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Issue 5 2016 - Freight Business Journal The North speaks with one voice


PD Ports, Port of Tyne, ABP and Peel Ports have signed an agreement to ensure their collective voice is heard by Government and to improve freight and transport links across the North. The ports have brokered a


ground-breaking pact to pursue a Northern Ports Strategy, announced in Liverpool on 29 June. They will work together to create new jobs in and around ports, and boost investment in an East-West Freight Supercorridor with improvements to rail infrastructure being the ultimate priority. PD Ports’ development director,


Geoff Lippitt, said: “These are going to be challenging economic times for the whole of the UK. Therefore it’s important that the North and northern ports are seen as a progressive body to drive through that change.” A report compiled by independent thinktank


IPPR


North says that major port operators in the region should join forces to promote themselves. Recommendations in ‘Gateways to the Northern Powerhouse: Towards a Northern ports


strategy’ include: developing local port growth strategies focusing on industry clusters like energy and logistics; each major port, working in conjunction with its local planning authorities, should develop a port masterplan; Transport of the North to work with the Department for Transport and Network Rail to prioritise an East-West freight super corridor; Government to set out a clear, consistent and long- term energy strategy on which businesses can plan long-term investment and to support a shiſt from road to rail; and establishling a Northern Ports, Freight and Logistics Association. Director of IPPR North, Ed Cox,


said: “Britain was a trading nation long before the European Union was ever thought of, and that fact will not change despite the Brexit vote. We need a global North now like never before. “The nature of any new


European trade agreement will be vital, but the measures set out in our new Northern Ports Strategy provide a framework upon which any new deal must be based.” Peel Ports chief executive, Mark Whitworth added: “As logistics


PD Ports to boost rail and water use


PD Ports is spearheading an initiative to promote greater use of rail and short-sea shipping to and from Teesport. The Freight Management


Partnership has been launched in collaboration with multi-national shipping companies, Network Rail, Highways Agency and the Road Haulage Association as well as Tees Valley Combined Authority. The group has been set up as part


of PD Ports’ wider group strategy for Teesport as the gateway for shippers serving northern markets as well as its potential to be a major catalyst in rebalancing the local economy. The inaugural meeting, which


was held at PD Ports’ headquarters in Middlesbrough in early June,


set out its objectives to identify transport priorities to and from Teesport - the UK’s fiſth largest port by volume.


processes become ever more automated and


sophisticated


there is a massive opportunity for the north of England to be at the cutting edge of new patterns of freight distribution through a series of multimodal distribution parks and strategic rail freight interchanges and an east–west freight super-corridor linking Atlantic traffic with the European mainland.” In an interview with FBJ, PD


Ports’ Geoff Lippitt said: “One of the key issues is transpennine freight by rail. Collectively, the northern ports have invested around £1 billion, but public investment in the rail corridor has simply not kept pace.” He said that the cost of a full enhancement and gauge clearance of


the rail corridor


would be about £100m. However, the ports were also concerned at the lack of urgency in Network Rail’s plans to improve the artery, which suggested that the work would not be completed for another ten years or so. However, spending money on


the railways would have a much wider public benefit in that it would help reduce congestion on


PD Ports is working closely with


the road hauliers to develop a strong communication platform, minimise any delays on the roads around Teesport and encourage wider development of the sector, particularly relating to skills and training in the area.


the roads, Lippitt pointed out. Another key scheme of the


initiative would be skills, he added. Peel Ports’ Mark Whitworth,


pointed out: “Ports are dependent on a highly skilled workforce, from engineers and heavy goods vehicle drivers to managers and communications specialists. Training and retraining is a core concern.” Peel Ports is one of the partners


supporting the new Maritime Knowledge Hub, opened in Wirral in March this year which aims to be a global centre of excellence within the UK. Asked whether central


Government would now be distracted from the Northern Powerhouse, given the events since 23 June, Geoff Lippitt said that, if anything, Brexit made it even more imperative for the North to seek trading relationships overseas and seek inward investment. He added: “Also, I think the


Northern Powerhouse has now got a life of its own; it’s all on the statute books and it’s in process. It feels a lot more mature than previous initiatives to promote the North ever were.”


executive, David Robinson, said: “Teesport has the potential to be a major catalyst in rebalancing the economy in the North of the UK, and in particular Teesside, as part of the Northern Powerhouse strategy.” Meanwhile, Teesport handled


one of the biggest wind farm installation vessels in the world, Pacific Orca, on its newly redeveloped £35 million quay. Measuring a massive 161m long and 49m wide, she was berthed at Number One Quay for several weeks from mid-June while being fitted with a pile gripper constructed on site. The 550m long quay which


Reducing road-based freight


transport would not only lower costs and congestion but also significantly cut CO2 emissions and speed up supply chain logistics.


Tesco and Asda have already


located distribution centres at Teesport to make the most of its portcentric logistics and improve efficiencies. PD Ports chief


measures 14.5m deep has been significantly strengthened so can now take loads of 10 tonnes per square metre, therefore making it suitable for the mobilisation of wind farm installation vessels.


///NEWS News Roundup


Freightliner has launched its 23rd daily rail service from Felixstowe, to and from south Yorkshire. Ultimately it will serve the Freightliner Rail Port at Doncaster aſter development work there has finished but in the interim to will go to the DB Cargo site operated by Newell & Wright, in Rotherham.


Road & Rail


DB Cargo UK’s head of commercial law, Chris Thornes is to return to private practice, joining Hull- based shipping, transport and international trade firm Myton Law, aſter a ten-year spell at the rail company. As well as overseeing property law requirements for the DBS, latterly he also managed commercial law requirements, including haulage and international procurement contracts, and acted as general legal counsel for forwarder Schenker in the UK.


DHL Global Forwarding has signed a memorandum of understanding with Chengdu Gateway Logistics Office, the government agency responsible for developing the city into a major trade hub under China’s ‘Belt and Road’ initiative. DHL will collaborate with Chengdu’s administration to further improve the security, customs efficiency, and freight capacity of the city’s logistics infrastructure. Asia’s largest rail container hub has developed links like the Chengdu-Europe Express Rail between the city and Lodz, Poland and the Chengdu-Central Asia Express Rail in 2014.


The Freight Transport Association has launched the 21st edition of its European Road Transport Guide. The publication, sponsored by Eurotunnel, is sent free to the Association’s international members and offers essential information including public holidays, weekend lorry bans, toll prices and useful addresses. The latest edition features Andorra for the first time. Driving restrictions in Romania and Slovakia have been completely revised, as have motorway charges in France and Spain to reflect 2016 fees.


Developer Four Ashes has launched a public consultation on plans to build a rail freight interchange to serve South Staffordshire and the West Midlands. An application is expected to be submitted in autumn 2017.


The European Commission is to refer Denmark and Finland to the EU Court of Justice for not applying cabotage laws properly. Under EU regulations, hauliers are supposed to be able to perform up to three national operations in a member state other than their own aſter unloading an international transport. However, Finnish law limits cabotage to ten operations in three months and it also considers that each loading or unloading constitutes a cabotage operation. In Denmark, a single cabotage opertion can involve several loading or unloadings, but not a mixture of the two.


The International Road Transport Union has submitted a formal complaint to the European Commission over the Tirol region of Austria’s proposed plan to ban trucks over 7.5 tonnes on a section of the A12 in the Inn valley due to enter into force on 1 November. Tirol has attempted twice in the past to introduce such a ban, but the European Court of Justice has ruled that it would not comply with EU law.


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