UK supply chain carbon mitigation strategies using alternative ports and multimodal freight transport operations

•The cost-CO2e tradeoffs in the port selection decision making.•Minimization of overall road distance travelled.•Current scenario – road maximising scenario based on the current container handling of major UK ports.•Scenario (2) – shift of containers to Western and Northern ports.•Scenarios (3), (4) and (5) – shift of containers to Southampton, Felixstowe and London Gateway respectively.

In the last few decades, the building evidence that CO2e emissions lead to climate change has pointed to a need to reduce CO2e emissions. This research uses five scenarios in the context of UK import trade to assess total CO2e emissions and costs of import re-routing containers. The overall objective is to assess possible carbon mitigation strategies for UK supply chains by using a combination of alternative ports and revised multimodal strategies. The model adopted includes three elements: port expansion, container handling and freight transport. The alternative scenarios explore different settings modal shift and short sea shipping.