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Rail cuts cost on Geest job
Page 12
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Trains are replacing trucks on a job for Geest, but it's not the hauliers'
fault. David Harris reports.
TRAINS ARE being used by Geest to replace trucks for freight between Tilbury and Birmingham because, the shipping line says, they are much cheaper.
Geest North Sea Line has introduced a dedicated daily rail service from Tilbury to Birmingham to cut its use of road transport from 28,000 to 27,000 miles a week:I-his will drop by another 20% if Geest's plans to increase the use of trains go ahead.
The carrier cites cost savings as the main reason for the move.
Paul Swaak, the line's operations director, says: "Road haulage in the UK is difficult for a short-sea shipping line because of the heavy competitive pressure on our rates. In any journey the road haulage sector makes up 60-70% of our costs so we will do anything we can to save money. And using rail does save us money" Swaak, who reports that both the "availability and quality" of road haulage in the UK compares unfavourably with that on the Continent, nevertheless acknowledges that one of the main reasons for high costs was that fuel is 25% more expensive in the UK than in most European countries.
"We know that UK hauliers' margins are not high, but it doesn't alter the fact that the cost to us is still expensive," he says.
The new rail service will operate from the port of Tilbury to the Hams Hall freight terminal near Birmingham. It will be operated by EWS with a fleet of 10 wagons, each providing a pair of 55ft platforms capable of carrying 2.9mhigh containers.
Containers of this size were previously banned on the TilburyHams Hall route but recent development work on the line has allowed clearance for higher containers and swap bodies.
Swaak says another benefit is that it is much easier for hauliers to meet precise delivery times on the short journey from Hams Hall to freight delivery points than it was when trucks were taking the freight all the way from Tilbury.