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overhauled to recognise the needs of cargo movements both currently and in the future. The relevant planning authority will be empowered to plan for these needs. People and skills: To ensure that logistics becomes the industry of choice for talented and skilled people at all stages of their career. This The Future of Freight – an overview In a new document outlining its aims for UK trade, the Department for Transport sets out its priorities and the criteria by which progress can be judged
Some weeks ago, the Department for Transport (DfT) released its 133-page document entitled The Future of Freight detailing its aspirations to improve freight flows both nationally and where there is an interchange between these and international supply chains. The document is a direct result of work between the department and trade during and after the pandemic to keep supply chains open. Historically, the DfT has focused its work on domestic transport issues, planning and regulation, so in many ways this document is an interesting innovation. The importance of international freight and logistics is highlighted, being given significant prominence in the document. One comment is particularly relevant: “The multimodal freight and logistics sector is critical to every supply chain into, across and out of the UK and is fundamental to our economic well being.” What is particularly telling is the contrast in ownership models: domestic infrastructure such as roads is predominantly state owned, whilst most entities involved in international trade, including the majority of the main UK (air)ports, are in private ownership. This latter group includes most freight forwarders and all of BIFA’s Members. In the spotlight Due to EU-exit, the disruption stemming from COVID-19 and the war in the Ukraine, the international freight sector has been in the public eye. Whether or not we are comfortable with being the centre of attention, these events have highlighted the sector’s importance to government and the wider public. In the UK, international trade is economically more important than in other countries. The UK is a trading nation with imports and exports comprising 62.9% of GDP, higher than the global average of 56.3% in 2019. It is estimated that the sector contributes 10% of the UK non- financial business economic activity with a estimated gross turnover of £127 billion. The report highlights the importance of each mode and illustrates why it is important to be able to switch between them. For instance, the critical role air played, particularly in the early stages of the COVID-19
pandemic, in moving PPE. In many ways the plan is only a starting point for government-industry
increases resilience and facilitates the distribution of goods to, within and from the UK.
Data and technology: The ambition is to increase the
collaboration on improving freight flows. The following criteria have been agreed between government and trade as key indicators for judging performance: Cost efficient: The sector needs to deliver globally competitive costs and support the broader UK economy with access to low-cost goods transport.
awareness of the sector amongst innovators and to make the logistics sector more aware of the potential to innovate.
Economic ambitions These are the main themes from a
purely business perspective. However, the document does reference government’s wider economic and related political ambitions which cover: • The levelling up agenda: by encouraging economic growth across the country, • Strengthening the Union by involving the Devolved Administrations in implementing the plan throughout the UK, • Increasing UK global influence through trade, and the efficiency with which it is handled. Trade is facing greater headwinds than it has faced for at least the last four decades; for whatever reason, the economic liberalism that under-pinned growth and the spread of the global economy is increasingly being challenged. As some have commented, ‘friction’ has been re-introduced into trade and business needs to adjust to this new situation. Effectively ‘friction’ is becoming the new normal, with resultant slowing down of supply chains and increase in costs. It is against this background that the Future of Freight and other government initiatives, such as developing a ‘Single Trade Window’, need to be considered. Clearly government thinking is that there is a need to offset the negative impact of increased ‘friction’ by improving both frontier procedures and domestic capability to make it physically easier to move cargoes in order to ensure the UK’s long-term prosperity. It will be interesting in a few years’ time to assess how many of these projects, some of which are conceptual, have been implemented and what benefits they have delivered.
Reliable: Delivering consistently good performance for its customers, providing reliable access to the goods that businesses and consumers need. Resilient: Ensuring that the freight network has the capacity to anticipate, absorb, resist or avoid disruption and recover when disruption does occur. Maintaining the smooth flow of goods throughout. Environmentally sustainable: Achieving a net zero freight and logistics sector by 2050, whilst supporting broader environmental objectives of air quality and noise reduction. Valued by society: Ensuring that freight is valued by the public and decision-makers across sectors, reflecting the sector’s critical importance to the wider economy and the lives of everyone in the UK. In order to ensure that these goals are met, the five main priority areas have been identified as: A national freight network: Government and industry will work together to ensure that the freight network supports end-to-end freight journeys that are efficient, reliable and resilient. The role of freight will be considered in strategic infrastructure investment and planning. Transition to net zero: The ambition is to enhance investment certainty to harness cross- modal efficiencies as the whole sector journeys to net zero by 2050. Planning: The planning system will be
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September 2022
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