Growing Logistics Business Drives Davies Turner Investment in Narrow Aisle Racking at Cumbernauld

Dartford, United Kingdom, January 30, 2008 --(PR.com)-- The investment has created 1,000 pallet positions in high bay racking at the 2,200 sq. m. warehouse with aisles just two metres wide. Both the racking and forklift equipment are made in Britain whilst local contractors undertook the installation work.

Derek Craig, Davies Turner’s manager in central Scotland, confirms that within days of the completion, the investment was paying off with much of the new racking quickly filled with loaded pallets for distribution either side of Christmas.

Mr Craig adds: “This racking benefits customers with longer term storage requirements and those with fast moving freight. The flexible access for goods inward and dispatch through our six loading doors, plus the compact new racking layout, leaves plenty of clear space still available so that we can continue to operate as a rapid transit warehouse.

“We intend to make full use of this increased capacity for order sorting and added value services alongside our international consolidations. That is how you combine freight forwarding and logistics to offer the widest choice of supply chain services backed up by the latest software.”

The investment is a further indication of Davies Turner’s commitment to Scottish importers and exporters, as it will underpin ongoing development of the company’s trailer services with Europe, as well as its oceanfreight consolidations for the Gulf States, North America and the Far East.

Also in Scotland, Davies Turner Air Cargo has its regional HQ and depot at Glasgow airport, plus a branch at Edinburgh airport.

Cumbernauld is one of Davies Turner’s key Regional Distribution Centres (RDC) in the UK and Ireland. The other RDCs are at Birmingham, Bristol, Dartford, Dublin, London Heathrow and Manchester – linked by overnight feeder services and with a further 16 satellite branches supporting them. Many of these hubs are freehold developments and reflect the group’s ongoing investment programme.

Philip Stephenson, joint managing director of Davies Turner said: “2006 saw us relocate to this new facility as part of our ongoing hub development programme in the UK. This was a much-needed expansion of our surface freight operations in Scotland as our previous depot was already working to full capacity. The latest investment in more racking shows how quickly we have developed the business at the new hub.”

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Notes to editors: Established in the 1870s, Davies Turner & Co is the UK's largest independent freight forwarding and logistics group. The company operates its services through its own exclusive network, offering a high quality operation backed by integrated IT systems, financial stability and professional personnel.