Launceston based logistics firm, Intercounty Distribution, has continued to invest in business growth in spite of Covid-19.
Intercounty, an owned operation of Pall-Ex (UK) Ltd, provides quality palletised freight, general haulage and full load solutions to businesses throughout Cornwall and the South West, with the ability to deliver pallets across the UK and Europe via the multi-award-winning Pall-Ex network.
The first of its latest investments saw the business welcome a new General Manager in February 2020.
Stewart Cawte previously owned a high-end plastics business and had been a long-standing customer of Intercounty before selling his share in September 2019.
With his background in e-commerce and manufacturing, he brings with him a fresh approach to the more traditional logistics industry.
Since taking on the role early this year, Stewart has faced a challenging start to his tenure with Intercounty, thanks to the emergence of Covid-19.
In spite of this, Intercounty has remained fully operational throughout and has, in fact, seen business growth since Stewart’s arrival.
Reflecting on his first few months in charge and the successes that this has brought, Stewart comments:
“The last year or so has been a bit of a whirlwind really, having gone from selling my business to now managing Intercounty, having worked with the team here closely for years.
“It has certainly been a challenge but it is one that I am proud to say the whole team and I have risen to and our performance has reflected our dedication and hard work in recent months.
“I feel I am in a good position to lead the team forward, as I understand the challenges businesses face in the South West and therefore the solutions they need, having been a business owner myself.
"We are always looking at how we can provide innovative, quality solutions for our customers and help their business to grow.”
In addition to Stewart’s arrival, the business has also welcomed two new members to the team.
Derren Estall is Intercounty’s new Operations Manager and Luke Stonehouse joins as the company’s new Business Development Manager (BDM).
Derren, originally from Essex, has an abundance of industry knowledge, having driven trucks since 1992, primarily dealing with automotive transport throughout Europe and he has held various transport management roles in recent years.
One such role saw him oversee a fleet of over 150 vehicles and everything associated with them, including maintenance and the teams involved in this.
After moving to the South West in February 2020, Derren was excited to move away from automotive transport and enter the world of general haulage and palletised freight distribution.
Joining the team in February, he and Stewart were immediately faced with the challenges brought about by Covid-19.
Speaking about his time with Intercounty so far, Derren said:
“The first few months were really challenging, as we had to ensure any decisions we made would protect the business.
“Thankfully the actions we took put us in a good place and we are now seeing really positive results.”
When asked about how he had settled in, Derren commented:
“I’m really enjoying working with everyone here. In a way, Covid-19 helped bond us and we are all working well together.
"The experience I have in logistics, combined with Stewart’s e-commerce background is proving to be a successful combination!”
Finally, the most recent addition to the team is the new BDM, Luke.
He has a wealth of knowledge of the business to business (B2B) industry and this is aided by brilliant knowledge of the region, having covered the area for a number of years, something that helped him fend off over 100 other applicants for the newly created role.
As the new BDM for Intercounty, his responsibilities will centre around cultivating relationships with new customers and strengthening existing customer relations.
This is an exciting appointment for both Intercounty and Luke and the salesman has explained how he is looking forward to boosting business for the Pall-Ex owned-operation.
He says; “I am really excited to get my teeth into the role at Intercounty.
“I have a background in B2B sales, and I enjoy working with customers to build bespoke solutions to suit their needs, helping their business to exceed.
Since joining the team in mid-October, I can already see that everyone shares a fantastic work-ethic and drive to support our customers which is great to see.”
This raft of new arrivals signifies not only Intercounty’s ambition and commitment to growth, but it once again highlights Pall-Ex UK’s continual investment in the Launceston-based business and the South West region.
Speaking about the new arrivals, Pall-Ex UK’s Director of Owned Operations, Colin Hawkins, comments:
“Since Stewart’s arrival earlier in the year, we have seen a renewed level of consistency, attention to detail and an overall improvement in the business.
“Now, as Intercounty welcomes Derren and Luke to the team, this further strengthens the excellent team we have in Launceston and I have no doubt that the business will continue to go from strength to strength and become the quality logistics partner of choice for business throughout the region.”
Intercounty Distribution Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pall-Ex (UK) Ltd and works as part of the Pall-Ex network to deliver high-quality and cost-effective palletised freight solutions to businesses throughout the South West region.
Based in Launceston, Cornwall, Intercounty Distribution Limited provides a gateway to business looking to send palletised freight locally, nationally or even Internationally, thanks to its membership of the award-winning Pall-Ex Group, made up of over 160 specially selected haulage experts from across the UK.
For more information about Intercounty Distribution Ltd, please visit https://www.intercountydistribution.com/.