NAUTILUS P01 NOVEMBER 2009.qxd - Nautilus International

November 2009 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 23
WATER FREIGHT
‘Time for
more than
lip service’
The Commercial Boat Operators Association has
echoed Nautilus concerns that the UK government has
overlooked the role water freight could play in
reducing carbon pollution.
Commenting on the government strategy paper
Low Carbon Transport — A Greener Future, the trade
association for companies that carry freight on the
UK’s inland and estuarial waterways warned that
while rail gets serious mention in the white paper,
water freight is largely ignored.
The CBOA points to a 2006 report from the Tyndall
Centre for Climate Change Research, which showed
that moving freight by road produces 400% more
carbon emissions than water transport.
‘It is time the government did more than pay lip
service to the part that water freight can play in
reducing carbon emissions and cutting down road
congestion,’ said chairman John Dodwell.
In a special report on
waterborne freight, MIKE
GERBER looks at what the
UK is doing to shift to the
rivers and seas…
Parliament saw the potential of water freight when the Dutch-built vessel Terra Marique passed by in 2004 P icture: Robert Wynn & Sons
UK needs to make
water work for a
greener future...
w
One million tonnes of waterborne freight
sails by the Houses of Parliament on barges
each year — a reminder to the government
of pledges to encourage far greater use of Britain’s
inland and coastal waterways to move cargo around
the country.
But compared with many other EU member states
— not least the Netherlands — the UK has been slow
to tap water freights massive potential to ease the
burden on our congested and polluted roads.
Despite the existence of the freight facilities grant
to help support the shift of freight from the roads,
official statistics for 1997 to 2007 show a decline in
domestic waterborne freight from 141.8 to 125.9m
tonnes, largely explained by the end of sea-dumping
of sewage sludge, the loss of formerly significant coal
traffic and some grant-aided projects not reaching
targets.
‘Water transport is disadvantaged by the present
funding arrangements and government needs to
deal with this as an urgent priority,’ Dr Hilling insists.
‘The criteria for the award of freight facility grants
must be far more flexible and must take into account
that investment in shipping is long term — many of
our barges are 30 years [old] plus — and requires
guarantees about waterway maintenance and market
conditions.’
Although IWA primarily champions inland waterways,
Dr Hilling points out: ‘We always argued that it
makes sense to view the UK’s domestic waterways as
an integrated functional system embracing inland,
coastal and shortsea shipping. We have a natural
coastal ring road, we have radial routes provided by
the inland waterways and outward links to overseas
places. I became involved with the IWFG because of
my interest and publications on barge-carrier systems
— the idea of a maritime link between waterway
systems.’
The Dutch-built vessel Terra Marique — operated
by Robert Wynn & Sons, specialists in the movement
of ‘abnormal indivisible loads’ (AILs) — is a case in
point.
Developed in association with Dutch shipbuilders
Damen with the aid of a £8.5m DfT grant and
described as a multi-purpose pontoon with seagoing
capability, it can transport loads of up to 1,200
tonnes along the UK coast and waterways that
include the Manchester Ship Canal and tidal
stretches of the Thames and Trent.
Terra Marique can transfer loads along the UK
coast to ports such at the Tees, from where specialist
heavylift vessels sail worldwide, and also make
shortsea crossings to Belfast and Glasgow. It is also
designed to work in combination with Wynns’
smaller vessel, Inland Navigator, which transports
AILs of up to 44 tonnes by water to and from points
many miles inland.
As the company points out: ‘Together the two vessels
can transport huge pieces of cargo many hundreds
of miles around the UK coast and to the ports
and inland waterway systems of NW Europe.’ Regular
ports of call include Rotterdam and Antwerp.
Dr Hilling, alongside his IWA role, is UK vicepresent
of the Berlin-based European River Sea
Transport Union — so is well positioned to comment
from the European vantage point. ‘Clearly the scale
of operations is very different in mainland Europe;
their rivers tend to be much larger and longer and
their canals built to less restrictive dimensions than
ours. They also have the advantage that much industrial
activity is located close to waterways and the
overall distances favour waterborne freight.
‘However, I think that they have adopted a far
more positive approach to development of waterways
and have invested in this mode — the recent
completion of the Magdeburg “cross” is a case in
point.’ This is the water bridge that now connects Berlin’s
inland harbour network with the ports along the
Rhine.
‘In this country, the amount of investment
required to upgrade the waterways at selected points
would be peanuts compared with what we spend on
roads but would probably pay dividends on certain
strategic waterways,’ Dr Hilling points out.
When British Waterways (BW) upgraded the Sheffield
& South Yorks Navigation, the bulk of the capital
had to be borrowed by BW at market rates — not the
way we invest in roads.
‘The attitude in this country is now more positive,
but our mainland neighbours all had water freight
promotion centres some years before we got around
to it. They have tended to treat waterways like other
transport infrastructure and government foots the
bill,’ Dr Hilling explains.
When London was awarded the 2012 Olympics,
the Olympic Delivery Authority set itself a target of
50% of site traffic to be handled by sustainable transport,
and now claims that 57% is in fact being handled
by rail. A laudable achievement — yet as Dr Hilling
observes: ‘Water has yet to really get going, although
the Olympic Park is surrounded by waterways.’
A new lock allowing bigger vessels to access the
site opened in June, yet traffic has been moving to the
development for over two years. ‘The whole project
took too long, there was no sense of urgency and it
seems again that water transport was the neglected
Hull terminal transfers
The shortsea shipping movement was given a boost last month with the opening of a new all-weather terminal at
the port of Hull. The first customer was the Netherlands-flagged general cargoship Priscilla (pictured), carrying a
shipment for agricultural firm Helm Fertilizer.
Vessels of up to 13.5m air draft can be accommodated within the terminal, which allows for an undercover
rail-freight connection. The 10,000 sq m cargo-handling facility was formerly the Hull Steel Terminal, but in its new,
fully-enclosed form can provide storage for dry bulk goods such as paper and agricultural products.
Despite heavy rain outside, the Priscilla discharged 2,750 tonnes of bagged ammonium nitrate in completely dry
conditions. ABP Hull & Goole deputy port manager Mark Sellers noted that the undercover transfer had cut out the
threat of weather-related delays, and Helm Fertilizer MD Mark Wood pronounced himself highly satisfied with the
management of his cargo: ‘If I was a farmer, I would like to think that all fertilizer was handled this way.’
‘Nautilus International welcomes the opening of this terminal,’ commented general secretary Mark Dickinson. ‘If
more ports had good ship-to-rail transfer facilities, it would enable an increase in the use of environmentally-friendly
shortsea shipping — cutting CO 2 emissions and reducing congestion on the highways by offering an efficient
alternative to long-distance road freight.’
g As the Telegraph went to press, Associated British Ports confirmed its commitment to environmentally friendly
freight with a successful emissions-cutting initiative at its Hams Hall rail freight terminal near Birmingham. This
terminal, which handles containers from numerous rail-equipped UK ports, has just won an Environmental
Innovation Award at the 2009 Rail Freight Group Awards. The award is for reducing fuel consumption and CO 2
emissions in the ‘reach stackers’ which lift containers on and off trains.
mode,’ Dr Hilling complains.
However, all is not yet lost, he adds, as much material
has still to be imported to the site and much could
be imported by way of the wharves on the Thames
— aggregates, paving material, other construction
material, pipework, equipment and abnormal loads
being the most obvious. Indeed, this could be a demonstration
of the effective integration of inland,
coastal and shortsea shipping — and BW and Transport
for London have appointed a sustainable transport
manager (ex-merchant master mariner Kim
Milnes) to help move things along.
Water transport may yet get to play its full part in
helping alleviate the freight traffic suffocating Britain’s
roads, following the DfT announcement in July
of highly promising developments. The European
Commission has approved state aid for the UK’s proposed
modal shift revenue support (MSRS) scheme,
and also for a modified waterborne state grant. MSRS
will replace the present rail environmental benefit
procurement scheme — REPS — from April next year
and operate till 31 March 2015. The scheme will operate
in two parts: the modal shift to inland waters and
most non-containerised rail applications will be
handled through the MSRS (Bulk & Waterways), while
applications for most modal shifts for rail container
traffic will be handled through MSRS (Intermodal).
Funding will be awarded to successful inland waterways
schemes from 20 September 2009.
In ancient Greece, Aquarius was the mythological
water bearer. In modern Britain — if DfT gives the
bearers of water freight the backing they merit —
might we be about to see the dawning of the age of
Aquarius?