Green trucks mean green freight

Improving the efficiency of freight transport can save money as well as protect the environment.

Innovations in policy, technology and logistics are creating a leaner, cleaner road freight transport system in Europe – and the pressure is now on to clean up trucks. They are next in line for carbon dioxide emission standards, and there are imminent requirements to pay for air and noise pollution under a revision of the Eurovignette directive on road charging.

A greener freight system demands greener trucks, because they are used for around three-quarters of all goods transport on land. Rail is keen to increase its share of freight but a shift from road to rail has been slow to materialise. European Environment Agency data released in April showed a decline in the share of freight moved by rail and inland waterways.

The rail sector sees an opportunity to address this in the forthcoming Eurovignette revision, says Matthew Ledbury of the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER), but there are sceptics.

“It’s not only about being completely clean…rail has been until now too unpredictable [and]…national borders still seem to exist,” says Henrik Hololei, chef de cabinet for Siim Kallas, the European commissioner for transport. “If we manage to overcome these difficulties I think that rail will be a credible alternative.”

New approaches

In both road and rail, the greatest challenge is to bring greater efficiencies to logistics. In rail, Ledbury talks about a need to move away from the “just-in-time” approach, used for goods such as fresh foods, towards more mass transport of goods in bulk, on regular schedules. In the road sector, logistics innovations are being encouraged at least in part by road pricing. One London-based company handling construction materials has responded by making use of what was a novel military strategy in Napoleonic times – consolidation: Wilson James collects loads destined for London at an out-of-town centre, repackages them into fewer trucks, and then delivers the goods.

“It’s cheaper, deliveries are not delayed, there are no extra costs such as the congestion charge, and it takes 15 minutes to unload at the consolidation centre rather than two hours in London,” says managing director Gary Sullivan. He cites a 95% improvement in delivery rates and a 75% reduction in CO2.

Other innovations include an online ‘freight exchange’ set up by a firm called Teleroute that matches empty truck capacity with goods awaiting transport. The average truck in Europe is only 45% full, says Nina Renshaw from green group Transport & Environment: “Eurovignette provides an incentive to fill them up.”

But different policies are needed to promote vehicle innovations. A huge variety of truck shapes and sizes is presenting the European Commission with problems in defining a CO2 emission standard for them. Possible metrics will be explored in a Commission study due to be completed in spring 2012. A parallel study on the dynamics of the road freight market and policy options for tackling its emissions is already under way, and could make recommendations on anything from CO2 standards for parts to emissions trading, or reductions in the speed limit, according to a Commission official.

ACEA, the European carmakers’ association, wants vehicle efficiency, loads and routes to be taken into account, and is developing its own “real-life” CO2 measuring tool.

Renshaw is alarmed that the Commission has not yet developed a timeline for developing a CO2 standard for trucks. “The US has put out a proposal, which will enter into force in 2014; Japan also has standards for truck engines, and China is considering something. We could well be last on this,” she says.

But hauliers and manufacturers are not inactive. The International Road Union (IRU) last week courted EU policymakers at a conference in Brussels and secured transport ministers’ commitment to invest in research into cleaner technologies. ACEA has committed its members to a 20% reduction in tonne per kilometre CO2 emissions for trucks by 2020, compared to a 2005 baseline.

The legislation on the horizon will only add to the pressure.

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