Logistic solutions for the French marketplace - take it as red!
Austin Duffy, marketing manager at Redhead International explains the challenges involved in providing a successful freighting service to France
Due to its geographic location within Europe, France is regarded as one of the major players in international logistics and a key market for any UK-based logistics company transporting freight by road.
The road freight industry in France is one of the most developed in Europe. It has one of the largest road transport networks, which is key to effective distribution channels and as a country sharing its borders with eight other EU countries, it has become a central point for road freight distribution not only to its own towns and cities, but also for goods onward bound for other countries – in particular Spain and Portugal, as France provides the only land route to those countries.
Every week goods such as packaging materials, high-end engineering products, electronic controls and consumer products are transported from the UK to France, for distribution into the marketplace. Logically therefore, Paris has become the central hub for most distribution networks and UK operators that have dedicated depots in or around the French capital have major advantages over other operators who rely on distributing goods direct to customers.
These advantages include the use of warehousing facilities for storing goods prior to onward delivery and more importantly the ability to manage operations effectively and efficiently by having employees that have vital knowledge and experience of the French market – for example identifying which is the quickest and most economical way of distributing goods.
Most logistics companies find picking up goods in the UK fairly straightforward, after all they are usually delivered to a central location, loaded onto the trucks, which are then ready for freighting to France.
However, companies that don’t have the necessary infrastructure in place on the ground can encounter problems when arriving in France, when goods have to be delivered to a number of different locations across the country. This puts pressure on delivery times, as well as making the distribution process much longer. Companies can easily find themselves in a situation where it is harder to fulfil its client’s distribution requirements and meet tight deadlines.
As with most overseas logistics operations, pressures on delivery times, reliability and efficiency are some of the key issues facing companies when transporting goods to and from France. More recently however, the challenges of managing costs, due to currency fluctuations have also had to be taken into account. The low value of the pound against the Euro and other European currencies, has led to increased costs of maintaining regular services to many destinations and some logistics companies have had to assess the viability of some routes as a result.
Setting the pace amongst Britain’s commercial carriers is Redhead International, the Bradford-based logistics company which specialises in the French market and has had a depot in Paris for over 15 years.
Every day Redhead drivers set off from its depots in Bradford, Burton-on-Trent, Bathgate and London for the trip across the Channel. Flexibility and reliability are the keys to hauliers’ success – with the added advantages of having its own premises in Garanor, just outside Paris. This not only means Redhead can delivery to anywhere inside the Paris city limits within 24 hours, but also speeds up delivery to many other internal destinations in France, including the traditional industrial regions of Picardy, Lorraine and West Rhône Alpes. Redhead’s Paris depot also provides its clients with a ‘pick and pack’ facility for selective distribution.
In addition, Redhead also offers its customers an enhanced palletised service by using the PalletFORCE network and linking straight into the network of the Palletsystem, France’s equivalent pallet service. Redhead then runs directly out of the Palletsystem hub into the PalletFORCE network for goods destined for the UK and Ireland from France.
This added flexibility and enhanced freighting solution to other destinations means cost savings can be made through groupage and passed on to the customer accordingly.
Despite the many challenges associated with freighting to and from France, we offer an efficient and reliable service. The fact that we have a dedicated facility in Paris gives us the added advantage of being able to deliver goods more quickly and efficiently to France, as well as further afield.
In addition, as the only UK logistics company that is a member of the Palletsystem network in France, we can link resources to ensure goods are transported even more quickly with fewer problems.
For further information, contact Redhead International on Tel: 01274 464646 or visit: www.redhead-int.com
Published: 28/01/2010
