Page 17 - Demo

Transport policy “deeply concerning”
NEWS
THE DRAFT GOVERNMENT POLICY
Statement for land transport highlights “a deeply concerning politicisation” of the National Land Transport Fund, says Road Transport Forum chief executive Ken Shirley.
“ e National Land Transport Fund (NLTF) was set up to be administered by a New Zealand Transport Agency board independent of politicians and pork-barrel politics – and for 20 years it operated relatively free of such political interference,” says Shirley.
“Unfortunately, the new draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) starkly illustrates that
those days are well and truly over.
“ e GPS has a signi cant bearing on the
administration and expenditure of the NLTF by determining the priorities for the programmes and projects undertaken under the fund,” Shirley adds.
“ e draft document, while heralding the importance of modal neutrality, destroys that objective by the cross-subsidisation of road user taxes to fund highly questionable rail and coastal shipping activities that make no contribution to the fund.
“ e increased focus on safety is strongly supported but all evidence indicates that upgrades
to the road infrastructure deliver the best safety results.
“Unfortunately, many of the upgrades in the pipeline will be cancelled or delayed by this new GPS framework, which provides an 11% cut in in state highway improvements.”
Nevertheless, says Shirley, “despite our concerns with the draft GPS, RTF looks forward to engaging with the Government on it and making sure that the road users who pay into the NLTF get the best possible outcome for their money – and funds are not diverted to pet political projects of dubious worth.” T&D
e proposed policy will divert road user taxes into rail and shipping
Scania repeats fuel economy win
A SCANIA R 500 HAS TAKEN A
repeat win in the prestigious Green Truck Award in Germany – by returning better than four kilometres per litre fuel economy gures in a carefully-controlled road test.
e Scania returned an average fuel consumption of 24.92 litre/100km at an average speed of 79.91km/h – up against other contenders all loaded to 40-tonnes all-up and driving over the same 350km test route, at the same time.
Its closest rival used 0.4 litre/100km more
than the new truck generation R 500, running an updated 13-litre engine.
Translated into a typical annual mileage for a long-distance truck of 150,000 kilometres, the fuel economy savings of the Scania R 500 would add up to 600 litres annually, Scania says.
e Green Truck Award is run by German trade magazines, Trucker and Transport Review.
Scania says it has also set a number of new fuel records in many European countries in comparison tests carried out by independent trade journalists, but its product director long haulage, Wolfgang Buschan says: “ e Green Truck Award
is a unique comparison test since it has this total focus on what matters most to our customers from a cost and sustainability perspective.
“ e fact that we won the award again this year is extremely attering.”
Scania makes the point that low fuel consumption not only saves cost, it also corresponds with energy e ciency, reduced CO2 emissions and increased sustainability.
It adds that European hauliers appreciate the lowest fuel consumption, highest average speeds and lowered CO2 e ects that help to keep costs and environmental impacts low. T&D
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