Transport company adds £40 million of business after contract wins

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Nicky Godding

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EV Cargo company CM Downton, one of the UK’s leading providers of logistics and distribution, has sealed new and extended business worth over £40 million after a number of contract wins.

Gloucester-based Downton has sealed a major distribution contract with Rolawn, Britain’s leading supplier of quality turf products, by offering one-stop nationwide distribution. Downton will undertake deliveries direct to wholesale garden outlets and manage consolidation by using local delivery partners – boosting delivery efficiency and minimising costs.

Downton has also extended its contract with specialist container manufacturer Berry Global, having provided transport services for the past two years. The extension will see Downton manage the transport from manufacturing plants at Deeside and Rushden, with a fleet investment in new higher trailers to further enhance utilisation.

A new contract win with Belgian logistics firm 2XL will see Downton distribute ambient food products arriving into Tilbury docks from the 2XL consolidation centre in Zeebrugge. Produce will be destined primarily for Aldi and Lidl regional distribution centres.

Downton is also undertaking warehousing and distribution at its Moreton Valence site for Pet Foods UK as part of a new agreement, which will see it store more than 4,000 pallets and undertake distribution to both retailers and wholesalers – including an element of online sales fulfilment.

The final tranche of new business is with Smiths News and sees Downton use its base in Dunstable to provide primary trunking for the Smiths News magazine packing hub in Hemel Hempstead. This serves 11 locations across the south east and allows Smiths News to reduce its contractor base from three to one.

Duncan Eyre, CM Downton Managing Director, said: “After announcing £30 million of new contract business in April this year, this series of additional long-term work marks a successful year for Downton as we focus on delivering on our growth strategy by providing integrated, technology-enabled solutions as part of EV Cargo.

“We’ve added new clients and successfully developed current trading partnerships, building on Downton’s heritage of cultivating long-term relationships by supplying customer-focused, quality warehousing and distribution services.”

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.