One of the UK’s largest independent freight forwarders has a thriving base in Seaham with a global list of clients and an impressive reputation. Kay Wilson reports.

THE statistics for Woodland Group are an indication of its substantial financial strength and give insight into what makes the company a market leader.

From its inception by Kevin Stevens, who is still chairman and CEO, in Essex in 1988, Woodland Group now employs 700 staff and has a £140m turnover with one of the most impressive figures of all – a 96 per cent customer retention rate. Many of their first customers in the North-East are still clients today.

Peter Wilkinson, northern regional manager of Woodland Group, joined the business at its Seaham office as a trainee office administrator 21 years ago and has since risen through the ranks to lead the team operating out of County Durham.

The business is growing at significant pace, so much so that in the last four months, Woodland have opened facilities in Leeds to exploit the growing Yorkshire market place.

For a group whose entire company DNA is based on supporting customers through providing the best logistics solutions to help their businesses grow, Brexit would appear to be a difficult scenario but Woodland Group has taken a pragmatic and positive attitude to it.

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Mr Wilkinson explains: “We knew we had to be on the front foot with Brexit to enable our business to continue to operate effectively, so we did a number of things to support this. As well as being North East England Chamber of Commerce Global members, we also worked to get Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) status. This quality mark will be a significant help post Brexit to move goods around Europe more fluently once we leave the EU, no matter what trade deal is negotiated.”

One of the key approaches of Woodland Group is personal customer service to provide bespoke solutions for their clients and this has extended to Brexit in particular. Mr Wilkinson says they are working closely with all their clients to ensure they are as prepared as possible, so they can continue to operate seamlessly around the new arrangements post-Brexit

He says: “We see being an AEO in particular as a significant way to reduce risk to us and our customers and a way of demonstrating to our customers that we are showing due diligence. By being proactive, we are also helping to protect their businesses.”

Like many logistics organisations, Woodland Group have a significant amount of trade going in and out of the EU.

“At present, we have around 65 per cent of our tonnage going from the North-East to the EU with our next biggest destination the United States, followed by the Far East,” says Mr Wilkinson. “The total from Seaham is 15,000 exports in the form of 27m kilos.”

The Seaham team is supported by Woodland Group-owned offices around the world with seven in the USA, eight in the UK, two in Ireland and one in Hong Kong, alongside a network spanning the globe.

The strength of the business is also down to staff retention with Mr Wilkinson’s long track record matched by a number of his team at Seaham. He stressed, however, that new colleagues were always welcome, to build on the existing knowledge and bring in new ideas, helping to ensure the business successfully improves continuously.

He says: “We handle a diverse range of goods with everything from merchandise, power tools, pumps to car fittings and specialise in a number of industries. This has stood us in good stead as we are adaptable and always fit in with our customer’s needs, no matter how unusual the product that needs to be shipped.

“One perfect example of this was delivering all the teams’ vehicles of the FIA World Rallycross Championship around the world.”

In terms of future potential growth, he said the automotive sector was one particular marketplace of interest.

Supporting him in business development is Dan Cammish who also has an extensive track record in logistics. He has worked at Woodland Group for two years and says the company’s strength is the positive culture where everyone pulls together, with a flat management structure.

Mr Wilkinson says: “There are couple of challenges for us such as potential skills shortages in our sector but we are tackling this with trainee schemes to support areas such as customer services.

“I’m proud to say that we have a high turnover of sales through introductions and recommendations from existing customers. Our vision and differentiation is that we are easy to do business with and it might sound trite but it is fundamental to our approach. We have built Woodland Group on always giving the very best personal service we can.”

In association with the North East England Chamber of Commerce