A semi shake-up
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We'd been calling for increased vehicle lengths and weights for years, and then in late 2011 came the announcement the industry had been waiting for: the Department for Transport (DfT) had agreed to a trial of Longer semi-trailers. OK, so they weren't the 25.25m trailers that Holland and Germany were trialling — and there wasn't an increase in GVWs either. But lm and 2.05m longer semis were definitely better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, so the industry embraced the new trailer lengths. There were 1,800 licences up for grabs (900 of each length), and applications were oversubscribed — albeit with most interest in the longer 15.65m versions.
But one year on, the initial excitement has definitely subsided. According to our investigation (pia only 400 trailers of the 1,800 licences issued are actually on the road. Of these, only 80 (that's fewer than one in 10) are the shorter ones. While it's likely that more longer semis will be built in 2013, what's clear is that the 14.6m versions will always be rarer than hen's teeth. Their dimensions clearly have serious limitations, and the cost of having them manufactured often outweighs any operational benefits gained from running them.
With this in mind, isn't it time the DfT went back to the drawing board? Wouldn't it make sense to give the trial a much-needed boost by revoking unwanted 14.6m licences, exchanging them for 15.65m ones, then reissuing them to hauliers who missed out last time?
Will Shiers