Environmental Opportunity

Someone wrote an article a year or two ago suggesting that the solution to Britain's congested motorway network lay on our doorstep. It was pointed out that we have a ready made bypass for freight on our coastal waters. What is needed is not a massive feat of engineering in new roads and bridges, rather an engineering of our minds!

Through time we will see a radical shift of thinking, to retrain our industry and business managers to consider shifting their regular consignments around the coast where possible, rather than overland.

With growing pressure is on governments globally to reduce their carbon footprint. It won’t be long before legislation is passed which will radically alter our lifestyles.

It is great to hear about the initiatives to improve our homes and reduce heat loss and fuel use, but logistics seem to be about twenty years behind that. Yet, as an island nation, we have a heritage of small harbours all round the country. Indeed that is how freight used to be moved, before the development of the railways killed off coastal trade.

Let us consider this: the railways are far more fuel efficient than road haulage (something I hate to admit as a former haulage contractor of twenty years standing!) but water borne freight has a tiny fraction of the carbon footprint of the railways!

What are we waiting for?

The job in front of us is initially one of education and raising awareness of the possibilities; persuading people and business to try something new.

There are potentially huge cost savings if we can break away from the “just in time” mentality of company accountants. In other words, the finance managers have been saying “don't order the materials you need until the very last minute, so that we can delay paying for them till the latest possible date”. The transport industry has been able to respond to that with a present day culture of overnight deliveries nationwide even globally using airfreight but the cost is huge inefficiency. Speed is everything, and fuel efficiency is still one of tomorrow's problems.

So are there any other carrots?

Yes, they are called Freight Facilities Grants. FFGs are available now to modernise our harbours and docks, whatever is needed to encourage business to use our coastal bypass and canal system. What we have to demonstrate is that a proposed freight route through our harbours will become financially viable within three years of a grant being awarded. This sounds pretty reasonable to me.

Is Kingholm Quay suitable for handling cargo?

Of course it is. It is a case of horses for courses. With the right kind of vessel, considerable tonnages could be moved through Kingholm, right to the heart of the principal centre of industry and population in south west Scotland, Dumfries.

Absolutely everything is possible if approached with an open mind and a breath of fresh air.