T-33's Take To The Skies

Please enjoy the thoughts and musings of our friend, supporter, and long-time contributor Art van Bodegraven Jr., who passed away on June 18, 2017. Art was a prolific writer and had amassed a collection of unpublished blog posts he had planned to run well into the future. To honor his memory, we will continue to post these remaining blogs as he had intended. If you’ve been a fan of The Art of Art blog, check out our tribute.

 

Well, maybe not actually the skies, but quite possibly coming nonetheless.  Friend of many years, Cliff Lynch, pays attention to infrastructure and related developments.  His take is that, many factors included, there are tons of good reasons to launch 33-foot twin trailers (T-33's).

The good stuff?  Improved safety.  3 billion gfewer vehicle miles travelled.  4,500 fewer crashes.  Over 50 million saved by lower congestion.  $2.5 billion in cost reductions.  255 million fewer gallons of fuel used, and 3 million tons of CO2 emissions.  What's not to like?  A lot, if one is in the Congress, it appears, with a DOA transport funding bill in 2015.

Nevertheless, the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) has fought T-33's hammer and tong, citing competitive disadvantage, safety concerns, TOFC issues, and designs for 53- and 28-foot containers.

Specious on a good day; weak when there is a chance of showers.

But, a number of major league players have banded together to promote T-33's, and just maybe the time has come to upgrade this particular aspect of transport.  One may only hope.