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Issue 4 2015 - Freight Business Journal


///FREIGHT BREAK Ferry concerning


Campaigners sense that the writing my finally be on the wall for one of the country’s oldest ferry services. The Woolwich Ferry linking south and east London has existed since at least the 15th Century but now rumours are afoot that it could finally be beached by a proposed fixed crossing at Gallions Reach. Transport for London is officially denying that


there are any such plans, and it would in fact require an Act of Parliament to get rid of the service, but that didn’t stop more than 6,000 people signing a ‘Save The Woolwich Free Ferry’ petition in just three days in mid-April. The Unite trade union – which has 26 members working on the ferry – has also lent its backing to the campaign. Unite says that the ferry service - which became


the Woolwich Free Ferry in 1889 - carries more than 3,500 vehicles and 5,000 passengers a day


across the Thames. It has, in a sense, always been a ‘political’ ferry service - the 1963-vintage vessels built in Dundee were each named aſter prominent local politicians including Labour stalwart, Ernest Bevin. More pertinently, as far as the freight industry


is concerned, every crossing seems to have at least a couple of heavy goods vehicles on board, including many carrying dangerous goods. What, I wonder, would become of this traffic if the Gallions Reach fixed link is actually a tunnel, from which presumably such traffic would be barred. And at the Freight Transport Association, head of


policy for London Natalie Chapman says that while FTA supports TfL’s proposals for a series of river crossings, it is asking TfL to ensure that at least one of the new crossings is a bridge to avoid extremely large detours.


Instrument flying Tunnel vision


No one gives a second thought to the pipes that bring fresh water into almost every home and business in the land, or the ones that take away our waste products. But perhaps we don’t make as much use of underground pipes as we should,


suggests Roger


Sumner-Rivers, founder of ParcelHero, the international courier. He is enthusing about


the


new Mole Solutions system of underground freight delivery tubes being trialled in Northampton which, he says, “has the potential to reduce city traffic and reduce emissions significantly.”


(I’d no idea city


congestion was such an issue in this smallish Midlands city, but that’s by the by.) Freight capsules would


be powered by electricity producing magnetic fields to propel them along tracks, similar to the maglev rail systems in use at some airports. It’s more than just a pipe dream,


he insists. “A nine month trial of the Mole Urban Project has just been started and the supply chain industry is watching the results with interest.” It isn’t quite the first time such


ideas have been tried. As recently as the early 2000s, the Royal Mail had its own private underground line linking the London main line


stations with the central London sorting offices, albeit using conventional rail technology rather than maglev. In the US, Chicago had an even


more elaborate underground railway network serving the basements of all the main buildings in the central area, but it was phased out in the 1950s. Mr Rivers isn’t deterred by eventual


the failure of both


these schemes, arguing: “The Mole system is ambitious, and the initial infrastructure cost considerable, but when weighed against the real environmental costs of congestion, underground pipes are an idea that was bound to surface at some time.”


Queening it up Passenger ships aren’t normally our thing, but the ‘Three Queens’ visit to Liverpool of three Cunard liners was too good an opportunity for the FBJ crew to miss. Many thanks to Peter Kenny of Liverpool Boat Charter for an enjoyable day out - and weathering the choppy conditions in the Mersey.


Airline rules governing musical instruments as cabin baggage may strike a bum note, warns Fastlane International. According to its


latest press


release, a new US ruling, which says that musicians flying with their instruments can’t be stopped from carrying them aboard, may well prove to be an unfinished symphony. (The puns are all theirs, by the way.) While the new US Department


of Transport ruling, which came into effect last month, came as music to the ears, the global courier warns that things may still go off-key for passengers trying to load their instruments. Fastlane’s head of


publications, David Jinks, says: “The ruling seems fair, but in fact all is not harmony. It says that airlines can’t refuse to carry small instruments in lockers. However, if the lockers are already full, airlines are not required to find room in the cabin. Musicians may find they have to pay extra for priority boarding in order to secure overhead locker space.” He also warns that those


airlines that routinely ask for payment for a second item of cabin baggage can still demand


this for a musical instrument, if the passenger has another cabin luggage item with them. The new rules apply only


to US carriers, and specify instruments the size of a violin or a guitar must be allowed aboard if there is locker space. British Airways, which in fact does not need to comply with this rule, was recently criticised by the UK’s professional society for musicians, the ISM, for


changing its policy


and restricting the size of instruments allowed on board to less than a the size of a violin. But the ISM has worked with EasyJet to allow for instruments the size of violins and trumpets as cabin luggage. Jinks adds: “There is still the


option of paying for an extra seat to transport larger musical instruments such as cellos; and US airlines are now no longer able to make cheeky charges above the usual fee for another seat, such as an extra charge for musical instruments. However the new ruling has stopped short of legally requiring airlines to have seats that can hold instruments.” Drummers, tuba players and others with large instruments


can fly their instruments as part of checked baggage and the US Department of Transport’s new ruling says carriers must take these items. However, the rule states that carriers may impose the same checked-baggage charges – often hefty - on instruments that apply to other items of that size and weight. Jinks says: “The situation is


better than it was for musicians flying by US registered airlines but there is a rift in the lute.* There are still expensive fees that might unexpectedly hit people carrying instruments on their flight. However, there is a good alternative. [We wondered what all this was leading up to.] Couriers such as Fastlane International are experts at sending ahead luggage, including musical instruments.


Thousands of


our customers prefer to use our luggage delivery service each year instead of paying the extortionate excess baggage fees charged by airlines; and musicians know we will take care of their precious instruments.” *Apparently, a quote from a


poem by Tennyson. No, we’d never heard of it either.


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