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Change is life!
“What is incomprehensible is that the universe is comprehensible”. Einstein.
The 21st century, often referred to as the century of communication, has in fact become the century of disinformation due to too much information. This is so true that, on all of today’s most important issues, this explosion of information through all the media eventually boils down, most of the time, to uniform thought and politically correct dogma dictated by fluctuating fashions. Thus while since the Age of Enlightenment, thanks to judicial use of reasoning and discernment to distinguish what is right and good, continuous progress was being made in the realm of knowledge, technical expertise and moral values, today diversity of opinion and critical thinking have given way to the comfort afforded by search engines surfing on the waves of dogma and the precautionary principle.
According to Diderot, “Only passion, great passion, can elevate the soul to great things“; we must therefore, day after day, distinguish between myth and reality.
As far as transport infrastructure is concerned, after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of a bipolarised world, major decisions were made to bring together the peoples and economies of Europe and Asia. It was in this context that in 1993, the European Union launched the TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia) programme. However, despite the 100 or so assistance and investment projects, to the tune of millions of Euros paid to the numerous consultants involved, and although international road transport is set to double between 2000 and 2020, we can only observe today, with astonishment and regret, that TRACECA is but a myth: none of the planned infrastructure has been built.
The paradox is that during the same time, thanks to its vision and determination, China has built motorways not only throughout its own territory, but also towards the ports of neighbouring countries and towards the major world markets.
The truth is that today one can travel from Bangkok to northern China without leaving the motorway. Another truth is that the project which has been brewing since 1997 to reopen the legendary Silk Road has just taken a giant leap towards implementation. Indeed, under the leadership of China, an agreement has just been signed by Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, in order to implement, over the next ten years, a road infrastructure network to link Asia with Europe, without forgetting the Middle East, Turkey and Russia. Financing for this project - around 20 billion dollars - will be provided under the aegis of the Asian Development Bank.
The hidden truth is that currently, for dogmatic reasons, less than 1% of trade between European and Asian countries is carried by land through these countries which were, in earlier days, at the heart of world exchange. The reality is that the importance of road transport, at the service of trade with the new emerging powers of Asia and the Middle East, has been grossly underestimated, in particular by European countries.
As far as climate change is concerned, the myth created by uniform thought and politically correct dogma is to attribute global warming solely to the use of fossil fuels and ensuing CO2 emissions. But the truth is that the earth’s history written in stone proves that for thousands of years, the planet has already undergone many global warming/cooling cycles and even, at the heart of Europe, an evolution from a subtropical climate with palm trees to multiple glaciations. But as for using the alleged correlation between CO2 production and climate warming as evidence of a causal relation, there are limits which reason cannot exceed.
The myth is that biofuels or hydrogen can very well replace fossil fuels in road transport. But the truth is that fossil fuels, which are taxed so much that they are still considered black gold in road transport, have no cost-effective alternative. However, a truly global energy policy would easily make it possible to replace fossil fuels in fixed installations where cost-effective alternatives have long existed, such in the electricity and heat production sectors which, alone, account for over three-quarters of total oil consumption.
The myth in transport and environmental policy in many countries is to carry goods by rail and sea whenever possible and to establish rail links between sea ports while restricting road transport to final delivery only.
The truth is that China has become the world’s main factory. Up to 80% of goods sold by the major supply chains are being produced in China. The ensuing truth is that all the trade between the major world markets such as the USA, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa is carried out between a very limited number of increasingly saturated ports, supplied by larger and larger container ships.
The truth is that this concentration of the major part of world trade in only 30 to 40 ports has not only generated bottlenecks, waiting times and unnecessary costs, but has also had the adverse effect of causing increasing and preoccupying desertification in the hinterland of those areas and countries without direct access to these ports.
Another totally unrecognised truth, and in all cases ignored by too many governments, is that road transport – thanks to the professionalism of transport operators and to the high quality of its irreplaceable door-to-door service – is the only mode able not only to carry goods from China to the major world markets, but also to interconnect all the businesses and companies of those countries open to world trade.
The truth is that road transport, which is the only transport mode which meets the most stringent anti-pollution standards, is not only environmentally-friendly; it is the only transport mode which serves to unite people and better distribute wealth.
In conclusion, in the field of transport, energy and climate change, Emile Zola warned us in his time of the perverse effect of uniform thought when he wrote that we end up creating a danger by proclaiming every morning that it exists.
This is why for any competent and responsible scientist, professional or decision maker who is used to making judicious use of reasoning, the current dominant uniform thinking which is hostile to road transport should be a source of motivation and encouragement to persevere for, as Charles Péguy once said, “He who does not bellow the truth when he knows the truth makes himself the accomplice of liars and forgers”.
Martin Marmy |
