Sainsbury's barge delivery trial "a success"

The trial saw food dispatched from a Sainsbury’s distribution centre in South-east London along the Thames, arriving close to one of its stores in West London.

The goods arrived quicker than if they had been sent by road.

If rolled out to stores in the same area, the method could save 350,000 road kilometres every year, the company said.

This would contribute to Sainsbury’s aim of cutting CO2 emissions by 25% by 2012.

The trial was conducted in conjunction with the Port of London Authority.

Its chief executive, Richard Everitt, said: “As water freight doesn’t face traffic build up, the trial actually showed that freight moves faster on the river than on central London’s roads.”

Sainsbury’s says the movement of goods on the Thames is a viable option, provided commercial riverside wharfs can be established.

Sainsbury’s first transported food on the Thames in 1869.