As of this year, Cartwright Bros celebrates its 80th anniversary and lays out its operational and investment plans for the many years to come. 

Cartwright Bros was founded all the way back in 1944 by brothers: John, James, William, and Keith Cartwright. Even 80 years on, Cartwright Bros remains in the family with the second generation, cousins John and Jamie Cartwright, now at the helm of the business. Having both stood the test of time and maintained family ownership throughout its illustrious history, the company serves as example of both the strength of service on offer and the long-term benefits afforded by a family-oriented culture. We’ll take a closer look at these two distinct elements.

On the service front, Cartwright Bros is able to offer the complete spectrum of haulage, logistics, and warehousing services, with the company maintaining a fleet of some 50 vehicles (a mixture of artics and rigids) and BRC-accredited warehousing space of approximately 200,000 square feet (incorporating both floor space and racking). These physical components are then paired with autonomous stock controls and a comprehensive transport management system to provide a streamlined customer experience from the point of contact through to the receipt of service, all with complete oversight and control for the customer.

Operationally, Cartwright Bros divides its fleet into two divisions: a local fleet for the pallet network, and a general haulage fleet capable of handling the complete spectrum of traditional goods (including temperature controlled loads). Cartwright Bros also importantly offers clients truck-mounted forklift capabilities, allowing clients to tap into its assets as opposed to requiring their own on-site forklifts and skilled personnel; according to sources at the company, this capability has proven to be an enormous source of growth for the company. 

Then looking at the company culture, Cartwright Bros has a distinct family feel to the company, including not only the physical members of the Cartwright family but also operatives across the company who have been accepted into the wider family. Although (given the longevity of the business), the current team at Cartwright Bros was not with the company at its inception, the firm does have impressive staff retention and many time-served employees who have now been with the business for a large portion of their professional life. As such, the company benefits from far greater communication, cooperation, and overall positivity in the face of challenge. 

According to Mark Neave, Business Development Manager, a great deal of credit is given to members of the wider Cartwright family, with company management being incredibly proud of the team’s hard work over the years: “The staff we employ are enormously important to the success of the business. If it wasn’t for them striving to work long hours within our offices, on the road, and in the warehouse then we wouldn’t be where we are today. We’re only as good as the people we employ and so the fact that we’ve had a constant, high level of quality staff over the last 80 years is perhaps the biggest testament to the strength and adaptability of the business.”

“To be honest, everyone is over the moon to be involved with a successful company such as Cartwright. Many of the staff have been here long-term; our longest serving member has been here 47 years. As a whole, everyone’s delighted of what they’ve been achieving and their part in everything so far, with hopes to push towards the centenary,” added Mark on the team’s excitement over reaching 80 years in business. “We also don’t have a very high staff turnover, so there really are a lot of people that have gone a long way with the business.”

As for what the future holds for Cartwright Bros, Mark expressed the firm’s interest in laying the foundations for the next 20 years as it strives towards its next key milestone: the centenary. To achieve this, the company will indeed be looking at commercial growth, but will also be pairing this with investments across operations to both bolster service levels and improve sustainability. Especially given the increased pressures on transport companies to tackle their carbon footprint, efforts are certainly being stepped up at Cartwright Bros to get ahead of future market changes.

Sharing some insight into Cartwright Bros sustainability strategy, Mark clarified: “Carbon emissions and sustainability are some of the biggest factors we’re looking at going forward, concerning additions and subtractions to the fleet. The biggest change over the last 12 months (and going forward) is to do less road haulage with our own trucks, since it’s more sustainable for us to rely on the pallet network more. 

“It’s a lot easier and more environmentally friendly to send additional trucks worth of freight into our local hub and then have the local member deliver it. Sending one double-decked truck vehicle to our local hub can replace two or even three separate general haulage, distance vehicles that would otherwise be on the road the following day; this process speaks for itself. We’re really looking to expand our pallet network reliance and reduce our carbon footprint, as evidenced by the recent addition of three brand new double-decked trailers to the fleet.”

Transport & Logistics – Driving the Industry Forward