The board of directors of the National Private Truck Council — at its annual meeting in Cincinnati on April 26 — approved an informal technical proposal to conduct a study on the benefits of larger trucks for those businesses operating private truck fleets. The study is designed to benchmark the current transportation efficiency by looking at the operations of archetypal private fleets.
The study will be conducted by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. The parameters to be used to define efficiency improvements will focus on over-the-road operating costs, cargo transported, miles traveled and safety performance. It also will include a measure of fuel use, emissions output and truck trips that are required to fulfill the individual companies’ annual transportation responsibilities.
“We hope to establish beyond a shadow of doubt that increasing the truck size-and-weight limits will result in better and more efficient use of commercial motor vehicles,” says Gary Petty, NPTC president and chief executive officer.
