Often the most innovative of ideas come out of the most challenging times. We’ve seen it time and time again, with the prior pandemic highlighting the entrepreneurial vigour that can be inspired by a difficult economic climate, and Darcica Logistics serves as yet another example of exactly that. Founded by Anthony Tattersall in 2020, Darcica Logistics was created during the early years of the pandemic in response to the economic conditions of the time and has grown to become one of the most respected members of the Palletways network.
As aforementioned, Darcica Logistics was founded by Anthony Tattersall, an established industry professional within the waste management and logistics sector. While, for many, the pandemic signalled a need to draw away or perhaps adopt a more conservative approach to business, Anthony took the opposite approach entirely. Recognising the changing nature of the market and wishing to forge ahead a new path for himself, Anthony founded Darcica Logistics as a means of better utilising his unique skill-set and most importantly, in a bid to open up new opportunities within the logistics sector. Suffice to say, in both respects Anthony succeeded.
In the early days of the company, Darcica Logistics primarily served as a delivery service partner to Amazon, undertaking deliveries as an independent supply chain partner. Although operating on a relatively small scale (including 5 vans across 5 routes per day), Darcica Logistics quickly achieved success and by the end of 2020 had already expanded up to a point of undertaking 30 routes per day. Clearly business was thriving and, by the end of 2021 Darcica Logistics opted to set up independent logistics operations as part of the Palletways network, operating across Oxfordshire. This required a significant investment on the company’s part, with Darcica establishing its own infrastructure footprint and consequently developing the full range of fulfillment capabilities to boot.
Roll forward to present day and Darcica Logistics is presently one of only 10 Platinum members of Palletways and has developed a robust pipeline of circa 100 repeat customers in the Oxfordshire area. Furthermore, the firm has enjoyed a significant expansion of its core infrastructure, now being host to a fleet of 10 HGVs (ranging from 7.5t to 44t trailers), and 85 sprinter vans and Ford Transits. Similar growth has also been seen within the business’s talent base and predictably, the company has achieved significant commercial growth.
Yet, while all of the above is impressive and worth celebrating, it’s key to understand exactly how the firm has been able to achieve such success. To learn more, we spoke with Anthony Tattersall, Managing Director, and Melanie Tattersall, Director of Sustainability and Communications.
“We’re really known for our sustainability. We’ve received a lot of recognition around that and it’s not just someone saying ‘we’re sustainable’. We’ve had many audits, received awards, completed assessments, and things like that to back up what we do,” explained Anthony Tattersall. “We have a really strong team who are all driven towards the one goal of a great service. Our people are our brand and, yes a lot of customers come our way because of our sustainability, but once they come here and see the kind of service they get they just don’t move on. That’s every bit as important as finding new customers.”
Firstly touching on the sustainability element, Darcica Logistics was one of the first organisations in the UK to achieve full Mission Zero accreditation (2021) and currently maintains Mission Zero Gold (equivalent to FORS Gold). As a role model in the sector for environmental issues, the firm has a surprisingly ambitious sustainability strategy for an organisation of its size and has already begun its electrification journey; indeed, Anthony predicts that, by 2030, all vehicles of 3.5t and below will be fully electric and furthermore that the firm is actively investigating and trialling a number of alternative technologies within the wider fleet.
As an introductory summary, Mission Zero is a quality standard for the road and fleet sector. Within the scheme, organisations are required to adopt a roadmap towards the ultimate goal of achieving zero collisions, zero emissions, and zero prohibitions. Although the scheme is still gaining traction and recognition in the media, Mission Zero is considered on equal footing to FORS Gold and has become one of the most recognisable fleet accreditations for forward-looking, green operators.
On the firm’s Mission Zero accreditation, Melanie Tattersall commented: “Our Mission Zero accreditation underpins our sustainable action plan because it aligns with the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It focuses on our fleet sustainability strategy, but not just on the environmental side and also the health and well-being of our team; there are many aspects to it.”
Serving as recognition of the sustainability efforts made to-date, Darcica Logistics recently came away as winner of the Sustainable Transport category of the Motor Transport Awards but, quite interestingly, was also nominated for a further within the Team of the Year category. Both Anthony and Melanie are incredibly proud of achieving such recognition in the awards and specifically commented on how proud they are of the wider Darcica Logistics team for getting them this far.
As for the future, it’s clear that Darcica Logistics approaches the end of 2024 on very solid foundations, right off the back of industry praise. Going forward, we expect continued expansion and a hint of diversification within Darcica Logistics as the firm aims to access an even greater range of commercial opportunities.
“We are aiming to expand the pallet network offering and to grow within Palletways. We would eventually also like to become the Oxfordshire logistics company of choice. We would like companies in Oxfordshire to be drawn to us because of our service, sustainable values, and how we look after our people,” enthused Anthony. “Our next push will be for the haulage and same-day operations using the vans and trucks. We want to build that network of same-day, bespoke deliveries. We’ve just gained that hazardous goods capability and we’re also pushing into event logistics.”
Transport & Logistics – Driving The Industry Forward
