Interview
by Network Rail, so that wider wagons can use them, but most remain quite restricted. The problem is particularly acute with 9-foot 6-inch, or ‘high cube’ boxes, which require specially adapted wagons to carry them, as traditional British wagons would see the boxes colliding with platform edges, bridges and tunnels on all but the gauge enhanced routes. DB Schenker would particularly like to see gauge enhancement on freight routes from Felixstowe to Nuneaton, Southampton to the WCML, Water Orton to Doncaster and on the ECML/Joint line. ‘We’re looking at sending product further north by
rail. But for sure it’s going to end up on the road at some point or other!’ says Thauvette. ‘Sometimes, putting it onto a truck isn’t actually all that cheap. In the London area, a truck won’t get that far in a day.’ All DB Schenker UK’s efforts to build its presence
internationally, however, mask the fact that there have been several tough years in the home market. Like all the UK’s freight operators, the company saw a huge drop off in business when the recession began, and some traffic is still not back up to pre-recession levels. The company has had to make some redundancies and incurred a loss in its last financial year. Its depots at Trafford Park and Rugby closed for a while, but Trafford is already open again, with Rugby set to follow suit. ‘I had to carry out some drastic medicine and re-arrange the business units,’ admits Thauvette. ‘I reduced it from four business units to three business units and re-arranged the way the business units were working. Before we had four business units that operated like different companies, and sales was done as an independent branch of the company. Now, sales has been incorporated into the business units. We only really have two business units, which are Industrial and Construction. The third business unit, Logistics, is a collection of all the businesses that we have that were spread all over: passenger service, charter trains, wagon load, intermodal, both domestic and international, track maintenance. The old Energy unit lost 50 per cent of its coal business during the recession. The recession put the business in pretty dire straits.’ Now, however, coal movements are up on last year,
and the quantity of cars being transported has begun to increase. The year 2011 will see the company make a profit in the UK, Thauvette assures me. On the domestic front, DB Schenker is now focusing on increasing its market share – not by pinching clients from other rail operators, but by persuading more customers to chose rail over road. ‘I always hear people say there’s not really a market for
freight in the UK. There’s always a market, but it’s how you rationalise it and what kind of package you can put together for the customer to entice them back. Everyone thinks intermodal is a growing business and it’s going to grow like crazy, but the issue with intermodal is that it’s an expensive solution, because there’s a lot of handling and the distances are short. You need to look at where the trade lanes are and see if you can find something no one ever saw before – and you need to convince the customer that you have a better solution for them.
‘Domestically, we have the last wagonload system
that exists and we are looking at adding more wagons and we’re looking at improving the offer, with more trains, more destinations.’ DB Schenker operates out of Southampton,
Felixstowe, Tilbury, Teesport and Workington. Thauvette would like to increase traffic from each port. ‘Everybody focuses on the rail competition. We trade
things between each other, but that’s a fool’s game. The real competition is what goes on the highway. ‘I think it’s more about growing your customers,
giving them new solutions, not only taking your wagon further, but doing other things – managing your inventory, managing your wagons and taking that burden away from the customer.’ Thauvette was involved in the McNulty report and
sits on the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which has been doing good work, he says. ‘Peter Maybury, from Freightliner, and I were
interviewed together for the report and we have a seat on the RDG. We are active participants and I think that’s a very good thing, because, when British Rail was taken apart, you lost this voice to counteract the DfT.’ What else needs to happen in the UK to help you
grow your freight business over here? ‘Shorter trucks! I think the government is doing
a good job in trying to keep a balance between the different modes. If you go to longer trucks it makes us less competitive. A freight wagon is usually the equivalent of two trucks, but if you get a truck that can carry the equivalent of a freight wagon, well you just lost something there and you’re going to encourage modal shift back towards road. There might be some corridors where you do need longer trucks, so I’m not saying you can have a blanket ban on long trucks. But the railroads are not known for horrendous profit margins, so anytime you upset the applecart, it’s dangerous.’
Curriculum vitae 1955
1979
1979 1996 1997
Born in Montreal, Canada
Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from the École Polytechnique in Montreal
Assistant engineer, Canadian National Railway Chief engineer of the Great Lakes region Terminal operations manager of MacMillan Yard
1998 General manager for the Great Lakes and other roles including track inspection and marketing of consumer logistics
2001 Senior general manager for Eastern Canada, Champlain and the Great Lakes
2005
Managing director, Euro Cargo Rail, the French subsidiary of DB Schenker Rail
2010 Head of DB Schenker Rail Region West, CEO of DB Schenker Rail UK and president of Euro Cargo Rail France
DECEMBER 2011 PAGE 21
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44