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Scottish Asda to be served by rail
Page 12
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Scottish transport firm Malcolm Group has secured a deal with Asda to transport goods to the supermarket's Scottish stores via Malcolm Group's rail-freight link between Daventry and Grangemouth.
Linwood-based Malcolm Group launched its rail-freight service between the two depots in February 2001. However, while it has found plenty of business for the southbound journey, the northbound one was rarely full; Asda had the opposite problem, with trucks taking goods to Scotland running empty on the return leg (CM 22-28 Feb 2001).
A spokeswoman for Asda says that there was a chance to solve two problems at once: "Malcolm Group developed containers that could be used both on trucks and on rail roiling-stock, and started moving products northbound by train. Now the service runs six times a day, taking a minimum of 12 containers a night to the Grangemouth depot. In 90% of cases, trains arrive within 30 minutes of scheduled arrival times—much better than by road."
Asda says that it is also going to trial a second train from the Grangemouth depot to Aberdeen to service its four stores In the city. The Asda Train service could also be extended later to service Felixstowe and Southampton, where Asda has seen a strong growth in seafreight.
It estimates that this could have huge environmental benefits: using trains will save eight million HGV miles by 2004/2005—an annual reduction of 66 tonnes in carbon emissions. Only 10-11% of the 150 million tonnes of freight moved each year in Scotland goes by rail; the government wants this to reach 18% over the next 10 years. Malcolm Group recently won a contract with drinks firm Diageo to transport its goods, previously held by haulier John G Russell.