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Transport Management
Investment in transport averages £8 billion a year, split into:
- central government £2.5 billion
- local authorities £0.5 to £1 billion
- private-sector investment £4 to £5 billion.
Every day nearly £1 billion of goods is moved on Britains roads in 420,000 heavy lorries in an industry that employs over 800,000 people. Britain also has 20,000 coaches and over 55,000 buses, driven by 105,000 drivers with a Passenger Carrying Vehicle (PCV) licence. There are also fleets of vans, taxis, hire cars, cranes and other forms of transport that ply their trade on British roads every day. International and coastal shipping, and barges using inland waterways, also require management, as do aircraft, helicopter and fledgling airship transport operations. Railways and underground trains are yet another form of movement, needing management of track, infrastructure and rolling stock. So the whole picture is enormous and fragmented into a host of elements, many of which are interdependent.
The best part of two million people work in the road transport industry, employed by at least 65,000 companies. Investment in transport averages £8 billion a year, and around 2 billion tonnes of goods are moved an average distance of 100 kilometres on Britains roads every day in 300,000 heavy lorries and 160,000 vehicles of 3.5 tonnes or more. Britons make 4.5 billion journeys a year, travelling nearly 15 billion miles in nearly 100,000 coaches and buses, with two out of every three passenger journeys being taken by bus. Fleets of vans, taxis, hire cars, cranes and other forms of transport, together with private motorists, make up the 31 million licensed vehicles in the UK.
Half-a-million people drive goods vehicles of over 3.5 tonnes, and it is anticipated that national demand for drivers will be at least 600,000 by 2010. Between 50,000 and 75,000 more drivers will have to be recruited over the next couple of years alone in addition to those needed to offset natural wastage. There is a similar picture in other areas of transport.
Useful information
- The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transports training service is called the People Development Group.
- Skills for Logistics is the transport sector skills council, with member industries:
rail
road
aviation
deep sea
short sea
waterways.
- GoSkills is the passenger transport sector skills council, with member industries:
aviation
bus
coach
taxi and private hire
community transport
rail
trams
driving instructors
transport planners.
Transport managers are employed in:
- national and local government
- passenger transport
- freight transport
- travel and tourism
- coal, oil, steel, gas and electricity
- sea and airports
- Consignia
- breweries, supermarkets, clothing and food manufacturers
- car fleet and courier
- consultancies
- subcontractors to all the above.
Transport manager opportunities exist in functions like:
- planning
- customer services
- engineering
- research and development
- operations and fleet management
- information technology
- industrial design
- analyst
- health and safety
- the environment.
Transport management in the Services
Every unit has its Motor Transport Officer, who will run a fleet of vehicles. Specialist transport units will have many more transport managers as the total unit holding is split into fleets of varying sizes and descriptions, depending on the task in hand. Formations and bases also often have dedicated transport assets and their managers can either be in the job full-time or combine it with other functions.
Many other military people are also concerned with transport management although they do not themselves run fleets of vehicles, aircraft or ships. They may be involved with research, design, trials and tests, project management, procurement, development, maintenance, finance, training, garaging, traffic control, movement planning, and so on. Since the Services are usually concerned with mobility in their activities, it is hardly surprising that transport features heavily in all that they do.
The Defence School of Transport is where most motor transport specialist are trained, while the Royal Navy is expert in shipping, and its certificates are increasingly being recognised by other authorities. Freight movement is not its speciality, however. The Army retains a rail capability, and has its fleet of small coastal ships as well as by far the largest road fleet. Air transport is the province of the RAF, although the other Services have a very limited helicopter capability, and Army engineer teams are heavily involved in airfield and port management.
Qualifications and training
There are five main routes into transport management.
- Graduate training entrants join management-training programmes run by employers. Degrees may be in transport and logistics, or in more general qualifications.
- Postgraduate entry applicants will have an MSc in logistics or supply-chainmanagement, or an MBA in an appropriate discipline.
- Graduates with management experience may look for a career change into transport and logistics, and will need to gain the necessary knowledge.
- Some school leavers (or Service leavers) with A-levels may move into management through on-the-job experience, while also studying for professional exams.
- Professional qualifications must reflect the needs of the profession and employers. They enable the translation of Service skills into their civilian equivalents.
Whatever the entry route, the following personal qualities are valued in people working in this field.
PC literacy
communications
machinery awareness
warehousing
warehouse management
analysis.
problem solving
leadership
communication
team building
decision making.
The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport offers a number of modular qualifications at the following levels. (Because they are modular, most can be studied as stand alone units.)
- Introductory Certificate for new employees or students to provide a grounding in concepts and applications (Level 2).
- Certificate for a foundation for a career within the transport, logistics and supply-chain sectors (Level 3).
- Professional Diploma for individuals already working within logistics and transport developing a strategic view of operations (Level 5).
- Advanced Diplomas and MScs offering strategic management qualifications in logistics and transport.
Modules include:
- Road Freight Regulation and Control
- Road Freight Operations and Administration
- Road Passenger Regulation and Control
- Road Passenger Operations and Administration
- Community Transport Regulation and Control
- Community Transport Operations and Administration
- Local Passenger Transport, Operations and Administration
- Passenger Transport Policy and Environment
- Inventory Management
- Management
- Transport Operations
- Warehouse Management
- Movement of Goods
- Movement of People
- Transport and Society
- Transport Planning.
Both Skills for Logistics and GoSkills offer a variety of NVQs and SVQs, as well as other qualifications relevant to transport management, in the fields for which they are responsible.
The Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) is a Europe-wide qualification; every road transport business requires a member of staff to have this, so that the business itself can hold an Operators Licence. It has two levels: the National Certificate qualifies someone to manage organisations within the UK, while the holder of the International Certificate can manage undertakings across Europe.
The CPC is aimed at managers of organisations, although others can find it useful. People intending to establish their own transport business in the future should use the qualification while in employment, gaining practical experience before starting up on their own.
The CPC is a Level 3 qualification. There are no formal entry requirements, but individuals taking courses will be expected to have an acceptable standard of literacy and numeracy, and also a reasonable level of industry-specific knowledge.
The National Certificate consists of two units, one of which covers law, regulation and business management, while the other considers issues central to running a successful business. The International Module is separate, but people must pass the National Certificate first. It is an extension to the national course but also covers those issues necessary to conduct operations across state borders, including international traffic regulations, accident procedures, documentation, community regulations, and so on.
Dangerous goods
Every company involved in the transportation of dangerous goods must have a Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser (DGSA), who must pass the necessary courses to become qualified in:
- basic dangerous goods transport
- safe transport of dangerous goods in small packages
- completing and checking dangerous goods transport documents
- safe loading of dangerous goods vehicles and containers.
Salary levels
The starting salary for a graduate trainee is £15,000 to £18,000. Transport supervisors earn between £20,000 and £27,000, while operations managers could receive £30,000 plus benefits. Senior supply-chain controllers could be on upwards of £150,000.
Contact details
Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, Logistics and Transport Centre, Earlstrees Court, Earlstrees Road, Corby, Northants NN17 4AX Tel: 01536 740100 Website:
www.cituk.org.uk
People Development Group UK Ltd, Development House, Newton Road, Heather, Leicestershire LE67 2RD Tel: 01530 262666 Website:
www.pdgplc.com
Skills for Logistics, 14 Warren Yard, Warren Farm Office Village, Milton Keynes MK12 5NW Tel: 01908 313360 Website:
www.skillsforlogistics.org
GoSkills, Concorde House, Trinity Park, Solihull, West Midlands B37 7UQ, Tel: 0121 635 5520 Website:
www.goskills.org
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