Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 340 i Owner Driver

A POST-COVID bike lane focus is eroding city loading zones and hampering delivery efforts, the Victorian Transport Association (VTA) charges, lamenting a lack of industry consultation on the matter. If unresolved, the increased congestion threatens Melbourne’s economic recovery from forced business closures, Victoria’s peak transport body adds. VTA CEO Peter Anderson says loading zones in the Melbourne CBD have declined significantly over the past two years, prompting complaints from members that deliver goods to retailers and fresh food, groceries and beverages to city bars and cafes. “After 12 months of lost business and revenue, CBD businesses are finally getting back on their feet and servicing a steadily growing market of consumers as more people return to the city for work, yet we are hearing about deliveries having to be rescheduled…

THE NATIONAL Road Transport Association (NatRoad) joins a chorus of appreciation for the growing political focus on New South Wales toll roads. A long-term critic of the state governments’ approach to tolling, NatRoad welcomes the NSW review into tolls and will be making a submission to the current Parliamentary inquiry into this issue. “In our view, toll roads and fees should be designed to provide sufficient incentive for heavy vehicle operators to use the toll,” NatRoad CEO Warren Clark says. “There should be no need for governments to impose truck bans on alternative un-tolled routes. “The NorthConnex model should therefore not be repeated as it is inherently unfair to heavy vehicles. “Governments could introduce toll reductions and multi-user discounts for heavy vehicles where further incentives to use toll roads are…

LOOKING FOR the right truck to fit your needs is tough enough, but for the O’Brien family their search was made all the more difficult by the tyranny of distance. Based in Normanton, Queensland, near the Gulf of Carpentaria, the O’Brien’s remit was simple enough; find a truck tough enough to pull a set of side-tippers and make it look schmick to promote the business. Oh, and it had to be done and delivered in a timeframe measured in days, not weeks or months. Simple, right? Enter Jon Kelly, known for his hit TV show MegaTruckers, who is no stranger to turning out a top-looking truck on short notice, but when Brenda called him up on an ex-Curley Cattle Truck T658 he had for sale, even he knew it would…

The Queensland government has rolled out some big guns in support of one of its biggest and most sustained industry events – the 2021 Australian Heavy Vehicle Industry Week (AHVIW) and the events under its umbrella. Two ministers have put the state government’s weight behind the initiative, which is facilitated by industry body Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia (HVIA), owners and organisers of the Brisbane Truck Show, and now the accompanying South Bank Truck Festival. The heavy-duty showing is a tribute to the importance officially attached to it and HVIA chief executive Todd Hacking states that the Queensland government’s support enabled the expansion of the iconic industry event into South Bank Parklands and across the city. “We are extremely grateful to the Queensland government and the City of Brisbane for coming…

ONE OF AUSTRALIA’S largest charity convoys, and the biggest in north Queensland, is back on the calendar following COVID-19 restrictions in 2020. The 2021 Convoy For The Cure, sponsored by Brown & Hurley, will take place in Townsville on May 30. “Last year the event moved simply due to COVID-19 issues, but this year we are moving back to its traditional month of May,” says convoy director Todd Martin. Now in its fifth year, Convoy For The Cure participants are requested to pay an entry fee, with all proceeds going to the local charity The Cure Starts Now. Convoy registration is $100 per truck and $50 per motorcycle. However, individuals and companies are encouraged to bid for the lead truck position. In 2018, more than $20,000 was raised by Longpocket…

To be blunt, it was a surprise when word starting filtering through late last year that Daimler Trucks Australia was extensively testing a 500-plus 13-litre engine in Fuso’s flagship Shogun model. After all, Japanese makers have, over many years, appeared to have an historic and almost ritualistic indifference to engines of such size and output in their heavy-duty contenders. Whether that apparent indifference has been driven by European masters in the case of Fuso (Daimler) and UD (Volvo), or by a dearth of domestic demand in the case of Hino and Isuzu, is contestable. Whatever, the lack of an advanced, efficient and potently powered engine in Australia’s burgeoning 13-litre class has kept the Japanese contingent largely caponised as true heavy-duty contenders. Take market leader Isuzu, for example. Sure, it sits…

HELLA AUSTRALIA is back at the Brisbane Truck Show with what it says is a state-of-the-art array of signal and forward lighting solutions for truck and trailer manufacturers and operators, including the customisable Shapeline range. The Hella stand will also feature the Scantrip work and inspection lamp ranges and Mahle thermal management aftermarket products, distributed nationally by Hella Australia. “We will welcome visitors to our stand which is stacked with a broad selection of products aimed at the commercial vehicle market, both for original equipment manufacturers and aftermarket customers,” says Cameron Hoy, Hella Australia national manager, special original equipment – on-highway. “All of our products are focused on providing premium quality, enhanced durability and unbeatable reliability. “One of the stars of our show will be the new, all-in-one, slimline, fivefunction…

A NEW MERCEDES-BENZ ACTROS will haul the Red Bull Ampol Racing transporter for the 2021 Repco Supercars season. It will carry the cars of seventime Supercars champion, Jamie Whincup, and 2016 Supercars championship winner and current series leader, Shane van Gisbergen, as well as a vast amount of spares and team gear. Whincup was on hand to collect the keys to the top-of-the-line Actros prime mover at Daimler Truck and Bus headquarters in Mulgrave, Victoria, recently and took the truck for a quick drive. The range-topping 16-litre Actros produces 625hp (466kW) of power, not far off the ‘635hp-plus’ output of Red Bull Ampol Racing Holdens it hauls, but the big Mercedes-Benz also makes a hefty 3,000Nm of torqu Mercedes-Benz says the Actros features predictive powertrain control, which uses topographic map…

WESTERN AUSTRALIA’S Heavy Vehicle Driving Operations Skill Set training program has been given its ministerial blessing. The Western Australian government’s $6.1 million Heavy Vehicle Driving Operations Skill Set (HVDOSS) has 12 students enrolled now in the pilot course two weeks after it kicked off. “The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how vital the freight industry and truck drivers are to our state and our economy,” transport minister Rita Saffioti says in explaining the need for the initiative. Developed in consultation with the transport industry, the six-week course aims to address driver shortages, by training 500 new workers in Heavy Rigid (HR) licences and upskilling an additional 500 existing drivers from HR licences to Heavy Combination (HC) and/or Multi-Combination (MC) licences. In what is described as an Australian first, the new course…

WELCOME BACK to the truck show scene. It’s so good to be able to, at long last, write up a truck show review. It has been so long that the sunscreen lotion in my car had given up on itself and just formed an unusable, weirdly congealed lump. So, just like the good old days of 2019, I ended up looking like the warning post for the Slip, Slop, Slap ads. I also ended up with hours’ worth of photos to process, over 13,000 steps for the day and wearing a smile so big it hurt my ears. Yep, it was awesome to be able to attend the first major truck show in Queensland for 2021 – the Kilcoy Konvoy and Rodeo. I never realised how much I’d missed them…

MAX pads are designed especially for heavy brake usage with high brake temperatures, such as in city buses, garbage trucks, coaches and other frequent start-stop applications. While Meritor Australia has traditionally focused on the truck and associated aftermarket segments, globally Meritor has always had an extensive portfolio of aftermarket products to suit bus, trailer and industrial off-highway applications. By leveraging this global portfolio and the proven sales success seen in other markets, Meritor Australia has recently been able to introduce several new product offerings, each specifically selected to ensure they will suit Australian conditions. The MAX premium brake pads are the latest addition to this aftermarket product line-up and represent the next step-up in performance and durability from the popular MDP3000 standard series. “Our European counterparts have experienced substantial success…

SEND YOUR LETTERS TO: Greg.Bush@aremedia.com.au or fax: 07 3101 6619 Level 5, 451 St Pauls Terrace, Fortitude Valley, Qld 4006 We prefer letters by e-mail, but handwritten letters will be accorded the same opportunity to be published. Remembering a giant among truck drivers We would like to pay tribute to our great mate Stephen ‘Tiny’ Monkhouse, one of the great characters of the highway, who passed away suddenly on April 4 following a short illness, aged 70. It was only a few months ago that Owner//Driver profiled Tiny, a giant among truck drivers in more ways than one. Since then Tiny virtually went straight from doing Sydney-Melbourne five nights a week to hospital. He never got to enjoy the retirement racing his cars that we had been encouraging him to…

Such has been the coverage and promotion of the latest Freightliner and Mercedes-Benz models over the past few years, you could be forgiven for thinking Fuso is something of a poor cousin in the Daimler Trucks world. But not so, and certainly not in Australia. Fuso, in fact, sells many times more trucks in our part of the world than either of its high profile partners. Admittedly, the Japanese brand contests all three market segments – light, medium and heavy-duty – whereas Freightliner and Mercedes-Benz trucks are almost entirely dedicated to the heavy-duty class. Even so, Fuso figures in 2020 leave no doubt of its critical importance to Daimler’s Down Under department, delivering 3,529 units for the year. Mercedes-Benz, on the other hand, continued its steady rise with a respectable…

WESTERN STAR TRUCKS has announced that blind spot radar has been introduced across its range, which it says will give drivers even greater confidence behind the wheel. By scanning the area alongside the truck, the ‘Spotto’ blind spot radar system is said to help eliminate the dangers associated with blind spots at all times and in all weather conditions. Mounted to the passenger-side step, Western Star says the radar uses advanced microwave technology to detect objects that might be hidden from the driver’s view including vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians and infrastructure. An indicator fitted in the passenger-side A-pillar, within the driver’s direct line-of-sight when checking their side mirror, provides visual and audible alerts to potential collisions with objects in the blind area. The radar system is said to utilise intelligent…

JANUS ELECTRIC has announced that it is set to unveil a world first patented exchangeable battery that will revolutionise the road transport industry. Its first proto-type - an electric converted Kenworth T403 – will be unveiled at the Brisbane Truck Show. Developed by professional engineers led by co-founder Bevan Dooley and transport operators, Janus claims its batteries remove the need for heavy electric vehicles to plug in and charge for 12 hours. Instead, the Janus “revolutionary solution” can be swapped out in three minutes with a ready to go battery thereby increasing vehicle utilisation. Lex Forsyth, Janus Electric’s general manager, says the exchangeable battery is a game changer for the transport industry globally. “The fact it’s exchangeable and can be done in three minutes at one of the charge stations…

THE LACK of clear targets and other flaws have seen the Australian Trucking Association (ATA) and Australian Automobile Association (AAA) jointly push for a redrawn 2021-30 National Road Safety Strategy (NRSS). Also central to their critique is what is described as a “severe lack of government accountability”. The two organisations expresses concern that the draft strategy does not take into consideration the failings of the last 10 years that independent inquiries found were largely due to a lack of federal government leadership and an oversight of road safety. “The AAA and ATA submissions in response to the draft NRSS have highlighted the inadequacy of the proposed strategy and present a forceful case that it must be rewritten,” ATA CEO Andrew McKellar says. “The NRSS must be supported by measurable targets,…

A TRANSPORT company was fined $5,000 for not reporting a serious workplace injury after an incident in which a worker was hospitalised for a week, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ) reports. The company, Cattletrans Pty Ltd, trading as Robertson’s Transport, pleaded guilty in the Toowoomba Magistrates Court to breaching the Work Health and Safety Act for failing its duty to report a notifiable incident arising out of the conduct of the business. The court heard the small business specialised in livestock transport when, on March 8, 2018, two company workers transported a broken-down truck on the tray of a tilt tray truck to a site in Wacol for repair. While at that site, one of the workers fell from the tray of the stationary tilt tray truck, hitting his…

ASHORT HOUR-AND-A-HALF drive south of Sydney leads me to the quiet coastal hamlet of Shellharbour. My navigator announces, in her digitally sterile voice: “You have reached your destination.” I had travelled here to interview Barry Grimson, although to most, he is more commonly known as ‘Sleepy’, a nickname given to him by his father. If any additional confirmation was needed that I was at the correct address, I need look no further than the side fence adorned with the signage, ‘Razorback Range’ and ‘Truck Rest Area’. Yep, this is the place. I am warmly greeted by an overall-wearing greyhaired gentleman who is in mid-conversation with a neighbour out for his morning walk. I first met Sleepy in 2016, at the BP Marulan truck stop, in strikingly similar attire. Overalls are…

“Mechanically-speaking, the Cummins N14 was still very sound.” The motivation behind a good restoration is often traced back to sentimental attachment. Resurrecting a piece of personal history. Creating a showpiece truck that will honour the hard work of years gone by. The opportunity to own an influential slice of mechanical history. Or something moving and inspirational. Every now and then though, you get a restoration project that serves two purposes. In the case of WMT’s impressive White Road Boss, It may be a testament to the past, being that it’s one of the company’s founding vehicles and rebuilding one is a great way to honour the company’s history. But the other purpose of this rebuild is simply to make money. This amazing tribute to the company’s origins is still hooking…

THERE ARE A couple of really good reasons why I don’t get out to do many oversize shoots these days. Number one, because photographing them requires a special sort of skill set. Moving objects, at night, in poorly lit areas, yeah it’s tough. When you do jag some good shots it’s worth it, but there’s always a lot of shots just not sharp enough, or a little too dark. It is a real challenge. That’s not the main reason though. The main reason is that you have to be up really, really early! Or sometimes really, really late. However, when you find out a classic fighter jet is going to be doing a lowlevel pass through the streets of Sydney, well you just can’t pass that up. Boy, am I…

When a tyre wears, the rubber is worn off as dust particles less than 10 microns in size. The hotter the tyre, the faster it wears – the tyre can wear five times faster at 40 degrees C than at 5 degrees C. Centramatic high capacity auto balancers have more counteraction weight than the average needed to balance all the rotating mass of the wheel/brake assembly, resulting in reducing the unbalanced wheels’ pounding effect, which builds sidewall flex heat in tyres Fitting your wheels with Centramatic wheel balancers therefore improves tyre life, typically by 15–35 per cent plus, reduces vibrations, minimises driver fatigue, extends suspension life, reduces tyre temperature by 8–10 per cent, which results in lowering road friction resistance and tyre rolling resistance, reducing fuel consumption 1–3 per cent,…

“Ours is a complete truck. It is not a Frankenstein addition to an existing truck.” DAIMLER TRUCKS AUSTRALIA chief Daniel Whitehead is an affable, agreeable bloke. Most of the time. However, there are other times when, with his competitive instincts suitably stoked or umbrage taken at something or someone considered less than adequate, an abrupt and somewhat stern countenance can quickly surface. Admittedly, those latter times are rare – at least in the public gaze – but such a transformation was briefly, and perhaps justifiably, evident at the recent media launch of Fuso’s electric eCanter at Daimler’s Mulgrave (Vic) headquarters. “The eCanter,” he said earnestly at the start of the presentation, “is a full production electric truck.” Then, with an instant change of tone and an intent most assuredly planned…

IT WAS WITH a sense of déjà vu that I paid my first visit to Iveco’s new dealership in the Brisbane suburb of Wacol. It wasn’t until climbed the stairs to the reception counter that, despite the building’s major modifications, the realisation hit home that I’d been to this address before Back in 2018, the site was Volvo Commercial Vehicles HQ, before that company’s move to its current location just over 1km away. However, apart from the Iveco signage, there were quite a number of important changes to the facility since the Volvo days Once Volvo had signalled its intention to move on, Iveco grabbed the opportunity to set about vacating its old dealership at Rocklea, for a number of reasons, not least its close proximity to the flood-prone Brisbane…

HINO AUSTRALIA has confirmed that the all-new 700 Series will be its cleanest heavy-duty truck yet, while also being designed for improved fuel efficiency. “Like the 500 Series Standard Cab, the all-new Hino 700 Series will exceed the current Australian exhaust emission standards,” says Daniel Petrovski, manager of product strategy for Hino Australia. “The new models will meet Euro 6 exhaust emission standards before they are legislated in Australia. “The all-new 700 Series will break new ground for Hino in terms of safety and environmental commitment, which are key features in today’s competitive marketplace,” he continues. In addition, Hino says its all-new Hino 700 Series will boast the most comprehensive safety package ever offered in a Hino truck for the Australian market. The all-new 700 Series models will feature a…