Celebrating an Incredible 2022 for Cleveland Containers

Winning North East Company of the Year

In June, we won our first ever award! We were voted ‘Teesside Company of the Year’ at the Teesside Heat of the North East Business Awards. Winning this title progressed us to the grand final in September, where we were announced as the overall winner of 'North East Business of the Year', which was an incredible achievement and a moment we will never forget.

LDC Investment

Earlier this year, we secured investment from leading private equity firm LDC (part of the Lloyds group) to further enhance our sales and rental offerings and support our expansion plans. As part of our growth, we welcomed former Managing Director of Mobile Mini UK, Andrew Thompson, as Chief Operating Officer, Jon Hurford as Chief Financial Officer, and former CEO of SRL Traffic Systems, Richard Tredwin as Non-Executive Chair. We are closing the year with a 52% increase in employee headcount, welcoming new additions across all existing and new departments.

Brand Awareness Campaign: Cleveland Can

This year, we launched our very first brand awareness advertising campaign, with the message ‘When Others Can’t, Cleveland Can!’. You may have even seen one of our adverts on social media or on YouTube. This campaign features our very own employees, as thorough research found that it is the people at Cleveland Containers that truly make the difference when it comes to the customer experience of buying or hiring a shipping container.

BOX+ Launch at the Farm Business Innovation Show

In November, we sponsored the Farm Business Innovation Show at the NEC Birmingham after successfully exhibiting at this event for several years. At this show, we launched our new service for self storage operators, BOX+, which brings together the best suppliers in the industry to provide self storage operators with everything they need to establish an easy to run, remotely operated and profitable business.

Cleveland Group Announcement

Recently, we announced the exciting news that Cleveland Containers will be joined by Cleveland Hire and Cleveland Modular to form a group of companies that will further support our 15,000 strong customer base. By providing all essential site set up units and accessories as well as bespoke modular buildings, we can offer a full turn-key service, and working environments suited to the requirements of the customer. We are proud to have the youngest fleet of energy efficient site accommodation units, available with the latest features as standard.

SME National Award Wins

We closed the year by heading to Wembley Stadium to celebrate being finalists at the SME National Awards. Here, we picked up our first ever national award, triumphing against 17 other finalists to win gold for High Growth Business of the Year. We also took home the silver award for Family Business of the Year. This year, we were shortlisted for all 16 awards entered, winning six in total, including individuals awards for our Financial Controller Matthew Hawkins who won North East Accountant of the Year and Marketing Director Lewis Pennicott who won North East Young Media and Marketing Professional.

Christmas Foodbank Donations

To round off an amazing 2022, we decided it was important for us to give back to our community and donated to four local foodbanks and charities in Teesside - The White Feather Project, Hartlepool Foodbank, Harbour Support Services and Little Sprouts. One of our 8ft containers was delivered to the head office in Stockton, which was filled with food and other essentials to the value of £750. The contents of the containers were delivered to the White Feather Project in North Ormesby, which also received £250. The other three charities received a £1,000 monetary donation.

It’s been another incredible year for Cleveland Containers and reflecting on the last twelve months has made us all realise how much we have achieved. I would like to thank everyone within the business, including the new faces we have welcomed this year, for their hard work and contribution to our success in 2022. The investment and backing from LDC has enabled us to launch new initiatives such as Cleveland Hire, Cleveland Modular and BOX+, which provides further support, services, and products to our customers. I’m so proud of what we have all accomplished together, and looking forward to seeing what we can all achieve in 2023.

Johnathan Bulmer, Chief Executive Officer at Cleveland Containers