Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 304 i Owner Driver

A MASSIVE $410,000 was raised at Canberra’s Rise Above Cancer Convoy, which attracted about 480 trucks on April 8. The trucks assembled at Beard near Queanbeyan early on the Sunday morning and travelled through Canberra before lining up for a truck display at Exhibition Park (EPIC), Mitchell. The convoy attracted about 200 motorbikes and 480 trucks. Chief executive officer of Rise Above – Capital Region Cancer Relief, Melissa Gardiner, was excited to see the lineup area at Beard full of trucks. “We never usually fill it,” she says. Generous Elvin Group bid a record $67,128.49 to be the first truck in the convoy. The company’s general manager, Chris Rutledge, led the trucks in a Kenworth 10-wheel agitator. Following Elvin’s Kenworth were trucks owned by the other top bidders: Icon Water;…

RAIN TOOK SOME of the shine off Oaklands Truck Show’s 10th anniversary on March 24 and 25 but there were plenty of great machines among the 75 trucks attending. Barry and Kobey Dickson took out both Truck of the Show and People’s Choice for their restoration of a 1993 Kenworth T900. “We specialise in doing top refurbs – high-end work,” says Barry, who operates Dicko’s Restorations in Cobram. He has always wanted to restore a T900 “a bit flasher than normal”. Barry bought the truck in 2016 and has made plenty of “very soft subtle changes” and a few “extreme little tasteful modifications”. “I wanted to keep it all as original as I possibly could but I wanted to make it look pretty flash.” Barry replaced the top of the…

SPENDING ON DIESEL and the lubricants that ease commercial vehicles along their paths is viewed as an unavoidable evil by their owners and one they wish to reduce where possible. But the task has gained a sense of increased urgency recently after a period of relatively low prices. Two years ago, the price of crude oil fell further than during the depths of the Global Financial Crisis. On February 9 2016, West Texas Intermediate reached US$27.94 a barrel, more than 3 cents down on December 10, 2008’s US$31.10. Around GFC time, a decade ago, diesel was at a national average price of A$1.41 a litre, before plunging 14 cents the next year, and followed the oil price down two years ago to A$1.23 a litre. According to the Australian Institute…

The retailer of truck and trailer parts in Australia, TRP, officially opened a third outlet in Ballarat at the end of March. The new store in Ballarat, Victoria, offers a one-stop retail outlet of quality-assured Parts and Accessories (P&A) for all brands of truck and trailer on Australian roads. With a focus on quality parts at competitive everyday prices, TRP Parts caters for all makes of US and European drivelines. It offers a genuine alternative to OEM spares with a guarantee to boot, boasting a 12-month warranty on all parts sold. The Ballarat branch adds further national breadth to the existing TRP store national roll-out plan, complementing the locations at Burton in South Australia and Geelong in Victoria, with more stores currently in development. The new branch is owned and…

UD eyes autonomy THE UD TRUCKS Innovation Roadmap aims to deliver a variety of high-tech logistics solutions, among them fully electric and autonomous trucks by 2030. The Innovation Roadmap centres around automation and electro-mobility, aiming to introduce options from 2020, before achieving full autonomy by 2030. UD Trucks believes the logistics industry can overcome growing transport demands by utilising transformative innovations in automation and electro-mobility and in doing so reduce CO2 emissions, addressing driver shortages and the online commerce boom. UD Trucks says it takes inspiration for its Innovation Roadmap from the gods of wind and thunder, as depicted in the famous gold-embossed Japanese folding screen, “Fujin and Raijin”. UD Trucks’ progress in automation is inspired by Fujin, the god of wind, who symbolises the power of movement, while its…

FOLLOWING AN UNBLEMISHED 45-year career in road transport, Boral Logistics’ Barry Fitzgerald has been rewarded with the National Professional Driver of the Year award for 2018. Barry was presented with the award by National Transport Insurance general manager – sales and distribution Mike Edmonds at the Australian Trucking Association’s annual Trucking Australia conference in Canberra on April 20. Fitzgerald has been a member of Boral’s Safety Committee for 20 years and was a drivers’ representative on Boral’s Enterprise Bargaining Committee for 16 years. He has long been dedicated to safety and the education of drivers, producing training videos and assessing new driver applicants for Boral Logistics, where he has worked for the last 25 years. According to Boral, Fitzgerald, who plans to retire later this year, started his career delivering…

Oaklands resident Dave Sheridan has been trucking since the 1970s and proudly accepted induction to the Oaklands Truck Show Honour Board. Dave still drives a Kenworth for his busy trucking company, DM & KA Sheridan. It’s a family business; Dave’s wife Kate and daughter-in-law Vdudk0Mdqh#zrun#lq#wkh#riÈfh/#zkloh#vrq#Pdun# drives full-time. All of Dave and Kate’s four children and nine grandchildren were able to attend the truck show to help Dave celebrate his induction. In a family business, memories of family and work are often intertwined. Dave recalls the day he bought takeaway for two of his children, who were passengers in his International ACCO. He had to console the four-year-old and six-year-old after glass from a broken windscreen ruined their fish and chips. Dave has lived at Oaklands since 1974 and began carting…

TRAVELLING IS PART and parcel of being a truckie. We get paid to do it all week, so a little plane ride is nothing. However, three plane rides and 26 hours’ worth of travel is about as appealing as back-to-back-to-back safety inductions. What can make it all worth it, including airports with overpriced food, cramped seats and toilets that are not mile-high-club friendly, is the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS) and the PKY Truck Beauty Championship. MATS has been running for more than 40 years. It has grown to become the largest annual event of its kind in the world. I could baffle you with numbers but, to put it into perspective, if you’ve worn out your work boots walking around the Brisbane Truck Show then you can be damn sure…

CORBIN O’DONNELL reckons he’s the fortunate type, especially after he was recently handed the keys to a brand-new Kenworth K200. Corbin drives for Mott Bleeser Logistics. He’s been with the company for a couple of years and rates them a good and professional operation. Originally based in Mildura, Mott Bleeser’s head office is now in Laverton North in Melbourne, although its heritage remains with the grain industry in the Sunraysia and Mallee districts. Today the fleet numbers 14 trucks with six running B-double tautliners doing fertiliser, chemicals and salt as well as general freight, with a mixture of Victorian and interstate work. Conventional trucks make up the vast majority of the fleet, with Corbin’s K200 being only the company’s third cab-over, along with a big cab K200 and a flat…

IN A MILESTONE for Volvo Group Australia (VGA), it will have two teams represented in the VISTA (Volvo International Service Training Award) World Final, which this year will be held in Curitiba, Brazil. Among the six Australian and two New Zealand semi-finalists, Team One CMV Derrimut and Team SCT from South Central Trucks in Adelaide came out trumps, gaining a finals’ place with another 38 teams from around the globe. What makes it more intriguing is that Team One from CMV Derrimut received a ‘wild card’ entry to the semi-finals, which were held in Gothenburg, Sweden in April. It was an exciting time for the participants, some of whom had never previously held a passport. Prior to the Gothenburg semi-finals, the six teams of VGA service personnel had assembled at…

2008 MACK GRANITE 13 litre mack mp8 egr engine @ 465hp, 18 spd road ranger eaton rtlo-18918b transmission, meritor rt46-160gp diffs @ 4.56 ratio, 90 tonne rated, k-hitch 3.5 turntable, workshop repaired and serviced, low 239,089 kms 08 6166 8005 $95,000 2011 MACK GRANITE Mack mp8-435 engine on adblue, 10 spd manual trans, 4.50 ratio diffs on Hendrickson air suspension, bisalloy 4600 x 1100 x 2285 body with two way tail gate, bartlett ball and loadman weighing system, elec. tarp, wheel base 4910mm. Freshly painted white. 07 3073 8140 $155,000 2013 MACK GRANITE PRIME MOVER Mp8 435/500hp - Adblue, Auto Transmission, Mack Diffs On Air Bag Suspension, Abs Brakes, Diff Lock, Inter Axle Lock, Jost Turn Table, 42”Sleeper Cabin, Grey Diamond Studed Trim, Cloth Trim, immaculate, Genuine 428,100kms 03 8547…

SUPERMARKET CHAIN Aldi has hit back at what it views as a dishonest Transport Workers Union campaign against its treatment of drivers. “Aldi utterly refutes all allegations made by the Transport Workers Union (TWU) that our workplace practices are unsafe and are placing truck drivers at risk,” the company says. “The lives of all Australian road users matter and Aldi fully supports the goal of providing safe working terms and conditions for all transport drivers. “We take our commitment to safety seriously and this includes all practices relating to our employees, our customers and suppliers.” Aldi was responding to TWU comments following the release of the union’s survey on April 18 that 93 per cent out of 1000 truck drivers reported feeling increased pressure in the course of doing their…

EXPERIENCED LOCAL and interstate pilot driver Christine Thiel says motorists, as well as some truck drivers, are neglecting to give way to over-dimensional loads. Thiel says failing to comply with police escort directions, when confronted by an oversize load, is an offence which can incur considerable fines. “Truck drivers and other motorists who ignore police and escort instructions place themselves and others at risk of a tragic incident,” she says. “Fortunately it is the minority of truck drivers travelling in the opposite direction toward the oversize load, which are causing the concern. “Generally most motorists are very considerate and comply with instructions, to ensure the safe passage of the convoy.” Thiel, based in South Australia, says pilot vehicle drivers warn traffic of the approaching oversize load and do all they…

“Fitting unapproved tyres and components can be an expensive mistake when it comes to having a PBS combination certified” NEW BLOOD and fresh ideas were in abundance at Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia’s (HVIA) biennial engineering conference, ComVec 2018, held in Melbourne on April 12 to 13. With more than 120 attendees, the conference was an opportunity to hear from respected industry experts in presentations and panel discussions, HVIA president Nathan Usher says. “ComVec has always been a unique opportunity for heavy vehicle industry engineers to get together and look at issues and opportunities that are on the table, on the horizon and even beyond, and this year’s program certainly did all of those things,” Usher says. “We were delighted and grateful with the many newcomers who joined a host of…

“In collisions involving fatalities, 93 per cent of the time the truck driver was not at fault” THE NEW SOUTH WALES Staysafe Committee has a current inquiry underway into heavy vehicle safety and the use of technology to improve road safety. The inquiry has stirred a large amount of debate on the safety of heavy vehicles. A submission was made by the Transport Workers’ Union of NSW (TWU). The TWU has re-hashed a flawed argument based on non-conclusive studies that point to alleged “risky behaviours” by drivers. NatRoad has consistently opposed the TWU position, especially the claim that there is a link between safety and rates of pay. Prescribed minimum rates of pay which are only legislated for one part of the sector are unfair and discriminatory and don’t assist…

COMING UP with a heading for this story on Laurie Williams’ Phat Cat was rather difficult. There are so many words to describe this truck. I personally was in favour of the expanded technical interpretation of Phat Cat … ‘Pretty Hot and Tempting Felis Catus’. But no matter which way you write it, Laurie Williams’ award-winning Western Star makes a powerful statement, in more than just appearance. Laurie’s been in the transport game since before man first started rubbing sticks to find a way to cook their sangers. His introduction into trucking wasn’t an ‘it’s in the blood’ family thing as much as it was a ‘kicked out of school, what do I do now?’ kind of thing. His response to that adversity is a credit to the Aussie spirit…

ONE OF THE MOST recent additions to the ever-increasing pink truck brigade is a Kenworth T909 owned by Ross Transport of Wollongong. The first truck show it attended was at Casino in northern New South Wales where it won the People’s Choice and Best Truck under-one-year-old awards. Owner//Driver caught up with driver Shane ‘Zoom’ Kissell and his temporary offsider, Ross Transport workshop manager Aaron Parkinson. It was a big trip to Casino for Zoom, especially after he had only just recovered from a rollover not long before. “I had been down to the Kenworth factory to pick up the T909 with the boss’ daughter, True,” Zoom explains. “Six weeks later when the pink truck was ready for delivery on the Monday, I was involved in a major accident a couple…

THE SUCCESS OF EVENTS such as Crawlin’ The Hume and Haulin’ The Hume have inspired the Mildurabased Tractor Restoration and Appreciation Club of Sunraysia (TRACS) to launch the 2018 Calder Convoy Classic Truck Run. The inaugural Calder Highway event will take place over May 19 and 20, running between Calder Park and Red Cliffs near Mildura. Rob Mansell, one of six people the TRACS committee designated to organise the event, says the Calder Highway previous travelled through towns such as Gisborne, Woodend, Kyneton and Malmsbury. “Market trucks especially used to run up and down the Calder Highway. A lot of them would then go north to Bendigo and Echuca or wherever,” Rob says. “The freeway now is pretty well between Melbourne and Bendigo and all the towns have been bypassed.”…