Pioneering high-productivity Super-Bs cut truck journeys
Pioneering high-productivity Super-Bs cut truck journeys
Two pioneering high productivity truck and
trailer units that are longer and heavier than standard
vehicles are dramatically reducing the number of truck
journeys on their set route in Hawke’s Bay.
And the
success of the pair, each comprising a standard tractor unit
and two purposebuilt trailers, warrants official approval of
more like them, New Zealand Truck & Driver magazine
believes.
In five years of operation, the so-called
Super-B units have carted one million tonnes of wood pulp
between the Pan Pac Forest Products mill at Whirinaki, to
the Port of Napier – cutting the number of truck journeys
needed for the job by a third.
The units, designed and
built by Rotorua’s Kraft Engineering for Emmerson
Transport (ETL), operate on High Productivity Motor Vehicle
(HPMV) permits, which allow their 23.8 metre length and an
additional 18-tonnes of weight above the 44-tonne standard
weight limit.
They are strictly limited to the
18-kilometre route between the mill at the port, as approved
by their NZ Transport Agency permits.
ETL managing
director Ian Emmerson told NZ Truck & Driver that with the
Super-Bs “we’ve taken 3500 movements off the road per
12-month period. They’re doing 28-30 total round trips a
day, from 6am to 10pm, over two shifts.”
As well as
cutting the daily trips and total kilometres travelled by
33% (compared to the six standard truck and trailer units
they replaced), the Super-Bs have also cut labour input by
27%, capital input by 12% and fuel use (and thus harmful
exhaust emissions) by 9%, according to the magazine.
Pan
Pac’s pulp division general manager Tony Clifford said
that the Super-Bs have saved “over one-million litres of
diesel for every year in operation. The HPMV concept has
halved our product cartage cost over the next equivalent
option.”
The two units were put to work by ETL in 2012.
Another Kraft-built Super-B, a logging unit, was also
approved around the same time, to work in the central North
Island.
They were sanctioned by the NZTA as part of its
highly-successful HPMV programme – aimed at improving the
efficiency and productivity of NZ’s national truck fleet.
Thousands of trucks have now been okayed to run at higher
weights, subject to strict conditions, under the
programme.
The vast majority of them though are shorter
and lighter than the Super-Bs and NZ Truck & Driver
publisher Trevor Woolston is concerned that the opportunity
for even more productivity gains is being lost, with the
NZTA appearing to “stall” the project…despite their
proven success and an industry keen to adopt the concept in
other regions.
The magazine says that Kraft Engineering
spent four years developing and gaining approval for the
Super-B concept…which has now proven successful in five
years of operation. But Kraft told NZ Truck & Driver that
its applications for further Super-Bs have so far been
rejected by the NZTA.
Woolston says that while the
Super-Bs are not suited to general use across the country,
“they could, if permitted, bring the same benefits to all
road-users (and the NZ economy) in many other
areas.
“Provided the roads are suitable for these
units, the Super-Bs are perfect for freight tasks where
trucks run back and forth on the same route, all day, every
day.
“The public and the industry alike both want to
see fewer trucks on the road – and allowing them to carry
more freight is the best way of achieving that.”
Ian
Emmerson also believes that the Super-Bs have potential
elsewhere, telling NZ Truck & Driver: “There are a lot of
areas where this concept would work, and reduce costs, and
benefit all operators and the economy. The NZTA is curious,
but we’d like them to be a bit more open-minded about it
happening, because you need to protect exporters.”
And
it’s not just economically positive, he told NZ Truck &
Driver: “Socially, that’s an achievement we’re proud
of, and which the NZTA and local authorities would be
supportive of.”
Pan Pac’s Tony Clifford told NZ
Truck & Driver: “We’ve saved over 400,000-litres of
diesel since these units were introduced. In regional terms,
Pan Pac contributes just over $400million of the Hawke’s
Bay GDP, around 5.5%; is responsible for providing 1900
fulltime jobs, and we account for one-third of all the
products through the Napier Port.
“The HPMV concept
has been a critical part of delivering our product reliably
and at the lowest costs, given the existing technology and
the compliance regulations at the time.”
Road Transport
Forum chief executive Ken Shirley says that the HPMV
programme has led to “huge” gains and is “a magical
story of success.
“The beauty and the promise of HPMV
was to recognise that all of the state highways and arterial
routes can comfortably take up to 60-tonnes….. Yes, the
HPMVs are bigger, but they’re better, safer, newer, fewer,
with improved technology – so you’re actually moving
more goods with fewer, modern trucks.”
NZTA’s freight
strategy manager Marinus La Rooij, told the magazine that he
does believe that “in the future there will be more units
like this on the road” – tailored for very specific
freight tasks, where the roads and the environment can
safely accommodate them.
A review of trucks and trailers
over 23-metres long is currently under way and should be
finalised by the end of the year, he said.
Future
Super-Bs, he added, would also likely be limited to precise
routes: “There’s not a lot of possibility for widespread
general access because the road network is too tight, and
we’re not prepared to compromise safety…but what’s
happened here has been
fantastic.”