Newsletters

Dear friends of the HVTT Forum, We are now only five weeks away from the HVTT16 symposium in China and most of the pieces are falling into place. We have a very exciting symposium to look forward to. There will be around sixty papers with very relevant and interesting content presented during the three days. In addition, there will be several side events in which world-leading developments in the Chinese transport industry will be presented and discussed. The Covid-19 pandemic still presents a challenge for international travel to China, and so we have planned a unique form of hybrid symposium.... Read More

Greetings from the Southern Hemisphere, Winter is now approaching here.  In Auckland, the temperatures are still quite mild with daytime highs of around 16°C but it is getting cooler overnight – 8°C or so.  Today it is also expected to rain. Preparations for HVTT16 in Qingdao are progressing well.  We have received over 80 extended abstracts and authors are now finalising their full papers.  Quite a few full papers have already been submitted. As you will be aware, the Covid-19 situation has resulted in HVTT16 being the first ever of our symposia to be offered in a hybrid form with... Read More

Dear HVTT Forum subscribers, I am proud to draw your attention to the renewed website of the 16th International Symposium on Heavy Vehicle Transport & Technology (www.hvtt16.com.cn/en/), held from September 7-9 in Qingdao, China. The HVTT16 is increasingly taking shape. It is a major challenge to create an attractive online symposium in parallel with a physical program in Qingdao. The HVTT16 organization strives to ensure that everyone in every time zone can attend as much of the program as possible at acceptable times, that we can communicate with each other and that everything runs smoothly technically. They have brought in... Read More

News from Road Transportation in South America Hello everyone, one year on and we are still dealing worldwide with the COVID19 pandemic. In my previous newsletter I described what was going on with the truck drivers in the region, the discrimination they suffer although considered essential workers. “Focus on Transport”, a road transport magazine from South Africa, thought the contents of that newsletter were relevant for its readers and asked us to published it, it came out in the December issue, just as the new variant in S.A. was known. COVID 19 in South America, many lessons learnt. After reading... Read More

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... 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... 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... 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... 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... 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... 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... Read More

Dear HVTT Forum Subscribers, I hope this newsletter finds all of you and your families in good shape in these unusual times. Life here in Europe has changed significantly for most of us because of Covid pandemic. Schools and universities are mostly closed and education is being practiced as e-learning. People are encouraged to limit social contact and, if the profession allows, to work from home. To a certain extent it is rather pleasant as one has more time to spend with the family, though combining normal work duties with role of home teacher, especially for small children, requires some... Read More