The logistics and transport (L&T) industries throw up a number of specialised areas of law and a number of other areas where common areas of law are habitually applied in unfamiliar or complex ways.  We at VS&H have a number of large clients operating as both providers and users of large scale L&T services and are familiar with the problems that are raised in negotiating the relationships necessary to allow them to be provided smoothly and profitably.

Specialised Law

There a a number of legal areas that are specific to the L&T industry, for instance:

• the issue of the grant and maintenance of operator's licences
• the regulation of working hours, in particular the requirements of the use of tachographs
• specific regulations relating to the storage of specialised products
• tax issues concerning the treatment of construction costs for warehouses in specific areas of the UK

Complex Issues

There are a wide variety of areas where practices in the L&T industry require complex adaptations of agreements, for instance:

• operations of warehouses on a third party or fourth party logistics basis - the contract needs to balance the reason for operating on that basis (e.g. the utilisation of the service provider's knowledge and economies of scale) with the rewards that are obtained from the operation (e.g. some form of sharing arrangement where fulfilment of the customer's needs, perhaps measured against key performance indicators, results in a greater share of the savings going to the service provider)
• home delivery operations - dealing with interfaces between the contractor and the public - issues such as damage, both to the customer's goods and their homes, and returns must be dealt with in a very sophisticated way, particularly where the company making the deliveries is not the company that sold the goods
• transfers of operations between third party contractors - here the transfer of undertakings regulations will provide the framework for staff transfers, but the operating contracts need to cover the gaps where the legislation, which is aimed at protecting the rights of employees rather than providing for a smooth handover of operations, is weak.  Perhaps key is the requirement for the outgoing contractor to provide information on an early and full basis to allow the incoming contractor to assess the position.

The wide variety of relationships and the complex structures used in the L&T industry require a high degree of familiarity from your legal advisers.  VS&H, who are members both of the Institute of Logistics and Transport and the Freight Transport Association, have this familiarity and give our clients a head start in achieving business success.

For further information please contact:

john.davies@vshlaw.co.uk