Recorded on October 15th, 2015
ARTSA has released the latest in its quarterly reports on the Australian heavy vehicle registrations. The report is available on line at www.artsa.com.au/store
According to the latest quarterly report, new vehicle registrations have yet to recover to the levels of 2014 with the first three quarters of 2015 at 13% below the equivalent quarters in 2014.
Retirements of vehicles have continued to climb compared with 2014 and the year to date shows a 31% increase compared with the previous year.
The overall impact is that the heavy vehicle fleet had a net addition of close to 11,000 vehicles in the first three quarters of 2014. This increase has shrunk to around 4400 vehicles in the first three quarters of 2015. This is a more than halving of the growth compared with the previous year.
More detailed figures held by ARTSA show the total number of registered multi-combination prime-movers (B-double and road train capable) declining in 2015, as have dolly registrations. This gives support to the theory of a general downwards trend in freight volumes, as these vehicles represent the “workhorses” of the freight sector.