'But I have told my management that if I ever suggest a move into bulk liquids or tanker work, they have permission to take me outside and shoot me.’

These words are spoken by a man who knows about the transport and logistics business, having spent 25 years in and around the container transport and logistics industry, latterly in senior posts with Hutchison Ports (UK) and Securicor/DHL.

Williams bought the company from Hutchison. He says: ‘When I acquired the company it was severely undernourished. Securicor Logistics had neglected fundamental issues such as driver relations and whole life fleet costs. We had a strong brand but we had to focus inwardly. We set about changing the “driver culture”, slashing overheads and raising standards,’ he says.

‘We set out our stall, which included a range of performance related benefits. The drivers especially, had to know that the people behind them would do what they said. We were very hands-on but it gave them confidence that their company was behind them when facing the customers.’

In 2001 Maritime’s fleet numbered around 130, but it struggled to retain drivers and relied heavily on agency staff. ‘We had to get into the minds of the drivers. They wanted high-powered trucks with big cabs so that is what we bought. We increased holiday allowance, introduced a pension scheme, a sickness and life insurance scheme, which covers both job and non-job related illnesses. We introduced a drivers’ newsletter and regular face-to-face briefings at the depots. We tell them honestly how the business is doing and listen to their concerns,’ Williams says.

‘Each depot has a driver’s representative; we do not have any union involvement, the drivers do not want it. Each depot has a driver administrator. These are ex-drivers who now look after the drivers’ welfare, pay, discipline and career development, which is important to us. Now every depot has its own drivers’ area, with showers, toilet facilities, televisions and basic cooking facilities. We also pay a biannual fuel bonus and an annual safety bonus to qualifying drivers,’ he adds.

By 2003 the management team’s efforts to address root and branch issues within the company meant that drivers were joining waiting lists to work for the container haulier and in that year the use of agency drivers was banned.

Lower overheads, increased productivity and a boom in the container business – attributed to the ‘China factor’ by Williams – meant the company grew cash-rich and could buy vehicles outright on a one to three-year replacement cycle.

This helped to drive overheads down further, but rather than line his own pockets, Williams used the money to increase investment in his business. ‘Where some hauliers use their companies to fund their lifestyles, we reinvest. I could have bought another house from the sums we have put into driver development and facilities alone,’ Williams says. ‘Each depot has a driver trainer and they are responsible for recruitment, assessment and induction.’

Driver induction is carried out over several weeks to ensure new employees receive proper training in fuel-efficient driving, safety and customer-facing skills. Maritime has limited its fleet’s maximum speed to 52mph and the resulting savings on its £8 million annual fuel bill have been impressive. ‘Fuel is our biggest overhead after employee costs,’ says Maritime’s business development director, Andrew McNab. ‘Driver training combined with the speed limit has allowed us to improve the fleet average by 0.4mpg. We monitor costs very closely using a sophisticated spreadsheet and we know how much fuel every driver in the fleet is using on a weekly basis.’

But running a tight internal ship is not the only factor behind Maritime’s success. The haulier operates from 10 locations around the country. It has main depots at the major container ports of Avonmouth, Felixstowe, Southampton (two), Seaforth, Tilbury, Thamesport, Liverpool and Teesport. Two inland depots complement these and are located at the intermodal terminals at Hamms Hall and Trafford Park. ‘We work in partnership with rail freight operator, Freightliner. We put boxes destined for inland distribution on contract rail wagons. This saves time and money spent waiting to be loaded or unloaded at the ports and as there is a lot of business based close to the inland railheads we can concentrate on distributing boxes from there,’ McNab explains.

McNab says that Maritime entered the market at a low point in 2001, when shipping companies were downsizing to reduce losses. The ‘China factor’ then kicked in, and imports exploded to a ratio of four-to-one over exports. This meant volumes for haulage companies rose dramatically, with customers looking for well-networked transport providers.

Maritime now boasts several blue chip companies among its clients, such as APL, MISC, Evergreen, ACL and NYK Logistics. He says that Maritime still only has 5% of the UK container transport market and is looking for further growth through organic development, and not by a move into bulk liquids! But he does not rule out acquisition if a niche operation were available that complemented Maritime’s core business.

Williams adds: ‘This is a highly competitive environment. When established customers suddenly turn around and say, “We are putting your contract out for tender,” it tends to concentrate the mind. Our customers have huge buying power and corporate muscle. Many are government-owned, hence their requirement to put work out for tender,’ he says. ‘We can cope with this and it plays to our business strengths. I would like to see more shipping lines adopt this competitive stance.’

Today Maritime runs a basic fleet of around 350 trucks, although this can increase to well over 400 during busy times of year. In the main they are high horsepower high spec, 6x2 tractor units although they do run some drawbars. Maritime’s fleet strategy involves a mix of outright purchase and leasing and this has given birth to a flourishing used truck business.

Williams explains: ‘Operating “debt-free” trucks has been one way we have lowered operating costs and increased profits. It has also been the genesis for our second-hand sales business. We still lease some vehicles and I know the truck manufacturers would like every truck in the country to be financed on this basis, because they make money from it.

'Not only is there interest and the resale, but many hauliers get ripped off by the way manufacturers manipulate the off-lease process. An operator can get a bill for “repairs carried out”, but more often than not – in our experience – if the manufacturer is asked to prove what repairs were carried out they cannot,’ he says.

‘We operate a policy of one driver one truck and they are rewarded for looking after them. Recently a tractor unit went back to Scania with no bill. Each driver looks after his vehicle as if it is his own and in this instance the driver got a bonus for his trouble.

‘Our trucks average an annual mileage of 120,000km per year and we are very hard on the dealers and insist that regular servicing is carried out to the highest standards. This overall approach means the trucks we sell have a full service history, one driver, so a second owner can be 100% sure of what he is buying.’

Maritime counts Scania, Daf and Volvo as marques it will buy outright. Its Mercedes and MAN fleet are currently sourced through three-year leasing contracts.

Maritime’s Dennison trailer fleet is more than 450 strong and branded in company livery. Supplied by Hill Hire, the trailers are all 40ft sliding skeletals, capable of carrying one 20ft, two 20ft, one 40ft or one 45ft containers up to 30 tonnes gross laden weight.

Maritime’s used truck business opened last June. The company identified a demand for good used, one to two-year-old low mileage tractor units and so, complementing its fleet renewal strategy, it decided to offer its own vehicles for sale. This operation is based at its Tilbury depot and is run by fleet sales manager Matt Heath.

‘We have been going since last June and the used-truck business is a permanent fixture,’ he says. We now have vehicles in a long-term pipeline through our fleet purchasing strategy and we are anticipating a big demand for our trucks, especially in view of the impending introduction of Euro 4 and in the knowledge that many small hauliers want to wait and see.’

Maritime is aiming its used vehicles at owner-drivers, haulage business start-ups and fleets with fewer than 10 vehicles. The company can arrange finance and insurance and because many of its used vehicles are around 12 months old they still carry a manufacturer’s warranty that can be transferred to the new owner.

All Maritime’s used trucks are sold painted plain white with a blue chassis, but the company will and has customised vehicles as an aftersales service for clients. This can include Kuda cab conversions, alloy wheels, light bars and paint work; and even wet kits.

Most importantly, Maritime says that it can offer work to its used truck customers on a subcontract basis and owners can run their truck in their own livery if desired. It adds that opportunities for this are on a first-come first-served basis and it cannot guarantee this to every customer. Maritime’s main marketing vehicle for its used trucks is a new website: www.secondhandtrucks.co.uk

Matt Heath explains: ‘We have had a good initial take-up and customers have come from as far as the Republic of Ireland and Scotland. We are not setting ourselves up as a dealer, in the sense that we will just buy and sell anything, we are completely focused on selling one to three-year-old ex Maritime vehicles. We will accept a customer’s truck in part exchange, but only if the age and condition makes it viable.

‘Our aim is to establish a loyal following through the quality of the vehicles we sell on and build confidence through the fact that all our vehicle histories can be proved and traced back to new,’ he says. Heath adds that around 100 used trucks are available a year.

Looking around the trucks on display at Maritime’s Tilbury depot there was a mix of Scania 420 Topline 6x2s and Daf XF95 430s with Super Space cabs. Most are fitted with manual transmissions but Maritime does spec Volvo’s I-Shift and Daf’s AS Tronic automated box in those tractor units. We were impressed by the overall condition both inside and out.

The team at Maritime is conscious of the impending introduction of Euro 4. We ask John Williams for his thoughts: ‘We have resisted invitations from manufacturers to pile in an order for the last of the Euro 3s,’ he says.

‘Of course, what we have to pay is important and offers of a saving of £3000 per truck are all well and good, but we do not want trucks sitting around at a time of year when we do not have work for them. We buy when it suits us. We are looking at all the Euro 4 options on offer and continue to evaluate the situation.’

Maritime has embraced the other industry spectre, digital tachographs, and has already started rolling out training across its depots. Its first digital tachograph equipped trucks are due to be delivered in August and the company expects to be 100% digital by 2009.

As an RHA member, Maritime can be described as supportive. ‘Yes we do support the RHA and I am speaking at the Spring Conference in Malta, but quite frankly we get more out of our membership of the FTA,’ Williams says. ‘We are a big company and the RHA’s products and services are not really tailored to our requirements.

'Recently I was part of a group invited by the FTA to dine with the transport minister, Stephen Ladyman. It was a good opportunity to raise issues and hopefully have some influence on future policy. I have to admit, I would be surprised if the RHA setup something like that,’ he says.

Maritime history

Originally called Paul Magnus Holdings, Maritime was incorporated in 1974 and was based in Ipswich.

In 1990, the company was sold to Maritime Transport Services – the owner of Thamesport at the time – to help it to attract shipping lines to the newly built Kent container port. In 1998, Hutchison Ports (UK) purchased Thamesport and as part of the deal it acquired Maritime Haulage.

In early 2001, Hutchison Ports (UK) carried out a business review and decided to sell the company. John Williams, who was working for Hutchison Ports (UK) at the time, made a successful bid for the company and rebranded it Maritime Transport.