Christopher de Saxe

Dear HVTT Forum subscriber 2020 certainly was a crazy year, beyond most people’s wildest forecasts. And the prospects for 2021 remain very much uncertain. One of the more serious impacts of the COVID-19 virus on logistics’ costs (and truck drivers) in southern Africa was the transit times at border posts. Several the key border posts in the Region, such as those between South Africa and Zimbabwe (Beitbridge) and South Africa and Mozambique (Lebombo/Ressano Garcia), which are situated on two of the main freight corridors, are renowned for long delays for trucks. The COVID-19 screening protocols exacerbated the situation, and vehicle queues in some cases exceeded 15 km at the Beitbridge border post and 25 km on both sides of the Lebombo/Ressano Garcia border post. During one week in Dec 2020, 15 people died at Beitbridge due to a combination of the long delays and the high summer temperatures between 40... Read More

Dear HVTT subscriber, In this issue of the newsletter, I offer some perspectives on road freight transport during the COVID-19 pandemic and point to two truck-related data sources of particular interest in the North American context. Perspectives on Road Freight Transport during COVID-19 I receive regular emails from the local Manitoba Trucking Association, the voice of the trucking industry in the province of Manitoba, Canada. Throughout 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic emerged and ultimately affected all aspects of societies around the world, those emails informed Association members of the ever-changing restrictions and requirements affecting the industry. They reflected the complexities and challenges facing the industry, the ever-evolving and multi-dimensional nature of the road freight transport task, and the critical role the industry plays in meeting essential consumer demands. The complexity of cross-border freight transport While personal cross-border travel between Canada and the United States has been restricted since March 2020,... Read More

Dear HVTT Forum subscribers, It is about nine months since I wrote my last newsletter. Nine months, since we all globally experience the new way of life and the working due to COVID-19 pandemic. Sadly, the situation here in Europe does not improved significantly over the time, perhaps the opposite. The time we bought very expensively during the first lockdown on the spring was somehow carelessly spend over the relaxed summer, and now at the beginning of winter many of the European countries find themselves in second hard lockdown. The only robust solution on the long-term horizon appears to be the mass vaccination which will start in coming weeks in many European states. So, I wish that in my next newsletter COVID-19 will not be a topic anymore and we can share again only the developments on the weather and Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology. Speaking of weather, I must say... Read More

Dear friends of the HVTT Forum, Covid-19 has brought difficult times to all of us. No one has gone unaffected. As challenging as it is we still need to find ways to cope and to move on. That is also true for the Chinese organizing committee for the postponed HVTT16 in Qingdao. With this newsletter I would like to give an update on the preparations for the 2021 HVTT16, which will take place 7-9 September in Qingdao. Our assumption is that this will be a physical meeting, but we are also prepared to accommodate online participation. We will arrange this symposium in a hybrid format, where online, in person, live and recorded presentations meet in real time. The event will also be recorded for those not present to be able to watch at any time. The aim is to have real time sessions during those hours where people across global... Read More

Greetings from the Southern Hemisphere, Weather Report It is traditional in these newsletters to give a local weather report.  In New Zealand we have just moved into spring.  Daylight saving came into effect here last weekend.  The winter has been very mild here but in the last two weeks we have had a couple of storms.  These have been just a few days of rain and high winds but one of them has had a significant impact on our transport infrastructure.  Auckland, where I live, is New Zealand’s largest city and lies on an isthmus.  At the narrowest points, the distance between the west and east coast is less than three kms.  The main North-South highway crosses the harbour on an eight-lane bridge which carries 170,000 vehicles a day.  Two weeks ago during a storm, peak wind gusts of up to 127 km/h caused two trucks to be blown over... Read More

The impact of COVID 19 on road transportation in South America Hello to all, I write to you while working from home in Buenos Aires, a city about to enter its 100th day of quarantine. Weather-wise, we are supposed to be almost in winter, but I am still in a T-shirt. In my previous newsletter, I explained that many countries in the region underwent elections at the last quarter of 2019, then changed president between December and January. But January and February are summer holidays so mid-March was the time to start business. We were all getting ready when… the COVID19 virus started to spread badly, and we saw borders totally closed, leaving people and goods stranded on the way, until further decisions were made. The figure shows the different countries shut down, with the darker red representing more severe restrictions. Transport companies and truck drivers stepped up to the... Read More

Dear HVTT Forum Subscribers, Postponement of HVTT16 In case you missed the announcement in a previous email, the HVTT16 Symposium that was planned to be held in Qingdao, China in October 2020 has been postponed. A new date will be determined and it is planned that this will be announced by the organisers on 15 July. Effect of panic-buying on the Australian supply chain The Australian road freight industry and regulating bodies have risen to the challenge of COVID-19. The industry has been a star performer amid the unprecedented panic-buying that cleared supermarket shelves to an extent many of us have never seen in our lifetimes. Citizens were assured that the lack of goods on the shelves was not so much a matter of ‘running out’ as it was a signal that our supply chain was stretched to its limit due to the spike in demand. The industry worked hard... Read More