On September 18, the Hokkaido "New Modal Shift" Promotion Council, comprised of Japan Freight Railway Company (JR Freight) Hokkaido Branch, Kokubu Hokkaido, and Hokkaido Prefecture, announced that it will conduct a "New Modal Shift Demonstration" project utilizing freight rail transport for essential goods and other items transported from the Sapporo area to the Okhotsk and Nemuro-Kushiro regions.
The demonstration will utilize the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's "Project to Promote Improvement of Logistics Productivity through Collaboration between Local Businesses." It will target the Sapporo area to the Okhotsk area and the Sapporo area to the Nemuro-Kushiro area, transporting processed foods, beverages, daily necessities, and general merchandise in pallet units.
In Hokkaido, concerns are rising about future transportation capacity shortages, particularly for long-distance transport from Sapporo to Kitami and Kushiro, due to challenges such as an aging workforce and labor shortages. While "relay transport" has been promoted for long-distance truck transport within the prefecture, the use of freight rail transport has not progressed significantly.
This demonstration aims to address the decline in truck transport capacity and ensure alternatives during disasters by implementing modal shift in society, thereby building a sustainable logistics network.
Demonstration image
In this demonstration, long-distance trunk line transportation from Sapporo to Kitami and Kushiro will be switched to rail. In the Sapporo area, cargo will be collected using a "milk run" system, which involves visiting multiple shippers and logistics hubs, or brought to Sapporo Freight Terminal Station for consolidation. From Sapporo Freight Terminal Station to Kitami Station and Kushiro Freight Station, 5-ton containers (12-foot containers) will be used, and cargo from multiple shippers will be consolidated on pallets.
From Kitami Station and Kushiro Freight Station, deliveries are made to multiple destinations using a milk run system according to the shipper's needs, and pickup at the destination station is also available.
The aim of this demonstration project is to focus on a wide variety of goods in small lots, rather than the "small variety, large lot" cargo that has been the focus of conventional freight rail transport.
Within Hokkaido, there is a large demand for transporting agricultural and marine products from production areas to the Sapporo metropolitan area and Honshu, while the amount of cargo traveling from the Sapporo metropolitan area to production areas is relatively small, resulting in frequent empty rail container transfers. In this demonstration project, we will utilize the surplus transport capacity of these empty containers to transport daily necessities such as household goods and processed foods.
Furthermore, while previous demonstrations focused on confirming the feasibility of transportation in specific sections and the viability of rail transport, this demonstration aims to comprehensively confirm aspects such as multi-product, small-lot transportation, milk runs, terminal delivery, material collection, cost acceptance, and intention to continue use, ultimately leading to the creation of a standard model with a view to social implementation.
The six shippers participating in the demonstration are Kokubu Hokkaido (alcoholic beverages), Seiko Fresh Foods (bottling water), Just Cargo (interior materials), Sapporo Group Logistics (alcoholic beverages), Koraku Transport (food products), and Best Logistics Partners (food products). Actual transport operators such as Nippon Freightliner, Kitami Transport, and Mitsuwa Transport will also participate.
The first phase will be conducted from September 28th to October 3rd, and the second phase is scheduled for the end of October or later.
Through this demonstration, we will build a transportation model in which rail handles long-distance trunk lines, and trucks handle collection and delivery where mobility is required. This will address future transportation capacity shortages, stabilize long-distance transportation, reduce CO2 emissions, secure alternative transportation methods during peak seasons and disasters, and lead to reduced driver working hours and more efficient allocation of vehicles and personnel.
Furthermore, they plan to create a system where freight rail transport is not just a special large-scale transport option, but can be naturally considered by small and medium-sized shippers and trucking companies as one of their logistics options, with plans to expand this to other regions within Hokkaido.
