Barking-based IEFS Logistics is celebrating a successful year since its acquisition by Ketra Logistics. The past twelve months have seen Ketra invest over £400,000 in the business, including the recent delivery of 10 liveried vehicles and trailers, to increase its fleet by 60 per cent.
Both Ketra and IEFS are part of Palletways, Europe’s largest and fastest growing palletised freight network, and were neighbouring London Network Members. Martyn Young, Ketra’s Managing Director bought the business from IEFS’s Derek Best who retired last year after 20 years at the helm, securing over 50 jobs.
Martyn comments: “IEFS specialises in next day palletised distribution and as neighbouring members of the Palletways network we worked together on many occasions. IEFS services customers in East London with E and IG postcodes, whilst Ketra, located just across the river, provides companies in South East London and North Kent with distribution services and solutions. There was natural operational synergy between us and working with Palletways presented a great opportunity to expand our coverage within London.
“Both companies continue to operate independently. The acquisition however has led to a considerable investment in fleet technology and people at IEFS. We’ve made service improvements for our customers through the merging of resources, training and development of staff and the implementation of Palletways’ state-of-the-art IT solutions to optimise every pallet movement across IEFS’ business. Our customer base continues to grow as a result as we attract new business.”
Eddie Ryan, General Manager for IEFS, said: “It’s been an exciting year of development and growth for IEFS as we work with our new colleagues from Ketra. We are really pleased to be able to increase our services and through our new contract with Palletways be able to deliver faster and further.”
Palletways Network Development Director, Barry Byers, added: “The development of both businesses brought about by Ketra’s acquisition is a fantastic achievement for the South East and will help to improve the many services we offer to customers through the Palletways network.”
