‘Super’ semi-trailers could save industry £226m a year
Page 5
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
By Derren Hayes
USING ‘SUPER’ semi-trailers up to one-third longer than is currently permitted could save the industry £226m a year, according to new research.
A study by the Business, Operations, Supply Chain and Transport Research Group at the University of Huddersfield found that hauliers could cut fuel consumption and carbon emissions by between 11% and 19% per unit of load (on a pallet/km basis) by using 25.25m-long high-capacity vehicles (HCVs) – such as the Denby Transport EcoLink pictured.
The report, Impact Assessment: High-Capacity Vehicles, to be published next week, assesses the environmental, economic, safety and practical impacts of increasing the maximum length of vehicles while maintaining maximum gross weights at 44 tonnes.
Commissioned by toilet roll manufacturer Kimberley-Clark Europe, the report said HCVs would be useful for low-density goods that regularly cube-out before they weigh-out, such as packaging, perishable and nonperishable foodstuffs. By using HCVs, many lightweight goods could be palletised or put in roll cages – equating to an annual flow of 1.4 billion articulated vehicle kilometres, 15% of the overall total. Detailed modelling of transport operations among a group of hauliers found carbon emissions would drop by 13% and transport costs by 17% if they used HCVs.
Researchers David Leach and Professor Christopher Savage estimated that 6% of rail traffic could shift to HCVs – including 20% of rail container volumes. If all freight movements moved to HCVs, it would reduce overall transport costs by £226m, CO2 emissions by 96,000 tonnes and lorry kilometres by 4%.