We welcome the ongoing close relationship with the DfT team leading the Future of Freight strategy, an initiative we strongly endorse and value the engagement which stems from it, which we hope will continue. As the strategy has evolved, we have highlighted the need to focus not just on freight but on supply chains.
Often several definitions are used interchangeably when discussing the movement of goods, and it is important to consider how we use these correctly to deliver the greatest benefit if we are to focus on optimising infrastructure, transition to Net Zero, attract people and develop skills, manage disruption through increase supply chain resilience and assist in the levelling up agenda. For clarity:
Transport relates to the carrying of goods or people from one place to another, by road, rail, air or sea.
Freight refers to the goods that are carried whether these are finished products, raw materials or work in progress.
Logistics means the positioning of resources at the right time, in the right quantity, at the right costs and in the right quality.
These are products or derived demands which are in response to the needs of supply chains. Supply chains encompass the management of upstream and downstream relationships (from source to consumption) between suppliers, distributors and customers to achieve greater customer value added at less cost. It is supply chains that are fundamental to our future as these are the drivers that determine the routes and distances travelled (recognising that not all products and raw materials are available everywhere), the packaging utilised, the frequency of movement, modes of transport utilised and , the number of nodes and their activities (e.g. warehousing, processing, manufacturing etc.) and it is the combined effect of changes in technologies, processes and networks that will enable these to address the objectives of the future strategy.
What follows, given timescales, is a practical response to the draft Future of Freight Plan, written as a critical friend.