Haul in the name of good sense - Robert Matthams (Shiply.com)

Whilst we are all busy working to build more efficient vehicles and efficiency solutions, both for private and commercial customers, there remains an age-old problem – empty-running Lorries. Department for Transport figures show that over 25% of lorries and 15% of vans on Britain’s roads run completely empty and over 50% run only part-full.

Regardless of how fuel efficient or green we eventually make these vehicles, this is still an enormous waste. Currently, it equates to over 36 million tonnes of CO2 a year – over 7% of the entire UK’s carbon footprint. For years there has been some collaboration between haulage companies in an attempt to share loads and subcontract to maximise load space usage. The Road Haulage Association made the importance of keeping vehicles running full and efficient very clear in their business survival toolkit published back at the start of the 2008 fuel crisis.

This was also the time that Shiply.com turned a sector on its head: that of freight exchanges. Up until now, haulage firms would look to internet freight exchange websites as a way of finding loads for journeys they are already planning to undertake. However, this sector was stagnant, offered little work and charged extortionate fees to hauliers with no guarantee of actual work. Clearly, given the climate and with an industry in turmoil it was time for change. Shiply.com launched to the public in June 2008 and has quickly signed up over 4,500 hauliers as well as over 25,000 users looking to move goods anywhere across Europe. The site has been likened to eBay, but for moving goods, by many national newspapers and attracts over 2 million visits every year. By matching businesses and consumers with haulage firms already making similar trips, the site has saved over 2.4 million miles in otherwise wasteful journeys accounting to over 550,000kg CO2 savings.
In an industry which is suffering more than any other through the recession (over 51% increase in failures Q4 2008), giants Eddie Stobart showed the key to survival and indeed success is simple – maximise your efficiency and keep your fleet running full. It is such a clear and simple message, but one that is overlooked by so many hauliers. The RHA reported that 41% of their members reported business was down by 10-30%, 20% found business had fallen 30-50% and 9% has seen business drop by more than 50%. Eddie Stobart on the other hand saw pre-tax profits jump to £23.9m from £3.5m.

Andrew Tinkler, chief executive, said: “Our own-branded Eddie Stobart trucks can drive into a customer to drop off and then go to another customer nearby to load up. The key difference is that our trucks are planned to avoid empty running.

“Minimising empty running and maintaining high fleet utilisation enables us to share savings with customers. This model is very different to most hauliers', who operate more traditional open book arrangements.

Now, we all know that most hauliers don’t have the customer base or marketing budget to compete with the Eddie Stobart’s of this world and keeping vehicles full is therefore that much tougher. However, now with the advent of Shiply.com, finding such work along existing planned routes is far easier and not to mention cost-effective. Hauliers can bid for the work like an auction anywhere across Europe – for free. They only pay a fee once they secure the work, so there are no subscription fees or overheads to worry about. By following best practice, keeping vehicles full, we not only reduce congestion and CO2 emissions but also increase the profitability of hauliers and save consumers money in the process (up to 75%).

http://www.shiply.com