BIFA Awards
van, operated by UWL and Cadoxton Primary School, to deliver fresh produce and essentials to families in need. Every Saturday the van served 70-80 families, offering them the freedom to choose their items with a ‘pay-as-you-feel’ system that upheld their dignity. This approach helped many who felt too embarrassed to access traditional food banks.” Now, UWL is looking to expand its community engagement activities in the Barry area dramatically, converting a disused leisure centre to create the Good 2 Base community hub. Council cooperation Cleverdon outlined: “We’re working with the local council to provide an all-in-one service, bringing lots of projects together.” These include Good 2 Eat, which will provide hot meals and company; Good 2 Shop, a similar service to Jeanie’s Food Van; Good 2 Talk, mental health help with a trained psychologist (an initiative that is already running informally); Good 2 Study, which will give schoolchildren access to PCs and books; Good 2 Glow, a barber and hairdressing service; Good 2 Share, where secondhand goods will be available for use; Good 2 Gather, a space where young people can watch films or play games; and Good 2 Sound, which will allow users to express themselves without having to pay music studio fees. UWL’s ambitions extend to the possibility of setting up similar hubs across the UK in the years to come. UK haulage crisis The UK haulage sector is very competitive, Cleverdon said, noting that 526 independent UK hauliers went out of business last year. On top of that, a driver shortage is looming. “Older drivers are retiring, but the younger generation doesn’t view driving as a profession, which is very concerning,” Cleverdon said. “To address this, we actively promote driving as a viable career by introducing young people to the industry, providing training opportunities and supporting career
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Jeanie’s Food Van was so popular that UWL set up a new venture at Cadoxton Primary School. Cadog’s Corner serves hot meals to around 50-60 families per day
UWL guarantees the availability of a vehicle anywhere in the UK and EU within one hour
development.” Proactive approach takes UWL above and beyond
Besides exceeding customer expectations, BIFA Extra Mile Award winner United Worldwide Logistics places great emphasis on community engagement – and it has big plans to take this even further...
“ We’re working with the local council to provide an all-in-one service, bringing lots of projects together – Brian Cleverdon, UWL
A mong the industries that United Worldwide Logistics (UWL) serves is aerospace, which makes up about 15% of the company’s total activity. It offers 24/7 AOG services, guaranteeing the availability of a vehicle anywhere in the UK and EU within one hour. One of its biggest aerospace customers is Vertical Aerospace, a Bristol-based developer of electric aircraft. According to Brian Cleverdon, sales director at UWL: “Vertical now has about 600 orders and is starting to produce aircraft. We cover all modes of transport for them worldwide, from boxes around the UK to importing parts to build the aircraft. Electric aircraft will be a massive step up in terms of sustainability and our partnership will only grow.” UWL’s proactive approach prevents costly delays and is just one way in which it acts as an extension to Vertical’s logistics department. For instance, when Vertical ordered the wrong-sized vehicle for a collection, UWL quickly identified
the issue and dispatched the correct vehicle – before the customer had a chance to amend the error. Charity support UWL also goes above and beyond outside its core business. For example, it launched Jeanie’s Food Van a couple of years ago. Cleverdon said: “For many years, we have supported local charities and saw a great opportunity to make a difference by using a UWL
Extra Mile Award
Descartes gives international freight forwarders and shippers a
single Customs Platform to import and export freight across international borders. Descartes’ Customs, freight and transport management software is used by most of the major forwarders and shippers in the UK to optimise speed of entry with single data entry for multiple countries, boosting productivity, improving data quality and ensuring compliance with the Union Customs Code. Descartes’ Transport Management solutions will increase efficiency, reduce costs and enhance customer service when using outsourced multimodal transportation operations.
16 | April 2025
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