Share of rail freight for onward journeys by containers arriving by sea at DP World Southampton has risen to more than 30 per cent
DP World has recorded the 100,000th container moved by rail from its Southampton logistics hub, as part of its award-winning and carbon emission reducing Modal Shift Programme trial.
The share of rail freight for onward journeys by containers arriving by sea at DP World Southampton has risen from 21 per cent at the start of the programme to more than 30 per cent today, it revealed.
The increase means 100,000 more containers have started their onward journey by rail than without the incentive.
In reaching this total, DP World said the Modal Shift Programme had removed more than 25,000 tonnes of CO2e from supply chains, cutting road congestion by shifting approximately 8mn road miles to rail freight.
The supply chain solutions specialist now aims to further increase the share of rail freight towards 40 per cent in 2026.
“I would like to thank all our customers who have embraced the Modal Shift Programme and made the positive choice to use rail as a lower carbon option for their international supply chains through DP World Southampton,” said John Trenchard, vice president – commercial and supply chain at DP World in the UK.
”Reaching this groundbreaking milestone of an additional 100,000 containers moved by rail rather than road is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team to make the Modal Shift Programme trial the success it is now.
“This is a unique programme that sits at the heart of DP World’s ambition to offer market leading, more sustainable options to our supply chain partners in the UK,” he outlined.
“Through a combination of detailed analysis, customer engagement and responding to new market trends, we have further refined the programme trial since its launch in September 2023 and set our sights on continued growth in the share of rail freight for the onward journeys all containers make after arriving at Southampton.”
The programme pays customers a direct financial incentive for each import laden container moved by rail from DP World Southampton to a railhead within 140 miles.
DP World’s Modal Shift Programme trial has now resulted in the establishment of four new daily cargo rail services from Southampton to Birmingham, Cardiff, East Midlands Gateway and Doncaster.
It also helped DP World win both the ‘Business of the Year’ and the ‘Driving Rail Freight Growth’ awards at last year’s Rail Freight Group honours event, and an edie decarbonisation award for ‘Transport and Mobility Project of the Year’.
