emission control
Focus more on multi-mode connectivity: Dr. Sumantran
Dr. V. Sumantran, Vice-Chairman, Ashok Leyland Ltd., delivering his special address at the conference on “Creating Carbon Neutral Chennai: Planning for Integrated Freight Movement”, organised by the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) in Chennai. Seated (from left) are Mrs. K. Saraswathi, Secretary General, MCCI, Mr. T. Shivaraman, MCCI Vice President, and Managing Director & CEO, Shriram EPC Ltd., Mr. T.K. Ramachandran, Secretary, the Highways & Minor Ports Dept., Government of Tamil Nadu, Mr. S.N. Srikanth, Senior Partner, Hauer Associates, and Mr. J. Krishnan, Chairman, MCCI Expert Committee on Logistics, and Partner, S.Natesa Iyer & Co. The future of road transport in India is stable with growing urbanisation all over the country. However, there is need for multi-mode connectivity for which more and more collaborative measures are required mainly to reduce the CO2 footprint. The emphasis should also be on the role of IT development to facilitate freight movement. Delivering the special address at the conference on “Creating Carbon Neutral Chennai: Planning for Integrated Freight Movement”, or114 MOTORINDIA l July 2012
ganised by the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) in Chennai, Dr. V. Sumantran, ViceChairman, Ashok Leyland Ltd., said the idling and clogging of trucks caused a lot of CO2 emission which can of course be tackled through various practical measures. In this regard, the three stakeholders, namely, the citizen, the Government and industry should work together in solving the various problems arising out of heavy freight movement. Referring to Chennai, known as
the Detroit of India, he said that, with its educated population, good logistics and a strong industrial base, the city remains a major attraction where Ashok Leyland would continue investing. Very recently, the Tamil Nadu Government announced four large projects, including two for commercial vehicles, near the city. Mr. T.K. Ramachandran, Secretary, the Highways & Minor Ports Dept., Government of Tamil Nadu, in his inaugural address, said that
emission control an integrated road transport policy is essential for overall development. At the same time, there is need for remaining carbon neutral. This is all the more necessary for a city like Chennai where there is heavy freight movement by road. The State Government’s Vision Policy 2023 envisages an extensive 2,000 km of six or eight lanes, 3,000 km of four lanes and 4,000 km of two lanes within the next 10 years. Simultaneous development of ring roads would considerably ease traffic and freight movement. Even though trucks plying on roads are facing many problems including traffic congestion, the State is quite successful in handling the situation, he added. Earlier, Mr. T. Shivaraman, MCCI Vice President, and Managing Director & CEO, Shriram EPC Ltd., in his welcome address, said what prompted the Chamber to organise the conference were its 175-year experience as a trade body and its pragmatic approach to major issues of importance. Mr. S.N. Srikanth, Senior Partner, Hauer Associates, in his theme address, said India has the third largest road network in the world covering 3.3 million km and national highways covering 70,934 km. The rapid economic growth has put much pressure on road network development. Since 57 per cent of freight movement in the country is by road, there is an urgent need to divert a portion of it to rail and sea routes. At the technical session that followed, the speakers highlighted the need for a co-ordinated approach to freight movement by road, rail and sea. w
Enabling Integrated Movement of Freight in City Bottlenecks and Challenges By T.A.B. Barathi, Vice President - Supply Chain, Wheels India Ltd. The main challenges here relate to road movement, multi-modal transportation, export-import movement and availability of qualified drivers. Movement of trucks within the city is restricted by timing and routing. The restrictions also impede freight activity. Safe and smooth goods movement in a city can happen only during night. This brings in a new problem of halting trucks from morning to night. There is thus the need to develop “truck halt bays” (in line with container freight stations), with proper safety for goods from pilferage. The designated routes can be identified for freight movement on the outskirts. This would avoid other motorists vying for space. Dedicated clusters like Ambattur and Manali have access difficulty for freight movement. Large trucks have to be stationed outside the city and goods transhipped by smaller vans / light carriers. The system has to be seriously pursued as it helps in reducing congestion. However, safe locations for hub have to be identified around the city. The biggest bottleneck relates to movement from and to the Chennai port. Congestion here is due to bad roads, leading to consumption of excess fuel, delays in permission to enter or exit (long queues) and shortage of capacity in container terminals, (leading to containers being shifted away to Minjur or to Thiruverkadu CFS). Further, regular strikes lead to stoppage / suspension of CFS activity. Multi-modal freight movement Any free flow of traffic without congestion helps in reducing carbon footprint. As for making Chennai cleaner/greener, even though CONCOR has an expertise in multi-modal movement, it is not effectively utilized. Movement of goods through CONCOR is from places like Jamshedpur. However, return loads are not captured in a big way. CONCOR has to necessarily create awareness and work for critical mass to be used for return. It can also work towards propagating alternate port destination, as in Tuticorin, whenever Chennai port is heavily congested. In general any reduction in unnecessary movement reduces carbon footprint. w MOTORINDIA l July 2012 115
emission control
Creating carbon-neutral Chennai with integrated freight movement The main issues involved in sustainable and carbon-friendly integrated freight movement are strategising, planning and implementation of a “low carbon path dedicated freight corridor” (LCPDFC) which would facilitate adoption of various technological options, operation in a more energy-efficient manner and exploration of options to offset its own GHG emissions by investing in solar/wind and afforestation. The key issues in freight transportation in India, as per the World Bank study, are highly Mr. K. Swaminathan Krishnamurthy, competitive and low cost, highAssociate Director, Climate Change & transit time, overloading of vehiSustainability Services, Ernst & Young cles, poor infrastructure, barriers to free movement and lack of safety. and minimizing climate change The basic requirements for a impact freight strategy/logistics network at v Strategy to promote efficient usregional and national level are: age of available infrastructure and v Strategy to consider routes, preaugment infrastructure capacity to cincts and terminals that serve the integrate the freight cluster sites major cities An integrated transportation v Strategy to look into connectiv- policy (passenger & freight) aims ity of all major freight cluster sites at seamless connectivity with all (Rail, Road, inter & intra-State, modes of transport and promotion of Port & Aviation) infrastructure support for transportav Strategy to integrate freight trans- tion of passenger and goods to meet port and land-use planning the projected demand. v Strategy to include different asThere is need for continual assesspects of improving vehicular ef- ment of infrastructure and operaficiency/vehicular movement, tional performance indicators. Curthereby reducing energy usage rently, freight data is inadequate. It
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is more descriptive rather than analytical. Considerable freight and transport infrastructure performance-related data, particularly for major transport corridors, should be made available. Also required is an intelligent transportation monitoring system to monitor, respond and to evaluate continually the effectiveness of the infrastructure and its performance. There is also need for urban planning framework, considering impacts of energy and climate change from freight, to understand the key environmental impacts of transportation, and to design a comprehensive system which enables sustainable development. Sustainable development is made possible through optimal vehicular size and minimizing congestion, resulting in an effective traffic management system (timings, loading, safety, etc.), and through effective land-use planning. India’s transport sector is large and diverse. It contributed about 5.5 per cent to the nation’s GDP in 2007, with road transportation contributing the major share. However, the sector has not been able to keep pace with rising demand and is proving to be a drag on the economy. Roads carry almost 90 per cent
emission control of the country’s passenger traffic and 65 per cent of its freight. The intensity of India’s highway network – at 0.66 km of highway per sq. km of land – is similar to that of the US (0.65) and much greater than China’s (0.16) or Brazil’s (0.20). However, most highways in India are narrow and congested with poor surface quality. The key challenges in the Indian transport sector are the rapidly increasing number of vehicles with the growing economy and the associated problems of traffic congestion, deterioration in the quality of service and efficiency of both private and public transport, road accidents, air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. Roads are congested and of poor quality. Lane capacity is low. Most national highways are two lanes or less. A quarter of all-India highways are congested. Road maintenance remains under-funded, only around one-third of maintenance needs are met. This leads to deterioration of roads and high transport costs for users. Sustainable transportation development: Environmental impacts v Air pollution – particulates, SOx, NOx, air toxins v GHG emissions v Noise pollution
The points to ponder with regard to sustainable transportation development are: v Carbon footprinting – assessment, monitoring and strategy v Promoting the use of bio-fuels v Exploring possibilities of using renewable sources of energy, such as solar-powered trucks and containers v Setting up a co-ordination body for inspection and certification of vehicles at the national level v Introduction of green cess on older vehicles to discourage pollution and create a resource pool to enforce environmental discipline v Introduction of tighter energy efficiency and emissions standards v Pricing transport for energy efficiency. Most Western European
countries levy high fuel taxes as well as annual licence plate fees and varying levels of vehicle purchase taxes v Policy incentives to stimulate hybrid, electric, and fuel-cell freight vehicles in the city v Enforcing emission restrictions and labelling for trucks / containers. In 2001, Beijing introduced an environmental labeling system for vehicles. High emission vehicles that are below Euro I standard are identified with yellow labels, while green labels are provided to newer vehicles with more updated emission systems. High-emission vehicles are being slowly phased out and barred from entering the city center. w
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