Question 15887 — road transport
France · National Assembly · 9 June 2026
Mr. Eddy Casterman draws the attention of the Minister of Transport to the generalization of the transport of beets by 48-ton trucks to follow up on the experiment carried out between 2021 and 2023. Each year, during the beet campaign, nearly 35 million tons of beets are transported from the fields to the sugar distilleries. Only road transport makes it possible to collect the thousands of silos placed around the fields. The large number of these trucks causes disruption on the roads, in the villages crossed and constitutes a significant source of CO2 emissions. Increasing the capacity of trucks is the most effective way to reduce their number on the roads. Between 2021 and 2023, an experiment conducted by the beet-sugar sector under the control of the Ministry of Transport made it possible to determine, with favorable results, the conditions for the generalization of the total rolling weight authorized to 48 tonnes for sugar beet transport alone. The increase in tonnage made it possible to reduce the number of trucks on the roads and CO2 emissions by 10%. This is accompanied by a very moderate impact on the roadways, thanks to a better distribution of the mass of trucks on wider tires, a modification of the spacing of truck axles and the implementation installation of a self-steering axle on the body in order to increase maneuverability and reduce shearing forces when turning. Consequently, he asks what assessment he draws from this experiment and wishes to know the timetable for putting the 48-ton trucks into circulation for the sugar beet campaigns.