Spanish Land Transport Director General Joaquin del Moral has stated that he would be willing to increase in the maximum weight of vehicles to 44 tons. Del Moral believes that increased capacity of the vehicles would enhance the competitiveness of Spanish transport.
While neighboring European countries already have implemented measures allowing for this increase, Spain still needs to address the issue. According to Del Moral, Spain has to increase the capacity of vehicles in order to remain competitive, as the Spanish transport sector currently shows excessive fragmentation.
In the European Union disparities exist with regard to the maximum weight of vehicles. In Belgium, Luxemburg, France, Italy and Great Britain the maximum weight is 44 tons, in the Netherlands it is 50 tons. Only between the Benelux countries are the ‘super trucks’ allowed to cross borders.
For European shippers allowing the super trucks to freely move between Member States would enable shippers to fully profit from the vehicles’ load capacity. Additionally, it would stimulate further development of the single market, thereby increasing competitiveness and enhancing economic growth.
TRANSPRIME, the Spanish Shippers’ Council and member of ESC, holds the position that the 44 tons are necessary to move competitiveness forward. TRANSPRIME has led meetings with all stakeholders during 2015 to gather all industry oriented associations and agree on a common way forward to call for the implementation of the 44 tons. As a result of that, a regular round table of discussions has been set with monthly meetings with carriers to analyze the needs of transport today, where 44 tons are situated in the middle of the debate.