Lesters Logistics targets £1m record year with new ‘remote fleet’ solution for HGV driver shortage

Published by

Peter Davison

Reiss Newport with Brian Dale

Creating a ‘remote fleet’ for moving goods around the country is set to deliver Nuneaton-based haulage firm Lesters Logistics a 40 percent boost in annual sales.

Lesters Logistics has seen demand for its services rise significantly following the easing of lockdown, as more companies look to offset the lack of HGV drivers by outsourcing part of their delivery requirements or sourcing warehousing space to store products.

The company, which used to be known as SL Packaging & Transport before the recent rebranding exercise, is now setting its sights on a record £1m turnover this year and will be supported by completion of a £150,000 investment drive.

This will include making the most of a new MRP system that gives complete client traceability, new racking for its 22,000 sq ft warehouse on Weddington Terrace and the acquisition of further vehicles for its rapidly growing fleet.

Reiss Newport, finance director at Lesters Logistics, explained: “We were really busy during the pandemic, taking on a lot of emergency jobs for the NHS and ensuring we continued to support our manufacturing clients that remained operational.

“Things have been even more manic in recent months, with the HGV driver shortage highlighting the fragility of the supply chain. Our logistical knowledge, expansive warehousing space and access to a 10-strong fleet of vehicles is proving invaluable and we fully expect to be up 40% on the same time last year.”

He continued: “It’s about giving clients a ‘remote fleet’ operation to move their goods around the UK and even Europe. And we’re not resting on our laurels, instead pushing the button on our biggest ever investment in new technology, vehicles and a 20 percent increase in our workforce.”

Lesters Logistics was purchased by Burntwood-based Lesters two years ago and is part of a group that can now offer a full packaging supply solution, from creation and production of corrugated boxes and bespoke packaging to storage and distribution of goods.

Its central location at the heart of the UK makes it an ideal logistics partner for more than 150 different clients every year and the firm now has the capability to manage both ‘stock and serve’ and ‘pick and pack’ operations on behalf of customers looking to free up their space and manage requirements remotely.

The company’s current fleet features 3.5 tonne vehicles, 18 tonne trucks and articulated lorries thanks to its network of transport partners.

Operations manager Brian Dale, who runs the business with Reiss, went on to add: “The new branding reflects our position as part of a strong independent group and is already starting to help us attract new clients.

“Lesters Logistics was the first step in the creation of the Lesters eco-system and, over the next few years, there are plans to make further acquisitions up the supply chain. It’s all about fulfilling our brand promise of ‘we deliver more’.”

Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country. An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts. Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.