Southampton: Port incentives switch freight from road to rail

By Paul Clifton, BBC South transport correspondent

The ambition is to enable rail to compete better against lorries heading up the congested A34 and M3 to the giant distribution hubs in the Midlands.

Previously those journeys were thought to be too short to be viable by train.

In recent years the proportion of docks traffic going by rail has fallen, with lorries proving a cheaper option for moving global imports inland.

DP World aims to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 – a difficult challenge when almost everything entering or leaving its terminals by land or sea is powered by oil.