A new regulation recently enforced in Vietnam calling for verification of the loading capacity of trucks has been blamed by transport companies for the sprouting of long lines at the ports.
The new rule has port authorities’ officers supervising the cargo handling process to check that vehicles stay within the total loading capacity indicated in their registration certificates, said a report from VietnamNet Bridge.
Transport firms reportedly complain that they are found to be violating the new tonnage limits set because of issues such as differences in the definition of loading capacity in the enforcing circulars and in the vehicle registration certificates.
In addition, trucking companies said semi-trailers, which are in common use for goods transport, did not fit bridge and road loading capacity limits, so are automatically found violating the regulation against overloading.
The Ministry of Transport has allowed imported semi-trailers to be modified, but not those made locally. As such, transport companies plan to ask the Vietnam Register to allow the upgrade of locally made vehicles so these can comply with the latest capacity stipulations.
Under the new policy, vehicles with loads topping the allowed maximum tonnage in their registration certificates will not be cleared for movement on the roads until the excess is removed.
The transport ministry warned of heavy sanctions on port authorities and businesses that continue to deal with overloaded vehicles.
Last month, 29 ports in Ho Chi Minh City made a formal agreement with the ministry to strictly apply checks on vehicle loads at their premises, and to suspend their operations if found letting violating vehicles to travel on roads for a second time or more.
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