Truck and Track Autumn 2022 www.truckandtrack.com 64 DANGEROUS GOODS Our dangerous goods columnist Ali Karim, FRSC CChem, pays tribute to Hilary Devey CBE. He tells our readers that, without her mentoring and belief in him and his idea– there would be no Hazchem Network Ltd - the UK’s only specialist pallet network dedicated to the carriage of ADR / IMDG regulated Dangerous Goods. Have you ever wondered how IBCs (intermediate bulk containers) containing Ethanol - the active constituent of disinfectant hand gels - and packaged chemicals required as constituents of surfacecleaning substrates (often Chlorine or Oxygen based) or the compressed cylinder Oxygen for respiratory distress - were rapidly and effectively distributed around the UK and Ireland in order to combat Covid-19? Hazchem Network’s Hub, in collaboration with its member companies / depots throughout Great Britain, Ireland and Mainland Europe, was a crucial part of the UK’s logistics infrastructure that rose to the challenge of combating this Virus in our midst. The strategic importance and resilience of Hazchem Network as part of the UK’s logistics infrastructure cannot be underestimated, nor can the contribution and support of the late Hilary Devey in Hazchem Network’s inception when it was just an idea. It’s no exaggeration to say that the Palletised Logistics Sector is devastated by the loss of one of our leading lights at such an early age. Hilary supported many entrepreneurs, even before she took her seat on the BBC’s Dragon’s Den - and that support included me. The emergence of the “idea” of a specialist pallet network dedicated to the carriage of dangerous goods under ADR and IMDG regulations, namely “Hazchem Network Ltd”, first originated just after the Millennium. The regulations for the carriage of dangerous goods under Road and Rail [ADR] and Sea [IMO / IMDG] had tightened up, and I realised theywould continue to do so as technological change was in the air. Throughout my career in Industrial Chemistry, getting the highest calibre and ADR-compliant logistics partners had often been a challenge when margins are tighter than a snare-drum, and service levels in the manufacturing sector[s] are critical in the Just-In-Time [JIT] Kanban schemes of procurement – especially when operational PVD [Production vs. Demand] are challenging for the three Cs of Carriage aka Custody Transfer [Consignor-Carrier-Consignee]. This all changed after the Millennium, and it was thanks to Hilary Devey and Adrian Russell of the Pallex Network. At that time, I was the Director of the Chemical Division of Interoute Transport of Thame, Oxfordshire. Together with fellow Director David Martin, we convinced our Managing Director to join, and therefore invest in, the new Pallex Network. The pallet network sector was still evolving, but was confined to ambient goods / non-hazardous pallets. On joining the Pallex Network with responsibilities for the OX and RG postcodes, I became intrigued by the Pallet-Network model. I pondered how I could apply the principles of a collaborative supply chain knitting together a diverse array of hauliers and warehouses to distribute dangerous goods throughout the UK (and later Ireland and mainland Europe). In those early days of my ‘Idea’, I discussed the matter with some colleagues and, each time, I was greeted with the responses of – “…are you mental?” “…it will never work…..” “…way too complicated for the average trucking outfit…..” “…most people can’t even pronounce the items you wish to carry…” Nobody believed I could do it – except for one person – Ms Hilary Devey. The elephant in the roomwas that some dangerous goods were travelling via the pallet network model. I knew this because I was asked to help various logistics organisations when there had been a spillage or incident related to material that fell under the ADR and IMDG aegis. At Interoute Transport Services, David Martin and I found ourselves at regional and national meetings. At every meeting, came the question “ When are Pallex going to allow ADR material into the network.” The only Pallet Network that accepted onlyselected ADR material (under onerous and complex agreement) was the original Pallet Network, namely Palletline of Tyburn Road, Birmingham – which now operates from Starley Way, Solihull. Hilary Sharples, (as she was known at the time), took note of this challenge, as she read and commented on the minutes of all meetings within Pallex. She asked herself the question “Could Pallets consigned under ADR / IMDG aegis be encompassed, safely within the pallet network model?” Interoute were the ‘Big Guns’ when it came to Chemical Distribution within the Pallex membership. We were a respected bulk chemical tanker operator formed from the ashes of the UK’s fifth biggest logistics operator in the 1990s – United Transport / United Tank Containers. Out of the blue, Hilary called to ask me to join her for a private meeting at her office in Gotham, Nottinghamshire to discuss ADR. I brought Interoute’s warehousing director David Martin, who had oversight on Interoute’s Pallex operation, while Hilary brought her right-hand man, Adrian Russell, to the meeting. Hilary Devey and the ADR Supply Chainby Ali Karim Ali Karim Hilary Devey (flanked by me on the left, and Adrian Russell on the right) at the opening of Shears Brothers new depot [12th February 2010] TRUCK & TRAILER SOLUTIONS WELCOME TO ALLPORTS GROUP allportsgroup.co.uk
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