Strong as an ox

T.L.T. Logistics was formed in January last year to act as the distribution arm of T.L.T (International) Ltd., who specialise in the export of live Bovine, Ovine and Swine, Paolo Garavelli took time out from his busy schedule to speak with Irish Trucker.

The Garavelli family has been involved in the live cattle trade for generations. In 1995 they established T.L.T. International Ltd., to export live cattle, sheep and pigs to mainland Europe. Paolo explained the nature of the business. “We export live animals. We buy them privately from marts throughout the country and we have producer groups who work with us. Business has never been better I can say. It seems to be evolving stronger and stronger. I would put that down to Ireland being a natural source of supply for this type of product.”

Quality and Availability
“Europe is overcrowded, there is less farm land available and less people farming. They don’t have a source of supply like we have here. It comes down to the quality and availability of the products.” The company has now developed markets it Italy, Sicily, France, Spain, the Benelux countries and Greece.

Paolo added the business was not quite plain sailing. “Our biggest problem is ferry availability for the products we ship. The sale of our livestock depends entirely on how quickly we can deliver them. We use the port of Rosslare almost exclusively, thus bypassing the UK. We use the direct routes to mainland Europe.”

T.L.T. Logistics
Initially the company utilised outside contractors to deliver thier livestock but on a number of occasions they were “let down by some of the larger haulage companies.” T.L.T. (International) Ltd., were not prepared to allow sub contractors compromise its high level of customer service. As a result a decision was taken to form T.L.T. Logistics. “It was something we developed over time. T.L.T. Logistics was formed when we had a solid base on which to form it. It was always something we were heading towards. With the Millennium we said we would start the venture,” Paolo added.

The establishment of T.L.T. Logistics allowed them to enter the hire for reward market and they now have a number of ongoing import and export contracts. Paolo revealed “We have developed relationships with people that are exporting or importing and we offer a transport service to various freight forwarders. This complements our livestock trailer work. If you were to take the curtainsiders alone the business is bad, but when you complement them with the cattle trailers coming in, they can subsidise where the curtainsiders fall short. We can avail of a limited form of transfer pricing if needs be.”

On the Pulse
T.L.T. Logistics work quite closely with I.C.S Forwarding who are a newly established freight forwarder based in Dublin. Paolo explained that they have a very good working relationship with I.C.S and they are happy to commit their curtainsiders exclusively to them. Paolo feels I.C.S. has its finger on the pulse of the freight forwarding business and sees the relationship blossoming further in the future.

The company use state of the art, Italian made cattle trailers which can be quickly converted to enable them to “back load”. The novel trailers have caused an odd eyebrow or two to be raised in the past. “We have various customers who would have a large volume of inward bound traffic. We have developed the trailers and the traffic with them. Some customers might be a bit preplexed when they would see a livestock trailer going to load their goods, others don’t mind. In the past we have loaded surgical equipment, computer parts, practically everything. For every load of cattle going out we have a back load coming home,” he explained.

Secure Trailers
He revealed: “In terms of security the trailer is as secure as a fridge. Each trailer is connected to the tractor unit with various switches and connections. The lift axles are operated from inside the cab. Nobody can hook up to your trailer and go away with it either.”

To complement their fleet of 15 trucks, the company use a number of sub-contractors who are kept busy 52 weeks in the year. The sub-contractors are involved in general haulage and groupage both import and export. However, “the heart (the livestock trade) that pumps the blood is taken care of by our own fleet,” Paolo enthused.

State of the art equipment
The emphasis on state of the art technology doesn’t stop with the cattle trailers. The fleet which is made up of ‘99 and ‘00 registered trucks is fitted with satellite tracking equipment. Paolo explained the benefits of this system. “From a positioning point of view we can navigate through Europe 24 hours a day. We can see pitfalls that drivers would not necessarily see until they arrive there. We can communicate with the drivers at a greatly reduced cost. We can tell their tachograph hours, their fuel consumption etc.. It is a total control system if implemented in full.”

He concluded: “We are now to the haulage game but we know our cattle. We want to concentrate on selling and that side of the business. Haulage was never something we aspired to on its own merits. The transport side of the business needs to run itself.”