Industry input on a national standard loading scheme for heavy vehicles used during harvest season will be sought next year after a broad ranging review
The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) will seek further industry input on a review of Grain Harvester Management Schemes (GHMS) as it considers the possibility of developing a harmonised national scheme.
GHMSs exist to help overcome some of the practical difficulties in grain transport – including the challenge of keeping under legislated mass limits when carrying grain, which can vary in weight depending on its density and moisture content.
Each scheme offers an allowance that exempts specified vehicles from the prescribed mass limits, though the allowance can vary between five and 10 per cent between states.
The NHVR review conducted earlier this year looked at the schemes that currently exist in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia, as well as South Australia’s mass loading management concessions for grain loading and transport.
Part of the review looked at creating a national Harvest Mass Management Scheme (HMMS), as well as developing standards for operator accreditation; vehicle conditions and grain receival processes including data reporting.
After receiving roughly 20 submissions from industry groups, the regulator is currently putting together a position paper on the issue, to be released early in the new year, with further industry input to be sought after that.
Speaking with Farms & Farm Machinery, Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association executive director Mat Munro says his organisation would like to see a more harmonised scheme introduced.
“They could harmonise in terms of eligible vehicle types, eligible [participants] and eligible freight types – of grains or materials,” he says.
“I would also like to see the scheme open all year, rather than seasonally – commodities are not moving just at harvest time.”
Munro also called for a new scheme to avoid the restrictions present under some GHMS schemes, that limit travel from a farm to the nearest approved grain receiver only.
“Using the closest person to you is not always the best option – there is far more choice these days,” he says.