Peer review: Cameron Taylor
Primary Account Manager (Rail), Tesco
Maggie Simpson asks the question: “So what do freight customers want?” And indeed she goes on to answer that question very well.
For the retail intermodal market the answer is fairly straightforward: a customer-focused operation that is reliable, flexible and cost-effective. It seems simple enough, but to achieve this we must have a strong working partnership with a logistics provider (ESL), a rail operator (Direct Rail Services), and, of course, suppliers.
The right product has to be at the right place at the right time. As Maggie points out, this can be a distribution centre or a store. Either way, staff are waiting to deal with the stock - therefore on-time deliveries are crucial to ensure productivity does not suffer and customers can get what they want.
If a road driver calls in sick, the net effect is that one load may not travel. If a train driver calls in sick, we have a situation whereby up to 36 loads may not travel. This situation led to a long-held belief in logistics that rail was not reliable enough for retailers, but this is being proved wrong - every day of every week Tesco sees full trains depart and arrive on time.
This is due in no small part to our rail operator. They understand that as a customer we expect them to deliver, and when issues arise they need to react to minimise any impact on our operations.
As we know, today’s customers demand a 24/7 operation. However, as Maggie points out, rail freight customers are frustrated and cannot understand why Saturdays and Sundays seem to be an issue. How can rail freight hope to compete against road if we can’t move for 36 hours?
Of course, there is some Sunday traffic. But much of the time it can’t run due to possessions, and it seems inconceivable that we can’t get a path out of Scotland on a Saturday night or get a timely northbound path on a Sunday.
Increasing weekend capacity can only be good for customers of rail freight and operators alike. Customers can get the product to where it needs to be, and operators can use assets more productively.
After all, a haulier does not buy a tractor unit just to have it sit idle for 20% of the time. Keeping the wheels turning brings cost efficiencies, and this must be at the forefront of rail freight’s thoughts. More and more retailers make use of double-deck trailers, and rail freight has to measure itself against this rather than the conventional trailer.
There is no one size fits all for retail customers in rail freight. Each one demands a bespoke solution, and if the rail freight sector wants to unlock more of the market - such as fresh and frozen food - then this is what it must be willing to offer.
