Global news in brief

The European Commission has revealed plans for the future of transport over the next decade that will prepare for a new world without cheap oil and one that will  seek to remove national protectionist measures that threaten more efficient freight transport.

 

Speaking at the recent Automotive Logistics Europe conference in Bonn, Germany, Pawel Stelmaszczyk, the EC’s head of unit at the Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, said that this year’s white paper on the future of transport policy will have a heavy emphasis on energy efficiency and environmental impact; part of the EC agenda is to cut CO₂ emissions by 60% by 2050.

 

“We are approaching the end of the era of cheap oil,” he told attending carmakers and logistics providers.

Stelmaszczyk said that Europe still didn’t have a good common market for transport and needed a strong push to break through some of the more inimical protectionist measures.

 

“Here you will be pleased to hear that we will be going after those who want to keep in cabotage restrictions. If it were up to us in the EC, cabotage restrictions would probably not exist but there are some member states that insist on protecting their national markets for transport,” he revealed.

 

All this needed to be addressed in the context of improving efficiency and addressing the environmental impact of freight transport according to EC policy.

 

“The data we have says that today at any given point in time between 24-27 trucks on European roads are running empty and the average load factor in European freight transport is roughly 50%,” said Stemaszczyk. “We want to assess the magnitude of the problem, what CO₂, fuel savings and external cost reductions can be achieved to reduce these empty runs.”

 

The white paper on transport will be presented by the European Commission later this month.

Ford has chosen production and reverse logistics provider Rudolph & Hellmann Automotive to operate its new parts distribution centre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

 

Ford is aiming to centralise replacement and service parts in the Middle East and the new 29,500m² logistics centre in the Jebel Ali Free Zone will hold about 50,000 stock units.

 

Distribution is planned to start in the second half of 2011 and Rudolf & Hellmann has said it aims to RHA aims to improve order placement to dealer delivery by up to 90%.

 

Ford has dealers in 11 different countries in the Middle East will be able to access a range of spare parts from auto-body parts to spark plugs. Besides the United Arab Emirates, the joint venture will also supply to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman, among others.

 

Priority Freight has opened an office near Düsseldorf in north-west Germany as part of plans to grow an international network of offices for the support of critical freight services for the automotive and other international markets.

 

“The German economy is warming-up considerably at the current time. Auto production, particularly for export is on the increase, as are other high-end manufacturing sectors,” said Priority Freight’s managing director, Neal Williams.

“This is encouraging both for our established tier one customers as well as for potential new business from high-value, time critical product suppliers to international markets, such as aerospace and oil and gas.”

 

The new office at Willich (20km west of Düsseldorf) will be headed by Nicolas Kühnel, who has logistics experience at Ryder Systems, Maersk Line and the Fraunhofer ATL Institute in Nürnberg.

 

“We are fortunate to have the resource of Nic Kühnel’s experience as an IT specialist in supply chain software to help develop our cloud-based, latest generation system, aimed at supply chain transparency,” added Williams.