by Frank Beeton
M
oving
atters
Frank Beeton scans the transport world for news pertinent to the Logistics Sector.
Clean Fuel Deadline
Moves Out – What Now?
The South African Petroleum Industry Association
announced in mid-May that the July 1st, 2017
compliance date for the introduction of new
cleaner fuels had been moved out, because
finality had not yet been reached on the
associated cost-recovery system.
moving matters
N
o new deadline has yet been announced, but
there has been speculation in some quarters
that the legislation may only take effect in 2020.
The net result of this announcement will be an undefined
delay in the universal availability of low sulphur content
(less than 10 parts per million) Euro 5-compliant fuel, as
defined in Government Notice R421 of May 31st, 2012, to
local motorists and the transport industry.
It has been reported that plans for the upgrading of local
petroleum refineries t o produce this fuel are in place,
but implementation is now expected to be delayed in
line with a later compliance date. However, technical
developments in the global truck industry continue
to be driven by increasingly stringent environmental
legislation in the First World, and manufacturers have
been obliged to make parallel efforts to maintain an
acceptable level of operating economy while complying
with these requirements. During the past few years,
much attention was focused on the full implementation
of Euro 6 emission standards for all new European
truck registrations at the beginning of 2014, and this
has resulted in a slew of comprehensive product
renewals by manufacturers serving that market. It was
notable that these new products did not only contain
technology advances related to the reduction of exhaust
emissions, but also incorporated numerous innovations
in downstream driveline components, aerodynamic
refinement, and mass reduction, in order to avoid any
fuel consumption penalties from Euro 6 compliant power
units.
Towards the end of last year, Sasol launched its ULS
10 ppm diesel fuel through 78 outlets in Gauteng and
Mpumalanga, stating that the product would also be
selectively rolled out to other areas of the country over
the following two years. This will allow some operators to
employ vehicles with more advanced emission standards
than the Euro 2 level currently legislated in SA, but careful
management of the diesel fuel being supplied to these
vehicles will be imperative to ensure reliability. Geographic
gaps in the local availability of low sulphur fuel will present
a particular challenge to those long-distance operators
who manage vehicle performance, economy and safety
through the sophisticated electronic systems that are only
available in the latest generation vehicles.
Some manufacturers sourcing products out of Asia, where
vehicles and engines built to lower technology standards
are still available, could see this delay as an exploitable
marketing opportunity. This would be welcomed by those
operators who cling to the belief that products with less
sophisticated specifications are more appropriate for
African operating conditions. However, with the spectre
of carbon taxation, planned for implementation in 2016,
hanging over South African business, it seems unlikely
that this avenue will remain open for any length of time.
Reverse-engineering of vehicles has, historically, proved
to be a costly process, and the time will come when local
operators will be faced with financial penalties because
the country continues to lag behind global emissions and
fuel quality norms.
In some cases, trucks designed for Euro 6, or the latest
North American and Japanese standards, cannot easily
be back-tracked to some lower compliance level, as
| logistics in action
the emissions countermeasures have worked their way
deeper and deeper into fundamental vehicle design.
The “bolt-on” solutions that were prevalent at
earlier levels, are no longer effective, and have been
supplemented, or replaced by technology such as
ultra-high pressure fuel systems with multiple event
injectors, exhaust gas recirculation, variable geometry or
multiple turbochargers, and customised electronic engine
mapping, not to mention the associated refinements in
gearboxes, axles and aerodynamics mentioned earlier.
The European-based manufacturers who are dominant
at the upper end of the South African truck market have,
obviously, been most heavily involved in this process,
and are sure to find the delay in local implementation of
cleaner fuels most frustrating. In some cases, it will further
delay the entry of the latest generation products to this
market.
72
july 2014