Page 14 - CTB N8 - 2014-04

COMPANY NEWS
Goodyear Symposium Provides a Window on Mobility of the Future
Technology is changing the world that we live in faster than most of us can keep up with it. However we look at the modern world, one thing remains ever present, we need transport to get goods from production to the end user. That is
larger vehicles, up to 25 metres long and with an upper weight limit of 70 tonnes.
Some EC states already allow such trucks on the highway, but there is no freedom of cross border movement and that again restricts
development, as claimed savings in energy and costs gained in one state, are not attainable on a pan-European basis.
This single issue alone is likely to spread fear and loathing throughout the villages and towns of rural Britain, and no-one knows how cities such as London, Manchester or Leeds would cope with 25 metre, 70 tonne trucks crawling through their city streets.
However, the plan is in many ways a reversion to the
beginning of modern freight transport, where most goods were shipped by rail, and the railways had goods yards, or even goods stations in larger towns, and from there goods delivered to that centre depot, were then distributed locally by smaller goods trains and by carts and small delivery vehicles to local businesses. The plan for the future is to take the large vehicles out of the towns and villages and city centres and have them deliver to out of town hubs, from where smaller vehicles make local deliveries. There should be no 70 tonne trucks passing through rural villages, they will be restricted to motorways and main trunk roads feeding the freight hubs. This already happens in some European states, to some extent. Bigger trucks mean fewer tractor units and fewer trailer loads on the long distance routes, but perhaps more vans and trucks on regional deliveries. That will change the nature of the tyre market, though just how much remains to be seen. Most modern automobiles have tyre pressure monitoring available as standard. This should be extended to truck fleets according to the survey. There is an admission that without standardisation there is an issue in matching tractor units to trailers from different fleets and different manufacturers, so the vehicle
never going to change. Whether it is raw materials to manufacturing, manufactured products to wholesalers and retailers, every step along the way needs transport.
The way the transport industry views the delivery infrastructure is changing. There are, and will be, objections to longer and heavier trucks on our roads, but they are coming in Europe, and they may come even in the UK. So, what does Goodyear think about the future mobility of freight?
After an extensive investigation and survey onto the trucking sector, Goodyear arrived at what it believes is an understanding of what the freight industry is expecting or needing in the coming years.
The recommendations its report arrive at are challenging in themselves. Firstly, there is a belief amongst truck operators and drivers that the current restrictions on weights and dimensions are outdated and place a barrier to the development of the industry; they prevent the development of sustainable transport in the future. There is a call upon decision makers to adopt proposals issued by the European Commission in the revision of Directive 96/53/EC on the maximum weights and dimensions of vehicles. Furthermore, the survey called for the EC to assess the environmental and safety impact of
manufacturers must come to agree on standardised fittings so that systems are interchangeable between vehicles of different manufacture.
In tyre terms, the call was for greater emphasis to be placed on tyre labelling and the incentivising of the use of higher efficiency tyres. The manufacturers of tyres were working hard at improving tyre efficiency. In fleet terms, greater efficiency created greater cost savings and Goodyear’s survey suggested that those fleets looking for energy savings were
creating a market for ever more efficient tyres. However, there was still a considerable element of the market who bought tyres simply on the purchase price, and more needed to be done by the industry and government to incentivise fuel efficient tyre purchasing.
So, was this Goodyear Symposium just a talking shop or has it real aims?
In an interview with Michel Rzonzef,
14 Commercial Tyre Business