Centre for Sustainable Road Freight opens doors22 May 2013

The Centre for Sustainable Road Freight (SRF) – the £6m UK initiative to minimise environmental impact and cost of road freight transport – has been officially opened.

The centre brings together road freight vehicle engineering expertise from Cambridge University Engineering Department and logistics expertise from Heriot-Watt University's Logistics Research Centre.

According to David Cebon, professor of mechanical engineering at Cambridge University and director of the SRF, the centre has three objectives.

First, it intends to research the sustainability of road freight transport at micro and macro levels.

Secondly, its participants will develop innovative technical and operational solutions to road freight transport challenges.

And thirdly, the centre wants to develop and prove tactics and strategies that would better meet government emissions reduction targets for the road freight sector.

There are two sources of funding for the first five years: £4.4 million from the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) and £1.4 million from an industry consortium that will help set the research agenda.

The consortium includes key freight operators such as John Lewis, Tesco, Warburtons, Wincanton, Laing O'Rourke, DHL and Denby Transport, as well as the FTA (Freight Transport Association).

It also includes vehicle industry partners Volvo Group, Haldex, SDC Trailers and Optrak, among others.

"The only way to achieve very deep reductions in CO2 emissions from the road freight sector is to combine highly-focused vehicle engineering with systematic improvements to freight distribution systems," insists Professor Cebon.

It's all about optimising vehicles in parallel with logistics tasks, he adds.

"Bringing together some of the world's best researchers in vehicle engineering and logistics, with a diverse group of industry partners to steer the work, means the new centre should be able to make a big difference in the environmental impact of the road freight sector," comments Dave Rowlands, technical director of Wincanton and chairman of the centre.

Author
Brian Tinham

This material is protected by MA Business copyright
See Terms and Conditions.
One-off usage is permitted but bulk copying is not.
For multiple copies contact the sales team.