Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 359 i Owner Driver

The Owner-Drivers (Contracts and Disputes) Amendment Bill 2022 has passed Western Australia’s Parliament, which is said to provide additional protections for small business and independent contractors in the road freight transport industry. The amendments claim to enhance operational efficiency, safety and regulation of dealings between owner-drivers and hirers, providing benefits for all road users across the road transport network. The changes to Owner-Drivers (Contracts and Disputes) Act 2007 (the Act) are said to be the result of years of work and extensive consultation with the Road Freight Transport Industry Council and Road Freight Industry Tribunal. “As owner-drivers play a key role in enabling the efficient and safe movement of freight across WA, changes to the Act will help provide more protections to small business and contractors in the industry,” says…

Rod Hannifey is no stranger to long hauls behind the wheel of truck bringing freight from state to state across Australia. Over the years, Hannifey says he has found music, radio shows, and more recently, audiobooks, have provided welcome company while driving, keeping his mind active and broadening his interests. He recalls a time when there was really only the ABC, and as he’d pass through each country town he’d find the local version to hear what’s going on around him. There was also a comedy show at about 3am every morning he would tune in for, to have a laugh as dawn edged ever closer. “We can be away for four, five or six days a week and we’re not in contact with a lot of other people really,”…

Q: How did it feel to accept the award? A: It was a real honour; I’ve been working in the transport industry all my life but being so young I never expected anything like an award that’s for sure. Q: Did you ever think you would win? A: No way, I never expected any of this to happen that’s for sure. I just thought someone had to show up to the event because my company was part of the association and had tickets to the dinner event. I honestly had no idea I was to be the winner until the moment they called my name out at the show. Q: How did the nomination come about? A: We’re part of the QTA (Queensland Trucking Association). The person we deal with…

Not since 2013 when American automotive mogul Roger Penske parted with $219 million to take control of Transpacific’s commercial vehicle group – in the process gaining distributorship rights for MAN and Western Star among other things – has there been so much feverish activity in the Penske Australia operation. Nor, it seems, has so much effort and expense gone into actually promoting Penske’s two flagship truck brands. And resurgence could not have come at a more needy time as both MAN and Western Star look likely to finish 2022 with undeniably dismal sales figures. However, the first signs of a bold new era started a few months back with the slap-up introduction of a much modernised and from all appearances, much improved range of MAN medium and heavy-duty models. These…

Iveco Trucks Australia has been offered a $500,000 grant as part of a broader Victorian Government initiative designed to encourage more Victorian-based businesses to introduce and support zero emission vehicles. One of only four recipients, Iveco says it will allocate the funds towards three principal channels – comparative research, additional site preparation of its Customisation and Innovation Centre (CIC) in the lead up to local zero emission vehicle launch, and upskilling of relevant employees to properly facilitate the product rollout and subsequent support. Iveco Trucks Australia strategic projects and industry relations manager, Marco Quaranta, says the funding has been warmly received and would assist the company to further plan for the introduction of its zero emission vehicles in Australia and New Zealand, beginning with the latest generation Daily Electric. “Given…

Zero-emission, long-range hydrogen-powered commercial vehicle manufacturer, Hydrogen Vehicle Systems (HVS), has unveiled what it says is a clean-sheet-designed hydrogen commercial vehicle. Showcasing its hydrogen powertrain in the form of a 5.5-tonne technology demonstrator, HVS says the new truck offers a hint to its planned 40-tonne zero-emission HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle), fulfilling the company’s objective of being the first indigenous UK designed and developed hydrogen-electric HGV on the market. Glasgow-based HVS was founded in 2017. The company boasts industry specialists, with vast experience in the automotive, energy, hydrogen technology, power electronics, sustainability and environmental management fields. With UK government targets to curtail sales of all non-zero emission 3.5–26 tonne HGVs set to come into play by 2035 or earlier and all sales of new non-zero emission HGVs by 2040, HVS believes…

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has released a Discussion Paper seeking industry input to help shape the future of the Performance Based Standards (PBS) scheme – ensuring it continues to lead and promote innovation in the Australian heavy vehicle industry. NHVR CEO Sal Petroccitto says the Performance Based Standards 2.0 Discussion Paper primarily focuses on opportunities to reduce regulatory, administrative and cost barriers for industry and promote innovative approaches to heavy vehicle safety and productivity. “The PBS scheme, which now has more than 15,400 combinations operating across the country, has played a significant role in transforming road freight transport in Australia,” Petroccitto says. “The scheme puts safer, more productive vehicles on our roads – allowing more freight to be moved in a safe way with fewer truck movements. “As…

Transport Women Australia Limited (TWAL) has announced the scholarship winners for Daimler Truck Australia Pacific-sponsored Driving the Difference scholarship winners for 2022. TWAL says it is proud to provide this opportunity every year to women in the transport and logistics industry who want to advance their career within the industry or to enter our industry. The program is in its fourth year and TWAL says each year the applications become harder to choose. It says not only has the quality been extremely high but the range of courses selected by the candidates in 2022 has been the most varied since the inception of the scholarships. TWAL says this year was the hardest year of judging that it has had so far, and adds that it is always disappointing that awards…

I finally made it! Matty Hillcoat’s Truckies’ Day Out has finally been knocked off my bucket list!! I have been wanting to attend this increasingly popular event for a few years now. I missed it in 2017, 2018 and 2019 due to an uncontrollable V8 Supercar addiction (the Bathurst 1000) and then I missed it in 2020 and 2021 due to the world going pandemic crazy and everything getting cancelled. However, 2022 saw the return of the Matty Hillcoat’s Truckies Day Out and I made it. It was the fourth running of this increasingly popular day and I obviously wasn’t the only one pleased to see it back. Record crowds and a record number of trucks rolled into town to show off their rigs, relax for the day and raise…

Back in 1939, UD Trucks founder Kenzo Adachi embarked on a 3000-mile odyssey to prove the ultimate dependability of the new vehicle. Now, over 82 years later, UD Trucks Australia is heading off on an Adachi-San inspired lap of the Australian continent. UD says the dependability and reliability of the brand in Australia was established long ago, so as a result this journey instead focuses on the people and the faces that have become a part of the UD family since its inception. Following Australia’s fabled Highway 1, the fully loaded UD Quon CW25 360 will circumnavigate the country, stopping in to visit customers and dealers over the course of the 15,000-kilometre journey. “We feel that the quality of the UD product speaks for itself,” says Lauren Pulitano, vice president…

Penske people must be a patient lot, especially in our part of the world. For the best part of a decade, they’ve waited and waited, and waited some more, for their Star to do what stars generally do best – shine brightly! Yet, for reasons seemingly mired in a motley mix of corporate complexity and fiscal fate, Western Star has largely failed to fire since 2013. That was the year, of course, when charismatic motoring mogul and billionaire businessman Roger Penske secured Western Star in the $219 million purchase of Transpacific’s commercial vehicle group. Ever since, the brand has slid steadily to the lowest rungs on the heavy-duty sales ladder. As the saying goes though, ‘all good things come to those who wait’ and for Penske Australia, the waiting game…

There’s been a changing of the guard in the Great Western Plains region of New South Wales, with Tracserv in Dubbo appointing a new dealer principal. The dealership’s founder Richard Kirby passed the torch on to his daughter Leandra Gale on September 19 this year, the 33rd anniversary of starting the business with his late wife Sharon Kirby and a mate from the back of a ute. Gale has been involved with the business since she was two years old but became an official employee about 10 years ago. “I went out into the big wide world and but wanted to return to Dubbo, so I began in the service department in 2012, then moved up into stock controller, business accounting, then business manager and now dealer principal,” she says.…

Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Carol Brown, has confirmed that the Albanese will deliver on its commitment to truckies through an $80 million commitment to new and refreshed rest areas. The funding is in addition to the $60 million already set aside to fund rest areas and supplements the existing Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program funding. Brown says the $80 million commitment the Labor Party took to the election brings the total commitment in dedicated funding for heavy vehicle rest areas to $140 million. “In delivering the Rest Area Program, the Government will be working side by side with truckies and industry experts to deliver a suite of heavy vehicle rest areas across the country,” Brown advises. “Truckies will be at the table, providing their expert advice for…

Livestock, Bulk & Rural Carriers Association (LBRCA) president Wade Lewis has announced that the association is seeking nominations for young driver of the year for 2023. Nominations are open until January 20, 2023. The award will be presented at the Annual LBRCA Conference, to be held in Tamworth on March 10 to 11. “The young driver award recognises our top young drivers and showcases their commitment to safety and best practice,” Lewis says. “We’re looking for young talented individuals who are making a difference in the road transport industry. “The award winner must demonstrate a best practice approach to driving and safety and will be rewarded with a $5,000 study tour to the United States, New Zealand, or Western Australia,” Lewis adds. Nominees must be aged 35 years or under…

Reaching a new decade of life in a state of good or even reasonable health is always a milestone worth celebrating, quietly or otherwise. As a close mate likes to say, “Life is there to be lived, so get on with it.” It’s a maxim which takes on even greater significance as years start to stack up. But there are those inanely immovable and somewhat insensitive authorities who can make ‘getting on with it’ decidedly difficult for active and capable people at the veteran end of experience. Transport for NSW is one of those authorities. What follows will be no doubt viewed by some as nothing more than a whinge by an aging journalist with a capacity for candid commentary. True enough perhaps, but it is also a truthful account…

“The ACCOs and the T-lines were dad’s bread and butter trucks.” Let me set the scene for all the avid readers out there. It is Monday morning as I sit in my office (sauna) here in balmy Queensland. The fan is recirculating the humid air as I try and avoid breaking out the air-con too early – I’m all for saving the planet and that kind of stuff. I’m at my desk with my laptop open, Microsoft Word on the screen and the Patlin Heavy Haulage opening title ready. I can feel my editor’s glare from his office 50-odd kilometres away near the city as he once again waits for me to get my story in, hopefully close to the deadline. I know I should start typing, however behind my…

No one wants to be off the road for two days waiting for a part, but the reality of the Australian experience is that such occasions may arise. Tallebudgera-based owner-driver John Irwin carts heavy machinery around Queensland, using a Scania R 580 V8 XT (now with 334,000km on the clock), towing a quad, super tilt spreader trailer with an all-up weight of 29-tonnes and a 60-tonne GCM. Aside from moving big machinery around for a well-known hire company, Irwin Logistics also has a contract with the LinFox Defence Commercial Team and is currently transporting Bushmaster vehicles from Brisbane to RAAF Amberley from which they are flown to Ukraine. On a return trip through Townsville late in the evening recently, John encountered an orange warning light on the dash, prompting a…

Age of harassment Having read the article, ‘Costly and flawed advice from NSW Revenue’ in OwnerDriver’s September issue, I would like to comment. I am a retired truck driver, 78 years old, and although having come up through earlier times of rag tyre, mechanical hand signals, lousy brakes if any, 2-stick crash boxes, Armstrong steering and miniscule rear-view mirrors, I am glad that I am not truck driving in this age of official harassment and high stress levels. Bureaucrats have most certainly got us by the short and curlies. It is hard to believe that anything is more important to them than money to be obtained in any fashion possible. Any ramifications when they stuff up? Which brings us to the fining of hard-working truck drivers for the slightest error…

So often over so many years, MAN has been a case of desire outstripping deed. Simply, more hopes than highlights. Still, there’s no question that throughout the brand’s long association with the Australian market, there have been tasks and times when the German stalwart has notched notable success in a wide range of roles. In specialised vocational and off-road roles, for instance, MAN’s achievements are considerable while most recently, its high-profile presence in Australian military applications was achieved after a highly competitive and tediously thorough selection process. It was, in short, chosen as the best man for the job. That’s not to imply, of course, that MAN hasn’t also won good business in large commercial fleet operations, small fleets and single truck companies, not least a large Australia Post order…