Elddis Transport, in Consett, County Durham, committed to continued success

ELDDIS Transport’s Nigel Cook is a master at playing the long game.

Long term planning, long haul journeys and incredibly long vehicles.

It’s all very apt for the managing director of a company that has been around for a very long time.

Like so many of the North-East’s business elders, Elddis Transport, which specialises in freight distribution and warehousing, is a mix of long-held tradition and cutting-edge modern practices.

With a history dating back to the late 1800s, the Cook family’s involvement in the transport industry been based in County Durham since Nigel’s great grandfather, Thomas Cook, decided to start making deliveries in and around Consett with his horse and cart.

It seems a far cry from the 455 vehicles and trailers Elddis now boasts, but the principles of customer service, staff satisfaction and continuous development that have been developed in over a century of business still remain.

“One of the main benefits of Elddis being a family business, is not only our ability to make decisions and act on them quickly, but also that we can make decision for the long-term,” said Nigel.

“We don’t just look for short-term profit, we want to make sure that everything we do and every decision we make will help take the business forward long into the future.

“We are focused on reducing waste, including empty running, because an empty vehicle on the road is just dead miles.

Managing director Nigel Cook in one of his cabs

“Fuel consumption is an incredibly important area for us.

"We monitor the way each of our drivers operate their vehicles, taking into account time the engine has been idling, the acceleration and braking of the lorries and even how the weather has impacted on the amount of fuel used.

“A windy day can cost us half a mile per gallon across the whole fleet.

“Fuel is our biggest cost, we spend more on fuel than we do on wages. “So improving miles per gallon is at the top of our agenda.”

That may not sound much, but Elddis spent £8m on diesel alone last year.

That breaks down to almost £22,000 a day and the company has trucks on the road every day of the year bar Christmas Day.

Nigel said: “We’re a 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 364 days a year operation

The Elddis fleet of Mercedes Benz lorries

“We stop for Christmas Day, but that’s it, at all other times we have vehicles on the road.

“For this reason alone it is vital that we remain cost conscious and efficient.

“For an industry with such low margins it can be the small innovations that make a real difference.”

It has been estimated, by an industry publication, that the average profit margin for transport companies is less than one per cent.

“Fuel prices and the recession did affect us and we had to make some difficult decisions, but I’m proud that we still managed to give our workforce pay rises and keep the business profitable throughout these times,” added Nigel.

The company’s caravan factory

“We saw what was coming and took measures to insulate ourselves as best we could.

“As well as closely monitoring our drivers we also worked with an aerodynamicist to design spoilers for the tucks that throw the air over the top of the vehicle to improve aerodynamics and reduce fuel consumption.”

Elddis Transport’s distinctive yellow and white livery has been a regular site rolling along the UK roadways for decades.

Great grandfather Thomas Cook may have started with a horse and cart, but by the time his son Siddle Cook took over the controls in 1942 the firm was operating a fleet of heavy haulage vehicles.

Siddle C Cook Transport was sold in 1964, but Nigel’s father Geoffrey Cook proved a chip off the old block and established Elddis Transport in Greenside in September 1971 with the business moving across to Delves Lane, between Consett and Lanchester, where it has remained ever since.

Consett steelworks

In between times, the family also started and sold two caravan firms, Elddis Caravans and Compass Caravans, the former also still based at Delves Lane.

It is a theme for a company which, like its many vehicles, keeps moving forward.

Nigel said: “We have always adapted as a company. “Consett steelworks was our largest customer and when it closed in 1980 it hit us hard, but we survived and kept building the business.

“We now have nine operating centres for our vehicles in Lancashire, Yorkshire, the North-East and Haltwhistle and deliver throughout mainland UK.

“As a family firm we have a family ethos and we have incredibly loyal employees and keeping people happy at work is something we pride ourselves on.

“We have two drivers in their 70s who have worked here since 1971 and this loyalty is reflected in our customers too.

One of the firm’s previous wagons

“Three of our top five customers have been with us since 1971.”

All of Elddis’ HGVs are Mercedes Benz vehicles and the firm has established close links with the German automotive company, which has led to Elddis carrying out various on-the-road trials.

Elddis also runs the largest trailer in the UK on one of its routes. A normal trailer is 13.6 metres, but this one is 15.65 metres.

“A normal high cube trailer will accommodate 52 pallets, but this one takes 90,” added Nigel.

“It saves something in the region of 250,000kg per year of carbon emissions since we started using it and did around 385,000km in its first year alone.”

In addition to developing existing markets and managing an extensive property investment portfolio, the business has successfully opened a car MOT and service garage, a caravan storage operation and a pallet repair business, collectively increasing turnover and diluting the exposure to one market.

One of the trucks being loaded up for winter

The company is also opening its own authorised testing facility, which will not only allow it to MOT its own lorries, but also other HGVs that would have previously had to be sent to Government operated HGV testing facilities in Gosforth or Darlington.

Elddis secured three awards in the last year.

At the North-East Business Awards it claimed the Environmental and Sustainability Award, Elddis also claimed the Newcastle Building Society Cornerstone of the Community honour and its proudest moment came when it was named the region’s first ever winner of the UK Haulier of the Year title.

Elddis Transport has also raised over £120,000 for Lanchester’s Willowburn Hospice, regularly holding charity events to raise money.

Nigel himself undertook ten half marathons in eight months to raise funds for the hospice, of which he is now a trustee.

“We take our responsibility to the community very seriously,” said Nigel.

Another former Elddis truck

“Nobody wants large trucks trundling past their doors every day, we understand that.

“So we see it as our responsibility to give something back and the things we have done to help Willowburn is something that gives us great pride.”

James Ramsbotham, North-East Chamber of Commerce chief executive, said: “Elddis Transport is a dyed in the wool North-East company that has adapted brilliantly to changing business conditions, diversified into new areas and has never been afraid to take a risk to move the business forward.

“The company is fully deserving of the recognition it has received in recent years.”