OTTAWA, Ont. – With the federal government already beginning to plan for its 2008 budget, the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) is pushing for some incentives for ‘green’ fleets.

Fresh off a victory in restoring the meal allowance deduction limit for truck drivers in this year’s budget, the CTA is actively pushing for more benefits to the trucking industry.

Key among them are incentives for fleets utilizing environmentally-friendly equipment under the CTA’s enviroTruck program.

The goal is to accelerate penetration of new smog-free truck engines as well as add-on devices such as auxiliary power units, super-single tires and aerodynamic fairings.

In a submission to the feds, the CTA pointed out that greenhouse gas emissions have been overlooked in introducing new environmentally-friendly engines, and the association appealed to the government to provide incentives that will reduce fuel usage.

“Absent an integrated policy to address both GHG and (smog) emissions from heavy trucks, the federal government’s approach has had the unintended effect of increasing GHG emissions since the new tractors are less fuel efficient than equipment already in operation,” CTA contended. “Moreover, given the increased cost to purchase and operate the 2007 vehicles, new heavy truck sales have plummeted in Canada. Combined, this not only has negative consequences for the environment both in terms of postponing (smog) reduction and by creating the potential for increased GHG emissions from the industry, but also of increasing the fuel costs that the trucking industry must absorb or pass along to its customers – increasing the transportation component of the final cost of goods produced or sold in Canada.”

The CTA is pushing its enviroTruck program, which it dubs: “an integrated strategy to address both smog and GHG emissions from the trucking industry by accelerating the penetration of the new generation of smog-free trucks into the marketplace and promoting investment in currently available but under-utilized fuel efficiency devices and add-ons that could in a very short period of time, improve fuel efficiency of truck and trailer configurations by upwards of 20%.”

An enviroTruck would include an 07 engine and fuel-efficiency devices such as APUs and fairings. CTA CEO David Bradley said the concept is garnering attention at the federal level.

“We have already pitched the idea to the Minister of Finance and to the other key departments in Ottawa and there appears to be genuine interest; but, there is a lot of work to do between now and the next budget for this to become a reality. The finance committee’s pre-budget consultations are one part of that process,” concluded Bradley.