With fuel prices remaining high, Tilbury-based The Logistics Terminal (TLT) continues to prove itself as an invaluable solution to many businesses looking to distribute their goods in smaller quantities directly from TLT's portcentric warehouse at London's Port of Tilbury.
With an impressive 100% increase in throughput in just one year and an average of 160 containers a week passing through its port centric logistics hub, TLT is successfully reducing bottom-line storage and distribution costs for its customers.
However, TLT's success is not owed simply to the quick and easy access it has to shipping containers and its capacity to cut out the 'middleman'. TLT partner, Richard Newbold who also runs renowned 25-yr old logistics business, Triple A Transport Services Ltd used his vast experience in logistics to devise a solution to a number of haulage industry issues.
Richard recognised that by reducing the 'over-handling' of goods between manufacture and delivery to the end-customer, potential product damage would be minimised whilst also decreasing the number of miles the goods are transported, particularly once inland.
Despite the concept over here in the UK being fairly new, the demand for portcentric operations has never been greater, as Richard explains:
"Firstly, lessening the transportation of goods has an immediate impact on reducing fuel for inland legs whilst reducing carbon emissions as the number of empty shipping containers being hauled across the UK is hugely reduced. Coupled with a huge reduction in the amount of product handling between manufacture and the customer, TLT's retail clients no longer have to incur unnecessary financial and environmental costs.
"Quite simply, our solution allows businesses to gain greater control over both supply-chain overheads and the timely delivery of their goods."
The Logistics Terminal was set up in January 2011 and it is easy to see why so many businesses are embracing the type of solution TLT has to offer.
Mike Brown, Managing Partner of TLT, who has over 30 years' experience in the distribution of timber products across the UK, said:
"In terms of our ability to offer a state-of-the-art worldwide import and export logistics planning service, the site couldn't be more suitable. Its position allows access to 30% of the UK's consumers within a 2 hour drive. Plus, with access to the adjacent rail head, it is a truly multimodal facility, enabling us to effectively service all of our clients' logistical requirements."