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Pamela Dennison Campaigning for Diversity in Northern Ireland Transport & Logistics Industry

Pamela Dennison, daughter of W.S. Dennison founder William Dennison, has forged a successful career in a predominantly male industry. Working from a young age in her father’s business, Pamela has gone on to hold various high-profile roles in the transport and logistics industry, most recently Transport & Contracts Manager for a large public sector organisation. Not content with being mother to two young girls, having a day job, and having many other commitments (such as being Secretary of an environmental group and a rural community hall), at the age of just 32, Pamela is also the newly appointed National Regional Officer for the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) and is Vice-Chair of the Freight Transport Association (FTA) Regional Committee for Northern Ireland. The CILT and FTA are two leading trade associations for the transport and logistics industry. Pamela’s role with both is centred on promoting transport and logistics within Northern Ireland.

The road transport industry employs 2.54 million people, around 8% of the UK workforce; and the industry contributes £124 billion to the economy. However, the industry is facing huge skills gaps, not least regarding HGV drivers, with around 64% of the HGV driver population being 45 years or older. Additionally, the sector remains heavily male-dominated, with just 1% of HGV drivers in the UK being female – Pamela Dennison being one of them! As well as having an HGV class C+E license (allowing her to drive the largest type of goods vehicle), Pamela also holds the International Certificate of Professional Competence in road transport (CPC).

Qualifications aside, Pamela strongly believes that her my most valuable professional development has been her career, working within different sectors of the transport industry. Pamela said, “Each job has allowed me to learn new skills and practical experiences, all of which I will carry with me”.

Having grown up working in her father’s business, in 2012 Pamela went to work for European haulier, McCulla Ireland Ltd, as the Company’s Compliance Manager, before moving to the same role at Beatties Distribution, within its specialist European Pharmaceutical sector.

Pamela explained, “Although I worked for many other transport companies I have never really left W.S. Dennison, and continue to assist my father in promoting and selling the business”.

Earlier this year, Pamela won the ‘Driving Style’ category at a National ‘Driver of the Year’ competition, ran by the FTA, proof that, not only can women drive trucks, they can also do it well! Pamela was the only female shortlisted in a group of twenty in the overall 18 tonne vehicle category.

With all of the above taken into account in a written application, followed by an intense hour-long interview, Pamela was honoured with the ‘Women in Transport’ award at the 11th annual Fleet Transport Awards Gala Banquet held at the Citywest Hotel, Dublin on 28 September. Pamela seen off five other shortlisted nominees to take home the award on the night.

Pamela feels strongly about the under-representation of women in the transport industry. When asked what skills women need to work in the sector, Pamela responded with: “the same skills as men!” but continued to say:

“Anyone who wants to work within transport needs to be willing to work at a fast pace, be able to think on their feet, be good at problem solving, commercially aware, intuitive to their surroundings, have a positive attitude, be a team player and a good communicator… the list is endless, but the difficult task is promoting the industry and demonstrating how satisfying the job can be”.

As part of her roles with the FTA and the CILT, Pamela campaigns to raise the profile of the industry, both generally and specifically to young people and women. As well as attending business networking events and visiting schools and colleges to promote the role that transport plays in everyday life, the importance it has for the economy and the variety of jobs available in the sector, Pamela is also encouraging and supportive to those women already working in the sector.

Pamela concluded by saying: “I am proud of my unique career path but it is unfortunate that it is not a more common scenario. There are numerous different roles needed to make road transport work and there is a large pool of talented women available to tap into. Most women may not have thought of the transport industry being for them but I would encourage anyone to explore the wide range of exciting and rewarding options that the sector can offer”.

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FOCUSED ON FURNITURE

 

W.S. Dennison Ltd is the leading furniture storage and logistics company in Ireland.

We specialise in providing furniture logistics services to manufacturers, importers, wholesalers and international and multinational retailers.  Traditionally, our focus was on transporting goods from retailers and manufacturers to stores, but later diversified into home delivery.  Having established an excellent reputation with our customers in the logistics sector, we realised that our expertise could also be applied to domestic and commercial removals.

Founded in 1979, W.S. Dennison remains family-owned and operated, but with the support of a team of 30+ dedicated and highly trained personnel.  We pride ourselves on providing a unique and personalised service.

At W.S. Dennison, we are not your typical Haulier.  Because all we do is furniture (and some white goods), our entire supply chain is set up solely to facilitate the transportation and storage of delicate and high value furniture items.

Operating from two strategically-located and purpose-built warehouses in Antrim (Northern Ireland) and Limerick (Republic of Ireland), which offer a combined 50,000 sq ft capacity, has allowed us to establish a reputation for reliability in the Irish marketplace because we are one of the few companies that can accommodate deliveries throughout the whole Island of Ireland.

Our large vehicle fleet is bespoke to the particular demands of the furniture sector and loading and unloading of goods is, in the main, carried out manually.  We do not use any form of mechanical aide and provide two-man delivery on every job.  All of this minimises the risk of contamination or damage of goods in our care.  Because we use only our own in-house team of highly trained and experienced warehouse operatives and drivers, we can offer full traceability and accountability, from manufacturer/retailer collection to end-user delivery.  All delivery operatives are fully uniformed in branded clothing, and all vehicles are fully liveried in the striking W.S. Dennison colours.

We offer collection from anywhere in the UK and delivery to retail outlets or end-users in every corner of Ireland.  Our full range of services for retail delivery include full loads, part loads, ‘de-stuffing’ / reconsolidating, collections/returns and stock control, but we also specialise in two-man, ‘white glove’ home deliveries.

Since our beginnings in 1979, we have grown to become the leading and most well-respected furniture storage and logistics companies in Ireland, but remaining family-run, we pride ourselves on the level of precision, reliability and consistency provided in our service.

Our services include:

  • Furniture and white goods logistics and storage
  • Retail deliveries
  • Two-man home deliveries
  • Storage and warehousing
  • Residential and commercial removals and storage