Conflict between road toll prices and freight costs may be causing overloading on China's highways
Overloaded truck Image: Matthijs Koster |
As of July, the Ministry of Transport will introduce tougher penalties on drivers who illegally overload their trucks. If caught three times in one year, the drivers stand to lose their business license as well as steep fines. The new law will also introduce tougher penalties for manufacturers and dealers who sell and make cars with illegal road capacities.
According to traffic authorities, as much as 80% of trucks inspected were found to be overloaded, and are therefore causing havoc on China's road networks. But what exactly is causing this trend towards illegal overloading?
Naturally, rising fuel costs make profit margins thinner for drivers nationwide. However, many are attributing the trend in overloading to expensive toll roads, which often make up around a third of total freight expenses. Wu Zhongyao, a long time truck driver, claims to have spent 8,978 yuan ($1,382) on tolls from Guangdong to Liaoning – a journey of some 2,800km.
Toll roads are a lucrative business for governments as well as expressway companies, who reported around 12 billion yuan in profit in 2009. The government are, however, taking steps to ease the financial burden incurred on toll roads, for example in Beijing, where the airport expressway toll price will be cut in half. He Jianzhong, a spokesman for China's ministry of transport, said that the government are also working towards a target of 96% non-toll roads in the future.