Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 277 i Owner Driver

OWNER-DRIVERS are only months away from receiving guaranteed minimum pay rates, but the remuneration on offer would have been much lower if Toll and Linfox had their way. Australia’s two largest trucking players joined forces to try and convince the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT) to mandate payments that were significantly less than what owner-drivers currently receive. The RSRT in December handed down its road safety remuneration order (RSRO), establishing minimum hourly and kilometre payments for owner-drivers from April 4. The ruling applies to those working in the supermarket distribution and line-haul sectors, and requires payment within 30 days for waiting time, loading and unloading, rest breaks, filling out paperwork and more. Many of the country’s owner-drivers already toil under sub-par working conditions and paltry pay rates, and the new…

A trio of smart UD Condor PK17s attracted a lot of attention at Tooradin, with their striking graphics and murals showcasing some well-known characters. The trucks’ owner, Chris Bosevski, trades as Pro Boost Logistics, and he brought along drivers Nick Smith and Ben Staff to help out. Chris has four trucks in total and runs local as well as regional Victoria. “I’ve got Batman and the Joker on one nose cone because my boys love those characters,” Chris says. “After them came the Hulk and Spiderman.” Chris is hoping to add two more trucks later this year — two Volvos. He says one will be called ‘The Terminator’ and the other ‘Darth Vader’. After eight years in business, the new UDs are a sign of Pro Boost’s growth. “It was…

Truck drivers were welcomed like heroes on January 7 and 8 as 125 trucks carted 5000 bales of hay from Darlington Point in the Riverina, NSW, to Ilfracombe, Queensland. Burrumbuttock Hay Runners founder, Brendan Farrell, organised the convoy to help drought-affected farmers. John Doyle of Oaklands was given the honour of taking the lead, closely followed by his son, Damien Doyle. The Doyles both drove Western Stars. “It’s amazing the people that were waving to you,” John says. Rotary clubs provided food as the trucks headed north on the 1,800km journey. “It was a convoy over 15km long — measured by helicopter — when we were bunched up, and over 70km when we were spread out,” he adds. John was impressed by the calibre of the generous truck drivers in…

SEVENTY-four-year-old showman Elwin Bell is the owner and operator of Bell’s Amusements, providing carnival rides to shows all over the country. He has been travelling the highways and byways of mainland Australia for as long as he can remember, so he’s had to become pretty good at improvising with trucks and trailers. For example, once while Elwin and his showman father Roy were travelling up southern New South Wales’ infamous Clyde Mountain in the arly 1960s, the big end went in the old truck they were driving. Elwin drove one of the other convoy vehicles to Goulburn to get new bearings, which they then had to fit into the old engine five times before it finally got up the mountain. Roy Bell started his famous travelling boxing tent in 1924,…

FOR COUNTRY music fans, the Penrith Working Truck Show at the Museum of Fire is the place to be on March 20. The ‘Country Music Extravaganza’ has always been a major attraction at the truck show and this year will be no exception, as it will feature Adam Brand and the Outlaws, The Girls of Country featuring Amber Lawrence, Christie Lamb and Aleyce Simmonds, and many more live on stage. Brand’s ‘Outlaw’ band features a talented bunch of singer-songwriters, namely Drew McAlister, Travis Collins, Matt Cornell and Mike Carr. Adam Brand and the Outlaws released their self-titled debut album last month. The Girls of Country is an equally talented line-up. Lawrence was crowned Female Artist of the Year at Tamworth in 2015; Lamb picked up her first Golden Guitar award…

“There’s an optional GVM rating of 5200kg.” FOR THE most part, light-duty tippers contesting the Australian market share a number of historic, completely obvious and totally fundamental characteristics — that being Japanese heritage. And as time and toil have proved with endless example, that heritage has crafted little tippers with extraordinarily rugged reliability and dour dependability, the likes of which have been rarely matched by any other models, in any other applications, at any other time. To put it bluntly, little Japanese tippers with factory-fitted steel tipper bodies are as tough as teak and, on the surface at least, demonstrate that the demand for durability carries far more clout than random calls for greater comfort. Yet to be just as blunt, these same tough little toilers can be also rough…

PENSKE Power Systems’ on-highway team will introduce a Euro 4 version of the flagship DD15 engine in 2016 as part of the latest Detroit initiative to boost engine life and maintain its service to dedicated Series 60 EGR customers. Kevin Dennis, director of on-highway at Penske Power Systems, says the Australian and New Zealand Euro 4 DD15 project was in direct response to customer demand. “The heart of the project is focused on delivering cost of ownership benefits to Series 60 EGR customers whose engines are at the point of overhaul and provide them with the opportunity to upgrade to the many benefits of DD15,” Dennis says. “The Euro 4 is a standard DD15 engine, less the after-treatment device.” With one prototype underway in the form of a 6x4 Freightliner…

BRITISH TRANSPORT operator Eddie Stobart and its associated companies, including A.W. Jenkinson Forest Products, have ordered more than 2000 trucks from Scania, which holds a 19.5 percent share of the UK heavy truck market. Due for delivery over a two-year period commencing March 2016, the deal will involve many Scania UK dealers, both in terms of vehicle supply/repair and maintenance operations. This is the fourth time Eddie Stobart Limited and its associated companies have placed a major order with Scania in the UK, the first two being for 1000 vehicles in 2010 and 2012, followed by 1500 units in 2014. The majority of vehicles in the order will be supplied on 36-month contract hire agreements, including road fund licence and all repair and maintenance. The model mix includes Scania G-series…

THE NATIONAL Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has stood by the fatigue management scheme for livestock transporters in the wake of criticism from one of the country’s top fatigue experts. Professor Ann Williamson recently expressed dissatisfaction with the scheme, claiming it permitted drivers to work too long and that it didn’t include enough measures to ensure drivers received adequate rest. Those accredited in the scheme can work up to 14 hours per day for 11 days straight, and they must have a minimum rest of 10 consecutive hours if they work 14 hours in a 24-hour period. NHVR executive director of productivity and safety Geoff Casey says the group considered advice from fatigue management experts during the scheme’s development. “The livestock transport fatigue management scheme was created after a lengthy and…

“Our local trucking community has been amazing” TOORADIN is a little village on the South Gippsland Highway, just over 70 kilometres south-east of Melbourne on the edge of Port Phillip Bay. It’s also the home of the annual Tooradin Tractor Pull and Truck Show, the first trucking event each year on the Australian calendar. The 2016 event was held on January 16 and, as usual, the community-based show was organised by a group of locals who banded together to raise money for the area’s groups and clubs. Each year the show attracts big crowds and lots of machinery, and gives the public great value for money. Anyone with a passion for just about any type of big-horsepower, high-octane vehicles can get their fix at Tooradin. With trucks lining up from…

Just weeks after organising the transportation of more than 5000 bales of hay to struggling farmers in Queensland, Riverina-based farmer and Burrumbuttock Hay Runners founder Brendan Farrell has announced the job isn’t finished. In a post to the convoy’s Facebook page, Farrell says only half the farmers received hay in the first hay run to Ilfracombe, and another run will be taking place on April 1. “There are 120 truck drivers at the moment screaming ‘let’s get this show on the road’,” Farrell says. “So, let’s do what we do and drop some more hay off.” He is even promising a bigger convoy than the 125-truck convoy that travelled the 1860km journey in January. “It’s going to be huge — even bigger than the last one, trust me,” he says.…

Dear Owner//Driver PROFESSOR WILLIAMSON ONCE again we have an academic with no idea on life and what’s outside her cotton-wool-wrapped world highlighting how we all should work. Maybe she should spend her time with the authorities training intercepting officers about identifying fatigue in people. As to the best of my limited knowledge, not one driver has been grounded/charged for driving a fatigue-related vehicle while fatigued. Many have been fined/grounded and penalised for mathematical mistakes in their logbook, but not driving fatigued. As for her “seven hour” comment, that’s the minimum professor. That’s seven out of 24, with 12 or 14 work hours. Do the maths and there is still plenty of time to have a feed and a shower and get seven hours’ rest. We all don’t cram that into…

PAUL ‘SPOT’ MUGGLETON has spent the summer harvesting alpine ash in the Bago State Forest near Tumbarumba, New South Wales, for R&V Bergin. “I’m on a processor at the moment,” Paul says. “It processes the logs — falls the trees, cuts them into lengths.” The machines are noisy, but when the crew stops for lunch they can appreciate the beauty of the bush. “You sit down and it’s all quiet. There are wallabies and birds,” Paul says. Kookaburras, magpies and currawongs follow the machinery. “They get the grubs when we stir the dirt up,” he adds. Paul is proud to have learned the ropes from respected loggers including Rex Bergin, Jack Neville and Ron Goldspink. Back then Rex’s son, Buck Bergin, was driving bulldozers, but now he is the managing…

“I WAS ONLY YOUNG AND THEY GAVE ME A GO” SHAW’S LIVESTOCK Transport driver Tim Parker was biding his time at the Gracemere saleyards, just out of Rockhampton, when Owner// Driver arrived. Tim was waiting on his back trailer to turn up after a mate of fleet owner Donny Shaw had borrowed it for his own road train work. “With the 40-footer on the back, it gives me four and a half decks, which is the most you can bring in here,” Tim explains. “We call them ‘crocodiles’.” Tim drives a 2014 Mack Titan — one of three in the Shaw’s fleet — and he pulls a set of Rhino crates, which he rates highly. Over the years he’s mostly spent his time behind the wheel of Kenworths, although he…

TOTAL AUSTRALIAN truck and heavy van sales for the 2015 calendar year were 32,003 units, as detailed in the Truck Industry Council T-Mark data released on January 5, 2016. This figure was 1373 units more than 2014. The final tally continued the yearlong trend that saw healthy sales at the bottom end of the market with van and light duty trucks, while heavy duty truck sales continued to wane throughout the year. Last year was a record for the light duty van segment — vehicles defined as non-passenger carrying enclosed vans having a gross vehicle mass (GVM) of 3501kg to 8000kg — with total sales of 5515 units, representing 18.0 per cent market share for the segment, also a record. News at the other end of the market was not…

RENAULT IS maintaining its light-commercial-vehicle charge with an all-new mid-sized Trafic, a rather swanky-looking van in a sea of LCV homogeneity. Payloads range from 1235kg on the short-base model, 1237kg for the midrange SWB and 1275kg for the LWB Trafic. SWB models offer 5.2 cubic metres of load volume, while the LWB model offers 6.0 cubic metres of space inside. A 12-volt power outlet mounted in the cargo area is standard fare, and there’s an overhead rack option to enable a 13kg load to be carried above the load area. A big plus in this part of the van market is the barn door, which enables forklift access — two Aussie pallets will slide into the Trafic without any drama. The Trafic has indeed grown — it’s now 210mm longer.…

SCENIC COWRA on the Lachlan River in central western New South Wales is an interesting location for tourists. Among other things, the town of about 10,000 people hosts the famous and award-winning Japanese Garden and Cultural Centre, which is set over five strolling hectares. During World War II there was the infamous ‘Cowra Breakout’ from the local POW camp, during which 231 Japanese prisoners and four Australian soldiers died. Boasting other attractions such as fine dining and wineries, the clever tourist slogan for the town is ‘Cowra — The Great Escape’. Not that most truckies have time to stop and do some sightseeing or sample the local wines, even if they could find a park. However, truckies do have a break at the Mobil Diner in Cowra, located on the…

THE EXISTING procedure used to determine if a truck driver may be suffering from sleep apnoea needs to change, according to the Australian Trucking Association (ATA). The group says the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) is flawed because it relies on drivers self-reporting their levels of sleepiness by answering a series of questions. The ATA says the ESS is highly subjective as a result and is leading to under-reporting of excessive sleepiness because some drivers answering the questions may feel their level of tiredness is normal or will pass. The ATA wants an amendment made to Assessing Fitness to Drive medical standards to recognise the limitations of the ESS. “The ATA recommends that the medical standards for sleep apnoea be amended to include a warning that the treating doctor should not…

THREE TRUCK parking bays along a busy route in the Northern Territory will receive a facelift, but drivers hoping to stop at any of the sites for a toilet break will be disappointed. The three sites on the Roper Highway in the NT’s Gulf region will be sealed by mid-2016 at a cost of $1.5 million. The funds will also be used to provide two bins at each site, but the NT Department of Transport says amenities including toilets, running water and shaded areas will not be added to the sites. The federal government, which is covering half the cost of the project, says the upgrades are necessary to accommodate a rise in truck traffic in the region. “An increase in heavy vehicle traffic associated with mining activities in the…

Travis Dundas admits he hasn’t been to a Tooradin show for a few years, but he was more than happy to return in C15 Cat-powered Vic Low Loaders’ 2007 Western Star. “The truck looks brand new, even though it has 1.1 million kilometres on the clock,” Travis beams. He explains that truck was purchased from Adtrans for $80,000 last year and a further $50,000 was spent doing it up. Among the appointments are new rims, exhaust, air intakes, custom seven-inch outlets fitted, plus a custom 12-inch drop visor which arrived from the United States. “Plastic For Trucks did all the plastic up front,” Travis says, “and we took the ribbed floor out of the cab and replaced it with a smooth one. “It had an 18-speed auto but we changed…

JOHN DOYLE of Oaklands, New South Wales, wears many hats. The managing director of JA Doyle is a truck driver, header driver, farmer and contract harvester. He is even a councillor at Urana Shire. After the excitement of January’s Burrumbuttock Hay run, John and his son Damien Doyle are settling back into work at their Riverina company, which bought its first truck to cart bulk clay in 1976. This month, their four Western Stars Constellation Stratospheres are pulling B-doubles of grain from the Riverina to Victorian ports, returning with fertiliser and lime. John and Damien will spend plenty of time behind the wheel. They also employ three drivers. The company’s fifth truck, a 1999 International TranStar, works locally around Oaklands. All five trucks are powered by Cummins Signature Gen 2…

JIM TURNER, who drives for the TRN Group out of Narellan, NSW, doesn’t mind offering advice insofar as what is the right truck for the job. Currently driving a Kenworth K200 hauling a set of Muscat Asterion tri-axle stag trailers for the family-owned business, Jim was previously behind the wheel of a Kenworth T408 SAR up front of a set of bogie stag tippers. When it came time for TRN to introduce the Muscat trailers for its quarry runs, Jim sensed that the business owners were uncertain on a suitable model. ‘I said they should consider a cab-over as some of the concrete plants they go to are a bit tight,” he says. Jim was familiar with cab-overs from his time driving for Scarcella Transport. The TRN K200 clocks up…

AS A DRIVER or manager, have you ever filled out or accepted a week’s worth of daily truck inspections on a Friday afternoon? Such slackness has been known to happen, but in this era of greater legal responsibility, you’d be mad to do it. However, it seems there is a much bigger problem in the Australian trucking industry when it comes to daily checks, and that’s not actually doing the checks in the first place. Whether it’s through complacency, deliberate ignorance or a simple lack of knowledge, failure to complete basic daily checks is rife in the industry. That’s according to an eminent panel of experts at the most recent Technical and Maintenance Conference (TMC), organised by the Australian Trucking Association, Australian Road Transport Suppliers Association and Paccar. One of…

I DOUBT there has ever been any instances of the words ‘evocative’ and ‘ACCO’ appearing together in the same sentence. The word ‘venerable’ yes, maybe even ‘honest’. ‘Evocative’? No. So as a literary first that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Evocative is exactly what came to mind when I climbed into the cab of the newly facelifted box-cabbed beastie. No, I’m not getting all arty farty on you, nor am I going to wax lyrical about the poetry of its flowing lines and stylish interior. I could perhaps call it a post-modern homage to the interface between humanity and the socio-political industrial complex. But then I really would sound like a wanker. THE MISTS OF TIME But I, like many people who steer trucks for a living, have spent…

THE WORLD’S first dual-control Mercedes-Benz Econic has been introduced in Oz. According to Mercedes-Benz, the addition of a dual-control version of the intelligently designed truck, with an additional steering wheel and column fitted to the left-hand side of the cabin, means more choice for Australian waste-collection operators. The new dual-control Econic has a Euro VI-rated engine, electronic stability program and a special low-entry cab design. Mercedes-Benz Trucks in Worth, Germany, says it developed the Econic in response to interest from Australian operators who required a dual-control system. The Econic uses a 7.7-litre diesel engine with 299hp that meets Euro VI emission standards, and it delivers a reduction of emissions and particulate matter by up to 90 per cent compared to the Euro V engine. It is linked up to a…