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RIDING THAT TRAIN
Page 58
Page 59
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Advenza is launching a rail-freight service which works for hauliers, says Rhodri Clark.
It's a situation familiar to most truck drivers. You're stuck in traffic but within your sight is a railway line with no trains on it.The empty railway may be an illusion—Network Rail has its own bottlenecks— but could it do more to ease the burden on road hauliers?
The answer is yes, according to a new company called Advenza Freight. In February it is due to launch FreightBus — a train designed to provide trunk haulage on behalf of hauliers of any size. Anyone can book a space on the train for one to 576 (the maximum capacity of the initial train) palletised units. And there's even a haulier on tap at the end of the rail journey to deliver your consignment to its destination.
Meeting demand
Fre ightBus is the brainchild of Tony Hagon, who began his career on the railways before working for computer company IBM. In 1992 he joined a government-backed programme exploring ways to get goods into city centres. As a specialist in computer networking, he was aware even then of how e-commerce would create more demand for freight movement. Meeting road and rail managers. he was left with the feeling that everyone had such a battle on their hands to survive from year to year that they hadn't the time to think of innovative solutions.
Hagon believes road haulage in its traditional form has peaked, just as rail freight peaked several decades ago. and this is reflected in the small profits many hauliers make.Things can only get worse, it seems, with the growing driver shortage, the Working lime Directive looming large and traffic forecast to continue increasing on a finite road network.
Hagan says profitable add-ons.such as labelling and warehousing, balance losses on trunk haulage for many hauliers. FreightBus is intended to take care of the trunk-haul problem, leaving hauliers to concentrate on more rewarding activities. flagon thinks the service will appeal especially to small and medium-sized companies which may not he able to find a decent backload for each vehicle. FreightB us customers will pay only for the pace they use, and not for carrying air on the eturn journey.
FreightBus should also provide an overflow option for hauliers who have a consignment f, say. 29 units and can fit only 25 in a truck. nstead of splitting the load between two veLicles,FreightBus can take the extra four.The ,verage FreightBus consignment is expected o be about six units, which Hagon says would aave a medium-sized HGV with empty space out would overwhelm a small vehicle. Hagon hopes hauliers will view FreightBus as friend rather than foe.-The last thing the railways want is to make road haulage an enemy," he says."lt doesn't make sense for railways to compete head-on with the road industry, certainly not in the less-than-wagonload market."
The initial FreightBus service will run between London and Glasgow, three times a week in each direction.Transhipment between road and rail will be handled by John G Russell at Russell Hillington,Glasgow, and Roadways Container Logistics in Barking.'The initial train is for non-urgent consigrunents, and extra time has been built into the schedule to ensure that the goods will be ready for collection at the promised time.
Distribution deals
lhe problem for a typical London-based haulier would be arranging for its consignments to be picked up in Glasgow and taken to the delivery address. But Flagon is signing up Scottish hauliers for licences to exclusive distribution rights to all addresses in defined postcode districts This 'Club FreightBus' is also being created in the Greater London area, to handle consignments arriving from Glasgow. Club members will pick up any consignments in their allotted area, for example on behalf of shippers which have contacted FreightBus. Hagon says he would be happy for the haulier to take the consignment all the way, instead of delivering it to FreightBus, if that made better economic sense.Anyone interested in joining Club FreightBus can view the postcode districts still up for grabs at wwwireightbus.co.uk.
Computerised administration and intemet hooking are central to the FreightBus concept. Each train is expected to carry 100 or more separate consignments. Admin costs will be minimised by automation and low overheads Advenza Freight's office staff work from home via a link to a central computer. A real person will he available for customers' queries or bookings. FreightBus will use theatre booking principles, with the last drop-off and first pickup times offered to the earliest customer for a particular train.
Flagon expects this concept to evolve quickly, with improvements in response to customer feedback. He is keen to roll out the service on other routes, such as Bristol to Manchester and Newcastle. He is confident FreightBus will change the established belief that rail freight is uneconomic for journeys of less than 200 miles or consignments of under 2,000 tonnes.•