The Christmas period is traditionally notorious for its unpredictability but, for 2012, many industry pundits and retailers are predicting significant volume increases this winter, with potentially up to 15% greater volumes than during the equivalent period last year.
For leading industry companies such as trg Logistics, this significant seasonal variation is now part of parcel of its forward planning and for the anticipated Christmas rush this year, trg has already increased its vehicle fleet in size as well as its bank of subcontractors, together with embarking on a specific push for additional driver recruitment and head office support staffing.
Nick Gordon, CEO of trg says, “Talking with our customers earlier this year, the feedback was that retailers were warning that Christmas 2012 would be one of the biggest in recent years, in terms of volume increases, and that additional detailed planning would be required by ourselves to accommodate this seasonal volume increase.”
At the same time, the vagaries of the British climate during the winter period are also very much catered for by trg. Following recent adverse winters, the Wimbledon based company has a full snow planning programme in place, including the use of a fleet of 4×4 vehicles to ensure that drivers get to work on time, together with sleeping bags and overnight food for drivers. Even staff at the company’s head office are supplied with comprehensive night bags, should the weather make commuting difficult or impossible.
“The November and December pre-Christmas period places the biggest strain on our staff and logistics infrastructure, however, our experience based on previous years is such that we already have plans in place now as we cannot afford not to perform for our customers in this busiest of times,” added Nick Gordon.