Brussels, 09/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - The possibility of gigaliners, or superlorries/mega trucks, being allowed to cross borders does not meet with the pleasure of the International Union of combined Road-Rail transport companies (UIRR). Last week, European Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas was on the point of sending a letter to the 27 EU member states, offering them the possibility to decide whether or not to allow such over-dimensioned lorries to cross their border when, getting wind of this, the European Parliament called the commissioner to order, so that there might, initially, be consultation with MEPs.
UIRR sets out inconveniences. This is not to the liking of the UIRR, which considers that cross-border authorisation is not the “low-hanging fruit” that “some road operators and their representatives portray it to be”. The union sounds a note of warning, saying that such an approach could have the detrimental effect of shifting transport from rail to road, which is contrary to what is recommended in the White Paper on transport. The UIRR places emphasis on the disadvantages that there would be in terms of the environment, safety and jobs. Analysing various studies in parallel, the UIRR gives figures to back its findings. The crossborder use of superlorries would result in 6 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually, as well as in an additional 1,500 road accidents involving longer and heavier lorries, with external costs of around €180-540 million. Finally, growth and employment would also suffer by way of several billion annually. Cross-border authorisation would be a “distraction - costly in both safety and ecological terms - from developing the genuinely beneficial long-distance freight transport solutions, which is capable of delivering Europe's GHG [greenhouse gas] and oil-dependence reduction, as well as transport safety enhancement aims”, said UIRR Chairman Rudy Colle.
Siim Kallas to respond. It is expected that European Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas will answer the concerns expressed by MEPs during the next meeting of the parliamentary committee on transport and tourism (TRAN), to be held on 26-27 March. It is also likely that he will discuss the matter with transport ministers when they meet on 22 March. (MD/transl.jl)