Major South Wales Logistics Firm Caps A Great First Half Of The Year With International Recognition

A major South Wales logistics firm has capped a fantastic first half of the year by getting its quality and health & safety management systems recertified to international standards.

Monex Group, an HGV delivery and training firm based in Newport, were one of the first companies to train drivers remotely, became an Accredited Partner with the Road Transport Industry Training Board, set up as a Covid Testing Site, and has just regained its ISO 9001 (quality) and ISO 45001 (health & safety) certificates.

As a company helping to train lorry drivers they are in the front line of helping to plug the shortage of operatives in the industry, and will be partnering with industry-leading training provider TSW to ramp up their courses.

Their hectic schedule has also seen them be nominated for the Wales Prestige Awards which is for businesses that have proven to be the best in their market over the past 12 months.

James Howells, Managing Director, said: “It’s been a whirlwind since the start of the year, and I couldn’t be prouder of our 125 staff here who have been magnificent throughout the pandemic and the blizzard of work we’ve had to cope with since lockdown has been eased.

“During Covid we continued to function at full capacity as we picked up a lot of work helping supermarkets keep their shelves stocked, but we did have the challenge of setting up all our office staff to work from home.

“We also took our driver Certificate of Professional Competence – the mandatory 35 hours of training every 5 years drivers have to take – online and were one of the first training companies to do this. We had to set up a studio with camera and IT equipment, but it’s been a great success.

“We also became a registered Covid Test Centre during this time because we wanted to ‘do our bit’ in the fight against the pandemic.

“New challenges for Monex have come in the form of the current general shortage of drivers, which has seen us – through our training arm Monex Academy – bring in our ‘432 offer’. This is where, upon successfully passing an interview, aspiring drivers will get their Class 1 & 2 HGV licence for just £432 and will be given a job with us, as long as they stay for at least 2 years.

“Although initially a challenge, we have taken Brexit issues in our stride and have become our own shipping agent so we can deliver straight to Europe, which most of our competitors can’t currently do.

“I’d just like to thank our whole staff, who have delivered a magnificent response to keep our level of service as high as it has been in extremely testing circumstances, and to look for the positives throughout adversity. I’d also like to extend our gratitude to The Ideas Distillery who were brilliant in getting us ready for our ISO recertification,” he said.

Monex provides a complete range of transport services across the UK, Europe and Worldwide, such as:

• Road Transport – Using a vehicle fleet ranging from vans to 120-ton articulated HGVs
• Express Services – Operating daily, export and import scheduled services to and from Central, Eastern European and Scandinavian countries
• Crane Services – truck mounted cranes with lifting capabilities of up to of 10 metric tons and able to reach up to 15 metres
• Abnormal Loads – Heavy haulage specialising in the movement of out-of-gauge loads, heavy plant and equipment
• Air & Sea Freight – Manage air and sea freight shipment or cargo through its entire journey
• Freight Forwarding – Part load and full load import and export services
• Hazardous Transport – Out of nine classes of hazardous goods able to carry all hazardous cargo including class 7 but excluding Class 1 (explosives and items with explosive materials)
• Monex Academy – Apprenticeships, HGV & LGV Training Courses (Cat ‘C1’ LGV 7.5t licence or Cat ‘C+E’ LGV Class 1)

Russell Lawson, Managing Director from The Ideas Distillery, said: “We would like to extend our most heart-felt congratulations to Monex who have made stunning progress as a business over these past few months.

“Their great commitment to their quality and health & safety management system is readily evident and it was no surprise when they were recertified to ISO 9001 and ISO 45001.

“We’ve no doubt that they’ll continue to deliver for their customers in the coming months, no matter what else is thrown at them,” he said.