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Issue 5 2020 - Freight Business Journal


predict its speed and timing. One


school of thought however is that the Covid crisis will hasten the exit from traditional fuels such as oil and gas. As Wallace says: “If you don’t


have the facilities, you can’t participate.” The Tay is blessed with a solid rock river bed, which makes it a natural choice for anyone with


a need to ground a large, heavy metal structure. Leith completes the portfolio of


Forth Ports locations with major cargo handling activities. The port – just a couple of miles from Edinburgh city centre – has a large amount of enclosed deep water with plenty of land alongside, which makes


it popular with operators who need, for example,


Crisis fails to halt transport spending


The Freight Transport Association (FTA) is “delighted and relieved” that investment in transport infrastructure is still going ahead, despite the corona crisis, says head of policy for Scotland and Northern Ireland, Mags Simpson. A recent statement by Scottish


Government Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity, Michael Matheson confirmed the continuation of major projects including the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route and the dualling of the A9 to Inverness and has been welcomed by FTA and its truck operating members. A more short-term measure


to speed freight through the Highlands is the successful trial of a 50mph truck speed limit on the A9 (Scotland, unlike England, has not automatically increased the old 40mph limit for trucks on single-carriageway roads). FTA would like to see this extended to other similar trunk roads, on a case-by-case basis. Another encouraging


development is, paradoxically, in England. The announcement that the East-West A66 will be upgraded to dual carriageway will greatly improve an import link between the M6 and ports on the East Coast of England, including Felixstowe, says Simpson. But there are still other


schemes that have not yet got the green light. These include the A75, a major link between the M74 from lowland Scotland and the port of Cairnryan, which funnels virtually all traffic between Scotland and Ireland. Another pinch point is the A83 which traverses a very remote part of Scotland but which is a vital link for the ports to the Western Isles. The issue here is a stretch of road that is very prone to landslides – it had already been shut three times at the time of writing in early June – and when that happens traffic has to take a seven-hour detour. And while the Western isles


might seem the back of beyond to most UK inhabitants, there is


important freight traffic, both to serve local needs and exports from the many whisky distilleries. On the railways, FTA would


like to see electrification and gauge-enhancement


has pushed


forward to allow faster and more regular freight trains. The Scottish Government


set


a growth target for rail freight, but Simpson notes that when the once major coal traffic disappeared from the railways due to carbon reduction policies, ever-expanding


passenger


services quickly soaked up the remaining capacity. There are traffics that could potentially use rail including timber and whiskey and while there have been some encouraging developments such as the use by supermarkets of rail for deliveries to stores in the Highlands and the new Highland Spring mineral water terminal at Blackford in the Stirling/Perth area, much more could be done. Simpson is also keen that


rail access is considered and provided for in building new industrial estates. The High Speed 2 (HS2) rail


route far to the south between London, Birmingham and Manchester could create opportunities for rail by allowing


express passenger trains to be diverted to the new line and releasing capacity by freight – provided of course, that the paths released are not immediately gobbled up by commuter train operators. Scotland has many successful


ports including the Forth Ports group, Clydeport near Glasgow and Aberdeen, which services mainly the oil industry along with the ferries to Shetland. Here, there are plans for a major new cruise and ferry port outside the city at Altens, which would allow services to be expanded. The Shetlands are important for fish and North Sea Oil related traffic. Inland waterways are


significant in Scotland. Although the country has few man-made canals it is blessed with deep and wide river estuaries such as the Firth of Forth and few populated parts are more than few miles from the coast. Scottish exporters are also


major users of airfreight and while the corona crisis has sparked more interest in local airports such as Prestwick or the Emirates flights at Glasgow and Edinburgh, the country’s main import and export port is, and remains, London Heathrow.


///SCOTLAND


to bring in pipes by sea, coat or joint them and send them out again by vessel. The current oil price slump has


also given Leith a role in providing a safe haven for expensive North Sea support vessels and even two P&O Dover/Calais ferries which, at the time of writing in early June, were being kept in warm layby with a limited crew still on board and


onshore power provided. Forth Ports is also a major fleet


operator in its own right and last year invested in its latest powerful tug, the Craigleith from ASD, bringing the total complement to five. The vessels can be found operating in all parts of the Forth Ports empire but on occasion as far afield as the Cromarty Firth in the north of Scotland.


No hanging about in Montrose


The port of Montrose’s newly redeveloped Berth 7 went into operation just ten minutes aſter being handed over by the contractors, handling a vessel on the regular general cargo service from Sweden. The project, which adds 230 metres of quayside at the north-east Scottish port, will allow larger vessels to be call regularly. The other major development


at Montrose, says chief executive and harbourmaster Captain Tom Hutchison, is the decision by offshore windfarm Seagreen to set up an operations and maintenance (O&M) base at Montrose, which should be handling its first vessels in 2022. It is a continuation of the diversification policy away from North Sea oil and gas and into wind energy started by Captain Hutchison’s predecessor, Nik Scott-Gray. Captain Hutchison points out:


“It’s a 25-year contract, so it is a nice bit of long-term business.” Seagreen is 16 nautical miles


east of Montrose Montrose had a good year in


2019-20 (year ending 31 March), only 5% down on the previous 12-month record, especially considering that more than one berth was out of action for reconstruction during the period. A 15% rise in general cargo including fertilizer and rapeseed exports offset downturns in other segments. Montrose, a trust port, will


probably pause for a while in its development, but in the longer term it has identified a possible 250-400m of further new quays. Development will depend on the market, says Captain Hutchison, but if traffic remains buoyant, there is no reason why the scheme should not go ahead at some stage. The resulting increased


traffic may also be a spur for the local authorities to consider improvements to the road links between the port and the main A90 road a few miles to the west.


Slowly, Davies Turner is returning to a semblance of normality in Scotland. By about mid-June, all the freight forwarder’s staff were due to return from furlough and would be back at their posts, although half would be working remotely from home, says branch manager at the Cumbernauld base, Darren McLaughlan. However, Davies Turner’s


Scottish business never stopped during the corona crisis, he explains: “We were moving shipments like PPE, or ventilators to the Queen Elizabeth hospital, on all modes of transport.” With air capacity scarce and expensive, and cutbacks


very


to shipping services, there was “a massive uptake” for Davies


Turner’s rail service from China. Journey times of 21-22 days door


to door were not much


slower than airfreight at the time. McLaughlan hopes too that some of the business will stay on rail, pointing out: “We had over 70% of our customers repeating their business on rail.” Not only was the rail service


reasonably quick to Scotland, but the latest developments in IT meant that customers could accurately track their shipments by purchase order from the factory in China and predict when they would arrive. Knowing exactly when goods will arrive is oſten as important to customers as sheer speed, says McLaughlan, especially now that they are


having to watch their cash flow and ensure that consignments arrive not too late or early but at exactly the right time. While Davies Turner’s total


volume inevitably did decrease during the crisis, McLaughlan said, in early June: “We are now seeing a bounce back and services are returning to normal. That said, we have been maintaining our services and there was nothing we were not able to move; it helps that we operate all our own services.” He predicts that manufacturing


in Scotland will be first to make a comeback, followed by non- food retail. Food itself continued to move in volumes during the lockdown. Davies Turner in Scotland can,


like all the forwarder’s branches, cater for e-commerce, something that McLaughlan would also expect to see increasing in future. Davies Turner’s activities


in Scotland are centred on its main distribution centre at Cumbernauld in central Scotland, while Davies Turner Air Cargo operates at Hillington, near Glasgow Airport. Both facilities have been enlarged in recent years and further expansion on- site would not be a problem as and when it becomes necessary, says McLaughlan. “Space is not impossible to get,” he explained. “Davies Turner also builds very efficient, high buildings which it designs and specifies itself.” Both locations are ideal for


serving the whole of Scotland. Most places in the populated central belt are within an hour or so truck drive and even a return trip to Aberdeen can be done within a single driver’s shiſt. Really far-flung locations in


the Highlands and Islands can be catered for by specialist carriers who visit Davies Turner’s sites daily. As the lockdown begins to wind


down, customers’ thoughts are also slowly starting to return to Brexit and Davies Turner in Scotland can – like all the forwarder’s other UK facilities - offer customs-bonded facilities. A lot of its trailer business are imports from Turkey and it also operates regular weekly seafreight consolidations from


Shanghai and Ningbo in China, all direct into Scotland, so the ability to clear and deal with any issues at its own premises rather than rely on the limited facilities at ports, is already a great advantage. If similar measures are needed for imports from the EU aſter Brexit, Davies Turner will be well-placed to cope, McLaughlan considers. Traffic from Turkey to Scotland


has increased in recent years. The country is convenient, only a few days away by truck and the differential in manufacturing costs with China has narrowed as wages in the latter country have risen. Brexit and recovery from the virus could bring its advantages into even sharper focus in the months and years to come.


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