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Martin Taylor, MD of Wincanton’s retail division, says the firm is delighted about the firm’s £25m capture of container haulier Hanbury Davies (HD). “We are very pleased, we have been working on this for quite a few months,” he says. “We have been working on our container logistics strategy for 18 months so to end up buying one of the top container logistics companies is very pleasing.”

Previously  the firm had only dipped its toe into the sector with an inland container base at Alconbury and a small container logistics business for shipping line OOCL in Marchwood near Southampton. However, it sees the acquisition of HD as vital to give it scale in a highly competitive marketplace; Taylor thinks the new company will be placed fourth in the sector behind Maersk, DHL and Maritime.

He says that with the container market growing at 11% year-on-year and with increasing numbers of its customers sourcing products in the Far East, the buy-out of HD was a logical move. He adds: “Any business growing at 11% per year is worth following up. We feel that with Wincanton’s operational and management ability we can make [container logistics] a success.”

Although Wincanton conducted “desk-top studies” into a number of Felixstowe-based firms, HD was the only one that it approached, he says. “It’s a very professional company, it impressed us with its business, its managers and its customers. The more we looked at them the more it became clear that it was a very good business and a very good cultural fit,” he adds.
Taylor says he is not phased by the notoriously low margins in the sector and claims that most container logistics firms enjoy a better return on sales than 3PLs.
HD’s current MD Ian Wilson will remain in charge of the division and Wincanton’s assets at Alconbury and Marchwood will be brought under his control. In addtion Taylor says the firm will looking to create another inland container base as “Alconbury is close to full”.