x
RECEIVE BUSINESS TIMES FREE TO YOUR DOOR EACH MONTH, COURTESY OF ROYAL MAIL.
* indicates required

Focused on development strategy

LAST year was a busy year for Dachser in the UK – sales turnover is forecast to increase by around 12.5 per cent compared with 2016, with the main areas of growth being seen in European road export services (up by 15 per cent) and also, despite the weakness of Sterling, in European road import services (up by 10 per cent).

In addition to road freight services, Dachser’s contract logistics business has continued to develop and, combined with value added services, warehousing volumes have significantly increased especially with regard to the retail and automotive sectors.

To support the continuing growth path and to ensure the necessary additional capacity, Dachser increased its number of branch locations in the UK to four at the end of last year with the addition of a new office in Bristol. The Bristol branch facilitates the increasing numbers of consignments to and from the important South West region, offering a daily export and import road groupage services throughout Europe, connecting with Dachser’s comprehensive European network via hub facilities in north-west Germany. Additional branches may also follow in future, in key areas such as the north-east of England and Scotland, which would further enhance the network and services already offered to customers.

Dachser in Europe has increased the number of its country organisations from 24 to 25 with the acquisition this year of a majority shareholding in Johnston Logistics in Ireland. Headquartered outside Dublin, Johnston Logistics is a long-established Irish 3PL provider with a stragetic partnership co-operation with Dachser going back some 10 years. Daily outbound and inbound direct road services operate between Ireland and the Dachser locations of Rochdale, Northampton, Cologne and Zevenaar (on the Dutch-German border), enabling fast and reliable transit times for customers across a wide range of industry sectors. Within Ireland itself, Johnston Logistics is highly active in the provision of contract logistics and value added services at its modern warehouse facilities in Rathcoole.

The increase in Dachser UK’s business has also seen a growth in the number of staff – 411 in the UK at the end of November – and, if the successes of this year continue into the next, staff numbers are likely to increase further. As a skilled and motivated workforce will be vital to the continued success and sustainability of the company, Dachser is looking to the future by developing training programmes for existing staff as well as for apprentices.

“Such is the confidence of the company in its training and development programme that apprentices are guaranteed permanent, full-time roles after successful completion of their training,” said Nick Lowe, UK Managing Director. “Part of our ongoing strategic planning in advance of Brexit has been the introduction of a customs apprenticeship.

“With the uncertainty for the time being as to what the customs and UK/EU border landscape will look like in the context of any post-Brexit trade and customs deal, we feel that it is important to mitigate risk and to strengthen and expand our customs expertise, leveraging further our Authorised Economic Operator ( AEO) status, in order to meet the forthcoming possible challenges. All this is also very important in consideration of other aspects of our business development strategy on which we are focused, including our continued growth in international air and sea freight services.

“The advantages of being part of an expanding global organisation means that we can be agile and responsive to our customers’ needs, including the accommodation of changes which may occur to the shape and structure of their European supply chains over the next few years. Quality in operations and customer service is at the heart of everything we do, and we are delighted that in 2017 we have successfully renewed and indeed upgraded our ISO Quality Management registration to the latest ISO 9001: 2015 standard.”

Contact Dachser on 01604 433100 or visit the website www.dachser.co.uk

Companies mentioned in this article

More great expectations articles: