Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to encourage the take-up of transporting freight by water, rather than by road.

Moving additional freight by water or rail can provide a number of benefits over transporting that freight by road, in particular environmental gains, but can also a decrease in congestion. The Department will continue to consider waterborne freight in future transport policy, including the Future of UK Freight strategy and when looking at transport decarbonisation options.

In terms of current measures, the Department offers Mode Shift Revenue Support (MSRS) to assist companies with the operating costs associated with running inland water (or rail) freight transport instead of road, where this is more expensive than road. A similar scheme, Waterborne Freight Grant, is available to help with the additional operating costs of a new coastal or short sea shipping service.