Transport Manager - a title to be proud of

Whether your operation has five vehicles or 500 it is a fundamental fact of business life that somebody has to take the responsibility for managing the fleet, co-ordinating the delivery schedules, managing the drivers, maintaining legal compliance and keeping the whole show on the road. That somebody is the under-appreciated and too often taken for granted transport manager.

But the traditional role has seen substantial changes in recent years and now seems destined for a dose of increased expertise, professionalism and formal qualification. Inevitably transport managers will be looking for increased recognition and rewards as their responsibilities, value and status grows.

Up until now there has been little data available to better understand the diverse role of these personnel, who they are, and how they see future development. But last year the Freight Transport Association and Goodyear got together to produce the first survey of its kind which attempted to obtain a better understanding and appreciation of their activities and aspirations.

The transport manager has always been at the hub of an operator’s activity and respondents to the survey listed the management of drivers, vehicles and fuel as their top priorities. Their major challenges included ‘remaining compliant’, budget constraint and the old problem of driver recruitment. At the top of the list for ‘most helpful actions’ to support their role was additional staff and resources, together with ‘better understanding of the transport manager’s role’ and ‘support and communication from management’. Clearly, the relatively poor public image of the transport operation sometimes extends to colleagues within larger organisations themselves where there is perhaps an attitude of expecting the transport department to just ’get on with it!’

With the demands of the operator licensing system requiring transport operators with a standard or international licence to employ or appoint somebody who is ‘professionally competent’, and who as such must hold a Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) awarded by an examination board, then there could be little surprise that 87 per cent of the FTA’s 400 respondents were holders of the Transport Manager CPC. And, significantly, every single respondent in the 18 to 34 year age range had obtained the qualification.

No shock then that, with the younger generation of managers growing up in a social, industrial and employment environment of constantly developing technology and tough competition, there seems to be a powerful desire by individuals to enhance their professional qualification and recognition well beyond the CPC. In fact the suggestion of providing an opportunity to study for a nationally recognised qualification received resounding support with 80 per cent of transport managers indicating that they would be interested. Of those that said no, it was significant that it was transport managers longest in their career and aged over 55 who were less likely to be interested in such a qualification. Help is on the way with this – the sector’s skills council and the trade associations are putting together plans to make such a national qualification available in the near future.

The development and sophistication of the transport manager’s role, and the future skills requirements, is very interesting in the face of the current logistics scene.

The growth of information technology now available and designed to support the whole of the transport and distribution function is incredible. The use of computer analysis systems to manage and record drivers’ hours’ compliance, fuel procurement and consumption, and vehicle maintenance and repair, all helps to keep drivers and vehicles on the road and cuts unnecessary down time and costs.  

And the traffic office ability to use smart telematics systems to plan routing and scheduling, and to react to ‘live’ developments or problems, like traffic congestion, bad weather or customer’s order amendments, are all increasingly used. These all support the transport manager and enable him to ensure the most efficient customer deliveries, in the shortest time window and at the lowest costs. The transport manager becomes like a general in the battlefield deploying his troops, or in this case, his drivers on the road, to the greatest effect! 

The sector has, for as long as I can remember, suffered from the poor public image I mentioned above. This has meant that it has frequently struggled to always recruit its fair share of the brightest brains available from school, college or university. That sad situation should now be changing. The development of a professionally qualified transport manager role, using modern technology to run the operation and deliver the goods as efficiently as possible, constitutes an exciting 21st century career opportunity not always associated with logistics in the past. This ought to be helpful in updating the old image and project the more accurate picture of a modern, competent and exciting industry, job and career. The sooner we can get that picture into the education system and careers advisers the better. 

Hopefully, after so many years, the impression of the transport manager as a put upon individual, taken for granted and chasing his own tail, will soon be over.