Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 337 i Owner Driver

WITH VISITS to showrooms and customers off the cards for significant parts of the last year, the 2021 Brisbane Truck Show presents the best opportunity to come together and reconnect with customers, peers and the entire industry. It also allows for these new products, models or innovations to be seen up close. That applies across the full range of trucks, trailers, components, technology, equipment, accessories and even merchandise. On the opening morning of the show, highly anticipated new models will be unveiled to an eager audience. Before the doors open the halls are busy with sales teams putting a final polish on every item and counter. It is a beautiful thing to see the lights come on, screens light up and the doors open. But first is the media tour.…

The Australian Trucking Association (ATA) has congratulated founder of Ron Crouch Transport, Ron Crouch, who has been honoured in the Australia Day 2021 Honours List. Recognised for his service to community and the road transport industry, Crouch has been awarded a medal of the Order of Australia. Crouch has a long history in the transport industry, establishing Ron Crouch Transport with his wife Beverly in 1978 – a business that has grown from a single client organisation to one that caters for more than 1,700 companies today and is recognised nation-wide. Recognised for his professionalism and passion, Crouch was a proactive member of industry associations and groups with a vision for improving industry safety. In the 1980s he played an integral role in forming the National Transport Federation, which later…

IT’S MID-WEEK in early December and Victorians are tentatively emerging from 112 days of severe lockdown – unquestionably the strictest and most gruelling restrictions in the country, by a long shot. Yet, walking through Tullamarine airport for the first time in a year, and in cafes and hotels and shops, there’s a subtle but nonetheless sanguine sense of reprieve as the state nervously retreats from a depressingly difficult and, as many believe and begrudge, largely avoidable second wave of COVID-19 infections. A wave that took more than 800 Victorian lives. Still, it comes as no real surprise that at Paccar Australia headquarters in Bayswater on Melbourne’s south-eastern rim, COVID protocols remain robust and uncompromising. Security has always been tight at ‘Kenworth castle’ but never like this. For employees and visitors…

VOLVO TRUCKS AUSTRALIA has finally let the covers slip from a first for the brand in this country – the Volvo FL Electric. As foreshadowed by Linfox executive chairman Peter Fox in Owner//Driver magazine some 18 months ago, his company is running the rule over the vehicle. Fox said back then that two electrically-driven 12 tonne Volvo trucks would join the company for local delivery trials. This first electric truck unit will be fitted with an eight-pallet body and tailgate lift and is destined for trials and evaluation with Linfox, undertaking metropolitan deliveries within its beverage logistics business, BevChain. “It is very clear that both our customers, and our customer’s customers, are demanding a cleaner and quieter urban transport environment,” Volvo Trucks Australia (VTA) vice president Tony O’Connell says. “Momentum…

HINO HAS claimed another under 10-litre victory in the annual Dakar Rally off-road endurance event. Team Sugawara continued its Dakar Rally success, clinching its 12th consecutive victory in the aforementioned class at the 2021 event, held in Saudi Arabia from January 3 to 15. For the second consecutive year the Hino 500 Series was piloted by driver and team director Teruhito Sugawara, and navigated by Hirokazu Somemiya and Yuji Mochizuki, and finished 12th overall. The 2021 Dakar Rally was the 30th consecutive race for Hino since it became the first Japanese manufacturer to enter Dakar Rally in 1991. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team only entered one Hino 500 Series in this year’s rally, and the support team was scaled back considerably, with only minimal testing able to take…

INDUSTRY BODY ROAD FREIGHT NSW (RFNSW) says truck drivers should be prioritised in receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, given their crucial role in securing supply chains and ensuring the delivery of the country’s critical vaccination distribution program. RFNSW points out that truck drivers working on the frontline delivering freight across the community were exposed to high numbers of people as part of their daily operations – and needed to be protected from contracting the virus. “Whilst we rightfully acknowledge that healthcare workers, aged care residents and other vulnerable members of the community will be among the first to receive the jab, the essential role that truckies will be playing in the national roll-out of the vaccine must also be taken into account,” chief executive Simon O’Hara says. “Our members will soon…

THE FIRST MAJOR survey of truck driver health reveals shocking problems in Australia’s most common job for men, with over 80 per cent of drivers overweight or obese, one in five suffering from severe psychological distress, over 70 per cent living with chronic pain and almost a third with multiple chronic health conditions. The survey of almost 1,400 drivers is part of a three-year study by Monash University and outlines that poor health is not only bad for drivers – it is also linked to an increase in the chances of crashes and near-misses. The findings of the study were recently featured on ABC TV’s 7.30 Report. The study has shown that risk factors because of the job include: “long working hours, sedentary roles, poor nutrition, social isolation, shift work,…

THE 2021 Penrith Working Truck Show will be a virtual event following a decision by the Museum of Fire’s board of directors due to ongoing restrictions. Penrith’s Museum of Fire, the venue for the annual show, was also forced to cancel the 2020 event as well as the Sydney Classic and Antique Truck Show. The pandemic has also had an impact on the museum’s ability to remain regularly open to the public during the past 10 months. The board had hoped to honour the memory of the museum’s late CEO, Mark White AFSM OAM, at the 2021 Penrith Working Truck Show. White passed away on May 19, 2020, after being at the forefront of the museum’s heritage works, leading the museum in all endeavours for well over 30 years. While…

NAVMAN HAS announced the launch of MiCam Truck, a 7-inch (17.8cm) dash cam that incorporates large vehicle navigation. However, Navman is promoting the MiCam Truck as much more than a dash cam. Features include a trip planner for B-double, HAZMAT and truck routing, with truck specific warnings such as low gear and ‘no engine brake’. In addition, large vehicle assist warns of narrow laneways and low overpasses, as well as steep inclines. Navman says its design team consulted with truck drivers, including feedback about previous products, for more than 12 months prior to manufacture. With the recording of road accidents becoming an essential norm nowadays, the dash cam element is capable of recording in full HD 1080p with Starvis low light sensor, the GPS-tagged video displaying speed and location and…

THE NATIONAL TRANSPORT COMMISSION (NTC) is inviting public and industry views on the proposal to increase heavy vehicle registration and road user charges in 2021–22. In support of its effort, the commission has released its Heavy Vehicle Charges Consultation Report, which poses three questions for those affected: • Which costs are typically passed through to customers (and to end consumers) and which costs are absorbed by vehicle owners or operators?• Is the pump price of fuel a cost that is charged separately under typical hire-and-reward contracts (such that fuel price fluctuations do not impact profit margins)?• Does the answer depend on the size of the business and their contract bargaining power? “Any information provided on these questions will help inform Ministers about the broader context in which their final decision…

AS MANY BORN into rural farm life observe throughout their formative years, the trials and tribulations of a farmer’s existence can easily deter younger generations from pursuing the same path. For Luke Sheridan, the farmer’s life on the land didn’t appeal to him, so an apprenticeship as a carpenter/builder was embarked upon. While the building game provided income and security, Luke still seemed to have an itch to be scratched. Deep down, Luke admits that he just always wanted to drive trucks. Perhaps driving around farms and gazing upon the big trucks passing through his New South Wales rural hometown of Coolah lit a fire in his vocational soul that could not easily be extinguished – by hammers, chisels and a tool belt. Leaving the building game behind, and pivoting…

“I’m pretty sure it was the first Louisville to roll off the ark.” ‘This One’s For You’. If you look closely you’ll see that’s the name printed on the side of the TNS Logistics Mercedes-Benz, a shout out to the late Tom Norton, one half of the team that founded the business. Sadly I never had the privilege of knowing or working for Tom, but after spending time with his lovely family in the process of writing this story, I know I would have been honoured to have worked for the man. I get the impression he was a straight-up ‘no BS’ kind of guy that had earned the position and respect he attained. I went looking for a story on one of the coolest Mercedes-Benz trucks I’d seen and…

VOLVO GROUP AUSTRALIA (VGA) president and CEO Martin Merrick welcomed Prime Minister Scott Morrison and a host of other politicians to VGA’s Wacol manufacturing facility in Queensland on January 22, with the emphasis on “made in Australia”. Joining the Prime Minister on the tour was assistant minister for road freight and safety, Scott Buchholz; minister for science, technology and industry, Karen Andrews; councillor Sarah Hutton; and Volvo Group Australia president and CEO, Martin Merrick. Against a backdrop of the new Volvo and Mack range, addressing the assembled crowd of VIP customers, factory staff and media, Merrick used the occasion to reiterate the importance of road transport, local manufacturing and the role that VGA plays in keeping Australia moving. “Clearly as you can see here, manufacturing in Australia is alive and…

I’m willing to go to some pretty extravagant lengths when it comes to chasing down a story. I’ll set an early alarm and sacrifice much-needed beauty sleep. I’ll do a full day on the road and then still pack up my camera gear and go shooting. I’ve even missed some of the Bathurst 1000 in order to catch a photoshoot. I do however draw the line at taking my camera gear out in the rain. I’m far too protective of it for that. My Nikons are like my children, if I had or even liked children. I protect them from elements, I try to protect them from falls and injuries, and I most assuredly keep them safe from Canon shooters. It’s what a good parent does. I always assumed this…

AUSTRALIA’S NEW, locally engineered Mack Anthem range has now been placed firmly the spotlight, with design elements to the fore. Being built at parent company Volvo Group Australia’s Wacol plant, the range aims to provide flexibility in heavy-duty roles, “from vocational rigid roles to B-double highway hauler”. Powered by the 13-litre Euro 5 MP8 engine, the ratings spread is 435–535hp (324–399kW) ranging and 1,655–1,920ft-lb (2,243–2,603Nm) of torque. Aerodynamic gains have been aided by closing gaps between panels and minimising seams, Volvo Group Australia (VGA) says. “Even the tow hooks in the three-piece bumper have been covered to assist with air flow,” it adds. A single point bonnet latch aims to make daily checks safer and easier reducing the effort needed to tilt the bonnet. All exterior lighting is now LEDs,…