Transport and logistics: Overcoming growing pains

Present

Lancashire’s transport and logistics supply chain has strong growth ambitions but, as in other sectors, recruitment and retention remains a challenge.

Daniel Barry, co-founder of independent consultancy Northstar Projects, believes the sector has to sell itself and what it offers in a more positive way to attract the talent it needs.

He says: “It’s a massive, massive sector and the poster campaigns you see from most companies hiring drivers, all the way through to colleges who teach it, are middle-aged white men behind a van in a yellow shirt.

“There’s nothing glamourous about that, and it’s not all there is. This is one of the last remaining sectors where you can start on the shop floor as a stock controller or a warehouse worker and you can be the CEO of that company within 10 to 15 years.

“And that’s the truth. I’ve got lots of chief executive friends that started on warehouse shop floors. That’s an incredible thing and so there needs to be a better PR campaign for transport logistics nationwide. That would be huge for us.”

Daniel points out how robust the industry is. He says: “The great thing about logistics specifically is that even in times of hardship logistics doesn’t die, logistics doesn’t stop.

“Even during Covid, the one thing that was guaranteed round the entire world was logistics and even more so at that point, because things were delivered to your door.”

Wayne Ousby, of Craven Vehicle Services, takes up the theme of attracting talent. He says: “I recognise, not just in my business but across the industry, we need to bring different perspectives in, fresh talent.”

He adds: “We need people from outside the sector and one of the ways of doing that is talking about the opportunity that it can bring for progression.

“I was fortunate enough to listen to Lancashire businessman Matthew Kibble at a recent chamber discussion and he just talked about how he started with one vehicle and trailer and developed and grew it to this huge business and then ultimately sold it for an ample sum.

“What intrigued me more was the opportunity that was presented. Literally one man and a truck created a great opportunity for him to grow.”

Craig Fisher, plant and workshop manage from Monks Contractors, agrees that more needs to be done, particularly to attract young people into the industry. He says: “There’s a lack of initiatives to get people into logistics, things like training. It is also getting the message over to school leavers and other that there is a future for them in logistics. They just don’t see that.”

Lama Fulfilment’s managing director Vernon Yerkess, adds that the industry offers a wide variety of roles. He says: “We have marketers, we have developers, we have pickers and packers, we have drivers, we have forklift truck drivers, we have flexi truck drivers, all of that. We’ve got a lot of different skills in our business.”

Mark Davies, head and legal director at specialist transport law firm Backhouse Jones, also believes there is a selling job to be done.

He says: “The transport sector is missing out massively on a lot of talent because it doesn’t market itself well to make it attractive to the best people.”

He adds: “The people who seem to get involved in the industry are the people who have it in their bones.

“They absolutely love logistics, they love transport, and that might make the industry feel a little bit closed off to those who perhaps don’t share that passion for it, but they have the talents required to run successful businesses.”

He explains there is growth in the industry, fuelled by larger companies acquiring smaller ones and increased specialisation, which in turn can lead to sale transactions.

Mark says: “In the logistics industry companies are becoming more and more specialised.

“Other larger entities then want to get into that market, they can see it’s something that would be attractive, they can see the revenue it generates. But they understand that rather than trying to have a go at it themselves the best thing to do is acquire that smaller business.

“That way you get the expertise; you also get the specialist bits of kit that are required to do that work. So, it’s often the best way of getting into the industry.”

It is no secret that driver shortages have been a challenge for haulage in recent years. But the challenge of recruitment and retention goes beyond that.

Mark says: “The driver shortage was a big issue certainly a couple of years ago, now it seems to have slackened off a bit.

“We’re now seeing a shortage of fitters and they’re absolutely key to logistics companies because you have to have your vehicles inspected every six weeks.

“That lack of fitters is going to actually impact growth because without them people can’t extend their fleet, there’s not the capacity to actually service the vehicles.”

It’s an issue he believes needs tackling with more access to funding for training.

Elizabeth Porter is managing director at Chorley based Brysdales. She says the “people element” is a challenge when it comes to the specialist storage solution company’s growth ambitions.

She says: “We’re looking at acquiring another business in relation to installers and having trained installation teams able to work on certain sites.”

Funding is another challenge. She says: “I’m looking for funding to develop an innovation centre so I can work with other businesses. Automation is a big area we are moving into.

“We’re talking to clients about some really interesting products, introducing autonomous vehicles and robotics. It is about how they can improve the workload, freeing up people to do more skilled work.

“Part of the reason for the innovation centre is that people can touch and see and feel, because it’s very difficult look at something and say, ‘This is how it can transform your business,’ if it’s just a 3D computer model.”

Simon Lawrence, director of growth and regeneration at Lancashire County Council, says there is support out there. He points to the work of Boost, Lancashire’s business growth hub and Rosebud, which has provided thousands of loans to businesses in the county.

Then there are the ‘bootcamps’, bespoke training programmes for specific skills to either get people into sectors or to strengthen the skills of those already in there.

He says: “There’s a whole range of different bootcamps, for instance around forklift truck driving. It’s a multi-pound funded programme that started life here in Lancashire.”

Simon believes the council’s economic strategy also provides an opportunity to promote the sector.

He says: “It is something that ought to feature heavily, alongside some of the other big hitting sectors whether that’s aerospace, cyber coming into Salmesbury and also nuclear.”