HF Owen promotes Geraint Walker to MD

Bangor-based HF Owen Transport has promoted Geraint Walker to MD and Suzi Kavanagh to finance director.

Established in 1972 by Harry Owen, HF Owen began with one second-hand HGV and one trailer carrying cattle for local agricultural merchants.

Today it services all the major freight entry and exit routes across the UK and was sold to North Wales logistics firm Delsol in 2020.

Walker began working for Delsol in 2013 as a parcel van driver, before passing his Class 2 and Class 1 licence to become a HGV driver. Most recently he passed his Transport CPC exams in 2022 and became transport manager at HF Owen.

Kavanagh also worked for HF Owen’s parent company and her promotion comes after many years working on accounts, payroll and cashflow management, which saw her promoted to group accounts manager last year.

Both cite HF Owen’s shareholder membership of the Wolverhampton-based Pallet-Track network as a key driver in the firm’s recent success.

Walker said: “We’ve made some major changes since we joined Pallet-Track in July 2023. It has moved the company into a completely new direction – North Wales customers won’t find a better pallet network in the area.

“We’re still a traditional haulier, but a big part of our work is now Pallet-Track. We’ve built that element of the business up from scratch to around 200 pallets a week with 20 customers. It’s especially pleasing considering the market where we are based – it’s a very tight market, very rural with not much industrial work.”

Commenting on his promotion, Walker added: “When I first joined HF Owen, I was its fleet manager, which was all about learning how the job works on a day-to-day basis. In 2022 I passed the CPC transport manager exam and last week I became managing director, which is a fantastic progression and one I am delighted with.

“My ambitions are to progress the company and move it forward in positive way. We’re in the midst of purchasing an all-new fleet to service the pallet network side of the business. We have an excellent team with excellent customer service and I’m really proud of all my employees.”

Kavanagh said: “As a business, we saw Pallet-Track as the way we wanted to go, and we have significantly increased our customer base. As well as our inputs growing, some of our Pallet-Track customers have become haulage customers too.

“It’s really inspiring to see how everyone here pushes for the business to do well. It has always been our ambition to grow the firm and from here it’s about growing our Pallet-Track customer base even further.

“I have always liked a challenge and have been involved in the financials of the business for several years, so it’s great to get the recognition for that and a new job title.”

HF Owen recently signed a lease on new land to increase capacity and is in the process of adding nine new vehicles to its fleet, all for Pallet-Track work.

Pallet-Track has a shareholder member network of more than 90 distribution specialists, which transport more than 3.9m pallets per year.

Stuart Godman, Pallet-Track chief executive, said: “It is fantastic to see the transformational effect being part of our network has had for HF Owen. Both Geraint and Suzi are very deserving recipients of their promotions to which we are delighted, and I look forward to seeing the business continue to thrive.”