A new anomaly has arisen in the high cube saga.While the industry has waged a long battle for the legislation that restricts the height at which these containers can be carried to 4.3m rather that the 4.6m that was previously in place, some industry players have changed tack.“Many companies have invested in the necessary infrastructure and changed their f lat deck trailers to accommodate high cubes at 4.3m rather than 4.6m,” Road Freight Association CEO Gavin Kelly told FTW.“There are also a number of companies that have decided to no longer transport high cubes and have changed their business models and infrastructure to allow for that.”He said while it was not clear how many transporters were still moving high cubes at the illegal height, the fact was that there had been investment into new trailer f leets to meet the regulation of 4.3m.“What happens to those companies that have taken the time and money to be legal?”He said from an RFA perspective very few companies were left operating at 4.6m. It's still not clear what the DoT is planning to do about the container height. Over the past ten years it has maintained that transporters must overhaul their f leets ahead of the expiry of the moratorium at the end of 2019. No attempts have been made by the department to date to extend the moratorium, making it illegal to transport high cubes at 4.6m. The DoT has, however, called on provincial and local authorities not to enforce the regulation.”Thanks to a moratorium, introduced in 2011, high cubes have been moving at 4.6m legally, but with the moratorium having expired, these containers are currently being moved illegally.
INSERT: What happens to those companies that have taken the time and money to be legal?– Gavin Kelly