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For the past few decades road transport has been wiping the floor with the railways. But now, with the environmental lobby on its side, rail is beginning to fight back.
• Supermarkets are among the leading users of road haulage; their just-in-time supply needs are perfectly suited to the flexibility that has always been a major weapon in the hauliers' armoury. So when the supermarkets start flirting with the railways, operators have reason to worry.
Last year Transport Secretary Malcolm Rifkind pledged to move more of the UK's freight by rail. Promises do not always translate into reality — witness the closure of BR's Speedlink split-wagon operation. But now British Rail and private rail operators are making a fresh effort to lure supermarkets and other customers back on to the rails with talk of environmental and economic benefits.
Safeway is one of 12 firms which have approached the Department of Transport about running their own rail services if British Rail is deregulated. It is considering cutting back the 81 trucks and 142 trailers at its Bellshill, Glasgow site by using a Railfreight Distribution terminal which is due to be built 3km away at Mossend.
This is due to become operational in May 1993 as one of nine terminals to be linked with the Channel Tunnel, and is expected to handle 500,000 tonnes of freight in its first year.
"We are very environmentally aware and so we would like to try to get trucks off the road," says the supermarket chain, which has 499 tractors and 855 trailers.
It believes that rail transport could be suitable for moving long-life goods over distances of 500km and above — for example wine from the Continent — and it has not ruled out a move to rail for other products and shorter distances.
Safeway stresses that "it is a very embryonic proposal" and it has no plans to acquire its own rolling stock: "It's very hard to make an assessment at the moment, we've got to hear what the charges are for using the Channel Tunnel," says a spokesman.
J Sainsbury operates 377 of its own trucks and sub-contracts another 600. Like Safeway it believes that "these opportunities are more likely to exist in primary distribution, rather than the secondary distribution from depot to individual store."
LIKELIHOOD
There is no likelihood "of a fleet of Sainburys trains on British track" and a spokesman stresses that it has not been talking to the Dip.
The Rail Freight Group, which represents 40 rail users, says that in the past supermarkets have taken the view that rail is slow and unreliable. "Supermarkets have such tight delivery schedules they cannot tolerate loss, damage or delay, something the railways have been regarded as notorious for," says REG director Julia Clarke.
The Speedlink system, which closed last summer, was perceived as the worst culprit, she says. Its wagon load service was prone to delays and lost loads because of the need to split and join wagons several times during each journey.
But now Clarke reckons that British Rail is sharpening its image in response to door-to-door rail services from private operators such as Charterail, which is about to double its freight traffic with an overnight service between London, Warrington and Glasgow. It has already signed up 12 customers for deals worth 200,000 tonnes of freight a year for the service which will start next month. Charterail was set up in 1990 as a joint venture between British Rail, which owns 22% of the company, and the private sector. Until it launched its new service its only contract was with Pedigree Petfoods.
Managing director Robin Gisby says that rail will only have succeeded when retailers and manufacturers consider it alongside the road network when planning depot locations. Gisby believes this will happen within the next 12 months: "Several manufacturers and one retailer are looking at this now," he says.
But according to a report from London-based property consultant Grimley JR Eve earlier this year, only 10% of 120 warehouse and distribution companies cited rail as a consideration when choosing depot locations. By contrast 85% looked for proximity to the motorway network.
Tony Taylor, an industrial partner at Grimley JR Eve, believes that rail's most powerful argument is the environment: "Clearly there are growing worries over congestion and other factors which could lead to a new popularity for the railway."
Clarke accepts that for any real impact to be made on congestion, major players in distribution will have to lead the way back to the railways. In 1990 only 7% of the 2,160m tonnes of freight carried in Britain moved by rail: road transport handled 81%.
"Railfreight is the smaller of the two freight divisions of British Rail, but it has the biggest potential," says Clarke. "Trainload Freight, which carries commodities like coal and oil, has near enough saturated its market." Railfreight plans to win more work by targeting international and automotive work.
But Toyota has already rejected the rail option for the assembly plant in Burnaston, near Derby which is due to open this December. Instead it will use Automotive Logistics UK, a road haulage consortium comprising BRS, Frans Maas, Fujiki and Mitsui.
Quite simply Toyota found that moving components and finished cars by rail would cost up to 50% more than by road — the lack of rail facilities would have forced it to take goods off trains, on to trucks, and then back on to trains again.
National Power uses 43 million tonnes of coal every year. Most of this moves by rail, and the company is looking at ways in which "considerable savings can be made" while still using British Rail.
It has approached the Dip out running its own coal delivery trains to carry 37m tonnes of coal from pits to power stations.
Some hauliers are more than happy to make use of the railways to boost their efficiency. Peter D Stirling has saved as much as 25% from the costs of long-haul work by using its BelIshii] railhead.
Stirling runs 16 trucks which are used for low-volume runs of less than 600km, but about 80% of its cargo, including 60,000 tonnes a year for Taunton Cider and English China Clay, lets the train take the strain. Over the past few years Stirling's customers have been taking an increasing interest in using rail, and not only for operational reasons: We have been approached by companies because they don't want to be seen to be using trucks," it says.
by Juliet Parish