“There’s no cow on the ice,” came the reply from Lars Strindlund. Actually, it was in Swedish (“Det är ingen ko på isen”) because truck driver Lars doesn’t know much English.
It means ‘something might seem risky or hazardous, but it’s fine’. He was referring to news from the Trafikverket (Swedish Transport Administration) that more combinations of longer vehicles are now allowed on the roads, writes Olle Hällstén (Transport News’ Scandinavian correspondent).
I am asking him because he has experience of longer vehicle combinations, and it looks tricky. I tell him in the United Kingdom only one trailer is allowed, and I am sending a story about these new combinations. He nods and gets out his tobacco and papers.
Back in December 2023 officials from the Trafikverket opened 590 kilometres of road network to trucks up to 34.5 metres in length.
The thinking is that longer trucks reduce transport costs, improve transport efficiency and reduce environmental impact.
As Sandra Nordahl, head of transport networks and design at the Swedish Transport Administration, said: “The advantage of longer trucks is that fewer trucks are needed to transport the same amount of goods.
“According to our calculations, this means that we can reduce emissions from heavy goods vehicles by between 4 and 6 per cent. The change will streamline the logistics process and reduce transport costs, improving the company’s overall competitiveness.”
My editor, Kevin Swallow, told me that a story posted on Facebook about longer vehicles drew ‘criticism’ mostly about ‘drivers who’d struggle to drive a nail into a piece of wood let alone haul a b-double combination up the motorway’.
Three years ago, Transport News ran a story of a ‘drawbar b-double’, my editor’s words not mine, that helped an energy supplier move wood chip from a rail head to its power plant.
This was to solve a delivery issue, so the Trafikverket permitted a 34-metre-long combination with a gross train weight of 98 tonnes on a 20-kilometre route via the E20 highway in Södertälje, Sweden.
Before Tuesday 15 April only two combinations were permitted to run exceeding 25.25 metres, from Tuesday 15 April there are five approved vehicle combinations to go to 34.5 metres.
The five approved configurations are as follows:
- A-double: Tractor + semi-trailer + dolly + second semi-trailer
- AB-double: Truck + dolly + link semi-trailer + semi-trailer
- B-double: Tractor + link semi-trailer + semi-trailer (link ≤12 m)
- C-double: Truck + two drawbar trailers (max height: 4.0 m)
- Nordic combination: Truck + dolly + semi-trailer (~27 m total length)
The trucks and tractor units doing the heavy lifting have to meet some technical requirements but nothing that isn’t already available. The infrastructure is in place. The drivers seem okay about it.
This brings me back to Lars Strindlund. Before reversing his 24 metre drawbar combination onto the loading bay, he smokes his newly rolled cigarette – a habit he collected in the Netherlands.
He isn’t concerned, driving is his job and if they want him to drive a 34.5 metre ‘rig’ then he will. “Just one trailer?” he says.
