🕒 Article read time: 2 minutes
Logistics UK calls for government to review the Mode Shift Revenue Support scheme
The government should review its Mode Shift Revenue Support (MSRS) scheme – aimed at rail and inland water freight transport – and adapt it to become more accommodating for water, as well as rail operators, Logistics UK has said.
The call follows a ‘Light Freight on the River Thames’ roundtable hosted by Logistics UK, in which the Thames Estuary Growth Board (TEGB) and the Port of London Authority (PLA) released the MSRS – Light Freight Analysis Report.
“Research has shown that 95% of the funding from the MSRS scheme has been allocated to rail freight,” said Alexandra Herdman, Public Policy Manager, Logistics UK, “While rail provides strong opportunities for modal shift and must be supported, it is important that government allocates further funding to the scheme, and that it is amended to deliver for both rail and inland waterways. Moving freight by inland waterways holds decarbonisation benefits – a barge fully loaded with aggregates can replace the job of 17 HGVs. However, use of this mode has declined in recent years, despite the UK’s network of canals and rivers which links many of our major cities. As the report clearly demonstrates, action must be taken to prevent disadvantaging water freight, which also brings many social and economic benefits.
“The MSRS scheme currently does not fund capital expenditure and therefore fails to cover the significant additional costs required for upgrading and creating piers, as well as vessel investments. Logistics UK is therefore calling for Freight Facilities Grants (FFGs), which do cover capital costs, to be reinstated in England to ensure that business can continue to diversify their own facilities and support zero carbon ambitions and the UK economy.”
View the MSRS – Light Freight Analysis Report commissioned by the TEGB and PLA, and prepared by WSP UK here.
*www.logistics.org.uk/water
Published On: 21/07/2022 16:00:07
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NEW INTERMODAL RAIL SERVICE BETWEEN TILBURY2 AND MANCHESTER
Logistics UK member Maritime Transport has announced the launch of a new intermodal service in partnership with P&O Ferries, connecting TILBURY2 with the newly-refurbished Trafford Park Euroterminal in Manchester. The service commenced on 4 July and offers carbon-reducing routes to and from the Northwest for the European short-sea and UK domestic markets.
*www.logistics.org.uk/rail
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