November 2024: DP World’s innovative Modal Shift Programme in Southampton has removed 64,300 truck journeys from UK roads and cut carbon emissions by more than 17,000 tonnes in its first year, significantly advancing more sustainable logistics in the country.
The Modal Shift Programme was launched in September 2023 to improve the commercial viability of rail transport for import laden containers. Under the programme, customers are paid an incentive for each container moved by rail from DP World Southampton to a railhead within 140 miles.
The programme, which is financed by a small charge on all inbound containers coming through the container port, has so far boosted the share of rail freight at DP World Southampton from 21% to more than 30%, with ambitions to progress this further towards 40% in 2026.
In the first 12 months of the initiative, four new rail freight services were launched to provide more options for DP World customers, including routes from Southampton to Birmingham, Cardiff, East Midlands Gateway and Doncaster.
In October 2024, DP World launched a second rail service between its Southampton and London Gateway logistics hubs, doubling the rail freight capacity between two of the UK’s largest container ports and giving customers even more opportunity to take advantage of connections off the UK’s busy road network, with the potential to remove up to one million road miles annually.