With the first half of the year nearly drawing to a close, we’re reflecting on what we’ve achieved so far in 2019 and what we want to achieve in the second half of the year.

Firstly, can anyone quite believe it’s JUNE?! It feels like Christmas was only a few weeks ago…

It’s been an eventful year already for a vast majority of industries across the UK (we won’t mention the B word!), and the transport sector has been no different. With an unusually busy January, February and March, and a quieter April, May and June compared to previous years, it’s hard to determine what will happen next.

However, at Chadkirk Transport, we’ve been working hard to continue our success, even through these tougher periods.

So, what have we achieved already this year?

We turned 10! In April 2009, Rhys Fildes, Managing Director and Founder, started Chadkirk Transport as one man and a van. Now, 10 years on, we have 12 vehicles, 12 full-time staff and an array of part-time drivers!

Sign written our first truck. After rebranding our Company last year, we decided it was finally time for us to have sign written curtains printed for one of our 18 tonne trucks. This year, we want to focus on raising awareness of our brand and this has helped us do just that.

Bought a new 7.5tonne truck. With the new ULEZ in London coming into place, we bought another new Euro 6 vehicle which means we now have four in our fleet.

Increased our O Licence. We recently had our application accepted by the Transport Secretary to increase our fleet with two artic trucks – exciting!

Received no fines or charges. Over the years, we have put a lot of time, effort and money into our FORS accreditation, including driver training, with one of our focuses being to reduce our fines and charges. Not only have we ‘reduced’ them, we actually have a clean sheet for 2019 so far! Let’s keep it going drivers…

Our revenue for this year is already 50% of last year’s with another two weeks still to go! We’ve worked extremely hard recently on widening our customer base through our rebranding, launching a new website and focusing on improving our services and it’s great to see our hard work is paying off. From 2016 to 2018, our turnover increased 40%, and we’re determined to get this figure higher by the end of this year.

What’s to come?

Buy two Artic trucks. With our Operator’s Licence now allowing us to increase our fleet with two artic trucks, we are now determined to expand our artic work with an aim to have an two in our fleet by the end of the year! No pressure…

FORS Silver accreditation. With our annual audit due in September, we will be working on our application over the next couple of months to prove we are still up to the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme’s standards.

Sign write more trucks. Not only do we want to have more of our vehicle’s sign written on their curtains, we are also planning to have the cabs of our trucks completed.

Develop our ADR customer base. As a business, we’re keen to continuously develop our Company and team members and therefore last year we expanded our services into the ADR market. This year, we want to focus on developing our customer base further and begin looking for more regular contracted work in this field.

Driver training and safety. We’ve always been committed to investing in our people to grow their skills, and this year will be no different. We are currently putting one of our team members through their Class 1 Licence and after recently taking on another Class 2 driver who has little experience, we are putting a lot of effort in to make sure he is properly trained and feels confident out on the road.

Watch this space!