Training and transport drive further growth for Trans2 Group

Alan Johnson (centre), Martin Johnson (right) and fellow director Lee Green.

A business which branched out from moving products to developing people has completed its third expansion at The Deep Business Centre in Hull since opening less than three years ago.

Trans2 Group is also continuing a recruitment drive which has seen it grow from three people to 17, with two more recruits expected to join in the coming months.

Alan Johnson, Chairman of the group, said: “Successive new projects have supported continuing growth – we haven’t stopped. There has been considerable investment in both businesses and this will support further expansion for the next 12 months and beyond.”

Alan launched Trans2 Logistics in 2014, rescuing a business which had slipped into decline after he sold it to enjoy an early retirement. He brought in son Martin, now CEO of the group, to develop Trans2 Performance, and both businesses are now thriving.

Projects at Trans2 Logistics range from supplying a single vehicle to leisure home manufacturers Willerby Ltd to transport products around their site to delivering modular buildings for a rolling programme of extensions to 27 schools in Bedfordshire.

Last year the company was hired to transport a footbridge from manufacturers Steelridge Ltd to the Stage @ The Dock development in Hull’s Fruit Market area, just across the River Hull from Alan’s office. In 2015 the company completed a road and sea journey of around 5,000 miles to deliver a 65-tonne furnace from its manufacturers at Oldbury in the West Midlands to the destination in Shannon, Mississippi.

Alan said: “We are also working towards a significant contract involving modular housing, and we are involved in a rail electrification upgrade project, delivering electrical control units to trackside. We are working on more specialised, value-added work.

“We have invested in equipment, having taken on a depot not far from our offices at The Deep for storage of our expanding fleet of vehicles, and that will continue.”

Trans2 Performance started from scratch less than two years ago and has now added distance learning to a catalogue of services which includes motivational speaking events, management and leadership courses and training in a range of business disciplines.

Major projects include delivery of the entire management and leadership training programme at the new Siemens blade factory. Other clients include Jet2 and Hull FC, holders of the Rugby League Challenge Cup.

The latest expansion gives Trans2 Performance its own, in-house training centre, enabling it to offer more flexible and affordable options which are proving attractive to SMEs.

Martin, who held senior roles with the Butler Group and Gartner Associates after leaving the Royal Navy, said: “We work in accounting and finance, courses for the personal care sector, management and leadership as well as wellbeing and stress management and conflict management, and we can also secure funding for some courses.

“The boardroom enables us to offer training in-house, passing on the savings to our clients, and we can still deliver our courses at their premises if they require. We have some innovative and unique methods to demonstrate great customer service and we’re starting with two masterclasses which have attracted more than 30 SMEs from the Hull and East Yorkshire area.

Freya Cross, Business and Corporate Manager at The Deep, said: “Trans2 Group arrived here as a small team in a small office and has increased its space from 500 square feet to 2,500 square feet after making a strong impact with a local, regional and national client base.

“It’s clear that the business lessons delivered by Trans2 Performance in their training programmes also form a big part of their own development strategy and are driving significant growth in all areas of their activity.”