The Jaguar Halewood project needed a reliable, efficient and cost effective logistics solution to ship the new Jaguar ‘X’ Type safely and securely from the Ford Premier Automotive Group Halewood manufacturing plant to points of exit from the UK. The project cost in the region of £3.6m with grant funding of over £1.8m from the Strategic Rail Authority.

The Halewood site was completely remodelled and its shipping capabilities revolutionised from entirely road transport to 70 per cent rail, while retaining road capabilities.

Rail was the optimum choice to meet the project brief. As a sustainable transport option it was eligible for a £1.8m Freight Facilities Grant from the government, which met nearly half of the total project expenditure of £3.6m (and without which the project would not have been possible). The finished project delivered more than £1.8m in environmental savings as well as the ‘big picture’ environmental benefits of removing more than 45,000 lorry journeys from UK roads (which equates to the removal of 8.7 million miles).

Rail also offered a safe and secure method of transporting the vehicles from the Halewood plant to multiple points of exit from the country. The facility was designed to accommodate the WIA fully enclosed wagon, which provides maximum security and protection from damage for the vehicles in transit.

Construction of the Jaguar Halewood Railhead started in early November 2000 and was completed on target and to Jaguar’s key objectives.

The project needed to deliver:
¨ Shipping facilities to accommodate road and rail transport
¨ The capability to host the WIA fully-enclosed rail wagon for safe and secure handling and transit of the vehicles
¨ A flexible and efficient facility achieving a throughput of around 180,000 vehicles per annum
¨ Local Export Control status for the facility to expedite delivery of the vehicles to customers

The Kilbride team was awarded Winner of the Institute of Logistics and Transport Annual Award for Freight Transport in 2001.