The role of seaborne transport

Transcription

1 The role of seaborne transport Chris Fisher Principal, Fisher Associates November

2 Structure A tale of 2 coasts Your challenges Demand side Supply side Barriers Examples Jurassic Coast Milford Haven 2

3 A tale of two coasts There was a challenge: To use waterborne passenger services to contribute to sustainable transport Two participants stepped up to the plate 3

4 Italy: The Bay of Naples / Gulf of Salerno 4

5 England: Lyme Bay / Poole Bay 5

6 It was a fair challenge Similar scale Exposed S/SW facing coastlines Millions of people: Major coastal tourist locations Significant centres of population 6

7 And there was a clear winner BUT Why?? 7

8 Well once upon a time, there was a canoe race 8

9 The English team was racing the Italian team. 9

10 The Race It was a long race lasting many years in stages Each team had 8 men Each team trained hard 10

11 but England were losing ground 2010 STAGE 2 11

12 Investigations took place The morale of the English team was very low Top Management held an enquiry, and a study group examined the issues The study group discovered, after numerous analyses 12

13 The Italian team had seven boatmen and a captain Ital y 13

14 The English team had one boatman, but seven captains 14

15 Measures were taken Top management hired consultants to assess the structure of the English team 15

16 It took a long time 16

17 Meanwhile Policy makers commissioned multimodal studies They were all rather dry not a boat to be seen Planners built new roads and junctions The sea rose and the land crumbled and car parks and roads started to disappear 17

18 The consultants reported There were too many captains and not enough boatmen On the basis of the experts report, it was decided to change immediately the structure of the team There would be four policy makers, two Planners, one environment officer, and yes one boatman Steps to motivate the boatman were taken We have to improve his environment and give him more responsibilities, said the policy makers 18

19 Did it work? 19

20 No 2050 STAGE 2 20

21 What did the England team do? They fired the boatman 21

22 And gave a bonus to the others for high motivation 22

23 Your challenge Can seaborne transport play a role in your future? Do have any idea of the potential scale of demand? What do you know about the practicalities? What are the barriers to realising potential? 23

24 Role for sea transport If you re on the coast, it is worth considering Ask the question: How and where and when could waterborne passenger transport replace car journeys? Are your multi-modal strategies really land modal only? 24

25 Demand side Potential markets: Functional journeys Leisure journeys (tourists and local people) Existing data sources can provide information on: Population Functional travel patterns Visitor activity Road traffic use 25

26 Supply side Constraints: waves and tide Access to the water Integration of landing places with other transport Regulatory issues Vessels: don t jump to conclusions!! 26

27 Propensity to travel by sea? Cost Time savings (or penalties) Reliability Predictability Level of integration with other modes Convenience Comfort Culture / attitude towards the marine environment 27

28 Example 1: Jurassic Coast A Working Group said: Lets find a Plan B! They asked us to: Investigate potential for waterborne transport on the Jurassic Coast, which would offer an enhanced, reliable and realistic alternative transport opportunity for both visitors and residents, and enable integration between waterborne and surface transport 28

29 So we looked at The market for services Supply side issues Conclusions Recommendations 29

30 And we found Even if the rate of growth of traffic slows in the future relative to historic trends, it is simply not sustainable to consider that ever increasing traffic can be accommodated on ever improving roads on the Jurassic Coast, particularly considering the potential long term loss of roads and parking due to coastal erosion. Plan B is essential 30

31 Opportunities The evidence indicates that there is a sizeable market Suitable boats can be procured, and landing places developed The private sector is active, and the public sector needs more sustainable transport options But there is a huge gap between potential for waterborne passenger transport, and the collective stakeholder community s ability to realise this Multiple sacred cows 31

32 Problems of perception Marine services would be of little value, because they would be seasonal and weather dependent, and somehow wasteful, and are of little value because they will only serve leisure markets The coast is too exposed and seas too rough to permit reliable operation of services Additional landing facilities cannot be provided ALL WRONG!! 32

33 KEY ISSUE With respect to passenger transport by sea, there is no effective link between key public sector bodies, nor between the public and private sectors, to enable these barriers to be tackled 33

34 Conclusion 1 Hypothesis: water based passenger services might remove at least 1,000 car journeys per day from Jurassic Coast coastal roads in August within 5 to 10 years) equates to about a 2.5% reduction in current overall flows In the medium term (15 to 20 years), if water transport accommodated equivalent to 10% of existing overall flows (i.e. replaced about 4,000 car journeys per day), this would be equivalent to perhaps 10 to 15 years growth in road use 34

35 Conclusion 2 The major barriers to development of greater use of water transport for passengers are perceptional, rather than related to the marine environment or regulatory issues Stakeholder community needs to be organised and coherent enough to recognise and change perceptions Yes potential for water based pax transport is significantly dependent on funding both private AND public The public sector must bear its share of the risk This will not happen if water based passenger transport is not on the policy agenda 35

36 Example 2: Milford Haven Similar work undertaken for Pembrokeshire Greenways to support the cars off roads agenda Demand on a much smaller scale than Jurassic Coast - proportional thinking Pilot service set up over summer 2008 Expanded to 2 vessels in

37 Havenlink 37

38 So It can be done big or small Put it on the agenda!! 38

39 Tel: Thank you 39