Apprentices fired and Kuehne + Nagel hired

INDUSTRY

The government has rejected plans to fund a HGV driver apprenticeship scheme – arguing that becoming an HGV driver does not take more than 12 months and meet the criteria required for state sponsorship. Both the RHA and FTA have bemoaned the decision, claiming that it was key in attracting new drivers into the industry.

The US retail phenomenon Black Friday is going to see volumes at four times what they were in 2014, Yodel executive chairman Dick Stead has warned. He has urged the industry to think again when it came to offering a 24-hour delivery option around such promotions owing to the pressure placed on delivery networks as a result of such retail promotions.

The Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) has called on the Irish government to use emergency powers to lift the drivers’ hours and tachograph rules for vehicles caught up in delays caused by striking workers and illegal migrants in Calais. The association had requested the move under Article 14 of EU Regulation 561/2006, which allows EU member states to grant exemptions for up to 30 days to the normal hours and tachograph requirements in exceptional circumstances.

OPERATORS

Kuehne + Nagel has been awarded a four year contract with Waitrose to operate its new NDC in Milton Keynes. The contract begins this month and will see it manage the 950,000ft² ambient NDC, soon to open at Milton Keynes’ Magna Park. The operator has applied to the traffic commissioner for an O-licence authorisation of 100 vehicles and 180 trailers at the site

TEF Transport has acquired fellow North Yorkshire haulier Millfield Haulage for an undisclosed sum, after it was offered the business following the retirement of owners Alfred (Ted) and Jayne Beat. The Scarborough-based firm adds Millfield’s 20 staff, 40,000ft² of warehousing space and, according to TEF, £2m of annualised turnover to its business. TEF MD Andy Mclaughlin, his wife Linda and fellow TEF Transport directors Dave Beckett and Marc Crosbie have all acquired a 100% shareholding of the business.

Creditors at AM Widdowson & Son have voted to approve a CVA that will see them paid 36.12p in the pound. Creditors met to vote on the CVA proposals at the Leicester haulier on Friday 3 July. It was approved ahead of a winding up petition hearing at the High Court of Justice, chancery division, in Manchester on Monday 7 July. That winding up petition has been dismissed.

Construction has begun on NFT’s new 230,000ft² distribution centre for food importers at the Port of Tilbury. The new dockside facility is due to open at the end of the year and will have capacity 25,000 pallets, handling a through put of 2.5 million cases per week.

PEOPLE

Greg Lofts has been appointed business development director at Suttons Tankers, joining from Wincanton’s defence business. Lofts remit at the tankers division of Suttons – which acquired Imperial Tankers from Hargreaves last year – includes the strategic development of the division’s new business opportunities and existing accounts in the bulk chemicals, gases, fuels and food sectors. He joins tanker division MD Michael Cundy, who took on the role in October last year – replacing Tony Leighton.

Pallet-Track has recruited former Palletline head of network services Steve Butler as a divisional director. Butler is tasked with assisting the strategic growth of the Pallet-Track business and will directly support MD Nigel Parkes and operations director Lisa Burrows.