An independent, family-owned Cambridgeshire haulage and logistics company, founded in Soham in 1930, that runs temperature-controlled storage, tankers and container transport from 32 sites.
Turners (Soham) is a haulage and logistics company that stores and delivers food and other goods. Its website describes four divisions across 21 business units: temperature-controlled storage and distribution, tankers (for food-grade liquids and dry goods, fuel and additives, and building products), containers at key UK ports, and PPL, short for Pre Pack Logistics. It also handles fruit and produce picking, packing and storage, and bulk building powders. It operates over 1,850 vehicles from 32 sites, according to its homepage.
The story began in 1930, when brothers Wallace and Frank Turner bought their first vehicle and delivered loads from their father's farm in Soham, Cambridgeshire. It is still independent and family owned, and it is led by Paul Day, Wallace Turner's grandson. The company's stated aim is to deliver customers' goods at the required time, in the required vehicle and in the required manner, "on time, every time". It describes its approach as offering professional, innovative supply chain solutions backed by technical and logistics experience.
Turners' head office site is in Newmarket, Suffolk, on 48 acres, with 500,000 square feet of temperature-controlled storage for over 90,000 pallets, plus refrigerated transport and packing operations. Another notable site is a Bicker, Lincolnshire coldstore, which the company says achieved a 20 per cent improvement in thermal efficiency. A Centre for Sustainable Road Freight partner page says the firm had more than 3,000 employees, while the company's current homepage says over 3,400, so the numbers have grown. Turners has operations in East Anglia and Lincolnshire, with container work at major UK ports.
Turners says its people are central to its success and growth, and that it invests in staff, technology and equipment. It runs a Driver Academy to train drivers, according to its website. It was introduced to the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight in 2014 and became a full member in 2015, and it talks about fuel efficiency and carbon reduction programmes. These are the company's own statements. The website carries a warning that fraudsters have been pretending to be Turners to order goods from suppliers, which is useful to know if you ever deal with the firm.
A business that stores and moves chilled food, liquids and containers employs a range of people. There are lorry and tanker drivers, warehouse and coldstore operatives, forklift drivers and shift managers. Mechanics and fleet engineers look after the vehicles and refrigeration equipment, transport planners schedule loads, and customer service, food safety, health and safety, finance, IT and human resources staff support the whole operation. For people from Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Lincolnshire in particular, it is a major local employer. Turners' website lists current vacancies.
Website: turners-distribution.com
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