With the big push to protect our environment and our industry being one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas production, it is little surprise that changes are afoot. In fact, many changes that will affect the haulage industry have already been made.
The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ)
What Is It?
This zone in Central London coincides with the Congestion Zone and has been created to improve air quality in the capital. It is in place 24 hours a day, every day of the week and if vehicles don’t comply with the ULEZ emissions standards, drivers have to pay a penalty charge. Daily charges for us haulage workers are hefty: £100 for lorries over 3.5 tonnes.
The Implications
This scheme is being rolled out in other cities across the UK as well and, while it might seem that haulage workers are set to face the majority of the costs, the Government has to keep pace with other countries and do all it can to protect the environment.
A Vision for the Future
Our industry is thriving, which is great news for all of us. The “Better Delivery: The challenge for freight” report states that the number of trucks on the road will increase by 27-45% over the coming years. Not only that, but the number of miles clocked up by drivers in our industry is set to increase by as much as 89% over the course of the next 30 years.
While we can be confident that our line of work is pretty secure, we also have to acknowledge that we contribute (along with rail transport) to around 9% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. If we continue filling our vehicles with unclean fuels, emissions from road and rail freight could reach 20% of the total emissions by 2050. This is why we have to make changes now.
Banning Conventional Fuels
The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) is pushing the Government to take petrol and diesel HGVs off our roads by 2040 and make the freight industry carbon-free by 2050. The NIC believes that this is only way the targets are going to be met.
What does this mean for haulage workers?
Electric powered vehicles will eventually become the norm without a doubt, but we all know that this can’t and won’t happen overnight. It is understandable that people in our industry are unsure of how the government is planning to achieve its goal and support firms in integrating the new technology. The hope is that there will be a carefully thought out plan that will help hauliers make the change, because it’s in the interests of the Government to support us, otherwise the deadline may come and no one will be ready to comply.
What’s the Hope?
The NIC are encouraging the government to expose their plans for the next two years and they are looking for a detailed explanation as to how the Government intends to actually carry out the removal of all petrol and diesel vehicles, as well as information on infrastructure developments. If we get the information and the time to begin to make the changes, we have more chance of having everything in place by the time the deadline comes around.
Norman Dulwich is a Correspondent for Haulage Exchange, the leading online trade network for the road transport industry. Connecting logistics professionals across the UK and Europe through their website, Haulage Exchange provides services for matching haulage work with available drivers, and is now the fastest growing Freight Exchange in the UK.
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