Prime Mover October 2020

®

October 2020

ACFS Port Logistics Frontline Reinforcements OCTOBER 2020 $11.00

ISSN 1838-2320

9 771838 232000

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Industry Fleet: Everstin Group Feature: SEQ Ice Cream Spotlight: JCM Spreading Personality: Paul Graham

Innovation Fleet: Brooks Hire Service Technology: Vehicle Stability Control Test Drive: Freightliner Cascadia 116 Final Mile: Ford Transit

T H E P E O P L E & P R O D U C T S T H AT M A K E T R A N S P O RT M O V E

Anything & everything.

Brought to you

by Isuzu.

*According to T-Mark industry statistics. FSA/ISZ12707

There’s a simple reason that around one in four trucks on Australia’s roads is an Isuzu*. It’s because they deliver legendary reliability. And that’s why so many businesses trust them to deliver their cargo day-in, day-out, every day of the year.

To find the right Isuzu for you, visit isuzu.com.au

®

Australia’s leading truck magazine, Prime Mover, continues to invest more in its products and showcases a deep pool of editorial talent with a unique mix of experience and knowledge.

October 2020

Transport operators across Australia rely on Shell Rimula oils to protect their equipment operating in Australia’s tough conditions.

Contact us on 1300 134 205 or visit Shell.com.au/Rimula to find out more about Shell Rimula and the range of transport lubricants to ensure your fleet keeps going when the going gets tough.

OCT OBE R 2 0 2 0

MEET THE TEAM

WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, TRUCKIES KEEP EVERYONE GOING.

ACFS Port Logistics

John Murphy | CEO

Frontline Reinforcements p r i me mo ve r ma g.co m.a u

John has been the nation’s foremost authority in commercial road transport media for almost two decades and is the driving force behind Prime Creative Media becoming Australia’s biggest specialist B2B publishing and events company. Committed to servicing the transport and logistics industry, John continues to work tirelessly to represent it in a positive light and is widely considered a true champion for the growth of the Australian trucking and manufacturing industry.

OCTOBER 2020 $11.00

ISSN 1838-2320

9 771838 232000

09

Industry Fleet: Everstin Group Feature: SEQ Ice Cream Spotlight: JCM Spreading Personality: Paul Graham

Innovation Fleet: Brooks Hire Service Technology: Vehicle Stability Control Test Drive: Freightliner Cascadia 116 Final Mile: Ford Transit

T H E P E O P L E & P R O D U C T S T H AT M A K E T R A N S P O RT M O V E

ceo John Murphy john.murphy@primecreative.com.au editor William Craske

william.craske@primecreative.com.au

Luke Applebee | Managing Editor, Transport Group

Luke has a background in copywriting and content marketing, working with a range of businesses from solar and engineering to freight forwarding and 3PL. With a special focus on digital marketing and content creation, Luke has a strong strategic edge and can draw on years of experience in social media campaign management.

managing editor,

transport group

Luke Applebee luke.applebee@primecreative.com.au

senior feature Peter Shields writer peter.shields@primecreative.com.au

business

Ash Blachford

development ash.blachford@primecreative.com.au manager

0403 485 140

art director Blake Storey blake.storey@primecreative.com.au William Craske | Editor

In his 15-year career as a journalist, William has reported knowledgeably on sports, entertainment and agriculture. He has held senior positions in marketing and publicity across theatrical and home entertainment, and also has experience in B2B content creation and social media strategy for the logistics sector.

design production

manager

Michelle Weston michelle.weston@primecreative.com.au

client success manager

Justine Nardone justine.nardone@primecreative.com.au

A seasoned transport industry professional, Peter has spent more than a decade in the media industry. Starting out as a heavy vehicle mechanic, he managed a fuel tanker fleet and held a range of senior marketing and management positions in the oil and chemicals industry before becoming a nationally acclaimed transport journalist.

Ashley Blachford | Business Development Manager

Handling placements for Prime Mover magazine, Ashley has a unique perspective on the world of truck building both domestically and internationally. Focused on delivering the best results for advertisers, Ashley works closely with the editorial team to ensure the best integration of brand messaging across both print and digital platforms.

www.primemovermag.com.au

Kerry Pert, Madeline McCarty

journalist Paul Matthei paul.matthei@primecreative.com.au

Peter Shields | Senior Feature Writer

design

head office 11-15 Buckhurst Street

South Melbourne VIC 3205

P: 03 9690 8766

F: 03 9682 0044 enquiries@primecreative.com.au

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articles

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The Editor reserves the right to adjust any article to conform with the magazine format.

copyright

PRIME MOVER magazine is owned and published by Prime Creative Media.

All material in PRIME MOVER magazine is copyright and no part may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic or mechanical including information and retrieval systems) without written permission of the publisher.

The Editor welcomes contributions but reserves the right to accept or reject any material.

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information Prime Creative Media will not accept responsibility for errors or omissions or for any consequences arising from reliance on information published.

The opinions expressed in PRIME MOVER magazine are not necessarily the opinions of, or endorsed by the publisher unless otherwise stated.

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CONTENTS

Prime Mover October 2020

30 36

34

24

48

COVER STORY “We talked about the mirrors, the cameras.

Everything in that vehicle is smack on. The spec we got was exactly what we wanted.”

40

RIDERS IN THE CHARIOT

Prime Feature Stories FLEET FOCUS

TEST DRIVE

24 Frontline Reinforcements A new look Mercedes-Benz fleet at ACFS Port Logistics fits with its forward thinking approach, in which moving more with less and for less, is part of a company-wide mandate to deliver a premium service for its customers.

52 The Conventional Revolution North America’s best-selling and most advanced heavy duty truck is now available in Australia and New Zealand.

30 How the West Was Won From fulfilling a mechanical apprenticeship with Perth Isuzu dealer Major Motors in the 1970s Doug Brooks has built a major national plant hire business incorporating a brace of Isuzu trucks.

36 Stay Frosty Brisbane-based company SEQ Ice Cream frequently sends out a fleet of commercial vehicles to service an area the size of Venezuela. It counts on the new Hino 500 Series trucks to ensure its hot products are delivered on time and ice cold.

TRUCK & TECH 44 The Weather MAN JCM Spreading is a specialist business whose remit requires reliable four wheel traction for its fleet of MAN commercial vehicles.

48 Control V Safety systems have played a major role in impacting freight movements in Australia. None more so than Vehicle Stability Control which has done much to improve safety on our roads.

INDUSTRY 60 Analyse This More operators are equipping their vehicles with telematics and fleet management systems arming them with a comprehensive, holistic view of their entire business.

Regular Run 08 From the Editor 10 Prime Mover News 56 Final Mile 66 Personality 68 Prime Movers & Shakers 70 Australian Road Transport Suppliers’ Association 72 National Heavy Vehicle Regulator 75 Australian Logistics Council 76 Trucking Industry Council 77 Victorian Transport Association 78 Peter Shields’ Number Crunch

FROM THE EDITOR

Belt and Road

William Craske Editor It was Kruschev who said revolutions were not made for export. The former Soviet leader himself, the product of Bolshevik uprising understood, perhaps all too well, that revolutionary cultures reliant on the collectivisation of resources, don’t produce much else other than depedence on the state.

Cuba like Australia is an island nation.

It’s colonial roots go back some 500 years, however, starting with the Spanish who used it as a key port to transport gold and rare metals from Central and South America back home. This history endures in some of the stunning architecture of Old Havana where the Basílica Menor de San Francisco de Asísand and Palacio de los Capitanes Generales stand today as lasting monuments to this distant passage of wealth.

By 1840 there were some 430,000 slaves working in Cuban fields to satisfy its

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burgeoning sugar production. With the subsequent defeat of the Southern Conferedacy in the American Civil War all but removing the option of it being annexed as a territory of the United States, Cuba was by 1868, following the discontinuation of the slave trade, one of the last holdovers of Spain’s once formidable Latin empire. Indeed from 1511 up until 1898 when the United States, intervening in the Cuban War of Independence, defeated Spain and took an economic controlling interest in Cuba, it had been largely governed from Madrid.

It was no backwater though on the global supply chain. Narrow-gauge railway and steam-powered mills, ameliorated after decades of use, had mechanised industry in Cuba to the point it produced, by the turn of the century, one third of the world’s sugar. Demand would even increase given its soon-to-be major trade partner.

A treaty signed between Cuba and the United States in 1903 lowered the tariff on Cuban sugar and stimulated an explosion of trade between the two nations. But it also made Cuba, who had counted rum and tobacco among its main commodities, dependent on a single crop. By the mid 1920s American investments in Cuba’s sugar industry were over a $1 billion and gave these corporate interests 70 per cent control. With that the Cuban Government secured a $50 million dollar loan from JP Morgan and Company.

Radical changes in fortune were not to be for the greater populace on the island.

In 1959 Cuba traded dictators and with it state sponsors. Fidel Castro deposed Fulgencio Batista, whose military junta had been in power off and on since he seized the presidency in 1934. Despite spawning a cottage industry of liberal hagiography the revolution seldom did wonders for trade relations and even less for civil liberties. In

fact they were decimated. Cuba did start exporting doctors, however, and baseball players of which it has a surplus to this day.

Few countries outside of Krushev’s Soviet Union, which sympathised with Castro’s pro-Marxist government, wanted much else from it.

Today Cuba’s government, taken in its continuum, remains the longest serving non-royal head of state in the world. It is also one of the poorest. To be limited to a solitary key export is one thing. It’s another to have none at all. As Robert Conquest noted, and even Kruschev having survived Stalin’s inner sanctum might attest, there is no co-operating with orthodox communists.

Rotten regimes and interfering foreign interests have helped engender the disappearance of the Cuban middle class in an economic sense and, more appalling, in a literal one.

The curtain-siders don’t display the brands of their leading freight companies.

There’s only one and it’s owned by the government, who has brokered an economic devastation that has ceased to end. One of the few growing industries is tourism. Foreigners from all over the globe come to Cuba to experience a world seemingly lost in time.

No one on New Year’s Eve in 1958, as the first fireworks entered the night, could have envisaged the country would be, some 60 years later, trapped in a kind of antebellum of vintage cars and crumbling art nouveau edifices. Until diplomatic relations normalise the people will remain subjugated to an identity crisis more than half a century old in which the ruling elite has convinced itself it is still anti-establishment.

The new Actros.

A truck ahead of its time.

The new Actros is a truck ahead of its time. Setting the standard in long-distance and heavy-distribution haulage, this ground-breaking new truck is more comfortable, economical and reliable than ever before1. Featuring new innovations like the Multimedia Cockpit, MirrorCam, Active Brake Assist 5 and Predictive Powertrain Control – it’s designed to reduce fuel consumption, boost vehicle use and offer the driver all the support they need.

See the new Actros in action at actroslivedrive.com.au or contact your local authorised Mercedes-Benz Trucks Dealership to experience this outstanding new vehicle for yourself.

Compared to the previous model.

Please note: changes may have been made to the product since this publication went to press (September 2020). The manufacturer reserves the right to make changes to the design, form, colour, and specification of the product. The images shown are to be considered examples only and do not necessarily reflect the actual state of the original vehicles. Please consult your authorised Mercedes-Benz Truck Dealer for further details. © Daimler Truck and Bus Australia Pacific Pty Ltd (ACN 618 413 282). Printed in Australia.

1

PRIME NEWS

> Woolworths takes $550M bite out of PFD Foods

PFD’s freehold properties worth $249 million per part of the deal.

Grocery giant, Woolworths, is one of the first conglomerates to emerge from lockdown with a landmark transaction.

In August the second largest company in Australia bought into wholesale foods distribution specialist PFD Foods Services. It’s not yet known how the deal will change the makeup of the fleet of 750 multi-zone light commercial vehicles operated by PFD around the country after Woolworths announced it had taken a controlling interest in the company. Woolworths anticipates taking on a 65 per cent equity interest in PFD for $302 million

will provide fleet synergies through better route and capacity optimisation across the combined network of the two businesses.

In addition to this, the supermarket group will pay $249 million for PFD’s freehold properties which includes 26 distribution centres. The acquisition extends a partnership between the two companies which in April, as part of its response to growing market demand, saw Woolworths announce its existing business customers could purchase product from PFD’s range.

PFD Foods CEO Kerry Smith, whose

family founded the business, said it would remain independent through the 35 per cent stake it will retain.

“We are pleased to deepen our existing strategic partnership with Woolworths Group for the longer-term via their investment in our business,” Smith said.

Subject to approval by Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the settlement of closing conditions is expected to be completed by the end of 2020 with Woolworths accessing funds through existing cash reserves and available debt channels.

Woolworths said the deal also includes an option after three years to acquire the remaining 35 per cent of PFD from the Smith family.

“We will help to support PFD’s growth through access to our logistics, digital and data analytics and operational capabilities,” said Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci.

“We are excited by the opportunity to invest alongside the Smith family in PFD Food Services. It is a business we have long admired and we have a shared vision for continued innovation, customer focus and investment in the food sector.”

As the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on the national economy it’s the first major shake-up in the commercial vehicle delivery segment since reports began that Japan Post was sounding out buyers for Toll.

> LINX senior exec appointed to Western Federation Board A highly regarded senior executive at LINX has been announced as the latest member of the Western Roads Federation board. The appointment of Neil David LINX Port Services General Manager Customer and Commercial to the Western Roads Federation board is expected to increase LINX’s active voice in the transport and logistics industry in Western Australia.

David has been an influential figure in 10

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continuously improving relationships with LINX’s valued customers as part of seeking out major new business opportunities. Prior to joining LINX, the well-credentialed David worked as the CEO at Lionel Samson Sadleirs Group and as a General Manager at Toll and BIS Industries.

“Having worked in the logistics industry for 35 years on the east and west coasts of Australia, I am honoured to serve the

industry in this capacity where my diverse experience can bring value to the logistics sector in WA,” he said. “On behalf of LINX, we are proud to support WRF initiatives and actively contribute from our wide-ranging logistics experiences and exposure we have, not only in WA, but across Australia and New Zealand.”

Western Roads Federation said David was well known and highly respected in Western Australian industry.

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PRIME NEWS

> Midway adds four new 10X4 Freightliners Freightliner CL112 agitator.

Independent construction supplier, Midway Concrete and Garden Supplies, has invested in four new Freightliners for its growing agitator fleet. With over 60 agitators already operating, the Melbourne business has added new Freightliner CL112 10x4 agitator units to the more standardised 6x4 and 8x4 models it runs from plants in Melton, South Morang and North Laverton. The 10x4 Freightliner, according to Daimler Truck & Bus Australia Pacific, will enable an extra cubic metre of concrete to be delivered per load. Midway Director David Boxshall said moving to the new larger trucks was a logical next step.

“We don’t want to use semis. I don’t think semis work for our line of work,” he said “The streets are too tight, so the 10x4s will work well.”

Boxshall and his wife Sharon bought out the company in 2001. Since then Credit Choice Director, Vince Giunta has secured finance for Midway. He believes the 10x4 model trucks make a lot of sense as an investment.

“With the extra capacity these new models can bring, it adds flexibility to the fleet of trucks and also improves productivity and ability to service the 12

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large clients with better delivery times, which is important when pouring concrete to various jobs,” he said in a statement.

The 10x4 Freightliners still come out in front even if they don’t run full every trip according to Boxshall.

“It will go to the bigger jobs in the morning, but in the afternoon, it can do any load that comes along,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter whether it is full, it is about having the diversity of having the capacity.”

Productivity is a key driver at Midway, which installed a state-of-the-art batching plant at its innovative North Laverton facility, which also hosts a large modern showroom allowing customers to view various concrete surfacing options. The drive-in batching plant tower mixes the different material required for each load and fills an eight square metre agitator bowl in less than one minute, saving precious time.

Boxhall likes the productivity of the 10x4 CL112, but was also attracted by the combination of a Cummins engine and Allison automatic transmission, which were given the tick of approval by the Midway workshop manager. He was also happy to work on a deal with

the Daimler Trucks Laverton General Manager, Marcus Prato, who had sold him a range of trucks in a previous role over a long period.

“I have a great relationship with Marcus and so does Peter, my mechanic,” said Boxshall. “I know that I can ring and the team will sort out whatever needs doing.”

The relationship with Prato and Daimler Trucks Laverton is a strong one. It reminds Boxshall of the service the Midway provides its customers. The approach, as Boxshall sees it, gives the smaller Midway operation an advantage over the much larger corporate concrete suppliers.

“We deal with people face to face, we talk to people, we have them in the showroom or we pick up the phone and speak with them,” he said. “The customers are not stuck on call waiting with a number, they have a name and we will answer their calls.”

The Freightliner CL112 is available as a 6x4, 8x4 or 10x4 and comes standard with a load sharing front axle. Locally developed and tested Electronic Stability Control and Roll Stability Control is available, along with lane departure warning.

BUILT FOR SUCCESS THE FUSO SHOGUN

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PRIME NEWS

> Qube delivers sound financials despite pandemic

Qube was on track to deliver positive underlying full year earnings growth.

A resilient business model has helped Qube generate meaningful underlying earnings it has announced as part of its full year results. Notwithstanding the weakening of its key markets, Qube has, through strong market positions and diversification grown its underlying revenue and earnings for the first half of the financial year the company said in a statement.

As its operations were defined as essential services, Qube continued to operate throughout the COVID-19 restrictions albeit with lower overall volumes. Qube’s bulk export operations saw minimal impacts, however, container, import break bulk cargo and automotive volumes didn’t enjoy the same fate. The second half of FY20 was unprecedented in terms of the

number and impact of external events that affected Qube’s operations and earnings with bushfires and adverse weather events across the country impacting Qube’s business in the early part of the calendar year.

Qube, despite these disruptions, was still on track to deliver positive underlying full year earnings growth in FY20, until impacts of COVID-19 reduced Qube’s revenue and resulted in additional costs from February. Cost saving initiatives and the receipt of JobKeeper payments of which it received $13.5 million, according to Qube, have helped to partially mitigate escalation of these impacts on the business.

Qube’s associate Patrick was also impacted by COVID-19 in the period through lower market volumes as well as additional costs to provide a COVID-safe workplace.

The outlook for Qube, however, was far from gloomy. Qube said the underlying financial results for the Operating Division were particularly pleasing as earnings growth was achieved over the prior comparable period despite headwinds in a number of its markets which impacted volumes and placed pressure on margins.

The result benefitted from a contribution of acquisitions and new contracts in the period. New agreements with Shell Australia and BlueScope Steel which,

when fully operational, are expected to represent its two largest contracts by revenue. Recent agreements with Woolworths Group Limited who committed to Moorebank Logistics Park (MLP) to develop highly automated regional and national distribution centres were, with the $500 million it established in additional bank facilities and the acquisition of Quattro, a grain handling business, in March, have created additional liquidity.

Qube Managing Director Maurice James said the company had delivered a sound financial performance in FY20 in light of the considerable, unexpected and unprecedented challenges that affected the broader economy and Qube’s activities.

“The events of 2020 tested the strength and resilience of the company in ways which no-one could have predicted.

This result once again demonstrates the success of our diversification strategy which protected the company as markets were hit by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic,” he said. “We were also able to adapt rapidly as an organisation to protect the health and safety of our people, deliver on customer requirements and minimise the economic damage to the Group. We are also well positioned for growth post pandemic with conservative gearing, and a strong balance sheet with substantial funding capacity.”

> Farmhaul’s 50th Kenworth hits the road Rural haulage firm, Farmhaul, has taken delivery of its 50th Kenworth – a roadtrain spec T909 – that will see service in livestock haulage along the eastern seaboard. Kenworth trucks have been the mainstay of the company headquartered at Pittsworth near Toowoomba that was founded in 2007.

There are currently 32 Kenworths in the fleet comprising a mix of T659 and T909 conventionals.

Kenworth dealer Brown and Hurley Toowoomba has delivered all of Farmhaul’s 50 Kenworths since 2007, and 14

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according to Salesman Angus Short, the business has grown exponentially in the last six years.

“We delivered Farmhaul’s 10th Kenworth in 2014 and they have really expanded the business since then,” said Angus Short, who started with Brown and Hurley in 2015 and has personally sold Farmhaul 32 new Kenworths.

“Farmhaul is a really good customer of ours — they keep each truck for four years and around 700,000km so the regular turnover means they are buying a steady number of new units.”

The latest T909 is powered by a Cummins X15 engine rated at 600hp feeding through an 18-speed Roadranger manual transmission to Meritor axles and is set up for the livestock haulage side of the business. Other features include a 50” integrated sleeper, factory-fitted roadtrain spec five-post bullbar and auto greasing system.

With a 130 tonne Gross Combination Mass (GCM) rating, the new unit will be primarily used to haul cattle in triple roadtrains and other multi-combinations in the eastern side of the country.

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PRIME NEWS

> Toll reels from $685M loss Global freight and logistics conglomerate, Toll Group, has posted a $685.3 million annual net loss. The 125 year old business with an international network of more than 1,200 locations across 50 countries has not been guaranteed banking facilities by parent company Japan Post beyond 30 June, 2021. Recently it has been reported that Japan Post had begun seeking out potential buyers for the transport group having appointed banks to review the sale of its assets.

Since March, Toll has sought to sell-off assets as part of ongoing attempts to raise cash.

Adverse impacts on finances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Australian bushfires and recent cyberattacks have all factored into its drastically reduced freight volumes. ASIC documents indicate group revenues slipped $7.8 billion for the twelve months to March 31, 2020. Net cash outflow stemming from operations peaked at $42 million while the company’s interest-bearing liabilities

Toll managed to open new facilities despite a tough year.

have since doubled over the last 12 months.

In May Toll secured an extra $200 million banking facility. At the time a third installment of documents exfiltrated from the company website through Nefilim ransomware was leaked as part of an ongoing

cyberattack. Among the documents released, as one text file and one zipped file, were numerous files related to compliance requirements for other international territories, financial documents and tax invoices. The company reportedly has not paid any dividends in its 2020 financial year.

> Ron Finemore Transport wins Aldi contract

The new Aldi contract in Canberra involves 20 commercial vehicles.

Wodonga-based food and fuel carrier, Ron Finemore Transport, has secured a new supermarket contract.

The account will see Ron Finemore Transport fulfilling deliveries for the Aldi supermarket chain in and around Canberra.

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Operations commenced in early August and will continue across two stages.

Prime Mover understands that Ron Finemore Transport plans to take advantage of the recent opening of its new depot in Goulburn which also provides support for its existing Liquids business and other major customers such as Caltex Australia, ExxonMobil, Oilsplus and Woolworths Group.

Up to 20 trucks will eventually be involved in the new Aldi operation.

Ron Finemore Transport, which maintains its head office in country Victoria, said it was continuing to invest in its regional focus. With its resource base for all regional distribution, interstate freight services and capital city logistics situated in Wodonga, the company is firmly committed to remaining a presence in the area

running a fleet it wholly owns while supporting regional areas by actively creating opportunities for people to work and live in the area.

“This new contract with Aldi provides a great opportunity for Ron Finemore Transport to demonstrate the ability to deliver a safe, reliable service to selected stores and shows the trust Aldi have in Ron Finemore Transport and in our dedicated operations teams and our drivers in order to make this happen,” said Mark Parry Ron Finemore Transport Managing Director.

The Ron Finemore Transport Aldi fleet is a dedicated fleet which the company expects will grow over time.

The contract also involves new prime movers and trailers which will deliver food from the Sydney Prestons DC to Aldi stores through the ACT region.

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PRIME NEWS

> K&S reports 400 per cent improvement in profit Transport and logistics group, K&S Corporation, has announced a statutory profit before tax of $16.1 million for the year ended 30 June 2020. This result, according to K&S, is 403.3 per cent higher than the prior corresponding period. Statutory profit after tax was $11.2 million, 384.1 per cent higher than the previous year – $2.3 million.

Included in the group’s statutory result for FY2020 was $12.4 million (before tax) attributable to JobKeeper and $1.3 million (before tax) in NZ wage subsidy, both of which were received in the June 2020 quarter. The group’s statutory result also included $9.6 million of non‐recurring costs, largely related to hire purchase break costs from the Group’s debt refinancing totaling $3.6 million, $3.4 million in redundancy costs and a further $1.4

million of costs associated with the sale of the Western Australia based Regal General Freight business that was concluded in August 2019.

After adjusting for the above significant items including government wage subsidies, the current year underlying profit before tax was $12.0 million, an increase of 270.1 per cent on the prior corresponding period. The underlying

profit after tax was $8.4 million, up on the prior corresponding period by $6.1 million. Operating revenues decreased by 12.7 per cent to $790.6 million in FY2020.

Operating cashflow for FY2020 was $83.1 million, 34.4 per cent higher than for the previous year, which included benefits derived through continued and improved working capital management as well as government wage subsidies.

> Key findings released in Isuzu market survey

Survey says: 62 per cent of owners opted to remain loyal to one brand.

Truck operators are becoming increasingly reliant on a single brand to populate their fleet according to the results of a new market survey. In the latest market tracking survey of fleet managers and business decision makers

by Isuzu Australia Limited six in every ten owners (62 per cent of respondents) confirmed they are opting to remain loyal to one brand across their operational fleet.

The independent market research undertaken by strategy consultancy, Fiftyfive5, surveyed regional and metropolitan truck owners who were 18

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considering purchasing a truck for their business over the next 12 months. It covered multiple vocations including construction and logistics, through to the retail trade and hospitality.

The widespread impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the road transport sector was notable among the key findings.

No less than 93 per cent of Australian truck-based operations have suffered an impact on their business, as a result of the pandemic and ensuing public health measures. Of those, 39 per cent described the disruption as ‘major,’

and one requiring systemic changes to business models and overall strategies.

There was, however, a silver lining according to Isuzu made manifest by stakeholder confidence, with 41 per cent of road transport respondents confident their businesses will survive and thrive post pandemic.

The findings come at a critical time for the industry as it battles through unprecedented disturbance according to IAL Head of Marketing and Customer Experience John Walker.

“Collating these findings has been an interesting and insightful exercise, given the current climate,” he said. “One of the recurring themes we’ve seen come out of this report, is the desire for many to stick to proven, tested products they know and trust, especially during a time of upheaval.

“The report shows that brand trust, product quality and range are the key drivers of brand preference.

This is closely followed by aftersales support, reliability and total cost of ownership propositions.”

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GLOB AL NEWS

> Support grows for American roadtrain trials in Great Plains region Roadtrains in the United States have gotten one step closer with legislators in North Dakota expected to back a repeal of length and weight restrictions on truck and trailer combinations. Moving forward with a pilot program first touted last year could become a distinct reality by as early as November as lawmakers look for solutions to meet a growing freight and oil task amid an alarming driver shortage.

Senate bill 2176, originally put forward

by Republican Senator Larry Luick and passed in April, 2019, stated “North Dakota may be the optimum low population state to study this issue”.

Luick has been a vocal proponent of trialling Australian style multi-combination roadtrains involving a heavy duty rig pulling up to three or four trailers at a time.

“The restrictions on drivers, the capabilities of the work force, acquiring people that maybe shouldn’t be allowed in the trucks themselves are driving that number and the problem is increasing,” he said.

Resurgent interstate commerce following

freight movements affected by COVID-19 have given lawmakers hope that transportation demands will also rise. A roadtrain pilot program can be sought from the Governor Doug Burgum by executive order should Minot Senator Oley Larsen follow through with the bill.

“There is absolutely the authority for the Governor to make changes, and nothing seems to be ruining the roads by us following the current truck trains we’re doing now,” Larsen said.

On 24 March, Burgum lifted load restrictions on state highways declared under public health emergency for COVID-19. The order was subject to the provision that no State highway was negatively impacted or no public safety risk was determined. Under the proposed pilot program, the North Dakota Department of Transportation and North Dakota Highway Patrol would be responsible for managing new mass and length limits on the new truck combinations which would run empty during initial evaluations.

Operations might also be restricted to reduced traffic periods like the early morning and police would be empowered to remove roadtrains from the road during inclement weather or permitted to provide special escort.

Legislators are also looking for cooperation from Minnesota and South Dakota, neighbouring states whose by and large flat topography is considered safer for evaluating a regional pilot program which would shift the roadtrains from rural roads to interstate highways. A state assembly vote would need to be rubberstamped before it can be passed as legislation in Washington.

“We have an opportunity to not only move freight more efficiently here, but also safer, and cleaner for the environment,” said Luick.

“I think if we give industry a little bit of leeway as far as encouragement to do something more, they will take it upon themselves to figure out the efficiencies,” he said.

> Nikola stock surges over giant waste management truck order

Concept Nikola Refuse vehicle.

An order of 2,500 electric garbage and recycling trucks by Republic Services from Nikola saw the zero-emission vehicle manufacturer’s stock price rise to 22.1 per cent overnight. The waste management company based in Arizona, where Nikola is also headquartered, has provision to increase the order of Nikola Tre commercial vehicles to 5000 units.

These electric trucks, with a compact cab ideal for high density urban areas, have a range of 150 miles and can reportedly 20

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handle 1,200 residential trash cans on a single charge. Full financial details of the transaction were not made available although it is understood production of the electric vehicles is scheduled for 2023.

On road testing is expected to begin early next year.

Republic Services is the second largest recycling and solid waste provider in the US. It operates a fleet of 16,000 trucks, of which nearly one-fifth run on natural gas.

Company President Jon Vander Ark said

lower maintenance costs resultant from no longer having regenerative braking made it a compelling product offering for his business.

“Our agreement with Nikola represents the industry’s first large-scale commitment to fleet electrification,” he said in a statement.

“We expect to realize significant operatingcost savings and environmental benefits from these trucks.”

The refuse transport market was one of the most stable markets in the industry providing long-term shareholder value according to Nikola Founder and Executive Chairman Trevor Milton.

“The Nikola Tre powertrain is ideal for the refuse market as it shares and uses the same batteries, controls, inverters and e-axle,” he said. “By sharing the Tre platform, we can drive the cost down for both programs by using the same parts.

Shares are now worth over $20 billion AUD following Nikola’s reverse public offering back in June.

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INSURANCE MINDSET SUPERANNUATION MINDSET

David Summers David Summers has been an Insurance Broker for 17 years with ten years experience as a Transport specialist.

He has cemented himself as one of Australia’s elite insurance brokers in both the transport and construction industries. His success is based on a long-term partnership approach with his clients.

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TRANSPORT COMPANIES THRIVE IN A TIME OF COVID Commercial road transport company owner: You are looking at the most challenging five years in business coming up. While many will struggle on a downward spiral, a select few will thrive.

B

ack in 2018 it was already being reported that over half of commercial road transport industry workers would be over 65 by 2026. In July this year, Ausure Horizon ran a poll of Truck & Transport company owners, and while you would be forgiven for thinking that issues surrounding novel coronavirus would be front of mind, what we found was that an ageing workforce was not only the number one response for immediate issues, it was in fact close to triple the responses from the second highest concern (compliance and accreditation).

It’s challenging enough to find young, qualified drivers to fill those empty cabs when there are plenty of new drivers coming through the ranks, but in the age of the internet, many of the potential truck drivers of the future are more concerned with updating their Instagram than upskilling their abilities.

For business owners, this creates three significant problems: 1. A smaller pool of qualified, potential employees (lower standards) 2. The chances of recruiting team members who are a cultural fit

for your organisation go down as much as 75 per cent 3. Significantly increased exposure in Workplace Health & Safety, increased scrutiny from National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NVHR) and an almost certain growth in postemployment litigation.

Luckily, for forward thinking business owners, these problems can, with a focused effort, become your biggest strengths moving forward.

To increase the size of your potential employment pool, ensure quality standards and team culture standards are met and even exceeded. In short, you need to start looking at your employee chain like your supply chain.

Sending a pallet from Newcastle to Brisbane needs equipment (usually a mobile asset like a truck), incentivised community outreach (marketing to tell people you have a truck), implementation systems (quotes and sales) and solid job execution and follow up procedures.

All of this of course takes time and energy.

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The good news is that developing your own pool of talent works the exact same way. I’ll be honest though. This will take a complete departure from the traditionally held beliefs of what ‘does’ and ‘doesn’t’ work in recruitment.

The mobile asset is your training and upskilling program (some clients partner with driver training and vocational training institutions for joint ventures), the community outreach stems mostly from the network of your network (an incentivised recruitment drive from within your own ranks can be unbelievably fruitful). Implementation strategies in systems like this include clearly defined ‘career progression pathways’ like roadmaps for the life of a driver. Instead of relying on getting the job and not knowing what is next, these recruits have a career laid out in front of them.

Finally, it’s time to execute and followup — that is, build the systems around this that will build your company’s future, and follow it through as a longterm game plan.

This strategy is a new way of looking at this issue for most business owners, and when it comes time to implement radically new ideas to pivot your business model, naturally we recommend working with experienced consultants to help you turn it into a reality. While we can look after your insurance, we’d be very happy to introduce you to culture and change specialists that are in our network as well.

Now the third significant problem we face is that of exposure.

Increased exposure in OH&S, NHVP, employment litigation, costs associated with mistakes, the list goes on (and on).

There are two things you must be acutely aware of as the business owner when it comes to mitigating this risk: 1. What is your exposure level?

2. How much is it going to cost to be covered?

SPONSORED BY

David Summers (right) boasts a 98.7 per cent client retention rate, unheard of in the world of insurance.

No one wants to be spending one cent more on insurance than they must, so balancing cheap but, potentially ineffective policies, against more robust and often more expensive coverage, really is a specialist area. Great insurance isn’t great when you buy it; it’s great when you need to use it.

While we can hope that you never have to use it, but just to be sure, if there is one thing that you take away from this article, it is this: get your policies checked. Even if you have an amazing broker, it always pays to have a second opinion.

With a lifetime of insuring transport and commercial businesses, and a team of award winning brokers, we still have others in our team check every policy to catch every foreseeable issue, to make sure clients have the right coverage in place, and then, to ensure it’s the most competitive rate available.

You can certainly pay to have your policies all reviewed and recommendations made or reach out to Ausure Horizon where we have a dedicated team who offer this as a free service. Even if you’re not yet a client having the right policy at the right time is so critical, and we want to make sure noone is left unnecessarily exposed.

One final note from me: Thank you.

The COVID-19 year has been a challenge. While I am ever so grateful for our frontline health workers, being a transport company specialist, I am also aware of our amazing industry, and businesses like yours. My little girl’s birthday present turned up with a courier the other day, and my neighbours’ small business can still send products around the country, not to mention the million other little things, which are really the big things, that still happen because of who you are. Keep going. You’re amazing. p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

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COVER STORY

FRON A new look Mercedes-Benz fleet at ACFS Port Logistics, the largest privately owned container business of its type in the country, fits with its forward thinking approach, in which moving more with less and for less, is part of a company-wide mandate to deliver a premium service for its customers.

T

here’s no scarcity of innovation and expansive vision behind the pursuit of exponential growth at ACFS Port Logistics.

Had it not already been on track to eclipse the 750,000+ TEUs of full laden volume it moved to and from wharfs across the country in 2019, this year alone brings a series of shrewd investments in improving freight efficiencies and mobile asset upgrades to completion. The business runs on a national network across five ports in Australia and is an active player in transport, 3PL, eCommerce, FAK, depot services, intermodal and rail terminals. As economic modelling suggests consumer goods remain steadfast as the driver of national GDP, the landing of a national account for K-mart, as ACFS has done so

One of 13 new Mercedes-Benz Actros trucks delivered recently to ACFS Port Logistics.

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recently, is both significant and timely in the scheme of things. As part of its operations to service the contract, the company is deploying high productivity vehicles, paired with unique bogie-bogie trailers designed to ACFS specifications. Up front of these PBS approved skels are its newest trucks.

Back in February, three new MercedesBenz Actros units began appearing at the Port of Brisbane as part of what eventually became a successful trial run

REIN

TLINE

FORCEMENTS

p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

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COVER STORY

Mercedes-Benz Actros 3358 and 2646 vehicles will pull Super Bs and standard B-doubles at three different ports.

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instigated by Daimler Trucks. During the six-month long evaluation, the trucks were put through paces in and around the port arena by ACFS Fleet & Compliance Manager Alan Guest. Even though the distance travelled in port cartage operations seldom exceeds 100 kilometres the fuel savings and active safety systems soon surpassed his expectations. A trip up the Bruce Highway, around three hours in total, from Brisbane to Gympie, ultimately clinched the deal.

“On that run alone we saved over 100 litres of fuel against our current brands of fleet. These were relatively new trucks that were being compared to the Mercedes Benz,” Alan says. “The fuel saving in itself is probably worth $20,000 a year to us just on that one run.”

As part of the testing, an ACFS manager also piloted an Actros to Perth. On the journey he confirmed, according to Alan, an outstanding km/fuel ratio of 3.28.

The first initial order saw 13 new Euro 6 rated Mercedes-Benz Actros trucks split between 2646s and 3358s each delivered with a full safety package that includes ABS, EBS, three step entry and the latest in cab comfort. As most of his drivers are getting older Alan has opted for the heaviest and most ergonomic of seats to support their weight. There’s three points of contact to maintain on egress and the door opens to 90 degrees. Enhanced features such as Proximity Control Assist, ideal for the many moving parts in a hectic port environment, are complemented by Active Brake Assist using a radar to scan multiple obstacles per second and Lane Assistance.

The spec right down to the finer details were discussed over a period of four months with Mercedes Benz & Freightliner Sales Consultant Brock McGarity in Brisbane.

“We talked about the mirrors, the cameras.

Everything in that vehicle is smack on. The spec we got was exactly what we wanted,” Alan says. “He came up with a solution for the trucks according to the types of payloads we wanted to move.”

ACFS is running to three load specifications. These can be broken down to a standard B-double and or bogie-

“We talked about the mirrors, the cameras.

Everything in that vehicle is smack on. The spec we got was exactly what we wanted... He came up with a solution for the trucks according to the types of payloads we wanted to move.”

Alan Guest ACFS Fleet & Compliance Manager

bogie HPV at 70-tonne GCM, a 100-tonne A-Double and/or quad-quad Super Bs rated to 120 tonnes.

The Mercedes-Benz trucks also solved a power to weight ratio issue Alan had identified. As the Actros doesn’t take off in sixth gear like one of the other brands ACFS relies on, these new vehicles have mitigated incidents where the tailshafts have been twisted as the driver is forced to ride the clutch searching for more power when laden with a 90 tonne load. Over time it will destroy the drivetrain. For Alan there was no question it was an untenable situation as the gearboxes on those vehicles that takeoff in the sixth gear all needed to be recalibrated. With the new MercedesBenz trucks that’s no longer a problem.

Now 12 months on from having undertaken, as it were, an holistic overview of operational equipment, appraising comments, consulting damage reports and looking over trends in incidents and accidents Alan is elated by the outcome of effort.

“Overall, we looked at the whole package and we dissected every little detail,” he says.

“We looked at all of our damage reports over five years. Incidents and accidents and how they happen. What happened and what caused them.”

This included adjusting turntable heights to solve an issue when uncoupling to reduce the guards hitting the top of skip plates and smashing rear lights. Electronic landing legs

were added to the trailers so the drivers, when detaching the dollies, no longer need to crank the handles each time they pulled apart an A-double. This is likely to reduce incidents of strained shoulder.

“We’re saving up to 25 to 30 minutes a route now because of this change and it makes it less labour intensive for our guys,” Alan says. “It’s just thinking about the whole process, what happens, how they work, how they operate and sitting down as a team and coming up with a solution and we came up with a solution.”

To cut engine and idle hours on the unflagging container operations, Alan, in consultation with Brock, opted for Viesa battery operated cooling in each day cab.

This limits use of the motor when some of the trucks idle for 45 per cent of the time they are in action. When he did the numbers on it the cost of purchasing a high end Viesa, which has been installed on top of the cab, paled in comparison to the fuel squandered during idle.

“This way we’ve minimised the idle time by reducing engine hours,” he says. “And my drivers can stay cool in summer.”

ACFS was hit hard, not unlike many companies affected when vessels stopped coming out of Asia, at the beginning of the pandemic.

Undaunted by the inherent challenges that have rapidly befallen many freight businesses this year, ACFS according to its Managing Director & CEO Arthur Tzaneros has bucked the trend and continues to grow.

“The beginning of the pandemic was naturally concerning,” he says. “On a business front we did build some contingency plans for our work force in communicating what we needed to do to have a sustainable business.”

One of the first actions taken by Arthur during this period of uncertainty was to convene his management from around the country to get everybody aligned.

He conveyed to the group that they were about to confront a period perhaps worse than any GFC and or recession seen in the company history.

“I told them that we were going to need to work harder and smarter than how we’ve p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

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COVER STORY

The new Mercedes-Benz Actros trucks have been given a revamped tri-colours design.

ever worked before. What came of that was a company pact where most of the executives and management group and, to some extent, the workforce, committed to coming out through the other side of this thing a stronger company,” recalls Arthur. “I can proudly say ACFS has not made any redundancies throughout the pandemic. In actual fact, we’ve grown and continued to employ more Australians throughout this difficult period. I think it’s a credit to the entire team’s dedication and hard work. Whilst we’re very cautious, it’s been a period of growth and therefore investment.”

In the last six months ACFS has taken delivery of 34 pieces of trailering equipment from Vawdrey, with further upcoming orders currently being manufactured. Under permit Alan has found the bogie-bogie trailer, which handles four 20-foot containers or two 40s, to have been an extremely successful investment.

“They are a really good combination with the Daimler up front,” he says. “How Vawdrey build spec and manufacture is second to none. I know their people and I have supreme confidence in what they do and how they do it.”

With over 40 years in the industry Alan has worked at four of the major trailer builders previously including Vawdrey where he was the General Manager.

He holds two engineering degrees and a masters in manufacturing management.

All of it accomplished at night school 28

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while he worked full time.

“At Freighter, where I was working in 1982, the owner Peter White told me I needed a degree if he was going promote me,” Alan recalls. “So I went and did my first engineering degree and got a taste. Then I did my second one as a technical officer.

While at Krueger I attended business law at Victorian University in Flinders Street. I won’t lie it was hard work.”

Alan manages over 500 drivers in what he refers to as his “creche”. There is 300 prime movers and some 1200 pieces of trailering equipment he is required to move between the many ACFS sites across the country.

He accumulates, subsequently, around 300,000 frequent flyer points a year. That’s a lot of early mornings. Alan says he tries to spend a week in each state.

“Trailing and transport is in my blood,” he says. “I haven’t stopped designing trailers.

I still like to innovate our bits and pieces and work with our original equipment manufacturers to get them built.”

For the past 30 years, ACFS has been predominantly running UD Trucks alongside stablemates Volvo and Mack.

Last year a conscious decision was made by the company to have two suppliers instead of one across all its equipment and technology. This certainly holds true of its trailer manufacturers, for whom it runs exclusively spec’d equipment from Vawdrey and O’Phee. In telemetry technology MT Data and Teletrac Navman are the preferred suppliers.

With another order pending with Daimler

Trucks, a process is underway in which the bottom 35 vehicles in the ACFS fleet now comes under scrutiny. These are the commercial vehicles that have been in service for nearly ten years and since reached the 1 million kilometre threshold.

“We like to keep a younger fleet. Anything over a million kilometres I’ll be looking to move on and trade-in and replace with new equipment,” Alan says. “At the moment, the first new units we will test control for 36 months to see how it goes.”

Not all Euro 6 Mercedes-Benz Actros units are destined to stay at the Brisbane Port.

Many of the new fleet are about to be farmed out to Melbourne and Sydney.

These trucks have received a new colour scheme, perhaps lost on the casual observer, in the tri-colours jersey associated with the Sydney Roosters.

It’s no coincidence that Arthur Tzaneros is closely aligned with the NRL’s defending premiers.

“There’s a big association with the Sydney Roosters. We’re a third party sponsor for James Tedesco. I’m a lifelong Roosters fan and heavily involved in the club as well,” he says.

Historically, with a bonneted truck used in the application, the previous design was tailored to the long nose. When they moved to the cabover it made the front of the trucks look bare according to Arthur.

So ACFS-appointed designer, Toohey Creative, was given a brief to rebrand the new Mercedes-Benz Actros vehicles.

“History is a big part of ACFS and who we are,” Arthur says. “It’s not only important we can maintain our history and our brand but also to update the design and bring it in line with the new equipment.”

Sydney Roosters Chairman Nick Politis, who owns AP Eagers and by extension AHG, a stake holder in several Daimler dealerships, provides an additional synergy to the growing relationship.

“It’s a great relationship to have knowing in the background the support is there,” says Alan. “They’ve been incredibly responsive and the new branding looks great when the trucks are coming down the road.”

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FLEET FOCUS

HOW THE

WEST WON WAS

From fulfilling a mechanical apprenticeship with Perth Isuzu dealer Major Motors in the 1970s to building a major national plant hire business incorporating a brace of Isuzu trucks, Doug Brooks has witnessed the complete rise to domination of the Japanese truck brand over the past 45 years.

Brooks Hire has invested heavily in the F Series 350hp models with Allison automatic transmissions.

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W

hen the founder and CEO of Brooks Hire Service started his mechanical apprenticeship with Major Motors in 1972, Isuzu trucks were little more than a fleck on the far horizon in Australia. In those now distant days British Bedford trucks and light commercials ruled the roost at Majors, but it didn’t take long for the keen-eyed young Brooks to recognise the superior quality of the Isuzu products when they started rolling into the workshop during his third year.

“There was a lot more attention to detail on the Isuzus compared with the Bedfords,” Doug says. If there was a hose that ran along the chassis of the Bedford he recalls, it would be P-clamped every 1.5 metres whereas with the Isuzu it would be P-clamped every 300mm.

“It actually took longer to work on the Isuzus because you’d have to undo all the extra P-clamps, but in saying that the hoses wouldn’t chafe like they did on

Equipment is fitted with hazard lights, rotating beacons, fire extinguishers and reverse alarms for mine spec.

the Bedfords, so in the end the Isuzus were far more reliable.”

Doug’s passion for machinery and his desire to become a mechanic started at the age of four, he says, and he purveys a depth of gratitude towards Major Motors for giving him his first big break in life.

He grew up at Katanning, about 300km south-east of Perth, and worked on a farm for a year before starting with Majors.

“Since those early years I’ve always had a soft spot for the Isuzu products, and the fact Major Motors put me on was a big thing for me,” he says. “When I started I was earning $23 per week and board was $15 per week so to save money I lived in my panel van near the dealership — I was always the first one to arrive at work.”

Doug’s mechanical experience while at Major Motors also extended to larger diesel engines as the company was at the time an agent for Detroit Diesel.

“It was great experience because we overhauled the Detroit Diesels right down to the last nut and bolt,” he says. “We

“Since those early years I’ve always had a soft spot for the Isuzu products, and the fact Major Motors put me on was a big thing for me.”

Doug Brooks CEO Brooks Hire Service

would rebuild the 16V149 series engines from the Hammersley Iron ore trucks and then test run them on the dynamometer which was a real buzz.”

It was this Detroit leaning that enabled Doug, after completing his apprenticeship, to work for a company called Air Drill 77 in Perth.

Then in 1978 he moved to Barrow Island off the Pilbara coast, working for West Australian Petroleum (WAPET), a company later bought by Chevron.

While still working at Barrow Island in 1979, Doug purchased two air compressors on Bankcard and proceeded to hire them out, thus founding Brooks Hire.

“In those days at Barrow Island the

standard practice was to work three weeks then have a week off. But I used to work five weeks and have three days off so I could get ahead,” he recalls. “I paid off the two compressors before leaving WAPET and set up my fledgling hire business at Eneabba in 1980.”

Nestled in the heart of WA’s spectacular wildflower region, Eneabba is a small town about 300km north of Perth that was established in 1961 to service a large mineral sand mining operation located south of the township. Here Doug set up his business to cater to the needs of the mines, hiring out the compressors, self-priming pumps and 400amp electric arc welders. p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

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FLEET FOCUS

In 1982 Doug purchased, by tender, his first unit of mobile plant – an eight-tonne JEC crane – which he drove from Perth to Eneabba. At the time, he was operating the business from a shed at Eneabba, working 18-hour days and living five days a week in a humpy behind the shed.

“In addition to hiring plant and pumping equipment to the mining companies, I was also doing mechanical repairs for them as well as rebuilding Detroit Diesel engines and using the profits to purchase new equipment to hire out,” Doug says.

“That’s how I built up the business.”

Brooks Hire now has over 3,000 units of plant equipment available for hire through its nationwide network of branches. The equipment includes Since 2008 Brooks Hire has purchased an estimated 120 Isuzu vehicles.

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“Water trucks operate at relatively slow speeds in off-road conditions which means the burn-off of the DPD needs to be done manually. As these vehicles often have multiple drivers, sometimes they neglect to manually activate the burn which can lead to issues with the DPD getting choked up with soot.”

Doug Brooks CEO Brooks Hire Service

backhoes, rock breakers, dozers, dump trucks, excavators and attachments, forklifts, fuel trucks, graders, light towers, loaders, rollers, service trucks, side

tippers, skid steers, tele handlers, tip trucks, tool carriers and water trucks.

Prior to delivery, every machine is thoroughly checked by experienced staff

to ensure everything is operating correctly.

For mining applications, equipment is fitted with hazard lights, rotating beacons, fire extinguishers and reverse alarms in accordance with mine spec regulations.

Clients are able to hire low-hour, late model equipment on short-term, longterm or permanent hire with full back-up service from the company’s trade qualified staff. To facilitate on-time delivery of plant equipment, Brooks Hire Service has five modern low loaders in the fleet and avails of a number of conscientious subcontractors to tow them.

Interestingly, it took quite a while before Isuzu trucks made their first appearance in the Brooks Hire fleet, with Doug saying the first units were bought in 2008. At this point the range of hire equipment was considerably broadened to include a range of tippers, table-tops, water trucks and 4WD service trucks. Doug describes the Isuzu products as solid, reliable and relatively trouble-free. “They’re a good truck — we don’t have a lot of problems with them. I think over the last few years we have bought around 120 Isuzus in various sizes and guises,” he says. “We’ve been buying quite a few of the larger F Series 350hp models with Allison automatic transmissions including sixwheel FXYs and FXZs and eight-wheel FYs for water truck applications.”

Doug adds that the addition of a Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC) rather than the Diesel Particulate Diffuser (DPD) used on the smaller F Series variants is a major advantage.

“Water trucks operate at relatively slow speeds in off-road conditions which means the burn-off of the DPD needs to be done manually. As these vehicles often have multiple drivers, sometimes they neglect to manually activate the burn which can lead to issues with the DPD getting choked up with soot,” he says.

“We’ve found the 350hp engine with the DOC to be the best choice for our water trucks because there’s no requirement for the manually-actioned burn.”

Isuzu FVZ rigid 350hp.

A number of other features, as Doug describes it, make the larger F Series units ideal for the demanding applications common to hire trucks.

“We’re finding these units to be particularly bullet-proof as they have the heavy-duty Meritor steer and drive axles and driveline components,” he says.

“The driver-controlled cross locks on the drive axles is a very useful feature on the water carts.”

Aside from his penchant for trucks and earthmoving machinery, Doug has an equal passion for aircraft and does, in fact, half own an aviation company that specialises in repatriating ill Aussies from overseas locations in southeast Asia, including tourist hotspots such as Bali.

As for the future of Brooks Hire, reputedly the largest privately-owned plant hire company in Australia, there are now 16 branches spread around every state and territory except Tasmania and the ACT. What’s more, Doug’s two children are now firmly entrenched in the family business – son Stuart as Managing

Director and daughter Lenore as Hire Manager – a factor Doug recognises as essential to its continued growth and long-term success.

“Stuart and Lenore have done well in recruiting the right people into our company. They’ve brought with them the younger technology like computer and communications skills we need to keep the business growing,” Doug says.

“This combined with my wisdom and experience gained over the last 45 years is a good mix — you’ve got to have that blend of youth and maturity to keep moving forward.”

Doug acknowledges that he has been fortunate to build a business around something he is interested in and enjoys doing.

“It’s been a lot of hard work but I still enjoy it and regard it as something of a hobby,” Doug says. “Every day I’ve woken up over the last 40 years I’ve been enthusiastic and interested to find out what new challenges and accomplishments can be achieved.” p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

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FLEET FOCUS

VENTURE

CA P I TA L

Ablett’s Transport, an Australian-owned family business, has been operating successfully in the Canberra region for almost 60 years.

A

n iconic business in the Canberra area, Ablett’s Transport has operated in the local region since 1962.

The founding of the company is perhaps less well known. It was actually started in Victoria by Arthur Ablett in the Gippsland town of Drouin back in 1954.

Having taken over a division of MayneNickless during the 1980s, the company commenced a long running involvement moving eight to nine loads of sawn timber a day from a mill in the Canberra suburb of Hume.

Road transport businesses in the Canberra region have long been confronted with a challenge. The imbalance between the levels of freight coming in, versus the amount of freight heading out of the area. Consignments of items such as timber can be loaded from Tumut in the Snowy Mountains and Bombala in the Monaro region and it is no surprise that Canberra generates plenty of wastepaper for Ablett’s to transport to recycling centres. A local client in Queanbeyan has a niche manufacturing operation which exports ladders to the Netherlands

in 20-foot containers which Ablett’s transfer to the ports.

In addition to its Queanbeyan/Canberra facility, Ablett’s maintains depots in Melbourne and Sydney and also regularly has its trucks in Brisbane.

Since 1995 Ablett’s has been a part-owner of Combined Distribution Management, better known as CDM Logistics, which, as its name implies, provides single contact logistics management for clients across several local transport operators. Clients include the local branches for a number of well-known national retail chains.

Scania R620 V8, one of 35 prime movers in the Ablett’s fleet.

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Ablett’s driver Steve Johnson.

Other freight transported by Ablett’s includes building materials such as tiles, bricks and nylon sprinkler pipe. An allterrain forklift enables direct deliveries to locations such as construction sites.

Construction of the Snowy 2.0 hydroelectric scheme is also expected to present some opportunities for the company over the next five years.

With almost 70 years of history, Ablett’s have operated many brands of trucks from Arthur Ablett’s original Leyland Comet to the latest Kenworth, DAF and Mack models with several V8 Scania’s joining the fleet in recent times.

“Scania made it easy for us with the test trucks,” says Duncan Ablett. “It’s important we win the drivers over. We gain acceptance by putting drivers in the trucks and letting them see for themselves what they can do. You’re not going to win everyone over, but we have people keen to try something new. Canberra is known for its high cost of living and high cost of real estate and services can be expensive here and Canberra is not what you call a ‘truck town’ but there are always people who want to be a truck driver and we’re fortunate to have some long term drivers.”

One such driver is Steve Johnson, who operates a Scania B-double on the Canberra-Melbourne route and enthusiastically praises the Scanias’ overall performance and ability to maintain a higher average speed which reduces trip times.

“The full air suspension with on-

board weight scales make it the most comfortable option with reduced noise, vibration and roughness all adding to reduced fatigue and the benefit is a healthier, happier driver,” says Steve.

Drivers do need advice, according to Duncan, on how to get the best out of the new trucks given the changes and prevalence of technology.

“Truck salesman need to do more now than they used to and can’t just drop a new truck off,” he says. “Most drivers may just want to get from A to B, yet some guys are really conscious of fuel savings.”

That has resulted in a noticeable reduction in fuel usage per trip of up to 17 per cent. Steve is saving the best part

of an hour on each tip, too.

Ablett’s is both NHVAS and TruckSafe accredited and operates a well-equipped and staffed in-house service division.

The Scania’s have five years/500,000 maintenance included in the package with the added convenience of the Scania service agent being just up the road.

“That’s all really easy for us,” says Duncan.

“Just one phone call. The trucks are home every second day so anything that needs doing can be done straight away.”

Consistency of work and trying to flatten the curve across the peaks and troughs of demand is an almost universal challenge for transport operators across Australia, and one that the entire Ablett team works to address.

“It’s about not having too many vehicles in the quiet times and making sure there are enough when we’re busy,” says Duncan.

During the ‘oil shock’ of the 1970s, the fleet was cut back to just three or four trucks and today has grown to around 35 semis and B-doubles plus another 21 rigids.

As a family owned and operated company, Ablett’s Transport continues to take pride in looking out for its customers and staff at a personal level.

This Scania B-double has been assigned linehaul duties to Melbourne. p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

35

FLEET FOCUS

STAY FROSTY Brisbane-based company SEQ Ice Cream frequently sends out a fleet of commercial vehicles to service an area the size of Venezuela. It counts on the new Hino 500 Series Standard Cab trucks to ensure it’s hot products are delivered on time and always ice cold.

E

Vision Tracking is installed on all of the new Hino 500s.

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o c t obe r 2020

dwin Street first used a cart and later a one-horsepower motorbike to deliver his ice cream, mostly to neighbours in the Wollongong suburb of Corrimal, when he started out in 1920. A century later, the products of Streets, along with Vermont ice-cream brand Ben & Jerrys, are ferried around by SEQ Ice Cream on a growing fleet of commercial vehicles, in which, Hino is presently the exclusive truck brand of choice. SEQ Ice Cream has been the Unilever distribution arm since 2015. Proof of its growth strategy can be seen in operations. In the past five years they have doubled the size of the business and that is also reflected in the fleet which now operates twice as many trucks including ten Hino 500 Series vehicles, seven of which can be considered new purchases.

The first installment of these were delivered in May with another three already on order.

The refrigerated bodies are built by Brisbane company Scully RSV who have a longstanding commercial partnership with Hino and Sci Fleet Hino. Powered with Thermo King T1000 units, the bodies are commonly specified for a 6- and 8-pallet payload, although a smaller vehicle is deployed in the denser Brisbane metropolitan area where it is more suited. A 10-pallet van is currently being built in time for summer

when demand surges.

Deliveries cover a geographical expanse more than half the size of Queensland.

These will take the trucks as far north as Rockhampton, out west as far as Longreach and south to Grafton in New South Wales. All told, the trucks cover a territory equivalent to Venezuela. Within that region around 3,500 customers are called upon. SEQ Ice Cream provides full service for all aspects of the route trade. This includes all customers where ice cream is commonly sold such as movie theatres, beach kiosks, petrol stations, general stores, IGAs, clubs, pubs, cafes, school canteens, public pools and other leisure outlets. In short, anywhere that is not a Woolworths or Aldi. Generally, most customers receive a delivery once a week and as high as three times a week depending on their volume requirements.

SEQ Ice Cream Director Don Mackaness says the latest vehicles, which he looks to Scully for expertise on front and rear axle weights, body configurations and horsepower, all feature an automatic transmission.

“Operationally, they provide a smoother experience. There’s less concern for driver error and maintenance of equipment. The decision was made in part also with a view to their future resale value more than strictly performance,” he says. “Resale with an automatic transmission is between five to ten per cent higher than a manual.”

On average the trucks cover between 100 and 300 kilometres a day. The longest job currently scheduled involves the 650 kilometre return leg from Grafton.

Vision Tracking is installed on all trucks.

This allows operations to monitor the working conditions of the truck including temperature of each vehicle, which must be maintained at -22 Celsius and to track the location of the fleet. Prior to the trucks being sent on dispatch, daily orders, collated by the telesales team, are dumped onto a route optimisation system called PTV

Shaun Chandler.

“The standout characteristic of the Hinos for me is how reliable they have been... In five years we haven’t had to rescue anyone from the road.”

Shaun Chandler SEQ Ice Cream, Operations Manager

Smartour. The logistics desk plans out each route assessing metrics for distance to travel, sales and number of drops in order to set out the most efficient use of resources for the day.

“For us it’s about getting the best, most optimised routing sequencing done for each of the trucks to limit the resource allocation and maximise delivery efficiencies,” says Don. “The drops to customers in a particular territory are broken up based on the trips required.

We want to apportion the GSV evenly among the 15 trucks going by moving the load from one vehicle to another.”

The process behind it ensures the company accounts for each delivery as they happen and returns its drivers to the depot within an expected time frame

and all of it with high accuracy.

“We generally can tell by the afternoon prior what time all our trucks should be back the following workday,” Don says.

“So if Smartour tells us we’re doing an eight hour day generally there will be a 30 minute threshold in that example.”

With the sequencing of vehicle movements predicated on auto generated telesales the trucks complete weekly, fortnightly and monthly deliveries.

Having taken over an existing Hino fleet, the team at SEQ Ice Cream saw it appropriate to continue on with the brand for consistency and maintenance.

The new Hino 500 Series Standard Cab delivers in the key areas of driveability and reliability according to Operations p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

37

FLEET FOCUS

Vehicle Stability Control is a valued safety feature on the Hino 500 series.

Manager Shaun Chandler.

“The active safety suite features speed alerts, Lane Departure Warning, Autonomous Emergency Braking, the latest sensor technology that I see on my new car,” he says. “Smart systems like Vehicle Stability Control, traction control

The vehicles draw from an 800 pallet cold store in Hemmant near head office.

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and the like reassure the logistics team that the drivers will get to where they are going on time.”

On occasion Shaun will operate one of the vehicles, but is more accustomed to driving a keyboard for his role these days.

As a personal preference he does favour a

manual transmission when in the saddle on a delivery. Having greater confidence in the new Hino 500 Series trucks, when considering the geographical task asked of them, is no small recompense.

“The standout characteristic of the Hinos for me is how reliable they have been,” he says. “In five years we haven’t had to rescue anyone from the road.”

Logistics staff draw from an 800 pallet cold store, situated directly opposite head office in the port suburb of Hemmant, just 20 minutes from the CBD. Its close proximity to the Gateway Bridge makes it ideal for a logistics business. The northside of the bridge feeds traffic to the Sunshine Coast and the south provides a direct route to its other main market on the Gold Coast. The total workforce is accounted for by 40 employees across the warehouse, administration, sales department and truck drivers. As the fleet is already on-road at 4.30am it doesn’t suffer from traffic disruptions now prone to last mile services in most

major metropolitan areas in Australia.

In general, the drivers are returning to Brisbane by mid-afternoon.

“Those extremities aren’t an issue because all the traffic is going the other way,” Don says. “We’re generally travelling against the traffic. We’re coming back from the Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast in the afternoon when everyone is heading out, say, on a Friday afternoon or holiday period.”

It makes sense, given the nature of the product, that SEQ Ice Cream works on a call schedule split between summer and winter. Just as the core of the business is based around Brisbane, many people, however, will go on holidays to the outer lying coastal areas.

“That is a great balancer for the business because generally when everyone comes back to school and work in the Brisbane area the business is quite busy and when everyone goes on holidays the other extremities are busy,” Don says. “From a resource point of view we get a reasonable balance

Shaun, who spends most of his time now in the office, will occasionally drive one of the trucks.

“For what they deliver Hino are certainly a more cost-effective option particularly for a company like ours that works to scale... We’ve got a few trucks on the road so every dollar counts. Hino deliver a quality product at a reasonable price compared to their competitors. I think there’s huge advantages for us when they do a similar or better job than the competitor does at a cheaper price.”

Don Mackaness SEQ Ice Cream, Director

there. It works well. Generally, we would increase those delivery frequencies during summer based on demand.

We will still call customers nearly as regularly, but the volume of drops would increase as would the volume of delivery numbers that sales value going out each day.”

Don, who holds both a Bachelor of Applied Science and an MBA, moved to Brisbane five years ago after having worked on the Southcoast of NSW for 18 years building up another business.

Taking over the Southeast Queensland Operation was contingent on a definitive growth plan. The predicate for

this hinged on committing to different boundaries of additional customers and providing better efficiencies with cost savings, for the parent company of Streets, Unilever.

“For what they deliver Hino are certainly a more cost-effective option particularly for a company like ours that works to scale,” Don says. “We’ve got a few trucks on the road so every dollar counts. Hino deliver a quality product at a reasonable price compared to their competitors. I think there’s huge advantages for us when they do a similar or better job than the competitor does at a cheaper price.” p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

39

TRUCK & TECH

RIDERS

IN THE

With a strong emphasis on customer service, Everstin Group caters for a vast range of bulk transport needs. The company recently acquired a Mercedes-Benz Actros tipper matched with a Bulk Transport Equipment five-axle dog.

W

ith a core offering involving the supply and haulage of quarry products, Everstin Group offers a diverse range of services in a 24/7 operation designed to meet the considerable expectations of its customers. In addition to providing local and interstate haulage from its headquarters in Melbourne and branches in Brisbane and Adelaide, the company also stockpiles its own materials to ensure integrity and continuity of supply to its client base.

Everstin’s list of services is extensive, including bulk haulage of sand, glass, crushed rock from quarry to site 40

o c t obe r 2020

and asphalt for road works.

Since its formation in 2006, the firm has also offered demolition services including rubbish removal and land remediation, along with construction services, warehousing, grain storage and pallet racking.

Based at Melbourne head office in Hoppers Crossing, Everstin General Manager Ross Winkworth joined the company around three years ago, sensing an ideal opportunity to be a part of a dynamic business that was on the way up.

Ross comes from a logistics background and was previously employed as Commercial Manager-Logistics

by O-I Australia, a glass bottle manufacturing company that was recently acquired by Visy.

“Opportunity calls and I am excited to be a part of Everstin and to have seen it grow from a smaller company into the medium-sized business it is today,” Ross says. “I have enjoyed the chance to get my hands dirty and to play a part in that growth — that’s been the key motivation for me.”

Ross says the business has diversified while staying true to its roots in tipper and tanker work, having built up its workshop and engineering capabilities in a value-adding effort for its existing clients. This includes the addition

Mercedes-Benz 2658 with five-axle dog.

CHARIOT of warehousing for clients who had previously received point-to-point transport from the company.

Everstin offers another service in which it caters to various concrete companies including ICL where specific materials are imported from overseas.

“We’re providing a full-service offering, handling their freight from origin, say Malaysia or North America, taking care of the shipping, wharf cartage to warehouse, decanting and debagging and last mile delivery,” Ross says.

These products, he explains, are generally niche materials including industrial minerals used in specialty cements as well as limestone and sand products.

With a large chunk of the business revolving around the safe and efficient transport of bulk commodities, it’s

hardly surprising that Everstin is continually on the lookout for the most suitable trucks for its various applications.

The company has around half a dozen Mercedes-Benz trucks in the fleet, ranging from prime movers pulling flattop semis and tankers, through to the latest acquisition being an Actros 2658 towing a five-axle dog trailer.

Ross describes the new Actros as a good piece of kit and says the drivers love it.

“It’s a great package in terms of pricing, servicing and after-sales support.

Because we have a large variety of work, we need to choose the best vehicle for each specific application,” Ross says.

“We’ve always had Mercedes-Benz trucks in the tipper fleet and we believe for the truck and dog work the Actros is a very good fit.”

He reiterates the value to the company of the full commercial package offered

by Daimler Trucks including the five-

Everstin GM Ross Winkworth. p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

41

TRUCK & TECH

year warranty, and, more importantly, the safety package, driver comfort, fuel economy and low emissions.

“From our perspective for this task you can’t beat it, and they look good too, which also helps,” he says. The Performance-Based Standards (PBS) approval for the five-axle dog to operate in Melbourne, according to Ross, was something of a labour of love.

“We have them elsewhere but to have one in Melbourne finally is a really good step forward for us,” he says. “We are pleased that Mercedes-Benz was able to come to the party and help us get it over the line.”

After being in service for a few months the new unit has already clocked up more than 40,000km which Ross says is due to the high utilisation which is a hallmark of every truck in the fleet.

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“We believe we have a bit of a niche with our operation and we have had a lot of referrals through word-of-mouth, and usually they come in threes. You get one driver and then suddenly you have two more who have come from a similar space and area of expertise.”

Ross Winkworth Everstin General Manager

The aim is to keep the trucks working as much as possible to ensure each asset is providing the best possible return on investment.

Ross says the company plans to keep the Actros for five years to make full use of the extended warranty. By that stage, he estimates, it would have travelled close to 500,000km.

“That’s the intent anyway,” he says. “But it depends on what’s available at the time and what’s happening in terms of contract arrangements.”

As for servicing, Daimler Trucks Laverton has been entrusted to the task and recently performed the first major service on the new Actros.

At the present time there are 32 people

BTE built the five-axle dog trailer.

employed at Everstin’s Melbourne headquarters, the majority of whom are drivers, along with four in the office taking care of accounts and management duties, in addition to several mechanics and boilermakers in the workshop and warehouse.

“We’re big enough as a company to operate efficiently with economies of scale but still small enough that every employee is known personally,” Ross says. “We still operate like a family company in that regard.”

Average tenure of employees is around five to six years while some of the key people in operations – “they’re a wealth of knowledge” per Ross – have been with the company since its inception in 2006.

The driver recruitment process is an in-house operation with word-of-mouth

The new unit is PerformanceBased Standards approved.

being the preferred method according to Ross.

“We believe we have a bit of a niche with our operation and we have had a lot of referrals through word-of-mouth, and usually they come in threes. You get one driver and then suddenly you have two more who have come from a similar space and area of expertise,” he says.

Finding good drivers, particularly in the tipper and dog realm, is generally a greater challenge these days Ross opines.

“The turnover of drivers in the industry generally seems to be rather high, which is why we’re pleased that we don’t have a high turnover of drivers, especially in our key positions,” he says. “In particular, experienced truck and dog drivers, those that know the ins and outs of the role, are becoming rare as hen’s teeth.”

Ross says the industry is suffering from

a lack of quality training for drivers and that the issues this creates could be having an adverse effect on productivity.

He insists that looking after the drivers is the only way to retain the skillset that a professional outfit like Everstin needs.

“Our people are the most important asset in the business and we’re fortunate that in the current COVID climate we still have the work to keep them employed,” Ross says. “In fact, this has been the busiest winter period on record for us.”

For a transport company, keeping busy enables not only the retention of skilled employees but the purchase of new equipment. Testament to this premise is Everstin’s recent Mercedes-Benz Actros 2658 and BTE five-axle dog acquisition.

This, in turn, creates much-needed work for equipment manufacturers and retailers, and so the cycle continues. p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

43

TRUCK & TECH

THE

WEATH MAN JCM Spreading is a specialist business whose remit requires reliable four wheel traction for its fleet of MAN commercial vehicles.

JCD Spreading exclusively runs MAN 4x4s around Victoria.

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ER

T

he ground is soggy underfoot.

Dams are nearing capacity.

The State’s biggest catchment, the Thompson Dam, received 166mm in July and is nearly 70 per cent full, an increase of 19 per cent on the same time last year. It’s been one of those winters in Melbourne. Sudden downpours often clearing before an unsettling southerly has damp trees lashing each other. Everything seems more vivid, greener. Since April the landscape of the outer metropolitan fringe has taken on a pastoral quality one associates with postcards from the Welsh countryside. The first four months of the year saw over 400mm of rain across the state, the second wettest start to the year since 1924.

All that is good news for farmers and livestock. For transport businesses servicing the agricultural sector it can be more problematic. Site access for fertiliser specialist JCM Spreading is an

imperative part of their operations and one they take seriously. They must move when they can and when they can move they can’t afford to get stuck.

Contending in all terrain environments especially soft paddocks such as those likely encountered around Melbourne during its six-month long winters makes the choice of commercial vehicle a simple one for Justin McGhee owner of JCM Spreading. He runs four MAN TGM 18.340 4x4s from his base of Koo Wee Rup, a rural area on the edge of Western Port Bay. As a subcontractor for Brown’s Fertilisers, Justin co-ordinates his team of drivers, of which he is also one, between orchards, golf courses, sports grounds, dairies and beef farms from West Gippsland, the Mornington Peninsula, the Yarra Ranges and as far west as Bacchus Marsh.

“We do anything really that requires fertiliser that we can get trucks onto,” Justin says. “That can often mean

p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

45

TRUCK & TECH

MAN TGM 18.340 4x4.

working in paddocks and on the hilly mountain goat stuff.”

The carrying and towing capacity of the MAN TGM 18.340 makes it appealing.

Its low tare weight is considered ideal for adding a spreader body. This part of the build is not performed by Westar Trucks in Derrimut where they were purchased but in Violet Town in Central Victoria.

Once the cab chassis is ready the vehicle is sent to Comspread Engineering, who fit the bin, with electronics. From there the truck gets shipped back so it can be equipped with the central tyre inflation system by CTI before it enters service.

The build and attachment of the spreader bin takes around eight weeks.

As the trucks are turned over every four years the process has been mastered to the point the spreader bin is usually ready to go each time Justin invests in a new model MAN. “By the time you add on the spreader body and the other bits and pieces they are still lighter than an IVECO or Mercedes-Benz and a few other trucks weightwise,” he says. “The power to weight ratio on the MANs is very good.”

The engine more than compensates for the relatively light 15 tonnes cab chassis with 340 horsepower. The wheels can be locked via front and rear wheel diff locks, a given for the application.

Pressure on each tyre can be changed from in the cab through an air inflation 46

o c t obe r 2020

system. Justin opts for an aggressive radial Michelin super single tractor tyre rated to a 95 TLR index. It’s ideal for softer ground and varying conditions.

“It gives you superior traction to get around on site,” he says. “On farms we can’t afford to get stuck. My rule is don’t make a mess. We spread fertiliser not mud.”

The automated ZF 12 9-speed transmission helps to squeeze the most from its low range especially on steep embankments. Offroad the gearing approaches a ratio 1.6:1, almost halving every gear for greater safety and control.

“That’s how our drivers like to work,” Justin says. “I’ve found the reliability to be excellent.”

Justin measures the lifespan on the vehicles in hours rather than kilometres.

The business does between 2200 to 2500 hours across the fleet for the year.

Vehicles are serviced every 400 hours.

That works out, according to Justin, roughly every five to six weeks depending on how busy the business is at the time.

“It’s what works best for us at the moment,” says Justin. “I’m told by people that we do a lot more hours than many of the other depots do. There’s less of us guys so we work more efficiently across the longest hours we can. So that at least when you get to the quiet times of year you don’t have as many staff not doing as much. The work is always

there for us.”

The job itself is dependent on environmental factors such as the requirements that differ between agricultural or horticultural practices and spreading lime versus spreading fertiliser. Justin’s drivers have different capabilities. Some are attuned to market gardens where foul manure is more commonly used while others are experienced hands on dairy farms.

They specialise where its appropriate.

One might be more experienced working in apple orchards. As the boss Justin is adaptable to all job types and conditions. He’s had to be.

“I’m in the trucks all the time so I pretty much do everything,” he says. “I’ve been at it for a while.”

Justin started out working for a local depot. That lasted 13 years before he went out on his own. An opportunity to work with trucks arose at a market garden where the owner had announced his intentions to semi-retire. So Justin purchased two of his trucks.

That original truck, also a MAN, had accumulated an impressive 22,000 hours by the time it was sold for $60,000. He vouches for the resale value of the MAN vehicles.

“I’ve bought, to this point, seven new trucks and sold three of them. The resale value is great,” he says. “Every time I’ve got back good money on the trucks and

they’ve done upwards of 10,000 hours.”

Smart investments in diversifying its customer base means the business, unlike some others in Central Victoria, isn’t overly reliant on seasonal activity.

In December when things tend to get quiet JCM Spreading can focus on asparagus fertiliser locally.

“It so happens that certain work gets busy when other work is stopping. We do a large variety of work,” he explains.

“The horticultural work we do falls during the dryer months when there’s not as much fertiliser so that offsets demand. Most dairies and beef farms are winding down around Christmas for boosting in hay and silage.”

The work continues all year round.

Generally, the most limiting factor is flooded paddocks. Whereas many firms might go quiet over the summer JCM Spreading has diversified its customer base to ensure the trucks are always in use. In April the business was at its busiest as many farmers were concerned that there might be shortage of fertiliser with international shipping coming abruptly to a halt. JCM Spreading increased its customary output, as a result, by close to 25 per cent according to Justin. The electronic tracking on the new MAN TGM trucks helps Justin cost out every job. He’s also now able to carry more product (the chassis rails are only 220mm tall) while reducing

Comspread Engineering builds and fits the bins in Violet Town in Central Victoria.

fuel consumption. MAN’s ongoing evolution in engine technology means the new TGM Euro 5 SCR version is on order and due to arrive later this year, complementing the proven EGR engine available today.

Given its superior tare weight, the MAN TGM is often the preferred medium duty truck of companies that use mobile cranes and cherry pickers, common

“Ausure Horizon are there when I need them”

“No one does it better”

Murray Ditton - Ditton Bulk Haulage

Paris Corless - I Can Dig It Excavations

among energy providers, given special purpose vehicles can legally go to 17-tonnes. In the fertiliser segment they remain an undisputed champion in Victoria.

“Other people sing the praises of other trucks and they also complain about them a lot,” he says. “I’ve been around for 20 years and MAN is by far the best truck in this application.”

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TRUCK & TECH

The new Hino 300 4x4 series.

CONTROL V Safety systems have played a major role in impacting freight movements in Australia. None more so than Vehicle Stability Control which has done much to improve safety on our roads.

V

ehicle technology has developed to reduce the likelihood of accidents caused by a number of factors including, but not limited to, human error, inclement weather and adverse road conditions. Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) was first offered in cars in the late 1980s. The system includes both roll control and yaw control that autonomously corrects oversteer, understeer and rollover situations.

Roll control systems sense the lateral acceleration of a vehicle and reduce the risk of rollover through reducing engine torque and strategically applying selected brakes. Yaw control allows the driver to point the vehicle in the desired direction, with individual wheels braked to maintain directional stability.

In heavy vehicle applications, VSC can only be fitted to powered units such as rigid trucks and prime movers. Roll 48

o c t obe r 2020

Stability Control (RSC) can be fitted to trailers and also provides significant safety benefits by mitigating the likelihood of rollovers.

RSC provides roll control in a similar manner to VSC but does not include yaw control. While stability control systems will not prevent all rollover incidents, both VSC and RSC allow a driver to maintain control of their vehicle with the aim of ideally avoiding or at the very least reducing the severity of a rollover or other incident.

As a Toyota group member, Hino has been at the cutting edge of safety developments in trucks over the last two decades, having cleverly adapted Toyota passenger car safety technology to suit commercial vehicle applications. Back in 2001 with the release of the light-duty Dutro, forerunner of the 300 Series, Hino became the first to market with SRS driver’s airbag, disc brakes and ABS on a light-duty truck.

By 2011 Hino’s 300 Series became the first light-duty truck with standard VSC, with this precedent flowing through to the medium-duty 500 Series Wide Cab and Standard Cab versions in 2017 and 2019 respectively, and subsequently the 300 Series 4x4 in 2018.

Subsequent to this, the company now offers VSC as standard equipment on every model from its 300 Series that can be driven on a car licence, through to the 500 Series 6x4 350hp FM variant.

Daniel Petrovski, Hino Australia’s Manager of Product Strategy, explains that the benefits of having standard VSC across the light and medium-duty Hino range are far-reaching, and even more so with the 300 Series 4x4 model.

“VSC has long been recognised as a lifesaving system both on and off-road, and there are some mines that now accept that if a vehicle is so equipped and also has an ECE R29 compliant cab then the

requirement for a rollover protection system (ROPS) is negated,” he says. “This saves around 350kg on the front axle and $10,000 plus on the cost of supplying and installing the ROPS. We’re the only Japanese manufacturer with VSC and disc brakes on a light-duty 4x4. The others have drum brakes with ABS only.”

More than 90 per cent of the vehicles that Hino has sold in the past year are equipped with VSC. In addition to VSC, Hino introduced PCS (Pre-Collision System) as standard on its 500 Series Standard Cab range in early 2019 and now on its latest 300 Series. Also known as Advanced Emergency Braking System (AEBS), PCS uses a radar to monitor the distance between the vehicle and objects ahead, automatically applying the brakes if it senses a collision is imminent.

“You can’t have PCS without VSC,” Daniel says. “We have equipped all our light and medium-duty models with VSC to enable PCS as the next level in safety protection for our customers.”

At the heavier end of the market, PACCAR’s latest DAF range is also equipped with VSC as standard, with PACCAR Brand Manager Tim Car saying the recently superseded Euro 5 DAF 6x4 prime mover models were also fitted with VSC as standard.

“With our new Euro 6 models, VSC is standard across the board,” he says. “This

Vehicle Stability Control is now standard on new Euro 6 DAF models.

Latest Cleary Bros Freightliner Columbia agitator with VSC.

safety technology is already mandated in Europe and we get the benefit of carrying this over to our Australian range. With the latest range we are now up to Version III of EBS which is included in all the new products coming from Europe which are calibrated for our local road conditions at the Eindhoven factory.”

The Eindhoven engineering team has committed to extensive development work to ensure the system is right for Australian conditions. Tim says customer feedback has always been positive in respect of the safety systems installed in DAF trucks and that the mandating of VSC on trucks will be a great advantage to the drivers and other road users operating around the trucks.

He also highlights the added benefit of

‘smart’ trailers – those equipped with RSC – where the electronic stability measures flow through to the trailer, making the entire combination safer. The VSC fitted to Euro 6 DAF prime movers is compatible with single trailer and B-double combinations.

“The inclusion of all the safety packages including VSC provides a safer work environment for drivers and DAF is in a strong position in this respect with the level of safety equipment that is furnished as standard with our new trucks,” Tim says.

DAF Euro 6 models offer, as standard equipment, adaptive cruise control (ACC), forward collision warning (FCW), advanced emergency braking system (AEBS-3), lane departure warning system (LDWS), vehicle stability control (VSC), protective cab suspension and construction and driver’s air bag with two seat belt tensioners.

When it comes to operating concrete agitators, Steve Crandell, General Manager Concrete & Transport at Cleary Bros (Bombo) near Wollongong, believes VSC is a non-negotiable.

“For high centre of gravity trucks like agitators I wouldn’t run without VSC,” Steve says. “It’s the first thing you look for in the specifications when you’re searching for a new unit and you wouldn’t put one on the road without it.”

The two newest trucks in the fleet are Freightliner Columbia p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

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TRUCK & TECH

Scania R 650 on road in Brisbane for Silk Contract Logistics.

CL112 10x4 agitators which can carry 7.6 cubic metres of concrete per load, with a gross vehicle mass (GVM) of 31.5 tonnes allowed under Mass Management.

“We received our first unit two years ago and the second around 12 months later and we couldn’t be happier with them —

The fleet includes Scania R 620 and R 650 prime movers hauling Performance-Based Standards (PBS) approved A-doubles at weights ranging from 86 to 119 tonnes GCM, the latter only operating within the Port of Brisbane precinct.

“We have 10 of the 86-tonne GCM

“The VSC is intrinsically linked to the PBS arrangement of the combinations and you have to have the right prime movers that are capable of controlling the EBS systems on the trailers.”

Kip Sandercock National Transport Operations Manager, Silk Contract Logistics

they have good build quality and are a perfect fit for the application,” Steve says.

Running trucks at the higher end of the weight spectrum with Gross Combination Masses (GCM) of more than 100 tonnes in some cases, Kip Sandercock, National Transport Operations Manager of Silk Contract Logistics is equally enthusiastic about the value of VSC and RSC that are standard features across the company’s fleet of prime mover and multi-trailer combinations.

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units which we run out from Brisbane through Toowoomba and Goondiwindi, sometimes as far as Wee Waa in northwest NSW,” Kip says. “The VSC is intrinsically linked to the PBS arrangement of the combinations and you have to have the right prime movers that are capable of controlling the EBS systems on the trailers.”

What’s interesting about the system, according to Kip, is the way individual brakes are applied at exactly the right

pressure to arrest the instability.

“If you get a sway on the back trailer and you apply the brakes it just pulls it back into line perfectly without any wheel lockup and this extra control is the reason why you’re allowed the extra payload capacity under PBS,” he says.

VSC can also sense when a vehicle is at risk of becoming unstable and automatically applies the correct brakes in sequence to bring it back under the driver’s control.

Silk carries containerised cotton and grain, with two 40 foot containers carried on each A-double combination.

The highly effective hydraulic retarders fitted to the Scanias, ne plus ultra for descending steep grades like those of the Toowoomba Range, along with what he describes as amazing fuel economy, have been main driving factors for choosing the Swedish brand according to Kip. VSC in its various iterations is one of the most valuable contributors to safe commercial vehicle operation in everything from the light-duty Hino at 4.5 tonnes GVM through to the A-double combination under PBS at 86 tonnes GCM.

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TEST DRIVE

THE CONVENTIONAL

RE VOL North America’s best-selling and most advanced heavy duty truck is now available in Australia and New Zealand.

A Detroit DD13 delivers power and torque figures formerly associated with much larger engines.

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UTION T

here has been much written about the Freightliner Cascadia, and with good reason. The Cascadia holds a dominating 40 per cent of US ‘Class 8’ market which is the equivalent to our own Heavy Duty sector, and after being subjected to comprehensive bumper to tail light engineering reviews and the most exhaustive truck testing regime imaginable, America’s most advanced conventional cab truck is now available in Australia and New Zealand.

The claimed investment of $100 million to develop and refine the already ultrasuccessful Cascadia for the Australian and New Zealand markets appears from every aspect to have been well spent and a good investment.

At various times throughout the development of the Cascadia for the Australian market, Prime Mover has driven left hand drive versions in Australia and right hand drive Cascadia’s in the US so we have a degree of positive anticipation about this opportunity

Cascadia uses a ‘road reading’ Intelligent Powertrain Management.

to operate the truck with the steering wheel on the ‘correct’ side of the road.

For the purposes of road assessments by some fleets and the Australian media, this particular daycab Cascadia has been connected in both B-double and single trailer configurations. We opt for a single trailer set-up for sections of the route which includes roads on which B-doubles are not permitted.

The route taken is an eclectic mix of New South Wales highways and country roads, culminating in the testing haul up the west face of Mount Victoria before descending the more gentle slope on the east side of the Blue Mountains escarpment.

The 13 litre DD13 engine has the power/ torque figures of 505hp and 1850 lb-ft which only a few years ago would have been considered good specifications from a 15 litre engine. The advanced level of sophistication of the fuel control systems has resulted in the usable torque becoming available at significantly low crankshaft revolutions. Maximum torque is available at 975rpm. This allows for the implementation of lower numerical ratio final drives to result in down speeding of the engine with the benefit of improved fuel efficiency and lower exhaust emissions. As it already exceeds the stricter US GHG 17 emission standards, the engine comfortably meets Euro 6 standards despite them not being mandated here yet.

In addition to being very effective, the three stage engine brake is much quieter than expected and operates harmoniously with the Descent Control function to keep vehicle speed in check on downhill runs.

The transmission is the automated DT12 driving through Meritor driveshafts and p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

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TEST DRIVE

The Freightliner Cascadia has the flexibility to operate in most PBS combinations.

diffs. Our test combination has a gross weight just under 41 tonnes and at every point of the 460 kilometre test loop there is confidence that the right ratio is selected, even on the short but very steep ascent up from the flooding Abercrombie River gorge and the longer climb of Mount Victoria, thanks in part to the Cascadia’s GPS-based and ‘road reading’ Intelligent Powertrain Management. An 18-speed Eaton manual transmission is available as an option.

The Freightliner AirLiner rear suspension rides smooth over the differing surfaces which is no surprise to us having witnessed the pounding Cascadia test trucks endured on the exaggerated corrugations of the Daimler Trucks test centre in Madras, Oregon.

Freightliner has made an applaudable decision to include many advanced safety features as standard equipment on the Australian-delivered Cascadia’s including the fully-integrated Detroit Assurance 5.0 which uses radar and high definition camera technology for Active Emergency Braking and to facilitate the Active Cruise Control. The system has the capability to detect a slower or stationary vehicle or even pedestrians, and in an emergency the Autonomous Emergency Braking can quickly bring the truck to a complete stop with no input from the driver.

Tailgate warning, lane departure warning, intelligent (self-dipping) high beam and automatic wipers and headlamps are 54

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all also standard equipment, as are the expected anti-skid brakes, traction control and Electronic Stability Control.

The Sideguard Assist system uses two short-range radars (one aiming forward and one aiming back) on the kerbside to warn the driver of potential trailer collisions with objects such as utility poles or street signs when turning left (Trailer Sweep Assist) and, also warns the driver if they are about to merge left into an lane already occupied (Turn Assist).

This blind spot safety system uses audio warnings as well as a yellow light on the kerbside A pillar to alert the driver of a potential collision.

The Cascadia has tapered frame rails which provide the double benefits of a lower centre of gravity plus a lower and flatter cab floor. This test truck is the Cascadia 116 daycab. It’s easy to get in and out of, and is comfortably spacious despite not being a sleeper. The 116 nomenclature refers to the crucial bumper to back of cab (BBC) measurement which on this model is 116 inches or 2,970 mm which provides the flexibility for operating as a maximum length B-double or in most PBS combinations.

The interior ergonomics associated with the Cascadia’s operation are impressive as the instruments, controls and switches set out in a manner that is logical and readily accessible. Forward vision through the one-piece windscreen is extensive thanks to the sloping bonnet.

The use of the single piece screen has aerodynamic benefits and permits the use of conventional channel rubbers to locate the screen which makes replacement more straightforward and avoids the time required for chemical seals to ‘cure’, meaning off-road time is minimised.

The batteries are positioned under the passenger seat and Freightliner offer other location options including behind the cab or between the chassis rails.

Aerodynamics to save fuel are a major factor in the design of the cab which also benefits from good insulation to smooth out external temperature extremes and reduce noise in the interior. Triple door seals contribute to the exclusion of outside noises in addition to their primary function of keeping out dust and moisture.

The Cascadia has a corrosion resistant alloy cab fitted with steel doors which meets the ECE R29 cab strength criteria.

Good design and manufacturing results in a cab free from squeaks or rattles which is just as well due to the quiet ambience of the cab. The source of the only rattle detectable in this truck (which has travelled around 25,000 kilometers) is quickly determined to be due to the temporary installation of an aftermarket communication component rather than anything to do with Freightliner’s design or manufacturing processes.

Freightliner’s technical expertise results in the successful integration of Europeanlike sophistication into an unmistakably American-style conventional truck and has given local operators the very best features of both, with negligible compromises. In order to extract the most benefit from this level of sophistication Freightliner are providing a complimentary driver training program with each new sale which highlights the key elements of maximising driver experience, vehicle safety and fuel efficiency. High profile local fleets including Linfox and McColl’s have been among the first in Australia to take delivery of the Cascadia.

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OCTOBER 2020

Under Performance-Based Standards more commonly known as PBS, heavy vehicle productity has been transformed in Australia.

Despite the many detailed requirements the concept of PBS is simple. Operators and manufacturers are empowered to develop vehicles that meet a series of performance based criteria such as swept path, tracking stability, group and combination axle loadings, startability and gradeability meaning they are no longer bound to prescriptive regulations that define length, width and mass of trucks and trailers. In the new era of high Behind the people who Prime performance freight vehicles (HPFVs) keep Australia moving Mover looks at the latest developments in the PBS phenomenon and how these innovations have brought about major advantages for operators, OEMs and industry.

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Industry Fleet: Everstin Group Feature: SEQ Ice Cream Spotlight: JCM Spreading Personality: Paul Graham

Innovation Fleet: Brooks Hire Service Technology: Vehicle Stability Control Test Drive: Freightliner Cascadia 116 Final Mile: Ford Transit

T H E P E O P L E & P R O D U C T S T H AT M A K E T R A N S P O RT M O V E

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FINAL MILE

RUBBER

SOUL It seems the Ford Transit has been around forever and has earned its place in the popular lexicon as the generic term for all vans of its type.

Optional high roof configuration takes cargo capacity to 8.3 cubic metres.

‘N

ext-Gen’ is a term that is often inappropriately used but Ford’s application of it to the latest Transit van range is well and truly justified. Over the past 55 years the Transit has developed from a box on wheels with a wheezy V4 engine in 1965 to the stylish, pleasure-to-drive and practical vehicle it is today.

The 2020 Transit is now loaded with technology in addition to having undergone a style make-over including a contemporary front area with sleek headlamps.

As with the Ford Ranger utilities, Ford now includes, as standard equipment, the Driver Assist Technology package in the Transit. This includes Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) and Pedestrian Detection (PD), Adaptive Cruise Control and Lane Departure Warning. Vans such as the Transit are likely to have applications involving deliveries to addresses in places such as pedestrian malls so the AEB and PD provide practical support to drivers negotiating areas of high pedestrian traffic. The Dynamic Stability Control system includes functions to address cross winds and trailer sway. The 56

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The Transit’s Blind Spot Information System detects any vehicle potentially in either side’s blind spots and alerts the driver by activating a warning indicator in the side mirror.

Adaptive Cruise Control and the PreCollision Assist are driver confidence boosters and the Lane Departure Warning provides audio and physical alerts if the driver allows the Transit to wander out of its lane. A benefit of the electric power steering is the ability to vibrate the steering wheel in these circumstances in case the driver ignores the audible warnings.

In a solid sided van such as the Transit, even with good mirrors, blind spots can still be a problem, especially in traffic.

The Transit’s Blind Spot Information System detects any vehicle potentially in

either side’s blind spots and alerts the driver by activating a warning indicator in the side mirror.

The Next-Gen Transit has a new dash, much of it similar to the Ford Fiesta passenger cars and includes updated instruments and control and switch panels with an 8.0 inch colour touch screen. Voice activated Bluetooth connection, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are included in the package along with a rear view camera and front and rear parking sensors. Satellite navigation is a $600 option.

The front compartment has six airbags

The Transit Custom is able to accommodate a 3.4 metre load length while the larger Transit Van models can handle items up to 4.2 metres. A full width bulkhead behind the seats serves as a safety barrier. and the Transit range receives a five star ANCAP rating. A trick function is embedded in the Transit which automatically dials 000 and provides the vehicle’s co-ordinates if the airbags are deployed. Automatic headlamps and windscreen wipers are also standard.

The front doors have wide openings and wide steps that facilitate easy access to the new design seating, which has cloth trim and electric heating on the outboard seats. In-cab storage is plentiful including two large bins located on top of the dash and goodsized bins plus bottle holders in the doors. The passenger seat can be flipped up to expose another ‘away from prying eyes’ compartment for laptops and valuable items such as power tools.

The Transit Custom is able to accommodate a 3.4 metre load length while the larger Transit Van models can handle items up to 4.2 metres. A full width bulkhead behind the seats serves

as a safety barrier and also enhances the efficiency of the air conditioning and heating system due to it only being required to maintain comfort levels in the smaller space of the passenger compartment.

The cargo section has numerous tie down anchor points, full flooring and is fully lined to roof height. Standard door arrangements are a kerbside slider and barn doors at the rear, with options including a driver’s side slider and lift up tailgate at the rear. The optional high roof configurations take the Transit Custom’s cargo capacity to 8.3 cubic metres and the Transit Van’s interior load volume to 13.0 cubic metres.

USB connections are expected in modern work vehicles and the Transit has two. Where the Transit over-delivers is in the provision of a 230volt 150watt invertor (400watt in some models) which is a great feature for tradies.

The standard driveline is now the 2.0

The cargo section now features multiple tie down anchor points.

Standard driveline is a 2.0 litre 125kW Ford EcoBlue turbo engine.

litre 125kW/390Nm Ford ‘EcoBlue’ engine with a variable geometry turbo which meets the latest Euro 6.2 emissions standards. In contrast, the Transit Custom Sport model gets a tweaked version with 136kW/405Nm. The engine has a stop-start function to save fuel. The transmission is an easy shifting six-speed manual on the rear wheel drive models with an option for a six-speed torque convertor automatic available in the front wheel drive Transits. A ten-speed auto is also available in selected models.

The Transit range offers a 12 month/30,000 km service interval and a five-year warranty with unlimited kilometres. The AdBlue tank has a capacity of 21 litres. Rear wheel drive models have 95 litre fuel tanks, with the front wheel drive automatics being fitted with a smaller 72 litre diesel tank. Brakes are discs all round and the suspension is McPherson struts at the front and leaf springs and shock absorbers at the rear.

In a market strongly populated by European and Asian vans, the Ford Transit, with its incorporation of robust engineering and myriad innovative features, holds its own. The standard fitment of the very comprehensive safety package is commendable and will be an important consideration in applications with a strong WHS influence. p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

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INDUSTRY

GRAND

Improved productivity was always a key reason for the establishment of the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator. Having expanded its influence and capabilities for almost eight years it has now developed its own plan to help provide benefits to much of the road transport industry.

A unique multi-combination vehicle passes through Townsville.

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Productivity Commission’s Inquiry into National Transport Regulatory Reform, the NHVR has embarked on developing its own plan aimed at improved productivity.

NHVR’s Heavy Vehicle Productivity Plan 2020–2025 (the Plan), outlines the objectives, goals and actions to deliver safe, efficient and productive heavy vehicle operations. In developing the Plan, as it has for most of its existence, the NHVR admirably undertook significant engagement with industry and government agencies at all levels in an effort to ensure the Plan ultimately reflects the contributions and needs of multiple stakeholders in the industry, while pursuing improvements in heavy vehicle productivity that are recognised and valued by general society, governments and industries.

“We engaged with 55 stakeholders in pre-submission consultation, received 23 formal submissions, presented a webinar with 178 registered participants, and held nine workshops with the Commonwealth Government, all state and territory transport agencies and all local

government associations in participating jurisdictions,” says Don Hogben NHVR Chief Regulatory and Standards Officer.

The NHVR’s Plan involves seeking new opportunities to improve access and productivity under the current HVNL but the Plan has been deliberately infused with the flexibility to adapt to any legislative changes which may occur in the future.

The Plan has three major objectives.

Objective 1: Provide access certainty and consistency; Objective 2: Partner with local government to build capability; and Objective 3: Promote safer and more productive heavy vehicles which are better for the environment and communities.

Each objective contains goals which are key elements to delivering on the intent of the Plan, and in turn, actions considered necessary to achieve the desired outcomes are suggested and prioritised.

During the consultation process priority actions were identified with shared importance among governments and industry which will deliver the greatest benefit to access and productivity.

Image credit: Cam Laird / Shutterstock.com

T

he National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has been in operation since early 2013 and after an acknowledged troubled start, which saw it overwhelmed in its attempts to manage the role of issuing OSOM permits, the Regulator regrouped under second CEO Sal Petroccitto and in the ensuing years has progressively increased its operational footprint including assuming the onroad enforcement role in a number of states. One of the original intentions in establishing the NHVR was to improve road transport productivity by aligning regulations within participating states with a ‘one nation, one rulebook’ approach. As work towards that once lofty goal continues to play out, the NHVR is able to focus some of its attention on considering the details of indeed how productivity in the road transport sector can be enhanced.

While the industry waits for the outcome of the National Transport Commission’s review of the Heavy Vehicle National Law Act 2012 (HVNL), as well as the

DESIGNS Don Hogben NHVR Chief Regulatory and Standards Officer.

Fundamentally, these priority actions can be categorised as contributing to increasing the coverage of notices and gazetted and pre-approved networks, improving the Performance-Based Standards (PBS) scheme, and helping governments make more-informed decisions.

The plan identifies a number of ‘short term’ actions with a timeline of one to two years which include the targeted elimination of access permits by encouraging road managers to expand gazetted and pre-approved networks through enhanced data-sharing solutions for historic access permit approvals.

To support improved government and industry decision-making, the NHVR Plan includes developing an access permit data hub which analyses and visualises historic access permit outcomes by road for different vehicle types.

The Plan also aims for the provision for greater access and certainty for PBS vehicles and to encourage road managers to expand gazetted and pre-approved PBS networks through enhanced data-sharing solutions for historic PBS access permit approvals and PBS vehicle designs. To further assist road managers in making

informed decisions, under the Plan the NHVR will continue to deliver and expand the range of education and training material available and will continue to facilitate forums, workshops and online training for council engineers and road managers. This will also involve the NHVR continuing to facilitate engagement opportunities between road managers and industry to build relationships and enable collaboration leading to mutually beneficial outcomes.

Medium term (2-4 years) objectives of the Plan include the development of a national mapping solution for heavy vehicle access and the continued review and promotion of the PBS scheme.

Significantly, the Plan directs that during the medium and long term periods (4+ years) the NHVR will develop a Vehicle Safety and Environmental Technology Uptake Plan to accelerate and incentivise the uptake of safety and environmental technology in the heavy vehicle fleet. This presents a genuine opportunity for the Commonwealth Government to incentivise the uptake of modern vehicles with the latest safety and environmental technologies and reduce the average age of the national road transport fleet.

As a reformist organisation, the NHVR is uniquely positioned to support a national approach to addressing Australia’s rising road freight task, which prior to COVID-19 was growing twice as fast as the population and has been predicted by a number of institutions to grow by 80 per cent during the period 2010-2030. The difficulties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic have again highlighted that ‘without trucks, Australia stops’ and the NHVR’s Plan is a de-politicised callto-action that provides in detail the necessary steps required to maintain, and even improve, efficiency and productivity in whatever the road transport environment is faced with during the next decade and beyond.

p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

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INDUSTRY

Vehicle performance data such as altitude graphs can improve route selection and reduce fuel costs.

ANALYSE

THIS

Big data is rapidly transforming Australia’s transport and logistics industry. More operators are equipping their vehicles with telematics and fleet management systems that deliver valuable data, arming them with a comprehensive, holistic view of their entire business.

T

he future of smart technology and future fleet management is now here. Designed to tell you what you don’t know, systems powered by artificial intelligence (AI) learn from your data over time to deliver personalised analytics and insights. With all this vehicle and operational data, fleet management solutions turn this info into visual insights to offer businesses significant benefits.

Research conducted by McKinsey reveals transport companies that embrace analytics in their operations can generate an additional three to five per cent return in profits.

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Here are three useful data insights, according to Teletrac Navman, that will drastically improve your business operations.

Fuel Use Fuel is the second largest expense for Australian transport businesses, as discovered in the 2019 Teletrac Navman Telematics Benchmark Report. While AI-based fleet management software lets you track your assets in real-time, you’ll also have a clear view of your vehicle’s idle times, along with insights into harsh usage like over-revving, speed or overly heavy braking.

By combining GPS fleet tracking with these insights in real-time, you can see exactly where delays are occurring to cut down on idle time that churns through fuel. With built-in search, you can ask the system where idle or excessive driving is occurring, showing you where there is opportunity to improve driver habits and reduce fuel costs. Routes can also be better optimised. Back office workers can guide workers to jobsites via the quickest route possible with turn-by-turn voice navigation. You can see where delays are occurring by viewing replays of each driver’s day. That is overlayed with vehicle performance data alongside speed and

Job and Driver Status Businesses are working around the clock to meet the increased demand brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, you still need to effectively manage your resources while ensuring workers are safe and compliant.

Fleet management systems enabled with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning offer instant visualisations of driver and asset data. With a quick glance, you can see where all your workers are and the status of their current job.

If an urgent job comes through, you can use the system to assign the nearest employee. You can also better schedule jobs based on a driver’s real-time working hours and fatigue status. The last thing you want to do is put your workers at risk.

A clearer view of each drivers’ work and rest hours takes shape with visual dashboards and compliance insights which are built into familiar tracking views that also cover vehicle maintenance information, mass data, and speed management. Rest assured your workers are compliant with Chain of Responsibility (CoR) requirements, drivers are safe and effectively managing fatigue.

Smart telematics also offer insights into driver behaviour. Managers and back office workers can easily identify problem trends and address them accordingly. Set up a geofence around common crash sites, alerting drivers to steer clear or take an alternate route. You are able to drill into the data to get a better insight into what is happening instantly — no more combing through reports that are pages long.

Vehicle Maintenance The physical condition of your vehicles plays a vital role in driver safety. Small errors can lead to potentially fatal consequences. Sending a truck off for immediate repairs, or even before it needs servicing, throws out your job scheduling, putting you at risk of missing deadlines.

Electronic pre-trip checklists keep maintenance teams aware of any new or potential faults. If the issue is severe, the vehicle can be grounded before it leaves

fleet. You can schedule jobs accordingly by relying on real-time analytics, instead of systems that just report out data and make you read between the lines or manual paper service logbooks that could be outdated or filled out with inaccurate information.

Not only does all this data streamline vehicle servicing, but you’re guaranteeing the safety of your drivers and other road users.

According to the Teletrac Navman

IMage credit: Shuang Li / Shutterstock.com

altitude graphs, allowing you to see where there is opportunity to improve routes to cut fuel costs.

The Telematics Benchmark Report found businesses leveraging the power of technology reduced their fuel use by an average of 9.5 per cent. Where fuel costs can easily go into the six figures, this is a dramatic fuel saving for any business.

Artificial Intelligence can help with instant visualisations of asset whereabouts and job status.

the yard, or parts can be ordered to be fitted once the vehicle returns. Alongside intrinsic engine management and vehicle performance metrics, you get data on potential vehicle faults to help you swiftly address issues.

By combining electronic pre-trip checklists, vehicle maintenance schedules and vehicle analytics with data like engine hours, odometer values and service history, operators have a comprehensive understanding of the current state of their

Telematics Benchmark Report, only one quarter of Australian transport businesses are using big data to inform their business operations. Organisations that jump on advanced technologies like smart telematics solutions will immediately reap the benefits. With a complete view over your business, you can use data insights to reduce operational costs, improve driver safety, streamline vehicle servicing and improve your customer service. p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

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WOMEN IN INDUSTRY WINNER

STILL GOING

STRONG The winners for the Women in Industry Awards 2020 have been announced and Melissa Strong of Lindsay Australia has received the top honour in the road transport category.

Winner: Melissa Strong, Lindsay Australia.

W

omen representing some of Australia’s leading companies in the industrial, resources, transport and logistics sectors have been recognised for their contribution to their workplaces over the past year. The annual Women in Industry event offers an opportunity to highlight excellence and spotlight rising stars who are changing agendas across the breadth of the sectors represented. Moving to an online format this year, the ceremony recognised Melissa Strong, Lindsay Australia Safety People and Culture Manager, with the prestigious award for Excellence in Transport. As part of her acceptance speech, Strong said she felt fortunate to have found an industry she is passionate about working within.

“Social movements have contributed to this acceptance, which in turn has opened doors for the acceptance of women in roles that have normally been male dominated,” she said. “As the industry

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has matured and evolved, it has not only given me but other inspiring women more opportunities that did not exist some 25 years ago.”

Having spent her entire professional career in transport, Strong said the opportunity to work in challenging but rewarding environments has developed and shaped her in many ways.

“It doesn’t matter what industry you are in, when you’re always learning, you’re constantly developing new skills to help you move forward in your next experience,” said Strong.

As for the possibility of future career moves, Strong said she still had much to do and achieve in her current capacity.

“However, I’m open to the opportunity to continue to develop and look at other capacities within the transport industry,” she said.

When asked what advice she would give to other women contemplating a career in the industry, Strong said she would strongly encourage women to take time to look into the many roles and routes the industry has to offer. She agreed the acceptance of women in transport roles has vastly improved over the last 25 years.

“The industry is quite close with some amazing support networks through our industry associations,” she offered.

“No matter the role or size of the business you work in, there is a broader network there to support you.”

Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre Director and member of this year’s WII judging panel, Kelly Godeau, said the WII awards were an important reminder

2020 WOMEN IN INDUSTRY AWARD WINNERS Social Leader of the Year Jackie Lewis-Gray – BAE Systems Australia Rising Star of the Year Alicia Heskett – Shell Australia (QGC) Business Development Success of the Year Rachael Ashfield – ifm Efector Industry Advocacy Award Rose Read – National Waste & Recycling Industry Council Safety Advocacy Award Nadine Youssef – Sydney Trains Mentor of the Year Dayle Stevens – AGL Energy Excellence in Manufacturing Rochelle Avinu – Leica Biosystems Excellence in Mining Sarah Withell – Whitehaven Coal Excellence in Engineering Elizabeth Taylor – RedR International Excellence in Transport Melissa Strong – Lindsay Australia Limited of the outstanding work that is being achieved, as it occasioned a forum to acknowledge the achievements of the women who had been bestowed the honour of a nomination.

“At the same time, we must pause regularly to celebrate the small wins along the way,” said Godeau. “We saw nominations from some of Australia’s largest businesses through to smaller companies that expressed the same pride in their female staff for the work they contributed.

“The level of commitment these nominees dedicate to their roles exceeds what would be deemed necessary. It really is a proud moment for these women and our industry,” Godeau said.

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PL AC E S Lighter refrigerated containers are redefining the market of refrigerated trailers. For road transport operators looking for greater versatility, container and skel supplier, SCF, offers a comprehensive hire or buy solution with its skel and container combination for businesses that service a diverse customer portfolio.

FLEXIBLE FLEETS

SCF has the largest and most diverse fleet of intermodal containers and tanks. Available for hire on short or longer terms, any one of their intermodal containers can be combined with the hire of a SCF Skel Trailer. Available in 28ft - 48ft sizes: • 2 Pallet Wide End Door with Vertical Load Bars • 2 Pallet Wide Side Door with Mezzanine Deck • Half Height Side Doors • Tautliners • Refrigerated Containers with Vertical Load Bars • ISO Liquid and ISO Pneumatic Tanks • Skel Trailers • Vertical Load Bar • Mezzanine Deck 64

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or freight carriers, being able to interchange the body that sits on a skel means not being limited to the one configuration. Having the ability to swap out the function of a common piece of trailer equipment can also drive major utilisation improvements; an important consideration for businesses looking to expand their customer base.

Road transport operators, who aim to add value to supply chains, may not have considered intermodal containers as a way to manage their fleets with greater efficiency. Just as customers, contracts and volumes are always changing, intermodal containers provide additional flexibility through hire or purchase options, thus removing the need to commit to a specific trailer type. In this regard, SCF containers can be used as an alternative to standard trailer fleet, or as required.

SCF, who counts leading Australian road and rail users among its major customers, offers a faster way to transition into

customer diversification for fleets that, in the age of COVID, can’t afford to have too many eggs in the one basket. Through its range of containers and skel trailers, available for hire via its national depot network, the company enables customers to capitalise on using the same skel for multiple container types. Depending on the freight task, the skel provides the option to interchange between a range of container configurations, such as dry goods, refrigerated, palletised, Tautliner or tanks for bulk liquids.

As a structurally robust piece of equipment, containers more than meet the strength indicators required of road transport operators. According to Nick Schwartz, the General Manager of Intermodal Equipment at SCF, the reinforcement in the frame of the container allows for more damage protection to be added into each unit.

“We understand how operators load their equipment, and that it can have a pretty hard life,” he says. “The containers are

designed accordingly and reinforced in the areas that experience the most wear.”

Superior structural integrity allows SCF to simply add more insulation to the box.

This facilitates a better result for refrigerated goods carriers and their customers, as heat leakage into the container is minimised.

Being extra robust also ensures the container remains more durable over time.

SCF’s latest model of refrigerated container features an aluminium design. Lighter in weight, yet maintaining structural integrity, these containers are built with a vertical load bar system, airflow floors and provide multi-temperature configuration.

“The aluminium design allows us to take significant weight out of the container whilst maintaining the thermal capacity,” Nick says. “The lower tare weight provides our customer with an increased payload and therefore earning capacity.”

SCF offers a range of container types and sizes. Smaller containers are suited to heavier, denser freight, whereas cubic measured freight often requires a larger container. Flat rack models meet the requirements of irregular freight types that don’t easily fit into a standard piece of equipment. Container types include end door containers, or units with an open side range, which include a Tautliner model

DOUBLE STACKING

SCF’s Vertical Load Bar system allows for the double stacking of pallets by creating a mezzanine level when locked in place. When not in use the Vertical Load Bars are stored at the roof to allow for forklift access.

A 48ft two-pallet wide container being loaded onto a skel trailer.

for traditional curtainsider applications.

Refrigerated containers range between 20 and 48 foot in length and have diesel machinery with a fuel tank onboard so that the unit can operate independently. SCF’s tank fleet features pneumatic tanks and ISO liquid tanks, as well as a line of specialised tank containers.

SCF continues to advance the functionality of its proven container types to improve usability. One of these innovations is the Vertical Load Bar system that has been introduced to the end door container. The load bars work on a sliding vertical track in the side walls of the containers, which create a mezzanine level when there is a requirement for double stacked palletised freight, thereby preventing damage to the pallets below. The load bars can be lowered into place when double stacking pallets or pushed to the roof and out of the way of forklift traffic for single stack freight.

During peak times, when additional capacity is needed within a fleet, it provides road transport companies another crucial option.

“Instead of a skel sitting idle in the yard, it can be configured with a transport container and used for a PUD task,” says Nick. “It provides the flexibility to sideload pallets from a customer one day in a Tautliner, and the next be used as an end door container for dock freight. Next week, it might be moving refrigerated freight.

Instead of owning numerous trailer types,

it’s one skel with multiple containers that can be quickly interchanged as needed and therefore keeps the skel working.”

Challenges in the supply chain network this year, driven by longer turnaround times, have seen sudden, relentless surges for some road operators. In these circumstances, SCF have been able to provide its customers with the ability to ramp up capacity quickly, to cater to spikes in freight.

“As a national business, with a national depot network, we do carry a large volume of container stock to support our customer base, which means we can provide equipment on very short notice,” Nick says.

“It’s been critical through these times for our customers to have that access to fleet to meet surging freight demand.”

The ability to move the equipment in different ways adds a level of future proofing, according to Nick.

“It does unlock new opportunities in providing the operators with access to other modes of transport, such as rail or coastal shipping,” he says. “In addition to supplying a trailer equivalent, there is an opportunity to unlock new earning potential by offering customers new services and savings, such as rail transport.

This future proofing of fleet is especially important with the construction of the Melbourne to Brisbane Inland rail project, which operators will be able to utilise to maintain and grow their business.” p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

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PERSONALITY

LON PROMISED ROAD

Paul Graham is the Chief Supply Chain Officer at Woolworths and is also the inaugural Chair of the Healthy Heads in Trucks and Sheds Foundation.

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ealthy Heads in Trucks and Sheds is an initiative between road transport, warehousing, and logistics operators and is the first national industry-wide approach to support drivers and logistics workers with issues relating to mental health and wellbeing.

Woolworths Group, Australia Post, Coles, Linfox, Toll, Qube and Ron Finemore Transport are corporate partners of the Foundation which has been built on three key pillars: increasing the number of people trained in mental health at road transport facilities nationally, standardising policies and processes across transport and logistics industries to destress the environment for drivers, and focusing on individual mental health and improved wellness through exercise and nutrition.

Paul Graham, Woolworths Chief Supply Chain Officer.

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PM: What was the catalyst in the formation of the Foundation?

PG: The catalyst was talking with drivers and looking at our own business, and understanding mental health is a huge

G Solitary transport work can place added strain on workers.

issue in society. From an industry perspective individual companies and organisations were all trying to do the right thing with their own programs but there was no cohesive approach.

Separately we were spending money and trying to do the right thing but there would be an even better result if we had a more cohesive industry strategy. So we liaised with some people from our Woolworths supply base plus other retailers, as well as the industry, and kicked off with a workshop to understand what the challenges were and if we thought having an industrywide platform was a good idea. And now two years later we’ve kicked off the Foundation.

PM: Obviously you’re not a psychologist, but what are your thoughts on why the sector involving transport, postal, warehousing is ranked so low in terms of mental health?

PG: On the transport side obviously it’s the nature of the work, which can be solitary and involve being away from home for extended periods. Research has shown these things place a great strain on individuals. We are a 24/7 industry and we obviously have peak periods when there is a lot of pressure upon people. I also think it’s an industry which traditionally has been very male

orientated and we know the challenge we have as males to open up and talk about our problems. Also, for the driver community it doesn’t always lead to a healthy lifestyle in terms of eating habits and physical activity. Add in more traffic on the road, more documentation, more regulation and there’s a whole range of issues which can affect our people which is why we’ve built on the three key pillars to address what we think are major causes of why the industry is ranked so lowly in terms of mental health.

PM: You’ve got the NHVR involved, do you expect it to assist in the regulation space?

PG: Absolutely. The three pillars are basically making sure that across the industry we have more people on site who are trained in mental first aid and these sites will become certified, so if you see a Healthy Heads logo on the entrance to that site there are people there who are trained to help support you if you are not OK. The second thing is working with government at local, state and federal levels to try to streamline regulations to create consistency and reduce driver stress. We also want to co-operate with governments to set some standards on things like driver rest areas and the way that governments introduce regulations, so they do take into account the people in

the industry and the impact changes may have on them. The third factor involves educating people in the industry about better exercise and better diet which we all know contribute to better mental health.

PM: What do you hope to achieve in the first two years?

PG: We want the Foundation to be seen as the umbrella body in the industry for mental health. If we direct the various efforts into one cohesive program under one foundation it would make a lot more sense. We also want to be able to support the small to medium enterprises that maybe don’t have the resources of the larger corporations, to get access to best-in-class training and information which will be available for free so a single owner/operator or a business with just a couple of trucks can get access to good mental health first aid training, diagnosis and support the same way as someone working for a Linfox or a Toll.

It’s vital to make sure we get all aspects of the industry collaboratively working on improvement. That can include government, universities providing research, mental health practitioners, people at all levels of the industry, and even truck designers because there are many elements which go into creating an environment which is better for people’s mental health. p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

67

PRIME MOVERS & SHAKERS

A SPORTING

CHANCE Hino recently restructured a number of its Australian management roles, with Carley Aherns accepting the newly established position of Marketing Manager.

C

arley Aherns has been with Hino for five years yet her background is not automotive related.

Prior to Hino Carley worked for the Association for Data Driven Marketing and Advertising (ADMA) which provides marketing and advertising educational courses and events around Australia. In addition to marketing those activities, Carley performed a rebrand of the association as well.

Her first job out of university was with the marketing arm of the Dragons NRL team where she looked after sponsors and events.

“I had little knowledge within the sporting code, as I grew up playing soccer and netball and I didn’t realise how passionate fans were about the sport and the level of contribution needed to keep the fans committed.” says Carley.

Rugby League was very male dominated back then so for a female it could have been intimidating but Carley saw it as more of a challenge. Similarly, the road transport industry was not one she had been privy to previously so when an opportunity arose at Hino in marketing she was excited about the opportunity.

As a marketer, rather than a technical person, Carley is not intimidated by the 68

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Carley Aherns, Hino Australia Marketing Manager.

technical details involved in the actual truck product and consults extensively with the various departments of Hino.

“That allows me to market the product even better when I can sit down and work with the product team, or work with the service team and then understand more about the product and the servicing components because I can’t communicate with the customers if I don’t understand either,” she says.

Due to restrictions brought about by

the COVID pandemic Carley and her team were instrumental in Hino’s recent ‘virtual launch’ for the new 300 Series which provided an opportunity to be innovative and deliver a launch plan which was premium quality and have cut through in a cluttered and highly competitive market.

“Based on the industry feedback I believe we delivered on this and the messaging in relation to the new 300 Series was clear,” she says.

The ability to launch online and incorporate both pre-recorded and guest speaker elements also provided Hino with numerous advantages. This included the ability to invite more journalists to log in including many who don’t traditionally cover the truck industry, given the car licence element of many models in the Hino 300 Series. Hino also had the ability to work with the dealers on a different level than usual and the ‘virtual launch’ also provided the opportunity to reach more dealers in different areas.

“We would always do a static component of a launch with our dealers, but we were always restricted in numbers, so doing it this way, anyone could tune in and view the launch,” says Carley. “When we are launching a product that represents 58 per cent of our business we want everyone to be across it.”

The audio and video aspects of the online launch were designed to have a shelf life and act as sales tools for Hino dealers who are experiencing, especially in Victoria during the Stage 4 lockdown, the challenge of negligible one-on-one interactions with customers. Business is being conducted over the web using applications such as Zoom and the use of the video produced for the launch has already become a strong discussion point

Aherns was active in the new Hino 300 launched earlier in the year.

when putting together fleet tenders and also in local area retail marketing.

In 2015 Hino decided it needed to enhance the brand and implemented the involvement with the Supercars motorsport as part of the brand strategy.

Previous qualitative and quantitative research showed Hino’s prompt awareness was OK but the brand’s familiarity and unprompted awareness could be improved.

“We hadn’t been involved in a major sponsorship before at Hino Australia, says Carley. “So this was an opportunity

The new Hino 300 was launched virtually.

to not only improve those brand metrics but also provide our dealers with an opportunity to enhance their relationships with their own customers.

“It has definitely provided us with results from an awareness perspective,” Carley adds. “From a customer retention and acquisition perspective it’s aided in enhancing those relationships.”

She appreciates the level of inclusion and diversity emerging in the truck industry.

After five years at the company one of the key factors has been the team dynamics and supports available at Hino according to Carley. “I’m not wanting to bring feminism into this but Hino as a brand has grown for many reasons including as a diverse workplace,” she says.

When Carley first started at Hino there were only a handful of women employed there, and now women account for between 40 to 50 per cent of the staff.

“Management has always been very supportive and in my five years here at Hino I have not felt at any stage not worthy of the position I am in,” says Carley. “Within this organisation I am able to work with the different departments.

It’s a different day each day and there’s always a challenge. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else that’s for sure.” p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

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INSIGHT | VICTORIAN TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION INSTITUTE

An Industry Guide to Improve Replacement Part Quality

PETER HART

A

RTSA-i has developed a Guide for Operators of vehicles and Purchasers of replacement parts, that covers the quality-assurance actions Suppliers of replacement parts should take. The Guide defines good practice for Suppliers of replacement parts and suggests some basic questions that Purchasers should consider when making purchase decisions.

Operators should purchase good-value parts for heavy vehicles that will provide safe, reliable, and legal performance.

The use of poor-quality parts leaves the Operator vulnerable to expensive breakdowns and reworks, enforcement attention and loss of insurance cover.

These risks can be mitigated if Suppliers of replacement parts implement the quality-assurance activities specified in the Guide.

Suppliers of parts who comply with this Guide will identify appropriate technical standards; have validation test reports; keep supply records; review part failures; have a warranty policy; and provide installation and rating information.

These actions will assist the Supplier to determine and monitor the quality of parts it markets.

The Guide is applicable to all Suppliers, be they original equipment suppliers or aftermarket parts suppliers. All Suppliers of parts can and should comply with the requirements of this Guide.

Purchasers should buy parts from Suppliers who declare that they supply their parts according to this Guide, so they can be confident that practices are being followed that promote

good part quality.

The Guide classifies replacement parts into four Safety Levels, as shown in the table. The actions that Suppliers should take to ensure the quality of parts are graduated according to Safety Level.

This important work by ARTSA-i is funded by the NHVR’s Heavy Vehicle Safety Initiative, supported by the Federal Government. Version 1.0 of the Guide can be found on the ARTSA-i website. ARTSA-i’s next step is to communicate the Guide through Operator magazines, Operator associations and trade ‘electronic media’.

A group of Suppliers and Purchasers will then trial the Guide for the next 12 months to get experience of it. During this time ARTSA-i will seek the views

Safety Classification Guide: Reasonably possible consequences of Part Failure Serious crash or injury.

Vehicle is illegal.

Moderate injury.

Incapacitated vehicle.

Vehicle may be illegal.

Minor injury.

Loss of function.

Vehicle is legal.

No injury.

Inconvenience.

Vehicle is legal.

Safety 1 High

Safety 2 Medium

Safety 3 Low

Safety 4 Minimal

The Guide would have required the Supplier to have the strength of this ‘bubble gum’ cast aluminium part tested, and for continuing quality assurance checks to be made every batch.

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of a range of Suppliers, Operators and Associations about how to proceed.

Once experience with the Guide is obtained and it has been fine-tuned, ARTSA-i will discuss future promotion of the Guide with the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator.

Some examples of Safety Level are: Safety 1 Steering kingpin, steering arm, brake lining.

Safety 2 Load tiedown straps and mechanisms, brake drum.

Safety 3 Windscreen wiper rubber, fuel filter.

Q1 What is the Safety Level of the Part?

Suppliers should know the Safety Level of its parts and understand the good practice actions that are graduated by Safety Level.

Q2 What technical standard should the Part comply to?

Suppliers should identify technical standards that could be applied to the type of parts they market.

Q3 If the part could have a grading, rating or performance level, is this stated in the documentation?

Rating levels such as strength, D-value, weight, amperage, maximum pressure, flow-rate, etc., are important performance levels that should be stated in the part information.

Q4 Are written installation and safety instructions provided with the part, or otherwise available?

This information should include the rating where it is relevant to correct selection. Instructions can be important to assist with safe installation.

Q5 Are quality assurance checks conducted on at least some parts from each batch?

Suppliers should check that the quality of samples from each batch is OK, whether they are the manufacturer or not.

Q6 Does the Supplier have a written warranty policy and a means of recording and then investigating failures?

Suppliers should investigate written (or formal) complaints about premature failures and should have a warranty policy for replacing defective parts.

Additional Questions Relevant to Safety Level 1 & 2 Parts:

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Safety 4 Bonnet emblem, antenna.

Some questions that Purchasers should ask their Suppliers are shown in the box.

Dr. Peter Hart, ARTSA

Q8 Does the part have a clearly visible part number and manufacturer’s identification (label, stamping, ...)?

This is needed to verify that the correct part was supplied.

Q9 Does the batch that the Part came from have a batch number?

This is necessary so that quality problems become apparent and can be traced to a date range or batch.

Q10 Was the Part manufactured according to an engineering drawing and does the material meet a specification? What is the material strength?

Good quality parts must have properly documented and specified designs so that the performance of the part can be verified by engineering analysis and so consistent quality can be achieved.

Additional Questions for Safety Level 1 Parts Q11 Does the part have a unique serial number?

A unique serial number is not mandatory, but it is recommended.

Q12 Has the model of the Part been tested against a technical standard and if so what standard and who did the test?

There may be a suitable technical standard for a Safety 1 part such as an ADR, UN Regulation, Australian Standard or an overseas technical standard. The manufacturer of the part should have the model of the part certified by a capable laboratory against a suitable technical standard. This information should be publicly known so the Purchaser can be confident that the part will perform adequately, and the installation is legal.

Q7 Could use of the part affect compliance with a design rule or vehicle-standards regulation?

If so, proof that the vehicle will continue to comply is needed.

Q13 If there is no technical standard that can be tested Note: If the Part is used at OEM level on a comparable vehicle against (as in Q12), has comparison testing been done model, then it may be acceptable even if it is not an Original against an original equipment part for your vehicle?

Part. The Part might also have approved status that applies to A Safety 1 part should have some accreditation that provides many vehicle models. confidence that it will perform adequately.

The Guide can be found at www.artsa.com.au/replacementpartsguide p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

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INSIGHT | VICTORIAN TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION

SAL PETROCCITTO

T

his year we have all been called on to put the health and wellbeing of ourselves and those around us at the front of our mind. Whether it’s making hand sanitiser and masks part of our daily routines, doing our duty and getting tested or socially distancing, our industry has stepped up to take care of each other.

What we haven’t been talking about as much is mental health.

We often talk about the physical risks and demands of the industry — the potential for accidents, long and irregular hours, disrupted sleep patterns for example.

The fact is that pandemic or not, what isn’t talked about nearly as frequently is how tough life on the road can be on mental health and wellbeing. This is a message which is especially important now, with the increased strains of things like quarantine, border restrictions and business disruptions.

Spending so much time on the road solo for days at a time, away from friends and family, can take an enormous toll. Loneliness is increasingly being recognised as a key public health challenge, contributing to anxiety and depression as well as increasing the risk of chronic health issues later in life. The nature of our industry means that truck drivers are particularly vulnerable. I’ve heard from drivers that the uncertainty around things like border closures is making this problem worse.

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Take the time to check in on mental health It’s clear that we need to break down the stigma around mental health, particularly in an industry where more than 95 per cent of drivers are men, who are statistically less likely to seek help or talk about how they’re feeling. In fact, according to Beyond Blue, the number of men who die by suicide in Australia every year is nearly double the national road toll.

It’s time that we recognised that mental and physical health and safety on our roads are all connected. The good news is that having a conversation about mental health is not as rare for drivers as it once was. What my team hear from drivers on the road is that increasingly, people are stepping up to have the conversations with their mates and in their workplaces.

Take the example of driver Bruce Dodds, who appeared in Whiteline Television’s recent mental health video, who has proudly worn his Beyond Blue armband for 20 years and uses it as a conversation starter. Through this simple action Bruce is able to share his own story and start the dialogue with other drivers.

These conversations are tough, but they’re important and anyone can take the initiative.

That’s why I’m so proud that the NHVR is investing significantly in a number of important projects that put mental health front and centre in our conversations.

One of the most exciting recent developments is the establishment of the Healthy Heads in Trucks and Sheds initiative (HTTS), which we are supporting through a $600,000 grant from the Heavy

The NHVR is investing in projects promoting better mental health in the industry.

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Vehicle Safety Initiative (HVSI).

HTTS has brought together some of the biggest companies in the industry, including Woolworths, Coles, Linfox, Toll, Qube and Ron Finemore Transport, with the aim of being overarching umbrella body for the road transport and logistics industry for mental health and wellbeing. HHTS has been structured with the participation of smaller

operators funded by the larger founding industry members, a positive step as owner drivers and smaller operators are often left out of the conversation. We are also supporting a number of other initiatives through the HVSI that are currently underway.

The most recent round of funding saw the Transport Education Audit Compliance Health Organisation (TEACHO) receive

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$250,000 of heavy vehicle safety funding to extend the Transport Industry Mental Health Initiative: Steering Healthy Minds to more parts of the industry and the Victorian Transport Association receive funding for their project Integrating Mental Health Makes Good Business Sense.

Meanwhile, a number of projects from the previous round are ongoing. Injury Matters in Western Australia are rolling out the initial stage of their Mentally and Physically Safe (MaPS) on our Roads program, having completed their research phase. The NT Road Transport Association has also received funding for their Working for a Healthier Tomorrow project, which is conducting research around the impact on drivers of being the first responders to road accidents. Finally, the ACT-based OZHELP Foundation is using their funding to develop a mental health and wellbeing program that focuses on proactive early intervention programs and support services.

We all know that there’s no silver bullet to improve safety, but anything that we can do or industry can do with us to improve safety should be encouraged and supported. Through working together across government and industry, we can make our industry safer and healthier across the board.

Sal Petroccitto CEO, NHVR If you or someone you know needs help, you are not alone. To speak to someone 24/7, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14, or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636. p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

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Industry has kept delivering – now it’s Canberra’s turn KIRK CONINGHAM

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mong the many disruptions wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic was the need to defer the 2020-21 Commonwealth Budget, which will now be handed down some five months later than originally scheduled.

As always, ALC made a submission to the Federal Government ahead of the originally planned date. This was well before the full effects of the pandemic reached Australian shores and our industry faced the challenge of keeping essential supplies moving, despite unprecedented restrictions on movement and the effect of state and territory border closures.

All of us – governments, industry and the wider community – have learned lessons as a result of the COVID-19 experience. Perhaps more than ever before, communities now understand the very real and immediate impact that supply chain disruption can have on their daily life. As consumers witnessed empty supermarket shelves as a result of unprecedented demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a clear need to ensure that logistics operators are given the flexibility so that they can meet increased and changing demand.

This is equally true right across the supply chain — from deliveries into supermarket loading docks through to the movement of freight trains across state borders.

Perhaps the single most effective

government action taken during the pandemic to address supply chain disruption did not involve massive expenditure, but simply the removal of operational curfews through nonlegislative ministerial action.

Industry has called for the removal of such operational restrictions over many years. With many of them suspended for the duration of the pandemic, both government and the community have been able to see the benefits.

As the Prime Minister himself noted in June this year: “Trucks were allowed to resupply along roads and during hours where they were previously banned. And the sun came up the next day. It was extraordinary.”

This goes to the heart of the key point ALC has made to the Federal Government ahead of this year’s Budget. With the pandemic having placed the nation’s finances in a challenging position, this is the time to focus on regulatory reform that may not cost big money — but can nevertheless have a profound impact on supply chain efficiency.

The need for such regulatory reform was a key focus of ALC’s pre-Budget submission in January and the urgency of that task has been underscored in the supplementary submission provided to the Federal Government in August. In particular, ALC has encouraged the Government to use recently announced changes to intergovernmental relations to give renewed impetus to policy matters that have been on the agenda for many years.

ALC believes that for the most part, the National Cabinet initially established

as part of the response to COVID-19 has worked well and we supported the decision to replace COAG with National Cabinet on a permanent basis.

As part of that, an Infrastructure and Technology Committee of National Cabinet has been established, and it is imperative the Commonwealth now uses that Committee to focus on issues that maximise sectoral efficiency and therefore increase the development of jobs.

A top priority must be expediting reform of the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL), so that reforms outlined in ALC’s submission to the Transport and Infrastructure Senior Officials Committee (TISOC) in late 2019 in areas such as data collection, fatigue management and the inclusion of a National Operating Standard for heavy vehicle operators can be advanced.

This includes tasking the Committee with overseeing the process through which each jurisdiction reviews each derogation from the HVNL, to determine whether they remain a cost-effective way to deliver intended productivity or safety outcomes. If not, the derogations should be removed, in the interests of enhanced national consistency and greater certainty for the industry.

The Budget is an opportunity for the Federal Government to clearly signal its commitment in this area and to provide the financial resources necessary to meaningfully advance these muchneeded reforms.

Kirk Coningham CEO, ALC p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

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INSIGHT | TRUCK VICTORIAN INDUSTRY TRANSPORT COUNCIL ASSOCIATION

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The National Road Safety Strategy, a credible plan, or a road to nowhere?

TONY MCMULLAN PETER ANDERSON

A

ustralia’s first National Road Safety Strategy was established

by Federal, State and Territory Transport Ministers back in 1992. It was designed to provide a framework for national collaboration on road safety improvements and has evolved and been updated over the last three decades. The current, but soon to expire, version is the National Road Safety Strategy 2011 to 2020 and it introduced the concept of a Safe System Principles approach to tackling Australian road safety. This edition of the Strategy presented a ten-year plan to reduce the annual numbers of both deaths and serious injuries on Australian roads by at least 30 per cent. Noted by Governments at the time of introduction as being an “ambitious target”, how successful has this, or previous versions of the Strategy been?

Well that is a difficult question to answer because there is no official audit or review process that evaluates the initial goals against the final outcomes and here in lies a fundamental problem with the Strategy.

The Truck Industry Council (TIC) recently took part in a Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, Office of Road Safety, run consultation session to discuss, at risk accident groups/ types, priorities, actions, planning and timelines for the development and release of the next generation of the National Road Safety Strategy, that being the 2021 to 2030 version. During this session TIC raised a number of key issues and 76

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concerns including: 1. The lack of a tangible audit/review process for past Strategies 2. No current Australian regulatory recognition that the deployment of advanced safety systems is irrevocably linked to current global engine emission regulations, our government cannot simply ‘cherry pick’ advanced safety features without also adopting the latest emission standards too 3. Australia’s very old heavy vehicle fleet 4. The Federal Government’s protracted timelines for introducing new vehicle safety regulations (Australian Design Rules) that are compounded by the complex and time-consuming Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) process employed by government The second issue (2) is particularly frustrating to TIC and our members.

Within the Department of Infrastructure there are two separate groups, one that is responsible for safety technology introduction and one focused on emission regulations. It would appear that they develop policy in isolation. Whilst in the real world, truck manufacturers develop the vehicle as a whole. The reality is that the electrical architecture of a truck developed in Europe, Japan, or the USA (these three regions account for 99 per cent of Australian truck technologies) is designed to meet their market’s safety and environmental regulations. Here in Australia we lag these markets in the take-up of heavy vehicle safety technologies by about five years, however our emission regulations lag international market by close to 15 years.

This mismatch in Australian vehicle safety and environmental regulations, relative

to these key global markets, makes it very difficult, impossible in many cases, to implement the latest safety systems on trucks with an emissions platform that is a decade older.

The last two issues above (3 and 4) are significantly impacting the timeline for advanced safety technologies to penetrate through the Australian truck fleet. With the average age of our country’s truck fleet at 14.9 years and trending higher, coupled with the Australian Government currently introducing safety regulations, on average, five years after Europe, TIC has estimated the timeline for the uptake of heavy vehicle Electronic Stability Control (ESC) and Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) across the Australian truck fleet. With current uptake rates, fleet age and fleet renewal rates applied, it would take until 2049 for 95 per cent of the fleet to be fitted with ESC and a further three years, 2052, for 95 per cent of the fleet to be fitted with AEB (assuming an ADR enforcement date of 2024 for AEB). Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) estimates that these two technologies will save approximately 80 lives each year, once the technologies are fully implemented across our truck fleet. The sobering truth is that this will not be achieved for more than 32 years from now, with only incremental benefits being achieved until then.

Unless all the issues raised above are adequately addressed in the new National Road Safety Strategy 2021 to 2030 it is doubtful that the new Strategy will achieve its projected outcomes, with road users left the poorer.

Tony McMullan CEO, Truck Industry Council

VICTORIAN TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION | INSIGHT

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Buy Australian to support national COVID recovery

PETER ANDERSON

A

s I write this column, Australia has just recorded its first technical recession – marked by two consecutive periods of negative growth – since the recession we had to have in the early 1990s.

Data released for the June quarter showed the nation experienced its most significant economic contraction since the 1930s, evidenced by a collapse in GDP of 7 per cent. This is bested only by our worst annual economic contraction which occurred at the height of the Great Depression when the economy shrank by around 10 per cent.

The contraction appears to have been mostly driven by a collapse in household consumption of 13 per cent during the quarter, with discretionary spending down by a quarter and services on spending down by 18 per cent. Of the reduction in services spending, transport was reportedly the hardest hit, down a massive 86 per cent. With this category including taxis, public transport and air travel, it’s understandable how it was impacted most during the national height of COVID restrictions.

I offer this glum summary of our economic situation to provide some context around where we all find ourselves, but more importantly the opportunity it presents if we adjust our behaviour as consumers, and how we spend our money as businesses and individuals.

And while the figures are stark, there is a silver lining in them, starting with the

fact that they are in the past and reflect a time when – other than Victoria – COVID restrictions were at a peak.

Household income during the period in fact increased, fuelled by JobKeeper, JobSeeker and other subsidised income, noting that notwithstanding widespread business contractions, sectors like freight and logistics have been busier than ever.

This is income that will get injected back into the economy, and while much of it may be amassed in the biggest quarterly savings buffer Australians have accumulated since the ‘70s, savings do eventually get spent.

Therein lies the opportunity: whether you support government intervention and subsidies or not, the stimulus and savings created by the government provides a glimpse of the pathway out of the COVID economic crisis, once community health and safety measures are active and our economy starts to re-open, which Victoria is clearly a critical part of.

Those with discretionary post-COVID dollars to spend need to buy Australian wherever they can to support our economic recovery and help maintain and grow Australian jobs. And if you look at the supply chain for many consumables, there are enormous opportunities to, and reasons for, buying Australian.

The quality of Australian-made products is generally second-to-none, so that is no longer an excuse not to buy local.

And it goes without saying that when you buy local you are supporting dozens of parties in the supply chain from raw materials and ingredients, manufacturing and maintenance equipment, packaging and associated consumables, and of course local transport operators that are represented

in every movement, from paddock to plate and from factory to franchise.

It’s equally incumbent on our local, state and federal governments to get behind Australian businesses and support investment in Australia. To support the recovery, and with interest rates at record lows, it is more likely than not that every tier of government, across all jurisdictions, will initiate projects to stimulate jobs and growth. We are already hearing of infrastructure projects being brought forward, which will be a boon for our industry because of how vital transport is at every stage of infrastructure construction.

We also expect and will be encouraging state and Commonwealth governments to develop and release policies that provides incentives for individuals and businesses to spend money locally. The extension of the instant asset write-off on capital equipment up to $150,000 until the end of the year is but one example of existing policy designed to stimulate growth, but it’s important that businesses taking up incentives like this to invest in Australian-made goods and services wherever possible.

As we map our way through, and eventually out of, COVID, let’s do it in a way that recognises the quality and value of products made in Australia by businesses that are Australian-owned.

Governments, businesses and individuals investing in Australia by purchasing goods that are made here instead of overseas, will go a long way towards inspiring confidence in our capacity as a nation to produce things of great quality, as well as help to accelerate our COVID recovery.

Peter Anderson CEO, VTA p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

77

PETER SHIELDS’ NUMBER CRUNCH

Fallout Shelter severe social restrictions as factors in the justification of choosing to avoid the significant investment it requires to participate in the biennial event.

The COVID challenge has also quelled any appetite Canberra may have had for the introduction of EURO VI emission standards which will come as a disappointment to much of the local industry which has recognised the latest standard is not just related to emissions, but brings with it the technology platform required for such safety features as Autonomous Emergency Braking. This now seems to be a matter for at least another year, if not more.

The effects of the pandemic on the sales of new trucks are continuing to take hold as evidenced by the August results collated by the Truck Industry Council. Australia is navigating the deepest economic recession in history which is reflected in the sales of 2,154 new trucks and 462 new heavy vans for the month which is a contraction of 8.0 per cent from July’s truck result (-187 units). Van results, which have helped to buffer the declining truck market, are down 16.0 per cent (88 units) from the previous month.

The August 2020 truck result is down 19.0 per cent (-505 units) compared with the August 2019 total. The year-to-date accrual of 17,934 trucks is 3,141 less than at the end of August last year (-14.9 per cent).

Drilling down further, the big dollar Heavy Duty sector achieved 821 new units in August, 165 less than for the same month in 2019 (-16.7 per cent). The year-to-date total of 6,522 is 1,921 down on the first eight months of 2019 (-22.7 per cent).

Sales of Medium Duty trucks clicked up 484 in August, 160 units less than in the previous August (-24.8 per cent). The year-to-date result of 4,319 is 732 less than at the same point in 2019 (-14.5 per cent).

The Light Duty market size also reduced during August with its 849 units being 180 less than in August 2019 (-17.5 per cent). The accrued total thus far for 2020 of 7,093 is 488 units less than in August last year (-6.4 per cent).

At the end of August, the Heavy Van category has posted 4,021 new units for the year, 284 less than for the same period in 2019 (-6.6 per cent). The ‘comparatively not so bad’ result is a likely indication of the demand for home deliveries during health-related lock downs. In early September Australia Post admitted to delays caused by unprecedented demand and sought assistance from some of its staff prepared to work extra shifts and even use their own personal vehicles in an attempt to clear a backlog of packages and parcels.

The effect of the pandemic on local OEMs is evident in Volvo Group Australia’s decision to withdraw from the 2021 Brisbane Truck Show, citing the climate of uncertainty regarding travelling across state borders and the possible rapid implementation of 78

o c t obe r 2020

Aug-20

% change

ISUZU

670

-7.1%

HINO

382

-6.3%

FUSO

311

-4.9%

VOLVO

118

-16.9%

KENWORTH

159

-25.8%

IVECO

83

-17.2%

MERCEDES-BENZ

88

-33.8%

SCANIA

78

-25.4%

MACK

54

-32.9%

UD TRUCKS

53

-12.0%

FIAT

35

-11.1%

DAF

30

1.7%

MAN

17

-65.8%

WESTERN STAR

20

-18.5%

FREIGHTLINER

21

-23.2%

RENAULT

5

-37.0%

HYUNDAI

11

10.0%

FORD

12

-33.3%

VOLKSWAGEN

4

161.5%

INTERNATIONAL

3

-23.1%

DENNIS EAGLE

0

-60.0%

CAB CHASSIS/PRIME

2154

-14.9%

M-B VANS

134

-20.9%

VOLKSWAGEN VANS

115

41.1%

RENAULT VANS

129

-6.3%

FORD VANS

40

12.5%

IVECO VANS

11

-10.7%

FIAT VANS

33

-39.2%

VANS

462

-6.6%

TOTAL

2616

-13.5%

Behind the people who keep Australia moving Everything we do, every day, relies on the people who literally keep Australia moving. From the fresh food in our supermarkets, to the petrol in our cars, from the school bus, to the train you catch to work, even your holiday travel. None of it would happen without transport workers.

And behind them is TWUSUPER, the industry super fund for the people who look after you.

1800 222 071 twusuper.com.au SUPERRATINGS GOLD 2019 MYCHOICE SUPER

SUPERRATINGS GOLD 2019 PENSION

TWU Nominees Pty Ltd, ABN 67 002 835 412, AFSL 239163, is the trustee of TWUSUPER ABN 77 343 563 307 and the issuer of interests in it. 55621

WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, TRUCKIES KEEP EVERYONE GOING. Transport operators across Australia rely on Shell Rimula oils to protect their equipment operating in Australia’s tough conditions.

Contact us on 1300 134 205 or visit Shell.com.au/Rimula to find out more about Shell Rimula and the range of transport lubricants to ensure your fleet keeps going when the going gets tough.