SCDigest Editorial Staff
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 Some 40% of Kraft's trucks leave being weighed out yet still have physical room on the trailer, meaning they could be candidates to out more freight on the truck if the weight limit was increased.
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A shipper led effort to allow trucks to increase total weight by 17,000 pounds on US highways is gaining momentum, but actual passage of the change in Washington may depend on the full Highway Re-Authorization Bill coming to a vote sometime in 2011.
The Coalition for Transportation Productivity was formed in 2008 with some 30 shipper members, whose numbers have grown now to some 175 participants, including both dozens of shippers and a variety of other organizations, such as the American Trucking Associations, the National Association of Manufacturers, and many others. The goal is to pass the Safe and Efficient Transportation Act (SETA) act, which would extend the current federal gross vehicle weight limit on interstate highways from 80,000 pounds to 97,000 pounds in conjunction with adding a sixth axle to the rear of 53-foot trailers. While some of the increased weight would be taken up by the additional axle, the change should give shippers a substantial increase in cargo capacity by weight per load. The actual increase will vary per load, as it would become likely in some cases with the change that the shipper might then cube out a load before it weighs out.
The sixth axle weigh is estimated to weigh about 3,000 pounds. That leaves an additional 14,000 pounds of cargo being added to the vehicle -- or about 59,000 total pounds of cargo - instead of today's 45,000 pounds, if the trailer does not cube out first. That's an increase of up to 31% more cargo per load.
The proposed change is gaining momentum, according to executive director John Runyan, due to several factors, including its potential to reduce net fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, and a test in Maine and Vermont showing supposed safety concerns for the heavier vehicles are really not an issue. That has led to strong bi-partisan support for the bill, with dozens of co-sponsors from both parties in the House version of the bill, and similar support expected from a recently introduced Senate version.
The initiative faces opposition, however, mostly from groups arguing that the heavier trucks would pose a safety issue for regular automobile drivers. Runyan, however, says some groups, such as the Coalition Against Bigger Trucks (CABT), are heavily funded by railroad interests, which naturally look to protect their piece of the transportation pie by blocking more efficient truckload configurations. Runyan says studies have shown SETA would not divert a significant level of freight from truck to rail - the what constitutes "significant" levels is certainly open to debate.
CABT is backing the Safe Highways and Infrastructure Preservation Act (SHIPA), which would instead freeze weight limits on all roads in the national highway system and take away each state's ability to set its own weight limits on its highways.
A weight limit change would actually improve truck safety by reducing the number of trucks needed for delivery and hence reducing total truck miles driven, which is a key facotr in overall safety performance, Runyan told SCDigest. For example, a 2009 study by the Wisconsin DOT study looked at truck-related accident data in the state during 2006. Runyan says that from that data, a reasonable estimate is that that if a law like SETA had been in place in 2006, it would have prevented 90 truck-related accidents in the state that year. That follows actual data from the United Kingdom, which raised its gross vehicle weight limit to 97,000 pounds for six-axle vehicles in 2001. Since then, fatal truck-related accident rates have declined by 35%, as actual truck vehicle miles travelled declined substantially. Canada and other parts of Europe currently have the higher weight limits as well.
Another concern raised by opponents of the change is that the heavier trucks would increase maintenance costs for roads and bridges. Runyan says that the same Wisconsin DOT study found that while the change would result in some increase in bridge maintenance costs, those would be more than overcome in lower re-pavement cost coming from fewer truck miles, netting a total savings to the state from the program. The Coalition notes the addition of the sixth axle keep the pounds per tire the same as today's 80,000 pound vehicles.
Similar data is also coming out of Maine and Vermont, which had raised weight limits on trucks on state roads a few years back, and which were both granted one year pilot programs late last year (ending this December) by Washington to allow the heavier trucks on federal controlled interstate highways in both states.
The data thus far shows "a slam dunk win for safety improvements in Maine and Vermont," Runyan says.
The Teamsters union is also opposed to the bill, concerned that it will lead to a reduction in jobs for drivers. However, Runyan says that growing concern over looming driver shortages means that argument is not likely to gain much traction. (See Concern about Driver Shortages Continues, as Leading Refrigerated Trucking Firm Apologizes for Poor Service, Promises to Hire 800 New Drivers.)
Kraft Foods Sees Big Opportunities for Logistics Savings and Sustainability
Harry Haney is Associate Director of Transportation Planning at Kraft Foods and was key to getting the Coalition off the ground, now serving as the organization's Chairman.
(Transportation Management Article - Continued Below)
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All told, Haney says that conservatively Kraft estimates that it would reduce the total amount of shipments and required truck movements for finished goods by 6%. That would not only provide similar reductions in freight spend, but result in a reduction in fuel usage of 6.6 million gallons annually and A decrease in CO2 emissions by 73,000 tons each year.
