MARKET ANALYSIS OF HEAVY-DUTY COMMERCIAL TRAILERS IN EUROPE
The German box semi-trailer market is dominated by the same manufacturers leading
the EU market: Schmitz Cargobull, Krone, and Kögel. Together they account for
approximately 90% of sales in Germany. Schwarzmüller and Fliegl are two additional
manufacturers with measurable market shares at approximately 4% and 2.5%,
respectively. Figure 13 illustrates the curb weight distribution for all registrations from
2010 to 2015 produced by these manufacturers. Schmitz Cargobull has the heaviest
product portfolio, starting at 5,910 kg and with a curb median weight of 6,926 kg. Krone
and Kögel offer products starting at 5,600 and 5,000 kg, respectively. Schwarzmüller is
the major German manufacturer with the lightest product portfolio, starting at 5,080 kg
and with a curb median weight of 6,350 kg.
Fliegl 1%-99%
confidence
interval
Schwarzmüller Median
25%-75%
Kögel confidence
interval
Krone Outliers
Schmitz
4500 5000 5500 6000 6500 7000 7500 8000 8500 9000 9500
Semi-trailer curb weight/kg
Figure 13. Curb weight distribution for the leading box semi-trailer manufacturers in Germany.
2.5 DIMENSION LIMITS FOR TRACTOR-TRAILERS IN THE
EUROPEAN UNION
To ensure the unrestricted cross-border circulation of HDVs, the EU has set maximum
dimensions and weights for international traffic. Member states cannot restrict the
circulation of vehicles that comply with the limits set within their territories by Directive
96/53/EC (Parliament and Council of the European Union, 1996), which ensures equal
access to the road network and fair competition in the transport industry.
Directive 96/53/EC sets a length limit of 16.5 m for tractor-trailers, 18.75 m for road
trains (e.g., a rigid truck or tractor-trailer pulling a drawbar trailer), and 12 m for drawbar
trailers (including bar). The 12-m length limitation for semi-trailers applies between the
kingpin and the rear of the semi-trailer. The maximum distance between the kingpin
and any point at the front of the semi-trailer (i.e., one of the front corners) is 2.04 m.
Effectively, the regulation sets a length limit of 13.6 m for box semi-trailers.
In the spring of 2013, the European Commission put forward a proposal amending
Directive 96/53/EC, which was adopted by the European Parliament in 2015 as Directive
(EU) 2015/719 (Parliament and Council of the European Union, 2015). The key technical
amendments are the following:
»» Vehicles with aerodynamic devices that exceed the length limit by more than 50
cm are to be allowed.6 This provision can only come into effect after appropriate
amendments to the technical requirements for the type approval of aerodynamic
devices longer than 50 cm are developed by the EU.
6 Trailer aerodynamic devices and truck designs that increase the vehicle length up to 50 cm do not need to be
type-approved and are already permitted by the type-approval Regulation (EU) 1230/2012.
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ICCT WHITE PAPER
»» To facilitate intermodal operations, the amendment legalizes the transportation of
45-ft containers and 45-ft swap bodies by increasing the maximum length of these
vehicles by 15 cm.
Directives 96/53/EC and (EU) 2015/719 set the weights and dimension limits allowed in
all EU territory. Nevertheless, member states may allow longer vehicles on their roads
for national transport, provided that the existing standardized EU modules (i.e., drawbar
trailers and semi-trailers) were used. This is the so-called European Modular System
(EMS). The EMS provision of directive 96/53/EC was adopted to allow for Sweden and
Finland to use longer and heavier vehicle combinations on their roads while allowing
foreign operators to participate in those markets on equal conditions of competition.
Table 2 shows the length and weight limits for countries that allow longer vehicles than
the EU directives (International Transport Forum, 2015). Figure 14 shows the vehicle
combinations and dimensions of single modules under the requirements of Directive
96/53/EC and the associated EMS.
Table 2. Permissible maximum dimensions in Nordic countries.
Length (m)
Country Road train Tractor-trailer
Finland 25.25 16.5
Iceland 22 18.75
Norway 19.5 17.5
Sweden 25.25 24
12 16.5 18.75 12.25
meter meter meter meter
(EU) (EU) (EU) (EU)
7.82 meters
13.6 meters
7.82 meters 7.82 meters
13.6 meters 7.82 meters
7.82 meters 13.6 meters
Figure 14. Vehicle combinations and dimensions of single modules under the requirements of
Directive 96/53/EC and the associated European Modular System.
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MARKET ANALYSIS OF HEAVY-DUTY COMMERCIAL TRAILERS IN EUROPE
2.5.1 Typical tractor-trailer configurations in Europe and North America
When comparing the trucking sectors in Europe and North America, perhaps the
most obvious difference between the two markets is in the physical appearance of
tractor-trailers. Arguably the most apparent difference is the shape of the front of the
trucks. Trucks in Europe (and most markets outside of North America) have a so-called
cab-over-engine design, in which the front of the vehicle is relatively flat and in line with
the front windshield. In contrast, tractors in North America typically have a longer cab,
where the nose of the vehicle extends beyond the front windshield. This divergence
of truck designs in the two markets has largely been a result of length restrictions in
Europe, as discussed above. Although there are some minor differences across the
various countries in Europe, most jurisdictions adhere to a maximum combined tractor-
trailer length of 16.5 m (54.1 ft). To maximize cargo-carrying capacity (i.e., maximize
trailer volume), the length of the tractor truck has been minimized with the cab-over-
engine configuration. Another result of this length restriction is that the gap between the
tractor and trailer is typically smaller in Europe.
In the EU, the maximum gross vehicle weight (GVW) of tractor-trailers is limited to
40 tonnes. However, the dimensional limitations of the typical trailer (length 13.6 m,
volume 92.5 m3) result in a volume-constrained cargo and in-use vehicle weight typically
much lower than the maximum. In the United States, despite the lower maximum GVW
(36.3 tonnes), trailers have a typical length of 16.1 m and volume of 112 m3. The larger
dimensional allowance results in typical payloads that are higher than in the EU, despite
lower maximum GVW.
In addition to differences in overall length, another physical difference in tractor-trailers
in the two markets is in the axle configuration. It is most common in Europe to have
tractors with two axles (referred to as a “four by two” or 4x2) and trailers with three
axles. This is reversed in North America, where tractors have three axles (typically 6x4 or
6x2 configurations) and trailers have two axles.
2.6 TRAILER-TO-TRACTOR RATIOS
Estimating the ratio of trailers to tractors is an important element of any analysis looking
at the impacts of additional technologies for tractor-trailers. For example, a trucking
fleet that has 100 tractors and 200 trailers may be considering a technology package
that would impose an increase of X dollars per tractor and Y dollars per trailer. In its
return-on-investment calculation, the fleet must express the total per tractor-trailer costs
as X + 2Y to account for the fact that there are two trailers for every tractor in the fleet,
and thus the average annual vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT) for tractors is twice as
large as that for trailers. Therefore, because the value assumed for this ratio has such a
critical impact on the economics of trucking operations, it is important that policymakers
have a reasonably good assessment of the average trailer-to-tractor in-use and sales
ratios so that the costs and benefits estimated in a regulation targeting both tractors
and trailers adequately reflect conditions in the real world.
According to data developed by Ricardo-AEA and Meszler et al., the in-use ratio of
trailers to tractor trucks in Europe is approximately 1.4-to-1 (Hill et al., 2011; Meszler et
al., 2018). This stands in fairly stark contrast to the United States and Canada, where
this trailer-to-tractor ratio for equipment on the road is estimated to be around 3-to-1
(Sharpe, 2014). Additional analysis and scrutiny of stock data sources are needed on
trucking operations in Europe and North America in order to better understand why
in-use trailer-to-tractor ratios are so different between the two markets.
Figure 15 shows the ratio of new trailers to new tractors sold in Europe. Sales data for
tractors is available through 2016. Over this time span, the ratio was at a maximum in 2009
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