FLRG 14 Sep 2006 meeting note

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This meeting took place on 14 September 2006 between 14:00 and 17:30.

Welcome

1. Everyone was welcomed to the meeting.

DfT Update

Sustainable Distribution Research and Fund

2. In June 2006 ministers announced a refocus of some of budgets previously allocated to various grant programmes intended to promote environmental improvement. Best practice and industry transformation were major recipients with funding support for the following:

3. Freight support - With around £5m up until March 2008, the English freight programmes will be expanded to mainstream best practice by:

  • developing partnerships to increase dissemination; undertake fuel efficiency reviews with maybe 750 operators;
  • develop a library of material for best practice in the van sector;
  • start a programme aimed at van drivers users to mirror the Freight Best Practice programme aimed at truck operators;
  • develop on-line fuel efficiency benchmarking and support for fuel champions;
  • an initiative to improve the skills of agency drivers, and
  • increase the resources to expand the Safe and Fuel Efficient Driving scheme (SAFED) providing relevant training for van drivers and instructors.

4. The DfT reported that the refocus offered other opportunities to cross sell to the freight audience but the policy lead was outside of Logistics Policy Division. These include:

  • Car purchasing - marketing and communications to promote the fuel efficiency labels and to position environmental factors as a key part of the new car purchasing process.
  • Eco-safe driving - to promote 'green driving' techniques to the driving public.  The initiative will focus on skills development and good driving practice and will be developed alongside the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) work on the potential inclusion of eco-safe driving in the driving test.
  • Workplace driving - to role out a large scale communication to people whose driving task is work related covering all vehicle types and a broad definition of 'work related'
  • Workplace Travel Planning - to generate business awareness of, and interest in, business travel plans, and to position them as sound business sense.
  • Bus Fleet advice - building on the freight programme including SAFED but also looking at best practice.
  • Best Practice Accreditation - a feasibility study into the potential carbon emission reductions, and other environmental benefits, of an accreditation scheme for UK companies that implement best practice.

Sustainable distribution research and fund

5. SAFED vans - with the previously mentioned refocusing of resources tender(s) were invited to increase the scale of the programme to train instructors and drivers operating in the van sector. In July AEA Momenta were awarded a contract to train 100 instructors and 4000 drivers in addition to the existing contract for 200 and 3500 respectively by March 2007.

6.  Recruitment of van driver instructors is going well but recruitment of van drivers is still low. The group suggested reasons why the recruitment may be low in the vans sector:

  • Van fleets could be unaware of the benefits and the programme as a whole;
  • Van driving is often not the primary job activity and drivers perceive themselves as having some other occupation. They often carry freight on a third of their journeys; and
  • Van drivers often have a small operation and are often busy so consequently may not have the time to attend the training.

7. The group suggested that the DfT join the Logistics Safety Forum to in order to promote the SAFED vans and recruit drivers for the training.

8.  KPI Food and drink distribution -contracts were awarded in August to Scala consulting to undertake four surveys, two in each sector. In addition to this they will offer funded consultation to participants in the first survey to help interpret the results and develop an action plan to improve performance in the second survey. The project is also being integrated into DEFRAs work monitoring progress towards some of its objectives in the Food Industry Sustainability Strategy (FISS).

9. The Group suggested that the DfT ensure that the data collected from the KPI survey is suitable to be used for freight modelling.

10.  The Group enquired about a traffic flow/ hard shoulder research on the M6 toll asked if it was a Highways Agency/DfT project. The DfT will look into it.

11.  It was suggested that putting more targets such as CO2 emissions and safety in projects specifications could help with impact assessment. The DfT clarified that most project specifications already set targets or put the onus on the contractor to agree a target with the Department before the contract is agreed.

12.  The Group suggested that there may be inconsistencies in the way that different Government Departments measure CO2. The DfT agreed to check the methodologies for measuring CO2 across different Departments.

13. Impact assessment - an invitation to tender is imminent to assess the impact of the best practice programme with in depth case studies on specific issues and to also evaluate the impact of the SAFED programmes.

14. Partnering - the first invitation to potential partners is imminent where funding indicated to be in the range of £25-100k is being offered for partners to deliver to their members or customers a programme that contributes to set objectives. These are closely aligned with embedding change in the particular sectors of the freight industry to reduce congestion, improve local air quality, reduce greenhouse gases and improve safety.

Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF)

15. SAFED Aggregates - this is continuing and whilst instructors numbers are going well many are inactive, which is causing concern. They are failing to recruit and train drivers and the target of 5500 by March 2007 looks ambitious. 3000 is more realistic. The aggregates sector had a low involvement in the previous SAFED programme despite their high fuel intensity operation and intense competition.

16. Site Specific Advice (SSA) - this is proceeding almost to plan with the 200th review undertaken in July, which is surprising given their poor take up of SAFED. A snapshot of some of the reviews highlighted some interesting characteristics such as 32 tonne trucks averaging under 3mpg in one fleet.

17. Reducing impact of aggregates transport - this project is proceeding well and should result in a practical guide to help shippers, hauliers and customers work safely with 44 tonne articulated tippers and smoother delivery arrangements. Together these should reduce vehicle numbers and movements especially during peak traffic periods.

18. Fuel consumption vs Payload - after a competitive tender, contracts were awarded to Aztec media who publish Transport Engineer for the Society of Operating Engineers. This project involves testing five common truck configurations in various load conditions from empty to full. Together with a simply tool this is expected to help operators better understand typical fuel consumptions of their operation and thus better cost and plan their business. The results will be published in the Transport Engineer and should provide a good evidence base for a best practice guide.

19.  44 tonne tipper case study - Faber Maunsell were contracted to undertake a detailed case study of a couple of businesses who have adopted 44 tonne vehicles for aggregate deliveries. This will focus on the cost savings and other benefits such as improved manoeuvrability as well as how to mitigate against problems that they have encountered. This will be published through the best practice programme.

20. The remaining ALSF proposed programme is currently on hold due to funding pressures in DEFRA.

Freight Best Practice (FBP) programme 2006/07

21.  The DfT announced that phase 2 of the 06/07 Freight Best Practice programme was awarded in June 2006. The DfT also provided a brief update on recent FBP publication that have been published and those that are due shortly.

22.  The DfT asked for suggestions from the Group on possible areas the FBP programme could cover in year two of the contract. The following suggestion were made by the Group:

  • Research into tyre purchasing process. This could focus on how buyers select tyres and whether other factors like maintenance costs and energy efficiency of tyres have an impact on the procurement process.
  • The benefits of the FBP programme could be marketed better. For example, workshop posters detailing the  benefits along with top tips or driver checklists.
  • The FBP programme could focus identifying operators/sectors that are likely to benefit most from tailored best practice products. Aggregates sector along with new operators were mentioned as possibly having a lot of potential to benefit from the FBP programme. The DfT mentioned that the last Impact Assessment survey identified sectors but did not identify their needs. Also the FBP programme sponsored and had a section in Commercial Motor's 'New Operator Pack' to get buy-in from newly registered operators.
  • There is an issue about operators spending considerable time on training/briefing agency drivers. It was suggested that a scheme could be set up to train/brief agency drivers that would cover about 90% of common training material which would reduce the amount of time operators spent on training. However, there is already a scheme called START outside of the FBP programme which could be providing this kind of training already, which the DfT will check.
  • It was suggested that the programme could 'adopt'   an operator to illustrate benefits of FBP advice. The DfT pointed out that there could be issues around state aid rules, which it would investigate.
  • It was suggested as road safety was a key component of the FBP programme; the FBP programme could promote safety as being part and parcel of road freight sustainability.

Scottish Parliament Enquiry into Freight in Scotland

23.  The Group discussed issues highlighted by the Scottish Parliament's report on its enquiry into freight in Scotland. It suggested discussing what external costs road pricing policies are based on as a possible discussion point in future FLRG meetings.

Next meeting

24.  31 January 2007