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More eledronic site-seeing
Page 22
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As CM regulars know, we often review dealers' vvebsites and are
ro u d to be associated with TruckNet UK. Now we're going further...
ROAD TRANSPORT.com the Industry THIS WEEK'S NEWS on Roadtransport.corn is likely to be dominated by more on operator mergers and acquisitions and whether the government's U-turn on Capital GainsTax will make any difference.
And there will doubtless be more details on the new Mercedes Actros check out our news pages for the latest developments.
On the blogs
We welcome another new blogger to Operators 'Voice-and it's a big name. David Preston. MD of Prestons of Potto, will be a regular contributor, and he starts by looking at two issues close to any haulier's heart at the moment: vehicle lead times and the green debate.
On lead times, he says: "The situation with trailers mirrors that of trucks. with certain specialised manufacturers quoting 24 months-longer than that for an Airbus A380.
"Considering the short length and volatility of contracts in the transport industry, it takes a lot of confidence to place orders for equipment these days, although anybody with a talent for speculation may be able to profit from this."
It looks like Preston has some talent for speculation himself: he's been taking a look at 'carbon offsetting' by planting trees, and has come up with a couple of frightening figures: "A rough calculation shows we should plant 98,000 trees this year and the industry as a whole 185 million. Based on these figures timber haulage should be the best bet for the future.
BigLorry B log has its usual splendid variety of entries from all round the world from people-sniffers on crane chassis to Azerbaijanis with stainless steel teeth, and from AECs on the Pollock fleet to the US approach to green transport run your trucks on I .NG, it seems...
Meanwhile.Will Shiers was on a trip to the Iveco plant in Ulm when he found an old Magi rus with the keys in the ignition. So what did he do? He started it up of course... You can see a video of the result at Will's Truck & Van Blog.
• You can find direct links to all the stories mentioned at CM's own web page, www. roadtransport.com/cm