Latest Industry news – Page 158
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Road freight company failures more than double in Q3
Company failures in the road freight sector more than doubled in the third quarter of this year, outstripping the 81.5% increase in the transport and logistics sector as a whole, according to the latest Creditsafe Watchdog Report.The Watchdog report, which looks at the quarterly performance of over 114,000 companies in ...
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Government's Air Quality Plan to be scrutinised by four select committees
The government’s latest Air Quality Plan is set to receive “unprecedented scrutiny” from a cross party team of MPs.The Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Environmental Audit Committee, Health Committee, and Transport Committee have joined forces to examine the government’s new Air Quality Plan.The plan was launched in July this ...
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Tail-lift weight limit was the right call, says Palletline boss on second anniversary
Palletline’s decision to limit standard tail-lift deliveries to 750kg two years ago was “absolutely right”, according to MD Graham Leitch.Speaking on the second anniversary of Palletline’s move to introduce the limit to protect drivers and customers, Leitch (pictured) said he had no regrets that the business and its members had ...
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Freight deserves a 'champion' in London, says FTA
The FTA has called for a freight commissioner for London to ensure mayor Sadiq Khan’s draft transport strategy is implemented. Its suggestion coincides with the end of the consultation period for the strategy (2 October 2017).The FTA’s 20-page report responding to the strategy rebutted proposals by TfL for a London ...
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Volvo Trucks' LNG-powered range available from spring 2018
Volvo Trucks’ gas-powered artic and rigid trucks will be available from spring 2018, the manufacturer has revealed. The FH (pictured) and FM LNG trucks, designed for long-haul operations, will be available with 420hp or 460hp engines.Volvo claimed the models offered the same fuel consumption and performance as its diesel trucks ...
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The public needs urgent education about how to use smart motorways safely, says watchdog
Highways England must raise the visibility of smart motorway emergency refuge areas “as soon as possible” and educate drivers on what the Red X sign means, according to Transport Focus.The call follows a survey from the transport watchdog , published this week, which found low level driver awareness of ...
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Earned recognition should challenge operators, but requirements must be realistic
The FTA has said it is important that the requirements for DVSA’s earned recognition scheme are realistic, but should still challenge participants to be exemplary operators.Commenting after the DVSA detailed the KPIs operators taking part in the scheme’s trial will be measured against, the FTA’s head of licensing and compliance ...
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Van traffic surges as HGV annual mileage falls
Van traffic was the fastest growing category on UK roads in the year ended March 2017, while the number of miles travelled by HGVs fell. According to the DfT’s Provisional Road Traffic Estimates, Vans accounted for 49.6 billion vehicle miles on roads between April 2016 and March 2017; a 4.5% ...
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FTA calls for revision to financial standing requirements post-Brexit
The financial standing system should be completely reviewed when the UK leaves the EU, according to the FTA.The association said it would be "absurd" for the UK to continue to require O-licence holders to demonstrate a level of finance set by European law post-Brexit on 29 March 2019.James Firth, the ...
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Big data could improve road safety says Microlise
Big improvements in the way huge amounts of data is analysed could soon lead to detailed risk ratings for specific roads at different times of the day, according to Matthew Hague, executive director – product strategy at Microlise.Speaking at the IRTE conference, Hague predicted that fleets will harness the power ...
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Pall-Ex Group now moving more pallets by volume across mainland Europe than UK
Pall-Ex Group is now moving more pallets by volume through its partners in continental Europe than in the UK, according to its boss.Speaking to MT, group MD Kevin Buchanan said approximately 60% of overall group volume is accounted for by its European partners.“We move more pallets through Europe than the ...
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Scania to appeal against €881m European Commission cartel fine
Scania is to appeal today’s €881m (£771m) fine from the European Commission (EC) over price-fixing, after refuting the findings.In a statement the truck manufacturer said: “Scania has reviewed today’s decision by the EC concerning inappropriate exchange of information during the period of 1997-2011, and will appeal against it.“Scania strongly contests ...
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Scania hit with €881m fine from European Commission over truck price-fixing
The European Commission (EC) has hit Scania with a €881m (£771m) fine after concluding that it broke EU antitrust rules.It means the commission has now levied fines approaching €3.8bn collectively against Europe’s major truck manufacturers.Last year it hit five manufacturers with a €2.9bn fine comprising Volvo Group, Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler, ...
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LNG a 'vital' tool for tackling emissions challenge from HGVs, says Volvo Trucks
Volvo Trucks plans to intensify its development of gas-powered HGVS aimed at the regional and long-distance trunking market.The manufacturer said recent EU regulations continue to challenge the road haulage sector to reduce HGV emissions, with liquefied natural gas (LNG) or biogas offering a “vital part of the solution”.“Many of our ...
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TfL releases truck-star ratings and proposes softening Direct Vision Standard's impact on hauliers
TfL has released interim tables showing the first batch of HGVs to be star-rated under the Direct Vision Standard (DVS), while seemingly also softening the impact of the scheme on hauliers.Revealed last year, the standard is seeking to introduce a rating system running from zero to five based on the ...
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Longer semi-trailers should be made permanent fixture, says FTA, as DfT hits trial target
The DfT has achieved its original target of getting 1,800 longer semi-trailers on the roads, albeit almost five years after the scheme was first launched.According to the DfT’s annual report on the trial, 1,806 longer semi-trailers were in circulation at the end of 2016.However, the number of operators taking part ...
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Competition intensifying as demand for data grows within transport, research finds
A majority of respondents in the transport and logistics sector believe competition has intensified in the past year, according to research from Menzies. As part of a research study of more than 1,000 SMEs, 30 road transport companies were quizzed on the current and future challenges that they face.Key findings ...
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Logistics on the cusp of new wave of robotic automation, report finds
A robot developed by the company Starship Technologies for parcel delivery company Hermes can be seen in Hamburg, Germany.One in five transport business leaders believe there is considerable potential for the use of robots working in the industry within the next decade.A report from the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) ...
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Hauliers remain worried about finding enough good drivers, survey finds.
The number one concern of hauliers remains finding enough good drivers, even for those who are not currently recruiting, according to a survey by Pall-Ex.The pallet network asked 100 of its haulier-members what their key concerns were and the stand out worry - for 41% of respondents - was finding ...
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Severn Crossing tolls to be lowered ahead of scrapping
The Severn Crossing tolls will be reduced next year ahead of being scrapped entirely, the government has confirmed.Highways England will gain ownership of the crossing on 8 January 2018, at which point the tolls will cease to include VAT.This means that the current £20 cost for an HGV to cross ...