Listening in Launceston

If you want to help improve your profits, argues North Cornwall Transport, where an innovative training scheme has been set up, drivers have to be properly listened to 

- Graham Shaw

There are many things that make a road transport business successful. In an industry where haulage rates are often poor and not getting better, and vehicle costs are rising, managers and directors tend to try to increase profit margins by focusing on savings from their vehicles. Naturally it’s important to keep your bottom line as low as possible, for example by sourcing good reliable vehicles that give the best possible fuel returns. A huge amount of time is spent poring over figures, manufacturers’ technical details and where the best fixed-rate maintenance deals might be found.

For the sake of argument, let’s just say that managers get this right and they are presented with their shiny new truck all ready for the road. It’s at this point that the biggest and most overlooked variable is introduced to the equation: the driver.

Hard to get – and keep

It’s all too easy to think each driver will be the same and that, owing to technical advancements such as cruise control and automatic gearboxes, the vehicle will do what the specification says it will. Surely the driver is simply somebody who needs to be there – only that’s not exactly the truth, is it? The driver is the key that releases the master lock to staying in business. Drivers are hard to get and good ones are even harder to keep.

North Cornwall Transport (NCT), a haulage company specialising in temperature-controlled distribution and based in the town of Launceston, Cornwall has taken this fact on board and changed its driver strategy.