Marie Boyer is the dynamic owner and managing director of France Line International Transport Ltd, the Manchester-based freight forwarding company which specialises in transport and customs services for cross channel freight between the UK and France. We chatted to Marie as part of our Women in Business feature to learn more about France Line and how Marie sees herself in a traditionally male-dominated sector:
Marie – please tell us how you became owner and managing director of France Line?
“My journey to owner and managing director of France Line started with a chance presentation at Manchester university, where I was on a student exchange programme from my native France. I was in the last year of my degree in English and Spanish with business. At that point I was thinking of a career in manufacturing or export, but we had a presentation on transport and logistics and I thought ‘oh, that sounds interesting’.”
“I began as a graduate trainee with France Line in 1996, quickly gained more responsibilities and became Operations Supervisor and then branch manager in 2008. I was successfully running and growing the company without the involvement of its two French shareholders – two hauliers who had set up the business in 1980 to provide their trailers with backloads into France. I had introduced a new business model centred on our customers’ needs and was developing new services.
“Once they neared retirement, it made sense for us to discuss a MBO and we had an independent valuation made. A price was agreed, and the contracts were exchanged in 2016, twenty years after I joined the company.”
Freight forwarding has traditionally been a male dominated industry – please share with us your own experience within the sector?
“My own experience has always been positive. I have always felt welcomed and appreciated within the industry. I am not sure many (if any) of our clients care about the gender of the person at the helm. What matters to them is how you engage with them, our company’s values of honesty, reliability, customer service and going the extra mile for them and us developing a partnership with them rather than just being a haulier.
“Over the years, I have employed more women than men, but I have never viewed gender as a factor. What matters to me are the skills, and how they fit into and perform within our team.
“It is also worth pointing out that things have changed somewhat over the past few years and that there are more and more women in the transport and logistics industry, mainly due to different initiatives to promote the industry and the opportunities it offers to women. I was actually actively involved in highlighting these great opportunities when I was a steering member of the networking group Women in Logistics.”
Do you see a difference in management styles between men and women?
“I am not sure if there is a difference. My own perspective is to engage with our customers and team, to listen to our clients’ needs, create growth opportunities and new services by responding to these needs, and to lead and manage so that our team achieves our SMART objectives.”
Tell us about the services France Line offer – what are the advantages of choosing France Line?
“For a long time we positioned ourselves purely as the French road freight specialist. With an award-winning French bilingual team knowing France inside out it was the natural choice. Some years ago, however, we expanded beyond France and into mainland Europe. To date, although France remains our core proposition, we also have export and import services to and from all the other main Western and Eastern European counties. And for all the countries we service, we handle standard freight, but also express and out of gauge shipments.
“Post Brexit, we also offer customs services and one of the strong credentials for France Line is the ability to offer a complete service of transport and customs to both our manufacturing customers but also the larger forwarders we work with.”
You have just had a record-breaking year. What do you put that down to?
“Doing the right thing by our customers. Delivering on time and providing a high level of customer service, as well as supporting our customers with our up-to-date knowledge of customs procedures. We also had some interesting project work last year that helped us register a record turnover. The feedback we receive most often is ‘I know my freight is in safe hands’ and ‘you make my job and life easier’.”
“The past few years have been extremely challenging for both exporters and importers. Our success has been built on the simplest of concepts: when our customers need better, cheaper and more efficient ways to get their goods to and from France and Europe, we help make it simple.”
What are your plans for the future?
“We intend to carry on moving onwards and upwards, and plan to celebrate France Line’s 45th birthday in April 2025 on a high and in style!”
Award winning cross channel freight services – contact our friendly team today to discuss how we can make your life easier!
info@francelinetransport.co.uk
0161 746 8339
francelinetransport.co.uk
