Tibbett & Britten vs. Freightliner
The British transport operator Tibbett & Britten (TB) has asked the state-run «Strategic Rail Authority» (SRA) that it break the monopoly of the railroad company Freightliner in the ports of Felixstowe and Southampton. The firm is currently handling its operations at the Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (Dirft), but it demands free access to all ports. It claims that this, i.e. more competition, will be the only way to win a larger number of maritime container transport operations over onto the railroad tracks. According to Freightliner, on the other hand, there is no demand for trains to Daventry, while the existing services to other centers are fully booked. TB however criticizes that Freightliner stopped operations to Daventry and now refuses to recommence them «despite urgent requests from at least two important shippers». The company complains that Daventry these days is little more than a «whistle stop». Freightliner, it added, didn’t want to serve this terminal any longer because it had to pay for doing so, and therefore preferred to roll to its own Landor Street Terminal in Birmingham. The same was true for the TB hub in Doncaster, the transport operator continued, which Freightliner was neglecting in favor of its own facility in Leeds. Freightliner currently operates 13 trains per day from the port of Felixstowe and feels it is a victim of its own success. It claims there’s no capacity for more trains out of Felixstowe. In order to replace an existing train, however, demand for Daventry would have to be at least 20,000 boxes per year.
(Source: INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT JOURNAL)
