The preferred answer was, initially at least, for the city to levy a charge of up to £100 a day on non-Euro VI trucks entering the city and other charges for buses and taxis. Backed by some large scale support DP World was able to persuade the value of the container and freight trade to the city, together with the impracticality of such a large charge, with the undoubted conclusion that this would be unsustainable for many businesses.
The Council’s own clean air strategy indicates that around 42% of air quality issues can be laid at the feet (or exhausts) of HGVs and LGVs. Having considered the points raised the Council began to seek an alternative, and the answer it seems is to employ the existing Vehicle Booking System (VBS) technology at the port to identify the vehicle and raise a ‘green charge’ accordingly. DP World Southampton has agreed to implement a much smaller charge of £5.00 per truck visit for older trucks through its VBS system, using automated number plate recognition (ANPR).
The company is creating a separate database for private licence plates and dock use only trucks, where operators will be asked to demonstrate whether their trucks are Euro V / VI compliant. In order to minimise the impact there will be a phased introduction:
It is difficult to predict how fast the ‘63’ and older trucks will be replaced but again, to limit the impact and give haulage businesses the opportunity to plan ahead, the company consciously chose an implementation date of 2022 for charging the newer Euro V trucks.
Full details about the scheme will follow along with DP World’s formal tariff announcement in June 2019.
Photo: Image courtesy of Help Britain Breathe.
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