Value of HVIA Membership

The industry has an obligation to ensure that any person who is asked to work on, near or around an EV understands the technical and safety components of the future fleet. This is a large body of work, but HVIA is diligently working through it with our members and stakeholders.

The same can be said for the two courses that will be established as the result of being successful in the NHVR’s Heavy Vehicle Safety Initiative (HVSI). This grant will see HVIA publish two online training modules, aimed at improving safety outcomes for load restraint and best practice tyre management.

Through our members, the team are busy gathering information, collateral, and intelligence, which we hope will be a new, online central repository of information and learning for the broader industry in the hope of improving safety outcomes across the heavy vehicle industry.

HVIA has also been busy advocating to government, not only around COVID-19, but other important industry issues. Some of the highlights of this work include advocacy to establish a high-level working group as the AdBlue shortage was impacting the industry; we have supported members during the RVSA transition and ROVER implementation, which has been troublesome.

We are also pleased to report that the NHVR will finally implement change in the PBS assessment simulations, using a generic tyre dataset, which will increase efficacy of assessments, remove the annoyance of anomaly fees for manufacturers and provide greater flexibility for transport operators once the vehicle is in use. This was a project that stemmed from HVIAs engineering conference in 2018.

HVIA is also currently in discussions with the Department and the Minister around truck and trailer width, which continues to dominate our advocacy efforts. It is still too early to understand the eventual outcome, but HVIA’s position is to move forward with wider trucks without delay and to spend some more time understanding the impacts for the trailer fleet. This is a complex issue with multiple views and layers of complexity, but HVIA is busy representing our members to the best of our ability.

The response from members and other exhibitors to next May’s 2023 Brisbane Truck Show has been inspiring. We are especially impressed by so many exhibitors’ forward planning, as we know that means you are just as excited as we are. Whilst our day-to-day work doesn’t stop, as we get closer to the Brisbane Truck Show, our bandwidth is certainly stretched. Planning has been especially complicated, with so many exhibitors wanting larger sites and so much change necessary within the footprint of the show. The team has worked hard to accommodate as many requests as possible and we have extended into every inch of the venue to maximise the opportunities. I acknowledge not everyone is happy, but in making the decisions we have, we believe we have been consistent in putting the best interests of the industry first.

Given the lack of international visitors in 2021, HVIA has taken the strategic decision to have a presence in Hanover where we will be inviting attendees to join a tour of Australia with our “All roads lead to Brisbane” campaign. We hope the combination of the truck show, our climate and a unique Australian heavy vehicle experience will lure many international guests back to Australia.

The South Bank Truck Festival will again be bigger than 2021, with some exciting activations allowing the industry to showcase itself to the broader community.

In other exciting news, due to the success of the inaugural Heavy Equipment and Machinery Show (HEMs), it will be back bigger and better, and has relocated to the Brisbane RNA Showgrounds.

There is so much value to be had, all on one ticket and with free transport between the venues.

Once a successful truck show is behind us, you can expect to see some changes at HVIA. Given the success of the last few years, HVIA’s next evolution will shortly be able to be implemented as we strive to provide even greater return on investment for our members. I look forward to providing greater information in due course. HVIA’s success is by and large thanks to our loyal and expanding membership; whether you have been a member since day one or just joined, we strive to make your life easier every day. I encourage you to make use of our wealth of experience, tools, resources and connections.

In closing, I would like to thank our members for their ongoing support and also pay tribute to the HVIA staff and board for their ongoing leadership and contribution. Staying united and on message paid dividends during COVID and I hope that this can continue as we look towards a bright future together.

Todd Hacking Chief Executive Officer