Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 278 i Owner Driver

THE TRANSPORT Workers Union (TWU) is planning protest and legal action in support of minimum rates for owner-drivers and has issued notice to the trucking industry: We’ll be pushing for rates to increase. Concerns among businesses and owner-drivers about the impact of minimum rates, which begin on April 4, has prompted TWU boss Tony Sheldon to intervene with a rallying call to truckies to back the scheme and a verbal blast at critics trying to undermine it. Announced by the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT) last year, the Contractor Driver Minimum Payments Road Safety Remuneration Order will guarantee minimum hourly and kilometre rates for owner-drivers working in the supermarket distribution and linehaul sectors. Drivers must also be paid for taking rest breaks, loading and unloading time, refuelling and filling out…

TOLL SAYS it will review whether it continues using owner-drivers once the new minimum rates scheme begins on April 4. The Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal’s (RSRT) decision to set rates for owner-drivers in the supermarket distribution and linehaul sectors has prompted concerns from Toll and fears within the industry more broadly that owner-drivers will be priced out of the market. From April 4, companies using owner-drivers will be required to pay set hourly and kilometre rates based on the work being performed and the equipment being used. Payment must also be made for waiting time, loading and unloading, taking rest breaks and filling out paperwork. “Toll is still analysing the impact of the order, but it seems likely to significantly increase the cost of engaging owner-drivers,” a company spokesperson says.…

SCHEDULED CHANGES to work diary requirements for truck drivers in New South Wales have been pushed back to May. The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) says a notice exempting those with basic fatigue management (BFM) or advanced fatigue management (AFM) accreditation from maintaining diaries if working within 100km of their base will now expire on May 1. The New South Wales Work Diary Exemption for 100km work under Basic Fatigue Management or Advanced Fatigue Management Notice was due to end next month, but the NHVR says industry has sought more time to adjust to keeping records. “Following discussions with industry, the NHVR and NSW Government have agreed to extend the BFM and AFM work diary exemption for an additional eight weeks,” the NHVR says. “This extra time will allow approximately…

INTERSTATE TRUCK driver John King of Sydney celebrates his 70th birthday this month. March also marks the 49th year since he obtained a truck licence. But, like many drivers of his era, John already had several years of trucking experience before he was legally permitted to drive a truck. It is natural to become nostalgic as his milestone birthday approaches, but John is still looking to the future and sees himself driving trucks for years to come. Several of John’s trucking friends have continued to drive well into their 70s, including one of his employers, Kevin Moore, who he has known for 35 years. John has driven for Ostor (No 12) for the past eight years. The Sydney business is owned by Kevin and Yvonne Moore and Dennis McDowall, and…

Letters to the Editor need to be typed or clearly handwritten and be no more than 500 words. Letters should include name, title (e.g. owner-driver, manager) and city for publication, unless otherwise requested. Letters may be edited for clarity or space. Please be concise, so we can offer more people an opportunity to express themselves. Dear Owner//Driver SAFE RATES SCHEDULE AS AN ex-owner-driver who has the dubious honour of having seven trucks with my name on the door, who also engages subbies, I have spent a considerable amount of time dissecting the latest impost put on our industry by the over-educated but under-experienced bureaucracy. Other than the glaringly obvious that these poverty rates will become the maximum for so many freight corridor runners, there is obviously a complete lack of…

Conduct: Start 60 seconds of intense exercise at 90 per cent (180 Formula). Follow this intense burst with 75 seconds of complete rest. Continue to next or same exercise through workout for 12 cycles. This routine is credited to professor Martin Gibala and his team at McMaster University in Canada. You can also estimate how hard you are working using a Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale and work until you feel like the intensity is at 9 out of 10. The three exercises I will use here to demonstrate the Little Interval method are: 1. WALL SPRINTS 2. COMBINATION 1-2 W. BAG 3. SQUAT JUMPS 1. Start at exercise A: Wall sprints, and complete 60 seconds at the tempo given and at an intensity level of 90 per cent…

Bill Simpson went to work for Jack Cleary in 1950 when the company had just five employees and the truck fleet consisted of a couple of Internationals and an NR Mack. “I came and went a couple of times, but in total I worked for Cleary’s for about 22 years,” says the bright-eyed 88 year-old, still armed with a sharp memory and wicked sense of humour. Even after all these years, Bill easily recalls driving the NR. “It had a 6-71 GM and a five by two gearbox. It wasn’t a bad truck and did a lot of heavy work,” he says. It was, however, a later Mack that truly won his admiration, and on this occasion brought Bill to Bombo for a trip down memory lane with Denis Cleary…

VOLVO GROUP Australia has announced VCV Sydney West and Wagga Motors as the 2015 Dealers of the Year at the inaugural awards dinner on the Gold Coast. Presented by Peter Voorhoeve, president of Volvo Group Australia, and Tom Conlon, vice president of retail operations, Volvo says the awards acknowledge both dealerships’ outstanding commitment to customer satisfaction and strong performance in 2015. Greg Sargeant accepted the award on behalf of VCV Sydney West, which took out the coveted prize in the Metropolitan category, and Richard Braid was to collect the trophy on behalf of Wagga Motors after claiming honours in the Regional division. Held in conjunction with a national sales conference, the award is based on a number of key performance metrics, including customer survey scores, market share and parts sales.…

WHEN I was a kid my former truckie father branched out into selling trucks, tractors and farm machinery in the Riverina region of NSW. For many years he worked for the iconic International brand, probably the biggest and best-known in the world at the time. It was no doubt unusual for a youngster, but I used to love poring over the spec sheets for the trucks — the likes of the friendly-looking C and D series; the ugly ACCO A series; and the awesome Atkinson highway hero. In later years I got to drive plenty of Inters, the highlight being a couple of bonneted S-Line prime movers. You still see a few of those poking about in the cities, but the rest are rare sights indeed unless you’re visiting a…

KING BARS has released a new range of bullbars specifically for Scania Euro 5 trucks. According to King Bars, the new Pacific range has been developed to offer maximum protection to the full range of Scania Euro 5 models. The company says a unique mounting system and upgraded aluminium sections will provide more strength than existing products on the market. King Bars says the key to the increased strength of the bullbar is that it utilises the Scania’s tow points for mounting, which provide the ideal location to secure the bar and provide maximum rigidity. It is reported to be manufactured from high strength extruded aluminium sections that have been proven to withstand wildlife impacts. “Our business is to provide heavy duty trucks with the best protection possible, and the…

MELBOURNE’S controversial EastLink is noted for its truck traffic travelling north and south to and from Hastings, Dandenong and surrounding areas. On either side of the tolled section near Scoresby sits twin BP truck stops. Husband and wife team Arthur and Julie Kondos bought the licence for the BP EastLink Inbound four years ago. It’s one of the largest sites of its kind in Australia. Both Arthur and Julie came from corporate backgrounds and, according to Arthur, operating a truck stop of the BP EastLink Inbound’s magnitude was a learning curve. “It was a change from the corporate scene to a more retail customer focus role, which was more of a challenge for me because I was more of a back office person,” Arthur says. “I had a little bit…

THE TRUCK driver behind the wheel of a fuel tanker that crashed and killed two people has been cleared of dangerous driving charges but found guilty of negligent driving. Jurors found Shane Day not guilty of two charges of dangerous driving causing death and a charge of driving causing serious injury. However, District Court judge Leonie Flannery ruled Day was guilty of the lesser charge of negligent driving occasioning death, which carries the possibility of jail time. Day was behind the wheel of a Cootes Transport truck when it rolled at Mona Vale on Sydney’s northern beaches and later burst into flames. The accident killed Peter Wern and Graham Holfreter, and injured five others. Day’s defence successfully argued the truck’s brakes were faulty and were the cause of the accident,…

IN JUNE 2014, diesel mechanic Tom Mort saw a 2006 International Eagle 9200 advertised in a truck magazine. Tom, who owns TKM Diesel at Benalla, Victoria, remembered servicing the truck when it was new. But when he discovered the Eagle for sale, its motor had been removed and it was stripped of minor parts. He bought the Eagle, relocated it to his workshop and told his wife Kylie he planned to get it back on the freeway. Kylie shared Tom’s enthusiasm for the project, but their young daughter, Mackenzie, had other plans for the truck. “Back in 2014 when [Mackenzie] was very young, she used to play in it because it was just a shell,” Kylie says. “She pulled the curtains around so it was all dark in there.” Mackenzie…

LINFOX’S DECISION to unilaterally fiddle with long-established public holiday practices at one of its distribution centres has backfired, with the company ordered to reinstate previous arrangements. The Fair Work Commission (FWC) upheld a claim from the New South Wales branch of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) arguing Linfox had no right to alter work requirements on public holidays for workers at its Erskine Park facility. Linfox dumped a decade-long custom when last year it informed night shift workers, without consultation, of new arrangements for days off on public holidays and when penalty rates were to be paid. Traditionally, employees starting work at 10pm on the day before a public holiday were paid penalty rates for the length of their shift, given the majority of it fell on a holiday. In…

IF YOU are an owner-driver or trucking company boss scratching your head about the new safe rates regime, you are not alone. The Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal [RSRT) delivered an order on minimum rates for supermarket distribution and long distance subbies just before Christmas. But judging by an industry and customer breakfast in Sydney on February 9, some details are as clear as mud to operators, let alone the owner-drivers who have to wade through about 100 pages of often eye-glazing legalese. Help in making sense of it all is said to be on the way, but at the time of writing there is little plain English guidance on what everyone has to do – with the start date of April 4 looming. After the breakfast, Russell Tait from Deniliquin…

BASED IN Ayr in northern Queensland, Greg and Julie Horton run a diverse, four truck fleet. Three are Freightliners, with a CH Mack taking the role of a back-up vehicle. The star of the show is undoubtedly a near new grey-blue Freightliner Coronado, which operates on the Horton’s Townsville to Mt Isa run. Greg is an unashamed Detroit man, although he’s more than happy with the Coronado’s big Cummins ISX under the bonnet. “It pushes out 600hp with 2050ft-lb of torque,” Greg enthuses. “It is coupled to a 22 Series 18-speed box, 52180 diffs and Neway air bag suspension, so she’s heavy duty.” He thanks Westco Truck Sales in Townsville, and sales manager Chad McGrath in particular, for sprucing up the Coronado. “They wanted to do something a bit different…

ADELAIDE IVECO and Thomas Bros Truck and Bus in Wagga Wagga have been named winners of Iveco Australia’s Dealer of the Year Awards at the company’s dealer conference in February. For the first time in Iveco’s history, the latest awards were divided into regional and metropolitan dealership categories, allowing outlets to more fairly compete with similarly-sized dealerships. Iveco awarded points based on a dealership’s performance across sales, service and parts departments, dealership staff participation in training initiatives, and feedback from customer care programs. Competition in both categories was very close. During the conference, held on the Gold Coast, CNH Industrial executive managing director — Australia and New Zealand, Ray Osgood presented the awards to Adelaide Iveco dealer principal Joe Emanuele, and Thomas Bros Truck and Bus general manager Baden Bowman.…

AUSTRALIA’S TOP Hino dealers were awarded with national honours for their strong performance at the 2015 Dealer of the Year Awards presentation in Sydney. Melbourne’s Prestige Hino won the Metropolitan Dealer of the Year award for the second time, while Bendigo Truck Centre took home its third Regional Dealer of the Year award. Both awards were presented by Hino Australia chairman and CEO Steve Lotter, COO Shunichi (Sean) Takahashi and Hino Japan’s representative, senior managing officer Yoshio Shimo, at the official gala dinner held at Sydney’s Town Hall. Prestige Hino dealer principal Angelo Valerio praised his team for its performance. “The Hino Dealer of the Year award is recognition of the hard work the entire team at Prestige Hino put into 2015,” Valerio says. “From our detailers, mechanics and advisors,…

TRUCKING ADVOCATE Rod Hannifey has taken his message to the masses with a six-day talking gig at the recent Victorian Caravan, Camping and Touring Supershow. Hannifey delivered hour-long speeches on each day of the six-day event, which ran in Melbourne from February 24 to 29, to spruik about sharing the road safely with trucks and encourage caravan owners not to take up space at heavy vehicle rest areas. Hannifey was also given a spot to display his TruckRight Industry Vehicle (TIV) B-double combination at the event, along with offering tours to interested show attendees. The well-known truck is decked out with safety messages and has long been a key part of Hannifey’s push to improve the general public’s understanding of the trucking industry. Hannifey’s speech touched on a number of…

In the International glory days in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, the Dandenong factory churned out trucks like sausages. It was the same for the iconic car makers Ford, Holden, Chrysler and later Toyota (we’re not really including Leyland in the list of icons — anyone remember the P76?). But the tariff wall protecting locally-built vehicles couldn’t last. In more recent times, massive government subsidies propped up the local car industry. Not so for local truck builders Iveco and Paccar (Kenworth) based in Melbourne, and Volvo Group (Volvo and Mack) based in Brisbane. They stand on their own two feet, and have evolved to specialise in tailor-made products rather than mass production. This writer has toured all three factories and they are impressive sights to behold. A member of the…

UNIDEN HAS launched a new range of radios and accessories which it says are ideal for long-distance truck drivers often travelling through remote locations. According to Uniden, the new range offers reliable performance and is built rugged for the harsh Australian elements. The new five watt UH5050 and four watt PRO5050 AM CB mobile radios are said to easily fit within standard DIN slots for quick and easy mounting inside the vehicle. The UH5050 CB mobile radio boasts high performance when it comes to keeping in contact with others while on the road. It provides access to up to 80 channels and connectivity to up to 60 programmable RX channels for storing favourite listening frequencies (between 400-520mHz). Range extender (duplex) capability allows the UH5050 to operate using a local repeater…

A VICTORIAN transport company and its owner have been smacked with a heavy fine after underpaying three truck drivers over a two-year period. In an example of what operators face for not complying with their payment obligations, the Federal Circuit Court fined Openica Logistics $34,500 and director Vladimir Taseki $7100. The court found that the company underpaid the three drivers a total of $69,175 between 2010 and 2012, with one driver owed $45,291. The other two drivers were underpaid $16,422 and $7461, respectively. Judge Grant Riethmuller ruled that the drivers, all aged in their 50s, were underpaid living away from home allowances and two did not receive payment for casual loading. One driver was not paid for all kilometres driven. “There is no evidence that the respondents took any particular…

LAST YEAR, in the lead up to the inaugural Geelong Camp Quality Convoy, organisers expected around 50 trucks to turn up. Instead, the convoy attracted 197 entrants. The second convoy, held on February 14 this year, blew that figure away with 372 trucks registered to take part. The Geelong Camp Quality Convoy was not only a success for the fundraising arm of the children’s charity, but also for Victoria’s trucking industry. Lee Emberton, state manager for Camp Quality Tasmania and Victoria, and Jo McKeown, Camp Quality’s fundraising coordinator, were both thrilled with the result. It also reaffirmed the decision to base the convoy in Geelong. “Certainly we did our research when we were looking at where in Victoria to hold the convoy,” Lee says. “And Victoria is fortunate in that…

THERE ONE day, gone the next. No, that isn’t a reference to Mitchell Pearce’s NRL playing career, but perhaps the best way to describe the prospect of a national chain of responsibility (COR) regime. In the lead-up to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s (NHVR) introduction in early 2014, the agency touted a nationally consistent and resourced COR regime as a key focus. That focus, however, shifted dramatically after the NHVR’s IT system crumbled within hours of launching and left it unable to complete the vitally important task of processing heavy vehicle permit applications. In the months, and year, that followed, talk about COR mostly stopped; permits were the main issue occupying the NHVR’s mind. Until now. After recovering from its early stumbles, the NHVR is now poised to finally devote…

SPECKS OF dust drift serenely in the shafts of afternoon sun streaming down through the high windows of the old iron-clad workshop. Framed in a beam of stark light, a big, barrel-chested man sits soulfully on the seat of a veteran D7 dozer intricately restored to its former, formidable glory. It’s quiet in here. Ghostly quiet, and the silence is soaked with the spirits of men of another time. They’re still here. You sense them as your eyes trace the stout timber beams supporting the overhead shafts and the heavy iron wheels that once drove presses and drills. Imagination conjures the sharp, stinging smack of hammer on steel and the fiery spit of hot metal. Along an opposite wall are rows of wooden shelves where thousands of nuts, bolts and…

MAXITRANS HAS held a successful open day at its new NSW dealership in the Sydney suburb of Smeaton Grange. Customers, suppliers and supporters visited to be treated to lunch, tours and trailer displays. MaxiTrans managing director Michael Brockhoff says he was excited by the opportunity of showing off the 20,000sqm facility to the industry. “The addition of a wholly-owned MaxiTrans dealership in Sydney furthers our ongoing investment into providing high levels of customer service through our industry-leading sales, parts, service and repair network,” he says. MaxiTrans says the new NSW branch offers sales of each of the company’s leading trailer and rigid body brands, not to mention used trailer sales and rentals. The extensive service workshop, which covers more than 2500sqm, is equipped to complete all fibreglass, aluminium and steel…

THE AGENCY regulating heavy vehicles throughout most of Australia has delivered a financial fillip to trucking operators with the removal of paint requirements for semi-trailers currently in use. The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) announced issued a vehicle standards’ exemption removing the paint rule for in-service semi-trailers. The announcement follows the Federal Government’s decision to remove the requirement from the Australian Design Rules (ADR) for semi-trailers being manufactured after January 1, 2005. The exemption means the rear bumper bars of trucks will no longer need to be painted white. “The NHVR has taken further steps to ensure in-service semitrailers manufactured since July 1, 1988 also benefit from the change to drive productivity benefits for the sector,” NHVR executive director of productivity and safety Geoff Casey says. “It is estimated that…

I THINK Iveco are trying to tell me something. With my head mashed into a crash helmet I recently found myself strapped into a V8 Commodore track car. GT race driver Tony D’Alberto then proceeded to see if he could make my eyeballs bounce off the windscreen a couple of times as we howled around a racing circuit. “We are playing in every part of the heavy duty segment” With G-forces tickling my colon, I just had enough time to contemplate the Iveco branded billboard on the edge of the track as it flashed past the window at speed. Partnerships with Red Bull Racing, Team Vortex V8 Supercars, off-road trucks for Daryl Beattie and branding splashed across the bonnet of a GT Ferrari race car: the Italian truck maker is…

I’D LIKE you to think that the dark arts of journalism require extensive and exhaustive research. It would be nice to think that Peter Greste was freed by a united front of educated scribes clamouring for justice and a desire for all human beings to live free with dignity and compassion. That said, who ever says the pen is mightier than the sword has clearly never watched a single episode of Game of Thrones. “If you do happen to get stuck you are very, very stuck” The reality is we tend to be so busy that we generally just revert to Wikipedia, or Google those trifling yet troubling titbits of info that we need to meet our deadlines. So you can imagine my dismay when I tried to find the…

HAMELEX WHITE has announced that its new tipper Versabolt range is now available for purchase. Visitors to last year’s Brisbane Truck Show were offered a sneak peek of the Versabolt, boasting a modular bolted design rather than traditional welding, which is designed to increase flexibility and maintainability while reducing lead times. MaxiTrans managing director Michael Brockhoff says the Versabolt delivers versatility to the market. Initially available in high tensile steel rigid and dog combinations, further models will become available in the coming months. “Buyers will be able to choose between high tensile steel, aluminium or a combination of both, which is easily achieved by choosing the appropriate modules during assembly,” Brockhoff says. “This increases flexibility of options and ensures you can get the right trailer for the job, be it…

“They are willing to throw the keys to anyone who has a licence” EVER SINCE the dawn of time, trucking in Australia has attracted people from all walks of life and from all around the world. We, as the majority, in what we consider our industry, have always been a bit loathe to embrace each nationality as they have come along, in what seems to be a wave of people that we didn’t ask to join us. However, each race and person from other nations have eventually blended into our way of doing things, but usually at great expense to what is usually considered on both sides as ‘us and them’. The so called ‘Indian Invasion’ isn’t any different today. I remember my old man saying, “I don’t care what…