News: December 2007

Italian expert group TRT would like to know your opinion and/or experience of toll differentiation. The survey is carried out for the purposes of the DIFFERENT project and on behalf of the European Commission.

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The MAN group now holds 25.1% of Euro-Leasing GmbH, a specialist n truck leasing and rental, via its subsidiary MAN Finance International. With this stake-holding, the two partners intend to strengthen their market position and develop Central and Eastern Europe. Euro-Leasing currently has a fleet of over 2,000 tractor units and 10,000 trailers and semi-trailers. Its 2007 turnover will be around 170 million Euros.

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The transport committee of the European Parliament has unanimously approved the desire to reduce bureaucracy in the transport sector. The European Commission wants to eliminate unnecessary administrative burdens from companies, generated by the obligation to fill in a multitude of documents on the type of load, costs of passage, etc. Priority will be given to the consignment note. The reduction in the administrative burden should save almost 160 million Euros per year.

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Continental Tyres is advising operators to make sure their vehicles are fitted with suitable rubber for winter weather. It urges those planning to travel to snow-covered areas to ensure their tyres and vehicles comply with the respective local legislation, or else the driver may incur financial penalties and may even be prevented from entering or travelling through that country.

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Studies show that lack of attention is the single largest cause of traffic accidents. As a consequence – and part of the Volvo Group’s comprehensive safety efforts - Volvo Technology Transfer is now investing in Seeing Machines, which is technology developed by an Australian company that detects and warns vehicle drivers in the event of tiredness.

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The European Commission is due to adopt rules on the enforcement of an average CO2 emission limit 120g/km for cars by 2012. This has led to media rumours that car makers could be fined billions of euros a year in penalties for failing to meet EU emissions limits. According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the Financial Times Deutschland, Brussels may charge €95 per gram and per car for excess CO2 emissions or fines up to €13bn a year. Greenpeace wants sanctions to be in the range of €150 per gram. There are no similar limits for commercial vehicles yet, but don't hold your breath.

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Renault Trucks has announced a facelift to the Renault Magnum tractor, to appear in the first half of next year. In a press release today, the company says:

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MAN Nutzfahrzeuge and PON Holdings are to create a 50/50 joint company called MAN West Region BV. This company, set up under Dutch law, will take charge of sales, distribution and after sales service for MAN and Neoplan trucks and buses in France and the three countries of the Benelux. According to our information, Belgium and France will retain their current import structure. PON Holdings has been the MAN importer in the Netherlands for 27 years (under the name of MAN Nederland since 2001). It also has 15 distribution subsidiaries there, employing 280. At an international level, PON Holdings employs over 9000 persons in 11 countries.

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Italian transporters have just suspended their strike and road blockage actions started three days previously. Negotiations will take place over the coming days on the subject of their anger, namely regarding the rise in fuel prices.

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Tachodisc is warning the industry to be ready next month for the changes to the law with regards the retention of charts, which comes into force on 1st January 2008. The time period is being extended to include the current day and the previous 28 calendar days (in other words, the driver will have to carry 29 calendar days' worth of records, in one form or another).

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The IRU is demanding an immediate halt to blockages in Italy and is joining with the European Commission in order to activate the community process for rapid intervention in order to guarantee the circulation of merchandise in the EU. According to the IRU, any blocking of traffic is not only contrary to the fundamental community principal of free circulation, but is also a source of substantial financial loss, penalising transporters and, more seriously still, the whole of the European economy. It will be recalled that Italian transporters are protesting against the explosion in fuel prices.

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The truck industry’s most demanding test – the 1,000 Point Test – is carried out every year by the European motoring trade press with the aim of comparing the market’s range of long-haul trucks with each other.

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A European Court of Justice (ECJ) order could force the Irish government to improve and expand its mandatory training programmes for road hauliers. The European Commission (EC) has asked judges to rule that Ireland's current training system is insufficient to meet the safety standards required by the European Union (EU) Directive on training professional drivers.

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Scania has again chosen Alfdex to clean crankcase gases in its new 9 and 13 litre Euro 5 engines. The deal covers all Euro 5 engines and deliveries begin towards the end of the year. The system uses a centrifugal separator to capture and eliminate oil and soot from the exhaust gases that escape into the crankcase. The firm says its unit, sealed for life, keeps turbochargers and charge coolers running at peak performance and needs no maintenance. "This order, the second from Scania, confirms and expands on the cooperation we began back in 2002", says Mats Ekeroth, managing director at Alfdex AB. "Alfdex has already been supplying for Scania's Euro 4 engines for some time. "We now have orders worth around Skr 1 bn (€1.bn) over the next three to five years" The firm, a joint venture between Alfa Laval and Haldex supplies Freightliner, Mack, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi Fuso, Renault, Scania, Sterling Trucks, Volvo and Western Star Trucks.

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Recent figures from Acea, the European vehicle makers association show European van, truck, bus and coach registrations up 13% in October, to 245 837. Within this total, van and light CV registrations were up 9.7% to 202,010. Light truck and heavy van registrations, for vehicles from 3,5 to 15.99 tonnes were up 27% to 10,426 while heavy truck registrations, over 16 tonnes, were up 34.7%, to 30,363. Buses and coaches over 3.5 tonnes were up 17.3%. In every sector, the percentage rises for the month were much stronger in Eastern European states, often with figures between 50 and 75% above the levels for Western European states.

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Hydrogen and fuel cells have no future as replacements for petrol or diesel in the immediate future, said James Woolsey, the guest speaker at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders' highly acclaimed annual dinner last week. Former CIA chief and now chairman of the US Advisory Board of the Clean Fuels Foundation, Woolsey is a key player in the environmental debate.. "Hydrogen and fuel cells are not the way to go. The decision by the Bush administration and the State of California to follow the hydrogen highway is the single worst decision in the past few years." He said a hydrogen infrastructure will cost the US alone one trillion dollars. "In the meantime you have to bring down the cost of a fuel cell vehicle by a factor of about 40 or 50 to make it affordable." Woolsey sees a bright future for 'plug-in' hybrid electric vehicles - using both an electric motor and a conventional petrol or diesel engine, as 78% of cars in the US do less than 40 miles a day. This is well within the range of electric power, would cut the dependence on oil and keep the option to do longer journeys. And using off-peak, overnight, charging would avoid the need for a big increase in the output of America's electricity grid. "The important thing is that there should not be a single solution or decision by governments. There should be a portfolio of ideas," he concluded.

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