The Rail Britannia Campaign — some key points for further discussion …

Sea transport

is among the most economically and environmentally friendly transport modes. Retailers and importers want to increase its use in the supply chain, but there

is a current lack of sufficient infrastructure coupled with unreliable or underdeveloped service levels.  In the new era of increased corporate responsibility, more and more major industries, businesses and retailers within the

UK are taking on the initiative to drastically improve their supply chain log

istics. Through more efficient shipping and movement of products via

UK ports and rail freight, these companies are seeing vast reductions in their carbon em

issions and are effectively providing better service options.  Unfortunately, efforts by these businesses to util

ise viable shipping alternatives are being squashed on a daily bas

is by the government’s own lack of direction when it comes to the use of the

UK’s rail infrastructure. 
 In the

UK, overcapacity

is becoming a real problem for many of the establ

ished ports, at a time when sea transport

is becoming more popular. The government needs to support new deep sea terminals to ease the pressure and respond to changing transport needs.PD Ports (PDP) terminal at Teesport North East England, currently handles around 13 trains per-day.  However, following approval of the company’s plans for a deep sea terminal, known as the Northern Gateway Container Terminal (NGCT), rail transport at th

is key

UK port

is set to greatly increase. When the NGCT begins planned operations in 2011, PDP wants to expand rail services.  Th

is will lead to the handling of an additional 10 trains per-day when NGCT

is fully open.  While these extra train paths are available using the current infrastructure, it will not be possible to transport the increasingly popular high cube containers on standard rail wagons.  At present, the government seems to be making no progress toward reducing carbon em

issions from transport and

is blaming increased personal wealth for the r

ise in car use and increased personal travel. While th

is may be true, it should not be used as an excuse for doing nothing to reduce the

UK’s transport em

issions footprint. Greater use of Northern UK ports, plus the use of rail

is a viable option for reducing carbon em

issions from the

UK and reducing transport costs at the same time.