Print article

When freight arrives in the UK, it enters one of the most complex and sophisticated logistics arenas in the world. Multi-million pound investments have been made by global, European and UKbased logistic providers over recent decades to create networks of warehousing and transport solutions to move import goods quickly and economically into the supply chain and on to their ultimate destinations.

If freight is not to be brought to the UK by one of the global freight forwarders with its own established network, then select from the many independent freight forwarders located at ports and airports throughout the country. There are around 3,000 companies operating as freight forwarders in the UK. These range in size from the smallest, domestic operator to giant, global operations, and should be your first port of call in trying to understand the dynamic British logistics scene.

The British International Freight Association (BIFA) has in excess of 1,250 members, accounting for 85% of all business handled by freight forwarders in the UK. Freight forwarders, sometimes called Customs brokers, use electronic communication systems developed in connection with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to clear most imports to the UK. They also have unrivaled expertise in the onward movement of freight away from the point of entry. Distances in the UK are tiny compared to the US. However, do not imagine that the headaches are any smaller. Logistics in Britain has the same ambition – the efficient, profitable and timely movement of freight from supplier to customer in a supply chain that might only be dozens of miles long yet seem impossibly complicated.

The two most important transport modes used to distribute freight in the UK are road and rail. The mode used depends greatly on the method and point of arrival and the distribution requirements of the product. The country’s complex network of motorways (highways) and dual-carriage roads has reached such a level of development that many distribution providers can cover the whole of the UK with just one or two distribution centers. Only the remotest of places on the British mainland cannot now be reached within hours.

Many distribution centers built within the last decade have been purposefully located near motorways and motorway junctions in distribution parks to allow easy and quick access for full trailerloads of freight. An added consideration is that, with the advent of Channel Tunnel operations in 1994, the British motorway network has effectively been joined to that of mainland Europe, allowing transport of goods from Birmingham to Berlin to be as easy as Birmingham to Manchester.

For the movement of individual pallets or small consignments, often meant for destinations not ideally served by the larger transport operators, groupage services, where such smaller loads are combined, are still very popular in the UK. Structural changes in the UK over the last two decades have seen the demise of much heavy industry and its replacement with service and light industry. Many inner-city brownfield sites have been given over to housing. On the outskirts of many towns and cities, ribbon development along bypasses has resulted in outof- town retail and leisure developments rubbing shoulders with high-tech manufacturers, both of which are key logistic solution users. Many of these locations are served exclusively from multimillion distribution centers.

As might be expected from such a mature and diverse economy, the range of logistic solutions providers that has grown to serve this market is equally complex and diverse. Global players work alongside UK-based operators to offer the full range of logistics services. Increasingly, UK logistics providers look to offer pan- European services as well as UK services, meaning that bringing cargo into the UK in effect can be considered to have arrived in mainland Europe as well, such is the ease of transhipment to mainland EU locations.

This widening of scope comes at a time when getting goods into the UK has never been easier. The UK has some 40 commercial ports through which freight can enter the country. These include major all-purpose ports such as London and Liverpool, ferry ports such as Dover, dedicated container ports such as Felixstowe and ports catering for specialized bulk traffic, such as coal or oil.

Despite the large number of ports, much of the tonnage is concentrated into a comparatively small number of ports – the top 16 ports account for 80% of the total. Hinterland connections for containerized freight are easily made on road or rail modes with ports constantly improving surface access. For freight arriving by air, the UK offers a range of airports in every region to land cargo. From these gateways, onward transport is mainly by road as, unlike a number of European airports, there is no UK airport with a rail freight connection. There is little internal mainland airfreight moved within the UK, though often airlines will truck cargo under airway bills to complete or start a journey from a major UK airport or which moves over a European airport.

Railroads in the UK are run by private companies operating services on a state-owned national rail network. Freight providers must compete with passenger railroads for capacity on busy trunk rail lines connecting most regions in the UK. The freight companies have recognized that the future of rail freight in the UK rests with intermodal services that can range from long-term, contracted movements to spot booking services on a “turn up and go, book today for a train tomorrow” basis. Rail freight is experiencing growth in the UK as increasing awareness of the significant commercial and environmental advantages it offers, especially over road haulage, becomes important to customers.

Moving goods for some of the largest retail, distribution and manufacturing companies in Britain, in trains up to half a mile long, rail freight provides added-value services, such as terminal management through to warehousing and design solutions, tailor-made to complement supply chain requirements.

There are currently seven active rail freight companies in the UK, providing rail traction, wagons and other logistics services: Direct Rail Services; English, Welsh and Scottish Railway; GB Railfreight; Fastline; Victa Westlink Rail; Advenza Freight. While the majority of non-aggregate freight moved by rail in the UK is containerized and intermodal and it might seem that you may have to fill an entire train or at least a complete boxcar, the smaller consignment has not been overlooked. EWS Network moves the smallest of loads – a pallet – on the high-speed rail network.

Through break- bulk containers, EWS Network moves individual pallets from strategically-based terminals to their destination. With a network of services, used particularly by parcel companies, this simple road to rail to road network delivers goods across Britain.

Rail-connected freight villages, also known as logistics parks, have been developed since the 1990s to allow rail to serve regional locations by delivering goods to purpose-built warehousing and logistics hubs for onward distribution by road. Key freight villages include Cabot Park in Bristol, DIRFT in the Midlands and Wakefield Europort in the north of England. And while Northern Ireland may be separate from the UK mainland, logistics providers have developed two main routes to serve the Province. Direct ferry services, some freight only, serve Belfast from Liverpool and Stranraer, as well as services from Wales to Dublin.

For more information, visit: www.bifa.org

Top

All pages are copyright © of Roxby Media Ltd. British American Business is a Roxby Media publication - Disclaimer