Logistics giant Wincanton is buying home delivery specialist The Lane Group, a well known medium sized company that has a strong home delivery service, working for customers such as Homebase, Magnet, Electrolux and Bosch.

The move reflects the strong growth in home deliver and more customers order goods through the internet. The recent launch of Tesco's non-food home delivery service shows the potential in this market. The Lane Group is well know for its high service levels, as show by it winning a Motor Transport Award last year. According to Wincanton "this is a sector that is ripe for improvement as the demands on home delivery operations become increasingly complex and smaller companies find it difficult to respond." The reality is that the Lane Group can probably show Wincanton how to do home delivery.

The company has, however, struggled to show consistently strong profits and it has for long been tipped as a take-over target. Rebecca Jenkins, managing director is very well known and respected in the industry.

Bridgnorth haulier Clive Cowern Transport has just taken delivery of its latest truck - a brand new Renault Premium 440 with a Euro 3 engine. Cowern has another three Renaults due for delivery next year - two Midlums and a rigid 26-tonne Premium.
The firm has switched its allegiance from Scania, and more recently MAN, blaming disappointing fuel returns.

Overseas hauliers may have to pay a daily charge to use UK roads. Transport minister Stephen Ladyman has agreed with the RHA and FTA that it will examine whether a "vignette" system could be implemented in a short time scale.
The vignette used to be called the Brit disc by the Conservatives who proposed it during the fuel dispute. It means overseas hauliers having to pay a daily or weekly charge to use our roads. The idea was originally turned down in favour of the complex and expensive Lorry Road User Charge that collapsed 18 months ago. For full details see this week's Motor Transport.

Can Innovate Logistics do no wrong? It has just agreed a three-year contract to undertake all of Bernard Matthews' frozen storage and distribution - and is already responsible for storage of the whole range of Bernard Matthews products.
MD Pete Osborne has certainly navigated Innovate through an eventful past year, during which he has bought and (so far) successfully integrated Phil Hanley, Grampian Country Transport and, last month, Corby Chilled Distribution. Meanwhile, Icelandic firm Eimskip took a majority stake in the Innovate Group - looks like they may have got value for money.

US trucking firms are bitterly complaining about the price of diesel, but their apparent reluctance to actually help themselves means they aren't going to get any sympathy from me.
According to the Energy Information Administration the average price of diesel in the US is $2.55 (£1.40) a gallon . While this might seem like a bargain to us in rip-off Britain, it has come as a major shock to a country which up until a few years ago was paying a little over a dollar (60p) for a gallon. With this in mind you would think that American operators would do their best to become as fuel efficient as possible, but I certainly didn't see any evidence of this on a recent trip to the US.

European haulier Vos Logistics hates AdBlue so much that it is prepared to sacrifice colossal savings in order to avoid using the urea solution.
When I spoke to company president Wim Vos earlier today he explained that his company could save “hundreds of thousands of Euros” on the German road tolling system if it only ran Euro 5 trucks. But since Scania, its preferred vehicle supplier requires AdBlue at Euro 5, he is buying its Euro 4 EGR trucks instead. “The potential savings are not enough to make us change our minds on AdBlue” says Vos, who has just placed an order for 1,000 Euro 4 Scania tractors. And Vos speaks with experience too, having seven SCR-equipped Scanias on its 3,000-strong fleet.
This is one of several anti-SCR stories I’ve heard from operators over the past few weeks. Why is it that operators using EGR-equipped trucks are more vocal than those using SCR? Is it that the latter group don’t have anything to shout about? Is a winner beginning to emerge from the great EGR v SCR debate?
Maybe you’ve got some positive AdBlue experience. If so, I would love to hear about it.

One thousand Euro 4 Scania R-Series tractors will join the Dutch operator's fleet in 2007.

Mercedes-Benz has super-sized its Sprinter, giving the largest 3.5-tonner in the range a whopping great 17cu m load volume. But having just had one on test at Motor Transport I can’t help but wonder how good an idea this actually is.

It looks like biodiesel is going to be the hot topic for 2007, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that a large number of prominent UK hauliers make the switch later in the year.
I’m basing this belief on a telephone conversation I’ve just had with Greenergy – the company that will be supplying a 50% blend of biodiesel to the Tesco truck fleet. A spokeswoman told me their phones haven’t stopped ringing since the announcement that Tesco will run 2,000 trucks on biodiesel from this month.
She said: “A lot of UK fleets were sitting on the fence, wondering if there was a risk associated with it. But the Tesco news must have convinced a lot of people that the fuel is alright.”
But for the time being, the number of companies who move over to biodiesel are going to be limited by supply. Greenergy, which is part-owned by Tesco, has only just put its UK plant into full production and all initial production is destined solely for its number one customer. However it is confident that this will change in a few months when its supply and distribution networks are up to speed.

Dent Wizard has developed mobile repair and spray outfits to cut cost and downtime on cosmetic work for commercial vehicles.
In an industry where operators rarely allocate time for commercial vehicles to be repaired, if it doesn’t hamper its road worthiness, it could be the answer to a more cost effective process saving money when vans and trucks get de-fleeted.

Eddie Stobart's involvement in motor sport is not just an ego trip. It is using the Autosport International show, currently on at the NEC, as a recruiting aid.
Its large stand includes a shiny new Actros tractor, a selection of its supported rally cars and race bikes, and the full merchandising shop. In one prominent corner of the stand was a recruiting section, complete with large poster displaying details of the companies pay and allowance rates.

British operators' love affair with 4.5m and higher trailers is creating a surplus on the used market, while demand across mainland Europe for sub-4.2m stock is creating a sellers' market.

Operators from the former Eastern Bloc countries are snapping up used Schmitz Cargobull trailers forcing up premiums above what domestic operators would expect to pay for the traditional European spec trailers, says managing director Derek Wright of A1 Schmitz Cargobull’s UK used trailer centre.

When it comes to transport, Gordon Brown can't make up his mind if he for protecting the enviroment or not. Take bio diesel for example. Many operators are interested in using this and in Germany some operators using 100% bio diesel. It the UK it has a reduced tax level but that still only takes it to same price or more than normal diesel. That is hardly an incentive to use it particularly as vehicles have to be serviced more often.

But the Government has done something to encourage operators to move to Euro 5 by renewing the Reduced Pollution Certificates that reduces VED for trucks that meeting Euro 5 standards. This will come into force from October 2007. This is sensible as until that time it is virtually impossible to ensure that SCR vehicles are actually using Ad Blue.

This will hit MAN as it is not going to have its Euro 5 EGR vehicle available until 2009. Scania will launch its Euro 5 EGR at the RAI show in the autumn and they should be available afterwards.

Daf in particular has been strongly pressing for incentives to move to Euro 5. The question is whether the incentives are large enough for operators to pay the extra for Euro 5. An operator may be able to say £500 a year on VED by moving to Euro 5 but that is reduced by the higher cost of a Euro 5 vehicle.

MAN does have SCR Euro 5 trucks in Germany but will be very reluctant to sell them in the UK as it has strongly supported EGR.
MAN will be hoping to persuade operators to buy Euro 4 vehicles with EGR.

The other question is whether customers will request the most environmentally friendly vehicles. Companies now want to be seen to be green and that could include their hauliers as well.

It is clearly good news that Government will triple the amount spend on targeted enforcement in the south east. But frankly the best thing the Chancellor could have done is keeping fuel duty the same for at least the next year and ideally reducing it down to continental European levels.

There was a very disturbing letter in The Daily Telegraph last Saturday. The author wrote:" If a driver wants to comply with the maximum working hours, he will be forced to break the speed limit to complete a day's work. If he complies with all the speed limits, he will inevitable exceed his maximum driving hours.
Even the most carefully planned day's work can thrown into chaos through no fault of the driver, for such reasons as traffic jams or delays in loading. The only solution is to have two full-time drivers per lorry, at considerable extra cost to us the consumers. Another stealth tax?"
This was from an Anthony Marlow of Little Bookham, Surrey.
How can someone say that if a driver complies with speed limits, he will inevitably exceed his maximum driving hours? While I know that there has been an increasing amount of legislation about working time, that is no excuse for breaking the law. Mr Marlow should be ashamed of himself for trying to excuse running illegally. Surely the great majority of operators realise this.

Hino had a huge presence at the CV Show again, this time with no less than 27 trucks and a brand new 7.5 tonner.
While it has certainly done enough to grab some all-important headlines and fill plenty of column inches in the commercial vehicle press, I was wondering whether it has also done enough to excite truck buyers. So, I spent an hour or so lingering near its massive stand in Hall 5, grabbing poor unsuspecting operators as they climbed out of its tipper cab, and asking then for their thoughts.
Continued below....

Heading along the M25 the other day I saw what seems to encapsulate the confusing world of container transport for me.
You'd think it would be simple - firm A picks up box and takes to destination Y. And if firm A happens to be owned by shipping line M then you might expect that most of the time firm A carries shipping line M's box.

The Department for Transport has formally announced that it will not be giving Reduced Pollution Certificates to any Euro-5 truck which isn't equipped with OnBoard Diagnostics (OBD) and Torque Control, according to Freight Transport Association sources.

What is it like at the Motor Transport Awards – the Oscars of the industry?
Will Shiers, technical editor, took our video camera to capture some of the excitement and enthusiasm of the night in this unofficial look at the Awards.

You can also see the proper video of the winners collecting their awards.

You can also see the start of the event

As we have just had the MT Awards, it is worth looking at how to win. Last week, there were just 14 winners. To get onto that list may sound difficult but it is possible. And just entering can help your business.

What you need to do is to decide what you want to achieve during the year. Then, identify what needs to be done, and then do it. You should also decide in advance how you are going to measure success and ensure that it is a real assessment of what has been achieved rather than a subjective view.

If you can’t think of anything that you have achieved during the year, then you may well be heading for trouble.

Often the best entries are those that keep it simple and have clear independent evidence of success.

Small companies stand just as much of a chance of winning than large companies
Why do some companies fail to win? The obvious reason is that a rival was better. Sometimes it is because the project they have entered is widely used. Many people this year said they introduced double deck trailers for example.

Entrants also need to explain why they deserve an Award.
You can see the full information on the Awards at our dedicated web site. And if you did not win or enter this year, there is always 2008.

Motor Transport has just held a round-table debate. Sponsored by Fraikin, to tackle the issue of how to be more efficient. As the fuel price rises, the best way save money is to reduce the mileage of your vehicles. There are, however, many obstacles to achieving that. These include road congestion, congestion at distribution centres and customer’s premises, night time lorry bans and delivery restrictions and night time driving time under the working time directive. And it is not easy to find a return load waiting for you when a vehicle tips.
There are, however, two things that the industry itself can do to improve efficiency. One is for the major supermarkets and retailers to share distribution so a lorry could collect and deliver goods for both Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury. A report chaired by the boss of ASDA urging this was due to be published earlier this year was due to propose this. Unfortunately the final report virtually ignored it.The second thing that could be done to improve efficiency is to use freight exchanges so that the most suitable vehicle gets the load. The key problem to overcome with this is how to stop it becoming just another way to beat up hauliers on price. But major companies such as DHL are now introducing their own internal freight exchanges. Freight exchanges could produce improvements in efficiency similar to that achieved by pallet networks and double-deck trailers. A full article on the debate will be published soon.

Motor Transport has just held a round-table debate. Sponsored by Fraikin, to tackle the issue of how to be more efficient. As the fuel price rises, the best way save money is to reduce the mileage of your vehicles. There are, however, many obstacles to achieving that. These include road congestion, congestion at distribution centres and customer’s premises, night time lorry bans and delivery restrictions and night time driving time under the working time directive. And it is not easy to find a return load waiting for you when a vehicle tips.
There are, however, two things that the industry itself can do to improve efficiency. One is for the major supermarkets and retailers to share distribution so a lorry could collect and deliver goods for both Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury. A report chaired by the boss of ASDA urging this was due to be published earlier this year was due to propose this. Unfortunately the final report virtually ignored it.The second thing that could be done to improve efficiency is to use freight exchanges so that the most suitable vehicle gets the load. The key problem to overcome with this is how to stop it becoming just another way to beat up hauliers on price. But major companies such as DHL are now introducing their own internal freight exchanges. Freight exchanges could produce improvements in efficiency similar to that achieved by pallet networks and double-deck trailers. A full article on the debate will be published soon.

Trucks operators using vehicles fitted with digital tachograph could be at a competitive disadvantage to those still using analogue. That is the conclusion of a discussion document produced for MIDT, the organisation set up to monitor the introduction of the digital tachograph.
MIDT is run by the Swedish Road Administration and funded by the European Commission.
It commissioned a report on the problems and the results can be downloaded from the MIDT web site. It goes into considerable detail about the issues and, how time is recorded and what could be going wrong.
It is not exactly thrilling reading but if you want to get to really understand the problems, it is the best place to go.
It conclusions were that it is not the digital tachograph that is at fault but the analogue system. These apparently are not accurate.

Is it possible to drive a truck into London and not be fined? I have my doubts. If you drive an artic, it is virtually impossible not to stop within the yellow boxes that are designed to prevent gridlock.
If you have a long rig, you can’t just wait for the car in front to leave enough room for you to drive across and be clear of the yellow lines. If you did wait that long, lots of cars would shoot in front of you and you would be stuck.
So what it means is that trucks have to break the law unless they wait for hours until they can legally get across. With many junctions having cameras enforcing the yellow box, a fine is virtually inevitable. Buses have a similar problem but doubt that many of them get fined.
Then there is the parking/unloading problem with traffic wardens ready to pounce virtually before you stop. There is the night time lorry ban to comply with and the London congestion charge (as well as lots of congestion) and some cyclists weaving in an out of the traffic and ignoring traffic lights. And in the unlikely event of moving above 30 mph there are always the speed cameras waiting to add another fine to the list. Next you can also add the Low Emission Zone regulations.
It is also, not surprisingly difficult to find drivers in London and the cost of a depot within the M25 is huge.
Maybe operators should introduce a London charge to pay for all these fines and extra costs. Or maybe it will become so difficult that operators will not deliver into the capital. That might make Ken take notice.

Those of you who do not regularly read The Cumberland News would have missed a fascinating report about Andrew Tinkler, who now runs Eddie Stobart with William Stobart.
Tinkler, it reports, told a recent Institute of Directors Dinner that three years ago the logistics company was losing £10 million a year and close to collapse after William and Eddie fell out.
Williams and Andrew persuaded the banks that they could rescue the business. Mr Tinkler is reported as saying that the main reason for it staying out of receivership was its cult following.
“The banks held back because they did not want to be the ones who brought Eddie Stobart down,” the paper reports.

After having been awake since 4.30 in the morning with worry and anticipation it was time to head down the road from my Luton Travel Lodge to Wincanton’s depot. This is the setting for my driver training.
Wincanton have been very kind and offered to put me through their in-house driver training with Lead Driver Trainer Alan Cracknell (see pic below).

The second day was all about cementing the skills I had learned the previous day and gaining some new ones.

With no big introduction needed this time we hit the road just after 8am. The initial couple of hours went pretty well; I was confident coming up to roundabouts and selecting the right speed.

But I was of course still learning – which meant that something had to happen. I mounted my first kerb in spectacular fashion after attempting a right turn at a large inner-city roundabout during rush hour. The gear was correct and so was the initial positioning – but I should have been that little bit more forceful. My trainer Alan, who is very calm and objective after mistakes like that, told me that I should have positioned myself that little bit wider after pulling out into the roundabout – no big deal, just practice.

The test is booked for Friday morning – which means that I’ve got to crack on and iron out any mistakes.

The usual truck was not available in the morning as it was being used by one of the other drivers on his test. This was no problem though as the truck was almost identical (same make and model – 220hp Scania P-series).

The morning session included some of the other aspects which will be covered in the test. This included a controlled stop and the gear-change exercise. The controlled stop is good fun as it consists of driving up to a set of cones at 20mph and then dumping the clutch and slamming on the brakes. The aim is to stop the vehicle in a straight line and without the truck shooting past the cones. After having successfully completed it once I had another couple of goes to make sure it sticks – and because it’s good fun (as long as there is no-one in front of the truck).

I know I can do it – now I just have to get on with it.

The final day of practise was even more useful than I had anticipated. The morning session started with another gear change exercise. After that we decided to grab a quick coffee before starting a mock test.

Alan took me around one of the test routes to get an idea of where the examiners will try and catch me out. Normal driving was fine, though I got caught out once or twice with some situations which I hadn’t encountered before. One of these was stationary traffic after a right turn, which I could have seen before driving through the green light and around the bend. Though I saw it, it was too late, which meant I was sat on the pedestrian crossing. Remember: Constant forward planning.

Look – no ‘L’ plates!

The test is over and the only words I can think of are joy and relief.

This morning was a slightly earlier start than normal, as we wanted to get some practise in before the test at 10.30am.
First and foremost, the vehicle was checked over as usual……….and then again. Alan said the last thing you want to happen is the truck to fail before the test. He even brought along some spare brake lights just in case.

I am baffled by the reverse take-over of the Eddie Stobart Group by the Westbury Property fund. According to a statement, the two companies see “huge commercial and environmental benefits of combining road transport and storage with rail freight and waterbourne transport systems, thereby offering customers a truly integrated transport and logistics solution.”
This is nonsense. Combining road, rail and ports is a nightmare. It is still very difficult to make a profit in the capital intensive world of rail freight. And adding a port development site in Runcorn just adds to the mess. It is hardly an integrated operation.
Customers want their goods moved in the most efficient way possible. It often makes sense to own trucks but not rail freight and ports.
Williams Stobart says that the future of industrial logistics is about linking roads with rail, ports and waterways and in time, air freight”.
It would do much better if it spent less time on ports and rail and more time on extending its excellent network into Europe, perhaps with a partner, and buying warehouse, and rail freight services when needed.
There is a serious lack of focus here on what the company is really about.

Fresh from our Lincolnshire correspondent comes the news that Christian Salvesen is due to be hauled in front of the beak for alleged environmental problems at one of its sites.

Here is an amazing story. The European Parliament has voted in favour of allowing the new longer and heavier trucks (or Megatrucks as the EU calls them). The voting in the European Parliament was heavily in favour- the motion was carried by 577 votes to to 53.

Unfortunately it is not all good news. The 60 tonners will only be allowed on certain routes with each country having to give approval. Our own Government is waiting for a report on the topic and might announce this autumn whether longer and heavier trucks will be allowed. The chances are reasonable for longer trucks but both the political parties are against heavier vehicles.
Still it is good to hear that the European Parliament appreciates the importance of these vehicles in reducing congestion and pollution. It is a pity that the Parliament does not count for much. Transport Commissioner Barrot told MPs that the Commission (ie the civil service) would take a decision only after “a thorough exchange of views”

Reaction to the vote

I bet you did not know that Saturday is "In Town Without My Car Day". It sounds like a joke but it is real and supported by our very own Department for Transport.

But actually it sounds great. If only there was a day when all cars stopped and left the roads to essential users such as commercial vehicles.

OK that will not happen, but it is worth remembering that, unlike cars, lorries and trucks are essential users of the roads. Other essential users, such as buses get special privileges, such as being able to use dedicated bus lanes. Why is it that the essential trucks are usually banned from bus lanes even though the bus lanes are often empty? As essential users, we should get priority and could perhaps get the same fuel rebate as bus operators.

Of course it is the cars that cause all the congestion - there are around 420,000 trucks compared with 28 million cars on the roads. It is the cars that stop us from delivering on time.
So we should demand a no car day to be held every week to help essential road users to deliver the goods.

So ailing logistics company Christian Salvesen has been taken over by French giant Norbert Norbert Dentressangle which has paid £254 million for it. The move is hardly surprising. Earlier this year Motor Transport broke the story that Norbert was looking for acquisitions and that it had its eye on Eddie Stobart.
But Stobart was this summer involved in a reverse take-over by Property group Westbury which purchased Stobart for £138m.
In a recent leader in Motor Transport, I said that Christian Salvesen should be sold. It never seemed to be sure whether it was a transport company or a logistics company. It did not have the logistics credentials of DHL or Wincanton, but neither the transport skills of Stobart, James Irlam and many others.
Christian Salvensen had its roots in shipping, and much of its truck operation was came when it purchased automotive specialist Swift about a decade ago. Recently it seemed to have one profit warning after another.
Norbert is s a very strong transport operator that has moved heavily and successfully into logistics and into Eastern Europe.
Despite the hard work of the current management in trying to turn it around, things seemed to get worse and worse..
Norbert is still a family firm – you can see members of the family in the head office in Saint-Vallier France, south of Lyon. The move makes it a substantial business both n France, the UK and in Eastern Europe.
The question now is what it will do with Salvesen? They must bring confidence and energy to the job and persuade the staff and the customers that it has a future. And it will have to work how a mixture of transport and logistics can be turned into a successful business.

Christian Salvesen history

We'll tell you what this is later in the entry...

First of all, brace yourself for some more news from the Chancellor of the Exchequer - and soon: while the next pre-Budget report (or mini-Budget) is most likely to be on October 17th, my City friends think it's likely that the Prime Minister will call a snap election before then. In that case, we can expect the pre-Budget report on October 10th - next Wednesday, in other words. I suppose the Budget might be good to hauliers in a effort to gain their votes - but remember that the 'Brit disc' proposals in Gordon Brown's pre-Budget report of 2000 (before the 2001 election) never happened...