Throughout the year, Motortransport.co.uk has bought you the biggest news in the road transport industry. Here we bring you the top 10 most read stories of 2012:
10. Stobart Group in for Autologic with £12.4m cash offer
June saw Stobart make its offer for the car transporter firm, which valued Autologic at £12.4m. The deal made Stobart the largest car transporter haulier in the UK.
9. Hermes opens Coventry and Carlisle depots
2012 was a year of expansion for Hermes and the opening of two new depots in Coventry and Carlisle took its network of hubs and depots to 24. It planned to use the new depots, which created 100 new jobs, to handle high parcel volumes over the Christmas peak.
8. UPS agrees TNT takeover bid
In March US parcel giant UPS revealed that it had entered into talks with TNT Express to acquire the European parcel firm. The merger, which is yet to be completed, is expected to close in February 2013 and will create a €45bn global logistics firm.
7. Drinks distributor Waverley TBS to be wound up
After administrators were unable to find a buyer, the wholesale drinks distributor Waverley TBS was wound up in October. It went into administration on 2 October, making 685 employees redundant. It was licenced to run over 300 vehicles out of its two DCs in Felling and Hemel Hempstead.
6. Yodel chief executive Jonathan Smith to leave
It has been a big year for Yodel and in September the firm revealed that chief executive Jonathan Smith was to step down at the end of 2012 after he led the carrier through the merger of Home Delivery Network and DHL Domestic. He worked alongside chairman Dick Stead until his successor was sought.
5. Autologic acquires Spirit Motortransport assets
Ahead of its takeover by Stobart Group, Autologic made its third asset acquisition from failed car transporter firms in three years. It acquired the car transporters, IT, office equipment and goodwill from Spirit Motortransport in May, shortly before it entered into talks with Stobart.
4. City Link boss confident in turnaround plan
City Link MD Dave Smith spoke to Motortransport.co.uk about how the parcel carrier planned to return back to profitability after parent company Rentokil posted a £24m loss for the first nine months of the year for its express parcel division. Smith plans to expand into international deliveries and shift towards carrying bigger, heavier parcels for the B2C market.
3. Employers to face action if drivers don’t complete Driver CPC
Senior traffic commissioner (TC) Beverly Bell warned operators that they could be pulled up in front of the TCs if their drivers had not completed their Driver CPC training by the September 2014 deadline. Bell stated at an RHA training conference in June that “driver training is essentially about investing in your staff”.
2. Yodel confirms depot closures
The parcel carrier entered the final phase of the merger of Home Delivery Network and DHL Domestic with the closure of 49 depots across the country, starting with the closure of its Cardiff depot in February. It aimed to operate as one network by the end of the first quarter, but revealed to Motortransport.co.uk that there had been a delay to allow software testing to take place.
1. Stobart Group in talks to buy Autologic
Topping the most-read list was Stobart’s plans to acquire Autologic. The takeover took place in August, but the most read story was published back in May when Stobart entered into talks with the car transporter firm.
