There seems to be no resolution in sight for the tug-of-war between rivals Palletline and UK Pallets over the former's newest member, Dachser.
Dachser handles UK Pallets' European distribution, although Palletline insists that it cannot be a member of two networks, either on a domestic or European basis.
Dachser and UK Pallets met last Friday (7 May) to discuss the situation, but according to Graeme Wilson, commercial director at UK Pallets, nothing will change.
He adds: "Dachser will continue to be our member for Europe and will continue to handle our European distribution. Why would it walk away from a big chunk of business?"
He argues that UK Pallets is simply a customer of Dachser and as such "Palletline cannot dictate who Dachser's customers will be".
However, Palletline MD Kevin Buchanan is adamant that dual network membership is not compatible with its membership rules.
Buchanan objects to Dachser providing the service to UK Pallets and says it would "build ill-feeling" in the network. He outlines a situation where one Palletline member could lose business to a UK Pallets member on the strength of the latter's European offering, which would be provided by another Palletline member. "If that's the view, then [Dachser] won't be doing anything with Palletline," he adds.
Palletline is due to report on plans for its European strategy later this month and Buchanan believes Dachser will want to see that it is involved in that.
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