Newsletters

Dear members of the HVTT community, My apologies for being this late with this June monthly letter, but on the other hand by being delayed I get the chance to include a very good piece of news: China is relaxing its Covid-related entry rules to 7+3 days of quarantine. This is an important step toward being able to live with the Corona virus and sends an important signal that China wants to be an integral part of the global society. Transport is at the core of a functioning economy – both domestic and international – and another piece of good... Read More

Hello everyone from a cold and foggy Buenos Aires – really challenging from a circulation point of view! Not for the faint hearted. I suggest you fetch a glass of Malbec. In Argentina we are currently experiencing a fuel crisis. The crisis is not only about the increase in the cost of fuel but its availability. The Transport Operators Association has even created a map where you can see the provinces (in a traffic light style) which are in trouble (red or dark orange). (See figure below.) The lack of fuel, more intensely felt on national routes at a time... Read More

Dear HVTT Forum subscriber, HVTT17/ICWIM9, Brisbane May 2023: Call for abstracts coming soon! I’m delighted to write my first newsletter to you as Vice President, Australasia and Pacific, of the HVTT Forum. I wish to acknowledge those who’ve held this position over the years – and, most recently, Rob DiCristoforo and John de Pont. It’s quite humbling to follow in the footsteps of others who’ve contributed so much to the HVTT Forum through this role, and I thank you for all your support so far. Having stepped into this role at the same time as the announcement of Brisbane (Australia)... Read More

Dear HVTT Forum subscriber I trust that you have had a good start to 2022 and that it will be a rewarding and productive year for you despite the ongoing uncertainties regarding the Covid pandemic. This newsletter contains a few topics related to road freight transport in Southern Africa and of course a weather report. The Performance-Based Standards/HCV pilot project in Namibia reached a significant milestone in November – the official launch of the first PBS project in the country. Although the vehicles had started operating in July, the launch was postponed due to Covid. I was fortunate enough to... Read More

Dear HVTT subscriber, On December 20, 2021, the Coquihalla Highway in southwest British Columbia re-opened to essential commercial traffic after major storms and flooding caused extensive damage and forced its closure on November 14, 2021. Those storms also severely impacted other land-based transportation routes (road and rail) to/from the city of Vancouver, effectively cutting it off from the rest of Canada. This recent event highlights the importance of building resilient road freight transport systems, which is the theme of this month’s HVTT newsletter. What does resilience mean? In general terms, resilience refers to the ability to recover quickly from difficulties.... Read More

Greetings to all HVTT Newsletter subscribers from Europe, After beautiful autumn, which almost felt like pre-covid period the winter season is slowly approaching us, and we feel the changes happening literally with every new week. Having less sun, more precipitations (somewhere with snow), and dropping temperatures appears to be favourable weather for the pandemic as the numbers are continuously rising in Europe on the global level. Sadly, it appears we are standing in front on ‘new’ Covid season with restrictions and lockdowns to come despite fairly high vaccination rate. In this newsletter I would like to share with you recent... Read More

Dear HVTT Forum subscribers, It’s been a while since China hosted HVTT16. The symposium was beyond expectations, especially given the challenges RIOH faced due to COVID-19. A big compliment to them is in order here! More than 1000 people participated in the online HVTT16. That is a record in the history of the HVTT Forum. We hereby welcome all new members of the HVTT Forum community from China and other parts of the world. All papers presented at HVTT16 can be found on the HVTT Forum website via the library (Library à Conference papers) and photos can be found in... Read More

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