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www.fj-online.com A different country challenge operators


Imbalances and fragmentation


The Scottish market is very different to that south of the border. For a start, it exports more freight by container than it imports – a reverse of the situation in England. Rail and coastal shipping are also much more important here. Moreover, if the Brexit issue rekindles the debate on Scottish independence, could Gretna Green one day be a ‘hard’ border?


Amber signals for rail freight in Scotland


There have been some encouraging developments with Anglo-Scottish intermodal traffic such as the second daily train from Teesport to Scotland. But could more be done to develop rail freight in Scotland? We asked Rail Freight Group’s David Spaven for his views. He says: “With the right level


of investment by the Scottish Government and the rail industry – plus innovative and imaginative approaches on all sides – rail freight can play a much bigger role in meeting Scottish Government policy objectives for the economy and the environment. The First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon MSP, recently declared a ‘climate emergency’ and the rail industry needs to spreads awareness that moving freight to rail could be the single biggest action Scotland could take to reduce emissions immediately.” As elsewhere in Britain, the loss of coal represents a big


hole in rail freight revenue which has yet to be filled. But: “There have been encouraging developments, notably in the intermodal sector, with additional trains to Teesport and Liverpool Docks, and the opening of Highland Spring’s new terminal at Blackford next year.” RFG has suggested to the


Scottish Government that there is scope for a ‘pump-priming’ grant, with particular relevance to the food and drink sector in Moray and the wider north-east of Scotland. Rail already plays a major


part in transporting


export whisky south from Central Scotland, but all the 1.5m tonnes of bulk spirit moved annually from the North of Scotland to maturation sites in the Central Belt is currently carried by heavy lorries. This has serious implications for CO2 emissions, for road damage and for road safety, with 50,000 long- distance whisky vehicle trips


annually along the A9. No less than 50% of HGV movements on the narrow A95 are whisky- related, says Spaven. However, he points out:


“No single customer in the important food and drink sector in Moray and the surrounding area has enough traffic to fill a daily train, so a variety of flows have to be brought together by the rail haulier. But rail haulage is a low-margin business and there are significant commercial risks in funding a regular train service, especially while some potential customers hold back to monitor its performance and costs versus road haulage before making a significant and strategic decision to change their transport arrangements. There is an opportunity here to spread the risk, by the Scottish Government ‘pump-priming’ the first nine or twelve months of operation of a regular train service from Elgin or Keith to the Central Belt, in recognition


of the economic, environmental and road safety prizes on offer from a switch from road haulage to rail freight.” The Scottish and UK


governments – through Network Rail – have enhanced the rail network, both on cross-Border and internal Scottish routes, including electrification of the important Grangemouth branch. The capability of the East Coast Main Line through Berwick and Edinburgh has been upgraded so that the highest British domestic clearance (height and width) for international containers through overbridges and tunnels is available. However, a lack of overtaking loops for long freight trains means that ‘paths’ for 775-metre services between the ever-expanding number of passenger trains are limited, which in turn extends freight journey times on the East Coast and West Coast Main Lines to and from England. The Scottish rail network as


a whole remains a patchwork of different ‘loading gauge’ clearances involving complex permutations of wagon and container types.


Wider strategic issues – no high road for rail freight


The Perth-Inverness corridor provides a good illustration of flaws in the current evaluation and prioritisation of transport infrastructure investment, to the disadvantage of rail freight, says RFG.


In 2008 the Scottish


Government’s ‘Strategic Transport Projects Review’


(STPR) identified upgrading the Highland Main Line (HML) as the third-top priority among 29


road and rail schemes


across Scotland. Investment of between £200m and £450m was


envisaged, including


‘additional loops, dynamic loops or lengthening of double track sections – designed to


benefit both passenger and freight traffic. The outcomes would include making rail considerably more attractive for freight hauliers to move containers and other goods by rail, by reducing journey times. Eleven years later, work


has just been completed on a drastically scaled-down rail


infrastructure programme, with only £57m invested in track and signalling upgrades, almost entirely driven by the passenger market, with very little benefit to rail freight. Train lengths – a crucial competitive factor – remain significantly constrained by the short crossing loops.


Road freight is a fragmented business in the UK as a whole, and particularly so in the small Scottish market. The acquisition of Aberdeen haulier ARR Craib by Gregory Distribution last year could be a sign of things to come as small but profitable specialists north of the border are snapped up by larger firms. That said, there are some


substantial Scottish logistics firms including Russell Group and Malcolm Group that are also very active in England, operating rail as well as road services. Scottish politicians have been watching the progress of the London low emission zone with interest and Glasgow has become the first city to introduce such a policy, in December 2018, although for the moment it only applies to local buses. However, other vehicles, including lorries, will be included in later stages of the scheme between now and 31 December 2022. Edinburgh could well follow Glasgow’s lead. Imbalanced trade is a fact of


life in Scottish freight. In fact, there are two imbalances – the flow of consumer goods from England to Scotland with very little of such goods going southwards (although Amazon’s huge DC in Dunfermline apparently does serve England as well


as Scotland for some


product lines) but also the Scottish whisky traffic which generates large quantities of containerised


exports but with relatively small volumes coming into Scotland by this means. The latter can create shortages of container equipment in Scotland at times of heavy demand for whisky and other Scottish exports. One of


the discontinuance to


the reasons why of DFDS’s


Zeebrugge-Rosyth ferry is regretted is that it allowed Scottish hauliers


operate triangular


flows comprising ‘imports’ from England, exports


from Scotland


to Continental Europe and then a third leg from the Continent back to England. DFDS discontinued the service


aſter the single vessel used on the freight-only route caught fire, saying that it was unable to source a replacement. A local MP has held talks with a Scottish operator about getting a service running again. Imbalances also affect the


economics of rail freight in Scotland – most traffic flows tend to be either northbound or southbound, with few if any opportunities to reload empty wagons. This could make the Scottish government’s ambition to increase rail freight by 7½% a tough challenge. Like companies throughout the


UK, Scottish traders are concerned about the effects of Brexit, but particularly exporters of


fresh


fish and other time-sensitive commodities, who cannot afford to have consignments snarled up in customs queues.


Davies Turner grows in a tough climate


Independent freight forwarder


Davies Turner has increased its business in a challenging Scottish market, says regional manager Darren McLaughlan. The company doubled the size of its operation at Cumbernauld in Scotland’s central belt 18 months ago and is now considering the


next phase of its expansion. Davies Turner Scotland


handles the forwarders’ full range of ocean, rail and road trailer services at Cumbernauld. These include LCL container services from the Far East and trailer services to and from Europe


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