Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 319 i Owner Driver

A NEW MOBIL-BRANDED Highway Service Centre, which will incorporate truck-friendly facilities, has commenced construction at Coolac, New South Wales. Located on Muttama Road at the Hume Highway on/off ramps, the new service centre will cater for both northbound and southbound traffic flow. It will focus on Mobil Oil’s superior “synergy” fuel products but will also make provision for electric vehicles into the future. In addition, the Highway Service Centre claims to be host to several eateries and services currently not available in the Coolac area. The new development will also include a truckies lounge, public laundry, a dog walking park, a children’s playground, a number of picnic areas, ample parking for caravans and trailers, waste disposal facility for caravans and a food court with ample seating. Property developer Mark Bassall…

THOSE FAMILIAR with my writing know how much I love to start my stories on a weird tangent that normally only vaguely relates to the story that follows. Well I’m going to disappoint here and take a tangent that directly relates to the story. That tangent is down the path of Greek mythology. Specifically, we will be talking about the mythical creature that shares its name with Ian Irvin’s Canberra-based company Phoenix Trucking. In Greek mythology the phoenix is a bird that cyclically regenerates (fancy words for ‘gets reborn over and over’). It’s written that the phoenix obtains new life by rising from the ashes of its predecessor. It’s this basic premise that drove Ian to name his first venture into road transport back in 2004 – Phoenix Trucking Co.…

SO, YOU’VE ALWAYS wanted to own a truck? Now you have one what are you going to do with it? David Eyre found himself in this position about eight years ago. David and his younger sister Karlyn had grown up near Echuca. Their parents, Dale and Kathy, owned a dairy farm but had little to do with the trucking industry. The family continued their dairy farming in Portland, moving there when David was in Year 8. He eventually left school in Year 10. “Not because I just wanted to leave school, but I wanted to start an apprenticeship,” he says. David finished his diesel mechanic apprenticeship at Kalari Transport in Portland and hung around for a while before returning north. “I don’t really like the coast, so I came back…

HAULING A FOUR METRE WIDE paving machine under escort down one of Australia’s major highways would be a big deal for most truckies. But it’s just another day at the office for Allan Stuckings, known fondly in the Hunter Valley heavy haulage industry as ‘Stucko’. When Owner//Driver recently caught up with Stucko, he was supervising the unloading of the machine, which he’d carted from Wardell on the north coast of NSW nearly 600km down to Rutherford near Maitland, the main base of his employer Hogan’s Heavy Haulage. Most of the way he’d been able to keep the wide load in the slow lane, using the highway’s generous shoulders, but sometimes the small convoy had to take up the whole road to cross a bridge. But this machine was a tiddler:…

We’ve known of its existence for some time but only now are the first ‘official’ images of an innovative Linfox A-double combination starting to emerge. Said to be the first of its kind in Australia, the combination known within Linfox as the Lin-double, was custom designed to maximise productivity, efficiency and safety in the haulage of high gross loads of coal in the Illawarra region, including the notorious descent of Mt Ousley. Power certainly won’t be in short supply with a Volvo FH700 tri-drive prime mover providing the muscle to haul gross weights of 85 tonnes – and potentially more – in a tri-axle tipping trailer coupled to a six-axle tipping dog. Logically enough, much of the combination’s development has centred on providing the retardation power to cope with hauling…

WITH SIX MONTH’S sales of Hino’s new 500 Series Standard Cab under its belt, signs are of an ever-so-slight narrowing of the gap between Hino Trucks and perennial market leader Isuzu in the Australian medium duty truck range. Of course Hino’s 500 Series Wide Cab, released a couple of years ago, may also be a factor in this modest but significant sales boost in that segment. But it’s most likely at the expense of Isuzu. Hino has strategically slowly but surely accelerated the exposure of its new 500 Series Standard Cab since its November 2018 media launch in Tokyo. Drive days over a few months around Canberra followed where the vehicles were put to the test around the national capital, Queanbeyan and the rolling hills towards Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve. First…

MERCEDES-BENZ TRUCKS has announced it is celebrating 40 years of Australian service plans by introducing an improved complimentary basic service plan on key highway prime movers models until September 30. Eligible Mercedes-Benz highway prime movers sold to approved customers before September 30 this year in Australia will be covered by a generous Best Basic Service Plan for five years or 800,000km, whichever comes first. Mercedes-Benz says it represents a 300,000km upgrade on the existing complimentary servicing offer. The new offer is available for highway prime movers with a 90,000kg GCM or less, but may also be available for heavier vehicles on application. Mercedes-Benz reflects that when it offered its first service plan for trucks in Australia, the world was celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the moon landing, Sony released something…

THE CAT is finally out of the bag on the commencement of Queensland’s Toowoomba Second Range Crossing (TSRC), with its opening date and toll pricing unveiled on July 30 – and met with early optimism. One of the state’s largest road infrastructure project is set for a September 8 opening, “transforming the national freight network in the Toowoomba and Lockyer Valley regions”, the federal government announced. Federal Transport Minister Michael McCormack says the $1.6 billion infrastructure investment project would “significantly reduce travel times across the range and deliver a safer, more efficient connection to ports and markets”. “Connecting the Warrego Highway at Helidon Spa in the east to the Gore Highway at Athol in the west, the new Toowoomba Second Range Crossing will form a vital strategic link within Australia’s…

I AN PENDERED of Wilton, New South Wales, believes it’s time for a fresh approach in the way police and other enforcement agencies treat young drivers. “We need to treat our younger drivers differently, and if we do treat them differently we may attract some more,” Ian says. “It’s absolutely torturous for a truck driver … to get pulled up by these overzealous officers.” A transport accreditation and training specialist, Ian is CEO of Pentrans Consulting. He has been an active and vocal member of several trucking associations including the Livestock, Bulk and Rural Carriers Association (LBRCA) and is known for his strong opinions. Among these opinions is his belief that the industry must do more to smooth the road for newcomers. “We’ve encouraged them into the industry. We tell…

VICTORIAN GRAIN OPERATOR Bill Fay has been working in the trucking industry for many decades. Although it wasn’t a planned decision to enter this sector, Bill has come a long way since buying his first truck in 1983. Coming from a farming background, Bill says it was a combination of both coincidence and need that he entered into transport operations. Following humble beginnings, Bill’s grain transport business expanded its presence from Carranballac across regional Victoria. However, in recent years he has down-sized and his new company, Fay Grain, specialises in transport of grains, dairy and other niche goods for a range of clients across western regional Victoria. Recently, Bill teamed up with MaxiTRANS to get a new Lusty EMS 34-ft Tip Over Axle Semi-Tipper for his business. Since the latest…

MACK TRUCKS AUSTRALIA has released two limited-edition trucks to celebrate the centenary of the bulldog brand in Australia. The trucks, a Super-Liner and Trident, will be available for purchase by customers until the 100-truck allocation is exhausted. Revealed at a recent customer event, the two gold bulldog models are part of Mack’s 100 Years Celebrations. They were presented in green and gold, a nod to Mack’s Australian-made status, building trucks in Australia since 1963. Mack Trucks Australia vice president Dean Bestwick says Mack Trucks is the longest-serving truck brand in Australia and has long been synonymous with durability and reliability. “Mack is one of the most iconic transport brands in the world, so it’s only right that such a special milestone be celebrated with such special trucks. I think it…

“They want it in their backyard when they hit retirement age.” MY FIRST JOB out of school was unloading wheat trucks and loading wheat trains at the silos at The Rock, a lovely small town between Wagga Wagga and Albury in southern NSW. It was 1980 and nearly every farm truck which trundled in was a small rigid built in the 1960s, with a grain bin perched on the back. Unloading involved opening usually very stiff old side chute doors. So it was quite a novelty and a relief when the very occasional semi-trailer tipper turned up. Fast forward several decades and of course the grain game has got much bigger in every way, but on country roads you can still see the occasional ancient old rigid with a grain…

IT WAS AN OPPORTUNITY too good to miss and the timing simply could not have been better: a stint aboard the first right-hand drive Freightliner Cascadia test truck in the country, just days before heading to the United States for a detailed look at the testing and development work being done in preparation for the model’s Australian launch later this year. A Cascadia 126 model, the right-hooker has been operating in the fuel haulage fleet of Toowoomba-based Maktrans since February this year and with almost 72,000km under its belt, has done everything expected of it, according to company owner Rob Hannaman. Maktrans runs nine trucks with Freightliner Coronado punched by Detroit’s DD15, being Rob’s established combination for the 25 metre B-double applications that dominate the business, hauling fuel across a…

THE NATIONAL ROAD TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION (NatRoad) has taken aim at the current fatigue management approach in its submission to the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) review, calling for a reinvention of national fatigue laws. NatRoad says the basis of its submission to the National Transport Commission (NTC) was a number of case studies prior to the publication of the latter’s issues paper on fatigue management, highlighting “the unfairness and absurdity of the current fatigue management laws in the Heavy Vehicle National Law”. “What other Australian worker expects to receive a fine of $165 for not recording some information in a work diary? No one does. But truck drivers put up with these indignities every day,” NatRoad CEO Warren Clark says. “Administrative fines for an error in failing to sign and…

THE FIRST IN A SERIES of on-road trials designed to test potential direct road user charging options for heavy vehicles commenced in July. In a partnership between government and the heavy vehicle industry, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Michael McCormack says that while no decisions have been made to change the way heavy vehicle charges are currently collected, the first stage of the National Heavy Vehicle Charging Pilot will provide a way to test potential alternatives, well ahead of any decisions being taken. McCormack says the heavy vehicle on-road trials are part of broader Heavy Vehicle Road Reform, which is about creating stronger links between road usage, charges and services for road users. “The Government will continue to prioritise progress on reforms to improve infrastructure investment, while testing…

In May this year, the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) held its first heavy vehicle fire roundtable in Brisbane. It was a result of an ongoing investigation following a series of fires last year involving prime movers. The regulator announced its plans to release a series of safety bulletins to help raise awareness of the common fire risks that have been identified in the probe and to outline the actions required to help mitigate the risks. NHVR executive director of safety standards and assurance Geoff Casey said the May roundtable, which brought together leading forensic fire investigators, fire service officials, police and members of the heavy vehicle industry and supply chain, was aimed at identifying causes and preventative actions. The NHVR bulletin identified a number of common fire risks in…

“A mixture of smoke, methanol and diesel filled the air.” WHETHER IT’S A SUBTLE shed skid, a sneaky clutch kick, or an all-out tyre fryer... us Aussies love it! Now look, everyone’s seen burnout cars – big HP V8s shoehorned into whatever you can get your hands on. Be it a Cortina, Corolla, Commodore; as long as it skids, it’s a go’er! Well, over a beer or two during the planning of Mighty Machines, we had a crazy idea … Why not go bigger? Why not find the biggest, angriest burnout machine Australia has to offer? Well we set out to do just that. Some of you might remember a particularly sinister yellow White 4000, built to decimate rubber like nothing else. How does this sound: 12 cylinders, two turbos…

KEVIN PURCELL’S passion for military vehicles dates back to World War II. The former farmer and spraying and earthmoving contractor was born in 1941 and says he clearly remembers waving at convoys of army trucks during his early childhood. “The soldiers used to wave madly,” he says. In 1953 his father bought a WWII Blitz Chev for the family farm at Yaven Creek, which is 28km south-west of Adelong, New South Wales. The Blitz carted cattle to the Adelong saleyards and took logs to the Purcell’s sawmill. And in the summer Kevin’s father put a water tank on the back to help the local bushfire brigade during fires. Kevin drove the Blitz around the farm long before he was old enough to have a licence. The steering was heavy. Comparing…

I HAVE TO BEGIN this story with an apology to the rental car company. The little i30 they gave me in Canberra may have been returned with four slightly flat spotted tyres. For that I am sorry, though it wasn’t really my fault and I’m sure when you hear my explanation you will all be in agreeance. I happened to be driving around the Canberra industrial suburb of Hume and out of the corner of my eye I glimpsed an astounding K200 parked in behind a fence. I then jumped on the brakes, like I was driving past a sale at Truckers Toy Store, and threw the car into reverse. Don’t worry, I’m sure the P-plater behind needed practice in crash avoidance techniques anyway. I backed up to the locked…

HOW HARD do you need to be to handle a cargo of crocodiles? For a Northern Territory task, the UD Quon that Innisfail Carrying Company (ICC) MD Lance Law won for a year was fitted with a refrigeration unit to keep the latter-day dinosaurs at a quiet and comfortable 25 degrees for their journey east. That is a pretty fair way away from Queensland’s north coast, where the Quon has been put to the sort of stern test UD was hoping for when it launched the exercise. UD organised its placement from Brisbane to ICC’s Townsville Carrying Company (TCC) operation, run by Lance’s brother John Law. As Lance predicted six months ago on being presented with it, the Quon was quickly put to B-double use, both long- and short-haul. Its…

SCANIA AUSTRALIA has announced that its customers will soon be able to run their trucks on B100 biodiesel produced at the recommissioned manufacturing plant in Barnawartha, Victoria. Owned and operated by Just Biodiesel, up to 50 million litres of fuel per year, made from locally sourced animal waste and waste vegetable oil feedstocks can be produced, in either pure B100 biodiesel or as a B20 blend. Scania points out that all its Euro 5 trucks can operate on B100 if specified for it at the factory. Scania adds that hose not factory-specified for B100 can be converted at minimal cost, during a short visit to a Scania workshop. Scania Australia says it is offering five engine applications from 320hp to 580hp (238kW to 433kW) in the Euro 6 range that…