FBJ 4 FREIGHT BUSINESS JOURNAL


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CIRCULATION


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By Chris Lewis


Writing in mid-November, it appear likely that at least three pharmaceutical firms would have a viable Covid vaccine available for mass distribution, possibly by the end of the year. For the logistics industry, this heralds the start of a mammoth operation to get the product to the point of consumption, safely and securely and, of course, at the correct temperature. For many sectors of the business, this of itself is nothing new. Specialist logistics firms routinely delivery ready meals, frozen food and, yes, medicines and drugs direct to homes and business throughout the world. What is different about the Covid vaccine is the speed and scale of the operation, as well as the intended global reach. Inevitably, the developed world will probably be first in the queue, along with, perhaps, some of the developing countries that are home to major pharma manufacturing industries, like India. However, the intention appears to be for almost everyone on the planet to get the vaccine, eventually. That is very laudable, but it is rather strange that we should be so determined to vaccinate the entire world against Covid when there are so many fatal communicable diseases rampant in the poorer parts of the globe. If we’re going to send a Covid vaccine to every nook and cranny of Asia or Africa, why not do the same for vaccines against cholera, smallpox or polio as well? Perhaps, if the great Covid ‘airlift’ is a success, it could be a blueprint for vaccinating everyone on the planet against these thoroughly preventable illnesses too.


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Government plans, announced in mid-November, to eliminate sales of petrol and diesel private cars by 2030 are very laudable – if they are actually realisable – but do little to help cut emissions from freight transport. Light vans apart, an electric version of the heavy truck is still some way off, if it is achievable at all. But what is really frustrating is that gas-fuelled trucks would offer a greener alternative to diesel for freight transport, are already available - in theory - and have been proven to work in the real world, while delivering substantial cuts in carbon emissions. However, nationwide operation of gas-powered trucks is not practical because of the lack of a fuelling infrastructure. This is an area where government could usefully step in to pump-prime the process, but has so far held back, preferring eye-catching headlines about banning internal combustion cars by a date conveniently far into the future, so that most of us will have forgotten all about it when the time comes. More freight on electrified railways could cut emissions even further, but that would require even more public funds.


It’s very easy to mock technological pioneers, in the field of transport and elsewhere. The steam locomotive, the aeroplane, the internal combustion engine all had their detractors, people who predicted either physical or economic disaster from such new-fangled tomfoolery. So we should all be a little careful before rushing to mock the efforts of the Virgin Hyperloop consortium, which recently made history transporting the first people successfully using the technology in a two-person pod on its test track in Nevada. The Hyperloop works by sucking air out of a tube to reduce resistance and then propelling the pod using magnetic levitation motors at speeds of up to 600mph, although the 0.5km long test track is good for only about 100mph or so. The project, which includes global port operator DP World, says it is now one step closer to ushering in a new era of ultra-fast, sustainable movement of freight as well as people.


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


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Issue 8 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!


The idea of sucking the air out of a tube and using it to propel vehicles isn’t entirely new. The Victorians tried something similar in the 19th century, although they didn’t have the benefit of magnetic levitation propulsion to give it that bit of extra oomph. Hyperloop would, arguably, be more environmentally friendly than aircraft. According to the Virgin Hyperloop website, the system could one day whisk us the 350 miles from Chicago to Columbus Ohio, for instance, in under 45 minutes, at an estimated ticket cost of $60 - “compared to nearly six hours driving or a plane ticket costing about $100”. We’re not sure how they can be so sure of their pricing decades in advance for something that hasn’t been built yet, let along that of the competition. Hyperloop’s problem, though, is that it would mean building tubes everywhere. A transatlantic or trans-Asia tube seems like science fiction, and the capital sums involved would be truly vast – probably not something that could be contemplated in a creaky post-Covid global economy. Even the much more modest Channel Tunnel ended up billions in debt, although its societal benefits and those to business in general are immense.


Is the UK freight industry heading for a Perfect Storm this winter? On the one hand, the congestion problems at Felixstowe, our main container hub, don’t seem to be going away and now the congestion appears to be spreading to the other ports that could normally be expected to take up the slack. Shipping lines, already grappling with a shortage of capacity, have cut their allocations to UK ports, so space is tight. Covid has not only disrupted the supply chain, but has thrown yet more demand onto it. And at the same time we are in the final throes of Brexit, which will inevitably lead to a rush to stockpile ahead of any difficulties when customs clearance is imposed from 1 January. In normal times, that might thrust extra demand on longer sea lo lo and ro ro services from the Continent to northern UK ports, but these are anything but normal times. Many of these ports are already dealing with increased feeder traffic caused by the problems in Felixstowe. If your goods are stuck on a containership somewhere in the North Sea, Christmas may be a little late this year.


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