On the 27th of October, the UK’s top haulage companies will send delegates to the Park Royal Hotel in Warrington for the 2016 FTA Fleet Engineer Conference. The conference aims to keep attendees abreast of changes in the industry, both in terms of technological innovation and in legislative and market developments that would necessitate a change in established practice. In short, if you’re involved in fleet management, hardware purchasing, freight forwarding or a host of other fields, you’ll want to be there.
What Happens There?
There will be a number of sessions at the conference, each covering a different area in which haulage companies may be interested. The keynote speaker is Sarah Bell, the Traffic Commissioner for Western England, and other speakers include (but are not limited to) delegates from the British Tyre Manufacturer Association, the DVSA, Volvo Trucks, Don Bur and SMMT. In addition to this, the ecological concerns of the industry are well-represented too, with sessions from Rachael Dillon on the Department for Transport Low Carbon HGV Trial and Philip Greening of the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight.
These sessions cover such topics as new developments in trailer and body construction, aerodynamics, emergency braking systems, autonomous (self-driving) HGVs, and more. In addition to these technologically focused topics, EU legislation will also be covered, as well as tyre management and safety regulations, and general advice to help haulage companies ensure that their fleets remains compliant, safe and efficient. Research into the sustainable development of the haulage industry will also be covered, along with the Green Truck Fund.
Who Should Attend?
The FTA Fleet Engineer Conference has plenty of topics for anyone with an interest in the industry, but is perhaps best suited to those who work for haulage companies in a managerial and/or administrative capacity, such as those who work in fleet management or freight forwarding. The conference should help keep attendees up-to-date on legislative and technological developments in haulage, and so is likely to be most valuable to those who are concerned on a day-to-day basis with ensuring that a fleet is up-to-date and compliant.
With that said, people working in the industry in a non-managerial or administrative capacity may also be interested to attend. It’s always valuable to have a good knowledge of the current state of the industry, and drivers considering making the move to being owner-operators will especially benefit from the information given at the conference.
Details for Attendance
Tickets are available online. FTA members get a special discounted rate, with any one company’s first delegate costing £325+VAT and subsequent delegates costing £275+VAT each. Non-members will pay £385+VAT for their first delegate and £345+VAT for each delegate after that.
The FTA Fleet Engineer Conference takes place at the Park Royal Hotel in Warrington. It starts on the 27th October 2016 at 9am, and finishes at 4:15pm the same day. Attendees based far from Warrington may wish to look into accommodation for the night of the 26th.
Norman Dulwich is a Correspondent for Haulage Exchange, the leading online trade network for the road transport industry. Connecting professionals across the UK and Europe through their website, Haulage Exchange provides services for matching haulage companies with jobs in road transport and haulage work. Over 4,000 transport exchange businesses are networked together through their website, trading jobs and capacity in a safe 'wholesale' environment.
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