The freight transport industry is doing its bit to reduce its carbon footprint but it is missing a few tricks when it comes to reporting what it does, James Hookham, deputy ceo of the Freight Transport Association told Re:fresh delegates last week.
“As an industry we are putting a lot of store by the government’s Eddington Transport Study which confirmed the urgency of action on carbon emissions,” said Hookham. The association has identified five key ratios where freight transport can be decarbonised from tonnes per km to GDP; the road/air to rail/water split; tonne-km to vehicle-km; as well as energy efficiency and carbon intensity. “We are doing our bit already, we have been for years, but the challenge for our members is to show these measures as not just a cost, but a carbon-saving,” said Hookham.
He also stressed that it was important to get responsibility on these issues elsewhere in Europe and that moving more fresh produce onto rail was possible. “If it can work for the time-sensitive parcels sector, then it can work for other time-sensitive products such as fresh produce,” he said. “Where Asda and Tesco lead, others can follow.”
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