The National Infrastructure Commission will examine the UK’s freight sector and how it can meet the country’s needs long into the future, Lord Adonis confirmed today.

The new freight study will look at what Government can do to help businesses get their goods up to the front door or the factory gate faster and more efficiently.

Plans for this were announced as part of the Chancellor’s Budget statement.

The Commission’s study will review options to improve the existing infrastructure and recommend ways to use new technologies and processes to transform how freight moves by road and rail, in towns and cities, cross-country and into and out of ports and airports.

It will look at how new developments such as electric vehicles and biogas fuels can reduce carbon emissions, and how to manage the effects of congestion caused by freight movements.

This complements the ongoing work to deliver the country’s first-ever National Infrastructure Assessment.  An interim report published in October identified the need to tackle the three Cs of congestion, capacity and carbon, and the Commission will consider how these issues affect freight as part of this new study.

Lord Adonis said:

“The UK is at heart a trading nation.  Our prosperity depends on businesses getting their goods to market, to the front door and to the factory gate.

“Businesses need a freight sector that can cope with future demand and adapt to the changes coming over the horizon, such as electric vehicles.  But we also need to tackle the congestion in our towns and cities, and the contribution freight makes to this.

“All of these are changing the way freight works and our infrastructure also has to change as a result.  This new study announced by the Chancellor today will examine how we do that for the long-term.”