A full-scale political battle is emerging in Germany over giga-liner trials planned for next year.

The country's Green and SPD parties intend to question the legality of the trials after several of the country's most economically powerful statessaid they would refuse to allow the mega-trucks to use their roads.

A legal assessment by a constitutional lawyer concluded in September that trialswith giga-liners without including the federal parliament and the federal council "would be unconstitutional".

Ramsauer maintains that the opportunity to combine shipments would be a significant contribution to coping with expectedfreight growth.

Yesterday, the German Retail Federation (HDE) hit out at the opponents of the field trials, calling the refusaleven to test the new trucks "hostile to innovation".

    IFW-net