Following an industry stakeholder workshop held by the ATA and the Queensland Trucking Association on 14 September 2016,  industry stakeholders seek the opportunity of increasing a prescriptive heavy vehicle’s length, width and/or height to enable an increased load capacity without increasing the mass limit resulting in more efficient national freight productivity. This would benefit some important freight tasks such as deliveries of fresh foods, supermarket and other consumer goods, furniture removal and the regular return of empty shipping containers to depots and parts.

With this in mind, the ATA has recommended in its submission to the National Transport Commission (NTC) to increase volumetric load capacity in semi-trailers and heavy vehicles without further increasing mass limits.

The ATA considered the three options put forward by the NTC for physically increasing a heavy vehicle combination’s volumetric load capacity and thus freight productivity such as increasing the length, height, and/or width of vehicle or load space. The paper also discusses possible benefits, costs and barriers as well as steps for developing a national policy.

Read the full submission here.