NHVR: states assist with permit woes

‘Teething problems' are seeing several Australian states helping the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator to process a backlog of road permits

Road authorities in Queensland and Victoria are actively assisting the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) to process heavy-vehicle road-access permits, while New South Wales’ Roads and Maritime Services is allowing truck operators in that state to contact it directly to track permit applications, as the NHVR’s new system gets off to a shaky start.

The NHVR took over the processing of road access permits when the new Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) came into effect on February 10, 2014, but since then there have been extensive delays with the permit system.

The NHVR’s Chief Executive, Richard Hancock, admitted there were teething issues.

“For many local governments and for many operators, this is the first time they have had to formally deal with these consent requirements,” he said.

“Heavy haulage operators run their businesses with the expectation that they will receive permits within hours. I acknowledge that the new requirements and the new processes have not met these timeframes.”

To help ease the backlog, the NHVR has temporarily delegated authority to VicRoads to process over-size and over-mass vehicles (OSOM) and special purpose vehicles (SPV) for Victorian journeys, effective from Tuesday, February 25. Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) has already stepped in to help process OSOM and SPV permits, while road authorities in NSW and SA are providing specialist permit officers to the NHVR’s headquarters to assist with processing.

The Chief Executive of the Australian Trucking Association, Stuart St Clair, said the NHVR needed to get its house in order.

“Part of the case for the NHVR was that it would centralise and streamline the process of getting these permits,” he said.

“The full launch of the NHVR was put off and put off because it said it wanted to make sure its systems were ready. But now, after all that, the NHVR is failing to meet the commercial deadlines faced by the industry.

“Operators submitted 2050 permit applications to the NHVR in the period leading up to Tuesday, February 18. The NHVR only managed to issue 258 permits. We know that at least some of those permits were issued with the wrong details, leading to further delays.

“Some operators are facing costs of tens of thousands of dollars per day. Some are laying off staff. In the mining sector, some of the world’s largest manufacturers of mining equipment are facing contract penalties because they haven’t been able to get their specialised equipment to mine sites in time.

“Australia’s transport ministers will hold a teleconference next Tuesday to approve the NHVR’s budget. They need to ask the hard questions and tell the NHVR to focus on fixing these permit issues,” he said.

Hancock said he was thankful for the assistance.

“I appreciate the strong assistance from our state government partners and heavy vehicle operators who, while legitimately calling for these issues to be urgently fixed, have continued to publicly express their support for the Government’s decision to establish the NHVR,” he said.

NHVR: states assist with permit woes

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