Harbour International Freight, the Manchester based transport & logistics business is going from strength to strength and is one of the fastest growing logistics companies in the North West and Ireland. As a long standing Irish Sea operator and the first in the market offering overnight palletised services between Manchester and Dublin in the 1980’s as well as being a key member of the Pall-Ex pallet distribution network in the UK, they have the experience, knowledge and strong belief in putting the customer first that unfortunately is lacking these days.
“2018 was a key moment for us when we acquired a fellow Irish Sea Forwarder European Cargo Systems In Heywood and integrated them into our main facility in Manchester. This brought an additional £1.75 million of turnover which was retained and expanded on with approximately 90% of former ECS customers not just staying but increasing their spend with us on other services that we provide – predominately moving their UK pallet distribution to Harbour. We also won a coveted Business Development award from Pall-Ex for outstanding performance in new business sales which was amazing for the whole team and testament to the effort everyone has put into our business. Then earlier this year we acquired our long standing partner in Cork, Ireland which so far has exceeding our expectations.” says Steve Swinburn, UK General Manager
In July 2019, the first three new MAN trucks of a multi-vehicle expansion and fleet renewal programme hit the road with another two to join in August. Further vehicles are planned for October this year in Manchester, along with a new fleet of Renault Vans in Cork for the Express Courier Division. The company is investing for the future despite the uncertainly around Brexit and what it will do to its core Irish overnight services to Dublin, Cork and Belfast.
“2019 Q3 has recovered nicely from the previous quarter which did see a dip in volume across most services which was due to industry and business being very cautious following the delay in exiting the EU. We did see customers trading down, bringing with it some challenges, but we have had a significant new contract gain which will add £300,000 for the last half of the year. Along with new customers joining us monthly due to ongoing poor service with their previous carriers, the outlook for now is very positive.”
Next year, business is expected to grow by 20%, and Harbour also have exciting plans in place when they will break ground on a new state of the art 167,000 sq ft cross dock warehousing and office facility in Dublin.
For further information call 0161 872 6875. hello@harbourfreight.co.uk www.harbourfreight.co.uk