CPN recently attended the Construction Plant-Hire Association’s (CPA) annual conference and, not surprisingly, there was a great deal of food for thought. The overall theme of the day was ‘Shaping the Future: Insights for the Plant-Hire Sector’ and the 200-strong delegates were not disappointed as current industry issues were discussed in wide-ranging fashion.
Setting the scene in the opening keynote speech, Steve Mulholland, CPA’s chief executive officer, emphasised the need to combine evolution with revolution. In particular, he was referring to the challenge of implementing new technology and techniques to meet Net Zero obligations, which is becoming something of a double-edged sword. Steve argued strongly for a more pragmatic, common-sense approach from governments and regulatory bodies, especially “with our politicians and some Tier 1 contractors and their clients racing to mandate policies too quickly to outdo one another, and as manufacturers race to gain commercial advantages over one another, so plant hirers then have little option but to conform to these mandates. Ultimately it is the end buyer, us the hirer, who feels the pain at the sharp end,” he was heard to say.
He continued that CPA members, end users, hirers and suppliers must be able tocontinue producing and using fossil-fuel powered equipment while alternatives were sensibly phased in that could genuinely give the same performance as diesel equivalents, with an infrastructure capable of supplying the future fuels required. “Evolving to get there without these ridiculous targets is how we will do it, not by panic and knee-jerk reactions to meet impossible political targets which suit their own agendas and that of the noisy minorities,” he added.
Of course, the counter argument is that there is no gain without a bit of pain, but depending on your place in the food chain, that pain might be unfairly distributed, as Steve seems to be alluding to. Whatever one’s view or take on the matter, there’s no doubt that authorities and businesses awarding contracts will be grasping the environmental nettle and tasking contractors with using lower or zero emission equipment going forward. That path is set in stone. Whether you call it evolution or revolution is probably a personal matter.
Though the direction of travel is towards greater emphasis on alternatively fuelled machines, we are miles away from any parity between ICE and electric machines on site. Figures from Off-Highway Research show global sales of electric machines are forecast to be in the region of 3.1% among categories where electric variants are available or 2.6% across the market as a whole by 2028. A drop in the ocean by any yardstick.
On that note, and with the festive season upon us, it just remains for the CPN team to wish you all a Happy Christmas. It’s been a fascinating year, let’s hope the next is full of promise. We will see you in 2025!
Happy reading
The CPN Team
