UK logisitics group acquires Hungarian food transport firm
Kevin Richardson, TDG’s strategic development director said the acquisition of RRS allows TDG to expand its services into the Hungarian market by offering a high quality domestic transport capability.
TDG, which works food companies such as Weetabix and Kelloggs and also with beverage manufacturers and major UK retailers such as Marks & Spencers and Sainburys, provides international and domestic warehousing and transport services, and the firm said it will consider moves to establish operations in other CEE countries.
The logistics company said that RRS was set up three years ago and currently manages, plans and executes an average of 200 vehicle routes while handling 4,500 pallet equivalents per day.
Richardson told FoodProductionDaily.com that the RRS operating model provides a high quality service together with a fully flexible resource base: "This means that TDG is able to respond to volume and profile changes arising from seasonal and promotional activities in the food and retail industry. In addition, RRS operates in both the ambient and temperature controlled transport sectors."
TDG set up offices in Budapest last year with the chosen location giving the firm “immediate access to 680,000 sq ft of warehousing facilities, affording us the additional and immediate capability to offer storage, cross docking and consolidation services.”
Dave Barron, international services director at TDG explained that as its international services have grown to such an extent the expansion into Eastern Europe is the logical progression: “Investing in these new markets will enable us to support the growth plans of our key customers, extend our “asset light” operations and provide services to a wider customer base.”
The company said that in order to remain resilient during the challenging past 12 months, it refocussed its business, reducing its operating cost base, while at the same time working closely with its customers to meet their changing requirements. "In addition, TDG's activities are spread across a wide range of industry sectors, giving it resilience during recessionary times," said Richardson.
The logistics firm said it also remains focused on carbon emission reduction through its environmental programme whereby, for existing customers, it measures the carbon footprint of their operations and it produce a quarterly account to evaluate progress in that regard.
TDG said that it also aims to deliver significant cost savings through supply chain optimisation and economies of scale and claims an approach using its multi site transport optimiser has saved leading client, Corus, six per cent on its transport spend with the potential for eight per cent in the short term.
