Opinion
Delivering the goods
Putting rail freight on the map
Some of the smaller operators in the freight forwarding and shipping business are unaware of the benefits of using rail. A new campaign seeks to tackle this, as Chris Snelling explains
T
he FTA has long promoted the benefits of mode shift within the logistics industry and continues to take regular action in order to try to improve the UK supply chain.
Research shows that the lack of mode shift by some of the smaller shippers, hauliers and forwarders is not because of means or ability, but a lack of familiarity with the alternatives to road. This is something that the FTA aims to improve – educating the industry about all forms of freight movement. Working with the Department for Transport, which asked the the FTA to lead the promotion to enhance understanding of mode shift, we launched the Mode Shift Centre (www.
modeshiftcentre.org) back in January. The free service helps potential users of rail and water freight gain a better understanding of how to go about it. Offering advice and information, the site gives users the ability to find out more about the benefits of rail and water freight, along with the parameters for successful use and what further options are available.
It was under this banner that this year we produced
On Track and On Board – case study documents by freight customers detailing how they have made rail and water a useful feature of their supply chains. The documents are available on the centre’s website. Entering the next stage in this work, the FTA is developing a UK Co-Modality Map. This online interactive map will show shippers’ road movements of more than 300km across the UK, which could be considered for the use of alternative mode services.
The ideal candidates to shift modes are general cargo movements, for example containerised or palletised, road freight trailer movements. The intention here is to enable analysis of these flows to match to existing rail or water services, or to combine multiple flows to facilitate the development of new services. The data would be gathered from shippers only (to avoid duplication) and used to plot a line, origin to destination, citing volume of flow and temperature status.
The FTA will analyse the data gathered, as well as making it available through the Mode Shift Centre website for the whole industry to utilise. The centre would act as gatekeeper of shippers’ identities to promote and facilitate discussions with all parties, subject to agreement. We have so far developed the website application and gained data from 10 major UK freight
customers. This has demonstrated that developing the map is a realistic ambition.
Building on this, the FTA has put in a bid for Marco Polo funding from the European Commission to help establish the Co-modality Map on a Europe-wide basis. Pre-submission, we had positive feedback on the project from both the European Commission and the EU’s Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation. We have high hopes for the ability to push the concept forward if funding comes our way. Alongside this, the FTA has also launched a map of UK port facilities on the Mode Shift Centre website. The map is searchable by almost 40 commodities or by particular ports. It provides useful information on 130 facilities across the UK including what each port can offer and how to contact them. The map provides potential users with the options available and further information will be added in due course. We aim to upgrade the information available about rail terminals and services on the website as time goes on.
As we look to the future, we will continue to promote the use of alternative modes of freight movement and hope the industry sees the benefits of these. Chris Snelling is the head of rail freight and global supply chain policy at the Freight Transport Association
DECEMBER 2012 PAGE 31
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