Eddie Stobart Group is a British multimodal

logistics Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...

company, with interests in road haulage, rail freight, deep sea and inland waterway transport systems and deep sea port, inland port and rail connected storage facilities, along with transport, handling and warehousing facilities in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. The company has its operational head office in

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...

. Started by

Eddie Stobart Edward Pears Stobart (born 18 April 1929), better known as Eddie Stobart, is a British businessman who started an agriculture business in the late 1940s. This became ''Eddie Stobart Ltd'' in 1970 and expanded to a haulage company during the 19 ...

in the end of the 1940s as an

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

business in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

, the company has diversified into rail and other logistics activities. Since 2014 it has been either wholly owned or partly owned by an investment entity known as Eddie Stobart Logistics: that entity changed its name to

Logistics Development Group Logistics Development Group plc, formerly Eddie Stobart Logistics plc, is an investment company with interests in the logistics industry. History In March 2014 Stobart Group announced its intention to re-position itself as an support services bu ...

in February 2021. On 1 July 2021, Culina Group purchased 100% of the share capital of GreenWhiteStar Acquisitions Limited (the holding company of the Eddie Stobart Group) for an undisclosed amount from DBAY Advisors (51%) and the Logistics Development Group (49%).

History

The business was started by

in the late 1940s as an agricultural business in

. His son,

Edward Stobart Edward Stobart (21 November 1954 – 31 March 2011) was a British haulage company owner who first became involved with his father's company aged 15 in 1969, and subsequently expanded it into one of the UK's most well known multimodal logistics ...

Junior, started working for his father's contracting business delivering agricultural material in the region. The first truck bought by Eddie Stobart in 1960 was painted post-office red and Brunswick green with yellow lettering. These colours were used for subsequent vehicles up to 1969. The company was incorporated as ''Eddie Stobart Ltd.'' on 23 November 1970 as a haulage firm, and Eddie Stobart controlled the organisation fully until 1973, when, at the age of 19, Edward Stobart took the place of

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

. In 1976, Eddie retired and Edward took full control of the road haulage business and the name ''Eddie Stobart Ltd'' in 1976, becoming Chairman. By 1985 Edward Stobart owned 26 vehicles. The business was characterised by its

Tautliner Tautliner and curtainsider are used as generic names for curtain sided trucks/trailers. Tautliner is the trade name of commercial vehicles built by Boalloy of Congleton, Cheshire, England. The curtains are permanently fixed to a runner at the top ...

bodies. As part of a policy to maintain brand image, in the 1980s, the company had a policy that all drivers must wave back and honk their horn in the traditional truck-driver fashion when signalled by a passer-by or "Eddie spotter" to do so. On 1 April 1987, the company opened its first depot in the

English Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the ...

(at

Burnaston Burnaston is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England. It is about southwest of the city of Derby and has a population of 1,531. It contains the headquarters and vehicle manufacturing plant of Toyota ...

). By 2002 the company was experiencing financial difficulties caused by the fuel crisis. In 2001 the haulage business had posted its first loss, with the fan club making more money than the haulage business. On 15 October 2003 it was announced that Eddie Stobart was to be sold to

WA Developments XYZ Rail Limited (formerly W.A. Developments Ltd. and Stobart Rail Limited and trading as XYZ Rail & Civils) is a railway maintenance and infrastructure engineering company in the United Kingdom. History The original company XYZ Rail & Civils ...

, a civil engineering company that specialised in railway maintenance, based in

Appleby-in-Westmorland Appleby-in-Westmorland is a market town and civil parish in the Eden District of Cumbria, England, with a population of 3,048 at the 2011 Census. Crossed by the River Eden, Appleby was the county town of the historic county of Westmorland. ...

. At the time, Eddie Stobart was 55% owned by Edward Stobart and 45% owned by his brother William. WA Developments was 27% owned by William and 73% owned by William's school friend, brother-in-law and business partner Andrew Tinkler. In effect, therefore, William Stobart's stake in Eddie Stobart reduced from 45% to 27%. After a series of takeovers, the Stobart company developed from a haulage company to a logistics company known as the

Stobart Group Esken Limited (), formerly Stobart Group Limited, is a British infrastructure, aviation and energy company, with operations in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company is registered in Guernsey but has its operational head office in Lond ...

, obtaining a stock market listing without an IPO through a

reverse takeover A reverse takeover (RTO), reverse merger, or reverse IPO is the acquisition of a public company by a private company so that the private company can bypass the lengthy and complex process of going public. Sometimes, conversely, the public compa ...

of the property and ports company the Westbury Property Fund in 2007. On 10 March 2008 the company announced the acquisition of

James Irlam & Sons Ltd James Irlam & Sons Ltd (later trading as James Irlam Logistics) was a British road haulage company founded in the 1940s by James Irlam. It was owned and run by the Irlam family until its acquisition by rival logistics firm the Stobart Group in A ...

, one of the largest independently owned road transport logistics providers in the UK for £59.9 million. On 1 April 2008 the company started its first dedicated operations in Ireland, Stobart Ireland, based in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, following the acquisition of TDG's Irish trailer operations. On 14 September 2009, MP David Taylor officially opened the firm's Nestlé distribution centre in Bardon, Coalville, Leicestershire, after a £7 million refurbishment. The new site previously owned by Innovate Logistics. In July 2008 it was announced that the group had taken over the chilled and ambient goods distribution operations from the administrators of Innovate Logistics Limited, saving the jobs of around 1,300 Innovate employees. The company completed the acquisition of Autologic, car-transporter firm, in August 2012. In March 2014

announced its intention to re-position itself as an support services business, with the announcement of the sale of its original transport and distribution business to Dbay Advisors Limited (formerly Douglas Bay Capital) for £280.8 million: Dbay Advisors secured an indirect 49% stake in the logistics business. However, Stobart Group retained the rights to the brand Eddie Stobart, licensing it out to Eddie Stobart Logistics. In December 2019, DBay Advisors increased its indirect stake to 51%. On 21 May 2020, the company announced that it was acquiring the intellectual property rights to the "Eddie Stobart" and "Stobart" brand names for £10 million from Stobart Group to increase its brand awareness. The deal also included the merchandise business and the Stobart Members Club. In February 2021 Eddie Stobart Logistics changed its name to

. On 1 July 2021, Culina Group purchased 100% of the share capital of GreenWhiteStar Acquisitions Limited (the holding company of the Eddie Stobart Group) for an undisclosed amount from DBAY Advisors (51%) and Logistics Development Group (49%). In September 2021 a Stobart driver in Glasgow deliberately crashed into his ex-girlfriend's house, causing damage.

Ownership

Between 2014 and 2021 the business was either wholly owned or partly owned by an investment entity known as Eddie Stobart Logistics: that entity changed its name to

in February 2021. DBAY Advisors (51%) and Logistics Development Group (49%) sold their combined 100% interest in the Eddie Stobart business to Culina Group in July 2021.

Headquarters

The company relocated their headquarters further down the M6 motorway to the Stretton Green Distribution Park,

Current operations

Eddie Stobart

The largest part of Eddie Stobart Logistics is the original Eddie Stobart road haulage business with 2,700 vehicles.

General road haulage

Eddie Stobart Logistics uses a "pay per mile" system to charge clients, as opposed to a fixed payment system. In May 2007 Eddie Stobart was the subject of controversy when it reportedly offered bonuses to its Carlisle-based drivers to work in

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American customs ...

in Scotland, to transport goods for

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues an ...

who were in dispute with their distribution centre drivers and facing disruption to their supply chain. The Stobart drivers refused to cross the Livingston picket line.

Fuel

The Eddie Stobart fleet includes a number of

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

FM dual fuel trucks, running primarily on

liquid natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the vol ...

, with diesel as a backup.

Vehicle naming

Eddie Stobart GK62OZH (H8651 Karen Elizabeth) (8750733599) (cropped)

Eddie Stobart has a long tradition of giving its trucks female names. The first four owned by Eddie Stobart were named after model "

Twiggy Dame Lesley Lawson (''née'' Hornby; born 19 September 1949) is an English model, actress, and singer, widely known by the nickname Twiggy. She was a British cultural icon and a prominent teenaged model during the swinging '60s in London. ...

" and singers "Tammy" (

Wynette Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music artist, as well as an actress and author. She is considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta L ...

), "Dolly" ( Parton) and "Suzi" ( Quatro). The practice has been expanded to cover other Stobart vehicles, including their sponsored sports cars and the Stobart Rail locomotive "Eddie the Engine". With the expansion of the fleet, names have become harder to choose, and the fleet now features "Tuula Karina" (Finnish), "Angharad" (Welsh), "Anstice" and "Saoirse Erin" (Irish, meaning 'Free Ireland'). Currently the vehicles with the shortest and longest names are "Nia" and "Gladys Duchess of Overton", both on Scania R 420s. There are some exceptions to the female naming convention (including Eddie the Engine). In 2005, in celebration of twenty years of ''

Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, ...

'', Stobart named a

MAN A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...

tractor "

Optimus Prime Optimus Prime, , is a fictional character in the ''Transformers'' franchise. The Transformers characters were developed for an American market after Hasbro representatives visited the 1983 Tokyo Toy Show. The characters were modified and the ...

" and recently during the filming of a television series entitled '' Eddie Stobart: Trucks & Trailers'' a Volvo FH12 was christened "Valentino" after Valentino Rossi, the legendary Italian motorcycle racer, which caused a furore among spotters. The company has a static Volvo FH in the "Glasshouse" at their Crick depot which is named in honour of fusilier "

Lee Rigby On the afternoon of 22 May 2013, a British Army soldier, Fusilier Lee Rigby of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was attacked and killed by Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, southeast London. ...

Paint job history

The first truck bought by Eddie Stobart in 1960 was painted post office red and Brunswick Green, with yellow lettering. With subsequent vehicles the dark red was changed to a regular red, and the dark green was changed to a mixture of dark and bright green. The white remained the same.

Stobart Rail Freight

Eddie Stobart Logisics operates some rail-based services, both for freight as the Stobart Rail service, and (formerly) for passengers. For rail freight transport, the group owns warehousing at the rail connected

Daventry International Railfreight Terminal Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT) is a rail-road intermodal freight terminal with an associated warehousing estate in Northamptonshire, England. The facility is located at the junctions between the M1 motorway, A5 and A428 ro ...

(DIRFT), and owns the rail connected Widnes Intermodal Rail Depot.

Stobart Ports

O'Connor Group Management Ltd (trading as Stobart Ports) is the ports division of the Stobart Group. It owns a site in

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form th ...

Widnes inland port and industrial park

Stobart has a lease on its industrial and office headquarters complex in Widnes.

Former operations

Rail tours

The Stobart Group briefly entered the passenger

railtour A railtour is a special train which is run in order to allow people to experience rail travel which is not normally available using timetabled passenger services. The 'unusual' aspect may be the route of the train, the destination, the occasion, ...

market, through the

Stobart Pullman The Stobart Pullman was a railtour operator in the United Kingdom, operating pullman type charter trains, as Stobart Rail Tours. The company was a subsidiary of Eddie Stobart Ltd. and was operated by Stobart’s rail partner, Direct Rail Se ...

, which was a re-branding of the

Hertfordshire Rail Tours Hertfordshire Rail Tours was a company that operated charter trains in the United Kingdom. Founded in Hertfordshire by John Farrow, most of its trains started from London Terminals. The company was purchased by FM Rail in September 2005. FM Rai ...

business inherited from Victa Westlink Rail, a joint venture between its Westlink subsidiary and Victa Railfreight. Traction was provided by Direct Rail Services using Stobart branded carriages. It was launched in February 2008.

Brand promotion

Eddie Stobart Promotions Ltd have various Brand Promotion services, such as the Stobart Members Club, Stobart Fest, Stobart Sponsorship and Stobart Motorsport. In 2005 and from 2007 to 2016 Eddie Stobart was recognised as a UK Superbrand by Superbrands Ltd.

Stobart Members Club

The tradition of naming Eddie Stobart lorry cabins with female names, combined with a very distinctive livery, has led members of the general public to "collect" sightings of Stobart lorries. This has occurred to the extent that a

fan club A fans club is an organized group of fans, generally of a celebrity. Most fans clubs are run by fans who devote considerable time and resources to support them. There are also "official" fan clubs that are run by someone associated with the pe ...

was formed, eventually supported by the company which arranges depot tours and lorry rides, and sells model lorries etc.

Sponsorship

Since the takeover of Eddie Stobart by

in 2004 and its subsequent listing on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

in 2007, Stobart has taken to a high-profile sponsorship programme, including: * Stobart Stadium Halton, formerly

Halton Stadium The DCBL Stadium (historically known as Lowerhouse Lane and Naughton Park) is a rugby league stadium in Widnes, Cheshire, England. It is the home of Rugby League side Widnes Vikings of the Betfred Championship, and American football side Halt ...

, the home of Widnes Vikings * Manor House Stables LLP - yard sponsor, home to racehorse trainer

Tom Dascombe Thomas Geoffrey Dascombe (born 30 April 1973) is an English Group 1 winning racehorse trainer currently operating from Uplands Stables, Lambourn, United Kingdom. He trained Classic Blade and Firth of Fifth to win the G2 July Stakes and G2 Supe ...

* The Rugby

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of w ...

In popular culture

Channel 5 and

Princess Productions Princess Productions was a London-based television production company, formed by Henrietta Conrad and Sebastian Scott, which produced broadcast shows and pilots for all the major British broadcasters across a variety of genres, mainly specialisi ...

released a program dedicated to the Stobart group, '' Eddie Stobart: Trucks & Trailers'', which first aired on 24 September 2010. The Stobart Group was featured on ''

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...

'' in 1995, when presenter Tony Mason visited the company's Carlisle headquarters. Another appearance was made on ''

'' during the Reliant Robin rocket challenge. The Reliant was transported to the launch site on a flatbed Stobart truck to

Richard Hammond Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969) is an English journalist, television presenter, mechanic, and writer. He is best known for co-hosting the BBC Two motoring programme '' Top Gear'' from 2002 until 2015 with Jeremy Clarkson and J ...

and

James May James Daniel May (born 16 January 1963) is an English television presenter and journalist. He is best known as a co-presenter of the motoring programme '' Top Gear'' alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond from 2003 until 2015. He also ...

. A one-off TV show was produced for ITV4 called ''Eddie Stobart - Smart Truckers''. Narrated by

Paddy McGuinness Patrick Joseph McGuinness (born 14 August 1973) is an English actor, comedian and television presenter. He rose to fame with the help of Peter Kay, who invited him to appear in his programmes ''That Peter Kay Thing'', '' Phoenix Nights'' and ''M ...

, the show included the boss

William Stobart William Stobart (born November 1961) is the Deputy Group CEO of Culina Group (owner of the Eddie Stobart Group). Career Stobart was born in Cumberland in England in November 1961, the fourth child of Eddie and Nora Stobart. He worked for the ...

doing deliveries to distribution centres and the firm's race horses. A CD was produced called ''Eddie Stobart Trucking Songs''. The CD features all the truckers' favourite rock songs and artists including Queen, Fleetwood Mac and Motorhead. The

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

-based

Scrumpy and Western 200px, Fred Wedlock Scrumpy and Western refers humorously to music from England's West Country that fuses comical folk-style songs, often full of double entendre, with affectionate parodies of more mainstream musical genres, all delivered ...

band

The Wurzels The Wurzels are an English Scrumpy and Western band from Somerset, England, best known for their number one hit "The Combine Harvester" and number three hit "I Am a Cider Drinker" in 1976. They are known for using British West Country phrase ...

recorded a new song, "I wanna be an Eddie Stobart Driver". In 2001, an animated series called ''Steady Eddie'' was released on home video by

Contender Entertainment Group Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television s ...

. It was based on the books by Linda Jennings. The series features characters such as Steady Eddie, the protagonist, Oliver Overdrive, Steady Eddie's arch-rival, Jock the Tanker and Lorretta Lorry, Steady Eddie's friends, and Freddie Forklift, a forklift who works in the yard making deliveries to Steady Eddie.

Gallery

Image:Eddie Stobart lorry Scania R420 Sandra Ann PX07 BXK in Plymouth, 9 August 2007.jpg, Stobart truck ''Sandra Ann'' in the latest livery. Image:Stobart Pullman hauled by DRS 47712 photo 1.jpg, A Stobart train. Image:Stobart Ireland L7144 "Zayna Lacey" (08 D 74618) 2008 Scania G380, 15 April 2011.jpg, Stobart Scania G 380 truck.

References

External links

Eddie Stobart Logistics website

Corporate history of Eddie Stobart Logistics

Eddie Stobart fan club official website
{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2014 Transport operators of the United Kingdom Logistics companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in Warrington