On the Roadtansport.com homepage, you may notice a new feature called 'Transport Photos'. This is simply a scrolling gallery showing the best pictures from the world of road transport.

If you would like your photos to feature on the homepage, please email them to yourpics@roadtransport.com

They will also be uploaded to the new Roadtransport.com album on Picasa, where other users can enjoy them and comment on them.

You never know - send us some great snaps and they could appear in the pages of your favourite transport publication...

We have now added two more tables to our Motor Transport Top 100 rankings for 2009 - namely 'sales per employee' and profit per employee'.

These tables are exclusive to Roadtransport.com - they did not appear in print in Motor Transport. However you can download them as a PDF (along with the rest of the Top 100 data) by visiting:

• Motor Transport Top 100: 2009

Is your suspension taking a hammering? Are you bouncing up and down in the cab? The weather has certainly taken its toll on Britain's roads and it is in a 'hole' lot of trouble (some might say it's all gone to pot - Ed).  We want your pictures of the worst potholes in Britain, so get emailing to yourpics@roadtransport.com

The deeper they are, or the more inconveniently located, the better.

The best shots will appear on www.roadtransport.com

This is just a quick post to say that the Motor Transport Top 100 for 2009 is now available to view and download on Roadtransport.com.

The Top 100 ranks the top companies in road transport by turnover, return on sales, growth in turnover, and growth in profit.

You can use our built-in PDF viewer to search for a particular company or keyword, and it's easy to zoom in and out of the tables. We're also looking at ways to make the data in the Top 100 even more interactive: I'll have some more news on that in the next week.

• Motor Transport Top 100 2009

As part of Motor Transport's move into the online world, we recently ran a successful trial of a digital edition that allows readers to view an electronic version of their favourite magazine.

When asked what they thought of the digital edition, almost all readers loved it, especially one fan at TNT who preferred it to the printed version because of the latter's "hit and miss" delivery.

Guess who delivers Motor Transport? Yup, TNT... 

Commercial Motor
Power Players

1. Your drivers

Drivers are generally the second-highest operational cost for a transport business after fuel - and how they drive helps determine how quickly that business's single biggest cost (fuel) mounts up.

Well trained and, dare we say it, incentivised drivers have immense power for good: they can save you money through reduced consumption of that oh-so-costly diesel, cut back on vehicle wear-and-tear, and improve safety records.

If they're committed to proper daily walk-round checks, they're helping you maintain your compliance record. Not only that, but they can act as great ambassadors for your business: they probably have more direct contact with customers or your customers' end-users than you do, and if they convey the right impression, your relationship with your customer is strengthened. Also, drivers can have influence when they're out on the road: how carefully they drive, how well they behave, reflects well on the entire industry.

But of course, poorly trained, poorly managed drivers can cost you money through heavy right feet generating higher fuel costs and careless manoeuvring leading to damage to vehicles, and can sour your relationship with customers and Joe Public alike.

Drivers exert great influence over all transport operations in many ways, and thus we feel justified in naming them No.1 Power Player for 2009.

Commercial Motor
Power Players

2. David Potts

TITLE: Retail and Logistics Director

ORGANISATION: Tesco

David Potts has been retail and logistics director at Tesco since 2004. We're listing him not only because of Tesco's buying power and sophisticated logistics, but also because he and his employer are representative of all major clients, especially major retailers.

The likes of Potts and Tesco's transport director Alex Laffey must solve the logistics puzzle they are handed as efficiently as possible, juggling quality of service delivery with cost and environmental impact.

Tesco has pushed forward in all areas of its transport operation in the past three years. For example, it recently started the roll-out of Mercedes-Benz's Fleetboard telematics system across the entire 1,800-strong fleet; once fitted in every vehicle, Tesco estimates a saving of £5m a year in fuel costs and a reduction of its annual CO2 output by 10,000 tonnes.

It has expanded its front-haul initiative - where transport operators that have dropped off goods at its RDCs then make deliveries to stores - and is helping its suppliers to collaborate on deliveries (the most recent example being arch rivals Mars and Nestlé).

These are the great strides the biggest retail clients (remember, as well as running its own fleet, Tesco engages about 100 third-party contractors) can make and can share with wider industry. But the biggest clients clearly also have the power to damage the industry by: engaging disreputable operators; setting terribly low rates; and, frankly, by being pretty hopeless at logistics in a handful of cases.

But, for the moment, the likes of Tesco are a shining beacon of achievement - so let's cling to that positive.

The Motor Transport Awards 2010 are now open for entries - information on the judging process and how to enter can be found on the MT Awards website.

Here are a couple of dates for your diary:

• 26 March 2010: Deadline for entries

• 13 July 2010: Awards held at London's Grosvenor House

See you at the Grosvenor - and good luck!

Following the success of Cycle Zambia 2009, which raised over £100,000, Transaid has launched two new Africa Challenges for 2010 and 2011. Cycle Tanzania on 6 - 14 November 2010 will be a nine day challenge, of which five days will be cycling 420km from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro.  The route will include the beautiful coastline of the Indian Ocean, with Zanzibar just offshore, as well as nature reserves, national parks, mountains and waterfalls.

 

Motor Transport editor Steve Hobson is planning to take on this Challenge if he can give up the curries and beer and get fit enough!

For those more comfortable on two feet, rather than two wheels, Trek Ethiopia on 4 - 12 February 2011 will provide an opportunity to explore  over 60km of spectacular scenery.  Beginning in Addis Ababa, the group will hike though dramatic landscapes close to the spectacular Simien Mountains, and observe some of Africa's most famous animals and birds, before finishing in the historical town of Gonder.

The funds raised from these two new challenges will support Transaid's vital work to help people in Africa gain better access to healthcare, education and the opportunity to earn a living, through safer, cheaper and more efficient transport.

 

Participants for the challenges are asked to pay a registration fee of £299 and make a commitment to raising a minimum sponsorship of £3,000. This covers the air and most ground costs, plus will help fund future Transaid projects in Africa and across the developing world. To register go to the Transaid website or, if you can't take part yourself but want to support Hobson in his endeavours, drop an email to steve.hobson@rbi.co.uk

Commercial Motor

Power Players

3. Alistair Peoples

TITLE Chief Executive

ORGANISATION VOSA

Alastair Peoples has spent practically his entire career in enforcement of road vehicles and drivers. He joined VOSA in 2004 as operations director after 26 years at the Driver & Vehicle Testing Agency in Northern Ireland. He moved on to become strategy and performance director and deputy chief executive in April 2008.

In January 2009, he was named acting chief executive following Stephen Tetlow's departure. He was then confirmed as chief executive six months later.

And what a time to take charge of VOSA! Being criticised by the Traffic Commissioners, operators and industry stakeholders (especially over Authorised Testing Facilities), and its own staff, VOSA is under attack on all sides, while struggling/failing (delete as applicable) to operate within its means.

We need VOSA; we need it do its job well; and we need it to have the funding to do that job. Quite how Peoples can ensure these targets are achieved while firefighting on so many fronts remains to be seen.