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Signed by the President of the Republic of Uruguay on November 12th, the Decree N°303/2020 of the Ministry of Transport and Public Works (MTOP) authorising the circulation of High Performance Road Heavy Vehicles (Vehículos de transporte de cargas de Alto Desempeño, VAD in Spanish). was published yesterday and can be accessed, in Spanish, here. In time, I hope to translate it into English and share it with you. The legislation is the result of a joint work between consultants with professional independence and proven international experience in Performance-Based Standards (PBS) and prescriptive legislation, local authorities with technical and legislative knowledge, a responsible business sector and a strong political will for the advancement of the development and implementation of a sustainable road transport legislation. Collaboration from the Inter-American Development Bank was key too. I have written a little about how this work was progressing in my September 2019 newsletter, and the... Read More

Greetings all, As you are probably aware, because of Covid-19 our 16th biennial symposium, HVTT16, has had to be postponed until September 4-7th, 2021.  Because of the ongoing uncertainty regarding international travel, the symposium will be held in a hybrid form with both in-person and on-line attendance options available.  All  the abstracts that have been submitted to date will be considered for the symposium (most authors have been notified of the status of their submission) but, because of the postponement we are opening the symposium for additional submissions.  The supplementary Call for Papers is can be downloaded here: Supplementary call for papers_HVTT16 Please note that even if you do not think that you will be able to attend the symposium in-person, the on-line option means that you will still be able to present your paper and participate in the symposium. Regards, John de Pont Scientific Chair, HVTT16

Dear friends of the HVTT Forum community, As we are all too painfully aware, the COVID-19 pandemic has made physical meetings and intercontinental travel very limited. The question is when intercontinental travel will be possible again and will be experienced as safe and trusted. For example, the Australian airline Qantas has canceled all its international flights until June 2021. Also the Olympic Games in Tokyo have been delayed until July 23 – August 8, 2021. We can only hope that in a year the situation will be different than now and that we will be able to meet each other again physically. We believe that it will be of great interest to everyone who is engaged in heavy vehicle transport & technology to visit China and to see the progress in the Chinese transport and logistics systems with fascinating innovations in a broad range of areas. Therefore it has been... Read More

Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber It is with great sadness that I announce the passing away of our friend and fellow IFRTT Board member, Anders Lundström, at the age of 68.  A few months ago, Anders informed a few of his friends that he had been diagnosed with stomach cancer. During his last few months, one of our Board members, Erik Dahlberg, was in contact with him on a regular basis.  Anders continued to show interest in the technical and political developments related to transport and was less keen to talk about his own health. A few weeks ago his health deteriorated considerably and he passed away on 10 October. Anders did so much for the IFRTT, including the introduction of visionary and innovative ideas. He impressed us all with his technical knowledge, humor and wisdom. During his time as IFRTT President, Anders provided strong leadership and the organisation is much... Read More