Suckling Transport is an independent haulage contractor which specialises in the provision of petroleum tanker haulage services. The Company's Head Office is situated at a two acre depot adjacent to the M25 motorway in West Thurrock, Essex.

The History

The company has been trading for nearly 70 years.  Using the finance from his father, Thomas Suckling started J.W. Suckling Transport in 1938.  His father had rented horses and carts with drivers to Thurrock Borough Council for 7/6 (37 pence) per week in the 1920's.

Thomas, the eldest of 11 children, followed his father into transport and his first lorry was a second hand Bedford delivering coal from his depot in London Road, Purfleet, Essex.  So Suckling Transport has been delivering fuel since its formation.  Thomas, with his father, would unload the coal wagons by hand, shoveling from wagon to lorry.  It was a long hard day which ended by taking the lorry back to the yard and bagging the coal up ready to deliver to the surrounding area.

A 4-wheeled Albion Clydesdale FT101 was added to the fleet and the Company began working for Thurrock Chalk and Whiting Company that later became Thurrock Cement.

Suckling Transport became a Limited Company in 1974 and, shortly afterwards, was purchased by Harris Holdings (Grays) Limited.  It operated a small fleet of powder tanker vehicles until the mid eighties before a short period in container haulage from Tilbury and Felixstowe docks.

In 1986 the parent company was seeking a 'vehicle' (excuse the pun) to create a fleet specialising in the distribution of fuel for oil companies using the terminals on the Thames.  Their subsidiary, Suckling Transport, seemed the obvious choice and the Company has enjoyed continuous growth in that sector to this day, working for major oil companies such as ConocoPhillips, Shell, Total, Murco Petroleum, Somerfield Stores and Bayford/Gulf.

Following the launch of its innovative TankShare service (see TankShare pages) the company expanded its operations throughout the UK, and increased its customer base in the process.  Since 2001 it has enjoyed six years of continuous growth.

The company is registered to the quality standard BS EN ISO 9001:2000. In August, 1994 the BSI assessed Suckling Transport to the Dutch standard NEN2726, which provides additional safety procedures specifically designed for the haulage of dangerous goods in bulk and the company was the first in the U.K. to gain registration.

The Company repeated this feat in 1999, when it became the first U.K. firm to register to BS EN 12798 which replaced NEN 2726 as a European Standard.

The Company operate a modern fleet of over 100 tanker vehicles in the UK. The majority of this fleet are painted in the customer's livery, with the remaining vehicles operating in the distinctive Gold and White TankShare Colours.