Fleetmaster
Member
Is anyone else surprised by the apparently very quiet almost unnoticed disappearance of the iconic Eddie Stobart brand from Britain's roads? It wasn't too long-ago that anything about Stobarts, good or bad, was guaranteed to get even mainstream media coverage. And yet the events leading to the company effectively disappearing, their identity with it, have gone entirely unremarked it seems, much less unlamented.
Unless someone knows differently? I'm a fan, but not exactly obsessed, the length of this post not withstanding. I know what Google knows, and that's about it. Which is what is bizarre to me, since Google has traditionally known quite a lot about Stobart, because fans, journalists and significant chunks of the general public, have generally been quite interested, relatively speaking. It was even quite a progressive thing too, with many a girl and woman becoming interested in this traditionally male dominated industry, proud to say they were a fan, even a spotter, with more than a few going into the industry itself.
For those who don't know, and as far as I know, taking advantage of Covid ructions, a large group named Culina has hoovered up a whole host of truck companies in the time sensitive food freight sector (apparently they were something to do with the Muller yogurt brand originally). Stobart was one of their acquisitions.
The Stobart company still exists, but the Culina group naturally wants a corporate brand across all properties. Some Stobart curtainsider trailers will still be green, albeit a different, darker shade. These trailers carry prominent Stobart names, but in the (imho ugly) Culina font and in the overall Culina corporate style complete with logos. It's likely however that the plain white rigid Culina/"Culina" fridge trailers will become more common. But at the front end it seems, all trucks, regardless of sub brand, are going to be bland white Culina branded vehicles it seems.
And thus, the thing that made Stobart famous, named liveried trucks, and equally in your face trailers identifiable from miles away, are rapidly disappearing from the roads. Trucks very quickly, given the Stobart identity was latterly applied in vinyl over white painted units. Even trailers in an intensively used fleet like Stobart get cycled through the shop pretty rapidly.
I've known about it for some time, but the sight of a still branded Stobart tractor hauling a blue Tesco branded curtainsider trailer (perhaps intermodal, it seemed quite low height) reminded me of their passing, and surprised me that this combo was even still on the road now. Perhaps the Tesco contract has somehow escaped assimilation? No idea. Seems doubtful.
I'm only really talking about the standard trucks and trailers, the other Stobart branded stuff, from specialist trucks to aviation, seems to have been disposed of or otherwise been rebranded either before or at the time of the Culina acquisition, with their decision to roll out a corporate brand on the standard trucks coming a bit later.
Much of this was in large part due to the rather complicated history of Stobart itself, where for a good long while there's been two companies, and indeed even the brand itself has been traded between them and otherwise been seen as a distinct entity with commercial value. No longer it seems, although no doubt the rights are going to be retained by Culina so the brand cannot be resurrected.
It's all very strange, given it was quite literally an iconic brand, if a little tarnished maybe by recent financial issues (and in basic popularity terms, that seems unlikely to me). I definitely don't think this was a fire sale though. They had seemed to have turned the corner and been poised for another period of growth, getting back to basics or the magic formula even, but perhaps Culina just made an offer that was too good to turn down.
And in pure commercial terms, due to global events, maybe the industry had moved on entirely, and the brand itself could no longer sway boardrooms and secure business like it perhaps used to, with marketing clearly a massive part of many a Stobart deal and indeed truck. It definitely seems to be part of a wider trend of massive integration of supply chains, from producer to plate, with clear monopoly of scale aims but massive focus on bespoke solutions too. Ironically Stobart were a pioneer there, albeit in smaller ways. But that hardly requires the complete washing away of brands. Even operational efficiencies can accommodate a distinct identity on a core asset base. Again, I have no real idea.
I do know I'm almost a little upset by this, at least as far as anything transport can ever upset me. Commercial value/necessity/strategy is one thing, but AFAIK, Stobart meant way more to many people, especially the hard core fans. Perhaps this move was maybe made easier for Culina because Covid had meant that the Stobart shop and official fan club had been paused at lockdown, with things like depot tours and Stobart fest impossible. And sadly it never really returned. Perhaps also relevant was Channel Five moving away from this kind of market, in favour of all things Yorkhire.
I guess there's nothing stopping it continuing unofficially, but there's always the threat of trademark lawyers, and by its nature, much of the enthusiast stuff needs and indeed could only exist with the buy in and indeed direct involvement of the company. Even the club Facebook page was run by company staff as far as I can tell, hence it is now inactive.
I'm reasonably certain this means thst there's going to be no more new merch, including no new toy trucks for the kids or scale models for the big kids (me!). The Culina brand carries no interest for me, and surely many others. This perhaps has implications for railway modellers too? But if that's not the case and these lines will continue on license, it somehow seems even crueler. I certainly hate the fact that the side benefit of my collection massively increasing in value on the secondary market (unless this development means the country collectively just forgets Stobart was ever even a thing and loses all interest!) is the potential silver lining.
I know the passing is not lamented by a few drivers and staff, for the usual reasons, namely wages and conditions, plus some even held "spotters" in open contempt (with only some drivers able to say they became Stobart employees unwillingly), and are glad of the return to anonymity driving bland uninteresting trucks, but I hope even they can admit there is a much bigger and equally human component to this than their working lives.
And quite where I'm going to get my wall calender for 2024 and beyond is but one of many other issues caused by this strangely unnoticed development.
Unless someone knows differently? I'm a fan, but not exactly obsessed, the length of this post not withstanding. I know what Google knows, and that's about it. Which is what is bizarre to me, since Google has traditionally known quite a lot about Stobart, because fans, journalists and significant chunks of the general public, have generally been quite interested, relatively speaking. It was even quite a progressive thing too, with many a girl and woman becoming interested in this traditionally male dominated industry, proud to say they were a fan, even a spotter, with more than a few going into the industry itself.
For those who don't know, and as far as I know, taking advantage of Covid ructions, a large group named Culina has hoovered up a whole host of truck companies in the time sensitive food freight sector (apparently they were something to do with the Muller yogurt brand originally). Stobart was one of their acquisitions.
The Stobart company still exists, but the Culina group naturally wants a corporate brand across all properties. Some Stobart curtainsider trailers will still be green, albeit a different, darker shade. These trailers carry prominent Stobart names, but in the (imho ugly) Culina font and in the overall Culina corporate style complete with logos. It's likely however that the plain white rigid Culina/"Culina" fridge trailers will become more common. But at the front end it seems, all trucks, regardless of sub brand, are going to be bland white Culina branded vehicles it seems.
And thus, the thing that made Stobart famous, named liveried trucks, and equally in your face trailers identifiable from miles away, are rapidly disappearing from the roads. Trucks very quickly, given the Stobart identity was latterly applied in vinyl over white painted units. Even trailers in an intensively used fleet like Stobart get cycled through the shop pretty rapidly.
I've known about it for some time, but the sight of a still branded Stobart tractor hauling a blue Tesco branded curtainsider trailer (perhaps intermodal, it seemed quite low height) reminded me of their passing, and surprised me that this combo was even still on the road now. Perhaps the Tesco contract has somehow escaped assimilation? No idea. Seems doubtful.
I'm only really talking about the standard trucks and trailers, the other Stobart branded stuff, from specialist trucks to aviation, seems to have been disposed of or otherwise been rebranded either before or at the time of the Culina acquisition, with their decision to roll out a corporate brand on the standard trucks coming a bit later.
Much of this was in large part due to the rather complicated history of Stobart itself, where for a good long while there's been two companies, and indeed even the brand itself has been traded between them and otherwise been seen as a distinct entity with commercial value. No longer it seems, although no doubt the rights are going to be retained by Culina so the brand cannot be resurrected.
It's all very strange, given it was quite literally an iconic brand, if a little tarnished maybe by recent financial issues (and in basic popularity terms, that seems unlikely to me). I definitely don't think this was a fire sale though. They had seemed to have turned the corner and been poised for another period of growth, getting back to basics or the magic formula even, but perhaps Culina just made an offer that was too good to turn down.
And in pure commercial terms, due to global events, maybe the industry had moved on entirely, and the brand itself could no longer sway boardrooms and secure business like it perhaps used to, with marketing clearly a massive part of many a Stobart deal and indeed truck. It definitely seems to be part of a wider trend of massive integration of supply chains, from producer to plate, with clear monopoly of scale aims but massive focus on bespoke solutions too. Ironically Stobart were a pioneer there, albeit in smaller ways. But that hardly requires the complete washing away of brands. Even operational efficiencies can accommodate a distinct identity on a core asset base. Again, I have no real idea.
I do know I'm almost a little upset by this, at least as far as anything transport can ever upset me. Commercial value/necessity/strategy is one thing, but AFAIK, Stobart meant way more to many people, especially the hard core fans. Perhaps this move was maybe made easier for Culina because Covid had meant that the Stobart shop and official fan club had been paused at lockdown, with things like depot tours and Stobart fest impossible. And sadly it never really returned. Perhaps also relevant was Channel Five moving away from this kind of market, in favour of all things Yorkhire.
I guess there's nothing stopping it continuing unofficially, but there's always the threat of trademark lawyers, and by its nature, much of the enthusiast stuff needs and indeed could only exist with the buy in and indeed direct involvement of the company. Even the club Facebook page was run by company staff as far as I can tell, hence it is now inactive.
I'm reasonably certain this means thst there's going to be no more new merch, including no new toy trucks for the kids or scale models for the big kids (me!). The Culina brand carries no interest for me, and surely many others. This perhaps has implications for railway modellers too? But if that's not the case and these lines will continue on license, it somehow seems even crueler. I certainly hate the fact that the side benefit of my collection massively increasing in value on the secondary market (unless this development means the country collectively just forgets Stobart was ever even a thing and loses all interest!) is the potential silver lining.
I know the passing is not lamented by a few drivers and staff, for the usual reasons, namely wages and conditions, plus some even held "spotters" in open contempt (with only some drivers able to say they became Stobart employees unwillingly), and are glad of the return to anonymity driving bland uninteresting trucks, but I hope even they can admit there is a much bigger and equally human component to this than their working lives.
And quite where I'm going to get my wall calender for 2024 and beyond is but one of many other issues caused by this strangely unnoticed development.
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