Run, Forest, run
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Forest Freight has had its ups and downs in recent years, but general manager Sven Keulstra believes the firm is growing strongly and can now see the wood for the trees.
Words: Christopher Walton / Images: Graham Richardson WHEN CM ARRIVED at Forest Freight's HQ in Rainham. Essex, there had been an unfortunate incident with the front door: it had fallen off its hinges. But never judge a book by its cover: once the interview had been concluded, the door was fixed and working again.
A quick turnaround is something Forest Freight specialises in and it is best we leave the story in the capable hands of general manager Sven Keulstra: "A change started here about six years ago when the former general manager left the company; the transport manager went; the general manager went; and the operations manager left.
"I am not going to go into details about why, but it is still affecting us now. The company almost went bust until the chairman put money into it," he says.
Overcoming obstacles So the challenge in the recent past has been to turn the company. and its reputation, around. Keulstra says the firm had developed a somewhat derogatory nickname that cannot be published in a family magazine, but he insists the challenges of the past six years have been worth it.
"Myself and my colleagues formed a new management team and filled all the gaps that were left behind. The three of us said we were not giving up and we started to work on rebuilding the company, and with that came a lot of sweat, tears and sleepless nights, but the bond started to build quite strongly. For those of us who went through that pe nod, not a single problem is too big for us We can handle everything. We have a lot of respect for each other."
But how did Keulstra end up at Forest Freight? He says that he is, by trade, a teacher and was not brought up in transport at all — although he has not been scared to muck in, having started at the firm 13 years ago "sweeping the floors" and "answering the phones".
He is proud to say that, to this day, if a vehicle needs unloading quickly, he will get stuck in and help.
Trustworthy employees
Timing around the reputation, and culture of the company has been an exercise in teamwork and he brings this approach to management: "The one thing I want to do is for everyone to come to work with a smile on their face and leave with a smile on their face. I have changed people's positions, moving some from traffic to sales for example, and only two people have left the office in the past six years. Other than that, we still have all the same people.
"On the drivers' side, at least 854)/0 are still here from six years ago. Yes, we have drivers leaving, but they quickly realise where they were is not that bad," he says.
Keulstra says he has had to deal with rumours from his rivals throughout the recession that the firm has gone bust, but he insists 2009 was a strong year for the firm and if he could repeat the year's financial performance, he would "take a recession year every year". Results for 2009 are yet to be filed at Companies House, hut in 2008 sales fell slightly from £8m in 2007 to £7.9m and a pre-tax profit of £109,128 in 2007 turned into a loss of £106,720.
Forest Freight runs five vans, two 7.5-tonners, 29 17-tonners and 31 at-tics, plus another three artics and eight 17-tonners at its depot near Pontefract, West Yorkshire, Still, Keulstra is bullish about the firm's performance in 2009: "Last year, in September, we had a record-breaking month. In one month we did more than 4,500 deliveries for one customer [Clearex] and that is immense. I cannot ask any more of my staff than that. They were working non-stop, day in, day out, for four weeks."
Clearex is a customer Keulstra is particularly proud of. He says the account is Forest Freight's largest and it was won when he was cold-calling potential clients: "I think the MD was so fed up of me calling that he just gave me the job." he jokes.
Keeping a busy schedule
"It has grown from an 800-pallets-ayear customer seven years ago, to 1.8 million last year. For a groupage customer that is absolutely immense because of the amount of work, people and man hours involved. On certain days, particularly in September, we had 80% of our vehicles running around with their products on."
He concedes that this was a risky move and that you cannot run a business by putting all your eggs in one basket, but the deal is delivering for both parties: "If you mention Clearex to other hauliers, they would not touch it because it is very, very demanding, but we seemed to cope quite well with it. Of those 4500 deliveries we did in September. I think we had five mistakes and the rest were spot on.
Running Forest Freight today for Keulstra is a question of control. He says at one point the company became too big and "we did not know what we were doing".
One lesson learned in the past six years was that "having more vehicles did not make you more money" — he believes that by making the firm smaller, he can run the company more efficiently.
"After the old management left, people were [derogatory about us] but in the past few years we have won some customers back on merit because people are hearing good stories about us. In a recession year we have not failed them and that is a good thing. I think the name Forest Freight is going up the ladder."