Felixstowe Port says its two rail terminals are handling record numbers of containers in the run-up to Christmas. During September the UK's largest container port shifted 8,796 containers onto rail, beating June's record of 8,754. It is expected that there will be no let up in the volume of freight coming through the port over the coming months and further record-breaking volumes are possible.
Hutchinson Ports, which owns the Suffolk port, says it is dedicated to putting as much freight onto rail as possible to ease congestion on the road network. CEO Chris Lewis says: "These records have been achieved through better utilisation of trains, and the use of additional wagons on existing services. The current very high volumes of rail traffic highlight the need to improve freight capacity on the railway network."
There are a total of 50 arrivals and departures per day from the port's North and South Rail terminals.
Southampton Container Terminal, the UK's second largest container port, has recently upgraded its rail terminal, enabling rail operator EWS to run up to 10 container trains a day and trebling the containers
handled each year. The upgrade is expected to save 1.4bn tonne-km over the next decade, according to the South East England Development Agency.
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