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Potter Group boss backs Denby-style megatrucks
Page 7
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ROAD AND RAIL distribution group The Potter Group has endorsed the use of longer trucks on UK roads, warning that if the freight industry fails to become more efficient it will lose out to foreign competition.
MD Derek Potter says he has had many conversations with freight pioneer Dick Denby, who designed the 2.5.25m B-Double Ecolink, and agrees that the rail industry must understand that not everything can be shifted by train.
The Potter Group runs a fleet of 40 trucks but 30% of its consignments arrive by rail, and Potter admits using these longer vehicles could have a detrimental effect on rail freight operations.
However, he adds that the industry needs to accept change and realise "the lorry is here to stay".
Potter adds: "It's open to discussion. [But] if you take industry competitiveness away you're losing out. If it's not competitive you might as well do it somewhere else. There are routes where rail will never fit." He adds that [he governrnent must also set out how it intends to make moving freight by rail more favourable.
The government's plans for a study into the opportunities for using longer trucks on UK roads have advanced as far as choosing someone to oversee the six-month project which begins in October.
Although dubbed a 'miniArmitage' by some industry insiders, in reference to the report into 44-tonne vehicles several years ago, the DIT's research project will serve to keep the subject alive while not committing the government to anything at this stage.