Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 317 i Owner Driver

THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT must fix the national truck laws – and save families more than $400 per year, the CEO of the Australian Trucking Association, Ben Maguire says. Maguire was releasing a new report from Deloitte Access Economics about the economic benefits of improved regulation in the Australian trucking industry. “In the eastern states and South Australia, trucking operators are regulated by the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL), which determines the trucks we can use and the access permissions that are required,” Maguire continues. “In 2011, it was predicted that the law would deliver up to $12.4 billion in economic benefits. “This devastating independent report shows that the law has failed. It shows that the productivity of the transport, postal and warehousing sector has fallen every year since the law…

IMAGINE ROLLING UP to work one chilly morning, ready to start selling the latest and greatest Volvo trucks and you can’t get in the door because some young fool has parked their F86 Volvo right across your driveway. That’s the scenario that occurred way 52 years ago for Bob Oliver, a salesman at Volvo Trucks in Laverton. He banged on the door of the old truck and out rolled Wayne ‘Smitty’ Smith. Now I’m sure there were a few expletives thrown around as the two men discussed the motivation for Smittys unorthodox parking, but I’ll take some creative licence as I mock-up a ‘PG’ version of what may have occurred 52 years ago. “Good morning Wayne, how can I be of service this fine morning?” “Good morning Bob, I’m here…

THE TRIP ACROSS to Brisbane from the Pilbara proved to be a rewarding one for Heather Jones, Pilbara Heavy Haulage Girls CEO. Heather was handed the keys to a new pink 600hp (447kW) roadtrain-rated Volvo FH16 prime mover, courtesy of Volvo Group Australia (VGA). The new FH16 replaces a five-year old Volvo which has been in operation in the Pilbara for the past three years. The new prime mover joins its existing Pilbara pink stablemate, a 685hp (511kW) Mack Super-Liner which VGA handed over in 2016. “VGA is continuing their support with us and supplying us another late model FH16 Volvo so that we can increase our training and continue our training,” Jones says. “The previous Volvo had clocked up 285,000km, but it was two years old when we got…

If you’re in the market for quality braking componentry or need specialised braking work carried out on your heavy vehicle, turn to Australian Brake Controls (ABC). They aim to have a solution to all braking requirements. Australian Brake Controls is a specialised brake system business unlike any other. It is a name that is trusted by some of the biggest truck dealers, major fleet operators and even the Australian Defence Force. ABC has skilled and experienced technicians who carry out specialised work for industrial, mining and commercial applications – from repair and remanufacture of components to testing and installation of both standard and custom brake systems. Whether you are looking to get your truck upgraded to the latest technology or looking to retrofit an improved braking system, Australian Brake Controls’…

MERCEDES-BENZ has ramped up its electric vehicle testing with the delivery of another locally emission-free eActros to German logistics company Dachser. The fully-electric 18 tonne truck joins the Dachser fleet where it will be tasked with delivering palletised shipments above 32kg – which are too large and heavy for regular parcel shipping – to its customers in Stuttgart’s city centre. Additionally, the eActros will also supply the Dachser microhub in Stuttgart’s Heslach district with items for last-mile delivery. The loading area of the eActros offers space for 18 pallets. “With a range of up to 200km, the eActros comfortably covers the required daily distance of around 80km between our Dachser branch in Kornwestheim and the delivery area in Stuttgart,” says Stefan Hohm, corporate director corporate solutions, research and development at…

SCANIA’S LAUNCH of the OC09 gas engine in Australia marks the debut of alternative fuel solutions for its New Truck Generation. The OC09 is based on Scania’s 9.0-litre five-cylinder engine. The engine works according to the Otto principle with spark plugs and complete combustion. The first vehicle to demonstrate the Scania gas engine in Australia is a 6x2 cab-chassis unit fitted with an urban P-series cab. In line with its New Truck Generation, Scania says the P 340 6x2 is fitted with a high level of Scania’s active and passive safety systems, including side curtain rollover airbags and LED lamps front and rear. Scania says, as with Europe, there is a small band of operators and businesses keen to investigate the benefits of operating vehicles on alternative or renewable fuels…

NATIONAL TRANSPORT INSURANCE (NTI) found an owner for its custom built 1946 Ford Jailbar, nicknamed ‘Roxanne’, at the 2019 Brisbane Truck Show, raising $113,087.02 for motor neurone disease (MND) medical research in the process. Lucky ticket holder Michelle Wilkie of Munruben, Queensland was named the winner on the last day of the show where the truck was displayed for the duration of the event. Earlier this year NTI announced that 100 per cent of ticket sales would go directly to associate professor Trent Woodruff at the University of Queensland for his project ‘Manipulation of free fatty acid receptors’ to tame the immune response in MND via NTI’s official Research Grant and MND Research Institute of Australia. NTI’s chief executive officer Tony Clark says the team’s success at surpassing previous raffle…

ROAD SAFETY advocate Rod Hannifey has voiced his concerns about the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) review, saying the length and content of the issues papers may make it difficult for drivers to provide feedback. The first two papers, on a risk-based approach to regulation and effective fatigue management, were released for public consultation by the National Transport Commission (NTC) in late March and late May respectively, comprising 76 and 56 pages each. Eight issues papers are due in total. The first item’s consultation period ended on May 31, and Hannifey is worried drivers may have lacked the time to absorb the documents and provide a measured response. “I welcome the intent, but am concerned it is too long-winded for most and will even scare drivers off the rest of…

PERTH TRUCKIE Lynette Newbey has been carting dangerous goods for most of her 20-year trucking career. These days she’s employed to drive a Volvo FH16 with two or three trailers, carting ammonium nitrate to mines in remote Western Australia. Ammonium nitrate is an ingredient used by the mines to make explosives. Lynette is comfortable and confident carting the oxidising agent, and explains that without other ingredients and a detonator, her cargo is dangerous but not explosive. “We’re not as volatile as petrol tankers.” Working a 12-day fortnight, Lynette travels regularly to Kalgoorlie and occasionally to Port Hedland, sleeping in the Volvo up to eight nights each fortnight. “I personally just love the freedom,” she says. “I love the open road. I love the people you meet and just the driving.…

Victoria’s Goulburn Valley boomed after World War II, with ex-servicemen and new Australians among the many who established successful farms, dairies and orchards in the region. International trucks and tractors carried a large share of the region’s produce. Shepparton’s International Harvester dealership – founded by brothers Ron, Alf and Norm Taig in 1947 – was destined to prosper. For the next 72 years the fortune of Taig Bros fluctuated with the highs and lows of Goulburn Valley businesses – especially agriculture. Adapting to changes in the region and the transport industry, Taig Bros evolved through the decades. It operated as an Isuzu and Iveco dealership with Scania spare parts and servicing when John Taig retired in January, 2019. John, 75, has sold the business to North East Isuzu Shepparton which…

HANDS UP ALL of you that can recall seeing the stunning silver and blue colours of a typically shiny Bobbins Transport truck. I bet there’s a fair few hands in the air right now, which probably looks very strange to all the people around you who are now wondering what you are reading. But let’s continue anyway. Bobbins Transport isn’t one of the biggest fleets around; they now have nearly 30 prime movers on the road and in their eye-catching colours they leave a lasting impression when spotted. Now hands up anyone that can easily point out on a map where Pambula is? Not so many hands I bet. There should be though, because Pambula, the little town of three pubs and around two and a half thousand people, is…

VOLVO’S BIG NEWS It’s said all good things comes to those who wait and that was certainly the case for Volvo in Brisbane. More than six years after the launch of the current FH family, you could almost hear the sighs of relief as Volvo Trucks Australia revealed the upsized Globetrotter XXL cab, effectively making Volvo the only European brand with a sleeper cab to match the space and driver convenience of Kenworth’s K200. After an exhaustive development and test program spanning several years, and by moving the rear wall of a regular XL cab back 250mm, Volvo has created a cab with 40 per cent more space than its existing FH sleeper and surprisingly, 13 per cent more than the XXL cab from the former FH family. Yet the…

EXPANSION AND PUBLIC INTERACTION was the key for this year’s highly-successful Brisbane Truck Show. Held in May and organised and operated by Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia (HVIA), the four-day event at the Brisbane Convention and Entertainment Centre (BCEC) was the focal point of Australian Heavy Industry Week, which commenced on May 13. This included a high productivity vehicle demonstration day at the Mt Cotton Training Centre in Brisbane’s south eastern extremities on May 14, and the NatRoad conference at the BCEC on May 14 and 15. Elsewhere, static truck displays were spread along the bar and dining areas of South Bank and across the river into Brisbane’s CBD. A week earlier, the HVIA had combined with the National Rugby League (NRL) for a joint promotion of the Brisbane Truck Show…

THEIR NATURAL truck show habitat is generally the upper floors, an escalator ride or two from huge hall where the trucks and trailers and glitz live. Yet the parts and accessories folk know they are the grease that keeps the industry rolling the way customers stalking the big hall want it to. Up there can be found towing systems and IT, weighing systems and lights – and enough other bits and pieces to make visitors’ heads spin. And if forced to pick one thing that bound them all together, it would be impossible to go past the immense regard they have for the growth and development of the show and their desire to return for the next one. With around 200 exhibitors showing products weighing in at much less than…

THE NATIONAL ROAD TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION (NatRoad) says it has provided the National Transport Commission (NTC) a comprehensive submission on moving to risk-based regulation for heavy vehicles. Central to its submission is a demand for enforcement reform and a simplification of the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL). Provisions which are not critical to safety should be removed and prescriptive requirements should be moved down the regulatory tier from the Act into regulations and codes of practice, NatRoad CEO Warren Clark says. “We strongly support a review and restructure of the HVNL and we are enthusiastically participating in the process the NTC has established. “One of the issues that members have told us is in urgent need of reform relates to enforcement. “In the submission, we make positive suggestions about how the…

THE VICTORIAN STATE GOVERNMENT says it is boosting safety for drivers and pedestrians in the heart of Casterton in western Victoria. Casterton is around 42 kilometres east of the South Australian border along the Glenelg Highway. Minister for Roads Jaala Pulford announced on May 28 that a new 40km/h speed limit would be introduced on the Glenelg Highway in the main shopping strip of Casterton. As a key freight route, it carries about 2,600 vehicles a day with heavy vehicles making up 25 per cent of total traffic. The Andrews government says both the Casterton community and the local heavy vehicle industry have raised concerns about safety in the main shopping strip, particularly with pedestrians crossing the highway and vehicles attempting to reverse out of angled parking. At a community…

AS ANY TRUCK DRIVER and operator knows, Australia’s rural and regional roads can be tough on trucks and drivers. The photos shown on these pages are an all-too-common sight. No bitumen outside the fog-line; and maybe no intact fog-line at all. Believe it or not, the trucks passing each other with little margin for error before dropping into the big hole are on a busy freight and tourism “highway”. It’s a stretch of the Murray Valley Highway between Cobram and Yarrawonga in northern Victoria. Imagine the possible consequences for the driver and/or the gear if there’s heavy rain at night, and an oncoming truck or caravan is veering too close to the centre line, forcing the driver to get one set of wheels into the soft gravel. Just one foot…

THE NATIONAL ROAD TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION (NatRoad) has reinforced its support for industry recruitment in the face of the developing crisis of driver shortages, with the creation of a new employment portal headlining a multi-pronged approach to addressing the problem. Speaking at the association’s 2019 conference, CEO Warren Clark says public image, combined with a poor internal perception, is contributing to an increasing risk of “limiting the growth of industry”. “There are simply not enough young people coming in, which is a problem for all of us,” he says. Clark underscores his desire for a heavy vehicle operation being recognised as skilled trade, and the skill level of new entrants being adequate to undertake the task. To facilitate this, NatRoad is launching a dedicated road transport employment portal, and is proposing…

ONCE AGAIN, trailers took up as much space at the Brisbane Truck Show as the trucks themselves. More than 30 trailer exhibitors showcased their latest and greatest equipment at Australia’s largest truck event, striking the balance between low tare weight and durability. The constant push for lower tare-weight trailers that’ll also outlast most trucks continues to rage on and since the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s (NHVR) Performance-Based Standards (PBS) scheme was introduced in 2007, the sheer variety of trailer and combination types is hard to keep up with. From deck wideners through to fridge trailers and even tankers, there was something for everybody across the trailer exhibitors with a continued focus on high-productivity and safety. It’s rare, if not impossible, to find this many superstar trailer manufacturers in one place,…

Following three days closely fought heats and a nail-biting final day, the Southern Zone team of James Grieg and Brett Holland narrowly won the HVIA National Apprentice Challenge. The competition was held during the Brisbane Truck Show at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. Runners-up team Eastern Zone only missed out by 1.5 points. In the challenge, teams had to work against the clock to identify and rectify a series of generated faults on identical trucks provided by Iveco Trucks Australia. “To thank each of the apprentices for their effort in the challenge, they will each receive a tool kit thanks to Warby Tools, and a Truckie Gear Bag thanks to NXT Journey,” says event coordinator Chris Musch. “James and Brett will attend the Gold Coast 600 Supercars Championship event…

Communications IT specialist Trimble is a veteran of four truck shows and, after a particularly gratifying 2019 iteration, will definitely be back for the next one. Regional sales manager – ANZ, transportation Mike Maddocks says the desire for 2021 is to gain a larger footprint. The industry day on Thursday, May 16 was definitely the one generating excitement, with Trimble gaining about 40 indications of serious interest, double the number last time around, which had the previous best year. The company came to the party with five product lines but new to the show was Trimble Visibility, its real-time logistics and intelligent supply chain visibility platform. “It plays well in the shipper market but also in the carrier market,” Maddocks says. “It’s not just new for us but it’s new…

IF A WOCK is something you thwow at a wabbit, does that make an X-Way something you get fwom a quack? Perhaps, but not in this case, because X-Way is actually a twuck. I mean, truck! And lame humour aside, Stralis X-Way is arguably the smartest, safest and potentially most appealing range of heavy-duty cab-over trucks to emerge from the Iveco stable in a long, long time. Ever, perhaps! Assembled at Iveco’s sprawling Dandenong (Vic) factory and targeting everything from off-road construction roles to local and long distance distribution work, X-Way is better equipped and better prepared than any of its predecessors to be more things to more people and in turn, boost Iveco’s business in the heavy-duty truck market. But if you’re wondering about the meaning behind the name:…