Rail Freight Flows and News UK

[littledude]

Due to taking work off of a competitor, GB's 4L66/4M66 Daventry/Felixstowe service returns next week. It will run to Daventry Monday, Wednesday and Friday and will run to Iport Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

4L43/4E43 will run to Daventry Tuesday and Thursday and to Iport Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Why the need to have two trains alternate like that is anyone's guess.

Hasn’t Felixstowe to Daventry tried (and failed) numerous times now, with numerous operators? Hopefully wherever the customer is has committed to a healthy base load volume to sustain the service!

 

[Malaxa]

Hasn’t Felixstowe to Daventry tried (and failed) numerous times now, with numerous operators? Hopefully wherever the customer is has committed to a healthy base load volume to sustain the service!

Is this another resultant of Network Rail's Access Charge Discount Scheme perhaps?

 

[JKF]

I’ve read elsewhere that GBRF are taking over running the steel slab trains from Portbury soon. There is a route learning working running today making several trips down the branch, although unusually this is booked to run into the coal terminal rather than automotive terminal where loading usually takes place.

Perhaps this suggests that this will become regular traffic? The imported slab is for Port Talbot to keep the rolling mills going after the blast furnace shut down earlier this year. So far there have been two batches of these trains running, in June and July, and the current tranche that had been operating every weekday since 30th Sept. In the last couple of weeks there have been two trains daily on several dates (usually passing in the loop at the start of the branch) . All are run as STP workings. The traffic is dependent on ships coming into port with material so may continue to run in batches with no traffic some weeks.

Slab is also imported (and exported) via Newport which has been the regular port for this traffic. Is there any issue at Newport that has led to Portbury being used (perhaps temporarily as I’ve heard suggested), or is it just a case of Portbury being able to take larger vessels or offering some other commercial or logistical advantage?

I’m quite enjoying seeing the branch get some use and finding new locations in the Avon Gorge to photograph this traffic. With the RHTT making weekly runs on some days you can get four moves during lunch!

 

[Western 52]

I wonder why they don't import the slab through Port Talbot docks using the terminal once used for iron ore? Not suitable maybe?

 

[JKF]

I wonder why they don't import the slab through Port Talbot docks using the terminal once used for iron ore? Not suitable maybe?

It looks like there was a jetty for the iron ore rather than a dock, with no cranes for unloading slabs and connected to the plant with a conveyor system. Not really set up for anything other than bulk ore.

Comparing docks in the area, Portbury has an approx 40m width dock entrance, Newport 30m, Port Talbot something around 15m, Alexander Dock Cardiff 25m, Barry 25m. So that might determine what port is used.

Looking at recent ships in Portbury, there was a bulk carrier that left this week which had a width of 32m, so wouldn’t have been able to use any other ports in the Bristol Channel. No idea if this was used for steel traffic (had come from Spain) but an example of the sort of thing that would make Portbury a chosen destination.

 

[Rail Ranger]

I'm afraid it's bad news about the Tunstead to Lostock (Northwich) hoppers. The Lostock soda ash plant is to close at the end of January 2025. This limestone traffic has been on rail since 1874. At one time there were eight trains each way per day to and from three soda ash plants in the Northwich area. More details are in this Northwich Guardian article: https://search.app?link=https://www..._campaign=aga&utm_source=agsadl1,sh/x/gs/m2/4
They are going to import soda ash from the USA, where it occurs naturally.

 

[Adrian Barr]

Slab is also imported (and exported) via Newport which has been the regular port for this traffic. Is there any issue at Newport that has led to Portbury being used (perhaps temporarily as I’ve heard suggested), or is it just a case of Portbury being able to take larger vessels or offering some other commercial or logistical advantage?

I think splitting the slab imports between Newport, Portbury and Cardiff is mainly to give sufficient capacity. Ships can be offloaded, and trains loaded, across two or three ports on the same day, instead of creating a bottleneck at Newport Docks where only one train can be dealt with at a time. Also vessel size may be a factor.

Some interesting photos:
66084 with a slab train at Newport Docks (looks to be right at the end of the dock where coal was previously loaded, beyond the warehouses used for trains of coil): https://www.flickr.com/photos/50032/54042290911/
Drone shot of the same loco on a slab train at Cardiff Docks in September: https://www.flickr.com/photos/andy_hoare/53991326917/
66651 in the terminal at Portbury with a slab train in July: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74165767@N05/53885536660/

 

[JKF]

Thanks for the information @Adrian Barr .

The slab in the photo at Cardiff looks narrower than that which I’ve seen on the Portbury runs, but that might just be perspective.

The last photograph has some interesting information, stating that the June/July trains were a trial. Traffic now seems routine with one or two trains every weekday. They are also quite often using regular 66s again, not just heavy haul. Yesterday had 66074 on the working, but interestingly this had a slightly shorter train of 17 BTAs rather than the usual 20-22 BYAs, first time I’ve noticed this.

Do you know anything of the claim that GBRF are to take over these trains? The route learner out last weekend was interesting, but only made a single return trip despite five being booked on the system. I think GBRF only has standard 66s on their books, I’d quite like it if they started using class 60s!

 

[Gaz67]

I'm afraid it's bad news about the Tunstead to Lostock (Northwich) hoppers. The Lostock soda ash plant is to close at the end of January 2025. This limestone traffic has been on rail since 1874. At one time there were eight trains each way per day to and from three soda ash plants in the Northwich area. More details are in this Northwich Guardian article: https://search.app?link=https://www.northwichguardian.co.uk/news/24719262.tata-chemicals-europe-shut-lostock-soda-ash-plant/&utm_campaign=aga&utm_source=agsadl1,sh/x/gs/m2/4
They are going to import soda ash from the USA, where it occurs naturally.

Very sad, a flow I know very well, maybe an opportunity for the soda ash to be moved by rail from the Docks (Liverpool I presume) to Northwich. A rake of 16 ton mineral wagons painted blue with sheets , and a brake van at each end should do it.

 

[furnessvale]

Very sad, a flow I know very well, maybe an opportunity for the soda ash to be moved by rail from the Docks (Liverpool I presume) to Northwich. A rake of 16 ton mineral wagons painted blue with sheets , and a brake van at each end should do it.

Not beyond the bounds of possibilities. A bulk terminal already exists at the docks and it is a straight run from Edge Hill to Lostock Gralam. Who knows!

 

[Rail Ranger]

The new plant is being built at Winnington but the branch from Greenbank still exists.

 

[furnessvale]

The new plant is being built at Winnington but the branch from Greenbank still exists.

Isn't there also a waste disposal burner also being built there? I heard a rumour in the past that a customer for that plant was to be Strathclyde authority. That should surely be a shoo in for rail at that distance!

 

[AndrewE]

Isn't there also a waste disposal burner also being built there? I heard a rumour in the past that a customer for that plant was to be Strathclyde authority. That should surely be a shoo in for rail at that distance!

The Northwich Guardian article linked in #1509 says

It will treble the firm’s high-grade capacity and produce ‘Ecokarb’ – a high purity, medical grade product made with CO2 captured from its energy plant for use in the pharmaceutical industry.
and
It follows the opening of the UK’s first industrial scale Carbon Capture and Utilisation plant in 2022 and the upcoming opening of a £30 million Pharmaceutical Salt plant in Middlewich, another UK-first, later this year.

I wouldn't fancy relying on the purity of the CO2 if they are going to be burning waste...

 

[Rail Ranger]

Isn't there also a waste disposal burner also being built there? I heard a rumour in the past that a customer for that plant was to be Strathclyde authority. That should surely be a shoo in for rail at that distance!

They are building an enormous energy from waste power station next to the Lostock TATA plant. It will have a rail link but the company running the EfW plant is under no obligation to use it! A public sector customer would be more likely to use rail for the waste.

 

[Adrian Barr]

Do you know anything of the claim that GBRF are to take over these trains?

No... but it would fit in with a recent snippet of wagon news (from 12th November) that I just read on the LTSV website (a very useful resource for wagon information): https://www.ltsv.com/rd/news.php

The latest issue of Rail Express magazine illustrates the first of 25 KEA-Z box wagons to be cut-down by W H Davis. Although it now looks like a low-sided box wagon (similar to various types used for ballast and spoil), the conversions are reported to be for steel slab traffic for Tata.

Could we see cut-down KEAs hauled by GBRF on the Portbury slab trains... quite possibly!

The last photograph has some interesting information, stating that the June/July trains were a trial.

It could be that the Portbury trains were running on a trial / ad hoc basis (I think they call it a "campaign" when there is a short term flow to move a certain tonnage, such as the contents of a ship arriving at the port). It's possible that GBRF then won the contract for regular Portbury slab trains, we'll see...

Yesterday had 66074 on the working, but interestingly this had a slightly shorter train of 17 BTAs rather than the usual 20-22 BYAs, first time I’ve noticed this.

I think there are now 80 of the BYA slab conversions in traffic, plus that set of BTA wagons. The BTAs have a lower carrying capacity so can usually only be loaded with 2 slabs instead of 3 on the BYAs. The KEAs should end up with a similar capacity to the BYAs so may end up displacing the BTAs from Tata slab traffic. I don't think any of those KEA conversions have moved from Shirebrook yet though.

 

[childwallblues]

Not beyond the bounds of possibilities. A bulk terminal already exists at the docks and it is a straight run from Edge Hill to Lostock Gralam. Who knows!

There is the Biomass Terminal at Liverpool Docks. I don't think the old coal loading facility still exists.

 

[furnessvale]

There is the Biomass Terminal at Liverpool Docks. I don't think the old coal loading facility still exists.

Serious question. Can the biomass terminal ONLY handle biomass? If not, whatever method is employed to unload soda ash to road vehicles could surely be adapted to rail.

 

[Class15]

Due to taking work off of a competitor, GB's 4L66/4M66 Daventry/Felixstowe service returns next week. It will run to Daventry Monday, Wednesday and Friday and will run to Iport Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

4L43/4E43 will run to Daventry Tuesday and Thursday and to Iport Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Why the need to have two trains alternate like that is anyone's guess.

The Daventry service has run every day so far - are you sure they alternate?

 

[Geeves]

They are building an enormous energy from waste power station next to the Lostock TATA plant. It will have a rail link but the company running the EfW plant is under no obligation to use it! A public sector customer would be more likely to use rail for the waste.

I seem to remember that the bottom ash from the waste plant was going to be used somehow, its a bit short for transportation by train but who knows

 

[Rail Ranger]

The hope is that rail will be used at some stage in the future to bring the domestic and other waste to the Northwich site by rail. The planning permission for the Runcorn energy from waste plant required the use of rail. Unfortunately the planning permission for the Northwich plant does not but the operators of the plant have said that they will bid for a public sector contract (e.g. Merseyside or Greater Manchester) if one comes up for renewal.

 

[66701GBRF]

The Daventry service has run every day so far - are you sure they alternate?

There’s two services that alternate so the destinations are still served every day. Original post wasn’t very clear.

Services run everyday but wagon sets swap everyday.

 

[Class15]

There’s two services that alternate so the destinations are still served every day. Original post wasn’t very clear.

Services run everyday but wagon sets swap everyday.

Ah thanks, that makes sense.

 

[furnessvale]

There’s two services that alternate so the destinations are still served every day. Original post wasn’t very clear.

Services run everyday but wagon sets swap everyday.

I wonder why? Other than a need to maintain the wagons every second day at one preferred depot its seems a strange thing to do.

Possible reason? Different wagons in each set allowing an alternate day service of certain wagon types to each depot?

 

[Wavertreelad]

It looks like there was a jetty for the iron ore rather than a dock, with no cranes for unloading slabs and connected to the plant with a conveyor system. Not really set up for anything other than bulk ore.

Comparing docks in the area, Portbury has an approx 40m width dock entrance, Newport 30m, Port Talbot something around 15m, Alexander Dock Cardiff 25m, Barry 25m. So that might determine what port is used.

Looking at recent ships in Portbury, there was a bulk carrier that left this week which had a width of 32m, so wouldn’t have been able to use any other ports in the Bristol Channel. No idea if this was used for steel traffic (had come from Spain) but an example of the sort of thing that would make Portbury a chosen destination.

I suspect this in linked to the shut down of the blast furnaces at Port Talbot, which means steel will no longer be produced on the site until the new furnace(s) are constructed and production commences in a few of years time. Importing the slabs which are the basic raw melts that would have been produced in the blast furnaces is the only alternative to maintain any sort of remaining steel industry in the UK. According to the Port of Bristol website there is a bulker vessel XIN HAI TONG 27 just arrived today which is showing the agent as TATA which suggests she is carrying steel. The vessel tracking shows the Chinese vessel has arrived from Vietnam.

In another port related freight movement, it was announced that the Maersk Line will quit the Port of Felixstowe for it's Asia Europe Service next February when it joins a global alliance with Hapag LLoyd from London Gateway Port known as the Gemini Cooperation. This will mean the Port of Felixstowe will loose three sailings a week each expected to be operated by 24000 teu vessels. Exactly how many containers will be lost is not in the public domain, but a reasonable guess I suspect would be at least 5000 teu (2500 40ft units) import containers and in probability a similar number of exports most of which will be empty and probably more per vessel. Hapag Lloyd currently uses the Southampton and London Gateway Port for it's main Asia Europe and Transatlantic Services and only uses Felixstowe for a small number of trades were it takes slots from other operators. Maersk on the other hand has been a major user of Felixstowe since they introduced direct calls in the UK on their Asia Europe services in the 1970's so the loss will invariably impact the volume of rail service in and out of Felixstowe, and similarly London Gateway Port.

Serious question. Can the biomass terminal ONLY handle biomass? If not, whatever method is employed to unload soda ash to road vehicles could surely be adapted to rail.

I think this will answer your question. https://www.peelports.com/news-arti...l-are-central-to-uk-and-ireland-manufacturing

 

[Magdalia]

In another port related freight movement, it was announced that the Maersk Line will quit the Port of Felixstowe for it's Asia Europe Service next February when it joins a global alliance with Hapag LLoyd from London Gateway Port known as the Gemini Cooperation.

There is a report about this on BBC News see here:

Shipping giant Maersk to cease Port of Felixstowe operation

Maersk says it will stop using Felixstowe when its larger ships dock in the UK.

www.bbc.co.uk

A major container shipping company has announced it will no longer use the Port of Felixstowe from next year.

Maersk said its use of the Suffolk port would cease from February following the "Gemini Co-operation" review of its network.

The firm said it had concluded that the London Gateway on the Thames estuary in Essex was "the most optimal port to serve our customers" in the UK.

It said it expected to share further details "over the next couple of weeks".

 

[BRX]

Can't remember which shipping line it was, but when one of the big ones moved from Thamesport to London Gateway a few years back, it basically killed all intermodal rail traffic to & from the Thamesport.

 

[Adrian Barr]

I wonder why? Other than a need to maintain the wagons every second day at one preferred depot its seems a strange thing to do.

Possible reason? Different wagons in each set allowing an alternate day service of certain wagon types to each depot?

It's probably to do with the sequence of arrivals and departures at Felixstowe and the terminals used (I just noticed they go to different ones at Felixstowe).
4L43 arrives 1112 (North terminal)
4L66 arrives 1232 (South terminal)
4M66 departs 1538 (North terminal)
4E43 departs 1618 (South terminal)

I'm not quite sure why it's set up like this in terms of the terminals used (availability of loading slots / paths?) but even if these trains were all using the same terminal, using 4L66 set to make 4E43 instead of 4M66 would give it more turnaround time, which is always handy.

I think its fairly common for sets to swap routes (especially at weekends) in cases where the wagon types and set lengths are interchangeable; I've noticed that with both Freightliner and GB services.

 

[Wavertreelad]

Can't remember which shipping line it was, but when one of the big ones moved from Thamesport to London Gateway a few years back, it basically killed all intermodal rail traffic to & from the Thamesport.

That was Hapag Lloyd and Evergreen between them. Evergreen had originally used Felixstowe but switched to Thamesport when it opened because it was cheaper,, They were followed by Hapag who had originally used Southampton but switched three Transatlantic services to Thamesport for similar reasons and because of congestion at Southampton. Hyundai Maritime was another early customer from Southampton. Unfortunately, Thamesport was a pain for the road haulage industry because of it's remoteness and single road in and out of the port so rail was quite popular but was suffered limited capacity. However, eventually it was the size of the ships that spelt the deathbell for the terminal. If I remember correctly Hyundai Maritime (now HMM) was the first to quit and return to Southampton, followed by Evergreen who introduced a fleet of 15000/16000 teu vessels only to find they could not berth fully laden which resulted them returning to Felixstowe. This left Hapag the sole user at Thamesport with it's three Transatlantic service which were all scheduled to arrive on a Thursday or Friday, leaving the rest of week barren of sailings into the port. Without the Evergreen volumes, Freightliner could not sustain viable rail services from the port which then resulted in high costs for customers using the Hapag service because containers had to be delivered by road and/or trucked to Tilbury for railing north. If I remember correctly Hapag then quit Thamesport and moved back to Southampton before switching to London Gateway Port to become the second customer of the port. The first user was the South Africa Europe Container Service (SAECS) who moved from nearby Tilbury because Maersk who now effectively controlled the service wanted to introduce larger ships on the trade which Tilbury would struggle to handle. Following Hapag's departure from Thamesport the port tried to operate the terminal for feeder traffic but's it's access remained a key problem, especially as the deep sea lines serving Tilbury joined the exodus to London Gateway and Forth Ports developing Tilbury for feeder services. Thamesport is still operational handling a single service from Europe plus the odd diversion.

 

[Class15]

Felixstowe Freightliner services already appear to be getting fewer, even though the planned Maersk withdrawal date was February:

4M63 Felixstowe - Trafford, replaced by a 4M58 London Gateway - Trafford.
4L60/L61 Trafford - Felixstowe, replaced by a 4L26 Trafford - London Gateway.
4M53 Felixstowe - Trafford, stopped running.
4L91 Trafford - Felixstowe, stopped running.

Down to one Freightliner Felixstowe - Trafford Park service a day (GBRf have one too however)

 

[Wavertreelad]

Felixstowe Freightliner services already appear to be getting fewer, even though the planned Maersk withdrawal date was February:

4M63 Felixstowe - Trafford, replaced by a 4M58 London Gateway - Trafford.
4L60/L61 Trafford - Felixstowe, replaced by a 4L26 Trafford - London Gateway.
4M53 Felixstowe - Trafford, stopped running.
4L91 Trafford - Felixstowe, stopped running.

Down to one Freightliner Felixstowe - Trafford Park service a day (GBRf have one too however)

Looking at the Maersk schedules for Felixstowe they appear to be only berthing one 15000 teu ish vessel per week into the port through December and January along with their Indian Subcontinent and Middle East, Mediterranean and Finland Feeder services. There appears to be no increases in frequency of port calls in London Gateway which may suggest they are already feedering more UK containers to and from the Continent using existing services as a dry run to the switch in February, but the complete drop off of trains to Trafford Park may suggest MSC's direct service to Liverpool could be behind the cut. Is this drop off reflected to other terminals?