Who are Royal Mail?
Royal Mail are a globally famous brand. The UK’s biggest delivery company with 10,500 branches across the country. In 2021 they delivered over 11 billion letters and parcels (https://www.statista.com/statistics/1006816/royal-mailvolume-of-parcels-and-letters-delivered-uk/) to the 29 million homes across the UK. (Which is roughly 380 per
household.) Our relationship with them goes back over 20 years. Mostly with our imports team, bringing delivery bags into the UK from countries like South Korea and Canada. But often, as part of their continued investment in efficiency,
we are asked to complete a special project. A job which requires our unique expertise and service.
The Challenge
Most recently in March 2021, we were contacted as 2 new £2 million automated sorting machines needed to move in 35 separate containers from Texas, USA to Slough, UK before being assembled on site.
Our import customer success expert Harry Webster was assigned as the dedicated point of contact for Royal Mail throughout the shipment. As is customary for all our white glove projects, giving the client a single person to contact for any queries, removing inefficiencies which crop up elsewhere.
As the deal was completed on Ex-Works Incoterms (What Incoterms are Best Suited to Your Business? (wtagroup.com)), WTA UK had responsibility of every single aspect of the complex project.
For this job, the biggest challenge was timing. Royal Mail needed to contract the right staff on site for each delivery day in Slough, containers arriving on time (to the exact day) and in the correct order was fundamental.
Tricky, at a time when global supply chain disruption was at unprecedented levels. 20% of the worlds Bulker fleet was waiting at ports (2021 Port Congestion Report | Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide), the UK was 100,000 HGV drivers short (HGV driver shortage eases as hauliers return to workforce | News | The Grocer) plus, the global economy was still negotiating COVID-19. It is hard to imagine more challenging market conditions to execute a project like this.
How was this achieved at a time when logistical disruption was unavoidable?
A combination of planning and experience.
Harry used the weeks before the movement to map out the route of each individual container. Including the dates and requirements of any necessary loading, road haulage and sea freight bookings.
All our bookings are made with best-in-class providers, who are dependable and equally experienced and who we trust greatly. Extra complexity around loading the containers was identified early (forklifts were too small to lift the cargo) and necessary mitigations made. Procedures were also put in place to ensure the consignment remained bone dry on route, at the request of
the client.
As the single point of contact, Harry was able to keep Royal Mail continually updated on developments. This level of detail and transparency was paramount for them, with £4 million invested in the cargo. It could only be achieved with forensic planning, organisation, and with that dedicated point of contact who had every detail. All of which WTA Group provides for every specialist project we undertake.
The strength of our relationship with partners on both sides of the Atlantic meant that all critical junctions along the journey were met and with our dedicated teams in both the UK and USA, no customs clearance delays were experienced.
Across July 2021, all 35 containers arrived in Slough on the days allocated, meaning the machine could be fully assembled and sorting letters by October 2021. There were no wasted days for staff contracted in by Royal Mail, ensuring their costs remained at a minimum. One of our many bespoke solutions successfully carried out from beginning to end.
“It’s been a pleasure”
- Royal Mail
“I thoroughly enjoyed this project. Service and reliability are fundamental to our customer-centric approach at WTA UK. So, to have successfully undertaken a project where timing and organisation was vital, at a highly turbulent time, is extremely satisfying.”
- Harry Webster, Head of CSM for Sea Freight Imports
Invested in cargo
Containers arrived on time
