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May 2012

4 Comment
This fork in the road needs much better signposts. When you get to a fork in the road, take it. The well-used and wonderfully-baffling quote from Yogi Berra, a famous American baseball player and manager of the 1950s and 60s, crops up this month in an unlikely setting: at the latest annual Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP) conference. As might be expected of a visiting professor to the London School of Economics' Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, Michael Jacobs accurately summed up the mood among folk in this sector when he explained how they are "at a crossroads, poised between optimism and pessimism." What he probably did not realise is that the fork-in-the-road metaphor also applies particularly well to commercial vehicle operators at present. Many, probably most, are keen to do all they can to shrink the carbon footprints of their vehicle operations, not least because their customers are demanding it and because cutting carbon dioxide emissions should always, in theory at least, mean cutting operating costs. Problems start to arise when it comes to translating this fine theory into practice. How exactly do you measure a vehicle operator's carbon footprint? There would seem to be as many answers to this question as there are consultants happy to charge you handsomely for explaining how they do it.

4 Points of view
From Environmental Industries Commission chairman Adrian Wilkes on the power of political lobbying; the United Kingdom Warehousing Association on TUPE rules and separate uncertainty over HMRC policy on bonded warehouses; Refunds Direct on tax rebates for technicians; and Jordon Freight director Jon Swallow on Olympic-sized unknowns.

8 News
Tippers head for Harrogate, and economic recovery?

10 News
Question marks over FTA van scheme following Sainsbury “accreditation”.

12 News
How green is your engine oil? Valvoline says recycled is better than new. VOSA test station sell-off gathers pace.

13 Are your low-carbon fuel tanks half-full or half-empty?
Tim Blakemore reports from this year’s Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership conference, where the optimists outscored the pessimists and the operative word was “partnership”.

16 You say you want a revolution?
Well you are about to get one in the truck and bus tyre business, according to expert opinion garnered by Tim Blakemore. Rolling resistance is right at the heart of it, but even more significant is a fundamental change of tyre-maker attitude to customers’ requirements and buying criteria.

20 Back to the future
To win it, you’ve got to be in it. Then all you need is a trailer or bodywork innovation which makes a real contribution to road freight transport efficiency. Tim Blakemore describes what it takes to win a Trailer Innovation 2013 Award.

25 People and jobs
Michelin has a new head of truck and bus tyre marketing in the UK; Charlotte Brew has moved from Scania and Keltruck to Mercedes and Midlands Truck and Van; Millers Oils is among this year’s Queen’s Award for Enterprise winners.