TDG has lost a lucrative contract to store and dispatch wine on behalf of Direct Wines from its base in Derbyshire. The logistics company says it has yet to fill the warehousing space utilised by the world's largest home-delivery wine merchant, despite there being just three months left before Direct Wines brings the £6m contract in-house.
However, TDG manager Barry Blackstone says it is still in discussions with clients to make use of the site in West Hallam. TDG originally won a three-year
contract with Direct Wines in 2000, which included storage, processing and receipt of duty-suspended products, as well as dispatching wines to home-delivery carriers. The contract was later extended and its scope doubled.
This agreement should have ended in June, but Direct Wines' head of events, John Kemp, says it has been extended by six months because its new Gloucester site is not yet functional. Direct Wines is now leasing TDG's warehousing facilities and running the operation itself after TDG staff moved across to Direct Wines under TUPE regulations.
Reed Business Information Limited.©2008
