Hopes rise for intermodal 44-tonners • The Freight Transport Association
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claims there are improved prospects of a 44tonne British limit for transport to ports after Northern Irish hauliers won the concession.
Northern Ireland Environment Minister Lord Dubs last week announced that, from 1 May, the weight limit for HGVs carrying intermodal shipments to and from ports in Northern Ireland will be increased to 44 tonnes. However, the loads must be destined for or originate in locations outside the British Isles. A similar concession already operates in the Republic.
The justification for the move is that Northern Ireland does not have the rail network Britain has, so the current arrangement, allowing 44tonnes to railheads only, gives little advantage to multi-modal operators there.
But the FTA believes the Government will find it impossible to justify the derestriction in the Province while denying it to British hauliers.
Its support for 44-tonne general haulage is well known. "There can now be no argument against the introduction of the economic, efficient and environmentally friendly 44-tonne vehicles," it says. "They would move more goods on fewer journeys—the Government should sanction them without delay."