Member Article

Specialist team presses ‘fast forward’ on growth

Europa Worldwide Group’s forwarding team has celebrated its most successful month to date, having recorded more than £1m worth of business in a four-week period for the first time ever.

The team of five is based at the business’s £20m facility in Prologis Park in Minworth, Birmingham, and is part of Europa Road, a division of innovative and independent logistics operator Europa Worldwide Group which is this year celebrating its 50th anniversary. The team supports Europa Road’s other services and handles full load and part load express van deliveries with a focus on providing bespoke services to customers.

In March this year, following on from a 120 per cent increase in bookings in 2015-16, the team handled a record £1.2m worth of business – an increase of 48 per cent year on year since 2016. May’s growth is also outstripping last year’s with the team on track to beat their target for new bookings.

National European Forwarding Manager Simon Hucks, who has been with Europa for six years, leads the team. He has expanded the department, which is less than three years old, from just two people to five and is now recruiting for an additional Forwarding Operator.

He said: “I’m delighted with the achievements of our team in how it has reacted quickly to a growing demand for bespoke forwarding solutions and as a result is reaping the rewards and attracting new business on a daily basis. Our results in March were astounding, as we’d never before broken the £1m figure in a single month.

“The demand is coming from customers who want to use Europa not only for its well established road groupage offering through a strong and structured network, but also for additional requirements such as full load or express – which we can offer. This means the customer experience is streamlined, cost effective and straight forward because they don’t have to look elsewhere for a separate supplier to fulfill these demands.

“Customers searching for a bespoke forwarding service often need a quick response with extremely accurate tracking facilities throughout the life of the movement. Europa is flexible in that we always look for the best and most cost-efficient option for the customer first and then arrange the appropriate solution. We pride ourselves on our strong and trusted relationships with both partners and customers and in a short space of time we have seen that commitment translate into more business.”

Since Europa was acquired by Managing Director Andrew Baxter in 2013, it has continued to invest in its team and services. For example, to supplement Europa’s position for express van work, it invested in 10 new liveried tail lift curtain sided vans, offering it greater control, flexibility and security of the goods it carries - and is planning to double this number in the next six to 12 months.

Last year, Europa Road launched 10 new direct daily services for customers and overhauled its IT system by investing £1.7m in creating in-house a system which responds directly to the needs of customers and cuts out inefficiencies across the board.

A market leader in European express road freight services between the UK and Europe for 50 years, Europa Worldwide Group also provides specialist Air and Sea, Warehouse and Showfreight services. It employs more than 600 people across 11 sites in the UK and Hong Kong and is represented in 100 countries.

@europaworldwide

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Rebecca .