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SMALLER TRUCII BIGGER JAMS
There's something depressingly familiar parts of the Labour Party's National Tra, Strategy. Familiar because we've heard before; depressing because it peddles the old discredited solutions to the nation's port woes. Apparently, Labour was closely advis the green campaigner Transport 2000. So the, have it: policy by pressure group. You'd have th that New Labour would have at least questioned ti "railfreight good, roacIfreight bad" argument. l the heading "Efficient freight transport" it suggl review of truck taxation "with a view to encour, smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles as well as di! aging the running of lorries half empty..." When very silly idea finally going to be laid to rest? You reduce pollution and congestion by switching frei, smaller vehicles. If you took all the cargo off only Ithe 70,400 top-weight artics currently running on 1 roads and put them on 7.5-tonners you'd need an 210,830 trucks just to carry the same load. You'c need just under half the current 3,141km UK motc network to accommodate them all. Hardly a par for congestion or fuel efficiency. We need he trucks not smaller.
Why? Because, as every haulier knows (bt, right-on lobbyists seem to understand) the cargo you can get on one wagon the low, emissions per tonne carried and the fewer truck need. If you increased the current 38-tonne limit tonnes you'd be looking at a reduction in Nitrous ( emissions measured in g/tonne-km by just under It may not be a politically trendy idea, but it v work. Labour says it wants innovative projects su "urban distribution centres". Frankly most peopl alone truck operators, would rather HGVs stayed from urban areas. If out-of-town superstores have nothing else they've taken heavy trucks out of towr tres. When it comes to finding money for public • port the document engages in the same kind of
market waffle that the Tories are so fond of, for example: "We believe that a national strategy commanding widespread support will provide a sound basis for attracting funding from the pri vate sector...." And that's the most depressing message to emerge from the whole shooting match. None of the political parties, whether red, blue or yellow, has a single original idea on how to solve our transport problems. But then when was the last time they asked truck operators how they might help?