In a major new initiative, DP World, a provider of global supply chain solutions, is directly incentivising its customers in the United Kingdom to transfer their imported goods off the road and onto rail, reinforcing its ambition to be the most sustainable logistics business in the UK.
The “Modal Shift Programme” is intended to make intermodal rail more appealing to customers via the use of carefully structured financial incentives.
The plan has the potential to save an estimated 30,000 metric tonnes of CO2 per year, which is more than three times the entire emissions of DP World’s logistics centre in Southampton, where the new project will be tested beginning in September for an initial period of 12 months.
The Modal Shift programme will charge a flat £10 fee (US$12.5) on all import-laden containers. Customers whose container is moved to a railhead more than 140 miles from the terminal are reimbursed, and a £70 (US$87) incentive is paid to those whose container is moved to a railhead within 140 miles of the terminal.
“The market economics for using intermodal rail for distances of 140 miles or more from Southampton already make sense. However, for deliveries within the 140 mile zone the economic difference is less clear, and this incentive aims to increase the likelihood of a modal shift to rail,” DP World in a statement.
