10 LOGISTICS


Are gigaliners the future of long-haul transportation?


Capable of shipping up to 20 tons more cargo in just one trip, gigaliners promise less congestion and lower emissions, but they’re also facing strong criticism. So, what is the outlook in Europe for these giants, asks Veronika Dullova


these are all names of large goods vehicles with a total length of up to 25.25 m and a maximum permissible weight of up to 60 tons. At first glance, it might seem


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that replacing three conventional trucks for two LHVs is a no-brainer. Moreover, since even longer trailer combinations successfully circulate in Australia or parts of North America. However, the situation from other continents can’t simply be emulated in Europe, where urban density and highway traffic is much higher, the terrain is less flat, and roads are twistier. With these conditions, it’s reasonable to ask whether and under what circumstances gigaliners prove worth investing in.


The results are already in Gigaliners were already approved in the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark after which Germany’s officials expressed


igaliners, eurocombis, megatrucks, super lorries, or Long Heavy Vehicles (LHVs) –


Pulp Paper & Logistics


Sygic Truck Navigation, a GPS navigation app for fleets and truckers


interest in them too, having high hopes about decreasing highway traffic.


Germany ran an extensive five-


year test before finally allowing gigaliners on its roads in 2017. The Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt), which ran the tests, concluded that allowing megatrucks would result in up to 25 per cent fuel savings. Positive effects on pollution are also hard to ignore. For example, Luís Simões, who introduced


gigaliners in the Iberian market in 2014 and currently has ten gigaliners in circulation in Portugal and Spain, claims that they have been able to achieve a 30 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions per ton transported.


So what’s the hold-up? On the flip side, making truck transport cheaper and thereby more attractive might increase demand that could oppose long-term efforts to move more


transport from roads to rail, thus creating a bad impact on the environment. This has been by far the biggest criticism coming from the experts. However, there’s already a counter argument to this claim, for example in Sustainable Logistics: Responses to a Global Challenge: “(...) the advantages of railroad


Megatrucks could result in up to 25 per cent fuel savings September/October 2020


transport can only on long distances fully compensate for time and cost-related downsides. If this condition is met, railroad transport is second to none – not even longer LGVs. Still, if this prerequisite cannot be met, truck length does not play a role.” The argument is simple – cheaper road transport doesn’t necessarily have to cause a major redistribution of the use of different modes of transport. More data supporting any side of the debate is still required and the


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