Cutting Carbon Emissions Through Haulage Loads

This may seem an unlikely article for me to write at first. Working in the road transport industry, many people assume it is automatically impossible to have a green conscience. This isn't surprising, given that my job depending on hundreds of haulage vehicles dragging loads up and down the country, producing all those environment damaging carbon emissions along the way. Actually, the truth is that my job allows me to be both a green advocate and a road haulage representative while still helping me claim a salary. No, I haven't invented a device that changes exhaust emissions into pure oxygen - it's simply thanks to the nature of freight exchanges.

It works like this: under normal circumstances, drivers or companies manage their own loads with their customers, make their delivery and then return home to the depot for the next load. Environmentally and on a human level, this isn't efficient. The driver is, in effect, only being paid for the outbound journey, and in these times when the price of fuel seems to be rising on an almost daily basis, this is financially crippling. Now consider a freight exchange - a network of suppliers and drivers/companies who distribute their loads between them meaning that the return journey can contain another job. This means the trip is paid for (both ways) and therefore the haulage company is not operating at a loss (even for a minute) and profits can rise.

All well and good, but this still isn't looking particularly environmentally friendly is it? Wait, I'm getting to that.

Now, if this return load is being distributed back to someone who is already out on the road, it won't be given to a driver for whom that would be the sole purpose of the trip. This means that there are less wasted journeys (every mile involved has a delivery attached) and therefore less unnecessary carbon emissions all over the place. Better still, if this collaboration for efficiency continues across the industry, then less trucks will be required to shift all the work, and we may even see the decommissioning of these carbon-emitting behemoths. The environment will surely jump for joy.

Unlike most environmentally friendly solutions which require an element of self sacrifice, the freight exchange actually creates benefits across the board: the haulage companies/owner operators make more money, the roads get less congested and the environment becomes less polluted. Everybody wins - and for that reason, we have seen impressive pick up for our online freight exchange for the 7.5tonne and above market: Haulage Exchange.

I can't say whether our customer base is growing for monitory or environmental reasons (or both), but whichever it is, the gradual migration to us and other freight exchanges is great news for the environment. And if our drivers save themselves significant money as well, then all the better.

Luke Humble is the Website manager for The Transport Exchange Group. Their website for the 7.5 tonne and over market, Haulage Exchange, is one of the UK's leading independent and fastest growing freight exchanges.The exchanges are neutral, actively managed and with strict quality control to ensure smooth running.

Top Five Most Hazardous Lorry Loads

Most lorry drivers transport ordinary goods to their destination, pickup their backload if they've arranged one, and drive back. Most will need some kind of identification, even if it's only a name tag, or possibly a security pass. Few will need armed guards or refractive armour, but some do, and these are the truck and lorry drivers that transport hazardous and life threatening loads.

5. Toxic and Very Toxic

Many products and items in every day life have toxic elements or chemicals in them, but are rendered inert by their combinations, compounds and mixtures. Still, there is a definite need for businesses and factories to be provided with some toxic and very toxic chemicals. The sign for these is skull and crossbones - rarely a good thing - and you'll find this on the side of more lorries than you might think. The difference between toxic and very toxic is denoted by a small "T+" on the sign, but either way it's not a good idea to play about with these kinds of materials.

4. Weapons and Missiles

The army has an entire corps of lorry drivers and flatbed hauliers, most carrying innocent enough loads and backloads, including medical supplies, food and stationery. However, they also move ground to air rapier missiles, Javelin anti-tank missiles, 30mm chain gun ammo, HESH rounds and 120mm shells. Not the sort of thing you want involved in a pileup on the motorway. The army is careful with its haulage, but it certainly ranks high on the list of dangerous and hazardous loads.

3. Bio Hazard loads

You'd think that guns and ammo would be higher on our list than number three, but there are potentially much worse haulage loads to be transporting. Biohazard waste and active substances are classified into levels one to four, with four being the worst or most hazardous. Level one loads might be chicken pox or similar substances and are handled with gloves. However, level four substances are incredibly infectious, highly dangerous and usually need full hazmat suits to be handled. Loads that are labelled as bio hazards are very dangerous to transport, but are very import for scientific, medical and research purposes.

2. Nuclear loads

The last and two most hazardous types of haulage on our list are unlikely to be taken on the usual commercial carriers. It's highly unlikely that you could pick up a backload when dealing with substances that are radioactive, so these types of haulage are also unlikely to be taken on freelance. Nuclear loads (which can include fuel rods, waste or weapons grade radioactive materials) need very specific types of carrier to withstand both the radiation and any possibility of highjack.

1. Chemically and Biologically harmful loads

Schedule 1 chemical and biological substances are incredibly harmful to human, animal and plant life. Some of the substances are so virulent and destructive that only a small amount could wipe out all life in a large radius of any contamination. Worse even than nuclear spills or meltdowns, these substances can mutate and spread into water supplies, and through entire populations and across the world in a very short space of time. So moving them around the country in a regular lorry is probably not going to happen. This type of haulage is usually accompanied by armed guards and high security - with good reason.

Lyall Cresswell is the Website manager for The Transport Exchange Group. Their exchange for haulage operators, Haulage Exchange, offers exchanges and backloads for their clients with strict quality control to ensure smooth exchanges.

Transporting Exceptional Loads

Perhaps the highlight is the road transport of a Boeing 747 on three different trailers to a German museum. Although the fuselage of the aircraft was 70 metres long and 18 metres high, it is not the largest item on the video. That was the new bollard-shaped head office of the Dutch company Mammoet seen transported whole over land and water to its permanent site. Other items included are the transport of bridge sections, boats and a pair of valuable equestrian bronze sculptures. Throughout the programme, the skills of the transport companies and their personnel are explained and a feature is included on how modular trailers are built.

Price:

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Transporting Exceptional Loads [VHS]

Each of the exceptional loads shown in this programme was a project requiring individual attention and equipment. The skills of the transport companies and their personnel are explained and a feature is included on how modular trailers are built.

Price:

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