The Polish government has issued special permits with no time limit for 300 extended trailers with a length of 49 feet for national transport.
The semi-trailers, extended by 4 feet, are being deployed in the framework of a model investigation in Poland, monitored by the Motor Vehicle Technical Institute, Instytut Transportu Samochodowego, in Warsaw. After completion of the investigations, the survey by the institute is intended to be used as the basis of an order at European level to change the dimensions of semi-trailers in accordance with the lengths tested in the large-scale investigation.
The approval of this large-scale investigation by the government corresponded to an application by Kögel. The German manufacturer will receive 150 of the issued permits for the supply of its extended trailers, called Big-MAXX, to Polish transport companies. The other 150 permits have been issued to the Polish manufacturer Wielton.
There is already great interest in other European countries in the concept of a trailer extended by 4 feet, like the one presented by Kögel as early as 2005. While a countrywide large-scale investigation incorporating 300 vehicles of this type has been running in Germany since 2006, the Czech Government has recently agreed the fundamental approval of extended trailers in issuing an individual special permit. This means that Czech transport companies can use the Big-MAXX for national transport without any restrictions. There is no limitation as to routes, the same as in Poland.
Italy is also testing extended trailers with a length of 49 feet. The government agreed to a test using 15 vehicles in April. The permit for manufacture was issued to the four Italian manufacturers Merker, Viberti, Rolfo and Omar. Interest has also been expressed in the concept by the Netherlands, Great Britain and Spain. The Kögel Big-MAXX trailers can licensed in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia without any constraints, without additional approval costs and without any limits as to numbers.
With the development of the Big-MAXX, Kögel has been throwing its full weight behind proposed changes to the length restrictions of semi-trailers in Europe since 2005, so that at least part of the ever increasing transport volume can be absorbed without additional strain on the roads or investment in infrastructure. The Big-MAXX can transport 37 pallets instead of the previous 33, thus offering a considerable reduction in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions per transported pallet. The vehicles fulfil the design-led European circulatory regulations for motor vehicles and, with the exception of the overall length, all the other registration regulations. As such, no modifications to the infrastructure are required for the Europe-wide deployment of the Big-MAXX.
In addition, according to the estimates of the Allgemeinen Deutschen Automobilclubs ADAC (German Automobile Club) no impaired traffic safety is expected by the use of the extended trailer. Moreover, with its rail-loading version Big-MAXX rail, Kögel has successfully demonstrated that the extended trailer is compatible with the current pocket wagon of the combination traffic operator and therefore is fundamentally suited to intermodal traffic in Europe.