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The government is urging hauliers to take advantage of the increasing sums of money being offered to take freight off roads and on to rail or water.

Speaking at last week's Multimodal 2009 show, Hamid Tavassoly, head of freight grants at the DfT (above), said that road transport companies need to "seriously consider" applying for government Freight Facilities Grants (FFG), which offer financial assistance to develop new rail or water freight handling facilities.

A total of £7m of  FFG funding is available for England for 2009/10, increasing to £10m in 2010/11; £16m in 2011/12; £20m in 2012/13; and £25m in 2013/14.

Vessels, mainline locomotives and wagons are not eligible under the scheme but infrastructure such as new sidings, signalling, infrastructure earthworks, cranes, warehousing, loading bays, storage yards access roads, buildings, wharves, jetties and quays are all permitted.

Although there is no limit on how much one company can receive, the value of the grant is limited by the budget available each year and can only be awarded for up to 50% of the capital costs.

Additionally, the value of an award depends on the quality of the application, which is evaluated in terms of potential environmental benefits generated, financial need and value for money for the taxpayer.

Between 2000 and 2007, the value of grants ranged from £26,000 to £15m, with the average being £1.2m.

To date, 97 FFGs have been awarded in the past 12 years.  

For more information, contact the FFG team on 020 7944 6848 or email FFG@dft.gsi.gov.uk.