A British rail freight company that carries shipping containers by train between UK ports such as Felixstowe and Southampton and inland terminals, and moves bulk materials such as aggregates by rail.
Freightliner moves goods by train. The company is best known for carrying shipping containers between big UK ports and inland rail terminals, so that a container that arrives by ship at Felixstowe or Southampton can travel across the country by train and then go the last few miles by lorry. A Fleet News interview, with Freightliner's general manager of road and port operations, described it as the UK's largest intermodal rail freight operator, with over 3,000 containers moved by rail daily at the time. Intermodal simply means using more than one mode of transport, here ship, train and lorry. It also has a heavy haul business moving bulk materials such as aggregates, cement and scrap.
Freightliner has a long history. Wikipedia reports that the first container train ran from North London to Glasgow in November 1965, and that the company became a separate government-owned business in 1968. In 1996 management bought it from the state. We found no mission statement or values on the pages we read, so we have not invented one. The interview shows a practical culture: drivers are trained and ranked each week on harsh braking and idling, and it said fuel economy rose from about 7.5 to 8 miles per gallon to over 10 after training.
The company has terminals and depots in many UK places. Wikipedia lists Birmingham, Trafford Park in Manchester, Stourton in Leeds, Coatbridge near Glasgow, Bristol, Newport, Holyhead, Liverpool, Felixstowe, Tilbury, Southampton and Harwich. The Fleet News interview described trains running from five deep-sea ports to 14 inland terminals, with a fleet of 90 locomotives and 157 lorry drivers. Its subsidiary Pentalver, which handles containers at ports and inland sites, appears in Wikipedia's company infobox. Wikipedia also reports that in 2026 the UK intermodal business and the Freightliner brand were sold to CMA CGM, while heavy haul and European activities were rebranded Heavy Haul Rail. We could not confirm this from a second source, so check the current company structure before relying on it.
On people, the Fleet News interview quotes Richard Branston, the general manager of road and port operations, who had been with the company for 12 years at the time and said his priority was efficiency without cutting corners, with a focus on reducing carbon dioxide and improving driver safety. Wikipedia says the group had more than 2,500 employees worldwide at the time of its 2015 change of ownership.
Careers in rail freight include train drivers, terminal and crane operators, planners, engineers who look after locomotives and wagons, lorry drivers, customer service teams, safety and compliance, IT and finance. If you like engineering or want to know how products reach shops with fewer lorries on the road, rail freight is a good place to look: one freight train can replace many lorries, which is why the industry makes the case for lower-carbon transport.
Website: www.freightliner.co.uk
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