The Grass Is Always Greener

The long and winding private road into Seacliff Transport's farm base must be one of the most spectacular approaches to haulage premises in the central lowlands. The Bass Rock and the formidable red sandstone curtain walls of Tantallon Castle provide a unique backdrop to the area's fertile fields and rugged coastline.

This corner of East Lothian usually takes the annual prize for being the sunniest part of Scotland and certainly the weather enforced its good reputation during my visit on the first day of March.

The Seacliff story begins in the early 1990s with agriculture and the Dale family who have owned a trio of farms which cover virtually all the coast between North Berwick and Dunbar since then.

The aforementioned favourable weather conditions alongside a remarkable mix of geology here, combine to produce some of the UK's finest soil conditions and vegetables from the Dale's farms have been renowned for their unassailable quality for several decades.

John McKinnell is a native of Dumfries, but moved east to Seacliff a fair few years ago, to manage production of the all important vegetable crops on the Dale farms. In the days before supermarket domination of the food chains, up to nine lorries a night would be loaded at dedicated areas within the vast policies and work would often go on until the wee small hours to make sure the motors reached markets in Scotland and northern England on time.

The dedication and foresight of these past land owners can still be seen today as the roads around the farms were all concreted many years ago and arch topped corrugated iron 'garages' still stand, where loaded lorries were parked up to keep the all important cargoes cool and away from direct sunlight.

As with many other industries, farming has been revolutionised by ongoing mechanisation and around three decades ago staff numbers on farms across the country were decreasing rapidly. John McKinnell found himself in the same boat as many, but as a pay off for a job well done he was offered redundancy and two articulated lorries to operate, if he so wished!

Having built up a comprehensive knowledge of agricultural transport requirements, he grasped the opportunity with both hands and the well known lorries of John R Dale Ltd soon became embellished with the new identity of Seacliff Haulage. Being an honest man of his word, John steadily expanded the fleet by offering a dependable, cost effective option to some locally based businesses.

Good news travels fast in industrial circles and Seacliff's ongoing positive reputation has now delivered good quality UK wide work from a number of national concerns.

It's always been a MAN's world at Seacliff as since the inception of the current operation, Munich built trucks have featured exclusively in its ranks. This owner fondly recalls the early 16.232 model with the column gear change, which was one of the first he drove in the early days alongside founding employee, the late Jock Stewart who played an important part in the business' history. Local farmers also played a key role in the foundation of this firm as any work done at their request was paid for immediately, which considerably assisted with cash flows.

Since then a good number of 280hp F90 and F2000 models have all delivered sterling service across a variety of work applications. Nine TGA 6x2 tractor units make up the bulk of the 2008 Seacliff complement and these premium movers are assisted by a trio of older F types, kept for the shorter runs and shunting tasks.

Nowadays John McKinnell is ably assisted by one of his sons, Graeme who has been involved in the family firm for a number of years. Both rate these German trucks highly and their straightforward EGR conformity is particularly appreciated. New and used examples are sourced from MAN's Bellshill and Newcastle dealerships respectively and trucks are kept for varying retention periods depending on each individual vehicle's performance and reliability record.

With the long lead times on new trucks at present, future purchases for Seacliff will probably be good quality second hand MANs and most should hopefully feature the manufacturer's XXL cab and possibly maintenance contracts. One of these high roofed examples is already operating and with his men averaging three or four nights away per week, driver comfort is an important consideration for this operator.

MAN's Comfort Shift is highly rated here and although no Tipmatic gearboxes are in the fleet at present, these owners acknowledge that it's only a matter of time before manual gear changes are a thing of the past.

The current premium prices for nearly new trucks comes in for comment, but the situation is a double sided coin, as most of this fleet's tractor units for disposal go to export and prices here have gone in the right direction too.

The Back End

The load carrying gear consists of a total of 14 trailers, the bulk of which are tippers. Three curtainsiders, one of which is equipped with a Moffett Mounty fork lift and a solitary flat make up the rest of the numbers. SDC trailers are the preferred choice here and despite being slightly heavier than some other makes, the McKinnells are convinced they are of a stronger build quality.

Being ever conscious of weight legislation, PM On Board weighers are specified to keep the loads within the regulatory limits.

Seacliff were one of the first operators in the country to use the handy Moffett lorry mounted loaders, as a long standing association with premier turk producers, Stewart's of Kinnesswood, sees the motors often deliver to sites where there is no lifting equipment available.

One of the most recent road going additions is a Kraker walking floor trailer, finished in the dedicated livery of Forth Resource Management Ltd. Owned and managed by Tommy Dale, grandson of the founding farmer, this young recycling company has already established a great reputation in a relatively short space of time.

Other regular and much valued work is carried out for well known clients whose names include - Baird's Malt, Belhaven Breweries, Frontier Grain, Kinegar Quarries Ltd and Scot Grain. Scottish drinkers have two good reasons to raise their glasses to Seacliff Haulage, as this firm delivers grain to many distilleries up north and also supplies the refreshing Dunbar brewed pints to rugby fans at Murrayfield, since the recent changes in licensing regulations there. I'm sure that our recent momentous victory over England was made even sweeter with the chance of a pint of Belhaven Best or two to celebrate the result!

Talking of liquid consumption, diesel prices predictably come into most road transport conversations these days with John asking, 'just how long can these all too regular fuel increases go on, as surely there is a limit to what the British consumers will pay?' To protect these valuable fluid assets, this company has recently fitted anti siphon devices to all the trucks diesel tanks, as in some areas down south, casual thefts have increased dramatically, possibly thanks in part to our chancellor's ongoing taxation policies.

The Team

Seacliff Haulage's tidy office is run by boss man John's wife Muriel and is located on the farm that shares the same name. This boss recognises that the administration side of transport is huge nowadays, but in a positively determined voice he notes that, 'it's got to be right.' A neighbouring large arable steading houses the rented yard and a sizeable workshop facility.

With just one MAN tractor unit on maintenance contract, all other servicing and repairs are carried out in-house by a skilled team, who also welcome third party work and MOT preparation from other local contractors and private individuals such as horse box owners. Borders based, Redpath Tyres are contracted to look after all the 'black boots' at Seacliff and a mobile service unit attends most weekends for checks, repairs and replacements.

The boss praises his workshop staff, with John saying; 'We have a great team here and I'm pleased with the first time MOT pass rates they deliver.' Not forgetting the drivers, this owner is also quick to mention his lads on the front line.

'Our men display great long serving loyalty and it must be at least a couple of years since a driver left. To our customers they are the everyday face of the Seacliff business and we rely heavily on them for good communication with our clients, including the all important current and projected load requirements.'

'Interestingly in the past few months, I've spoken to several hauliers who are convinced that the driver shortages of two years ago have now subsided.' Graeme McKinnell confirms this adding, 'in the months of January and February we've had a larger than usual amount of telephone enquiries re any vacancies.'

Another integral part of the team's success is the band of loyal sub contractors, some of whom work full-time for this evergreen operation.

John McKinnell takes more of a back seat these days and at 65 years young he's quite happy to do a few relief driving shifts and other tasks, whilst his son Graeme steers the business forward. John shakes his head whilst noting that 'I never thought we would have so many lorries.'

From Graeme's smiles I suspect that a carefully measured future expansion may well be on the cards, but nothing too massive, as this family business obviously benefits from the owner's experienced, hands on control.

The continual improvement culture at Seacliff Haulage sees regular reviewing and improving of service standards for customers and this in addition to plans for a vehicle satellite tracking system and a rolling road in the workshops mean that there's much more to come from this East Lothian operator. I'm sure the grass will always be greener, whatever side of the Seacliff trailer it's loaded on!