£14m hub plan for Palletline

Palletline, which believes itself to be the largest of the pallet networks, has identified possible sites for an industry-led hub in the Midlands. Chairman Bob Russett says that the new hub will be operational in the next 2 to 3 years, will have a capacity of 20,000 pallets a night and cost around £14m.
Discussion of the new hub at a Palletline members meeting on Tuesday comes with the network reporting October volumes up y 39% compared with the same month last year. That pretty much reflects the year-on-year growth Russett says. A year ago, members forecast growth of 22%.
Palletline is currently handling 9,000 pallets anight in what is a strong and steady pre-Christmas period. Russett syas that his firm has taken business from other networks but the main driver is growth for the sector – a point borne out by the other ‘big three‘ pallet networks.
Pall-Ex, which moves toa new hub next March told MT that it is forecasting a year-on-year growth of 20%; Palletways, generally regarded as the third of the ‘big three‘ networks says it is enjoying 40% growth.
Graig Hibbert, group development director at Palletways says: ‘We are finding the market incredibly good at the moment. We are winning major business from househod blue chip companies. We are going from strength to strength – the growth is phenomenal. Companies are becoming more and more aware of pallet networks, the service they offer and the quality of service. All in all business is booming and we can only see it continuing.‘
The networks are gaining at the expense of general hauliers, who find it dificult to compete under future EU rules. The Working Time Directive ‘is coming like a steam train‘ and making pallet networks fashionable among logistics buyers, on network insider tells MT.