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Logistics UK's CEO David Wells OBE chairs ministerial roundtable with Future Roads Minister Lilian Greenwood MP
The event on 6 February, which was hosted by Amazon, involved a site tour of the online retailer's Tilbury site, followed by a discussion on logistics decarbonisation.
Earlier this year, on 14 January, Amazon announced their “Better Deliveries” campaign which involved a new record-breaking electric heavy-goods vehicle order (202 trucks split across UK & Germany). Today's event at Tilbury showcased the new Volvo eHGVs joining Amazon’s UK network as part of the government’s Zero Emission HGV and Infrastructure Demonstrator and celebrated the wider Amazon order of new Mercedes-Benz Trucks.
The roundtable discussion with Future Roads Minister Lilian Greenwood MP was chaired by David Wells and included Department for Transport officials, charging infrastructure providers, logistics companies and wider industry stakeholders including Royal Mail, Daimler Truck UK, John Lewis, Volvo Trucks UK & Ireland, Hitachi, Maritime and Gridserve.
Discussion topics at the roundtable:
- Enabling the delivery of charging infrastructure, including grid connectivity for depot charging and there are sufficient public charging points along core freight routes for electric HGVs.
- The need the full regulatory alignment of 4.25 tonnes zero emission vehicles with diesel vans.
- Harnessing innovation by supporting the scale-up of micromobility solutions for last mile transport.
Wells commented: "Logistics UK was delighted to showcase our innovative sector to the minister today. Industry has ambitious plans to decarbonise, but we need government to support our sector with the charging infrastructure – both affordable grid upgrades for depot charging and a national public charging network that can accommodate eHGVs.
"We need the full regulatory alignment of 4.25 tonnes zero emission vehicles with diesel vans to enable greater uptake of electric vans now."
Published On: 06/02/2025 14:48:38
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News In Brief
Chancellor considers private finance for Lower Thames Crossing
In a speech made on 29 January 2025 at Siemens Healthineers in Oxfordshire, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves claimed that the government will be exploring the option of privately financing the construction of the Lower Thames Crossing.
The Lower Thames Crossing has been described by National Highways as ‘a proposed new road that would connect Kent and Essex through a tunnel beneath the River Thames’. It claims that the crossing ‘will almost double road capacity over the river east of London to reduce congestion and give millions of people more choice on where they live, work and spend their valuable time’.
On the construction of the Lower Thames Crossing, Reeves said: “We are not wasting any time, and we will move forward with the next stages of the Industrial Strategy ahead of its publication in the spring. We will work with the private sector to deliver the infrastructure that our country desperately needs.
“This includes the Lower Thames Crossing, which will improve connectivity at the ports of Tilbury and Dover, London Gateway and Medway, alleviating severe congestion as goods destined for export come from the North, and the Midlands and across the country to markets overseas.
“To drive growth and deliver value for money for taxpayers, we are exploring options to privately finance this important project.”
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