Volvo Backs Use of Longer, Heavier Trucks
This story appears in the May 18 print edition of Transport Topics.
BOSTON — Volvo Trucks joined the argument over allowing longer, heavier trucks on U.S. highways, saying Congress should allow them on the interstate system to relieve congestion, increase productivity, conserve fuel and cut greenhouse gas emissions.
At a seminar held here May 8 in conjunction with a sailing race that Volvo sponsors, Scott Kress, Volvo Trucks North America senior vice president of sales and marketing, said motor carriers should have the “ability to use longer combination vehicles throughout the Interstate Highway System.”
Bill Graves, president of American Trucking Associations, who also spoke at the seminar, said that while ATA wants heavier and longer vehicles, “I don’t expect this to embraced . . . overnight.”
Later, Leif Johansson, chief executive officer of AB Volvo, the Swedish parent of VTNA, said the debate over allowing larger trucks was going on not only in the United States but also in Europe and Asia.
Many states already allow longer combination trucks, Graves said. “It’s controversial, but it’s not like a new, untried concept. It’s a sensitive issue because of safety.”
Kress, however, emphasized that Volvo would not support longer or heavier trucks if the company thought they would jeopardize the company’s reputation for safety.
Larger, heavier trucks have a better safety record than single tractor-trailer combinations, Kress said, and Volvo has “the experience, technology and ability to produce trucks which fully meet the safety concerns of any objective participant in this discussion.
“Volvo will not compromise its role as the industry leader in highway safety,” he said.
Graves said he hoped Congress would debate the issue during its reauthorization of transportation legislation this year, but “anything we can get done in the near term would be only the tiniest bite of the apple” on more productive trucks.
He said he hoped the transportation bill would include a “large truck-only-lane pilot project” and that part of the deal would be to allow larger, heavier trucks on those lanes.
Johansson, speaking with re-porters here, said that Sweden and Finland are debating an increase in truck weights, that there was a pilot project in Holland and Belgium and the issue was being discussed in India and China.
A recent study sponsored by the National Private Truck Council said allowing tractor-trailers to carry 97,000 pounds rather than 80,000 pounds and permitting twin 53-foot trailer combinations would cut overall diesel fuel use by 3 billion gallons.
Bills already have been offered in Congress, both backing and opposing larger heavier trucks.
The National Industrial Transportation League, a shipper group, announced in its May 8 newsletter that it supports the Safe and Efficient Transportation Act, which would create a 97,000-pound weight limit.
Rep. Michael Michaud, (D-Maine), has introduced a bill which would allow states to increase the weight limit to 97,000 pounds, while Rep. James McGovern, (D-Mass.) has introduced a bill that would freeze existing size and weight limits.
