February 2019 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT subscriber,
Hopefully the new year started promising for you!
In October I took over from John de Pont as president of the IFRTT. I want to thank him for having led the IFRTT so well and knowledgeably. There are plenty of challenges and developments in trucking that endorse the value of a global community like the IFRTT. It is precisely the diverse expertise and various professional functions within the community that make the IFRTT valuable as a platform for exchanging knowledge and experience.
There are two current leading publications from the International Transport Forum of the OECD that deserves our attention: Policies to Extend the Life of Road Assets. By mitigating deterioration caused by trucks (date of publication: 20 December 2018) and High Capacity Transport: Towards Efficient, Safe and Sustainable Road Freight (date of publication: 19 February 2019). Both reports are in line with the latest insights about technology, regulations and governance. Make use of the knowledge and experience gathered in these reputable reports!
Policies to Extend the Life of Road Assets By mitigating deterioration caused by trucks
www.itf-oecd.org/policies-extend-life-road-assets
Transportation agencies around the world face the challenge of providing and maintaining road assets that meet rising demand for road freight transport while simultaneously dealing with constrained budgets. The policy options presented in this report offer opportunities to sustain or improve the robustness of road assets, stabilize infrastructure budgetary requirements, and enable road assets to support prosperity and development needs of economies around the world.
Policies schematic
The report looks beyond traditional engineering approaches, and considers the role of trucks in road assets deterioration from a broader, demand-oriented perspective. It will aid decision makers involved in developing policies concerning road infrastructure assets, truck regulation and compliance, truck traffic management and freight planning.
A Working Group on Policies to Extend the Life of Road Assets was convened by the International Transport Forum in 2017. The interdisciplinary group included 27 renowned practitioners and academics from 17 countries with expertise in asset management, traffic management, vehicle dynamics, logistics and economics, truck operations, and transport regulation and compliance. The draft report was sent out to 59 Transport Ministries for review, and it was then unanimously approved the ITF board meeting in November 2018.
High Capacity Transport: Towards Efficient, Safe and Sustainable Road Freight
www.itf-oecd.org/high-capacity-transport
The expectation is that freight transport by road will continue to increase in most countries in the world, while a further expansion of the infrastructure network is often no longer possible. Using bigger trucks, or high capacity vehicles (HCVs), is one of the most practical options for accommodating some of this growth.
The introduction of high capacity vehicles often encounters objections. This study examines international experience with HCVs and aims to provide evidence to support policymaking in jurisdictions considering the deployment of HCVs. It examines approaches to implementing pilots and full-scale programs to deploy HCVs, reviews potential impacts on road infrastructure and assesses consequences for other transport modes, industry and society.
The report investigates how appropriate regulation together with ITS measures could be applied for relaxing the weight and dimension restrictions and allowing the use of these vehicles in specific geographical areas or on specific routes. This research brings together the knowledge and experience of countries and experts with a (long) history with the implementation of high capacity transport.
And what about the weather? After months of mostly grey and cold weather, in this part of the world we have blue skies and plenty of sun in recent days. Everyone is cheerful and goes outside to enjoy the sunshine! It is one of the most beautiful periods of the year.
Best regards and drive safely!
Loes Aarts
IFRTT President
