Truck Capacities in the USA
Most countries globally set the max weight for freight trucks on roads at 25MT. In the US, the limits are set at 44,000 lbs for tandem-axle trucks, or around 20MT for those using the metric system.
If the US were to increase truck capacities to 25MT, matching Europe, it would allow companies to reduce the amount of trucks carrying their product by up to 20%. I say up to 20% because not all commodities reach this maximum weight before trucks are completely full. However, for refined metals, there is a lot of empty space remaining in trailers when the 44,000 lbs limit is reached.
Currently, delivering 1,000 MT of metal in the US requires 50 trucks. Increasing the max capacity to 25 MT would only require 40 trucks, that's 10 fewer trucks on the road for every 1,000 MT of metal driven in the US. Just looking at the annual consumption of refined copper, ali, lead, and zinc in the US of around 7 MMT, this change would see a decrease of ~70,000 truck journeys per year. There are plenty of other commodities that would see the same benefit so the impact would be exponential.
Another factor here is shipping containers. Vessel containers are typically filled up to their limit of 25MT, which means that for the majority of locations in the US, shipping containers must be drayed to a warehouse, stripped, re-loaded onto a truck, then driven to their destination.
The US also faces a near-constant lack of Commercial Driver's License (CDL) holders in the US, further pushing up domestic logistics costs. This change in capacity rates for trucks could substantially reduce this shortage of drivers.
All of these factors increase costs for companies, which are invariably passed onto the end consumer because this drives up premiums in the local markets, causing inflation in consumer prices.
An argument against increasing truck weight capacities is that it would lead to increased wear and tear on our roads, and generate higher emissions. With respect to road maintenance, if all of Europe, with its very varied climate, can deal with 25MT trucks without significant damage to the roads, I don't see why the US can't cope with a similar capacity. Regarding emissions, I would argue that increasing truck capacities would actually lower emissions levels because although they would be slightly higher per truck, there would be fewer overall trucks on the road.
Truck stopping distances would increase with heavier loads, but speed limits are also significantly lower on most US highways than on European motorways, so again if Europe can handle this, I don't see why US drivers wouldn't be able to.
Given both the environmental and consumer benefits this change would have, I'm hard-pressed to see why this wouldn't receive bi-partisan support in Congress.
