History
The History of the West Australian Road Transport Industry
By Russell McKinnon
1982
A
After persistent lobbying by WARTA, the State Government awarded the big rigs their specialised assembly area at Upper Swan, only 20km from the centre of Perth. WARTA assisted in planning the assembly area, which is the first of its kind in Australia. It covers 6.4 hectares and is the road transport equivalent of a marshalling yard, where up to 25 road trains at a time can collect or shed trailers on runs to and from all corners of the State. When it is completely bitumened it will be able to handle twice that number of vehicles. The Transport Department lifted the open-road speed limit to 100km/h, “but emphasising the need for increased policing of the new limit”. At a meeting of the Executive Council it was decided to send a letter, stating the Association’s support for: 110km/h for all two-axle vehicles; 95km/h for all other trucks; 5km/h tolerance in each case; a three-month trial
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WATM • March 2022
on Eyre Highway, Great Northern Highway and the North-Western Coastal Highway; realistic penalties for exceeding these limits. The road train assembly area in Upper Swan was slated for opening on April 30, 1982 with a double-bottom road train and the Minister for Transport at the helm driving through a ribbon as the main event. By November there were reports of thefts of vehicle equipment and cargo at the assembly area. Road trains were not allowed to operate on Great Eastern Highway westward of Coolgardie, according to the Minister for Transport. On July 1, the Land Freight Transport Policy was extended to all areas of Western Australia, south of the 26th Parallel. Since the region north of the Parallel had been virtually free of restrictions since 1968, this meant almost the entire State was now open to unrestricted competition between transport methods and companies, except for special bulk cargoes, which included mineral ores, grain, timber, wool, fertiliser and oil and some franchised areas. The result of this deregulation was a rush to provide service and recruit customers, which was unprecedented in the State’s history. A total of 170 road transport operators successfully applied for licences for 542 vehicles, with an overall freight capacity of more than 8000 tonnes. Twelve of the companies launched linehaul operations, including a joint venture between one of the State’s biggest hauliers and Westrail by which convenience and economy would decide whether goods received should travel by road or rail. The $5 million joint venture, the first of its type in the world apart from a Canadian project, involved mail as well as freight and had as its inaugural chairman the WA Commissioner for Railways, Ian McCulloch.
Westrail reported that after deregulation, it took the opportunity to simplify its operations by concentrating on bigger wagon-load consignments, enabling it to reduce rates for general goods by 42 percent for short hauls and by 60 percent for longer journeys. Road hauliers claimed even more dramatic economies. Taking Westrail’s new rates as a base, they quoted new rates from 10 to 52 percent lower still for such basic commodities as groceries, hardware and, of course, beer. Some of these rates soon proved uneconomic, but even when raised by 15-20 percent they were still substantially lower than previous rail rates. Customers appreciated the reduced rates, obviously. Apart from supplying food and almost every other commodity for towns in the Pilbara and North-West, road trains are used to haul cargoes, which range from Goldfields nickel to Carnarvon vegetables; from northern livestock to South-West timber; from Esperance wheat to ammonium nitrate. They regularly cover the 1900km between Perth and Port Hedland in 24 hours. It was reported that the Minister for Transport would be attending a meeting of South-West Carriers in Bunbury on July 21. The Executive Council agreed to send the President and Executive Director. A question was raised about the possibility of assisting country carriers who had been seriously affected by the de-regulation policy. Traffic authorities issued permits for nearly 900 road trains in 1982 alone. The total outlay for a 450hp prime mover, hauling three trailers at $60,000 each, can exceed a quarter-million dollars. The average load price per tonne for road train cargoes in 1982 was almost still the same as that charged for conventional trucking more than 15 years before.
