The first 12 to 15 transport operations to join will test out the program for the first year before it is opened up to the rest of the industry in Victoria by this time next year. The Ecostation is designed to act as a facilitator to help companies take advantage of available innovations. Ecostation will act as a support mechanism for environmentally responsible truckies to get the emission levels down.

Something needs to be done as a carbon tax or a carbon trading will be with us soon whether Malcolm Turnbull likes it or not. Emissions will become an even bigger part of the equation and lowering them will become an economic imperative, especially when the fuel price starts to rise again, as it inevitably will!

Yet again, New South Wales are blocking major productivity gains by being too precious about protecting their infrastructure from damage by heavier trucks. Their requirement for trucks to be part of the Intelligent Access Program before getting access to their limited Higher Mass Limit routes has a prohibitive price. Queensland have also specified IAP but do, at least, have a useable and comprehensive HML route allowance.

Industry commentator Bob Murphy runs through the ridiculous situation on his Trucks, Trains and Traffic blog. It seems the authorities in NSW are set to stop progress for the transport industry at every turn, each time a better mousetrap is devised to improve productivity the regulators find a way to make it more trouble than it is worth, just look at PBS in NSW. Bob doesn’t hold back his punches in this hard hitting critique and lays the blame at the door of the obstructive and negligent bureaucrats ruling their own little empires. Keep it up mate!