Lord Deighton, Non-Executive Director of Heathrow airport, has recently launched a new plan to minimise the impact of emissions caused by freight vehicles around the airport. The plan highlighted ten major steps to be taken to handle Heathrow’s cargo operations more efficiently, responsibly and sustainably in the future. 

The plan talks about a Heathrow Cargo Cloud app for local forwarders, upgrading cargo infrastructure at the airport to facilitate additional airside transhipments, the provision of consolidation points away from the airport’s local roads, and the development of a new cargo village to help reduce unnecessary vehicle movements.  

Robert Keen, Director General of the British International Freight Associations (BIFA), said that congestion at the cargo terminal means local police are now turning away vehicles.  “We understand the airport will collaborate with local authorities to address congestion points with the introduction of a code of conduct for operators and a joint strategic freight plan for local roads,” said Robert.  “Our members, who currently are enduring misery on a daily basis when using the airport’s cargo centre, want action not words.”