French hauliers’ organisations OTRE and FNTR have published their conclusions on the 48-tonne road transport experiment launched by France two years ago.
The pilot started in April 2021 with static tests on a site in the Marne, followed by a trial on the open road held under the supervision of the Ministry of Transport and the French Public Agency for Urban Planning and Ecological and Energy Transition CEREMA. The trials took place in three regions; Marne, Eure and Somme.
The FNTR and OTRE, the road transport professional organisations in charge of the project, accepted the pilot plan only on the condition that the experiment was strictly supervised and that it objectively demonstrated the interest and relevance of the issues studied.
In light of the results of the trial, professional road transport organisations have decided to strongly oppose the introduction of the 48-tonne limit for beet harvesting.
The trial has shown that the use of 48-tonne tippers for beet transport is not economically viable and does not offer convincing environmental benefits. It raises many questions about safety, the impact on road infrastructure and, more generally, the image of the industry, the haulier bodies state.
“Unlike the move from 40 to 44 tonnes, the investment required by the industry is not the same as it will not be able to use the same trailers and will therefore have to completely renew its equipment. The move from 44 to 48 tonnes is completely at odds with the commitments made by Europe, France and the industry on energy transition, compared with the priority given to the greening of the fleet by converting internal combustion vehicles to alternative energies (agrofuels, bioNGVs and NGVs, electric, hydrogen, etc.). This issue is the priority for future investment by transport operators,” the organisations say.
Therefore, FNTR and the OTRE call on the Minister of Transport, Clément BEAUNE, to stop this experiment without further action.
Photo sourced from gov.uk and used for illustrative purposes only