Sweden starts Project for Trucks

The trolley system has been existing for a long time – for buses in cities. Now Sweden has started an overhead contact line for trucks on a two-kilometer strip on a highway north of Stockholm. The test phase will run for two years. Siemens and truck manufacturer Skania developed the system. Sensors enable the trucks to tap on the power line. Yet, the trucks are diesel hybrids. Which allows for the needed flexibility. Moreover, the trucks might also run with batteries or natural gas.
Sweden has ambitious goals. Until 2030, all traffic is supposed to work without using fossil fuels. Currently, a third of Sweden’s carbon emissions is caused by traffic, half of that by transport.

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These new SOLAS regulations will apply to all packed containers to which IMO’s Convention for Safe Containers (CSC) applies and which are to be loaded onto a ship in international maritime traffic.

The main principles of the new rules are:
1.    The responsibility for obtaining and documenting the verified gross weight of a packed container lies with the shipper.
2.    Verified container weights are to be used by the terminal operator and the vessel operator in ship stowage and planning.

There are two methods for obtaining the verified gross mass of a packed container:
No. 1 (IMO Guidelines, § 5.1.1.): Upon the conclusion of packing and sealing a container and by using calibrated and certified equipment, the shipper or his representative weighs the packed container.
This is the standard method and is appropriate to use for any packed container and any kind of goods.

No. 2 (IMO Guidelines, § 5.1.2.): The shipper or his representative weighs all packages and cargo items, including the mass of pallets, dunnage and other packing and securing material to be packed in the container, and adds the tare mass of the container to the sum of the single masses of the container’s contents. In this method, estimating the weight of the container’s contents is not permitted.

Regardless of whether method is used to obtain the verified weight of the container, the SOLAS amendments and the IMO Guidelines are clear that the shipper named on the carrier’s bill of lading is the party responsible for providing the packed container’s verified gross mass, and that the carrier and terminal operator may rely on a shipper’s signed container weight verification to be accurate.

With these new rules, all regulated parties need to be prepared to implement and obey the container weight verification requirements latest by 1 July, 2016. This period until then should allow to prepare for the required process and documentation changes, as well as to test information transmissions in advance to the effective date. Shippers should now start discussions with their carriers and freight forwarders to set in place logistics and communications to ensure compliance with the new rules and to avoid non-shipment and delays in the supply chain.

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Wages and working hours, employers’ obligations to keep records: In the above-mentioned sectors, the recording obligations apply to all employees, i.e. in principle also to employees with a much higher salary than EUR 8.50 gross/hour.  An exception to this basic rule has now been created by a new regulation, which stipulates that employees who earn at least or more than EUR 2,958 gross per month may be exempted from the obligation to keep records.
Client liability: Client liability applies not only to clients within the transport and logistics sector, but also to clients who commission companies from these (or other) sectors to provide a service. In view of this aspect, it cannot be pointed out clearly enough that every time a company is commissioned, it must be ensured that the minimum wage law is complied with in order to avoid liability for recourse.

In the transport sector, it was not yet clear at the start of the Minimum Wages Act in January 2015 whether the principal’s liability could also apply to a shipper or consignor. The Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has now provided some clarification. According to the ministry, the principal’s liability only applies to a shipper/consignor if he has undertaken to his own customer to transport an item or goods and passes this obligation on to a transport subcontractor. Whether this means that only carriers and forwarders can come under the scope of principal liability for the transport of goods will have to be established by case law. Similarly, the question of principal liability also arises in the case of freight exchanges. Here there is the danger that in the fast business of freight exchanges the contract will be awarded to a provider unknown to the client, who may not comply with the minimum wage law. The law does not provide for a relaxation of the client’s liability in such cases. Therefore, it only remains for the client to point out already in the preparation of the offer that interested transport companies must insure that they will pay the statutory minimum wage, otherwise they will be excluded from the award.

As a result of the minimum wage law, the costs for transport companies in local and long-distance transport increased by around 17 percent. However, it is not only the higher personnel costs, but also the associated liability, including client liability, which means that companies need to take action. The management of freight processes and the representation of subcontractor chains will therefore become even more important.
*** Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) ***

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– the EU Initiative Developing a Roadmap to European Transport in the next decades

100 years ago, transport of people and freight meant moving humans and objects from point A to point B. Until now, the concept stayed basically the same, as well as the modes of achieving this goal. However, a lot of drawbacks have shown within this century. Greenhouse emissions have grown exceedingly high due to continuous and extending reliance on fossil fuels. Traffic congestions are frequent, road traffic deaths are rising. Each year, this causes enormous costs for taxpayers and governments.

Yet, in this past century, our society has evolved in many areas. So why should our transport system still stick to old ways? Since March 2011, the European Commission with its Directorate General for Mobility and Transport has intensely worked on a completely new initiative to develop a “roadmap to a Single European Transport Area”. With it, the European decision makers aim at removing major barriers and bottlenecks in many key areas of transport and freight infrastructure.

The initiative wants to achieve a total transformation of our transport system, while keeping and enhancing the European competitiveness in a global environment. According to the Directorate of Mobility and Transport, the key topics are:

• Developing and deploying new and sustainable fuels and propulsion systems
• Reducing Carbon dioxide emissions by 60% until 2050
• Optimizing the performance of multimodal logistic chains
• Increasing the efficiency of transport and of transport information systems (including “SESAR” and “Galileo”)
• Phasing out conventionally fuelled cars and trucks from cities by 2050
• Shifting 30% of medium and long distance road freight to other modes by 2030
• Using cars for less than half of middle distances by 2050, which should cut in half the road traffic deaths by 2020, and result in almost zero casualties in road transport by 2050

The European Commission understands that such high goals can only be achieved, when transport in Europe is perceived as an international issue.  Therefore, transport has been included in all trade negotiations and in all of the Commission’s respective work in international organizations (ICAO, IMO, OTIF, etc). In these forums it is intended to promote European safety, security, privacy and environmental standards worldwide by building bilateral and multilateral cooperation.
After 100 years of using fossil technology to get us and our products from point A to point B it is about time to transform the transport system into a more efficient and integrated mobility scheme. Will the EU succeed with their “Transport 2050” initiative? The next generation might be able to answer this. Our generation has the responsibility to take first steps into the right direction.

For more information on the European “Transport 2050”- initiative contact our flex2know team.

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– self-driving trucks mark a technological benchmark for the future of transport

On May 5th, 2015, a world premiere took place: The first official license was granted for an autonomous truck to drive on public roads.  The market leader Daimler will test two vehicles, developed and produced by the American Daimler daughter Freightliner, on the roads of Nevada. There must be a driver inside the vehicle, yet this person has the option to give all driving controls to the car’s robotic interface.

This is the beginning of a technological revolution, which could change the entire concept of shipments by road, making transport less dependent on the “human factor”. Overworked and stressed drivers could become a thing of the past within the upcoming decade. Truck accidents might drop by 70%. Another reason for using autonomous trucks is that the cost of gasoline could be reduced by 14 %, since the digital network of these vehicles are able to anticipate and avoid traffic interruptions faster than any human driver. If everything works, the position of the truck driver will experience a positive change. Instead of driving, the driver will have time to calculate upcoming shipments, to organize loading and unloading, and will be relieved of “road stress”.

The “human factor” will always be needed in transportation, no matter how the cyber world develops. We need to get ready to give up some work that we got used to do ourselves, and to allow the future into the transportation world in order to improve our concepts of freight and shipment.

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– infrastructure of superlatives

The Myanmar government plans to build the biggest harbour in South-East-Asia. It is planned to build  the 58-billion-US $ port with the help of foreign investors. The dimensions are gigantic: The harbour is supposed to handle 250 million tons of freight per year, that is 80 % more than Hamburg’s freight harbour capacity. The port shall form the center of a 200 square-kilometer industrial zone. An oil refinery, a chemical plant, steel production and a paper factory are planned within that zone. All together offering about 100.000 new jobs.
In addition, Myanmar intends to build a 66 billion US-$-highway plus new railroads to Thailand (300km) and China (900km).

The news channel “NTV” cites a manager “Italian-Thai” – one of the biggest Thai construction companies – that the project marks the beginning of a new area, offering new possibilities for the Myanmar population, and catapulting one of the poorest countries of the world into a reformed economic status.

It remains to  be seen what advantages this huge project will offer for the 43.000 inhabitants who will be relocated in order to gain space for the new industrial zone. However, should this plan be implemented, South East Asia could profit from it, as transport routes between China and India would be shortened considerably, and transport times and rates could drop immensly.

Such a mega-project is a source for new opportunities, yet it might also cause immense hardship. Only if both investors and project managers work together with a Myanmar government taking care of humans‘ needs, this plan has the potential to become a real improvement for the world of logistics.

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From next year on, all employees will have the right to receive a minimum gross wage of EUR 8,5 per each working hour performed in Germany – no matter whether the employer is located in Germany or abroad, whether the employee is living in Germany or abroad, and whether the employer is fulfilling a contractual obligation for a German or a foreign company.

The law also obliges employers within the logistics and transport industry to keep a permanent record of their salary-payments, and to allow inspection of these payments by German authorities. In addition, employers that are located outside Germany have to register with the German Ministry of Finances for all work in Germany and for all employees that perform work for them in Germany. Within the transport chain, any German company hiring a (German or foreign) subcontractor for their shipments or their logistic tasks will be liable for the subcontractor’s obligation to pay minimum wages for the work performed in Germany.

Any failure to observe the law on minimum wages can be fined up to a maximum of EUR 500.000.

Concerning the transport industry, the new law might have the most impact on shipments by road. It will be interesting to see how German authorities will keep track of whether foreign truck drivers receive German minimum wages while driving on German roads. Besides, it is not yet published, how registration of work and foreign employees has to be effected.

One thing, however, is clear already: This law entails another set of obligations for the transport industry, which will demand precise organization and planning within a challenging and competitive market.

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Germany has recently started a try-out-phase allowing Long Combination Vehicles on some highways. The same sort of pilot study was already successfully conducted in the United States, mainly in the Western. A LCV, when used in full volume and weight capacity, can save petrol and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 50 % compared to a normal truck.

Sweden tried a different thing: In 2012 it piloted a 62-mile electrified highway that allowed trucks being powered by an overhead cable. The city of Los Angeles is working on a similar project. It is planned to eventually connect the harbors of Los Angeles and Long Beach with such a system.

Electrifying trucks or replacing them by LCVs will and is not the end of the story. To replace petrol by an alternative power source could produce an even bigger impact. Several transport providers plan to convert their diesel powered fleets into fleets powered by natural gas.

To reduce the carbon emissions is one of the most immanent and pressing challenges in the shipping market. Only a combination of cost, quality and environmental protection can bring the best results in this competitive market. The Polygon Team with its TFE-Concept is ready to assist in finding the best solutions for your transportation challenges.

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