STRONG LOBBY FOR MEGATRUCKS FUELLED BY EC STUDY

European associations representing the interests of logistics, express, freight forwarder and road transport companies, manufacturers and retailers (shippers) supporting the extended use of megatrucks have speculated positive conclusions of a study assessing the impact of these vehicles.
The study was ordered by the European Commission and it concludes that the introduction of what it refers to as longer, heavier vehicles (LHVs), would be beneficial for European society: road freight transport would become more efficient, altogether safer, and better for the environment. The study also states that rail transport would not be severely hurt by megatrucks: ”rail will still grow and the growth rate will be only 3,8% lower than in the case of no LHVs“. On the contrary, the lobby group states that the megatruck concept presents opportunities for co-modal logistics operations due to the standard loading units being the same as are used in maritime and rail freight distribution, so increasing the possibilities for loading the units from trucks to other modes where this represents the optimal and most reliable logistics solution.