Newsletter

Dear IFRTT colleagues, I have two matters on which to report this month. Update on Australia’s Heavy Vehicle National Law Review I introduced the Heavy Vehicle National Law Review to the Forum in the November newsletter. The part of the review most interesting to me is easy access to suitable routes. This is because the ease with which road access is determined for restricted access vehicles will strongly influence the growth of the Performance Based Standards (PBS) fleet and, hence, the productivity and safety of road freight transport. The National Transport Commission (NTC) held an industry consultation workshop on Friday to discuss the matters raised in a recently-published Issues Paper on this subject. Until 16 August the NTC is seeking formal comments on this paper via their submissions page. Some of the issues that I believe are limiting PBS fleet growth include: The lack of a legislative framework for determining... Read More

Dear IFRTT Subscribers, As the new Vice-President Europe, please allow me to briefly introduce myself: I am a Senior Researcher in the Automotive Research Group at HAN University of Applied Sciences in Arnhem, the Netherlands. In the past 10 years, I have worked on numerous research projects on both national and international levels, in the fields of vehicle dynamics and control, related mainly to Heavy Goods Vehicles and driver support. In this issue of the newsletter you will find information about the evolving implementation of European Modular System (EMS) vehicles in Europe. High Capacity Vehicles in the form of EMS combinations are already allowed in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, most German federal states, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, but in principle every country regulates the weight and length limits itself. Recently, EMS vehicle combinations were also adopted in the Czech Republic. The maximum length and the weight of a normal... Read More

Dear friends of the IFRTT As most of you are aware of by now the next HVTT16 will be held in China, organized by the Road Institute of Highways (RIOH), a policy institute under the Ministry of Transports (MOT). This event will be very meaningful as the impact of road transport on society is probably larger in China than anywhere else in the world (with the possible exception of India). If this symposium can contribute to China taking further steps in introducing efficient road transport solutions it will have global impact. The IFRTT President Loes Aarts and IFRTT Board Member and HVTT16 Chair of the Scientific Committee John de Pont spent last week in Beijing sharing experiences from previous organizations of HVTT symposia and together with the Chinese organizers made a timeline for the work ahead. The organizing work is proceeding very smoothly and more details will be shared in... Read More

Dear IFRTT subscriber In my last newsletter, in March 2018, I referred to the protest action (including the burning of trucks and looting of payloads) on some of the national highways in South Africa. Many of these actions were a means of expressing dissatisfaction with the employment of foreign drivers by SA transport companies. Unfortunately this form of protest action has continued on and off during the past year. In most cases, particularly during the past number of weeks, the protest action has been related to the dissatisfaction with service delivery by some local municipalities. In terms of transport efficiency, cost and safety, such protest action is very detrimental to the economy. General elections will be held in South Africa this coming Wednesday, 8 May, so hopefully such protest action will reduce considerably thereafter. There is currently an EU-funded project underway in a large part of Africa, the Tripartite Transport... Read More

Dear IFRTT subscriber, It was a pleasure to attend HVTT15 in Rotterdam where I was appointed the new IFRTT Vice President, North America. I wish to extend my gratitude to John Woodrooffe for the leadership he provided to IFRTT in this role. I look forward to working with IFRTT more closely in the future! Being new to the IFRTT Board, please allow me a very brief introduction. I am an Associate Professor of Civil Engineering (Transportation) at the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg, Canada. Over the last 15 years, I have worked on numerous truck-related research and consulting projects in Canada and the United States. I have been a member of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committee on Truck Size and Weight and recently participated in the ITF working group that developed a report focused on the role of trucks in the deterioration of road assets. I currently Chair the... Read More

Dear IFRTT colleagues, This is my first message to you as the new IFRTT Vice President Australasia & Pacific.  I wish to thank Dr John de Pont for his service in this position and for nominating me as his replacement. As there is never a dull moment in Australian road freight transport, I would like to use this opportunity to inform you all of some recent developments that demonstrate our commitment to continuous improvement of the road transport system. In February 2019 the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) will have been in operation for five years.  It was introduced to overcome the cross-border inconsistencies that had been a burden on our industry when heavy vehicles were independently regulated by the six states and two territories.  Nonetheless, with various inconsistencies surviving in the HVNL, and with Western Australia and the Northern Territory yet to sign on as parties to it, you... Read More

Greetings from the wintry south, As I hear and see the news of European and Japanese heat waves and wild fires in North America and Scandinavia, in Auckland it is currently 15° C and cloudy which is reasonably typical for this time of the year. I am looking forward to HVTT15 in just under two months’ time.  The organising committee has put together a great programme. If you haven’t been getting the newsletters, you can get more information on the conference programme from the web-site  www.hvtt15.com .  Early bird registration at a discounted rate is still available until August 15th . In New Zealand the process of developing a performance-based standards (PBS) regime that is specific to the New Zealand road transport environment is progressing.  PBS has been used for informing size and weight regulation and for assessing non-standard vehicles for permits operations since the late 1980s but the performance... Read More

Dear friends of IFRTT, China is at the center of world affairs. Firstly we have the looming trade war between the US and China (and now also Europe) and secondly we have the North Korea issue, where China has been playing an active, but low profile role to stabilize the situation on the Korean peninsula. We all now keep our fingers crossed that the meeting between president Trump and Kim Jung’un will be successful. At the center of the trade war issue is a China that has been dragging its feet in opening up markets and reforming its economy. That together with unbalanced trade and investment flows with US and the EU has created tensions. Add to this a China with a political system that the West does not comprehend and an increasingly militarily assertive China and we have a very pungent cocktail. But, maybe the real core issues are... Read More