WH Malcolm looks for rail growth

Established Scottish haulier WH Malcolm has been using rail for 16 years, and says it aims to continue these operations and expand where sensible to do so.

Rail Development Manager John Holwell said: “The recession [of 2008] hit us, but traffic has slowly built back up again, although it’s plateaued of late. But we are still getting new customers. Traffic is steady.”

WH Malcolm, which operates the DIRFT1 site at Daventry for Prologis, says it is pleased with the performance of its train operator DB Cargo, which took over its rail haulage from Direct Rail Services four years ago.

“DB has been very reliable of late,” Holwell said. “It has a good commercial understanding and is flexible to our needs. It helps that it also operates the Mossend terminal.”

WH Malcom runs two trains in each direction along the West Coast Main Line serving Grangemouth and five serving Mossend. Holwell added: “The 1900 departure from Daventry arrives at Mossend at 0200, and that gives us good early delivery options across the Central Belt of Scotland.”

DB Cargo Head of Intermodal David Cross added: “We are co-operating with Malcolms on a Teesport-Mossend/Grangemouth operation as well.”

Cross said Teesport has deep and short sea containers, so the boxes come in all sizes (20ft, 30ft, 40ft and 45ft), which “is a challenge to wagon utilisation”.

However, both WH Malcolm and DB believe they are winning the battle for intermodal. “I’ve noticed a definite reduction in the number of road hauliers moving containers to Scotland,” said Holwell.

Cross added: “We might look to retime the train [from Teesside] to give an earlier arrival in Scotland to make it more competitive.”

On how DB Cargo is filling the void left by the loss of coal traffic, Cross added: “Coal was the lifeblood, so we must look for new opportunities. And intermodal offers that, especially from Europe, and now, China.”