News: February 2009

Commercial vehicles registrations down 35.6% in January

Figures for registrations of HGV’s reported by the ACEA – the European Association of Vehicle Manufacturers - reflect the economic situation. For January 2009, was recorded a significant drop in demand for all four categories: -36.6% for vans, -34.7% for heavy trucks, -33.0% for trucks and -15.8% for buses and coaches.

With a drop of 37.1% in Western Europe and 33.1% in the new member states, the two sides of Europe are relatively similar. Amongst the major European markets, Spain seems to have been especially affected, with a decrease of 50.7% while the Belgian (-13.2%) and Dutch (-22%) markets recorded drops below the European average. In Central Europe, spectacular decreases were seen in the Baltic states (-77.8% on average) against the Polish market which only dipped by 5%).

www.acea.be

New regulations for tyres will save fuel but fail on noise

An informal political agreement has been reached between representatives of the European Parliament, Commission and Member States concerning car and lorry tyres. This agreement aims to improve the situation regarding ‘rolling resistance’ and thus the energy efficiency of new tyres by around 20% by 2016. This will translate into a decrease in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of some 3% for cars and trucks.

The legislation also sets noise standards for tyres but these will make little difference to traffic noise overall. Although car tyres will have to be significantly quieter, lorry tyres will be largely unaffected so people living alongside motorways will not notice the difference. Around 90% of lorry tyres currently on the market already meet the new standards.

The regulation will be formally agreed by the European Parliament and representatives of Member States later this year.

www.transportenvironment.org

TransGuard – the new theft protection system for Krone vehicles

TransGuard - this is the name of the new innovative solution against the theft of goods and vehicles which Krone developed in cooperation with the telematics supplier idem and the security specialist I-protect.

"Robbery of goods out of parked trailers or even theft of the complete semitrailer regrettably are daily routine for police and hauliers today, Krone Manager Uwe Sasse explains. "For this reason we extended our previous vehicle control system TControl by several safety components."

With the new TransGuard system, the forwarder now cannot only monitor, but also effectively protect his vehicle from afar. Parked vehicles are automatically secured: the TransGuard system blocks the wheels in parking position, at the same time the electronic door locks are barred. A code must be entered to couple the trailer or to open the door.

Another benefit of the TransGuard system in combination with TControl: through the continuous monitoring of the vehicle via GPS, deviations from the route can be transmitted to the forwarding company, to the consignee or to the security staff as an alarm message. Thus the police can be alarmed as fast as possible and can start corresponding actions immediately.

The patented and TÜV-certified safety system TransGuard will be available with immediate effect for any KRONE vehicle

www.krone.de

Large order for Volvo buses in Canada

The city transit corporation, STM in Montreal (Canada), has ordered 410 city buses from Volvo Bus subsidiary Nova Bus. The order involves articulated as well as regular 12-metre buses and is worth SEK 1.3 bn.

Deliveries are to start this year. Within the next three years, Nova Bus will deliver a total of 214 buses in 2009, followed by 427 in 2010 and 317 more in 2011.

The new buses use structural stainless steel, have particulate filters to cut emissions, front-door access ramps and safety camera systems. Nova Bus has two plants in Canada and a new plant in Plattsburgh, New York, where production starts up this year.

www.vovlo.com

Transport Logistic 2009 will be fully booked by exhibitors

The 12th International Exhibition for Logistics, Telematics and Transport that will be held in Munich on May, 12th- 15th, will be fully booked by exhibitors. Compared to the previous edition in 2007, the exhibition area has been increased to some 100,000 m². This success is being seen as a positive sign in these times of worldwide economic crisis. www.transportlogistic.de

French Government will probably provide a loan to Renault Trucks

Renault Trucks is discussing the possibility of getting a loan with the French Government. Volvo Group appreciates the fact that its subsidiary, Renault Trucks, could receive help from the French Government.

The conditions of the credit will have to be properly reviewed, not only from a legal perspective, before any final decision can be made. The loan offer to the French manufacturer has been criticized for being protectionist and possibly in breach of EU legislation, both by member states and the European Commission.

Renault Trucks will therefore continue its talks with the French government.

www.renault-trucks.com

DAF Trucks N.V. reaches ‘Zero Waste to Landfill’

DAF Trucks N.V. got the official declaration from Lloyd’s Register, Netherlands that waste to landfill has been reduced to zero. The Dutch truck manufacturer no longer disposes of its waste to landfill, but instead chooses its further processing.

DAF’s environmental specialists and their partners have been analyzing the waste flows and found a number of alternatives in the field of re-use or recycling. All waste is recycled, used as raw material or building material or used for energy generation through incineration. For example, paint sludge is applied in the cement industry, filter cake is utilized in the mining industry as building materials, waste of shot blasting is used for the concrete blocks production.

With its 0% dump of waste materials, DAF Trucks underscores its leading position in the field of environmental concern.

www.daf.com

Scania delivering 250 coaches to Angola

Scania has completed its largest bus and coach transaction to date in Angola, selling 250 intercity coaches. The coaches will provide service between major cities and play a key role in improving the efficiency of scheduled transport in Angola. The decisive factor behind choosing Scania was strong confidence in the company as a supplier of a complete transport solution. www.scania.com

New MAN assembly plant opens in Saudi Arabia

MAN Commercial Vehicles commissions truck assembly plant in Jeddah.

January 24th, 2009. On January 24 2009 MAN, together with its Saudi Arabian importer Haji Husein Alireza & Co. Ltd., opened a truck assembly plant in Jeddah. The TiB plant (truck in the box, see explanation below) is designed to produce 3,000 vehicles a year in single-shift operation. It assembles MAN TGA-WW trucks and semi-trailer tractors, initially for the local market.

The plant in Saudi Arabia is a joint project between MAN Commercial Vehicles and Haji Husein Alireza & Co. Ltd., MAN's reliable Saudi Arabian partner of 25 years' standing. The new plant meets the requirements of the most modern truck assembly and is equipped in accordance with MAN standards. "The strong growth in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and in the Middle East is of the greatest importance for MAN. Our partnership with Haji Husein Alireza & Co. Ltd. and the new plant are important pillars of MAN Commercial Vehicle's international growth strategy," stressed Anton Weinmann, Chairman of the Executive Board of the MAN Commercial Vehicles Group at the opening in Jeddah.

MAN Commercial Vehicles has been represented in Saudi Arabia for 25 years. In 2007, MAN's share of the market for trucks over 16 tonnes was 22.7%. The construction time of the plant was only one year: at the end of 2008, the first 150 MAN vehicles had already rolled off the new plant's assembly line.

"Truck in the box" (TiB) is the MAN concept for CKD (completely knocked down) vehicles, i.e. the disassembly of a vehicle in order to ship it to another site for final assembly. MAN interprets the TiB concept as a logistical service because the complete vehicle is commissioned for shipment and components that are relevant to safety, such as the brake system, for example, are already pre-assembled. The truck-in-the-box vehicles of the TGA-WW series are prepared for shipping at the MAN plant in Salzgitter. www.man-mn.com