Revenue Support Freight Grant
Options for Changes to Revenue Support Freight Grant Schemes
Client: Department for Transport
Date:2017-18
To consider the options for changing the Revenue Support Freight Grant schemes to introduce an MSRS-style scheme for coastal shipping and for Channel Tunnel intermodal rail freight services to be included in the existing MSRS (Intermodal) scheme
The Question
How could the existing Revenue Support Freight Grant schemes in the UK be changed to include coastal shipping and Channel Tunnel intermodal rail freight services in an MSRS (Intermodal) scheme?
The Solution
MDST completed a research study, in association with Atkins, which involved:
- Setting out the market context within which any changes to the grant schemes would be implemented;
- Developing generic cost models for coastal container shipping and Channel Tunnel intermodal rail freight services, which were subject to validation by operators in the rail freight and container shipping industry;
- Applying the cost models to a sample of zone-to-zone freight movements in order to develop some illustrative case studies;
- Taking into account feedback from stakeholders following a written consultation exercise;
- Producing calculations in a spreadsheet model for a potential MSRS (Coastal Shipping) scheme;
- Considering the implications of EU State aid guidelines on potential support for coastal shipping services between GB ports;
- Developing some conclusions on the feasibility of the application of the MSRS (Intermodal) scheme to Channel Tunnel intermodal rail freight services and the development of a new MSRS (Coastal Shipping) scheme.
The Impact
The report, which was published by the DfT in January 2019, provided the results of the research. The report can be found here: