Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 289 i Owner Driver

IT WAS 4AM on October 8 and, for Queensland-based operator Andrew Myers, it was looking like a regular trip south through Moree along the Newell Highway. Then, suddenly, three males started throwing large rocks at his Mack for no apparent reason. “One broke my weather shield, one hit the driver’s door, and one came through the windscreen and split my head open,” Myers tells Owner//Driver. The result for Myers was a trip to hospital and six stitches, which he says would have been a lot worse if he hadn’t slowed to 40km/h after seeing the offenders. “The rocks are ballast off the railway line, so they’re big rocks – if I were doing 100km/h, I wouldn’t be talking to you.” According to Myers, the issue isn’t getting any better and…

RESEARCH IS due to commence on the effects of heavy vehicle fatigue laws, a move the Australian Trucking Association (ATA) chair Noelene Watson says will improve industry safety. The research project will monitor a sample of drivers during their real-life work shifts, and then in a laboratory during simulated shifts. The project is a joint initiative between the Co-operative Research Centre for Alertness, Safety and Productivity, the National Transport Commission, road agencies, police and industry. The ATA is a member of the project steering committee, which held its first meeting today. “The Heavy Vehicle National Law fatigue rules are complex, with detailed provisions about how to count work and rest time and overlapping 24 hour counting periods. “Complying with the rules is stressful for drivers and operators, because of the…

McAleese may have collapsed, but it has been resurrected as a three-segment group under the name Rivet. The services are heavy haulage, specialised transport, logistics and lifting, and the segments are Rivet Mining Services, Rivet Energy and Refuel International, according to the new Rivet website to which the previous McAleese web address leads. These correspond roughly to the main services rescued from its previously listed incarnation. Mark Rowsthorn is the MD and CEO, while Philip Tonks is chief operating officer. Tonks was the McAleese realignment project director who became its Oil and Gas Division general manager. He was with Toll and Asciano previously. The development follows deals over deeds of company arrangement (DOCA) that were agreed to before Christmas. There is no mention of linehaul or general freight, the diversification…

PAUL MILLS was watching the weather radar when he spoke to Owner//Driver recently. Storms were frustrating grain growers and carriers at the start of the South Australian harvest. Paul operates Mills Freightlines with his wife, Jayne Mills, and his parents, Gavin and Margi Mills. The business is based in Brinkworth, 150km north of Adelaide. Most of their clients are farming families. Some have supported Mills Freightlines since Paul’s grandfather, Bob Mills, began carting farm supplies in a Ford Thames Trader in 1966. Paul is quick to praise his parents’ ongoing role in building the dynamic business, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. Gavin oversees all facets of the company and Margi is a vital part of the accounting team. Paul’s sister, Toni Ashby, also works at the business, managing…

“Western Star has always been one of the major crowd pullers at Brisbane” I HAVE a mate, believe it or not. A good mate. He is a man whose experience and fortitude I respect, whose loyalty and humility I admire, whose dedication and commitment I commend, whose opinions I trust, and advice I sometimes seek. I won’t mention his name because he wouldn’t be comfortable with the exposure or perhaps the notoriety but, when it comes to trucks, he has been among the most loyal advocates of one particular brand I have ever come across. That brand is Western Star and, since 1983, the year the Canadian offshoot of the failed White Motor Corporation first came to Australia, every new truck bought by the family business has been a Star.…

HINO AUSTRALIA says confidence in its dealership network has been boosted by multi-million dollar investments, spearheaded by FRM Hino in Tasmania and Newcastle Commercial Vehicles (NCV) in northern New South Wales. Hino Australia general manager of brand and franchise development Bill Gillespie says the investment being made by the Hino dealer network is a clear sign of confidence in the brand. “We’ve supported our dealer network by providing strategic business plans and rolling out new initiatives to improve the Hino customer experience,” Gillespie says. “The investment made by the whole dealer network shows strong confidence in the growth of the Hino brand nationwide. “The network expansion is also a result of the growth of parts and service demands, demonstrating the effectiveness of our customer-focused Hino Advantage suite of business benefits,”…

B-DOUBLE driver Andrew Wilkins worked his way up through the Australian Army as a truck driver, eventually reaching the post of operations manager after seven years and, before leaving, was due to become an instructor at the Army School of Transport (ART). Now based out of Larapinta, Andrew drives for Flynn Transport and speaks highly of the Australian Army as an avenue for young people looking to break into the industry. “You go to the Army School of Transport, where you start with a medium rigid [MR] class licence,” he says. “Then you get posted to your unit, where you move onto a heavy rigid [HR] licence, for use of the R series Mack. “Every different vehicle in the Army counts for another licence code, so you’re trained to drive…

“It’s a model seemingly tailor-made for local and regional delivery work” IT PROBABLY surprises me more than anyone, but the more time I spend in and around this new breed of Mercedes-Benz truck, the more I’m convinced that Benz is on the brink of a Lazarus-like comeback in the heavy-duty truck market. I’m not saying I didn’t expect the new Benz to be considerably better than its problematic predecessor. The simple fact is that it is vastly superior to the old model and to suggest otherwise, even vaguely, would be ridiculous in the extreme. It’s just that I didn’t expect to be quite so impressed quite so quickly. Apparently, I’m not the only one thinking this way. I stood early one morning in the foyer of the Whitehorse Trucks dealership…

WELCOME TO THE year 2017. Finally, the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has come out and identified that the so-called chain of responsibility (COR) has been largely used, abused, forgotten, bypassed and has been the joke of the industry since its inception. It’s very heartwarming for the industry to see Sal Petroccitto speak up and acknowledge the pigs’ picnic that has been made of such a potentially huge safety component that could save the lives of so many. So what then? Improve, update, supersede or water down? Drivers hope it will improve, owner-drivers hope it will update (to include them), WorkSafe would hope it supersedes the current grey areas, and the likes of NatRoad hopes it will be watered down somewhat. Waiting time is the first and most obvious it…

 IN A PADDOCK of stubble on a Riverina farm near Mangoplah, New South Wales, Dave Willis introduces Owner//Driver to his favourite truck. “They’ve got a lot more character than all the new stuff” It is a 1970 Mack F700 he has affectionately dubbed ‘The Pizza Oven’. Today it is attached to a tipper loaded with wheat. Dave is a mechanic, grain carrier and one of the organisers of the biennial Kyabram Mack Muster. It is no surprise that his favourite truck is a Mack – it is the only brand he owns. But why does he prefer the Pizza Oven to his other workhorse, a V8 1983 Mack Superliner which once carted fuel for Joe Bromage? And what about his restored show ponies – the 1967 V8 R600 Flintstone, and…

COLIN MALCOLM is a young owner-operator from Pheasants Nest, just south of Sydney, on the Hume Highway. Previously driving an old S-Line International running containers around the Sydney wharf, Colin has turned to interstate transport with a Kenworth T604 in a bid to grow his small transport operation. The downside is spending days away from his family – wife Sally and daughters Matilda and Isla. “That is the hardest part of being an owner-driver, especially if you are running interstate,” Colin says. “My wife has the young ones but you’ve got to do what you have to do.” When Owner//Driver caught up with Colin at Pheasants Nest, he was about to head off on a South Australian run, hauling a set of trailers for Mt Gambier-based Tony Gasparini. He was…

“TRUCK DRIVING should be an apprenticeship,” says 18-year-old Joshua Pyke as he talks about how tough it’s been to break into the industry after finishing school in Western Victoria. Josh’s heart pumps diesel, thanks to a life around trucks and a genuine appreciation for his relatives and role models who introduced him to the industry. “I come from a family which has based its name around trucks,” he says. “My pop was a truck driver who drove for over 50 years and raised his family around them. “The love for trucks has flowed through the generations with pop, two of his sons Michael and Stephen and then to me. “Michael has been driving for more than 20 years now, and Steven was in trucks even earlier but sadly passed away…

Bart Burford returned to work at Mills Freightlines with a prosthetic leg last November, and is determined to get back behind the wheel. The 46-year-old’s right ankle was badly crushed last April when he fell from a trailer. The situation grew worse in hospital when his leg became infected. Surgeons explained it would take up to four years and many operations to treat the injury – and there was no guarantee they could save his leg. They told Bart it would probably take less time to recover from an amputation. Eager to get home and back to work, the father of four opted to have his right leg amputated below his knee. The operation on May 25 went well, and he was home with his partner Sharon by June 10.…

AFTER A career spanning six decades, Maurie Stewart is calling time on life behind the wheel. In my experience, rolling into a depot with aching cheeks is usually a symptom of a dodgy driver’s seat after a long trip down a rough road. But as I passed through the gates of the Scott’s Refrigerated Freightways Melbourne depot in the wee hours of the morning recently, it was my other cheeks that were indeed aching – the ones on my face. And it was all Maurie Stewart’s fault. I met up with Maurie in Adelaide just two days after his 80th birthday on the eve of his second, and allegedly final, retirement. After 60 years on the road, Maurie was hanging up the keys and leaving life on the highway behind.…

AGA GAS, the Linde Group industrial gas subsidiary in Sweden, has commenced training its 700 fleet owners and drivers that carry out transport operations on their behalf in defensive driving. The main objective is to provide an opportunity to actually experience what it feels like to overturn. “We at AGA and Linde have a vision of zero accidents, so it is important that our drivers are trained to prevent accidents,” fleet manager at AGA Region Europe North Lars Johansson says. “Every accident is one too many. And since we deliver dangerous goods, the effects of overturning can be significant, not only for those involved but also for third parties.” In an example, a heavy truck and trailer combination accelerates with the speedometer at 30km/h, when the driver is surprised by…

IVECO AUSTRALIA has confirmed that the International ProStar will make its way here during 2017 and be available in a number of different specification choices to suit a variety of local applications. Iveco says the day cab, extended cab, integrated full-size sleeper cab variants and a choice of five wheelbases with be on offer. All models will be powered by an E5 Cummins X15 SCR engine producing 550hp (410kW) and 1850ft-lb (2508Nm) of torque, and operators will be able to select from either manual or fully automatic Eaton transmissions. The model mix will see the ProStar aimed at applications including tipper and dog work, single trailer line-haul and 34 pallet B-double duties. Among the options list available in the trucks will be a full multimedia system and slim-line bull bar…

THE FEDERAL government has promised to “never” re-establish the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT) or a similar body that sets up mandatory pay rates that only apply to owner-drivers and small businesses. The pledge comes in its response to the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman’s (ASBFEO) inquiry report based on the impact of the RSRT’s minimum payment order on the trucking industry. The Australian Logistics Council (ALC) and the National Road Transport Association (NatRoad) have backed the government’s response, both bodies drawing parallels between the Contractor Driver Minimum Payments Road Safety Remuneration Order (RSRO) and the changes proposed within the NSW General Carriers Contract Determination (GCCD), and urge authorities to be cautious while making changes that could create confusion within the industry. While NatRoad supports the NSW government’s…

K&S Freighters has been ordered to pay compensation to, but not re-employ, a sacked driver over an in-cab camera tampering issue. The lens of the safety camera in question had been sprayed with a substance, impeding clear coverage, but was otherwise undamaged and the driver denied spraying it. It was noted that the driver was a vocal and repeated objector at tool box meetings to the Drive Cam camera system on privacy grounds. This was despite K&S installing them at Air Liquide’s request as part of a contract that had a strong operating safety and health and safety component. The initiative aimed to assist in incident analysis and to enhance driver training and development and the reasons explained to all relevant drivers. In the Fair Work Commission (FWC) decision for…

The fourth biennial Haulin’ the Hume classic truck run takes place on April 8 and we’re tipping it will be among the best classic truck events of 2017. That’s a big call. But with over 250 classic commercial vehicles travelling some of Australia’s most historic stretches of road, and scores of old highway drivers sharing tales of yesteryear, Haulin’ the Hume will be hard to beat. Organised by Bruce Gunter and a hard-working committee, Haulin’ the Hume raises funds for Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect). The run begins at Hawkesbury Showgrounds, Clarendon, with trucks leaving from 6am on Saturday, April 8. The vehicles will travel bypassed sections of the old Hume Highway, over Razorback Mountain, and through Picton, Mittagong and Berrima before stopping at Goulburn Recreation Centre for lunch. This will…

TRUCK UNDER-RUN protection systems and in-cab black boxes are necessary if Australia wants to improve its heavy vehicle safety, says a global road safety leader. Dr Soames Job is head of the Global Road Safety Facility at the World Bank, and was one of the many eminent safety experts at the most recent Australasian Road Safety Conference in Canberra. Owner//Driver pulled Dr Job and a few other experts aside during a morning tea break for 10 minutes and asked for their top-of-the-head recommendations for increased heavy vehicle safety in Australia. “Trucks are dramatically over-involved in deaths on Australian roads on a per-vehicle basis,” points out Job, an Australian road safety professor and former president of the Australasian College of Road Safety. “That’s not to say that the truck drivers are…

WITH THE advent of air-conditioned single bunk rooms and integrated sleeper cabs, it’s easy to forget just how tough long-distance truck drivers used to do it in the old days. Sharing a bunkroom with a dozen other farting, snoring blokes with maybe a swivelling fan for relief; heads hanging out of dog-box doors to get a bit of fresh air; swags under the trailer; stretching out across the bench seat; and so on. Thank heavens that’s all just a thing of the past, right? Well, no. There’s no doubt sleeping conditions have greatly improved in many ways for many long-distance drivers, to the point of single motel rooms being commonly provided. But there are still some primitive cases out there. Take some dealer and operator bunkrooms. We’ve previously reported on…

OWNER-DRIVER Mark Golder was introduced to the cement haulage game by his father John Golder. Based in Brisbane and driving a 2011 model Mack Super-Liner, Mark subbies for a major cement company, his runs taking him up to far north Queensland and south as far as Canberra. Mark was unloading in Tamworth when Owner//Driver caught up with him. It’s a noisy operation as the blower on the tanker pushes the powder out of the tanker and into the silo. It’s a 40-minute job with Mark changing compartments, and knocking the barrel with a rubber mallet to loosen any cement that remains stuck to the sides. “My father, John, had trucks and worked for Pioneer for years, operating cement mixers,” he explains. “He had a couple of Accos and then Louisvilles.…

TROY MCLEAN spent 13 years working as a driver but always had the desire to have a truck he could call his own. That finally happened 13 years ago. Nowadays he’s doing runs in a 2008 Kenworth T908. “I first looked at buying my own truck when I was around 21 or 22 years of age,” Troy recalls. “Things didn’t come together back then and I got talked out of it. Anyway, the opportunity arose so I jumped at it. “We had looked at being owner-drivers a couple of times and hadn’t made the move. “My wife Jackie said that if I didn’t do it this time, not to talk about it again. I think Jackie had had enough.” That first truck, a 1994 Ford LTL Kentucky, had a 425…

IT’S NOW history, but when Kenworth lost Cat and Detroit engines from its power portfolio, there was no shortage of sceptics predicting the truck maker’s tumble from the top of the heavy-duty ladder. Looking back, the scepticism was not unjustified. After all, Kenworth had, for many years, made good mileage of its ability to keep the customer satisfied with a custom-built truck offering the choice of three hugely successful engine brands – Cat, Cummins and Detroit – each with its own legions of loyal supporters. What’s more, there was no shortage of fierce competition between the three engine makers, with the contest between Cat and Cummins particularly blatant and brutal. Here were two engine makers that seemingly loved to loathe each other, fostering similarly potent passions among a customer base…

THE LATEST XTOOL from Autoequip Australia is said to offer a new style of diagnostics based on an Android system and internet application. Autoequip’s new PS90 UDS is a high-end diagnostic tool which, it says, combines the company’s vast vehicle coverage with strong diagnostic functions, numerous special functions with a modern high-quality tablet incorporating high configuration of hardware, super-fast running speed, small size, light weight and easy to carry. The capacitive screen has a multi touch display with IPS technology and Bluetooth wireless diagnosis supported by Wi-Fi network. The PS90 uses the application advantages of the internet, allowing sharing of internet data, picture and video, and searching for relevant solutions and experience online. It comes with pre-installed diagnostic software for all models, allowing users to immediately commence using the tool.…