Whites Transport Ltd have been supplying road haulage services to customers across the UK and Europe for over 63 years. Our close proximity to London, befits our customer base, delivering to businesses in London and the surrounding area. Our fleet consists of 27 vehicles, ranging from rigid vehicles, to 44,000kg articulated vehicles and HIABs. We provide FORS compliant deliveries, transhipment, cross docking, storage and load consolidation.
Whites Transport Ltd is Based in Ramsgate. Our customer base ranges from manufacturing and construction materials to fresh produce. I’m Jonathan White Operations Director and the third generation of the family running the business.
We have been successful in reducing our emissions with a 26.7% reduction in CO², a 32% reduction in NOx and a 33% reduction PM10. Our safety record has improved by 50%.
Following a request from one of our customers in 2011, we began investigating FORS membership. As an ISO 9001 certified company, we have always focussed on quality standards, and are constantly looking for ways to improve our safety standards and quality of service. The systems offered and encouraged by FORS were an obvious choice for us.
Our first Bronze audit was successful. The experience of preparing the audit and the Bronze audit itself identified improvements in our operation. This development has been sustained through the use of the FORS Toolkits and the various eLearning modules available to our managers and supporting staff.
Since achieving Bronze accreditation, we have benefitted through pre-qualification in requests for tender with companies such as DSJV (Cross rail project), ATC, Thames Tideway and Hs2, where FORS membership is a contractual requirement for all suppliers.
FORS introduced a new way of looking at the business with the initial Bronze focus on compliance. The progression to silver focused our attention on the safe and efficient running of our fleet. FORS together with our, fuel management system, all round vehicle cameras, fleet replacement policy and clear management made it a simple choice to progress to the Gold Standard.
Being a Gold accredited member, the emphasis is on change that benefits the environment. FORS has provided us with guidance and support to not only look at our vehicles and driver behaviour but to look at our surroundings and operating centre. This has energised our business to promote initiatives that are environmentally friendly.
We have benefitted from our membership in many ways, we have used the resources provided by FORS to develop our staff. Ensuring that all our drivers checks are correct, all training options via FORS are taken up. The tool box talks available have provided excellent guidance to the drivers with a greater understanding and knowledge of their roles and responsibilities. Logging our fuel usage has helped us to monitor usage and implement changes to reduce emissions. We have reduced our emissions on average by 30%
“The company profile has been significantly raised by being a FORS member. Providing more opportunities for work, expansion and further employment, which has been a very positive experience.” Jonathan White (Operations Director)
“We have control of a very important environmental and business aspect in the monitoring and managing of the fuel. This supports our progression towards the pinnacle of performance.” Jonathan White (Operations Director)
The company have continued to monitor fuel and improve fuel efficiency although the number of travelled kilometres and fuel usage has varied. We are continuing our focus to reduce most of our emissions. Our vehicle incidents are down.
The increased number of kilometres has however shown a 50% decrease per 100,000kms. Our fines and charges have remained stable.
|
|
KPL |
Incidents per 100,000 Kms |
CO2 |
NOx |
PM10 |
Number of PCNs | Proportion of fleet that uses alternative fuels |
| Year 18-19 | 3.62 | 4 | 2148 | 3275 | 57 | 0 | 0% |
| Year 19-20 | 3.04 | 1 | 1935 | 2513 | 44 | 5 | 0% |
| Year 20-21 | 3.27 | 2 | 1573 | 2214 | 38 | 5 | 0% |
| Percentage improvement | 0% | 50% | 26.7% | 32% | 33.3% | 0% | 0% |
Driver health and fitness is an important aspect of the working life of our drivers. We see driver health as an integral part of our drive towards peak performance and the ongoing monitoring of drivers has helped to identify conditions that can be addressed at the earliest opportunity. This supports the drivers in being pro-active towards their own health. We ask the drivers to sign a health and fitness to driver declaration every year and have a very clear policy for health and eyesight. We comply with the Bronze standard of checking eyesight every six months or after an incident.- We have a clear strategy for recruitment of new drivers. Being a family run business everyone works as a team. We advertise on recruitment websites and our own. We advertise at the operating centre and at a local service area to reach out to drivers visiting the area or our centre. We are researching ways to encourage new drivers in to our industry with connections with local development company’s and colleges.
- We have carried out many noise assessments around the vehicle and driver activities. This has identified that the newer fleet have proven to be quieter. We have assessed the noise generated in the work place and have sent a memo to the drivers asking them to keep idling to a minimum and to think about their location for the reduction of noise when entering and exiting the vehicle.
- Modal shift and alternative vehicles – We have upgraded the fleet which are all Euro VI. This is part of our long term strategy to reduce pollution and will be developed further with our research into modal shift and alternative fuels.
Achieving and maintaining Gold accreditation, we feel, underlines our commitment to the scheme as well as providing a Gold service to our valued customer base. We want to be pro-active in the reduction of pollution within our business and fleet. Noise reduction and emissions in our industry has its challenges, but we are determined to be a part of the solution. This has started with our modern fleet and our Gold Standard.
We have over the years of membership promoted FORS through signage on our vehicles, our letter heads, email footers and supported for local youth sport.
Whites Transport Ltd is proud to sponsor:
- Thanet Road Club“Go-Ride” series
- TRC Juniorrace team
- EKCunder 11s football team
- Herne Bay Harriersunder 11s football team
Our journey started 10 years ago in 2011. We progressed to Silver and Gold in 2018. We realise early in the process how the FORS Standard benefits the Business by promoting best practice and we as a business wanted to demonstrate our quality of operations and compliance. We saw the progression to Gold as the way to do this. This brought new business to our door. We have invested in our staff, facility and systems which allows us to manage the business as a professional and compliant operator. Achieving the Gold accreditation and maintaining it demonstrates our commitment to continuous improvement to safety, environment and our staff.