Sam Damianopoulos from D & D Roadtrans with the new Volvo.
D & D Roadtrans rebuilds with Volvo The immaculately maintained D & D Roadtrans fleet has been boosted with the arrival of a new Volvo FH540 XL Globetrotter. Based in Shepparton East the business began as a part-time hobby for Sam Damianopoulos and Chris Dimit in 1991 and after increasing the size of their fleet to five trucks, and later downsizing, it is now in a rebuilding phase. The cousins grew up on nearby orchards and their shared passion for trucks saw them go into business together, buying a repossessed Kenworth W model and carting general freight out of Shepparton and later on the Melbourne to Sydney run. “We bought our first truck to start a part-time business. Chris was working on the family orchard and I was at Campbell’s Soups. We shared the administration and organisation and I drove the trucks occasionally when one of the drivers was on holidays,” Mr Damianopoulos said. When he was offered a redundancy package in November 2013 Mr Damianopoulos took on a logistics role with another company for a month before deciding to swap the office environment for the open road. He regularly travels from Melbourne to Sydney, a drive made Page 8 Trucks and trailers, June 2015
easier in the new Volvo. “Comfort wise you can’t go past the Volvo. The driver’s seat is so comfortable; it’s standard in the Volvo where in other trucks that level of comfort is an extra. When I arrive home now I’m much less fatigued,” Mr Damianopoulos said. He said ensuring drivers were less fatigued was important for transport operators — who must adhere to stringent fatigue laws — and ensured older drivers could continue to work with ease, thus maintaining an experienced workforce. The extra-large cabin incorporates a fridge to store meals and drinks for several days on the road and the Bluetooth capabilities of the sound system allow Mr Damianopoulos to continue to operate the logistics element of the business while away from the depot. Powered by a Volvo 13 litre engine with full automatic transmission Mr Damianopoulos said the Globetrotter used less diesel but more Ad Blue than his other trucks, a Kenworth K200 and Western Star, but overall was more efficient.
“Keeping a check on those running costs is important to our business,” Mr Damianopoulos said. Reliability, he said, was also critical to ensuring the small business remained competitive and that meant putting quality trucks on the road and adhering to routine maintenance and servicing. “This new Volvo will probably do 220 000 km a year so it needs to be reliable. We’re only a small operation, we don’t want breakdowns or to have major mechanical work done on the side of the road,” Mr Damianopoulos said. D & D Roadtrans has put its own stamp on the new Volvo, customising the body with trademark red paint, adding offset rims to the front steer tyres, stainless steel skirts to the fuel tanks and stylish silver grille and chrome strips on the front. Mr Damianopoulos said the competitive price package from CMV Truck and Bus in Laverton also swayed his decision to purchase the new Volvo FH540 XL Globetrotter.
“Comfort wise you can’t go past the Volvo. The driver’s seat is so comfortable; it’s standard in the Volvo where in other trucks that level of comfort is an extra. When I arrive home now I’m much less fatigued.” Sam Damianopoulos