The Firth of Clyde: A Sustainable Haulage Hub for the 21st Century

Please click here for the full presentation or read on for a summary of the talk.

Brian Menzies, Envirocentre Regional Manager, rounded off the day with a presentation examining the potential of the Firth of Clyde to act as a haulage hub for the movement of materials, including waste.

Brian Menzies began by providing a national vision of resource transport in the UK. This involved discussing a potential Integrated National Network of Strategic Resource Recovery and Consolidation Sites incorporating a network of regional nodes (interchange sites), environmental technology clusters and integrated multi-modal transport.

Some examples of current practice in Europe were given. In Lille, France, domestic waste has been shipped by barge to the incineration plant since 1999. Over the last four years, 300,000 tonnes have been transported in 55,000 containers. Lille wants to expand this to include recyclable paper, cardboard, wood and electronic equipment.

Not only waste, but also construction materials are transported by waterways. When Lille had to renew 15,000 m2 of street pavements for the old town centre, it was decided that stones from Qingdao in China most closely resembled the historical pavements in northern France. 39 containers were therefore used to bring the material by sea to Antwerp from where it was shipped by barge to the centre of Lille.

Similar examples exist in the UK. In London, waste is transported by barge from the centre of London to landfill sites 38 miles downstream. These are loaded onto barges at special waterside berths/waste transfer stations. Wharf cranes are then used to unload the barges onto designated road vehicles for short haul transport to the tipping sites.

The presentation then moved onto policy issues and opportunities. For viable inland shipping in Europe, entrepreneurship and cooperation between shippers, operators and local authorities is required. There also has to be a certain degree of logistics innovation and a level playing field when it comes to government policy. Brian Menzies highlighted that inland shipping can play a key role in the socio-economic future of Europe.

In order to achieve such sustainable transport use, barriers must be overcome and innovation encouraged. Brian argued that there are opportunities for waterway freight transport in Scotland, linking the Firth of Clyde and Firth of Forth by the Forth and Clyde Canal for the movement of a range of goods, with examples given of construction materials and waste.

Brian Menzies described the Central Scotland Waterways Haulage Project, an opportunity being developed to look further at these opportunities. This project would propose to identify the flow of waste and resources from companies operating within a 5km corridor of the Firth of Clyde, Firth of Forth and the Forth and Clyde canal. A key component of this project would involve identifying consolidation sites and expressions of interest from potential and interested site operators . Existing material handling sites could provide an opportunity to look for complementary strategic site development, bringing these industries together and developing their potential for water based transport.

A feasibility study showed that haulage of waste and resources by canal can be competitive with road and is particularly effective when the number of locks is low. The logistics will need to be carefully examined however, with commodities for the return journey identified and shorthaul movements facilitated on stretches of canal where the number of locks is limited. With the ongoing regeneration of the Clyde, it is important to recognise the importance of mixed development to support this type of industry and to identify strategic sites for consolidating materials.

Brian Menzies concluded by looking at the challenges in moving towards water based transport. Often the political priorities do not automatically coincide with those of shippers and freight forwarders. Also, there is still a truck oriented mentality prevalent amongst European transport and freight operators as well as a perception that water based transport will be slower. Although there is a wide range of services provided by coastal and inland shipping companies, these may be badly publicised. Finally, there is a lack of joined-up thinking and policy support to the issue of resource and waste transport.

As these issues are resolved, there should be increasing potential for estuary, river and canal based freight transport in the Firth of Clyde area.

For further details on this presentation, contact Brian Menzies, Regional Manager, EnviroCentre by email on bmenzies@envirocentre.co.uk or telephone 01569 760661.