NEWS/MULTIMODAL \\\ On the rails


A tonne of goods can travel 246 miles by rail, as opposed to 88 miles by road on a gallon of fuel, according to Network Rail, writes Multimodal seminar director, Emma Murray. Removing just ten percent of


road freight would save British industry £1 billion a year, with one freight train taking, on average, 60 lorry journeys off the road. Rail freight makes economic


and environmental sense and, increasingly, retailers are embracing its benefits. High Street names including


Tesco, ASDA, Morissons, Waitrose, Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s, the Co-operative, and B&Q have all embarked on programmes to switch some of their road freight to rail.


The Co-operative, which started


using rail freight in 2010, provides a good example. Last year, it announced that it


had cut carbon emissions by 500 tonnes of CO2 a year aſter more than doubling its use of rail in three years. The Co-operative’s Logistics


Service, which transports more than 1,050 cages every week, now runs a daily rail service carrying more than 21 containers of produce every week between Daventry, close to the Group’s National Distribution Centre at Coventry, and a rail freight terminal at Mossend, near to its depot at Newhouse, on


the outskirts of Glasgow. This has led to a reduction


of 800,000 road kilometers, compared to an annual saving of around 540,000 miles when the scheme first started. The Co-operative Food, whose


project manager for logistics strategy Justin Kirkhope will be speaking at this year’s Multimodal Seminars, is looking to expand its rail freight network and further reduce the number of lorries on the road. But what more could the


industry be doing to encourage modal shiſt? Retailers who contributed to the Freight Transport Association (FTA)’s On Track! report into rail freight identified a familiar, but solvable, list of factors which they believe will help continue the growth in domestic inter-modal freight services. Increased service frequency to


match product lead times, more flexible timetables and service versatility, and the ability to expand train capacity when needed were just three of the issues they would like the industry to tackle. More rail freight terminals, and


faster processing of new train paths were also on the agenda, and load pooling to create viable train loads was identified as a priority. Three of the retailers who took part in the research for the report will be discussing their rail freight


experiences in a panel debate at the FTA’s Multimodal 2014 seminar day on 30 April at the Birmingham NEC. The Co-operative’s Justin


Kirkhope will be joined by Chris Hall, Head of Central Transport, ASDA and Simon Polmear, strategic transport development manager, Sainsbury’s. Railfreight Consulting’s md


Ralph Goldney and Network Rail’s freight director Paul McMahon will also take part. The panel is part of the FTA’s


Seminar day at Multimodal 2014, which takes place between April 29th and the first of May at the Birmingham NEC. Multimodal, now in its seventh year, is the UK and Ireland’s leading freight transport and logistics exhibition, which last year saw a record number of 6,070 visitors and 235 exhibitors. Multimodal 2014 has teamed


up with the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT), as well as the Freight Transport


Association (FTA) to deliver a progamme of panel discussions and masterclasses over the three days. The show is already over 70%


sold out, with many exhibitors returning, as well as a number of new and prestigious companies exhibiting for the first time. Companies at the show will


include DP World London Gateway, Stena Line, DSV, DB Schenker, Port of Liverpool & Manchester Ship Canal, Canute, Direct Rail Services, P&O Ferrymasters and Stena Line Freight. FBJ is publishing a completely


redesigned official showguide for Multimodal this year. There will also be a daily edition of FBJ at the show. For further details contact John


Saunders on 0151 427 6800 or email john@fj-online.com To find out more about visiting


the free-to-attend show or exhibiting visit the web site at www.multimodal.org.uk


Issue 1 2014 - FBJ


13 NEWS ROUNDUP FORWARDING & LOGISTICS


Yusen Logistics and Imperial Health Sciences will launch the pharmaceutical industry’s first dedicated, temperature controlled sea freight consolidation service to southern Africa in January 2014. Claimed to be the first total solution for pharma on this trade lane, the weekly service has been developed in response to demand from pharmaceutical customers for a robust total supply chain service, with handling throughout by staff trained under the pharma industry’s GDP (Good Distribution Practice) programme. Solutions for East and West Africa will follow later in 2014.


UK forwarder FFG is starting a groupage service from tile and marble factories in Spain and Portugal in February. Traffic will be consolidated at the company’s depots at Castellon, Spain or Aviero in Portugal on Fridays, delivery to the London depot by sea the following Thursday. A road-based express service will deliver to England and Wales the following Wednesday and to Scotland on Thursday. FFG is also offering daily groupage services for tiles and stone from factories in Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Romania in conjunction with Netherlands partner, Neele Logistics.


JF Hillebrand Group has acquired fellow drinks logistics specialist Satellite Logistics Group, based in the US. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Satellite specialises in reverse logistics solutions and related services for the beer and beverage industry, with a customer base including brewers throughout North America, Latin America and Europe. The acquisition complements JF Hillebrand’s existing business portfolio, and will enable both companies to enhance their service offering to clients. Satellite’s management team retains equity and will remain in place, along with current employees.


Freight Systems Express Wales (FSEW), based at South Wales International Freightliner Terminal in Wentloog near Cardiff, has appointed Keith Davies as international sales and development manager. He has worked in the freight industry for over 20 years and until recently held a sales development role for Schenker Bristol.


AEB’s Claire Umney at Multimodal 2013’s CILT seminars Dunkerque shows spirit


The northern French port of Dunkerque is planning to start a new barge link to Valenciennes in February 2014, managing director Christine


Cabau-


Woehrel told a press conference on 14 January. The route will be operated by Contargo, and further details will be revealed closer to the launch date. The new service will build on the success of the twice-weekly Nord Ports Shuttle launched in 2013 between Dunkerque, Lille and Dourges. Dunkereque is positioning


itself as a gateway for the whole of northern France and the rest of Europe, said Cabau-Woehrel. It has launched a twice-weekly rail shuttle to Paris and a feasibility study is underway for a similar rail link to eastern France. Meanwhile, fruit firm Del


Monte has announced a deal to move around 40,000 tonnes of bananas to the Paris wholesale markets via Dunkerque. Longer term, Cabau-Woehrel


continued, Dunkerque plans to develop its role as a transhipment port for the UK. She foresees Dunkerque carving out a similar niche to Le Havre or Rotterdam as a transhipment point for the west and east coasts of the UK. She said: “The location of Dunkerque is extremely good, because any shipping line will look for the shortest distance” - and Dunkerque is much closer to the UK than either Rotterdam or Le Havre. It can also offer fast transhipment times – as little as next day or even same day. Commercial director Daniel


Deschoot later told FBJ that Dunkerque already plays a much greater role in UK trade


than some might imagine. “There is a lot of traffic – mainly fresh produce – that is deconsolidated from containers and moved to the UK by truck via the DFDS ferry service,” he said.


Cabau-Woehrel described


Dunkerque’s container traffic development as “a pleasant surprise.” New deepsea


and


shortsea lines had boosted box traffic to record highs, up 12% on 2012 to 282,000teu. Major carriers like Maersk were starting


direct deepsea calls.


The port also served some places that were not directly accessible from the UK including destinations in West Africaa dn the French Caribbean. Also, ports such as Liverpool might access certain destinations in Asia more efficiently than via UK ports.


Finnlines


goes back to the Grimaldis


Emanuele Grimaldi, joint owner of the Grimaldi Shipping group is to take back full control of subsidiary company Finnlines, following Uwe Bakosch’s request to leave his post as CEO and president to concentrate on heading German subsidiary Finnlines Deutschland. Emanuele Grimaldi, his brother


Gianluca and brother-in-law Diego Pacell, who control the Naples- based shipping conglomerate, have taken on the roles of Finnlines president and chief executive officer. In a letter to Finnlines


stakeholders, he pointed out that he had acted once in this double role during the first six months of 2009, following losses of EUR11m a month as a result of the financial crisis.


DB Schenker has been named Official Logistics Provider for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this year. The forwarder, with its extensive experience in logistics services for major sporting events, will provide warehouse space, warehouse operations including staff and equipment, and freight transportation services.


Essex-based forwarder Freightbrain is moving from its home of 25 years in Witham to a new location in Braintree. The company explained that its current premises have seen better days and the opportunity has arisen to buy a detached warehouse unit of a similar size, complete with offices and fully secure space. There is a police response alarm system and perimeter fencing together with fork-liſt facilities.


CUSTOMS & TRADE


Scotland’s Food Minister Richard Lochhead launched a £1.6 million four-year Market Driven Supply Chain (MDSC) project to help food and drink producers take full advantage of UK and international markets on 6 December. MDSC will address many of the issues faced by companies as they move to increase these export sales. Oſten when good sales leads are generated they flounder on logistics or a lack of understanding of how supply chains function. Management sometimes do not to have the time or the expertise to examine supply chains in depth to ensure they can best exploit these opportunities.


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