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Delivering into an RDC can be a big problem. After all it's difficult to plan a day's deliveries when you have no idea how long your truck and driver will be held in a queue. And the longer a truck is held up at an RDC the more it costs the operator. So it is interesting to see The Pallet Network (TPN) and its 83 members coming up with a way to prevent this from happening - they will only  deliver into RDCs between 9am and 2pm.

According to TPN MD Adam Leonard the network's members are fed up with queuing at RDCs and losing a vehicle for hours, if not a whole day while waiting to make a delivery. While the restricted delivery schedule is only a pilot, Leonard says it is a fairly radical step that has resulted in one or two "tough" conversations with some members' retail customers. Jack Semple, director of policy at the Road Haulage Association, agrees that something has to change in terms of waiting times for drivers at RDCs: "Generally the attitude of a number of companies that buy or are users of transport services shows that they need to take on board the realities of the road haulage industry to a far greater degree than they do at present."

He adds that the demands they make of hauliers are unreasonable and ungreen: "The scheduling is inefficient and the delivery windows are unreasonable  and not in the least realistic. There's no flexibility from the RDCs and this is all making haulage operations less efficient than they should be." Semple adds that the RHA has raised this issue with the Department for Transport: "We believe this issue is reducing the efficiency of the fleet and making the haulage industry less green than it should be. The issue reflects the power the retailers hold rather than an environmental and generally responsible approach."

Paul Sanders, chairman of the Association of Pallet Networks, welcomes any move to open constructive dialogue with the major retailers: "The [pallet] sector as whole would really like the retailers to introduce express lanes for those with one to eight pallets so they are not having to queue behind fully laden double-deckers that will take a long time to unload." Sanders adds that the association wants to talk to the larger retailers to help them address the congestion issues at RDCs.

This might not be easy because the British Retail Consortium says it is not aware of any problems with deliveries at RDCs. And despite Semple's remark about talking to the DfT about this issue, a DfT spokesman claims it is not something the department is aware of. It remains to be seen whether the targeted delivery schedule is the way to bring about changes at the RDCs, but it is clear that something must be done and this could be the first step that starts the ball rolling in the right direction.