Ceva Newsfast loses two big clients

Ceva's Newsfast division has been hit this week by the news that it has lost two of its national newspaper distribution contracts.

Rival firm DHL Supply Chain has scooped a five-year, multi-million-pound deal with News International (NI) to deliver The Sun, The Times, News of the World and The Sunday Times from print plants to wholesalers.

The loss of the NI work is a bitter blow for Ceva Newsfast, which made its name as a time-critical logistics provider (then as part of TNT) by handling NI's distribution when it relocated its presses to Wapping in the 1980s.

Motor Transport understands that Associated Newspapers, which publishes the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday, has also awarded its distribution to another as-yet-unnamed operator.

One industry insider, who worked at Ceva Newsfast for more than 20 years, says the firm has lost focus in recent years with non-newspaper work taking priority.

Ceva says new contract wins have replaced the lost work.