Government Business

Organisers say the CV Show is well on target to become the largest dedicated road transport and logistics show in Europe. For 2008, it relocates within the NEC to fill Halls 6 to 12 and 17 to 20, covering a total of more than 90,000 sq. metres.
    
Visitors will experience a number of shows merged into one, following the great news that TipCon and TankCon are set to return to the UK exhibition scene. Set within their own dedicated halls, TipCon and TankCon will each benefit from their own visitors’ lounge and mark the continued evolution of the CV Show – brought about by a desire to help visitors make the most of their time at the show, while increasing stand traffic for all exhibitors.
    
Other specialist sectors within the CV Show include Cool 2008, Municipal 2008 and Workshop 2008, designed to bring all of the products and services relevant for refrigerated transport operators, waste management fleets, local authorities and garage owners under one roof.

Outdoor exhibition
The show is not just limited to the space inside the halls; outdoor exhibitor bookings have increased too. Many of the leading truck, trailer and body manufacturers have taken exhibition space outside, enabling them to exhibit both line-ups of customer-liveried vehicles and products that require additional space. These outdoor zones will all be easily accessible and clearly signposted from the main halls.
    
Predictions are that visitor numbers will increase once again this year, with more than 26,000 operators and drivers expected to make their way to Birmingham. The NEC’s central location makes it an easy place to get to, with Birmingham airport and Birmingham International mainline station just minutes away, and six major motorways within easy reach.

Planning ahead
As the show has continued to expand, more visitors have taken the option of spreading their visit over two days. However, it is still possible to complete your visit in a single day with a little pre-event planning via the CV Show website. It’s also worth saving valuable time by pre-registering for your free ticket in advance, which means you get your ticket and show guide before the show so you can plan your visit and make best use of your time.
    
The CV Show is one of the most important events in the industry calendar.  Manufacturers and suppliers spend months preparing for these three days, with impressive stands and exhibits that really celebrate the best that the industry has to offer.
    
This year is expected to be no different, with a whole line-up of manufacturers and importers using the event as their primary platform to launch new products.
    
As well as big business, the CV Show is the perfect opportunity to discuss the issues of the day. No doubt this year, rising fuel costs will be high on visitor’s and exhibitor’s agenda alike.

Fuel management
Fuel is one of the biggest single costs for truck operators, accounting for some 30 per cent of operating costs, so its management is vital. It is made more important by an estimated 30 per cent over-capacity in the UK haulage fleet, which in turn brings intense competition and price pressure.
    
On average, a typical, five-axle, European specification, 40 tonne truck, doing 80,000 miles a year will use around 55,000 litres of fuel, costing about £50,000. Over a generous 10-year life that 40 tonne truck will deliver goods worth some £100 million and cost nearly £750,000 to run. Costs for a six-axle, UK 44 tonner will be a little higher and it will carry a little more.
    
Some 40 per cent of its operating costs will go to the government as tax revenue. For a fleet of 50 trucks the annual fuel bill will probably be around £2.5m and so fuel management is a big bucks deal. Most operators know that and use increasingly sophisticated tools to help them. But surprisingly and sadly, all too many firms still fail to measure and monitor fuel use, let alone properly manage a vital asset.
    
There are few excuses for this failure to manage fuel, as the number and variety of fuel management tools is huge and growing rapidly with many examples on stands at this year’s show. These vary from the fuel cards actively promoted by most major fuel suppliers through to sophisticated asset management systems, often linked to real-time truck tracking and diagnostic systems.
    
Increasingly, there are also pressures to measure, monitor and cut carbon footprints. Those pressures will grow and affect individuals and organisations. Transport firms are already being asked to define their carbon footprints when pitching for business, particularly where local authorities are involved or if the customer has a high public profile. That pressure will grow and is sure to be another hot topic on stands and in the NEC bars.
    
Truck and engine makers also offer an increasingly sophisticated range of technologies to measure fuel use. For instance, the Cummins RoadRelay system and fleet support software includes an in-cab driver display unit to give instant real-time data on fuel use, trip data, engine operation, oil level and service data. Truck makers’ systems also offer similar services, using information from a growing range of on-board microprocessors to give very detailed information about fuel use. For most operators, these systems are a vital tool in their asset management strategies.

Driver contribution
Day-to-day fuel use management, however, is largely down to the driver. He or she is the front line and his or her foot on the gas pedal almost certainly has the greatest influence on an individual truck’s fuel consumption. Because of this, most truck makers and big operators run driver development schemes to help drivers improve their efficiency.
    
This issue of the driver’s contribution is so important that even the UK government has got in on the act; its Freight Best Practice unit has developed its Safe And Efficient Driving programme with a growing range of Safed leaflets and web-based advice, including case studies. Experience shows that an efficient driver can save 10-15 per cent fuel consumption over a less efficient colleague.
    
Go back to that £2.5m annual fuel bill and even a 10 per cent saving is far too good to miss, particularly when the investment to secure it is modest.
    
The benefits of those driver development programmes can leak away unless the driver’s performance is properly measured and monitored - another opportunity for fuel management. Fuel card systems will at the very least measure the amount of fuel that a driver draws and also means that a driver doesn’t need to carry and account for cash. On-board systems will measure the amount that an individual truck uses. Versions of both can report via the Internet in real-time, with their data included in wider asset management systems that track vehicles, reporting on everything from vehicle position to load temperature or engine health. These wide ranging systems also offer the opportunity to measure the costs of each job precisely.
    
That data can inform decisions about fuel buying; for instance the pros and cons of bunkered fuel versus supplies bought at truck stops.

Preventing theft
One other issue that the raft of data has shown in greater detail is fuel theft. Previously this was quite difficult to define, but now that operators can and do compare data about fuel purchased and used by each truck, the discrepancies caused by fuel theft show more clearly. A consequence is a growth in devices to stop the bad guys siphoning fuel from trucks. More and more fleets are fitting these generally inexpensive gizmos and seeing them pay for themselves in a matter of months. Tiss, one of the leading and more successful makers of anti-siphon kits reports steadily growing sales to fleets large and small.
    
In any business cost management is basic and can make the difference between the success or failure of a contract or even the entire business. Effective fuel management is obviously vital, as it tackles probably the biggest single part of an operator’s costs.
    
Remember that fuel bill we talked about earlier and the opportunity for a medium size fleet to add £250,000 to the bottom line? Also remember that if you are managing fuel well, some of your competitors will be doing even better. Remember too that 30 per cent overcapacity and the price pressures that brings. Competition is a powerful spur to development, and so is the knowledge that even if you don't, your competitors will find a way of saving costs and undercutting what you're doing.
    
Whatever else you do about fuel management, doing nothing is not an option, and you’ll need to continually review what you are doing, if you want to stay in business. And the increasingly topical and important issue is of course the environment, with more and more firms asking their suppliers about their carbon footprints. To even begin to answer those questions you need to know about fuel consumption, and explore every technology and management tool at the CV Show in April to help you save money. And to cut emissions.