Infrastructure scored top priority for action, a national flavour with speakers from Coventry and Manchester. Guests from major players to small SMEs and two fully electric fleet operators.
Air quality, payload to weight, range, distance and legislation around charging were the big topics driven from the floor.
Chair Carl Lomas,
The van group clearly has two streams, operators who return vehicles for fuel or charge to their base and operators whose drivers take vehicles home, they are unlikely to have off-street parking, garage or charging facilities, The two groups are very different and each face infrastructure challenges that are quite different.
Dept for Education gave the green light for a degree apprenticeship for Express managers as part of the Trailblazer apprenticeships Sept 16th 2016.
IOC chair, Carl Lomas comments,
This will deliver a funded route, for levy and non-levy paying employers, lasting around five years, targeting next-generation entrants and existing team members aspiring to management in the express sector. The five year course will begin with management cpc or FORS practitioner and roll into a part-time degree study with a range of Universities including Derby, MMU, and West London.
Expected to start Sept 2017, a candidate will begin a job role in our sector, have no university fees to pay and be able to attain their degree within five years. There will be strong content on customer, final mile success, returns and sortation hubs. LoCity, air quality and delivery practices will be embedded into the learning.
Helen Smith launched TfGM freight group,
IMHX at the NEC, rail, tram and feet to make a multi-modal shift from Birmingham to Manchester. Consultants talking shop, a cracking lunch and then real business with a focused sector-specific set of round tables to make change inside the Northern Powerhouse. Parking, planning, customer education and clean air topped the bill.
Leon Daniels, Managing Director of Surface Transport for TfL comments,
Ian was a key player in the development of the original London Freight Plan and led the freight team during the 2012 Olympics, ensuring the success of both the freight industry and London during the Games. The fact that all of this year's Mayoral candidates included freight policies in their manifestos is a testament to Ian and the work of his team to ensure that the lessons from the Games were captured and developed upon. Ian will remain in post until after the Freight Forum on 21 October where we will provide an update as to how our Freight Programme will be managed in the future.
In the interim, the main contacts for the Freight team remain as:
-Tim Ward, Engagement Manager for Freight Communications
-Stephen Steele, Programme Manager for Efficient Deliveries
-Hannah White, Programme Manager for Safety & Environment
-Paul Strang, Senior Strategy & Planning Manager for Freight Strategy
IMHX 2016, Five halls of the NEC; 2016 was the largest-ever edition of IMHX with stands, products and demonstrations from over 400 exhibitors on the blue carpets.
Summer ending as City beat United for Manchester derby while first signposts direct us towards peak with a roller-coaster run of diary dates ahead from IMHX show at the NEC, Helen Smith launching TfGM freight group, LoCity in London to the most important double date alignment - the next IOC Heads of Industry and twenty year birthday party of the National Courier Awards on Oct 18. It’s a date not be missed. Below Warehouse News says it all .
Warehouse News ‘Standing room only for IOC Heads of Industry, TfL, LoCity hydrogen motors, Heathrow freight, BIS, FORS & the trailblazer, System Training talk delivery and Army RLC show the way to free heavy licence acquisition.’
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