Water freight champions highlight benefits of transport by water – and call on Government for more investment and certainty 

The proven significant benefits of moving freight on water – to society, the environment and logistics efficiency – were highlighted by speakers at Robert Wynn & Sons’ Inland Waterway Freight Reception hosted at the House of Commons. 

There were impassioned pleas for more investment, more certainty and more joined-up thinking from Government to enable inland waterway operations and infrastructure to progress and to handle the increasing number of oversize and overweight loads that will require transport as part of the UK’s transition to Net Zero. 

The event was organised to celebrate the 21st ‘birthday’ of the unique heavy lift barge Terra Marique; originally built by Robert Wynn & Sons with the support of an £8.5 million Freight Facilities Grant from the Labour Government of the day, Terra Marique has come to symbolise the way that creative thinking, innovative solutions and real expertise can meet challenges head-on when it comes to delivering abnormal loads by water. Its very first assignment took Terra Marique – with a Concorde aircraft loaded on board – past the Houses of Parliament as it headed down the River Thames, a move that attracted national headlines and television news coverage. 

Peter Wynn, Managing Director of Robert Wynn & Sons, reflected on the ‘out of the box’ thinking adopted back in the 1960s and 1970s to meet the needs of the Central Electricity Generating Board’s infrastructure projects, which led to a focus on sea and waterway transport to move heavy and oversize transformers and generators as close as possible to their final destination. 

“One wonders if the experiences of war and the need to innovate were the inspiration of those gifted individuals and I often ask myself, has that breed gone forever?” he asked. “My observation is that it has not – the skills that are needed in delivering the complex energy systems are largely in this room today. Hauliers and shippers, the logistics industry in general, are great innovators and I know from experience that they are at their best when working to overcome a problem.” 

However, he emphasised, the answer to the urgent need for moving Net Zero-related cargoes by water must also come from Government.

“We can and will play our part, but we need a clear script, the right stage and the right audiences. Put those together and we shall succeed.”

Chris Lipscomb, Director of Logistics UK said: “If we are serious about improving productivity, decarbonising transport and ensuring resilience in supply chains, we must make full use of every mode available to us – including our rivers, canals and estuaries. 

“Water freight often remains overlooked in policy, investment and planning, which is why Logistics UK is calling on Government to set a clear growth target for water freight, just as has been set for rail freight. For centuries, water freight has been part of Britain’s success story, and with the right support, it can play a bigger role in our success in the decades to come.” 

Within the 2,000 miles of inland waterways across England and Wales that the Canal & River Trust cares for, around 300 miles of commercial waterways have the breadth and depth to support large freight barges, said Richard Parry, CEO of the Canal & River Trust. 

“We see the potential to re-establish waterborne freight as a significant part of the nation’s logistics solution,” he said. “What is evident today is that we have the vision here – we have the belief, the drive and the entrepreneurialism, and we certainly have the creative thinking in spades to find our way around the obstacles and barriers that might be in the way.” 

Mr Parry called for investment and commitment from the Government, “because so much of the benefit [of waterborne freight] doesn’t accrue to the navigation authority, it accrues to the society around us – the environmental benefits of having fewer trucks, lower emissions and less road congestion – because we are using the inheritance of our amazing commercial waterways to deliver those benefits. It needs that clear top-down prioritisation.” 

It will take a fraction of the investment we see in road and rail infrastructure to go into inland waterways to pay back many times over, he said. “The big opportunity at scale is to start moving millions of tonnes along our main commercial waterways to support our economy.” 

Graeme Proctor, former Harbour Master, Dee Conservancy, recalled being approached by Robert Wynn & Sons, when the company wanted to bring abnormal and heavy loads up the River Dee to Shotton and unload across a redundant jetty, by mooring the Terra Marique stern-to-jetty across the tide. 

“In my mind, this simply wasn’t going to happen. But Wynns set about convincing me that this project would sail. Every hurdle or concern I had, they would go away and come back with a solution. The results were totally rewarding – tugs, pilots, everything working together for a smooth operation. It was a beautiful thing to see and we were all very proud to see a safe and successful result.” 

The transport of Concorde along the River Thames, loaded on the Terra Marique, symbolised how the PLA and operators can work together to make use of the river, said James Trimmer, Director of Planning and Development, Port of London Authority (PLA)

He outlined the major infrastructure projects that had made increasing use of the river for moving freight over the years – building up to the transport via the River Thames of tunnelling spoil, tunnel lining segments, aggregates, rebar, tunnel boring machines and other project cargoes for the Tideway Tunnel project. “In the end, by working with contractors for a long time, over 6 million tonnes of project cargo for that scheme have been moved on the river. 

“It does work; it has worked; you just need to keep at it and don’t take no for an answer. It is possible.” 

London’s ‘safeguarding policy’ has been mostly successful in preventing the loss of wharves to riverside residential developments, said Mr Trimmer, but even now the PLA is battling to protect a wharf at Gravesend which handles about 300,000 tonnes of cargo a year from proposals for a housing and mixed-use development. 

Planners and decision-makers must implement the policy framework he said. “We can have the best policies in the world – and we have some very good ones in London – but if you don’t implement them, it doesn’t mean anything.” 

Tim West, Director of Robert Wynn & Sons, described the intensive process and challenges more than 20 years ago of building the case for freight grant support for Terra Marique – from the company’s first exchanges in 1998 with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, then led by John Prescott and Glenda Jackson, through to securing a grant of £8.5 million to design and build a unique heavy lift vessel. 

“Government support to ensure the minimum amount of road miles travelled by the largest and heaviest abnormal indivisible loads was nothing new – there was precedent for that in the CEGB’s heavy load vessels that had been operating for more than 30 years, since being Board of Trade grant aided in the 60s,” he said. “But we knew we could do better than that – we could reduce even further the significant environmental and economic impact generated by the road movement of the largest and heaviest abnormal indivisible loads. 

“How? By designing a vessel that could replicate what went before but also by opening new offloading opportunities at non-traditional ports, beach landings and our larger waterways and estuaries. That was the vision, and that vison finally triumphed.” 

The House of Commons reception was hosted by Leigh Ingham, MP for Stafford, Eccleshall and the villages, who said: “Robert Wynn & Sons was the first business I visited in my constituency. I found a company that was passionate about the issues they face and passionate about the work they do and about supporting and generating local talent. Robert Wynn and Sons is a really fantastic business with a great history.”

The success of the Terra Marique was “built on the heritage of the previous Labour Government”, said Ms Ingham, and the present Government must build on the foundations provided more than 20 years ago. “Supporting the [waterborne freight] industry to make sure we can deliver our goals for Net Zero and ensuring that we are working better across different departments is a brilliant mission and one I am proud to support.” 

Note to Editors 

For more information, please contact: 

Tim West, Director, Robert Wynn & Sons 

Email: tim.west@robertwynnandsons.co.uk 

Telephone: 01785 850334