Cover Story ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
As a fourth generation , family-owned SME Hauler , Welch ’ s Transport ( Welch ’ s ) is a household name across central and eastern counties in the UK . Chris Welch , Commercial and Operations Director of Transport , and his younger brother have both followed in their greatgrandfather ’ s footsteps , Gordon Welch , who founded the organization in 1934 .
The business was founded during a turbulent period that saw the nation ’ s hauling industry nationalized then denationalized , presenting Gordon with the opportunity to take Cambridgeshire , Hertfordshire , Bedfordshire , and a bit of Essex , from the UK Government .
“ That area has been our mainstay ever since ,” begins Chris , “ at our size within the SME level , that ’ s typically how things work , everyone sticks to their own patches . Over the last eight decades , we ’ ve grown and shrunk across the UK and today have settled at three main transport depots , with a fleet of 80 vehicles , 165 employees , and around £ 16 million in turnover .
“ We ’ re the longest standing member of the Transport Association , having superseded its original founders , and helped to establish Palletways before we moved to Palletline around 15 years ago , as well as being a part of the Hazchem network . My old man has just stepped down as the chairman of Palletline ’ s board after a six-year stint , as he ’ s slowing down a little now , but he ’ s still very much steering the helm as the Managing Director .
“ At our peak , we were pushing around ten depots nationwide ,” he continues , “ and upheld contracts as large as British Home Stores . In their case , we ran all of their warehousing and managed their distribution across a fleet of 200 lorries . However , over the last few decades
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