NHVR to Coordinate Tasmanian Heavy Haulage Permits

As of the first Monday in May (04/05/15) the process for oversize/overmass (OSOM) agricultural and special purpose vehicle permits will be managed entirely by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator.

The decision to return to this process which is standard under the Heavy Vehicle National Law came after consultation with the Tasmanian Department of States Growth, according to NHVR Chief Executive Sal Petroccitto.

The process at the moment is ineffective because it involves the NHVR receiving applications from operators and forwarding them to the Department of State Growth who then coordinate local government road manager approvals and assesses the suitability of state routes. After the access decisions are made, the NHVR then issues the appropriate permit to the operator.

Penny Nicholls, Department of State Growth, General Manager Road User Services was recently quoted in a post on the NHVR’s website,

“The arrangements in Tasmania were a temporary measure to assist the NHVR, and the return of the coordination of the road manager component (both local and state government) allows State Growth resources to focus on other priorities,”

Source: https://www.nhvr.gov.au

Speaking about the process change Mr Petroccitto went on to thank the State Growth Department for their assistance over the last year and assured them of continued good work in this area,

“We’re very grateful to State Growth for their local knowledge and operational support over the past year, which included embedding departmental staff in our offices for period of time,” said Mr Petroccitto.

“We have significantly boosted our capacity to track and report on all classes of permit applications at every stage of the process. We plan to offer that real-time visibility to all participants in the process, including heavy haulage operators.

Source: https://www.nhvr.gov.au

Petroccitto explained that it was the NHVR’s aim to provide access to the NHVR application tracker to all industry customers so that they could use an online counter on the Regulator’s website to track their application through the entire process.

“This is a sensible approach to managing heavy haulage vehicles in Tasmania and the TTA welcomes all measures that simplify the permit process and allow operators to concentrate on what they do best – transporting goods across Tasmania,” said Mr Phillips.

“Excellent progress has been made so far, but we still have a bit of work to do to ensure a smooth permit process for the transport operators. We look forward to working with the NHVR, State Growth and local governments in further improving the OSOM permit approval process in Tasmania,” he said.

Source: https://www.nhvr.gov.au

Tasmanian Transport Association executive director Robin Phillips also issued a statement with regard to the change. While the change was welcomed by the Tasmanian Transport Association, he said more was needed to streamline the permit application process, no matter who is in charge. He also welcomed the simplification of the permit issuing process because as he pointed out, bureaucracy is hurting business.

Phillips also was not happy with the long wait that operators had to endure for their permit approvals with some waiting up to a month at a time.

“We look forward to working with the NHVR, State Growth and local governments in further improving the permit approval process in Tasmania.”

Read more at: http://www.fullyloaded.com.au