On 17 November last year, John H Cunningham Haulage acquired the high profile, Prestwick based airfreight haulier Debsmith.

The move was designed to give JHC a direction and widen their customer base as well as complementing John Cunningham’s other role: operating the transport management functions for DHL, sited literally across the road at Shawfarm Industrial Estate, Prestwick.

The acquisition, seen as a parallel approach to handling road hauled air freight in Ayrshire, links John’s managerial role at DHL with an opportunity to develop the Debsmith operation within his own fleet of trucks, trailers and local drop rigids specialising, to the tune of 80% of turnover, in air freight and working with other logistics and air carrier companies.

It was almost seven years ago that John Cunningham took on the role of transport manager at Exel based in Prestwick, but the JHC story goes back much further than that…

John H Cunningham & Son was established during WW2 by John Cunningham who was one of three brothers. The other two stayed behind in Galston to set up G&D Cunningham and John moved to Kilmarnock.

John recalls that his father ran a tipper in the colours of Alexander Transport and later began working for Tilcon Quarries.

At the age of 21, John began his transport industry career driving a Leyland Clydesdale dropside out of Polnoon Quarry at Jackton.

Years passed, John married Maureen and they decided to develop the business taking on eight tippers working for Tilcon from their Kilmarnock base.

Then the roof metaphorically caved in when in 1999 WH Malcolm was awarded the contract from Tilcon for all the Scottish quarries.

John hastily sold four trucks and bought two artics to haul logs, but after four months it was obvious there was no profit to be made, so he and Maureen bought a couple of tipping trailers with John himself driving one of them.

Things began to stabilise, then one Saturday morning, recalls John, he was working on truck maintenance when an agency called looking for a ‘sort of transport manager’. Did he know anyone suitable?

The upshot was that John Cunningham took on a parallel role as consultant to MSAS who were putting transport out to tender.

John quickly realised a great potential and joined the MSAS team, but still kept the tipping business, run by his wife Maureen.

They sold the Kilmarnock yard and moved to Prestwick on the very day in July 2000 when MSAS merged with Exel.

“I started with eight trailers, six tractor units and a small van, all from Hill Hire,” remembers John “The vehicles were liveried up in Exel colours and the drivers were soon liveried up in shirts and ties!”

“The fleet rose to 14 rigs and six vans prior to DHL buying Exel in 2005 and we have continued to develop their air freight haulage business.

“Then Debsmith came on the market. Maureen and I thought long and hard, but it was an obvious move to give JHC more width as a company, with a wider customer base and a greater involvement within the freight haulage industry.”

Debsmith, the Transport News Fastest Growing Scottish Haulier 2000, were based within the perimeter of Prestwick Airport, but in 2005 they moved to massive new premises with 20,000sq.ft of warehouse storage space in Shawfarm Industrial Estate.

On 27 November 2006 they sold out to JHC for an undisclosed sum and John and Maureen Cunningham now had an extra 25 units and 30 trailers to operate.

Currently the JHC vehicle line-up numbers 45 tractor units, 70 trailers, nine rigids and eight small vans – all run by a staff of 78.

The DHL vehicles are all Volvos, on the strength of a ‘great relationship’ with Volvo Ayr, explains John.

“Alan Ingram, manager at Heathfield will maintain our trailers too, often on the back shift to keep us on the road. We inherited a mixed fleet from Debsmith, but we will probably be looking to Volvo when they come up for replacement.”

So Prestwick now sees a concentration of airfreight haulage resources, but John Cunningham insists that they (DHL and JHC) are two totally diverse entities – two entirely separate businesses, but under the same management.

JH Cunningham & Son Ltd is now trading as JHC Haulage Ltd and Debsmith European Transport. Insists John, “we will remain a separate company in our new building which will allow us the capacity to expand into warehousing and storage.”

JHC is also taking the management of their recently enlarged fleet seriously to ensure compliance within the law.

Explains Maureen Cunningham, “We invited VOSA to advise us on systems for driver training, digital tachograph use and the appreciation of the Working Time Directive, as they have helped us greatly in the other operation giving advice on driver training. Their help and assistance is invaluable to our continued success.

“We are working closely with the authorities and of course the Scottish Traffic Commissioner.

“We are in the midst of a great restructuring, having inherited Debsmith staff through TUPE and this month we will have a further 11 tractor units and nine trailers delivered through Hill Hire.”

“All Debsmith vehicles will change to JHC livery as soon as possible,” says John, “and we are helped by Glasgow based Graffix Detail who are supplying and applying our new livery on vinyl.

“We have also formalised a truck tyre deal with Bridgestone whereby we run first life remoulds on the drive axle and new tyres on the front, which then become drive tyres when remoulded.

“It’s all part of our move to mirror the successful systems we have already put in place at DHL, and which we have literally taken across the road,” says John Cunningham.