Palletline expansion

Staff learn by email that chief executive Dwain McDonald dismissed ‘with immediate effect’ DPD boss leaves after ‘internal investigation’

DPD chief executive Dwain McDonald (pictured) has been dismissed with “immediate effect” after an “internal investigation”, according to an email to staff.

McDonald’s dismissal was revealed on Monday 29 March by Yves Delmas, DPD Europe’s chief operating officer.

A DPD spokesman has since confirmed the news to MT, adding that Delmas will be taking over as interim chief executive until a permanent replacement is found.

In January, DPD was forced to suspend its parcel deliveries to Europe as it struggled to cope with the fallout from new post-Brexit customs requirements.

The company suspended its Classic European Road Service to Europe after being forced to manually process thousands of parcels that had been returned to senders due to missing customs data. DPD estimated at least 20% of all parcels processed by the service had been returned.

DPD also faced challenges with the UK government’s New Computerised Transit System (NCTS), which it said had failed to “meet the company’s needs”.

The company said at the time it had worked around the clock with government and customs officials and the NCTS team to sort out the problems.

McDonald, 54, worked for DPD for 33 years, joining as a 22-yearold salesman in 1988. He became chief executive in 2008.

DPD has launched many ‘industry firsts’ during his tenure including its Predict one-hour delivery window service, real-time driver tracking service FollowMyParcel, Precise which allows customers to choose their own delivery window, and the YourDPD delivery app.

UPN hails six additions for Euro ambitions

UPN has welcomed six new hauliers into its network, plus a partnership agreement with Francebased Euro Channel Logistics.

The new members are JDE Logistics near Tunbridge Wells; Pallet Delivery Services in Hertfordshire; Chester Le Street’s Logistics North East; Express Transport (UK) in Guildford; Maidenhead-based 737 Logistics; and Runcorn’s WS Transportation.

UPN MD David Brown said the new additions will provide “valuable extra support” as it grows the business over the next five years.

The network has also struck an agreement with Euro Channel Logistics in Dieppe, which has a UK sales office in Newhaven.

UPN regional director Mark Drobka said: “This new agreement will ensure we provide the best possible European services to both UPN members and service users.”

UPN also hailed the “significant progress” it made last year, after turnover grew by almost 4% to £9.9m.

The pallet network also saw a reduction in its pre-tax profit for the year ending 31 March 2020, to £2.4m from £3.4m in 2019.

However, it said that when adjusting for duplicated costs across two sites, dilapidation costs at its old site and move costs associated with its new Lichfield SmartHUB in May last year, it had turned in “an excellent performance”.

Focus delivers rewards for Eddie Stobart parent

The holding company for Eddie Stobart saw revenues increase by 2% for the year ending 30 November 2020, to £874.3m.

GreenWhiteStar Acquisitions (GWSA), which as well as Eddie Stobart also includes Eddie Stobart Europe, iForce, The Pallet Network, Logistics People and an investment in Speedy Freight, said underlying EBITDA profit during the period was £47.8m, compared with £4.2m the previous year. Changes in accounting standards – IFRS 16 – further increased its underlying EBITDA profit to £145.5m.

In its review, GWSA’s minority investor, Logistics Development Group (LDG), said it was supportive of measures that had streamlined and refocused the business. LDG added: “GWSA Group performance has exceeded our expectations and the business is well placed to continue to benefit from the increasing growth in e-commerce and a wider appreciation of the importance of the supply chain.”

The results came as Eddie Stobart began advertising for Class 1 drivers in the North West, as well as in Doncaster – where its Twitter feed said they were needed “to support a new contract with one of the UK’s major leading retailers”.

Dawsongroup promotes duo

Dawsongroup truck and trailer has promoted two senior managers to director level following “consistently impressive results”.

James Gysin (pictured top) has been appointed contracts director from his previous role as general manager for national and key accounts.

Gysin began at Dawsongroup in 1994 as a branch sales manager, but within 18 months was running its Milton Keynes branch and went on to deliver 20 years of growth to make it the leasing and contract hirer’s largest location.

Meanwhile, Nick McGowan (pictured bottom) moves from head of operations to operations director. He joined in 2011 and increased turnover by 100% as branch sales manager in Manchester.

Latterly, his responsibilities included customer fulfilment, service delivery and operating procedure across Dawsongroup’s nationwide network.