Transport for the North
Transport for the North Freight & Logistics Strategy
Client: Mott MacDonald/Transport for the North (TfN)
Date:2016
– TfN commissioned Mott MacDonald and MDST to produce the first ever pan-regional freight and logistics strategy for the UK, focusing particularly on how the freight and logistics sector could contribute to transformational economic growth in the North of England.
The Question
The strategy needed to take into consideration and model the movement of freight for all modes and how this would act in the future depending on a number of different scenarios. There would also be a need for qualitative input from various stakeholders, policy makers, shippers and infrastructure providers.
The Solution
- The strategy set out an integrated package of public sector interventions that would encourage the market to invest in rail and port-based distribution so that the North can offer lower cost distribution services, while also reducing environmental emissions and offering more employment opportunities in distribution centres located in the North.
- This was aided by the development of multimodal OD matrices for freight for the whole of the UK and required multi-modal freight forecasting up to 2043.
- The study concluded with recommendations for a wide range of public sector interventions relating to road, rail and port infrastructure, changes in emphasis in the planning regime and a wide range of softer measures to remove industry inertia and encourage the development of more distribution activity across the North.
Achievements
The TfN Freight and Logistics study, which concluded that some £50 billion of economic benefits could be secured from freight up to 2043 to justify public sector investment, was published in September 2016.