Busy Truckers Trucking!

A three-year working holiday in Canada for Mark and Lena Cowling inspired a new business when they returned to Cornwall.

Having trained as a mechanic and passed his HGV licence, Mark took advantage of these skills in Canada and bought a couple of lorries to carry out general haulage work. During this time, he caught the ‘trucking bug’ and hasn’t looked back since.

 

From light to heavy goods

Mark and Lena returned to Cornwall in 2011, and soon after, Mark bought his first delivery van. He quickly secured a contract to deliver office supplies across the region, which then became a full-time contract that diversified into office furniture deliveries and installations.

At this stage, Lena worked part-time in the office, overseeing the admin and finances. However, it wasn't long before this became a full-time role, as Mark was offered more delivery work. In 2015, he bought his first UK lorry, which he says he will always keep as a reminder of how it all started.

Mark was the only driver in the early days, but additional drivers were needed as more contracts came through. Today, from their base near Launceston, ML Transport employs nine drivers, including Mark, and they now have a fleet of nine lorries which have replaced the van deliveries they used to offer.

 

Seizing opportunities

The business has grown massively over the years and continues to do so now. Mark puts this down to taking on new lines of work when the opportunity arises. They provide haulage services for a range of companies, including national and international scrap metal companies. They also distribute local produce across the country and store and transport old BT phone boxes for refurbishment.

One opportunity arose with Rock Solid, another Cornish-based company. They specialise in processing Incinerator Bottom Ash (IBA) which is generated by energy from waste plants across the UK and Europe. They also recover high-quality metals and aggregate streams from within the IBA itself. ML Transport is responsible for transporting this waste and the resulting metal deposits to processing units across the UK.

Mark and Lena’s latest development is international haulage. They regularly travel to Europe to export and import goods for their clients, and they plan to expand this business in the future.

 

Sustainable growth to provide for the ‘family’

Mark and Lena intend to keep growing the business and continue assessing the viability of opportunities as they come up. However, they want this growth to be sustainable to keep their drivers busy at all times. They have formed close working relationships with all their drivers and treat them as part of the ML Transport family. In turn, the drivers work hard and take pride in looking after their lorries, most personalising them with different accessories. It’s a passion that pays off, as the company’s trucks are regularly ‘papped’ by trucking enthusiasts who take photos of them from different parts of the country.

 

Running the business more efficiently

ML Transport has worked with Haines Watts for 10 years. The firm prepares its year-end accounts, calculates tax returns, helps with payroll queries and also set them up with QuickBooks accounting software. Mark & Lena said;

 

“Haines Watts has always been very helpful, answering our questions as quickly as possible. The support they have given us with QuickBooks has made the bookkeeping process more efficient. This has saved us time, helped us keep on top of our credit control, and given us a better understanding of how the business is doing so we can make better business decisions. We’d definitely recommend them to any other local businesses.”