Established over 45 years ago, Kings Transport Services Ltd has stood the test of time as well as proving itself as a capable service provider. Despite significant commercial expansion and the broadening of its infrastructure over the years, the company still remains family owned and managed (by the Kings family and partners), ultimately maintaining that personal and approachable nature which is iconic of family businesses. Indeed, it is this stretch of service and communication which as allowed for the company to stand out amongst keen competitors.
In line with the business plan 2021, Founder Steve King and Keith Borrett announced the transference of the CEO and COO roles to son Martin King and Rob Evans. Martin and Rob showed great tenacity and flexibility through the Global Pandemic, steering the company through the toughest of times. Steve King, in his announcement to staff highlighted how proud he was of the extremely successful and supporting partnership with ~Keith spanning over 50 years, and the Lifetime Honour handing the CEO role to his son Martin, absolutely earnt on merit.
As a summary, Kings Transport Services Ltd offers bespoke, cost effective outsourcing for all or part of a client’s
logistical requirements, with the ability to cover everything from HACCP accredited warehousing through to: inventory management, transportation and distribution, order processing, and more. The company is also a member of Palletline and is a preferred carrier for Amazon (including the consolidation of loads for over 2,000 vendors and delivering daily to 23 Amazon sites in the UK). Certainly, when it comes to traditional logistics, the company has been there, done that, and can do it again for a client with such a requirement.
In addition to its traditional transport and logistics services, removals are also on offer from Kings Transport Services Ltd. The company is able to cover domestic removals, commercial removals, office removals, and even international removals. Services are adapted based on the goods involved, with a particular emphasis on IT equipment and other mission critical products where relevant. Thanks to the firm’s long history within the sector, customers can also rest assured of the timely collection and drop-off of their assets.
In terms of warehousing capabilities, Kings Transport Services Ltd is host to over 90,000 square feet of warehousing space throughout Essex and Hertfordshire. Each facility maintains the highest security standards alongside full pallet traceability, online stock control, and a great degree of solution flexibility so as best to adapt towards the specific needs of the customer. With these particular tools in mind, the company is able to offer considerable reassurances to the client and allow for them to access updates as and when required. A koy focus for Kings Transport Services Ltd has also always been the environment and, as a FORS Silver member, the company reviews its carbon emissions monthly. Monitoring driver standards, the company supplies regular memos and training to ensure that the best driver behaviours are maintained, including anti-idling and reducing noise pollution. Investments were also made into the company’s fleet to electrify it, with all company cars now being electric (including on-site electric chargers) and a conscious effort being made to minimise personal travel and promote public transport or remote communication. Each of these efforts have already had a huge impact on the company’s carbon footprint.
Challenges and Opportunites to Showcase Strength
Of course, over the past few years, Kings Transport Services Ltd has certainly faced its fair share of challenges along with the rest of the industry. Particularly with respect to safety and the risks posed by COVID-19. While the pandemic did present an incredible challenge for the firm in ensuring services continued to be provided in a safe manner, it also provided the company with an opportunity to overcome these challenges and celebrate that fact. Pulling through the pandemic, the firm now has a renewed vision of what makes the company strong and the values that it holds.
To ensure COVID compliance, a range of changes were made, including: screened work areas, antibacterial defogging of office spaces and removals sites, increased frequency of deep cleaning, suspension of face to face meetings in favour of utilising technology, mask wearing and social distancing, virus and temperature testing, requiring visiting drivers to remain in vehicles, suspending POD paperwork and having drivers sign PDAs for customers, heat maps and stats to show driver status (including illness), remove removals questions and audits, and the transference of postcodes to other depots to minimise the impact on customer deliveries. In addition, the company did also look to where it could help others, such as with storing PPE and other equipment, or assisting in deliveries and moves relative to the NHS.
When asked about the key challenges that have faced the business in the last few years, Martin Kings, CEO at Kings Transports Services Ltd said: “COVID was definitely a test. However, with dynamic management, a great IT team and our trusted, flexible hard-working team, the challenge actually highlighted the strength of the business: our resources, our partners and most importantly our staff. We are increasingly motivated to promote internally why not? The talent is here. Palletine operations were great too in ensuring the network worked as smooth as possible. Great communication and analysis tools throughout 1 think many founding and new members saw the network’s strength here and actually how depots supported each other to deliver for all our customers.”
Further to the challenges presented by COVID-19, Kings Transport Services Ltd was also forced to take a closer look at recruitment and talent management with respect to driver shortages reported across the industry. Through pushing a recruitment drive forward and making a conscious effort to look after existing drivers, the firm has been able to raise awareness of careers within the field, draw in talent, and ultimately hold onto it. With reference to the treatment of existing drivers, this has incorporated reviews of packages, working practices, and working environments so as best to position the company as an employer of choice. Further efforts have also been made to foster a team-oriented culture within the company to support the delivery of excellent services.
Recruitment challenges were exacerbated further due to the need for rapid expansion in response to the surging demand for transport and warehousing services, but this also came with its own host of issues. To maintain quality standards and stay true to the identity of the company, Kings Transport Services Ltd has taken a closer look at its processes and procedures, has increased auditing and automation across many areas, and done its utmost to involve team members at every level of the company in these changes. Seemingly, this has been received positively by operatives across the company, with Kings Transport Services Ltd nodding towards their loyalty and flexibility.
Going forward, we do expect to see Kings Transport Services Ltd continuing to invest into the business and striving for the highest standards possible. Recent service diversifications see Kings Transport Service Ltd becoming an approved Border Force ETSF facility. All sea freight consignments must be cleared through Customs if arriving from outside of the UK. The goods must be Customs cleared by an approved representative at the port of entry/departure or at an inland approved depot. Kings Transport Services Ltd is the approved inland depot for Tilbury Docks, Felixstowe and the Thames River Ports. Steve King, former CEO said, “We face an ever-more challenging business environment now and need the renewed energy to get out in front of events and shape them. This means we have to be bolder and more creative than ever.” He calls for the staff to be “life-long students” and the requirement to continually leam. With the service diversification and investment and innovation in the team and services, we can only expect to see good
things for Kings Transport Services Ltd.
The original article by Transport & Logistics can be found here.
