This week's Bulleting blog for those who don't see it. Do feel free to have a rant in return...
How do we keep up the great strides many of us have been making in sustainable transport when all our budgets are crashing round our ears?
Investing in new kit - greener though it may be - is suddenly less important than keeping that bottom line in black ink rather than red. Or at least that's what it seems talking to a number of managers from across our professions recently.
In the boom times of high fuel costs and carbon footprint obsession just a few months ago fuel cost £6 zillion a fluid ounce. As a result more of us were encouraged to take the greener train or coach in greater numbers than we had been for some time.
Now supermarkets are back to giving us all a free petrol tanker-load with every packet of crisps are we sneaking back into the car more, regardless of environmental impact?
And in terms of our business, are we less concerned with what we put into the atmosphere than in just keeping contracts and keeping wheels moving?
Passenger transport is not immune to a recession. BR always used to report a big profit slump in every recession. Now a London peak time return ticket costs about the same as Australia's annual GDP on some lines, are we sure we're going to keep doing the green thing?
And in terms of logistics, has carbon footprint been booted back down the agenda in favour of measures to scrape by? Truck sales look pretty terrible at the moment, which means fewer nice green Euro 5 or 6 or 95 or whatever we're at engines in operation than we might have hoped. And that means fewer second hand trucks on the market. That ultimately means a few more Leylands owned by people offering to tarmac your drive really cheap are still escaping the torch and creating a Jack The Ripper pea souper at the far end of the truck food chain.
I know, I followed one this morning and I can still taste the smoke.
So who's going to keep banging the green drum and reminding us all that many green measures will save us dosh in the long term, as well as doing a spot of good to the planet? The Government seem a little quiet on following up its Towards a Sustainable Transport System report at present - and if you've read this month's Focus you'll see we didn't think much of their initial thoughts in the first place. So we can't really look there for all the answers.
I believe it will be here at your Institute that you'll hear the biggest support for continued reduction in emissions. In all our fields we have a public image we need to maintain, and we have to show we are leading industry in our green plans. We can't afford to lose public support.
And being green can save you plenty of dough too. For example, by investing in cleaner engines we achiever greater mpg, and by investing in streamlined trailers we do the same. By collaborating with other companies or even sharing DCs we cut down on empty running and reduce mileage. It really is still a win-win if we keep our sustainable initiatives in mind while we are planning how to keep our heads above water.
Let's ensure in our regional meetings and in our workplaces that CILT is recognised as the green champion of our industry - and that reducing carbon footprint doesn't also necessarily mean reducing hard earned profits.
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