In a boost for logistics industry, truck axle load permit to be hiked by 20-25%: Report

The government has said it will increase the maximum axle load on heavy vehicles by 20-25 percent, an effort to match it with international standards, according to a report in The Times of India.

This move will help lower transportation cost of goods. The government has raised the allowance after 30 years.

At present, two-axle trucks are allowed to carry a maximum load of 16.2 tonne, which includes the vehicle's weight. This limit would be raised to 19 tonne, the paper said.

The load would be increased by 9 percent for each additional axle, the report adds.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari met private highway developers on Wednesday to discuss the subject, the report said.

The government will also introduce graded penalty to discourage overloading, sources told the paper.

Road builders say that overloading of up to 100 percent is common, sources told the paper.

Truck drivers often avoid roads where builders charge hefty tolls for overloading, the report added.

To detect overloading, the government has begun installing weigh-in-motion bridges on highways.