Suffolk A14 haulage firm brothers eye major growth

Bacton Transport, based at Woolpit, is a third generation business owned and run by brothers Charles and Edward Downie. They also have a site in Nottingham and a support 10.000sq ft warehouse at Haughley Park.

Charles is the firm's managing director while younger brother Edward is a director.

Its 85-strong fleet of orange liveried lorries are a familiar sight on Suffolk's roads and deliver 2,000 tonnes of industrial and consumer goods to destinations across the UK every day.

From small beginnings on a family farm in Bacton in 1932,  the firm now employs 153 people and is growing rapidly.

Last year, it enjoyed a turnover of £20.4m, and a pre-tax profit of £600k - earning it a place in the Suffolk Top 100 Businesses list. Turnover grew from £17m in 2021 from £13.8m in 2020.

The business has been growing strongly after moving from the Tomo Industrial Estate in Stowmarket to its new £3.5m purpose-built base at Lawn Farm Business Centre in Woolpit in 2021 - during the pandemic.

The business began when the brothers' grandfather, Thomas Woodward Gooderham started a cartage business by purchasing a lorry and began carting milk churns between local farms and the creamery in Stowmarket under contract with the Milk Marketing Board.

Family legend has it that the diversification came about because Tom didn't seen eye-to-eye with his own father, as well as wanting to spread his wings.  

"It was a difficult time in agriculture coming on the back of the Great Depression and there was a collapse in agriculture globally," explained Charles.

The same lorry went on to serve as a troop carrier for the Home Guard during World War 2 and was only finally replaced in 1953.

Tom became a very early member of industry trade body the Road Haulage Association - which successfully averted a post-war government plan to nationalise the transport industry.

The business was passed down to James Downie - Tom's son-in-law - in 1959. James was descended from Scottish farmers who came down to England and farmed at Mendlesham.

James - known as Jimmy - met Charles and Edward's mother, Rosemary, at a Young Farmers' social and they tied the knot in 1959. Tragically, that same year Tom was killed in a farm accident during the harvest season - which was how Jimmy came to run the business.

"It was completely unexpected. He would have been 24. It would have been quite a responsibility to assume at the time," explained Charles.

The couple had three children - Charles, Edward and Elizabeth.

"Back in the 60s it was still largely an agricultural haulage business but then it began to grow into container transport in the 1970s with the growth of the Port of Felixstowe," said Charles.

Throughout the 1960s and 70s the business grew rapidly - transporting a broad spectrum from livestock to container transport.

By the time Edward Downie joined the business in 1993, the fleet was 30-strong.

During the 2000s, the company moved to more specialised contract distribution, serving  supermarket and horticultural retailers and pallet networks.

Charles joined in 2004 after 20 years working in senior transport roles at DHL/Securicor - previously Russell Davies - in Felixstowe.

He learnt "a great deal" from the company's founders - Glynn Davies and Ron Davies.

"They were the most entrepreneurial, fastest-growing company in the container transport sector at the time," he said.

"I was quite lucky along the way. Russell Davies was the first private sector company to form a joint venture with Freightliner - part of British Rail," he said. "That became a very, very successful joint enterprise which drove a lot of the growth."

When he left what was then DHL, Charles took some time to consider his next move - but decided to join the family business.

Jimmy, was still MD, and Edward had been there for 10 years. They were employing around 30 to 40 people and turnover was around £6m. Jimmy later took a back seat and died in 2019.

"We sat down and I remember saying to them what we do is great. There's a strong brand here, the customer loyalty is very good, the service we give customers is excellent - we just don't do enough of it," recalled Charles.

"When all is said and done this industry is a marginal business so knowing your numbers is very critical."

He has used the bank of knowledge - including financial discipline - he accumulated from his many years working for the industry's big players to help the business grow.

"We took the view that to build a successful company in this industry initially it was going to be about organic growth," he explained.

It was already a strong brand - built up over 90 years. They wanted a new home - and after a long and difficult search stretching over six years they found the ideal location at Woolpit in 2018.

The four acre site is owned by Craig Smith, grandson of Woolpit Business Parks chairman Bob Baker of R & P Baker. 

The company worked closely with the developer to get the high quality base they were seeking and moved into their new home in July 2021.

"We went out of our way to create the very best we could afford and we wanted to create something that was above expectations of what this industry is," said Charles. 

"We wanted to get away and just elevate everybody's impression of what a road haulage company should look like."

They wanted to change the dynamic and create an open and airy space where drivers could interact with admin staff in a better way - so they focused on creating an open-plan design. The haulage industry is "fundamentally a people business", said Charles.

It was a period when the UK was still in and out of lockdown - but the industry was designated as an essential service.

UK-wide the haulage industry was suffering from a lack of drivers and while the company didn't struggle to retain its own workforce - which stayed loyal - it meant expanding the business was a challenge.

However, in order to keep up with big wage hikes, the company did increase pay by about 20% between 2020 and 2021.

There was huge disruption to the supply chain - and massive delays as containers got stuck in the wrong places.

"It was an interesting time because customers recognised they needed to do something to secure the resource for the autumn/winter," he said.

"So we did see a big increase in prices and rates but it created a little bit of a bubble and last year and this year the story has been really about how that bubble across the industry has deflated."

Things have stabilised since, said Charles, which has meant that the business can continue with its expansion plans. With the arrival of Edward’s son, Tommy, it is now a the fourth generation business.

"We are very lucky in that we have a fantastic team," said Charles. "One of the first rules of business is to surround yourself with great people and that's something we had to think about a lot in our early years. 

"We have never been reluctant to invest in our people here and I feel very fortunate now to have a very strong team."