pwa wrote:How would we distribute goods from the Far East (eg Shimano parts) if we were primarily concerned with minimising carbon / methane emissions? And surely that should now be our top priority. Having them travel first to the UK and then onward to non-UK destinations doesn't, on the face of it, look optimal.
Two hierarchies (both only approximate, especially the second). One is: Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle. The other is: sea, inland waterway, rail, road, air.
So the first thing is to question whether we/you/one really needs these goods. At minimum, how will we we/you/one benefit? If we do need this item, can we reuse an old one or repair a broken item?
If we really do need a new one, try to source it as locally as possible, although that must also be subsidiary to concerns such as wages, conditions of employment, how resources and waster are handled in that business, and so on. Bear in mind that "the environment" is only one part of sustainability.
If we decide we really do need a new one and it really has to come from (in this example) the Far East, then we can start to address the question of transport by turning to the second hierarchy. But it's not (necessarily) as simple as "send it by sea!" Where exactly are the end markets? How large are they? Are they concentrated in one location or more evenly distributed?
It might be that if they are relatively evenly distributed throughout Eurasia, the best way is to send them by rail, dropping off one container load (or however it might be shipped) in various locations. Rail might also be the least damaging if we only have a small end market, or even if the end market is concentrated in one inland site.
But for cycle parts there's probably a relatively distributed market throughout Europe. Load up a container and put it on a ship, send it to Rotterdam, then distribute from there. Or is it better to send one container to each of Rotterdam, Lisbon, Felixstowe, etc? It's actually going to take a lot of precise calculation and depend on possibly unknown variables, like the last leg of distribution.
Ed: As Stevek has pointed out, warehousing also has carbon costs. Especially for temperature or climate sensitive goods.