Opportunities with Heavy Haulage - High-risk but High-reward Delivery Work

Engaging in delivery work involving heavy loads is very challenging—not every haulage company can take on such highly demanding jobs. Yet, the rewards are well worth all the effort and investment—in an economic climate that is increasingly becoming fiercely competitive, the only way for a hauler to stand out is by taking great risks.

Differentiation Matters

In the UK, it’s fairly easy to work in the transport industry these days: fill out the necessary forms, get the basic equipment and licences and, more often than not, you’re good to go. But there’s the rub: the barrier to access can be easily hurdled, resulting in a glut of companies carrying out delivery work that are almost indistinguishable from one another. As in other fields, differentiation—the strategy of providing services or products that are ‘different’ from those offered by the majority—holds the key to business success. The same goes with haulage: taking on the more challenging heavy haulage jobs differentiates your company from the rest.

Higher Profit Margins

Companies that take on delivery work involving very heavy cargo assume a higher kind of risk than that of other transport companies. That’s why these companies can charge higher fees. Heavy haulers also have to make considerable investments: the vehicles needed to do this kind of job are often 18-wheeler behemoths that not only require maintenance costs of the same enormous magnitude, but also entail high insurance coverage (not to mention the extra technological efforts needed to ensure the heavy loads are absolutely secured and safe). However, the profit margins are quite acceptable in the long run. This is so because not many haulers are willing to move heavy items, such as aircraft bodies, generators, and other similar expensive goods. The few that actually rise to meet the demand can ask a higher price and they also end up striking some sort of regular partnership with their clients.

A Big Fish in a Small Pond

Because heavy haulage is not exactly something that every Tom, Dick and Harry would happily engage in, this specific, highly specialised industry can still be largely considered a ‘blue ocean’ area—not very saturated, and with few players to contend with. Getting this kind of delivery work—if you play your cards right—means you will have a greater chance of getting noticed, especially by the big clients. You won’t sink amid the hundreds of small players who are often scraping the bottom of the barrel. In fact, industry analysts in the UK who have been closely following developments in this field project nothing but an upward trend in terms of demand for the services of heavy haulers. Manufacturers and other large corporations will want to drive the costs of transporting their goods further down, and the best way to do so is by making every trip is as full as possible—but only if safety is assured. Therefore, for heavy haulage companies, the foreseeable future stays bright.

Norman Dulwich is a Correspondent for Haulage Exchange, the leading online trade network for the road transport industry across the UK and Europe. It provides services for matching delivery work and to buy and sell road transport and haulage work in the domestic and international markets.

Writer and Online Marketing Manager in London.