The European Shippers' Council has condemned a vote earlier this week by the Transport Committee of the European Parliament to oppose the use of longer trucks on Europe's roads as "short-sighted and harmful to Europe's economic interests."
The ESC said the use within Europe of longer, potentially heavier road freight vehicle combinations, referred to as the European Modular System, would help reduce congestion and emissions as two trucks could do the work for which presently three trucks are needed.
Nicolette van der Jagt, secretary general of the ESC, feels that trucking firms in Europe are not receiving the same support from the authorities as their rail counterparts.
"There are absolutely no grounds to the argument that these longer vehicle combinations would make any noticeable difference to rail freight's fortunes," she said. "It is time the rail freight sector and its supporters stopped trying to stop others from becoming more efficient and better at what they do and instead focused on how they could raise their own game.
"However, the ESC strongly believes rail freight can play a larger role in European freight logistics. We are supporting the commission in its efforts to liberalize the rail freight sector and rid the EU of monopolistic, anticompetitive, incumbent operators that refuse to accept they have to change or else be replaced by those that can do the job better.
"We find it of great concern and extremely frustrating that Parliament still wishes to look at bold new developments such as the European Modular System purely in modal terms. Rather than looking at this as a road freight development, they should see it more as a freight transport innovation that improves the efficiency of freight transport and increases the utilization of the existing transport infrastructure. Growing levels of congestion in the EU and growing transport flows emphasize the need for every single transport mode to increase its efficiency," van der Jagt said.