Server: Netscape-Commerce/1.12 Date: Thursday, 20-Nov-97 22:18:00 GMT Last-modified: Thursday, 18-Sep-97 18:48:16 GMT Content-length: 5010 Content-type: text/html British Steel News Release No:1494

BRITISH STEEL ACCELERATES SWITCH FROM ROAD TO RAIL

British Steel is accelerating the switch in its strip products deliveries from road to rail, aimed at improving customer service and reducing the environmental impact of road transport.

It is expected that 25,000 lorry movements a year, by 1998, will be removed from roads between its Port Talbot, Llanwern and Ebbw Vale Works in South Wales and West Midlands customers by using rail for trunk hauls to strategic rail hubs. From these hubs, the short distance final delivery will be made by high quality road vehicles to meet accurate time slots specified by customers.

Rail deliveries of strip to customers are set to increase considerably. Around 400,000 tonnes of steel coil are expected to be transported from South Wales to the Midlands this year, double the 1996 levels, and deliveries are expected to rise to 700,000 tonnes in 1998.

British Steel has invested in a fleet of 66 covered coil carrying wagons which will be supplemented by the hire of other wagons as necessary. Deliveries by English, Welsh and Scottish Railways (EWSR) are being made using two purpose-built facilities at Round Oak and Wolverhampton. Final road delivery will be made by fleets of new vehicles to ensure safe and damage-free transits. Coils loaded up to 10pm in South Wales can be delivered if required thefollowing morning, or can be stored and delivered at any specified time round the clock to suit customers' just-in-time schedules.

In a separate move, Associated British Ports are constructing an entirely new rail-served warehouse at their Alexandra Docks, Newport which will handle around 200,000 tonnes a year of British Steel exports. Virtually all deliveries of steel - even over the comparatively short distance from Llanwern - will be by rail.

In the long term, the intention is to extend the strategy to mainland Europe. Small tonnages have traditionally passed directly by rail from South Wales to rail connected customers in Benelux, Germany and Switzerland. The development of appropriate hubs at strategic locations could allow the benefits of rail haulage to be extended to a much wider customer base.

Elsewhere in the British Steel group, other businesses are looking at the potential for switching steel movements from road to rail where a competitive rail service can be achieved.

ENDS


Back to Home Page

Copyright © British Steel 1997