Coastal Ro-Ro freight ferry services: An alternative to trunk road haulage in the UK?

There has been much discussion concerning ways in which road freight might be transferred to rail. This discussion has tended to ignore sea transport, often because shipping is viewed as being slow, inexpensive and generally appropriate for only low value non time-sensitive goods. The aim of this paper is to establish what sea transport system between Scotland and England, especially in terms of service specification, would need to be provided if a maritime option was to be competitive with road transport. Analysis of a recently introduced coastal freight ferry service in Italy provides some idea of what makes the maritime alternative competitive and attractive to users. Interviews with potential users of such a service in the UK gives some insight into their views and perceptions of coastal shipping. More importantly, their views serve to illustrate what any maritime alternative would need to offer in order to have any chance of success. Given current road freight traffic volumes, three potential freight ferry routes between Scotland and England are identified. However, it is argued that only sophisticated high-speed freight ferries would be able to complete with current road transport services. High-speed freight ferries could offer the same price and transit time as road haulage. However, such a revolutionary transport alternative may still have difficulty in combating what is a very road-oriented industry, although measures to increase the relative costs of long distance road transport would undoubtedly aid any modal shift from road to sea.