Newsletters
IFRTT October 2009 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
Southern Sweden has had a beautiful Indian summer. In September I was fortunate to have my summer house, 40 minutes by car from Copenhagen airport, as my HQ for trips to Brussels, Dublin and Frankfurt. But days are getting shorter than nights, which makes me remember a short story I read some 45 years ago, “A Winter of Discontent”, about a man simply hibernating in bed. Well, I fight this urge. (Was this also the title of a movie about Eleanor of Aquitaine, beautiful Katherine Hepburn starring? Or maybe “Lion in Winter”, referring to the husband.)
Activities in Brussels have geared up after the European Parliament elections. Transport sustainability for 2020 and even 2050 is discussed and investigated. The issue of longer and heavier vehicles has initiated yet another consultancy investigation. Experiences from those countries using LHVs are worth next to nothing. Like they used to say in the Army: if map and terrain differ, follow the map. (I was a non-commissioned Sergeant in the Swedish Engineering Corps, I have consequently a number of blown up bridges, airfields and harbours on my conscience, in theory. At least I learned about reversed infrastructure design.)
The rapidly upcoming 11th Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology conference in Melbourne, 14 – 17 March 2010, is developing extremely well. The results of the reviews of the HVTT11 Scientific Committee should be known by authors by now, my apologies for any delays.
Registration has now opened at the website http://www.hvttconference.com/
You will find information about the venues, the conference program, accommodation, press extracts, sponsoring organisations and a few samples, profiles, of the presentations. The full programme will be available in December.
HVTT11 will be a great Conference, I really look forward to meeting you, no more hibernating in March in Melbourne.
Drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT September 2009 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
modern Swedish language has made very few contributions to other languages, “Ombudsman” and “Smorgasbord” are exceptions in English. For a while I suspected that “Rostrum” might be of Swedish origin. If you put two dots on top of the “o” (as in my surname) it would literally read “voice-room”, which is pretty close to the meaning of the word.
How wrong can you be? Rostrum, beak, comes from the latin name for the ramming bow of naval ships. The word was supposedly transferred to its most common present meaning after the naval battle of Mylae in 260 BC during the first Punic war. The Romans brought back to Rome the bows of the captured ships of Carthage and these were used to decorate the Speaker´s area.This was some 750 years before there was any real talk about a centralised Swedish state, not to speak of a fairly stable Swedish language.
Anyhow, the distance from the Rostrum to the Forum is next to nothing.
Which brings me safely back to the International Forum for Road Transport Technology, IFRTT, and the upcoming 11th Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology conference in Melbourne, March 2010.
The great news are that the HVTT11 conference brochure is now available.
The website http://www.hvttconference.com/ has been updated to reflect this.
You will find information about the venues, the conference program, accommodation, how to register, sponsoring organisations and a few samples, profiles, of the presentations.
One look at the program and you will understand why you must participate.
Register now! On-line registration will be available in one weeks’ time.
And drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT August 2009 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
back in office but still limping from my gravitational experiences as mentioned in my June newsletter. Fortunately my employer does not pay for my foot-work, but rather for my head-work. Which, in my view, is still quite OK and properly salaried.
The review process, chaired by David Cebon, of the extended abstracts for the HVTT11 conference is now closing. To me the contributions look excellent. There is a wide variety of topics covered: transport policy and regulations, infrastructure impacts, vehicle weights and dimensions, safety, productivity, fuel consumption and environment, innovative vehicle designs. Contributions come from several continents. Indeed, the theme of the conference, Heavy Vehicles - Balancing Competing Needs, will be very well covered. My sincere thanks to those submitting and to those reviewing.
The HVTT11 Organizing Committee in Australia, and Rob Perkins in particular, is doing a fantastic job. The venue will be in my favourite part of central Melbourne close to the multi-cultural areas, theatres and jazz clubs and inside and close to the red tram rectangle.
The conference will start at lunchtime Sunday March 14, 2010 and close Wednesday March 17 in the afternoon. Present planning includes about 60 presentations, each presentation will be allotted 30 minutes including Q&A and discussions which in my experience is when cross-functional exchange of views and, sometimes heated, constructive debates take place.
Six plenary sessions are presently planned, opening and conclusion included.
Preliminary, the evening program will include casual dinner (Sunday), high level reception (Monday) and conference dinner (Tuesday).
The Melbourne Truck, Trailer and Equipment Show will follow the days immediately after the conference.
A first brochure of the HVTT11 will be distributed mid-September 2009. Keep yourself updated on http://www.hvttconference.com/
These are not the best of times for trucking or freight in general. The more reason why you should look ahead for a sustainable brighter future including your participation at the HVTT11!
Drive safely and beware of gravitational hazards,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT June 2009 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
this week-end is Midsummer, one of the major holidays and family events in parts of Scandinavia. Of ancient origin, it was excellently documented by Shakespeare, mysterious creatures and forces are at play night-time. Such mysterious, strong and sudden gravitational forces struck me down twice on my summer-house staircase. My mobility is now very much reduced and my carbon foot-print is extremely low.
The CO2 issue is becoming increasingly political. In a recent communication from the European Commission CO2 was called a “pollutant”, like particulates and nitrogen oxides. That is a very strong word for something that has been around a very long time and is a vital part of life cycle processes. Shall I stop breathing? Well, politics is not widely known for its nuances.
Some upcoming events:
- June 24, Brussels, European Commission stakeholder meeting on longer and heavier vehicles including presentations of two Commission studies and one OECD study
- September 21 – 23, Florianópolis, CBR&C 2009, Conference of Brazilian Highway Concessionaires, see http://www.cbr-c.com.br/
- March 15 - 17, Melbourne, the 11th International Symposium of Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology, HVTT11, “Heavy Vehicles - Balancing Competing Needs”. Reviewing of submitted extended abstracts is ongoing and in a few weeks time we will have a first view of the programme. Keep yourself updated at the site http://www.hvttconference.com/
Drive safely and beware of the dangers of summer nights,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT May 2009 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
the weather is beautiful but times are gloomy. The current crisis is deep, less demand for transport work, very low sales of new trucks (heavy vehicle manufacturers are in the red or almost so), suppliers are hurt all the way back to the iron ore mines.
Manufacturers have grown accustomed to the sudden downturns every seven or eight years, but this one is bigger than any in memory. Since transport and truck sales with great precision are correlated to economic activity and GDP, one has to look into economic theory to understand. How come there are sudden corrosion and thrombosis in the global financial arteries, always to the surprise of finance ministers and wise men?
By chance, I searched Wikipedia for “the invisible hand”, the metaphor of Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations 1776 book. There were some quotes from economist Joseph E. Stiglitz:
- the reason that the invisible hand often seems invisible is that it is often not there
- recent research has shown that these externalities (where the actions of an individual have impacts on others for which they do not pay or for which they are not compensated) are pervasive, whenever there is imperfect information or imperfect risk markets – that is always
Fair enough, but makes you wonder about economics as a science.
Preparations for the 11th International Symposium of Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology, HVTT11, “Heavy Vehicles - Balancing Competing Needs”, are underway. March 15- 17 2010 in Melbourne, immediately followed by the Melbourne International Truck, Trailer and Equipment Show. The subsequent week will have the F1 trials and contest. Keep yourself informed at the site http://www.hvttconference.com/
Papers will be accepted based on a two pages extended abstract, giving unusual time for updating and finalizing the papers once accepted. In case you have hesitated to submit: http://www.hvttconference.com/abstract/indexcopy.html
Drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT April 2009 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
spring is here. Two weeks following the vernal equinox even Swedes are forced to adapt to daytime brightness. Not only our eyes but also our souls welcome the renewed environmental conditions. We jump out of our coats and shout: “rattmuff av!” (wheel glove off!) and damage our fingers and nails when rapidly replacing the tarmac eating studded car winter tyres.
Future is certainly not as gloomy as perceived when listening to some doomsday GHG prophets in Brussels. A couple of days ago I attended a so called stake-holder meeting with a 2020 to 2050 perspective. A high-ranking European Commission officer set the scene by speculating on a 7 to 70 metres sea level rise. Calls for stronger leadership, more regulation, more road charging, less cross border transport and more protectionism were heard. Will our democracies survive the GHG issue? I am happy that cranes seem less concerned. A record number of this migrating bird, 18.500, was observed at the major Swedish south to north stopover and filling station: barley is fed, they are already hooked on biofuels.
Preparations for the the 11th International Symposium of Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology, HVTT11, “Heavy Vehicles - Balancing Competing Needs”, are underway and getting more intense. March 15- 17 2010 in Melbourne, immediately followed by the Melbourne Truck, Trailer and Equipment Show. The subsequent week will have the F1 trials and contest.
The conference will be at a fantastic historical site in old central Melbourne and the program is shaping up to a very memorable event. Keep yourself informed at the site http://www.hvttconference.com/
Papers will be accepted based on a two pages extended abstract, giving unusual time for updating and finalizing the papers once accepted. The Scientific Committee has agreed to extend the submission deadline by one month.
Please submit your 2-page extended abstract online by April 30, 2009 to http://www.hvttconference.com/abstract/indexcopy.html
Drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT March 2009 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
I am again in Brussels, Belgium, cold rains yesterday and precursors of spring today.
Thursday, March 5th, the International Herald Tribune had a letter titled “This great stage of fools”. The final words quoted Shakespeare´s play “King Lear”: “This is the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune – often the surfeits of our own behaviour –we make guilty of our own disasters, the sun, the moon, and the stars.”
Well, is climate change all anthropogenic, man-made, or should we also blame, as must have been the case so many times before, the sun, the moon and the stars (in a Newtonian sense)?
The saddest thing about the, no doubt, anthropogenic present decline in world economy is that it brings out the self-preserving protectionist forces in most countries, regardless of political systems. This is understandable from a short term political view, politics is basically a local business, but everybody knows that it is a long term counter-productive attitude.
The IFRTT idea is long term, I believe in world-wide sharing of legislative, operational and engineering best practices and experiences. Fortunately, the 11th International Symposium of Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology, HVTT11, 15 – 17 of March 2010 in Melbourne, “Heavy Vehicles - Balancing Competing Needs”, is now just one year ahead.
HVTT11 is shaping up to be a very important conference with emphasis on long heavy vehicles, productivity, performance-based standards, environmental and infrastructure impacts and many other issues at the core of the present global transport debate.
Submit your 2 pages extended abstracts before 31 March 2009.
Details can be found on the conference web site: http://www.hvttconference.com/ and in the first call for papers: http://www.hvttconference.com/abstract/HVTT11_CFP_Dec08.pdf
And keep driving safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT February 2009 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
my thoughts are with our colleagues and the people of the state of Victoria. Let the spirit of Australia prevail and assist those that have lost family members, friends or their homes.
The Australian spirit is also in force when preparing for the 11th International Symposium of Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology, HVTT11. The Organizing Committee has been and is steadily at work.
The theme of the conference is: “Heavy Vehicles - Balancing Competing Needs”.
HVTT11 is shaping up to be a very important conference with emphasis on long heavy vehicles, productivity, performance-based standards, environmental and infrastructure impacts and many other issues at the core of the present global transport debate.
Details can be found on the conference web site: http://www.hvttconference.com/ and in the first call for papers: http://www.hvttconference.com/abstract/HVTT11_CFP_Dec08.pdf
Potential authors are requested to submit 2 pages extended abstracts before 31 March 2009.
Double check that you have pencilled in March 15 – 17 2010 in your agenda for the HVTT11 and the following Melbourne International Truck, Trailer and Equipment show.
Those of you with particular interest in vehicle fuel efficiency might want to have a look at some recent IEA , International Energy Agency, documents, not that I agree with everything: http://www.iea.org/ click on circular icon “Energy Efficiency Policy”
See item 5 Transport of the 12 pages “Recommendations” summary and the 53 pages "Review of International Policies for Vehicle Fuel Efficiency" in the Transport section.
Drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT January 2009 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
a most fruitful new year to you all.
I am back in Brussels for a week, chilly and mostly grey. Yesterday, and with the help of Wikipedia, I recognized the connection between one of the original European freight services (Brussels branch established in 1516, now a cultural centre), the word taxi for cabs and the breed of dogs called “Dachshund” in German, “tax” in Swedish, badger dog. It all started in Italy in the 15th century and the original Italian word is “tasso”. For us to know.
President Obama took the oath with his hand on the bible of Abraham Lincoln. Well, IFRTT presidents do not have to take oaths. But I started to re-read Carl Sandburgs (with a deep, slowly vibrating voice when reading his own poetry, still a trace of Scandinavian accent) biography of Lincoln. Lincolns three minutes Gettysburg address, ten sentences written the night before, is still a most beautiful rhetoric hyperbola from grandfathers to the recently dead and on to the living and to future government of, by and for the people. For us to learn.
The present substantial downturn of the automotive industry business is not paralleled by a decline of automotive and road freight legislation activities. I have recently been engaged in areas such as road charging, weights and dimensions, fuel consumption and CO2 generation, “green” public procurement and ITS. Not a decent differential equation in sight although the road charging directive proposal seems to have an embedded derivation in the road congestion formula. For us to develop.
My longing to see you all at the HVTT11 symposium is increasing: competence and communication are vital parts of our professional lives. http://www.hvttconference.com/ shows that we have the best Australian support available. Re-check that you have pencilled in March 2010 in your agenda for the HVTT11 symposium and the following Melbourne International Truck, Trailer and Equipment show.
Click on Call for papers and note that paper acceptance will be based on 2+ pages extended abstracts received before March 31st 2009. For us to do.
And keep driving safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT December 2008 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
the bad news: the weather is depressingly grey, wet and cold. The credit crunch is also depressingly visible in industrial sectors and enterprises that are fundamentally healthy and well run. We know this will pass once the rust and dirt in the pipes have been cleaned out, but still.
For 2009, transport technology developments and transport policy debates will be intense.
The European road charging debate will continue, the EU member states could not agree under the French presidency. One major obstacle is the different views of countries regarding themselves as peripheral or transitional with respect to freight.
We will see a world-wide intensification of research and discussion on heavy duty vehicles and their impact on fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas generation.
The debate on vehicle weights and dimensions will continue. Denmark started trials with the so called modular concept a couple of weeks ago, four EU countries are now using this.
Yesterday the National Transport Commission of Australia released its discussion paper on a review of the Performance Based Standards. http://www.ntc.gov.au , see News Room. From the summary: “PBS is seen as an important element …. which will enable continuous productivity gains and technological improvement, whilst meeting reasonable safety, road asset protection and environmental standards.” A Regulatory Impact Statement on this is expected late 2009.
Please connect to http://www.hvttconference.com/ for more information and the first call for papers. And tell your friends and associations.
Have a peaceful Christmas and drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT November 2008 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
this time I am reporting to you from Brussels, Belgium, site of the European Union institutions. I took the opportunity to drive by car from Sweden, 11 hours from the Sound bridge, to get an impression of the Northern European road infrastructure and traffic. Highways are mostly in very good condition but it is understandable that local commuters sometimes get irritated by international truck transports. Indeed a dilemma for this densely populated part of Europe.
On of the current topics in European transport policy is road charging of heavy vehicles, the Eurovignette, and its widening to so called externalities like noise and congestion. The theoretical foundation is called internalization of external costs or marginal social cost pricing. Sounds very convincing but raises some difficult questions when applied. How do you translate exposure to noise, “sound-pressure- seconds”, into eurocents per kilometre for the vehicles? Is not the cost for congestion already internalized by the road users? Is it logical and fair to have congestion charging for heavy commercial vehicles only? Is the cost for accidents evenly divided between all vehicle-kilometres or is it more closely linked to risky driver behaviour?
Anyhow, an extensive report on pricing principles for externalities as well as an extension of the present Eurovignette system have been presented by the European Commission and are now under scrutiny by the European Parliament and the European Council. There is a wide spectrum of opinions in both of these institutions and finding compromises will not be easy. You can imagine different views in different member countries depending on if you regard your country as peripheral, transitional or central in the European transport system. At least, it is an interesting experiment.
The Organizing Committee of the 11th Symposium of Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology, HVTT11, is hard at work. Invitation and call for papers will be finalized within a couple of weeks. Do not forget to pencil in Melbourne, Australia, March 15 -17 2010.
Drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT October 2008 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
these are transient times: ambient temperature declining, stock markets turbulent, my blood pressure control system and internal circulation pump performance now under treatment.
One can only speculate on the medium term outcome of the partial break down of the financial markets. Will there be a substantial reduction of transport demand? Will this lead to even more cost-conscious transport buyers and hauliers? How will this effect the political debate on issues like weights and dimensions, fuel efficiency and modal shift? And not unlikely, less political willingness to extra-charge road freight to fulfil other political aims?
On the European political stage in Brussels, final European Parliament voting on the Euro VI engine emissions legislation has been postponed to November. The debate on “internalisation of external costs” and step 3 of the so call Eurovignette charging of road freight has begun. This debate will particularly be influenced by the economical prospects of the more peripheral European Union countries: should we charge transports even more with the risk of making our enterprises less competitive?
The full report on future possible weights and dimensions of the consultants led by Transport & Mobility Leuven is expected any day. I do not expect any immediate political initiatives from this, the issue is very sensitive to several EU member states and next year is election year to the EP and the European Commission. But I am sure the report will generate some interesting technical discussions and more reports. In the meantime Denmark will initiate extended trials of the “modular concept” in November, making four out of 27 EU member countries regularly running longer and heavier vehicles, the other three being Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands.
Organisation of the 11th International Symposium on Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology, HVTT11, is in progress. It will take place in Melbourne, Australia, 15 – 17 March 2010. This is immediately prior to the International Truck, Trailer and Equipment show at the same place. The theme of the symposium will be Productivity, Energy efficiency, Safety and Transport policy. A first call for extended abstracts will follow later this year.
Drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT September 2008 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
the September song: days getting shorter, falling leaves, slightly chilly mornings, coats on.
A year ago IFRTT was kindly invited to attend and present at the 5th Brazilian Congress on Highways and Concessions in Campinas, in the state of Sao Paulo. This is nicely reflected in the 2007 annual report of ABCR, the Brazilian Association of Highway Concessionaires. The contributions by Joao Widmer, Chris Winkler and David Cebon are mentioned in particular. The year-book also has some interesting data on the development of the concessioned highway net, on the evolution of traffic and safety accomplishments.
Looking ahead, the 11th International Symposium on Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology, HVTT11, is shaping up. It will take place in Melbourne, Australia, 15 – 17 March 2010. This is immediately prior to the International Truck, Trailer and Equipment show at the same place.
The theme of the symposium will be Productivity, Energy efficiency, Safety and Transport policy. In my view the time and place of the symposium could not be better. Australia is very well known for innovative road freight, Performance Based Standards and a creative attitude. The theme and the timing reflect the current world-wide debate on road freight and this will be an excellent occasion to present and discuss ongoing research and innovations, infrastructure and vehicle engineering developments and legislative issues.
The Organizing Committee is chaired by Nick Dimopoulos, CEO of the National Transport Commission. Other OC members represent Vic Roads, Queensland Transport, Victoria Transport Association, the Truck Industry Council and Scania Australia. To have the support of this wide range of organisations is fantastic, promising and an honour to IFRTT.
The Scientific/Technical Committee is chaired by David Cebon, Cambridge University and IFRTT Information Officer. A first call for extended abstracts will be available in November 2008 to be submitted in April 2009.
Pencil in April 2009 for your HVTT11 contribution and March 2010 for your participation.
Drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT August 2008 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
“Good stuff. Trucks bring it” are the final words of the editorial by Doug Condra in the August issue of the Heavy Duty Trucking magazine. The editorial is titled “Rails Back On The (PR) Attack” and summarizes the present US rail versus road debate. There is more on pages 12 and 13, “Truck Size and Weight Debate Begins”. In case you do not subscribe, articles will be available on www.heavydutytrucking.com one month after publication. What a remarkable resemblance with the current European debate. Change a few acronyms, names and dimensions and the two articles would summarize “the old world” situation just as well.
This rail versus road fight is extremely frustrating regardless of continent. With the globalization of manufacture and trade and the ever increasing need for goods transport we face serious challenges. All transport modes need improving and we have to start with what is already there in infrastructure and load carriers. Spending time on this unnecessary modal fight is pure “societal frictional loss”.
As I indicated several Newsletters ago, the European Commission gave the task to a consortium of consultants, led by Transport & Mobility Leuven, to look into the weight and dimensions Directive 96/53/EC. A final presentation was held July 10th. I was not able to attend but I have received some feed-back and I have looked through the presented slides. The railroad lobby was reportedly somewhat upset by the overall conclusions, if this is any measure of success.
I will not comment on details until I have read the full report. But so far I am concerned that this study, as well as the UK TRL – Herriot Watt study, underestimates the importance of the standardised load carriers: ISO containers, swap bodies, semitrailers. We have these in many millions and they will not go away and be replaced in an instant. Again, we must start with what we have including discrepancies due to feet/inches and meters/centimetres.
For my September Newsletter I hope to have some good news about the 11th International Symposium on Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology, HVTT11. And September 23rd the European Parliament votes on the Euro VI heavy duty engine emission legislation.
Drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT July 2008 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
indeed a refreshing summer here in Falsterbo, on the south-western tip of Sweden and the medieval Baltic centre of herring fishing and salting. But history does not make it a haven free from 3G broadband internet.
It is vacation time in Sweden, but not yet so in Brussels, so this Friday I am off for a meeting on what is sometimes called “a general safety regulation”, a package including EU references to UN-ECE regulations, tyre characteristics and car tyre pressure monitoring and vehicle stability control, automatic emergency braking and lane change warning. In my view too much for one legislative effort and a high risk of sloppy legislation. Anyhow flying from and back to Copenhagen saves me some flying time. Copenhagen was the capital of this part of “Scania- land” during the days of the fat herrings.
The Brussels EU administration is very busy, next year being election year for the European Parliament with probable changes of the European Commission as well: CO2 limits for passenger cars, Euro VI emission for commercial vehicles, a methodology paper on “internalisation of external costs”, a proposed amendment of the road charging directive for vehicles above 12 tonnes.
This so called “Eurovignette” was initially designed to make cross-border road freight easy, pay for your road wear, get a sticker and go. And European road freight has been successful, to the degree that the railroads are complaining bitterly. They still have to sort out the problems with three track widths, seven signals systems, at least three tunnel standards and safety regulations more or less designed to keep out non- domestic train operators. This second amendment of the Eurovignette framework is focussing on hampering road freight and to give the finance ministers added revenues. So it goes.
On vehicle weights and dimensions, the UK TRL-Herriot Watt study was made public a few weeks ago and a final stakeholder meeting on the study of the 96/53/EU Directive was held early July, the report is expected in a few weeks. Both studies seem to have neglected the importance of standardised loading unit dimensions. History repeats itself, the great rationalist Descartes, Kartesius, had his head chopped off because the coffin was too short when dead in Stockholm in the winter of 1650.
Drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT May 2008 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
the weather here in Melbourne is like a refreshing Swedish summer. Not too hot, sometimes a little bit chilly but no need for an overcoat. After spending a few days in Kuala Lumpor with temperatures touching 40 C and high humidity, stepping outside at Tullamarine airport was a relief.
Meeting customers and regulators is always interesting, road freight is a dynamic business. It is basically very well run, competitive and with high efficiency. In my view the dialogue between the business people and the regulators is open and frank, disregarding one or two words of overstated criticism.
This Monday I got stuck in congested traffic on the Melbourne ring road, it took several hours to get the traffic running. The reason was that a B-double vehicle combination carrying rolls of paper had rolled over. No one was hurt, still this is a reminder that Electronic Vehicle Stability Control is not yet available in combinations with two points of articulation. But you cannot cheat on physics: too high speed when cornering, too high centre of gravity, no load securing?
At the International Truck and Trailer and Equipment Show I participated in a session on productivity, road safety and emissions. I am getting increasingly convinced that the regulated emissions steps of Euro VI (EPA 10) should be regarded as “final steps” for a foreseeable future. Not because I am against emissions reductions but because the regulated emissions issue issues keep the focus away from the fuel efficiency and carbon generation issues.
To improve fuel efficiency (tonne-kilometres of goods per fuel consumed) lots of things can be done immediately in terms of vehicle specification, driver behaviour and vehicle maintenance: “no waste”! At the end I was slightly provocative in asking that there must be many business cases were the benefits (road safety, fuel consumption) of a voluntary reduction of top speed from 100 to 90 km/h outweigh the loss in transport time.
See you at the Heavy Vehicle Conference May 19 to 22 in Paris and drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT April 2008 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
early Swedish spring is in its usual volatile mode, temporally and geographically. A couple of weeks ago Sweden had a 50 degrees C temperature gradient from the North, a refreshing minus 41, to the South. The trucks kept rolling, of course.
Further south, the legislative temperature in Brussels is increasing. Next year is election time for the members of the European parliament. One Commission officer was heard muttering about legislative saturation, skilled officers are lacking to meet the legislative demand.
The present EU transport policy dossier is almost impossible to comprehend. Everything is up for debate: taxation and tolling, vehicle design and so called "flanking measures". I still have to learn the exact meaning of this term, but one flanking effort is to convince urban people to walk and use bicycles, which is fair enough but not very practical for goods distribution. Another flanking measure, recently proposed by the Environmental Committee of the European Parliament, is to recommend the population of the new member countries to halt the increase in individual car use. This is, in my view, a highly "dirigiste" and questionable political stance: "welcome to the club, but do not behave as we do".
But Europe is not the beginning or the end of the World, I will be in Malaysia in week 18 and in Australia in week 19 for the Melbourne Truck Show among other things.
I am deeper and deeper into trying to understand fuel efficency (litres of fuel per tonne-kilometre of goods or equivalent) parameters for heavy duty vehicles. I recommend SAE technical paper 2003-01-3376, Truck Aerodynamics Reborn - Lessons from the Past, Kevin R. Cooper, NRC Canada. Has CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) developed enough to give engineering accuracy of results for e.g. a tractor and semitrailer combination when side wind effects are taken into account? Is there a fluid dynamics counterpart to the S:t Venant principle of elasticity?
For those attending the HVTT10 in Paris 19th to 22nd of May I wish to inform that the IFRTT General Meeting takes place Wednesday afternoon May 21st. Items on the agenda: report from the Treasurer and election of IFRTT board members for the period up to HVTT11. Welcome!
Drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT March 2008 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
the dynamics of the Northern latitude climate are slowly visible. The vernal equinox is close and there are minute signs of an early spring, healing my GHM, grey hair mood, effect.
March 4th I participated, as did three other IFRTT board members, in a Brussels stakeholder meeting on the review of EC weights and dimensions directive 96/53. The Brussels flavour needs to get accustomed to: NGOs claiming that this is the wrong issue (let us discuss W&D issues once trucks have been out-charged from the roads), the railroad lobby feverously, and in my view short-sightedly, protesting against any improvement in road freight efficiency but also some stakeholders like car transporters, the IRU and vehicle manufacturers sticking to the subject of the day.
The good experiences of longer combinations in countries like Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands seem not to be generally applicable. From which you might conclude that these countries are rotten kingdoms or republics having high road fatality rates, polluted landscapes, economies in shambles and criminal attitudes regarding road freight besides having extremely strong road infrastructures. The opposite holds, e.g. the Netherlands and Sweden being two of the four net contributors (out of 27) to the common EU spending. Germany and the UK are the other two.
The outcome of this overview is impossible to predict. The transport and energy branch of the European Commission wisely left all options open from a full European harmonized revision to doing nothing including some intermediate solutions giving member states some freedom of choice. The consultants draft final report is scheduled for June 17th and the final stakeholder meeting for July 10th.
Finally, the VW purchase of the Investor and Wallenberg foundations Scania shares has been well received. This ends a nine year long period of speculations about mergers and ownership. VW relations dates back to 1948 when Scania acquired the VW dealership for Sweden and Norway. By the way, Scania is the Latin name of the southernmost province of Sweden, where I come from.
Drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT January/February 2008 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
it has been an unusually gloomy start of the year here in the Stockholm area. Short days, the inclination of the axis of Tellus is to blame, and grey skies with very little sun, no one willing to take the responsibility. I feel this period of the year is getting worse, probably because of the well-known "grey hair mood" (GHM) effect that comes from spending too much energy on irrelevant and frustrating things.
The GHM effect should certainly be given much more attention. It might, since Universities now seem to direct their strategic plans towards life sciences and the "greenhouse gas" (GHG) effect. The prevailing IT and Nano mantras in research policies are changing. That is good, we need more diversification in public research funding.
As I predicted several years ago, the debate on energy and fuels is now getting close to a stage of chaos. Every time there is a proposal to try out some new supply of energy or fuel there is always someone shouting: "you cannot do this because .." or "nuclear power is no long term solution". I want to shout back: "take time out for reflection, please".
Cheap energy, not the least from oil, has created the modern democratic well-fare society and its high degree of mobility of goods and people. Fossil fuel is consumed at a rate of a million or more compared to its rate of generation. Stating that 20 percent or so of this should be replaced by renewable fuels by 2020 is no simple thing that will not have adverse effects. And there is no simple "fusion fix" on the horizon: human, political, time scales are not compatible with geological and cosmological time scales. Two basic results follow: save energy, "no waste", and try out a spectrum of energy conversion methods.
Starting out with "no waste of energy" is a mind-setter that opens up for innovative thinking also in the field of transport technology. For instance when I first learned about the Australian Performance Bases Standards (PBS) approach, I thought this will never work in Europe, the European Union countries are by tradition strictly prescriptive. Well, cross-border freight of general cargo might be a case for prescriptive vehicles, but there are lots of other road transports that would benefit from a different approach.
Let us challenge the GHM and GHG effects and drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT December 2007 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
The www.road-transport-technology.org website is modernized step by step. We have had two major debates in our e-mail discussion group, one on "the fourth power law" and one on pavement design and rolling resistance, as well as numerous other contributions and calls for seminars and congresses. Five of the IFRTT board members, with Joao Widmer as the leader, took part in the Road Concessionaries Congress in Campinas, Brazil.
For 2008 we have the Heavy Vehicle Conference in Paris May 19 - 22. I wish to remind you to make an early registration on http://hvparis2008.free.fr
The European truck business is still thriving, this is the longest upturn in the transport market within memory. The transport legislative branch is also thriving with upcoming proposals on emissions (EuroVI), fuel efficiency and carbon dioxide generation and safety issues such as stability control. The report on the European weights and dimensions directive, expected before our Paris conference, should be of particular interest to IFRTT members.
At the same time we see a gradual revolution in vehicle design, electronics and information technology are now parts of almost every vehicle system including vehicle checks, repair and maintenance.
Hopefully starting my 63rd year in Paris, I will use the upcoming holidays for reflections. On the professional side Brussels activities on transport policies, carbon dioxide and common vehicle and transport research are increasing parts of my daily life. I will also try to refresh some of my physics due to the renewed interests in the gravitational and inertial forces. Newton (did you read the "Principia" lately?) and Einstein made some terrific contributions but there are some basic questions remaining.
Have a peaceful Christmas and drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT November 2007 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
this time I am reporting to you from Zurich in Switzerland. The hotel is close to the Kloten railroad station. When going out for a meal there was a freight train waiting for a clearance signal, more than 20 wagons of about 50 tonnes each, all with sugar beets. This tells me that some transports are suitable for rail and others for road. The overlapping competitive part between the transport modes is certainly much less than what is usually taken for granted.
It also tells me, as if I did not know that already, that winter is coming, beet harvesting in Europe is always in late autumn and the Halloween ghost candle lights were made from sugar beets, not from pumpkins, in my childhood.
As you have noticed from my Forum question on the infrastructure part of rolling resistance, I am more and more busy with the question of fuel consumption and carbon dioxide generation in road freight.
I am very optimistic in the medium and long term perspectives. The contributions from regenerative braking as with hybrids and from future bio-fuels will be substantial. In the short term perspective I am more cautious. For instance, the alternative fuel situation tends to be somewhat chaotic with no global standardisation at all. But it is important that we start: look at all of the energy losses in the transport chain including the way goods are packaged. Look for improvements in vehicle air resistance and rolling resistance, avoid congested traffic. Begin now, do not wait for fission or fusion or “dark energy” discoveries in physics that will solve all future energy demands. They may not arrive.
Reading through all the abstracts submitted for the HVTT10 symposium in June, I noticed that very few, directly or indirectly, were targeting fuel consumption reduction, certainly less than 5 percent of the submitted abstracts. This is not to criticize all the good people that want to attend and present. It is rather an evidence of how rapidly the issue of carbon dioxide and transport has reached the highest levels of the political agenda. Research funding has been slower to adapt to the new priorities. And there is still a lot to discuss on weights and dimensions, road safety, vehicle road interaction and new vehicle technologies, for sure.
Drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT October 2007 Newsletter
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
I am reporting to you from Campinas in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The Brazilian organisation of road concessionaries, ABCR, had invited IFRTT to do presentations on specific topics at the fifth Brazilian congress on roads and concessions, CBR&C.
Chris Winkler, UMTRI, made an elegant overview of the dynamics of multi-trailer commercial vehicles with emphasis on the conflict between manoeuvrability (off-tracking) and stability (rearward amplification).
David Cebon, Cambridge University, presented in depth on vehicle-road interaction. Among other things David highlighted the shortcomings of the so called dynamic load coefficient and how this method leads to false conclusions regarding where and how to use road maintenance funds, spatial repeatability of road surface stress being the key issue.
Paul Nordengen, CSIR, and Pradesh Mohan, the RSA transport ministry, presented the South African approach to self-regulation within the transport sector and the RSA work on performance based standards, the first two PBS combinations are about to start operating.
My own presentation was on acceleration capability, power to mass ratio in particular, and on brake systems development.
The congress gave insight into some merits, the concessionary tolled roads are of high quality, and some problems in Brazilian road administration. Obviously, the maintenance of state roads not under concession is not keeping pace with the growth of road freight.
To have several contributions from outside Brazil was a first for the CBR&C. From my understanding, IFRTT and other guests did well enough that this practice will continue.
We were warmly and elegantly hosted by Gil Guedes of ABCR, Joao Widmer of USP and Mrs Neusa Maranho of the congress administration. And no complaints about the weather.
Drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT September 2007 Newsletter (Word copy here)
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
The European demand for transport, regardless of transport mode, is still on peak levels and vehicle manufacturers are producing at maximum capacity.
The European Parliament has had discussions on the so called Midterm Review of Transport Policy and on Freight Logistics. The outcomes were surprisingly positive for road transport, at least when compared to the European Commission 2001 White Paper on Transport Policy. Earlier policy statements as de-coupling (of transport from economy) and modal shift (from road to rail and water) have been tuned down, if not yet formally declared dead. It remains to be seen what this means in practical politics, e.g. infrastructure investments.
The 10th Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology symposium in Paris May 2008 is currently in the process of shaping its scientific content. At last count we had more than 70 submitted abstracts and the scientific committee has been busy. It looks excellent with contributions ranging from the theoretical to the practical.
This week I will be attending the PIARC world road congress and I expect to meet a number of the IFRTT newsletter subscribers at the congress.
Early October David Cebon, Chris Winkler, Paul Nordengen and I will present and discuss at the 5th CBR&C conference in Campinas, Brazil. Mårten Johansson of the Swedish Road Haulage Association will join and this Friday it was confirmed that a representative of the Transport Ministry of the Republic of South Africa will join as well. Joao Widmer of the University of Sao Paulo took the initiative a year ago. This has generated some magnitude of e-mail correspondence, but now we are almost there and I certainly look forward to this.
Drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT August 2007 Newsletter (Word copy here)
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
Following an unusually long vacation in southern Sweden and Denmark, partly wet partly sunny, I am back in office and getting geared up. I see from y e-mails that the carbon dioxide and fuel accessibility issues are gaining attention. And the railroad lobby is fiercely criticising longer vehicle combinations, not very constructive giving the transport dilemma of Europe.
Bernard Jacob of LCPC and chairman of the organising committee of the May 2008 Paris conference on Heavy Vehicles has sent some good news.
191 persons from 26 countries have pre-registered per July 17th. 58 abstracts have been submitted to the Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology part and 50 to the Weigh-In-Motion part.
It is still not too late to submit abstracts, but the longer we come into the review process the more this will be up to the Scientific Committee chairmen, David Cebon of Cambridge University for the HVTT part and Eugene O´Brien of University College Dublin for the WIM part.
As we have some excellent sponsorship as well, this will be a great conference.
The IFRTT secretary Sean Brennan of Penn State University is in the process of making proceedings from previous IFRTT conferences available on the web.
We will inform when ready.
I will be busy the coming weeks, preparing for the PIARC World Congress and the special Australian NTC session in September as well as the 5th Brazilian Congress on Highways and Concession early October.
Vacation is fine but business is not bad at all.
Drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT June 2007 Newsletter (Word copy here)
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
weather-wise temperatures have been touching 30 degrees C up north, in the midnight sun area. That is about 60 degrees up from the lows in the darkness a few months ago. The drivers and the trucks keep on delivering regardless.
The demand for transport is still on record high level in Europe, boosted by the growth of the Eastern countries economies. At the same time, fossil fuel consumption and the carbon dioxide generation in road transport is rapidly gaining strong political interest, heavy goods freight vehicles included. Societal, geographical, political and stakeholder clashes therefore seem inevitable. Good engineers and scientists will be needed, as always.
The organizing committee of the Heavy Vehicle Conference May 19-22, 2008, met at LCPC, Paris , Friday June 1st. So far we have four major sponsors: Michelin, Scania, Kistler and Sterela and two regular sponsors: Knorr Bremse and Renault Trucks of the Volvo group. Institutional support is from US Federal Highway Administration, the two French ministries of transport and of higher education and research, Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées and Ecole National des Ponts et Chaussées.
Please register now at http://hvparis2008.free.fr and get your HVTT10 abstracts ready, abstract submission deadline is June 30th. Some ideas for contributions:
- Vehicle combinations: Performance Based Standards, European Modular System
- Road wear: rutting versus fatigue versus the “fourth power law”
- Tires: safety, noise, fuel economy, road wear
- Fuel economy and CO2: vehicle design, infrastructure design and driver behaviour
- Road safety: vehicle design, infrastructure design and driver behaviour
- Urban distribution: congestion, noise and night time deliveries
- Road transport operator views are particularly welcome
- But it is up to you!
As for the IFRTT website, www.road-transport-technology.org, we will prioritize getting previous ISHVWD symposia proceedings available, soon to come.
Drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT May 2007 Newsletter (Word copy here)
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
nights are rapidly getting shorter at the Northern latitudes. I visited Denmark recently and had the opportunity to read Danish newspapers. Some newspapers have daily recommendations for “lights on” for bicycles. For example, in Copenhagen bicycle lights are recommend from 9.27 tonight to 5.32 tomorrow morning. Besides indicating local sunset and sunrise, an initiative for safety and energy conservation.
Denmark is a country of great cyclists and of great people like the author Hans Christian Andersen and physicists Niels Bohr and Ole Roemer, the first to accurately measure the speed of light. On the wall of his old cathedral school of Aarhus, Denmarks second largest city, it says poetically “han maalte lysets toeven” (he measured the hesitation of light).
The IFRTT vice president for Europe, Bernard Jacob of Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées has taken on the enormous task of heading the organization of the Heavy Vehicle Conference as a joint conference of the 10th symposium of Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology and the 5th International Conference on Weigh-In-Motion, May 19th to 22nd 2008 in Paris.
I strongly urge you to register now at http://hvparis2008.free.fr and get ready preparing your contributions.
We have invited Max Lay, author of the excellent book “Ways of the World” to give a plenary presentation and we have also invited John Berry of the European Commission to give an overview, the transport sector is among the hottest topics on the European political arena.
David Cebon of Cambridge University chairs the HVTT scientific committee.
Judging from the very good Forum internet exchange of views on road wear that we had earlier this year a HVTT session on that subject seems a like good idea. Another area of interest should be fuel consumption (and carbon dioxide generation) as function of vehicle design and infrastructure conditions such as road surface irregularities and congestion. And of course updates on different PBS initiatives. But it is up to you!
Drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT April 2007 Newsletter (Word copy here)
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
there are clear signals that Scandinavia is approaching the warmer period of the year. The formal switchover to summertime, the five centimetres of wet snow Easter Monday morning and myself being “decked and under cover” for a week in a severe cold. All three indicators (formal, meteorological, personal) are in place: spring is sprung.
On the European scene, there are several political road transport discussions going on. As I expected a decade ago, focus is more and more on the carbon dioxide issue and the accessibility of fossil fuels. This debate is two or three years earlier than what I expected (there are large uncertainties in the accessibility estimates), but still. There will be some extremely hard questions for our politicians on what to regulate or not. This is a major challenge that the IFRTT scientists have to react to and discuss in one way or another, every percent of fuel counts.
On the more administrative side, the Whole Vehicle Type Approval for commercial vehicles is approaching the political levels for final decision after more than ten years of preparatory work. Simply put, once the manufacturer has certificates of fulfilment of each of the forty or so vehicle directives (power, smoke, emission, noise, brakes,…) any EU member country may issue an EU type approval. Full implementation is still a handful of years away, but this is one of the things, the common market administration, that the European Union handles well. For some of the body and coach builders this will require some new processes and consolidation and integration among these will not be unexpected.
As a keen reader of IFRTT forum communications you have noted the second call for papers for our May 2008 Paris Heavy Vehicle Conference. If not, you will find this on http://hvparis2008.free.fr or indirectly on the IFRTT website www.road-transport-technology.org
Contribute, participate and tell your friends! And we need more sponsors!
Drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT March 2007 Newsletter (Word copy here)
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
winter tyres are still on in Sweden. But leaving for work in the morning and leaving for home in the evening is no longer in total darkness. A bird has been heard softly practising for springtime events. Or was it because of last night’s full eclipse of the moon?
Several items regarding transport are under discussion in the European Parliament. The Midterm Review of Transport Policy has initiated further proposals such as Freight Transport Logistics, Road Safety Enforcement, Road Infrastructure Safety Management.
In my view the so called integrated approach – driver, vehicle, infrastructure – has set up a very interesting foundation for future legislation and practice for road safety.
I recommend monitoring the development of the European Road Assessment Programme, I know there are similar initiatives on other continents. EuroRAP recently published its second Pan-European progress report, see www.eurorap.org .
As for the IFRTT we have had quite a few of interesting Forum exchanges of views and data in February: on road wear and deformation (we will probably organise a special session on this at the Paris symposium in May 2008), on carbon dioxide generation, vehicle stability and some other items. In case you have missed, look at the February 2007 archive in the folder “Discussion Group” at our website www.road-transport-technology.org
And please inform your colleagues about this website and how to subscribe:
Click on folder “Discussion Group”, click on row “How to join or leave (and change settings)” and follow the instructions.
Drive safely,
Anders
IFRTT February 2007 Newsletter (Word copy here)
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
Snow and ice still have a firm grip of Northern Scandinavia and the Stockholm area. Swedes are certainly excited about the downhill skiing queen Anja Paerson, so far all three gold medals (two more to go) of the ongoing world championship. From a vehicle dynamics point of view you might want to study her very low centre of gravity and the dimensioning of her active suspension and steering systems.
The bid for Scania was withdrawn late January. Nothing much is expected to happen on this, at least not until all four involved companies (Scania, VW, Investor and MAN) have had their annual general assemblies.
On the European Union political scene, the case of “internalisation of external costs” in transport is now on its way to be reopened. The European Parliament demanded such an analysis from the Commission when debating the so called “Eurovignette 2” directive a few years ago. The Commission is arranging a workshop on this March 15th in Brussels. Although I accept the “user pays” principle I get slightly frustrated when it comes to artificial pricing of road wear, noise, congestion, emissions, road accidents. In particular when the price is set regardless of time of day or geographical position and when there is no alternative. If implemented, this might just become another tax and not a steering mechanism as intended. This will be debated the years to come.
As for the IFRTT, here is a package of good news:
- thanks to Sean Brennan, Penn State, and David Cebon, Cambridge, the IFRTT website has been revitalised under the new address www.road-transport-technology.org Please have a look at it and send your comments and proposals for improvements to Sean, David and myself.
- thanks to Chris Winkler, UMTRI, all previous HVTT symposia proceedings have been scanned. We still have to find the format to make them available.
- thanks to Joao Widmer, University of Sao Paulo, IFRTT has an invitation to do expert presentations at the 5th Brasilian Congress of Roads and Concessions in Campinas, northwest of Sao Paulo, in October 2007. I will come back on this.
- thanks to Barry Moore, National Transport Commission, Melbourne, I have received a preliminary invitation to present as IFRTT president at the PIARC World Road Congress in Paris, September 2007. This warmed in the winter.
- thanks to Bernard Jacob, LCPC, planning for the combined HVTT10 and 5ICWIM Heavy Vehicle conference in Paris, May 2008, is progressing.
Drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
IFRTT January 2007 Newsletter (Word copy here)
Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
beginning this month I will try to regularly e-mail you some news and bits and pieces of relevance to our global road transport technology Forum.
Following a handful of Atlantic low pressures and a few storms, snow and freezing cold have, a couple of weeks late, finally taken the grip of Northern Scandinavia and the Stockholm area.
The European economy is unexpectedly strong and demands of transport and heavy trucks are still on record high levels. January 1st Romania and Bulgaria joined the European Union, now 27 countries and about 500 million inhabitants with common regulation on vehicle standards and weights and dimensions for cross-border freight.
The European Commission is launching the 7th research framework programme and the Directorate General for Transport and Energy will present the transport and aeronautics part in a session in Brussels February 14th. I know many of you are in the process of formulating bids for research grants. Be busy and good luck!
The political attitude towards road freight research is getting slightly more positive, the changing forces being the European competitiveness in a globalised economy and the interests of many members countries, certainly those being peripheral in an European geographical and economical sense and in need of efficient transport and infrastructure for their future prosperity.
On the technical side, the introduction of emission level Euro 4 engines on new vehicles in October 2006 went smoothly. It is still too early to judge in the SCR (urea exhaust after treatment) and EGR (cooled combustion) “technology competition”. The next step will be taken in October 2007 with the introduction of mandatory On Board Diagnostics for exhaust nitrogen oxides levels on new vehicles.
All in all, the combined HVTT10 and 5ICWIM Heavy Vehicle conference in Paris, France, May 2008 seems extraordinary well timed and placed. Prof. Bernard Jacob of LCPC and the organising committee are planning to have the second call for papers distributed in April. But it is up to you to contribute scientifically and to participate. Pencil in May 19 – 22 2008 in Paris!
For the February newsletter: the updated IFRTT web-site, what happened to the bid for Scania and some more news.
Drive safely,
Anders Lundström, IFRTT president
Archives
January 2007
Presidents message, Euro Emissions, HVTT10 and 5ICWIM Paris, PBS 2003 Seminar, IFRTT Officers, Upcoming Events
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