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441 worth the weight?
Page 108
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Following a long and determined industry campaign, the first generalhaulage 44-tonners will roll out onto Britain's roads this week. Jez Abbott takes a look at who is, or isn't, switching over, and why.
• When Chancellor Gordon Brown announced that 44tanners would be legal for general haulage on Britain's roads it was a happy ending tea 20-year campaign by the Freight Transport Association.
The industry overcame opposition from the environmentalists and rail-freight lobbies with common-sense arguments that impressed the advisory Committee for Integrated Transport. After increased weight limits would mean fewer journeys and fewer vehicles on the road. Fuel consumption would reduce by around 35 million litres a year— and the heavier vehicles would be cleaner running and more coo-friendly.
Big day
The day of reckoning-1 February—has finally arrived but the Vehicle Inspectorate reports that lake-up is lower than anticipated".
Despite FTA figures showing that 44-tanners will give efficiency savings of up to 11%, it seems that many hauliers simply don't want to know.
Tony Knowles, managing director of Knowles Transport, is one of the converts. He says: "The industry has been fumbling along with 38 and 41-tonners when we should have gone over in 1983." His 80-truck fleet carries mostly canned foods and he will up-plate most of them almost immediately. This, he says, is merely "a paperwork exercise" of taking vehicle certificates to a nearby test station to show they meet emission and air suspension standards.
Knowles predicts that tipper, tanker and aggregate hauliers will benefit most as they can carry maximum weights. Grocery and pallet carriers, where vehicles tend to cube out before they weigh out, have less to gain.
Knowles is guarded on how much he will save but tax is where most hauliers hope to see benefits. Annual VED for a six-axle 44-tonne artic is expected to be set at £1,200, compared with £1,850 for a fiveaxle (24-3) 40-tanner. However, consultation is ongoing and this, according to a VI spokeswoman, is why hauliers are not making the change straight away: "A lot of operators seem to be waiting for the Budget. We anticipate that 16-20,000 will be replated shortly after that."
John Burgess of CJ Burgess & Sons will go through his fleet gradually next year putting his 4x2 tractive units up to six axles for 44 tonnes—but that doesn't mean he sees heavier trucks as the answer to all the industry's ills. "I wish we were still running at 32 tonnes,* he says. "It was easier in those days. We didn't have so many tyres running out and enjoyed better fuel consumption."
Burgess is paid by the tonne and will be able to carry 29 instead of 26 tonnes of agricultural loads, like grain. But he is not expecting much financial benefit: "Everybody else will do it; it will push rates down and we may not achieve anything. But if I don't follow suit I will be left behind." Ray Pile, transport manager for FWS Carter & Sons, which runs 30 HGVs, has eight compliant trucks and will be buying two more in March, mostly for paper loads. He too is unhappy, calling the issue a Government "balls-up".
Many firms with Eurol engines simply can't afford to switch to greener Euro-2s, he says. Fuel costs will rise, and "I don't care what the wonderful -words are, we won't get our current average 7.6 miles to the gallon at 44 tonnes."
Furthermore, countries like France and Germany don't allow 44-tonners and Pile fears that the VED rate will end up higher than the mooted £1,200. While he feels he has to go up to 44 tonnes to stay competitive, he reckons that many hauliers won't bother.
Mark Richards, managing director of Cornwall-based Richards & Osborne, has no plans to take his fleet of 25 trucks to 44 tonnes. "Our bulks, animal feed and china clay, make it very hard to get the weight on," he explains. "It's a logistical problem more than anything else—but we will look at it as time goes by."
Undaunted, the VI has brought in additional staff and computer terminals at some test centres to cope with demand. And, keen to drive its victory home, the FTA has launched a web site, www.44tonne.com.
FTA chief executive Richard Turner plays on fears of European competition to win operators over: "At last we have the perfect lorry," he says. "This help is timely when our competitive edge is threatened by low-taxed operators in the rest of Europe. It is a marvellous new tool for industry to improve its efficiency"
M See comment, opposite.