FTA is pleased to welcome Goldstar Heathrow, WH Barley Transport and Storage Ltd, Brett’s Transport Ltd, Total Produce and John Raymond Transport Ltd to the LCRS. It’s fantastic that the scheme is continuing to grow. We currently have 131 LCRS members accounting for over 88,181 commercial vehicles. If you would like to join the scheme, visit our LCRS page for more details.
Call for 2016 data
Thank you to all who have already submitted their 2016 data, the deadline for your submissions is 31st August 2017. If you have any problems or queries please don’t hesitate to contact Becki Terry.
LCRS review launch
The seventh edition of the Logistics Carbon review was launched on the 6 July. The report revealed members have achieved an impressive 7% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions since 2010. In 2016, we asked LCRS members to provide their Euro standard breakdown for their vehicle fleet, interestingly this revealed over 35% of their HGVs are already Euro VI. Members continue to significantly outperform industry as a whole, achieving a 12% reduction in emissions overall per km. Read more here.
The Committee on Climate Change’s report released
FTA says Government must support Freight sector in order to hit carbon reduction targets. Read more here.
Clean Air Zones – update on cities to restrict pre-Euro VI vehicles
FTA has carried out further analysis of the Government’s air quality plan which was launched at the end of July. This plan confirmed that in addition to London and the first 5 (Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham, Derby and Southampton) there are 23 additional local authorities across the UK that will be required to introduce a CAZ or an alternative that has an equivalent effect.
FTA’s analysis suggests that the most likely outcome now is that Sheffield, Middlesbrough, Bath, Greater Manchester, Bristol, Coventry and Newcastle will have CAZs affecting commercial vehicles by the end of 2020.
Vehicles entering the CAZs will need to be Euro VI/6, any non-compliant vehicles will be charged, but not banned. FTA estimates the charges could be £20 per day for vans and £100 per day for HGVs.
FTA are now engaging with the named local authorities to assist them in the development of their plans. Further details will come as local council develop their plans, all insights gained will be discussed at Freight Councils and comprehensive session will be devoted to this at the Transport Manager conferences this autumn.
FTA Meetings in Brussels on CO2 standards for trucks
Together with manufacturers, the Commission has developed a computer simulation tool, VECTO (Vehicle Energy Consumption Calculation Tool), to measure CO2 emissions from new vehicles. At the end of May 2017, the European Commission introduced draft legislation which would require CO2 emissions from new HDVs to be certified, reported and monitored, building on its VECTO tool. The intention was to allow road operators to obtain better information on the CO2 performance of new vehicles at the point of purchase. The European Commission is also considering setting standards on CO2 emissions and fuel consumption reduction for heavy goods vehicles in the first half of 2018. These standards would essentially set mandatory limits on average CO2 emissions from newly registered heavy-duty vehicles, as is currently done for vans.
In view of these recent developments, FTA recently met with Transport & Environment (T&E), a leading NGO in Brussels, active on all matters related to the impact of transport on the environment (including climate policy and air quality). This meeting allowed us to gather more intelligence regarding T&E’s views on CO2 standards for trucks, and related climate issues for road transport. T&E feels that the computer simulation tool VECTO (Vehicle Energy Consumption Calculation Tool), which has been largely designed by truck manufacturers and will allow for the measurement of a truck’s CO2 performance, is not transparent enough and too restrictive in terms of the types of technologies covered. These concerns have been largely shared by trade associations representing road transport operators, including FTA. We will discuss possible joint activities in this field with T&E and other associations from across Europe. The meeting also provided an opportunity to discuss the merits of adopting CO2 standards for trucks, something that T&E has been advocating vocally in Brussels.
FTA also met with the team in charge of future legislative proposals on CO2 emissions for trucks. Now that the European Commission has produced a certification tool (with VECTO), and that a proposal on monitoring and reporting of CO2 emissions is out (it was released as part of the Mobility Package in May 2017), the European Commission’s attention is turning to the development of CO2 standards for new heavy duty vehicles. Results from the CE Delft study commissioned by DG CLIMA should be made available in October 2017. FTA had contributed to the study, with several contributions from members of its environment working group. The study will underpin the impact assessment that will precede the publication of a legal proposal on CO2 standards for new heavy duty vehicles, due to be published around June 2018 (with an updated set of CO2 standards for vans due to be published in November 2017).
A public consultation is in preparation and should be launched in the Autumn 2017, potentially complemented with a stakeholders workshop. The European Commission is likely to come up with different targets for each class of vehicles defined in the VECTO tool, and could even set different standards based on the utility factor of a given class, or the usage of a vehicle (long distance v. short distance). FTA will share any new intelligence with members and will consult members once the consultation questionnaire has been published.
(The views and opinions expressed by the authors of these blogs are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Freight Transport Association)
I regularly get asked what our advice is around the issue of overloading on vans; our response is very simply – don’t do it!
But the fact that we get asked so often is interesting in itself. Why is it there is this feeling that somehow there is a tolerance around loading vans?
The law is very straightforward. Every van will have both axle and overall weight limits. These limits will be found on the ‘manufacturers plate’ which all vans must have and can usually be found under the bonnet or around the passenger door. It is simply an offence under the Road Traffic Act (1988) to operate a vehicle in excess of these limits and both the driver and the employer are liable to prosecution with a maximum fine of up to £5000.
The police in particular are becoming increasingly aware of the issues around overloaded vans and are increasingly stopping and prosecuting – as they put it, spotting an overloaded van isn’t the hardest thing in the world!
So, what can be done to avoid falling foul of the law?
In our experience the problem is very often ignorance.
Many vans can physically hold way more that they can legally carry from a weight point-of-view. We see many examples of vans simply being loaded until they can’t fit any more in.
Another scenario we see regularly is the engineer in a van who “collects” things! The van may well have been carefully specified and fitted with properly designed racking and equipment, that, when allocated to the engineer was probably just under the magic 3500kg figure. The engineer then starts adding to the vehicle stock with the “just in case” tools and the “that might come in handy” materials and before we know it the vehicle is overloaded.
Our advice to operators is to check and check again that your engineers aren’t putting you at risk of an accident or prosecution (FTA can offer “gate checks” where, with the operator’s authority, we stop vans to check both their roadworthiness and weight – please contact info@vanexcellence.co.uk for information).
Make sure your drivers (and their managers and supervisors) know exactly what is expected of them and they know what their vans can legally carry.
And remember the buck stops with you.
Attend your FREE local Van Excellence Risk Seminar for more information on operational risks and how to avoid them.
@vanexcellence
(The views and opinions expressed by the authors of these blogs are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Freight Transport Association)
