BCTA pulls ‘Green’ card against weight reduction plan

VICTORIA — B.C. carriers are resuming the battle against a provincial government plan to reduce the maximum weight on quad-axle trailers by 3,000 kg.

Starting on Dec. 10 2010, the weight limit for quad axle — or tandem-tandem trailers — will fall eight percent, from 34,000 kg to 31,000 kg.

The B.C. Trucking Association already got the weight reduction postponed once before (it was originally slated for 2007).
But the group still says that the change is still unworkable and it would increase GHG emissions.

In a letter to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure’s Commercial Vehicle and Safety Enforcement (CVSE) branch, BCTA President Paul Landry notes that a three-tonne loss in payload for a single steer tandem drive truck and quad-axle trailer would add one additional trip for every 13 trips to move the same amount of product.

"And not only does this increase fuel consumption and GHG emissions, the extra trips also have safety and economic costs that must be considered, since crash risk increases with road exposure," Landry wrote, adding that the change would increases maintenance and operating costs for an industry that’s just starting to climb out of recession.

The trailer combo affected is commonly used to transport wide variety of bulk goods that weigh out before cubing out, such as water, fuel, chemicals, lumber, and construction aggregate materials. 


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