Freightliner set to suffer cuts
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by Amanda Bradbury
• The future of hundreds of drivers and maintenance staff servicing 300 trucks operated by BR subsidiary Freightliner looks increasingly gloomy with two of the three leading bidders for the business planning to slash jobs.
The P&O/Russell Davies or Interconnect Rail consortia both say that cutting haulage costs would be a vital part of getting the loss-making business into profit.
In both cases the Freightliner Distribution-liveried fleet would remain as a separate entity.
Freightliner drivers collect and deliver containers to and from customers' premises and railheads. The company also has its own depot-based maintenance staff but BR refuses to give numbers. The P&O/Russell Davies consortium, joined this week by the port of Felixstowe, says it would look at "creating synergy" with the two hauliers' own maintenance staff. "We would like some economies within the workshops servicing this fleet," says a spokesman.
The consortium would not rule out using staff or vehicles from its own companies, though it says in this case it would create a separate fleet for the rail operation. It is considering buying-in a completely new fleet, or subcontracting all the work.
Interconnect Rail, made up of the ports of Tilbury, Thamesport and Liverpool, has its own port-based fleets and makes extensive use of subcontractors.