HVTT16 announcement

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 decided to further delay the HVTT16 until September 7-9 of 2021. As there is still a great deal of uncertainty about the extent to which we will be able and willing to travel next year, the organizing committee in China has decided to run a “hybrid” symposium where it will be possible to participate in the HVTT16 both physically in Qingdao and online.

Those who would like to attend the HVTT16 can sign up, but will only have to decide later whether they will attend physically or online. The price for online participation will about a quarter of the cost for physical participation.

A new timetable will be drawn up for the completion of the current scientific process. It will also be possible to submit new papers with a separate timetable. The additional call for papers will follow shortly. John de Pont will make the exact details known.

The Chinese organizing committee hopes that the HVTT16 still will primarily be a physical symposium and welcomes as many international participants as possible in Qingdao. Please make plans for a physical meeting, but be prepared to participate online if need be.

See you in Qingdao…or online!

Zhang Hao, Mats Harborn (HVTT16 Chinese Organizing Committee)

John de Pont (HVTT16 Scientific Chair)

Loes Aarts (HVTT Forum President)