The future of the truck industry as we know it is changing. Improvements in safety, fuel efficiency and extra payloads are now possible for freight owners operating within the realms of the law.

The Performance Based Standards (PBS) scheme is paving the way for improving heavy vehicle standards and regulations. In South Africa this concept, as a pilot project, has been in operation since 2007. There are currently 165 PBS vehicles being operated within the timber, mining, fuel, cattle and beer industries.

The concept for PBS vehicle is operating very well in Australia and this has formed the basis for the scheme that South Africa is following. PBS provides the framework for enabling trucks to safely and efficiently move higher masses.

At the 35th annual Southern African Transport Conference in Pretoria, Laszlo Bruzsa from the national heavy vehicle regulator (NHVR) from Australia discussed the success of PBS operations in that country. The NHVR is the dedicated regulator responsible for all vehicles over 4.5 tonnes and also certifies PBS vehicles ensuring compliance to the countries legislation.

Annually 2132 million tonnes of freight is moved across Australia with road freight being the dominate mode of transport. Bruzsa says the country did look at the rail option to see how much freight could be moved from road to rail and it was found that only 15% of freight could actually be transported on Australia’s current rail network.

PBS aims to maximise the safe used of higher productivity vehicles by matching the right vehicles to the right roads. PBS vehicles in both South Africa and Australia are only allowed to operate on predetermined routes. This is because of the size of the vehicles. Operators along with the authorities have to take into account the current road infrastructure along the routes because of the bigger sizes of the PBS vehicles.

These vehicles are also designed to do the least amount of damage to roads.

“Currently in Australia, PBS vehicles make up to 25% of total truck sales as operators realise the advantages of operating these vehicles,” says Bruzsa. The benefits for both operators and the country, according to Bruzsa, are that there is an overall reduction in truck movements by 22% and in the amount of trucks on the road by 40%. This in turn, he says, has huge fuel savings resulting in lower carbon emissions.

PBS vehicles in Australia allow operators to carry between an extra 20 to 30% payload.

In South Africa all operators applying for PBS permits have to be accredited by the Road Transport Management System (RTMS). This is an industry-led, voluntary self-regulation scheme that encourages consignees, consignors and transport operators engaged in the road freight logistics value chain to implement a vehicle management system that preserves road infrastructure, improves road safety and increases the productivity of the logistics value chain.

A key driver for PBS operations in South Africa is Dr Paul Nordengen, from the CSIR, who has been expanding the concept among South African operators since 2007. Working closely with the Department of Transport, Nordengen says this is a long term project that once it has buy-in from every province in South Africa will have a positive impact on operations in this country. At present three of the countries provinces support the PBS concept – KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga.

The benefit of RTMS, states Nordengen, is that a transport operator investing in this system is recognised for its commitment to responsible business through a series of concessions. The most notable is the opportunity to investigate the implementation of PBS. This, in short, means that a vehicle can be designed outside the current legal limits, whilst still complying with certain safety and other requirements and can, therefore, carry heavier payloads.