Editorial: Size and Weight — The New Urgency

n the past week we heard two voices speaking out on the pressing need for greater vehicle productivity in trucking in order to sustain growth of freight transportation into the future.

American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves, addressing a key conference of shippers, asked his audience to help convince the rail industry and government that broader use of more commodious vehicles would be a boon to all.

At the least, Graves argued, wider-ranging LCVs could help alleviate the mounting fuel crisis simply because one power unit with longer trailers could haul more freight.

Turnpike doubles — tractors pulling twin 48-foot trailers, weighing in at 140,000 pounds — could do the job for 2,815 gallons, Graves told members of NASSTRAC.

Shippers, indeed, understand the economics of the situation. They saw rates rise in the recent period when expanding demand for truck service stretched trucking capacity to the limit. Trucking was not in a position to grow as rapidly as demand, owing to a shortage of drivers that now seems destined only to get worse.

Another call for heavier tractor-trailers was sounded at the meeting of the National Private Truck Council, which represents shippers who operate their own corporate fleets. Private carriers run more commercial trucks than do for-hire carriers.

NPTC President Gary Petty said it is essential to let trucking move more goods with fewer drivers and less equipment. Failure to accommodate a projected doubling of freight volume in the next 20 years could “bring commerce to a screeching halt,” he declared.

LCVs and heavier tractor-trailers with additional axles have been at the heart of the truck productivity debate for at least two decades. At times, the debate resembled a brawl, primarily with railroad interests that feared further erosion of their own traffic. There are even persisting divisions within trucking ranks, depending on self-interests.

In 1998, the federal government put a lid on LCV operations, and in 2003 ATA and rail interests agreed to a size-and-weight truce. Today, economic pressures are rapidly rising, and trucking leadership is trying to take a long view. It will take years, and the opportunities are few, to bring about congressional approval for productivity gains. There are not many alternatives.

That is why there is a new urgency to the size-and-weight call.

This editorial appears in the May 8 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.