1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184 
Road rules the roost
Page 24
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
We examine how the nature of freight transport has changed over the past half a century — from the fall of rail to the rise of the road.
THE GROWTH OF road freight has been the most dominant feature of the UK's transport economy over the past 50 years. Department for Transport figures show that it has risen from 36% of all freight moved in 1953 to a current figure of 64%.
Reasons for this increasing dependence on road freight include the changing nature of commodities carried, the adaptability, efficiency and flexibility of the road haulage industry and the development of the road infrastructure.
And as road transport rose, it passed rail freight going the other way. As recently as the mid-1950s, rail was the leading mode of freight transport. Now, despite rising somewhat since a slump in the 1990s, it accounts for just 9% of the total freight moved.
North Sea oil fields were the reason for an increase in the movement of goods by water at the end of the 1970s. It levelled out around 1984 and has remained fairly steady since at 24% of the total freight moved, equating to 60bn tonne-kilometres.
And the bottom end of the scale is the movement of oil via pipelines: this has remained steady at 11bn tonne-kilometres since the mid-1980s.
A major factor in the increase in road freight is the increasing distance over which goods are carried. The average length of haul by road increased from 36km in 1953 to 87km in 2005. A greater variation in the type of freight carried has contributed to this, as have growing payloads in terms of size and weight. At the same time trucks have become more durable, more reliable and more powerful, enabling them to cover a greater distance in a shorter time.
By way of contrast, rail-freight journeys have remained fairly constant over the past 50 years, apart from a blip in 1984 when they were affected by the miners' strike.
Unsurprisingly, goods moved by water have the longest average haul of all. North Sea oil production not only increased the amount of freight being moved by water, but also the average length of voyage, to the current figure of just below 500km.
(Figures supplied by Me UT)