Network Rail has saved £2.9 million in a year, through its road haulage planning centre, operated by DHL.
Network Rail decided two years ago that its national delivery service needed an integrated platform to oversee the ten per cent of its heavy haulage that could not travel by rail.
Head of infrastructure fleet operations Andy Wishart enlisted DHL which set up the planning centre in February 2010, from within Network Rail’s Milton Keynes head office.
DHL uses load consolidation and route planning software to drive efficiency. It also supplies a fleet of 22 Network Rail liveried vehicles, each with an off loading crane to handle the loads.
The scheme has achieved 21 per cent consolidation of orders, and avoided 550,000 miles of journeys through consolidating loads.
Dean Partington, business director business director, utilities & infrastructure, DHL Supply Chain said that as they brought more categories within the remit of the planning centre, it increased opportunities to consolidate loads. “And we have more categories coming on board each month,” he said.
A team of seven man the road haulage control tower. Each person specialises in particular categories to plan routes and loads, and to negotiate the best prices.
Wayne Gould, business support manager at Network Rail said: “It’s fair to say that there was little awareness of how much was being paid, and it’s put a lid on those exorbitant costs.”
