Pallnet launch stuns industry

A new overnight pallet network has been launched that will operate from a central hub in Oldbury. It claims to cover over 90% of the UK with 52 members.
The overnight palletised freight distribution sector became increasingly competitive this week as two new networks launched in Friday. The industry had been expecting the introduction of Pallet-Track but the emergence of Pallnet came as a surprise to many in the sector.
The Birmingham-based system has been se up and is owned by a management team including chairman Roger Ferguson, managing director Mike Chamberlain, operations manager Ron Pursey and IT specialist Mac Babb. However it was unwilling to comment on the investors and investment backing the company. The system claims to have launched with 93% UK coverage from 52 members, but declined to give any names, and was unable to provide a figure on the number of pallets moved on its first night.
The network will operate from a 12,090sq m central hub in Oldbury based of J2 of the M5, which will also offer customers warehousing and value-added services. The membership has been signed up through referrals, recommendations and using contacts. Palletnet’s Andy Sinclair says: ‘We have kept a low profile because we want the members to be the driving force behind the networks.’
The firm claims to operate a stringent member vetting scheme to support its ‘corporate ethos’ of providing quality service to members and customers.
Ferguson says: ‘Lots of networks are driven by IT but we aim to operate a back-to-basics approach ensuring that we provide rapid and reliable transport with high service levels.’
The network will operate a hub-and-spoke system and has aspirations to expand its service to become the first network to have an international hub based in Lyon, France, which will operate with partners from Benelux, Spain and Germany.
Palletnet was officially launched to the industry at this week’s Logistics Link show.