Freight Mode Shift Grants
The Scottish Government actively encourages the transfer of freight from roads onto rail and water. To this end, the Scottish Government operates three grant schemes. In 2009/10 the Support for the Freight Industry budget is £15.4 million which funds the Freight Mode Shift Grant Schemes as well as other initiatives such as Freight Best Practice
These values are currently known as Sensitive Lorry Miles (SLMs). Different road types have different values. Awards of grant are limited to the environmental benefits of transferring freight from roads or the financial need - whichever is the lower. The environmental benefits used in the assessment of awards are based on the external costs of road freight, net of the external costs of rail or water. Environmental Benefits Calculator on the Department for Transport's website can be used to assess the value of the environmental benefits used in the assessment of awards.
Please see below for details. A number of changes to the grant schemes were approved by the European Commission in July 2009 - a replacement of the Rail Environmental Benefit Procurement Scheme by the Mode Shift Revenue Support Scheme (MSRS) from 1 April 2010 and changes to the Waterborne Freight Grant (WFG) from July 2009.
Freight Facilities Grants (FFG)
The rail and water FFG schemes are capital grant schemes that aim to encourage the transfer of freight from roads to the more sustainable rail and water options by helping companies invest in the facilities needed to compete in financial terms with road.
Since August 1997, 37 awards of FFG, totalling £68.9 million (including funding of £10.9 million from the Department for Transport) have been made to projects in Scotland. Details can be found in the FFG Table of awards.
Rail Environmental Benefit Procurement Scheme (REPS)
The scheme assists companies with the operating costs associated with running rail freight transport instead of road (where rail is more expensive than road). There are two types of REPS support
REPS (Intermodal) contributes to the ongoing costs of intermodal container movements by rail - there are standardised rates for moving inter-modal containers between different regions.
REPS (Bulk) contributes to the ongoing costs of bulk rail freight traffic movements (and from July 2009 all inland waterway movements as well).
Details of awards made since April 2007 can be found in the REPS Table of Awards
Waterborne Freight Grant (WFG)
The scheme assists companies with the operating costs, for up to three years, of moving freight by water where road is the cheaper option. Applicants need to demonstrate that the proposed service will be able to operate without grant support in 3 years. From July 2009 this scheme is open to coastal and short-sea shipping movements only - inland waterway movements now receive support through the REPS (B) scheme. Details of awards made since November 2005 can be found in the WFG Table of awards.
Guidance Notes and Application Forms
The individual grant guidance and application forms can be accessed below:
CHANGES TO FREIGHT MODE SHIFT GRANT SCHEMES FROM 2 AND 6 JULY 2009
Formal confirmation was given by the European Commission in July 2009 that it has accepted a number of revisions to the Freight Mode Shift Grant schemes operated in Scotland, England and Wales. The changes are as follows:-
Environmental Benefits - Replacement of Sensitive Lorry Miles by Mode Shift Benefits
Sensitive Lorry Miles (SLM) - the current means of quantifying the environmental benefits of transferring freight from road to rail and water - will be replaced by new values which take account of developments since the SLM values were last assessed. These new values will be known as Mode Shift Benefits (MSB) and will apply from 1 April 2010 and will remain in force until 31 March 2015.
MSB User Guide
Replacement of Rail Environmental benefit Procurement Scheme (REPS) by the Mode Shift Revenue Support (MSRS) scheme
REPS (Intermodal) will be replaced by MSRS (Intermodal) from 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2015 and will operate on the same principles as REPS (Intermodal). The upper limits of support reflect the new MSB environmental benefit values.
REPS (Bulk) will be replaced by MSRS (Bulk & Waterways) from 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2015. There is no change in how this will operate for rail freight. However, a significant change is that inland waterway movements will now also be eligible for this support. A Guide for Applicants for MSRS and application forms can be accessed below.
MSRS User Guide
MSRS(I) Application Form
MSRS (B&W) Application Form
Changes to the Waterborne Freight Grant scheme
There are 2 significant changes to the Waterborne Freight Grant (WFG) scheme both of which come into immediate effect.
- The WFG scheme will now apply only to coastal and short-sea shipping. Inland waterways transport is removed from the scope of the scheme, applicants may apply for revenue support in accordance with the guidance for the existing REPS (Bulk) scheme which will be replaced by MSRS (Bulk & Waterways) from 1 April 2010.
- The current requirement that applicants for WFG must cover a full three-year period is being removed. Applications are now subject to a maximum support period of three years, but no minimum duration. The WFG scheme will remain in force until 31 March 2015.
Any queries about these changes should be addressed to:
Jim.Heatherill@scotland.gsi.gov.uk