News

The Department for Transport (DfT) is trying to boost road haulage with its new benchmarking website.

Aimed at vehicles over 7.5 tonnes in primary distribution sectors, the website enables transport operators to measure and compare vehicle performance with other companies. The system is free and displays anonymous  and instant results.

Statistics such as fuel and vehicle type can be entered, which are then used to calculate fuel consumption and compare numbers of vehicle incidents, for example. The launch follows a series of free courses.

Scott Hardy, principal consultant for Faber Maunsell - which is managing the pilot on behalf of the DfT - says: "They [the workshops] allowed us to demonstrate the capability of the system and its user-friendliness."

Although Hardy says 35 transport firms attended the workshops, several aggregates operators RT.com questioned were unaware of the scheme.

Richard Wright, workshop manager for The Dickerson Group, had "not heard" about the pilot. Operating a 25-truck fleet, ranging up to 42 tonnes, Wright believes his company is already well organised. "We are set out to run as efficiently as possible,  do we really need to compare?" he asks. However, he adds that he is keen to see how straightforward the site is.

The online benchmarking (OLB) pilot programme will run until March 2009. However, Hardy suggests there is a strong possibility for the programme to continue after this date: "The DfT has a vision of rolling out the programme to all transport sectors from March 2009 for a period of three years."

If you are interested in taking part in the programme, visit the Freight Best Practice website and click on 'Benchmarking'.