitbread on an initiative to standardise product information, removing cost and complexity from the supply chain.The project is running in parallel with the Premier Inn-owner’s involvement with the Food Service Directors' Group (FSDG’s), which also includes Brakes, ...
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FairFuelUK backs call for fuel-tax breakdown on receipts
FairFuelUK (FFUK) has backed Robert Halfon MP’s efforts to introduce legislation to provide a breakdown of the amount of tax paid on fuel receipts.Halfon, founder of the PetrolPromise.com campaign, will make his case for this transparency in the Houses of Commons on 16 October, under the ten-minute rule motion.FFUK supported ...
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Rates squeeze can not go on, warns pallet head
The issue of significant downward rate-pressure remains the elephant in the room despite continued volume growth in the pallet sector, according to network heads.Speaking after the Association of Pallet Networks revealed its members had experienced volume growth of more than 4% in the first half of the year (compared to ...
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Wincanton says Lorry Road User Charge too low
Wincanton has slammed the government’s forthcoming Lorry Road User Charge (LRUC) for not doing enough to level the playing field between UK and foreign operators.In a blog on its website the largest UK-owned operator said that the widely reported charge of £10 per day for foreign lorries to run on ...
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RHA welcomes new driver standards framework
The RHA has said the publication of a new framework document defining the skills, knowledge and understanding required by new truck drivers, by the DSA is a welcome step in formalising the profession and improving its image.Jack Semple, director of policy at the RHA, said: “As we have discussed with ...
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RHA says customers must start paying realistic backhaul rates
RHA director of policy Jack Semple has called on haulage customers to take more responsibility for ensuring the rates they pay are commercially sustainable.Responding to recent comments by Matthew Kibble Transport in sister publication Commercial Motor (20 September) about backhaul being offered rates as low as £1.10 a mile, Semple ...
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Wincanton expands B&Q contract
Wincanton has secured a multi-million pound extension on its contract with B&Q, taking on management of an additional warehouse.The firm will manage B&Q’s one million ft² showroom fulfilment centre in Burton-on-Trent, which provides warehousing for the retailer’s bathroom, bedroom and kitchen range. Under this new agreement, it is estimated that ...
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News Extra: Cabotage regs clarified by Nolan ruling
The recent case involving Irish haulier Nolan Transport is set to lay down how the regulations regarding cabotage and combined transport operations will be interpreted in the UK in future, writes Chris Hallsworth.Upper tribunal judges ruled in July that where such operations are carried out, the onus is now clearly ...
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Operators warned not to sell longer semi-trailer allocation
Operators will be kicked off the 10-year trial of longer semi-trailers (LST) if they attempt to sell their allocation, the DfT has warned after at least one participant tried just that.In a letter sent to trial participants this summer seen by MT.co.uk, former transport minister Mike Penning said he was ...
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FairFuelUK to heap pressure on government with new research
FairFuelUK (FFUK) is preparing it’s strongest argument yet as to why the government should stop raising fuel duty and actually lower it instead.An economic modelling study, funded by FFUK backer RHA, has been carried out by the National Institute of Economics and Social Research, and is predicted to reveal further ...
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DfT confirms ministerial areas of responsibility
The DfT has confirmed its ministerial team’s areas of responsibility, following the Cabinet reshuffle at the start of the month.The reshuffle on 4 September saw Patrick McLoughlin replace Justine Greening in the department’s top role as transport secretary.The responsibilities of Stephen Hammond, the Conservative MP for Wimbledon who replaced Mike ...
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News Extra: after the Olympics gold rush…
Early reports show London 2012 didn’t result in the hoped-for volume growth for logisticsAfter the expectation, worry and planning, London 2012 has passed into history. Confounding expectations, the organisers delivered and the UK got behind the competition with uncharacteristic fervour. But while we can all take pride from the record ...
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News Extra: who owns UK road transport and logistics?
UK logistics is pretty much a private, and foreign, affair. The operators sitting at the top of the MT Top 100 are German, Swiss, Dutch , French and American. Looking at UK-based firms, very few sit on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).The number of UK logistics firms turning to the ...
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OFT calls for information on UK petrol and diesel market
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has today (5 September) issued a call for information on the UK petrol and diesel sector, in order to identify whether there are competition problems it can investigate.“We are keenly aware of continuing widespread concern about the pump price of petrol and diesel ...