Fitzpatrick announces £67
million to cut freight emissions, congestion and hauliers' costs
DEPARTMENT FOR
TRANSPORT News Release (145) issued by COI News Distribution
Service. 11 September 2008
Transport Minister
Jim Fitzpatrick today announced a £67m boost to the Sustainable
Distribution Fund that will help the freight industry reduce costs
and cut emissions.
The money will be targeted at increasing the use of rail and
water transport where current schemes support the removal of over
one million lorry journeys each year. It will also be used to help
hauliers and freight operators cut costs and be more fuel
efficient, reduce emissions and cut road congestion.
Freight Best Practice is one of the programmes to benefit, with
funding increasing from £1.2 million to £1.5 million a year.
Between 2005 and 2006 the industry saved £83 million with the help
of the scheme, and saw CO2 savings of 240,000 tonnes.
Jim Fitzpatrick said:
"This £67 million is a vote of confidence from the
Government in the freight industry. As more freight is
transported by rail or water it will bring clear benefits for the
economy, the environment and other road users.
"We want to help hauliers and van drivers continue to
improve their operational efficiency and reduce costs. Freight
Best Practice and smarter driving techniques have already helped
companies make real savings. We are making these more widely
available so that more businesses can benefit."
Since it started in 2003, the Safe and Fuel Efficient Driving
(SAFED) programme has given around 12,000 truck drivers and 8,000
van drivers training in how to save fuel and improve driving
techniques. It focuses on simple measures, such as watching
speeds, accelerating and braking more smoothly, and checking tyre
pressures. Van drivers who completed the course achieved an
average 16% reduction in fuel use on the day.
More importantly, long-term fuel savings can also be significant.
Drivers from major freight haulier Turners (Soham) Ltd reported
fuel consumption savings between 5% and 10% after using the SAFED course.
Van Best Practice received £300,000 from this year's
Sustainable Distribution Fund, and this is set to double to
£600,000 a year as a result of today's announcement. A new
Van Best Practice programme will also be funded to 2011, with
thousands more drivers and companies set to benefit from
efficiency best practice information.
Notes to Editors
1. About Freight Best Practice
Freight Best Practice provides free information to help freight
operators improve operational efficiency. Funded by the
Department for Transport, it offers a range of free guides, case
studies, newsletters, videos and software covering:
Saving fuel
Developing Skills
Equipment and
Systems
Operational Efficiency
Performance Management
Over the last year the programme has distributed almost 200,000
guides free of charge to the freight industry.
Van Best Practice is being developed to provide similar material
targeted towards the Van sector.
Visit the website at http://www.freightbestpractice.org.uk
or call the hotline on 0845 877 0 877.
2. Sustainable Distribution Fund - New Funds
The Sustainable Distribution Fund provides support for a number
of schemes that focus on improving the efficiency of freight
transportation and reducing the number of large freight vehicles
on the roads. The aim of these programmes is, where practical, to
reduce CO2 emissions, accidents, congestion, noise and pollution
associated with the transport of goods.
Table 1 - Sustainable Distribution Revenue Funding
Year 2008-09£m 2009-10£m 2010-11£m
Previous Research & Sustainable 22.8 23.4 24.0
Distribution Fund budget
New funding 2.0 2.0 2.0
New Sustainable Distribution 24.8 25.4 26.0
Revenue Budget
Allocated to SDF 23.3 23.4 24.0
Table 2 - Current allocations of the SDF Revenue Budget (as at
1st September 2008)
Year 2008-09£m 2009-10£m 2010-11£m
Mode Shift 1 17.8 16.4 0
Other Programmes 2 3.4 3.3 1.5
Total Allocated 21.2 19.7 2
1 Schemes in the Rail Environmental Benefit Procurement Scheme,
Waterbourne Freight Grant and Freight Facilities Grant. Note that
the Fund does not fully allocate mode-shifty money for future
years until late in the previous financial year. Funding for
mode-shift beyond 2010 is subject to scheme review and will not be
allocated at all until the middle of 2009.
2 Schemes include Freight Best Practice, Van Best Practice and
SAFED Van (Safe and Fuel Efficient Driving). Budget also includes
administrative costs.
Table 3 - Allocation of funds for Sustainable Distribution
Capital Budget (used for Freight Facilities Grants)
Year 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 £m
£m £m £m £m £m
Total 4 7 10 16 20 25
*New funding in bold
3. Sustainable Distribution Fund - June 2008 Bid Round,
allocations for mode shift from road to rail
In June 2008, the Sustainable Distribution Fund made new
allocations for rail mode shift provided by Rail Environmental
benefit Procurement Scheme (REPS). The REPS funding awards were as follows:
Grant Recipient Scheme Traffic Details Contract Value (£)
08/09 09/10
EWS REPS(I) Containers 26,544 36,435
EWS REPS(I) Containers 44,522 41,964
EWS REPS(I) Containers 344,344 324,324
EWS REPS(I) Containers 124,244 111,809
EWS REPS(I) Containers 234,039 274,533
EWS*** REPS(I) Containers 58,800 0
EWS*** REPS(B) Steel 64,400 57,960
Freightliner REPS(I) Containers 22,541 0
Freightliner REPS(I) Containers 108,213 0
TOTAL 987,647 847,025
Key
*** Provisional award - subject to detailed appraisal
* The traffic moved under each REPS contract is closely
monitored. Where traffic levels have been lower than those in the
grantees contract, reductions to the contract have been made. A
total of around £278,000 was clawed back from contracts in June
2008 in order to release budget for reallocation. This process
ensures the effective control of the budget and maximizes the
amount of benefit that can be purchased through the scheme.
* The Department for Transport runs three schemes that facilitate
the purchase of the environmental and social benefits that result
from using rail or water transport instead of road. These are:
- Freight Facilities Grant (FFG): helps offset the capital cost
of providing rail and water freight handling facilities.
- Rail Environmental Benefit Procurement scheme assists companies
with the operating costs associated with running rail freight
transport instead of road (where rail is more expensive than road).
- Waterborne Freight Grant scheme (WFG): assists companies with
the operating costs, for up to three years, associated with
running water freight transport instead of road (where water is
more expensive than road). The three freight grant schemes are
open to new applications. Applications are prioritised in a bid
round process and further details are available on the
Department's website. The REPS and WFG schemes are the
subject of a review that will lead to a renewed state-aid
application in early 2009.
Public Enquiries: 020 7944 8300
Department for Transport
Website: http://www.dft.gov.uk