DP World ups rail incentive

The company’s Modal Shift Programme, launched last September at DP World Southampton in the UK, now offers customers an additional 50% if they swap to intermodal rail, up from the original £70.

Since the beginning of the programme rail services uptake at Southampton has increased from 21% (January to June) to 27% (September to December) last year, saving up to 4,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

John Trenchard, UK commercial & supply chain director at DP World, said that the programme had proved successful so far but the company wanted to go further. “The increase in incentive will provide our customers with a welcome boost to their financial and sustainability ambitions and further support the UK government’s ambitions to achieve a 75 per cent growth in freight carried by rail by 2050,” he said.

“Our investment in British rail alone via our two UK hubs is taking approximately 300,000 trucks off the road each year,” he added.

The trial will run at Southampton for 12 months, offering a financial incentive to customers who move import-laden containers via rial to a railhead withing 140 miles of the Southampton logistics hub.

With this latest increase effective from January, DP World is hoping more supply chain partners will transition to rail as a lower carbon alternative, helping save an estimated 30,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.