February 2008

New Year Brings New Customers and Additional Business To ECM

Following competitive tendering exercises with Ford's Premier Automotive Group and BMW in 2007, ECM made a roaring start to 2008 with new undertakings on behalf of BMW, Land Rover and Jaguar.

Commenting on the new business awards, M.D. Ray Mac Dowall said, "It is a fantastic experience to be told that the company I represent has been selected to supply finished vehicle transportation for three of the worlds top Marques and we are delighted at the prospect of sharing in the future success of these prestigious brands.

I am particularly delighted for all of our committed staff and drivers who work so enthusiastically and diligently to ensure that ECM continues to produce the best quality and service levels in the industry. These new business awards together with the loyalty of existing long-standing customers are the reward for all their hard work".

Both BMW and Jaguar are new Marques joining the expanding portfolio of ECM's customer base and the award of an additional export route from Land Rover more than doubles this manufacturer's commitment of export volume to ECM.

ECM wins Renault distribution contract as supplier to C.A.T.

Following a hard fought tendering process for the distribution of Renault cars from CAT's Northern UK Import Centre at Teesport, ECM is delighted to announce its success in being appointed as CAT's carrier for two major distribution regions.

Having enjoyed many years working for CAT out of Teesport on an ad-hoc basis, ECM is extremely pleased to be part of CAT's initiative to formalise their supplier relationships by awarding ECM the contract for two strategic and important northern distribution areas.

January 2007

ECM wins contract with Toyota (GB) PLC

ECM (vehicle delivery service) Ltd, the UK’s largest privately owned vehicle delivery company, has just increased its presence in the vehicle logistics market by winning a major two year contract for the distribution of c85,000 new cars p.a. with Toyota (GB) PLC.

The new undertaking, which was determined jointly by Toyota GB’s Lean Operations and Vehicle Logistics teams, commenced on January 1st. The Toyota GB business award, which comes in addition to the renewal of an existing contract between ECM and Toyota Motor Europe (TME) for the delivery of export cars from the Derby plant to UK ports adds new synergies to the ECM vehicle logistics network.

ECM’s Managing Director, Ray Mac Dowall, said the Toyota GB contract which encompasses the Toyota and Lexus brands has the very highest service level expectations and to be selected for such a prestigious contract makes this is a very proud moment for the company.

Under the terms of its agreement with Toyota GB, ECM will be responsible for delivery of all new and used Toyota and Lexus models from Toyota’s manufacturing facility at Burnaston near Derby and its main import centre at Porbury, Bristol, to Toyota and Lexus retailers in Northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

In order to service the contract ECM has augmented its national fleet network of 325 transporters by purchasing 40 new Transporter Engineering, eleven car capacity, transporters which will be mounted on Volvo and DAF chassis.

November 2006

ECM attains Environmental Standard ISO14001:2004

ECM becomes the first UK carrier to attain the International Environmental Management Standard ISO 14001:2004.

It was a proud moment for the company's management and staff when many months of hard work were rewarded, on 21st November 2006, with ECM's formal accreditation to ISO14001.

The standard assesses ECM's own Environmental Management system against the stringent clauses of ISO14001:2004 to ensure compliance.

The new Environmental Management System encompasses all areas of the business, including workshops, offices and compound operations and focuses on truck utilisation, exhaust emissions, legal compliance, pollution, waste management and recycling.

August 2006

£5m Investment in New Transporters

In keeping with its policy of retaining the most modern fleet in the industry the company placed orders for 32 new transporters for delivery into the fleet between October 2006 and March 2007.

The new, EVO II, 11 car transporters will be supplied by the UK firm Transporter Engineering and will be mounted on to DAF and Volvo tractor units which comply with the latest Euro 4 emission regulations.

July 2006

Record year forecasted for 2006

Despite the current 4% downturn in the volume of new cars registered YTD, ECM has had its busiest ever first half year recording a record 80,000 deliveries in March alone and is forecasting a record year of 870,000 movements.

Whilst some of the volume increase is due to the award of new business with Land Rover, Mazda and Nissan many of our major customers are bucking the downward trend in the market and this is having a positive effect on our business.

March 2006

Gefco announces ECM as its Carrier of the year 2005

In 2005 Gefco the distribution arm of PSA Peugeot Citroen devised new methods of monitoring carrier performance with a view to comparing the damage, delivery, quality and management performance of each of its seven carriers in order to determine one carrier with an overall superlative performance.

In March this year the 2005 results were announced and ECM was declared Gefco Carrier of the Year for 2005.

In response to this prestigious award Ray MacDowall stated that it truly was a magnificent achievement to be judged Best Carrier when measured against all the major UK carriers. He added that this award further demonstrates ECM has the ability to deliver a competitively priced service whilst retaining the high quality standards for which ECM is renowned.

February 2006

Vehicle storage and web-enabled call-offs add new dimension to ECM’s services

In February ECM added vehicle storage and web-based customer communications technology to its services when responding to a request for storage and stock management on behalf of DaimlerChrysler Retail’s Manchester and Birmingham sites.

This new enterprise deploys the latest web portal technology allowing the DaimlerChrysler sites to view the status of their stock via a web portal access into ECM’s powerful vehicle tracking system and to call off vehicles for delivery using the same system.

Managing Director Ray MacDowall, commented, ”Our customers are growing increasingly more desirable of instant access to information about the status of their vehicles and want the ability to directly action movement of their cars remotely without the need for the more conventional modes of communication – I believe this signals the beginning of a new era”.

January 2006

ECM adds three new OEMs to its growing list of customers

ECM got off to a flying start in 2006 with the announcement of three new customer contracts for Mazda, Nissan and Land Rover.

Chairman and Managing Director, Ray MacDowall says, “With OEMs under increasing pressure to reduce cost, at the same time as improving delivery and damage claims performance, 2005 was an extremely busy year for tendering and this created new opportunities for ECM. Winning these new contracts, in such a tough market, demonstrates ECM’s ability to remain cost competitive without compromising on performance”.

ECM will be responsible for delivering c24000 Mazda units imported from Rotterdam into the Humberside port of Killingholme to retailers in the North of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

On behalf of Land Rover and Nissan ECM’s new undertakings involve the timely delivery of export units to the UK ports of exit. The Land Rover routing involves the movement of export units from Land Rover Solihull to the East Coast port of Grimsby and on behalf of Nissan ECM will be responsible for delivering units destined for Southern Ireland from the IBC Luton plant to the quayside at Portbury, Bristol.