Empty-running
89. In an industry as competitive as the road haulage
industry, companies face "strong incentives to improve fuel
efficiency".[294]
In particular, there is every reason to avoid wasteful use of
a vehicle through, for example, running it back to a depot empty
after it has made a delivery. Considerable efforts have been made
by the industry to alter logistics systems to ensure that lorries
are able to minimise 'empty-running'. The Road Haulage Association
told us that "companies are ... frequently cooperating with
other companies so as to reduce fuel consumption and empty running".[295]
The Lex Transfleet Report on Freight Transport 2000 agreed
that "co-operation between different users of freight could
achieve substantial increases in utilisation".[296]
An example of such cooperation is Tesco, which has developed a
system which uses its own vehicles to collect goods from suppliers,
as well as using suppliers' vehicles to meet its own secondary
distribution needs: as a result, 'empty-running' both by its vehicles
and by those of its suppliers has been considerably reduced.[297]
90. Nevertheless, there is further scope for improvement.
The Lex Transfleet Report on Freight Transport 2000 says
that 62 per cent of lorries use less than half of their capacity
on return journeys, and 26 per cent of vehicles return from making
deliveries with no load at all.[298]
We are concerned that, as the Government told us, "large
firms are most able to restructure their logistics systems to
minimise empty running and to pay for the fixed costs of fleet
and fuel-management systems",[299]
and that smaller hauliers do not have the resources, the size
of fleet or the variety of vehicle easily to find return loads,
or to transport them. To address the problem, the Road Haulage
Association operates a service on the Internet to help companies
to find loads to carry on return journeys.[300]
Nevertheless, we believe that there is a role for the Government
to play in this regard. We recommend that the Government establish
or support facilities which enable haulage companies to cooperate
with each other, and with their customers, to reduce empty running
on return journeys by lorries.
Nighttime deliveries
91. In many towns and cities, restrictions are placed
on the activities of vans and lorries at night. Although such
measures are intended to reduce the nuisance and disturbance caused
by delivery vehicles to local residents, they often oblige hauliers
and others to make deliveries during the daytime: as a result,
lorries and vans add to congestion and, because their delivery
times are much slower, their operations are much less efficient
and they contribute to a greater extent to pollution. In short,
the local environmental benefit of reduced nighttime noise must
be weighed against increased congestion, the inefficient use of
resources, and a rise in pollution. Such concerns led us, in a
previous report, to recommend that "consideration, taking
into account different local circumstances, be given to the relaxation
of delivery curfews in order to improve the efficiency of distribution
networks".[301]
92. In its evidence to this inquiry, the Freight
Transport Association welcomed our previous recommendation. Nevertheless,
it told us, "this issue more than any other continues to
be raised by many goods vehicle operators as being critical to
reducing the environmental impact caused by freight deliveries".[302]
The Federation of Small Businesses agreed, and called for "positive
planning policies to facilitate more effective use of the 24-hour
day for deliveries".[303]
Therefore, we again recommend that consideration be given to
the relaxation of restrictions on nighttime deliveries, and that
the Government take the lead in formulating policies to facilitate
nighttime deliveries. We reiterate, however, that such changes
should be matched by the introduction by the freight industry
of quieter and less polluting vehicles.
272 See Lorries on the right road for the environment,
a press notice released to accompany the Lex Transfleet Report
on Freight Transport 2000, which can be seen at http://www.lex.co.uk/transfleet/environment.html.
Back
273
See Sustainable Distribution: A strategy, para.6.66. Back
274
See Sustainable Distribution: A strategy, p.83. Back
275
Sustainable Distribution: A strategy, para.6.63. Back
276
Even a cursory review of the used lorry market shows that four-year-old
five-axle articulated lorries cost up to £32,000, whereas
eight-year-old five-axle articulated lorries cost half that figure. Back
277
RH30, p.2. Back
278
RH30, p.3. Back
279
RH21, para.3.2.1. Back
280
RH21, para.3.3. Back
281
RH21B. Back
282
The implication of Sustainable Distribution: A strategy,
para.4.20. Back
283
RH38, p.7. Back
284
Sustainable Distribution: A strategy, para.4.21. Back
285
RH37, p.2. Back
286
See Freight Transport Association/Road Haulage Association:
Joint Submission to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which
can be viewed at http://www.rha.net/new_news/releases/2000/budget00.doc.
Back
287
See Sustainable Distribution: A strategy, para.6.73. Back
288
Freight Transport Association/Road Haulage Association: Joint
Submission to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which can be
viewed at http://www.rha.net/new_news/releases/2000/budget00.doc.
Back
289
Q.56. Back
290
See Freight Transport Association/Road Haulage Association:
Joint Submission to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which
can be viewed at http://www.rha.net/new_news/releases/2000/budget00.doc.
Back
291
See Q.565. Back
292
Q.565. Back
293
Freight Transport Association/Road Haulage Association: Joint
Submission to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which can be
viewed at http://www.rha.net/new_news/releases/2000/budget00.doc.
Back
294
RH48, para.19. Back
295
RH22, para.3.2. Back
296
The Lex Transfleet Report on Freight Transport 2000, p.41. Back
297
See Sustainable Distribution: A strategy, p.55. Back
298
See The Lex Transfleet Report on Freight Transport 2000,
Chart 3.3, p.40. Back
299
RH48, para.20. Back
300
At http://www.rha.org.uk/backloads/index.html. Back
301
Integrated Transport White Paper, Ninth Report of the Environment,
Transport and Regional Affairs Committee, HC (1998-99) 32-I),
para.165. Back
302
RH26, p.10. Back
303
RH36, para.5.7. Back