Freight to the ports
In the context of the Government’s recent study on port connectivity, PAUL SHANNON reviews rail freight movements to and from English ports and looks at the scope for growth
Following the Government‘s recent study on port connectivity, what is the scope for rail freight to grow to and from English ports?
As an island nation we rely on sea and river ports for the vast majority of our imports and exports. Traditionally almost every port in England enjoyed a rail connection. Many such connections were lost or downgraded in the second half of the 20th century, but in recent years we have seen renewed interest in developing import and export flows by rail.
Ports lend themselves to rail because the cargoes that they handle have to be transshipped in any case, unlike purely inland movements where the need to transship goods at both ends of the journey may make rail unviable. It’s also the case that ports tend to attract concentrated volumes of a specific type of freight, which again makes rail attractive.
On the other hand rail freight always faces the challenge of finding sufficient traffic to fill a regular trainload between a port and a specific inland location, now that the less- than-trainload model is well and truly dead.
What follows is a round-up of recent and current rail freight activity at rail-connected ports around the English coast, plus some discussion of the potential for new or increased traffic flows.
Workington
The Port of Workington benefits from good rail access from the Cumbrian Coast line and its sidings can cater for containers, dry bulk and liquid bulk traffic. Currently its only regular rail traffic is a non-maritime flow of calcium carbonate from Aberdeen, which arrives on a weekly train for delivery by road to Iggesund Paperboard.
In the past Iggesund also used the port sidings to receive pulp and logs, as well as to dispatch its finished product. Maritime traffic at the Workington railhead is limited to occasional cargoes for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
Barrow-in-Furness
The Associated British Ports railhead at Barrow handles occasional shipments of irradiated nuclear fuel bound for Sellafield. No other maritime traffic has been loaded there in recent decades, although the railhead proved useful for domestic flows when EWS was growing its Enterprise network, with trains of pulp from Sheerness and soap powder to Avonmouth.
Liverpool
Peel Ports promotes Liverpool as one of the largest, busiest and most diverse ports in the UK. Its deep-water container terminal was upgraded in 2016 and the port handles large volumes of container traffic to and from North America alongside various European links.
The rail freight picture at Liverpool Docks has been disappointing in recent years, with Seaforth intermodal terminal handling just one weekly train of stainless steel since the withdrawal of the last Freightliner service in 2008.
However Peel Ports and DB Cargo launched a three-times weekly intermodal train between Seaforth and Mossend in May, which could mark the beginning of a revival. Seaforth retains the capacity to handle several trains a day and Liverpool is the only port on the west coast of England to enjoy a rail connection cleared to W10 loading gauge.
The Peel Ports estate is also home to two bulk rail terminals: biomass and scrap metal. GB Railfreight (GBRf) has been hauling frequent trainloads of biomass from Liverpool to Drax since 2015. The European Metals Recycling terminal receives one or two weekly trains of scrap metal from locations such as Attercliffe (Sheffield) and Swindon, with haulage shared between DB Cargo and GBRf.
The rail connection to the Port of Liverpool has been enhanced in recent years – notably with the reopening of the east-facing Olive Mount chord in 2009 – and has the potential to carry much more than it does at present.
Alongside the possible rebirth of container traffic, it would be good if the railway could regain the flows of steel coil and paper that were lost after the closure of UK wagonload operations. On the other hand if more shipping lines come to Liverpool this could be bad news for rail freight, as the current long-distance business from Southampton, London and Felixstowe to the North West will be under threat.
Ellesmere Port
A rail connection to Manisty Wharf on the Manchester Ship Canal was restored in 2005 to load coal for Fiddlers Ferry power station. The coal was delivered to Manisty by coastal shipping from Hunterston, by the Firth of Clyde.
That traffic ceased in 2015 and the loading terminal was decommissioned. A section of the Manisty branch was retained and for a time it handled biomass for Ironbridge and sand from Middleton Towers, as well as a trial movement of Vauxhall cars; however the
branch is disused at the time of writing. Any future use is likely to be for domestic rather than maritime freight.
Bristol
Located on opposite sides of the Avon estuary are the Royal Portbury Dock and Avonmouth Docks. Both sites are managed by the Bristol Port Company. Portbury regained its rail connection when Railtrack relaid six miles of the former Portishead branch in 2001, primarily to load imported coal for various Welsh and English power stations. That traffic continued until earlier this year.
Other rail freight flows to and from Portbury have included imported biomass for Ironbridge, imported motor vehicles for Doncaster, containers from Barry and a domestic flow of gypsum for the local Siniat factory. At the time of writing none of these flows is operating, the automotive traffic having been lost when DB Cargo withdrew its wagonload product. Bearing in mind that more than 600,000 cars and vans pass through Portbury Dock each year, the prospects of this traffic returning ought to be good.
Avonmouth was a loading point for coal imported through Portbury and fed across the Avon estuary by conveyor from 1993 until earlier this year. Today Avonmouth still sends out occasional trainloads of imported stone and the port also receives trainloads of cement for local and regional use. The rail access to Avonmouth via Hallen Marsh is good and could easily cope with more traffic.
Fowey
The long-standing flow of Cornish china clay for export via Fowey continues to run in 2018, albeit less frequently than in years gone by. The crunch will come when the wagons need replacing, because the traverser at Fowey can only handle two-axle vehicles.
Poole
Until the late 1990s the railway reached the quayside at the end of the Hamworthy branch and handled flows of steel and scrap metal. In recent years the branch has been used to offload stone for local customers, but that flow is now believed to have ceased to allow site redevelopment.
Southampton
Owned and operated by Associated British Ports (ABP), Southampton is the second biggest container port in the UK.
About a third of the containers arriving at Southampton leave the port by rail. Freightliner has the lion’s share of the traffic, with an average of 12 departures each weekday from Southampton Maritime Container Terminal (MCT). The main destinations are the Midlands, Yorkshire and North West England; unfortunately the London area is too close for rail to be viable. In addition, DB Cargo hauls three daily intermodal trains from Southampton Western Docks and since November last year GBRf has run a daily service to the West Midlands.
The loading gauge enhancement carried out between Southampton and Nuneaton in 2011 has helped rail freight to maintain its market share, and pathing en route has become easier since Network Rail opened the Reading flyover. Although the MCT has little spare capacity Freightliner could bring its nearby Millbrook terminal back into use if it were to win additional traffic. Mention should also be made of the rail-linked Marchwood port, which currently sees occasional military traffic but could attract container traffic if ABP’s Dibden Bay proposal goes ahead.
Southampton is currently the UK’s busiest port for rail-borne cars and vans. DB Cargo hauls a daily trainload of Minis from Cowley and up to three trains daily carrying Jaguar Land Rover products from Castle Bromwich and Halewood. All are offloaded in the Eastern Docks. With the port handling in excess of 800,000 motor vehicles a year, many more could travel by rail if it were cost-effective to do so.
A niche product railed from Southampton is
imported gypsum, which forms a daily GBRfhauled train to Mountfield on the Hastings line. Trials of other bulk materials such as rock salt and china clay have not produced any long-term traffic.
Medway
The rail link to the Port of Sheerness was restored in 1997 for a flow of pulp to Workington, but the revival turned out to be short-lived. Peel Ports announced in 2014 that it wanted to carry motor vehicles to and from Sheerness by rail, but news on progress is awaited. Further inland along the Medway estuary, the rail link to Chatham Docks was last used for imports and exports of steel and in the early 2000s. The tracks within the docks are now home to a heritage operation.
Thames estuary
A cluster of freight terminals at Grain keeps the single-track branch line from Hoo Junction active. Aggregates are loaded for distribution by rail to various locations in the South East. Thamesport container terminal handled intermodal trains from 1991 until 2013 and since then the site has been used to offload occasional trainloads of steel from South Wales. The containers are unlikely to return, but the steel traffic has the potential to grow and could include imports as well as exports. And oil trains are expected to reappear soon as Freightliner has won a contract to move aviation fuel from Grain to Colnbrook for Heathrow Airport.
On the north side of the Thames, Purfleet Deep Water Terminal handles two rail freight flows: Minis from Cowley and Tesco boxes from Daventry, hauled by DB Cargo and DRS respectively. In the past Purfleet has also handled steel from South Wales and various intermodal flows. The challenge for rail freight at Purfleet – as at so many locations in the UK – has been to find sufficient volume on a single route to fill a regular trainload.
Tilbury has seen mixed fortunes in recent years. The Freightliner terminal closed in January 2017, by which time container traffic from the nearby Northfleet Hope terminal had also ceased. The former Freightliner site has been adapted for outward flows of recycled glass and sea-dredged aggregates. Further east, Tilbury International Railfreight Terminal – opened in 1997 on the site of Tilbury Riverside station – handles up to three weekly trainloads of tinplate from Trostre, hauled by GBRf, and two weekly Freightliner intermodal trains from Barry. At its height this terminal saw several trains a day and has plenty of capacity for growth.
London Gateway container terminal on the Thames Haven branch has had a steady increase in throughput since its opening in 2013. At the time of writing it handles up to six Freightliner departures and two DB Cargo trains each weekday, as well as acting as the UK railhead for a GBRf-hauled trainload of Chinese containers to and from Duisburg. Although London Gateway is located on a non-electrified single line, the terminal has six 750-metre long sidings and is capable of handling much more traffic in the future.
Harwich, Ipswich, Felixstowe
The port of Harwich has not loaded or unloaded international rail freight for many years, although the sidings remain in use as a stabling point. Ipswich Griffin Wharf is also out of use for container traffic, although it still sends trainloads of sea-dredged aggregates to the London area.
At Felixstowe it’s a very different story. From humble beginnings back in the 1970s Felixstowe has developed into Britain’s biggest and busiest container port, handling more than four million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) each year. In rail terms, too, Felixstowe is a record-holder, with 32 scheduled departures each weekday destined mainly for the Midlands and northern England. Of those trains, 23 are hauled by Freightliner, eight by GBRf and one by DB Cargo. Rail freight’s
competitive position has already been improved by the clearance of the IpswichPeterborough-Nuneaton line to W10 gauge in 2011, the opening of the new Felixstowe North terminal in 2013 and the opening of the Ipswich chord in 2014.
A further boost will come from the doubletracking of part of the Felixstowe branch, providing the capacity for up to 47 departures a day. To what extent that aspiration is achievable remains to be seen; rail freight at Felixstowe already has a market share of around 28% and some of current non-rail traffic is destined for the South East, too close for rail to compete effectively with road.
Boston
The rail connection to Boston Docks – complete with the Grade II listed swing bridge across the Haven – was reactivated in 1997 to carry trainloads of imported steel to the West Midlands. That traffic continues today, having reverted to DB Cargo haulage after a spell with Colas. In the past the port railhead has also received aggregates for local distribution.
Immingham and Grimsby
Immingham is the UK’s number one port for bulk rail freight – a credit to the Great Central Railway which in effect created the location in 1912 as an outlet for coal exports. Since the demise of our mining industry the coal has travelled in the opposite direction, latterly put on rail at the Humber International Terminal which opened in 2012. Today that traffic in turn is reduced, with just two or three departures a day to power stations in the Aire and Trent valleys plus three or four Freightliner-hauled trains to Scunthorpe steelworks. But a recent addition to the rail scene is biomass: DB Cargo hauls up to 12 biomass trains a day from Immingham to Drax.
Other maritime traffic railed from Immingham includes iron ore, with several trains a day serving Scunthorpe steelworks, and petroleum products from the Puma import terminal on the eastern side of Immingham Docks to Theale and Westerleigh. The latter flow complements the heavy traffic out of Lindsey and Humber refineries. The Nordic terminal on the western side of the docks handles up to three trains a week of specialist steel from Tinsley and DB Cargo also operates steel trains as required between Immingham and Scunthorpe, Wolverhampton and Llanwern.
Intermodal traffic from Immingham has proved to be a difficult market for rail freight. It has been tried more than once, but there is currently insufficient volume to fill a regular long-distance trainload to a specific location, and the restricted loading gauge means that high cube containers cannot be carried on standard wagons. Another Immingham flow that no longer operates is imported paper, once conveyed in a mixture of trainload and wagonload consignments.
With its plethora of sidings and good connection to the national network, Immingham is well placed to respond to any new bulk freight opportunities. The intermodal market will be worth exploring again once the line from Doncaster to Immingham has been cleared to W10 and W12 gauges, although the challenge of aggregating volume will remain.
Long eclipsed by Immingham, Grimsby Docks have not handled any rail freight in recent years. The last flow was zinc for Bloxwich in the West Midlands, which ceased in 2005. The Port of Hull invested in the UK’s first covered transhipment berth for transferring steel between a ship and railway wagons in 1997. For a time it was busy with wagonload traffic to half a dozen locations. Today Hull still receives a daily trainload of steel from South Wales via Rotherham and forwards a weekly train of imported steel coil to Swindon, again routed via Rotherham.
Flows of imported coal from Hull have declined to a trickle, but the port still sends trainloads of biomass to Drax with DB Cargo providing the haulage. Meanwhile carryings of imported gypsum from Hull to locations such as Ferrybridge and Gascoigne Wood have increased to replace those from now defunct coal-fired power stations.
Goole
Goole is another location handling steel traffic, although – as elsewhere – the withdrawal of wagonload services has reduced the
opportunities for moving small quantities by rail. DB Cargo runs trains from Scunthorpe to Goole as required and there is also a connection from the steel hub at Rotherham.
Teesside
Teesport is the only North East port to benefit already from W10 loading gauge. DB Cargo started a daily intermodal train between Tees and Mossend in 2015 and loadings have been generally healthy. Direct Rail Services had previously abandoned its intermodal trains from Tees to Widnes and Grangemouth. Given recent expansion at Teesport there may be potential to try moving containers across the Pennines again, although the shortest route cleared to W10 gauge involves a lengthy detour via Toton and Lichfield.
Despite the decline of the local steel industry Teesport still receives steel by rail. Trains have run from Scunthorpe in recent weeks, and previously from Aldwarke. Specialised terminals with a rail connection are Cleveland Potash Bulk Terminal, which receives up to two daily trainloads of potash from Boulby, and Redcar Ore Terminal, which has forwarded coal and coke by rail as well as iron ore.
Tyne
Like Immingham, the Port of Tyne switched from exporting to importing coal as the pits closed. In 2007 GBRf was loading up to a dozen coal trains a day at Tyne, destined for Drax and other power stations. Today the main rail flow from Tyne is biomass. Depending on demand GBRf hauls several biomass trains a day on the Tyne-Drax route and has recently started moving biomass to Lynemouth under a ten-year contract. Most of the Drax trains use the East Boldon curve which was reopened in 2011 to allow trains from the Port of Tyne to use the Durham Coast line without running round at Pelaw.
North Blyth
Bulk alumina has been carried by rail from North Blyth for many decades. The local flow to Lynemouth ceased in 2011, but GBRf still moves two or three weekly trainloads from North Blyth to Fort William. North Blyth is also a loading point for coal from two local opencast sites.
The Port Connectivity Study – where next?
The Department of Transport study recognises that road is the dominant transport mode for freight to and from English ports. It also acknowledges that rail freight’s strengths lie in two areas: dry and liquid bulks, such as biomass and steel, and containers.
The study lists a number of completed and planned schemes designed to make rail more attractive for maritime freight. Some of those schemes – especially those involving loading gauge enhancement – are necessary just to enable rail to retain its market share. Others have the potential to create new freight paths or to enable longer – and therefore more profitable – trains to run. However any improvements in capacity will not in themselves lead automatically to increased traffic, just as the provision of new terminals is no guarantee of new business. Rather, the onus remains on rail freight to provide a service that competes effectively with other modes, especially road. Undoubtedly there are some positive signs, such as new intermodal traffic from Liverpool and ever-increasing volumes from Felixstowe, but few customers are tied to rail in the long term and rail freight will have no easy ride.