4 The economic


Multimodal 2017 Daily Issue 3 - Freight Business Journal


The box, not coal is the king of the rails


and


environmental imperatives for UK shippers and importers to switch inland distribution from road to rail are becoming increasingly hard to ignore, delegates at a Multimodal


at the inaugural session of the event that moving containers from the UK’s ports to a rail connected warehouse in the country’s Golden Triangle – the area in the Midlands that houses much of the UK’s


said: “Until a few years ago coal was the dominant cargo on the UK’s railways. But it has declined a lot, and last year volumes dropped by 64%. However, the overall freight tonnage on the network only declined by 4%, which indicate that other types of cargo saw large growth – around 5,000 lorry loads per day are moving on rail.” More capacity for growth


is on its way. Mr Worth described capacity upgrades at Felixstowe as the number one priority for the intermodal industry. Currently the line into the port is at capacity and handles 33 trains per day in each direction. “But by the end of 2019,


seminar heard on Tuesday 4 April. Julian Worth, chair of


the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport’s rail freight forum, told delegates


national distribution centre warehouse capacity – was 30% cheaper per box. This had already created


significant increase demand for intermodal services, he


Network Rail will have completed an expansion at Felixstowe that will take that capacity up to 45 trains per day in each direction - almost a 50% increase in capacity. “The


other part of the


scheme is improving the east- west rail capacity, and that means creating a direct route from Southampton to the Golden Triangle which will help bring down the cost of medium-length routes. However, he also warned


that shippers and their 3PLs would be unable to utilise much of the growth of capacity unless there was further investment in rail-connected warehousing. “The ability to move loads on


private roads within logistics estates directly off trains


ABP to double Humber box handling despite Brexit


ABP is to invest £50 million


to more than double the capacity of its two Humber container terminals. It


has


committed nearly £30 million to upgrading Hull Container Terminal including the purchase of four new Liebherr ship-to-shore cranes, two of which were delivered in 2016 with two more scheduled for delivery in 2018. Immingham Container Terminal, which also took delivery of a new Liebherr crane in 2016, will be further extended with major investment in new equipment and technology. Capacity at the two ports will be more than doubled to allow them to handle around 550,000 boxes a year, as well as to improve quayside handling rates and reduce waiting times


Forwarding apprenticeship still an aspiration


Work is progressing towards a specialised


freight forwarding


aspiration, BIFA director general Robert Keen told FBJ. Progress has been slower than expected, but with


the appointment of


for hauliers. ABP says there has been a


41% growth in volume at Humber container terminals


its


since 2013and it expects this trend to continue after Brexit.


training specialist Carl Hobbis, work is now progressing steadily. However, it is unlikely that the scheme will be launched this year. A number of BIFA members have formed a working group and BIFA has engaged with Government on the all-important issue of


securing funding and getting content approved. A number of


large operators,


including Kuehne and Nagel and Uniserve have als o launched their own internal apprenticeship schemes. Apprenticeships could become even more relevant if Customs introduces a ‘trusted trader’ scheme, Keen predicts. “They would be looking for evidence of competence, and an apprenticeship would provide that,” he says.


will be very, very important because of the cost advantages. “And equally, these rail-


connected sheds allow shippers to do the next stage of their supply chains, which is connecting national distribution centres with the regional distribution centres, and possibly


goods into the stores.” Rupert Dyer, member of


the CILT’s rail freight forum, added that concurrent with this increase in capacity was an increase in smaller consignment sizes on some


This investment in the


Humber comes on the back of the recent investment by ABP in Southampton of a further £50 million on a vehicle handling terminal which will predominantly be handling UK manufactured vehicles for export.


ABP Humber director


Simon Bird, said: “We have seen significant growth at our


routes. “GB Railfreight has


even moving


repurposed passenger rolling stock and is loading palletised and e-commerce traffic from national distribution centres in the Midlands into London – two services per day at the moment, and that’s just one example. “In five years’ time,


intermodal has taken over from bulk and in five years’ time I expect to be talking about the success of rail’s new pallets and portions strategy,” he added.


Humber container terminals


in recent years and all the indications are that this will continue despite Brexit. We anticipate growth in container shipping in the coming years and ABP in the Humber are keen to position ourselves to take advantage of that growth. This is a huge vote of confidence in the economy of the North of England at this crucial time.”


///NEWS


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