FBJ 4 FREIGHT BUSINESS JOURNAL


CONTACTS SALES


JOHN SAUNDERS - PUBLISHER Tel: +44 (0)151 427 6800 Fax: +44 (0)151 427 1796 Mobile: +44 (0)7932 102026 john.saunders@f j-online.com


RAY GIRVAN Tel: +44 (0)1691 718 045


EDITORIAL


CHRIS LEWIS - EDITOR +44 (0)7778 106433


chris.lewis@f j-online.com MIKE BRYANT PHIL HASTINGS


CIRCULATION


Tel: +44 (0)151 427 6800 circulation@f j-online.com


By Chris Lewis


No one envies the public health officials having to advise on what to do about the corona virus that has gripped the world and dominated the news agenda, even usurping Brexit from the front pages. It is a serious matter to be sure, and it is right that we should take every reasonable precaution to prevent its spread and lives being lost unnecessarily. But a little context is necessary. There are plenty of other killer diseases stalking the world and the corona virus is no more deadly than many of them. If we end up shutting down the global supply chain, that will cost lives too, directly and indirectly – from vital food and medicines failing to get through, from the economic impact, particularly on poorer people and even from suicides as businesses fail.


ADVERTISEMENT PRODUCTION


LORRAINE CHRISTIAN Tel: +44 (0)151 427 6800 lorraine.christian@f j-online.com


ANDREA CAZZOLATO Tel: +44 (0)151 427 6800 andrea@f j-online.com


One effect of the corona virus will be to make companies look at their supply chains and assess whether there are any vulnerabilities. Indeed, this is a process that has been going on ever since the Ash Cloud ten years ago and the Fukushima tsunami and nuclear leak a few years later. Horror of horrors, some of the car makers found that they couldn’t get hold of a particular shade of pearlescent paint because all the paint makers relied on one granule producer in Japan. The problem with supply chains is that can be very complex and this sort of information isn’t always readily available or apparent. The car makers, for instance, talk in terms of Tier 1, Tier 2 or Tier 3 suppliers but a firm making a paint ingredient may not make it into the structure at all. Still, a lot of good work has been done in the past ten years and one senses that industry is a bit better prepared for the corona virus incident than previous disruptions. Global manufacturers have identified some alternative supply locations, for instance. On the other hand, the virus has been a lot more disruptive to the global transport system than previous incidents, which at least did not involve virtually whole countries being shut down, nor did the affect multiple modes of transport.


HEAD OFFICE


FREIGHT BUSINESS JOURNAL


Saunders Associates Ltd Station House Mersey Road Liverpool UK L17 6AG


Tel: +44 (0)151 427 6800 Fax: +44 (0)151 427 1796 Email: info@f j-online.com Web: www.f j-online.com


The country has at last made a decision on an issue that has bitterly divided the nation for many years and has set friends and neighbours at loggerheads. No, we’re not talking about Brexit (though all the above do also apply) but the equally controversial HS2 rail line that the Government has now decreed should go ahead. I think most people in the freight industry will broadly welcome it, not because we are desperate to get to our meetings in London, Manchester, Birmingham or wherever an hour or so faster but because of the capacity it could free up on the existing West Coast main line. Getting rid of all those pesky Pendolino passenger trains that currently clog up the route means that container freight and other trains can be timetabled much more intelligently. Freight trains tend to be most efficient when they’re spinning along at a steady 60-75mph and making them grind to a halt in passing loops or wait at junctions so that express passenger trains can get past is hardly efficient. At the moment, freight train end-to-end averages speeds are a rather unflattering 40mph or less; surely in the 21st century it is possible to do better than this? Also, by taking the pressure off the existing infrastructure, it may be possible to plan track maintenance more effectively, perhaps even clearing more paths for overnight trains. There is however one caveat. HS2 will be built in stages and for many years the 200mph passenger trains will have to switch back onto the Classic line north of Birmingham to continue their journeys to Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow.


FBJ boasts the most informative and authoritative source of information with unrivalled in-depth knowledge of the rapidly changing freight business environment.


As the defi nitive publication within the sea, air, road and rail freight sectors, each issue includes regular news and analysis, in-depth coverage discovering the business decisions behind the news stories, shipper and exporter reports, opinion, geographical features, political and environmental issues.


If you have any stories or letters which should be of interest or any feedback on FBJ, please contact our editor Chris Lewis - +44 (0)208 6450666 chris.lewis@f j-online.com


next issue >> circulation >> Our next issue will include features on: North-West England


and Pharmaceuticals plus the Freight Soſt ware Guide. For further details contact: John Saunders - +44 (0) 151 427 6800 john.saunders@f j-online.com


To guarantee your personal copy of FBJ please register by emailing


your details to circulation@f j-online.com or fax back the address cover sheet included with this issue.


Issue 2 2020 - Freight Business Journal From the Editor


///NEWS


FBJ is the only UK and one of the few pan-European Multimodal newspapers. The comments we have received prove there is still room for a hard copy publication within the freighting industry. You don’t have to look at a screen all day!


If, as widely expected, the first stage of HS2 greatly stimulates demand for North-South travel, even though they can only go part of the way by high- speed line, that could mean fewer freight paths, not more. In the short term more and more 200mph expresses would be clattering along the classic line north of Birmingham to reach their final destinations.


There is though no such good news for airfreight people hoping for a definitive decision on Heathrow airport’s plans to build a third runway. The scheme received a setback on 27 February after the Court of Appeal ruled that the government had failed to follow its own climate policy although the airport took a bullish view saying that the climate goals were deliverable. BIFA chief Robert Keen spoke of his foreboding that spades may never hit the ground. At the very least, it means that Heathrow has some work to do in ensuring that the runway can go ahead while meeting carbon targets. At worst, it could mean the scheme spending years if not decades in the long grass. The present PM has talked of lying down in front of heavy earth-moving machinery to prevent the third runway from happening. The court’s decision does mean that no decision will get taken now but that the plan can remain in existence long enough for a change of government or prime minister – or even possibly for people to forget that he ever said those words.


The Government laid its cards on the table at the beginning of the year – or at least came as close to doing so as any UK government has during the whole sorry, long-drawn-out Brexit saga. The gist of its message to the EU is: Give us a comprehensive free trade deal or we will start working towards a hard Brexit at the end of the year. There are those in the freight industry who are so fed up with the process that even having this crumb of certainty over where we were heading is perhaps better than the current situation. But, as BIFA pointed out on the day that the first formal negotiations opened between the UK and EU, this is only the beginning of months of complex talks, with many challenging areas that will require flexibility from both sides if an agreement is to be reached.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36