EDITOR
REPORTER
A FORMER Riverina longhaul freight business has been sentenced and fined $360,000 after a driver and “very close friend” was killed during a trag ic trailer ramp incident.
Gregory Edwards, who had over 20 of experience as a truck driver, commenced em ployment with the company formerly known as Territory Transport Pty Ltd, as an in terstate linehaul driver, in July 2018.
He was given a notice of termination of employment on November 1, 2019, as the business intended to cease op erations.
CLIENT SUCCESS
In the days leading up to his death, Edwards drove a prime mover towing a trailer for the offender from Darwin to Ade laide and then to the Hanwood depot, arriving on November 5, 2019. His partner accompanied him on the trip.
Two passenger vehicles were loaded onto a different truck and trailer at the depot, which Edwards was tasked with trans porting to Sydney.
As the ramps were unsuit able for loading one of the vehicles (a Ford Falcon with a lowered suspension), depot manager Ben Pawson used a forklift to place both of the vehicles on the trailer from the side.
had been sent to unload the vehicles.
Big
The trailer had two metal loading ramps controlled by a hydraulic system. The ramps were raised and lowered by the circulation of oil through the hydraulic hoses to the hydrau lic rams. When not in use the ramps were secured by an an chor chain and ratchet device.
When loaded at the Han wood depot, there was no prestart check of the trailer involv ing a visual inspection of the hydraulic system or testing of the hydraulic system to lower or raise the ramps.
Edwards arrived in the Syd ney suburb of Ingleburn that same evening, where he was met by a tow truck driver who
In preparation to unload, Edwards removed the safety chain from the passenger side ramp. When he walked behind the ramp, it fell on top of him as he walked underneath, fatally pinning him down.
His partner and the tow truck driver tried to lift the ramp off him but it was too heavy, and Edwards was pro nounced dead at the scene.
When the trailer was exam ined, an oil leak was found in the hydraulic hoses servicing the driver’s side ramp. The hy draulic fluid reservoir was emp
ty and it was determined that the system had been leaking for some time due to a damaged hydraulic hose fitting on the hydraulic ram. The hydraulic system was therefore not hold ing the ramps in place if the safety chains were removed.
A SafeWork investigation led to the company being charged with failing to ensure the health and safety of its workers.
Raymond Monteleone, the sole director of Territory Trans port, which ran the depot in Hanwood, entered a guilty plea on behalf of the company on July 14, 2022. He revealed he had ceased trading and was no
longer running a business in the transport industry.
In sentencing, District Court judge Andrew Scotting said a simple visual check of the trailer would have determined that there was an oil leak that could compromise the opera tion of the hydraulic system.
“The steps that could have been taken were relatively simple and inexpensive,” he said.
In his letter to the court, Monteleone revealed the im pact the incident has had on his mental state. “Mr Edwards was not only an employee of my business, he was also a very close friend. His accident is something I will need to live with for the rest of my life, not a day goes by that I don’t think of him,” he wrote.
“Mr Edwards was one of a kind, he was excellent at his job, he was a good man and a great mate. I miss him dearly.”
Monteleone asked that his absence in court be excused.
“I find it very difficult dealing with Mr Edwards’ accident not only as his employer but also as his friend. I do not feel emotionally stable to be able to relive this horrible tragedy,” he said.
The court heard Territory Transport was a good corpo rate citizen with no prior record since it commenced operations in 2011.
AN estimated 50 inexperienced Queensland drivers can now be upskilled to a ‘jobs ready’ standard under a new funding stream announced by the Na tional Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR).
The would-be truckies will be trained under a pilot scheme administered by the Queensland Trucking Associ ation (QTA), one of 15 recip ients of a combined $3.5 mil lion in the latest round of the Heavy Vehicle Safety Initiative (HVSI).
Kicking off early in the New Year, the drivers will be given 160 hours of supervised post licence on-road driving hours and will also attend four oneday classes in a bid to help plug the growing driver shortage in the industry.
QTA CEO Gary Mahon hopes the Safer Heavy Vehicle Driver Program will be a fore runner to its Jobs Ready initia tive which aims to upskill newly licenced drivers along similar lines.
He said it was evident that there is a lack of opportunity for newly licenced heavy vehi cle drivers to gain the required hours of on-road experience
and this is a significant con tributor to the driver shortage in Australia for commercial fleet operators.
“The QTA Safer Heavy Vehicle Driver Program aims to produce competency based, safe, skilled, licensed heavy ve hicle drivers of a standard that will satisfy employers and en hance road safety outcomes,” said Mahon.
“The program will in clude a combination of theo ry classroom-based education and practical on-road driving instruction. The calibre of newly licenced truck drivers produced in this program will improve the level of on-road competency through the in clusion of 160 logged hours of supervised post licence on-road driving hours.
“This is not currently in cluded in current driver train ing programs and there are no options for a newly licenced driver to achieve this unless employed. This increased lev el of control over the on-road driver training component will provide the local supply chain with more confidence in the quality of newly licenced driv ers operating the trucks and
managing and delivering freight into local communities.”
Mahon said the scheme also opens opportunities to train skilled migrants.
“They’ll be elements of this program, we would argue, that need to be applied to skilled migrants, and it’s also an oppor tunity to give people a start in the industry who are otherwise having great difficulty getting a start because they don’t have sufficient experience.
“This gives assurance to em ployers that they can develop these people to be competent and able transport operators, and insurers are very supportive of this concept because of the
formal way in which the expe rience of these people will be developed.”
Mahon said there is “sever al hundred thousand dollars” available over the next two years to help train the drivers.
Women in Trucking Austra lia (WiTA) also received fund ing to help bridge the licence to employment gap with its Foot in the Door program.
The ‘fit-for-purpose’ ini tiative aims to link already li cenced, inexperienced female HR/HC/MC drivers who’ve not been able to get that critical “foot in the door” with training organisations and employers nationally.
CEO Lyndal Denny said the collaborative pilot project – set to be launched early 2023 – will support inexperienced female heavy vehicle drivers into truck ing careers nationally.
According to Denny, female heavy vehicle driver participa tion sits at just 1.6 per cent of the total cohort - leaving wom en as one of the most underuti lised industry resources.
“WiTA regularly fields calls from self-funded, inex perienced female truck drivers earning a living in other sectors, women who’ve been unable to get a foot in the door of their chosen career.” she said
“Gender bias continues to
have a significant negative im pact on their job search efforts –a reality supported by countless stories of women being over looked at recruitment in favour of male applicants. The Foot in the Door project marks the beginning of a critical course correction.” Denny said.
Program architect, WiTA board director and veteran MC driver Fiona Armstrong says WiTA recognises the critical importance of peer support - putting experienced driver heads on new driver shoulders.
“Ongoing leadership and mentoring is just as important as training,” said Armstrong.
NHVR CEO Sal Petroccit to said there are some exciting grassroots projects included in Round 7 of the HVIS round that can create meaningful change across a local, regional and national level.
“I urge anyone who has a heavy vehicle safety project idea to get a head start on their application for Round 8 of the HVSI program, to contrib ute towards making Australia’s roads safer for all users,” he said.
• For the full list of other proj ects funded in round seven, turn to page 14.
A REVIEW of almost two de cades of truck accident data has revealed a vast improvement in the industry’s safety perfor mance, according to Australia’s largest logistics and transport specialist insurer.
In its just-released 2022 Major Accident Report from its National Truck Accident Re search Centre (NTARC), NTI analyses trends since 2005.
It found while there’s been a 55 per cent increase in the number of trucks on the road and a 51 per cent rise in road freight volumes, the rate of se rious truck accidents has not followed this trend.
Report author since 2019, Adam Gibson, said the data shows a combination of tight er government regulation and industry investment in safety, technology, professional devel opment and leadership has im proved road safety.
“We saw, for example, fa tigue-related crashes fall by a massive 50 per cent the year after driving hours reforms and standardised logbooks were in troduced,” Gibson said.
“They dropped from a high of 27.3 per cent in 2008 to a low of 8 per cent in 2020.”
The other key improve ment was in crashes caused by inappropriate speed for
the conditions.
“In 2009, inappropriate speed was the cause of almost one third of crashes (31.8 per cent) but encouragingly, that dropped to a record low of 12.5 per cent last year. That’s likely related to Chain of Re sponsibility laws coupled with new safety technologies, in cluding electronic braking systems (EBS) and electronic stability control (ESC).”
Gibson said outside of these positive trends, what remains as opportunities for improvement are driver error, inappropriate speed and fatigue.
“Our data helps address what we need to change in drivers’ working environments to better support them and to deliver safer outcomes.”
NTI’s chief sustainability officer Chris Hogarty said the industry and its supporting bodies have been transforma tive through working together and shifting to a safer and more sustainable way of operating.
“The Australian transport and logistics industry has made considerable progress nearing the last two decades. We are committed to sustaining the momentum and creating safer conditions for all road users,” he said.
NHVR acting chief reg
ulatory policy and standards officer Ray Hassall said while the safety improvements show industry’s effort in prioritising safety in the workplace and on the road – there is still more work to do.
“Tragically safety risks such as driver distraction, speed, in appropriate vehicle positioning
and following distances contin ue to cause crashes resulting in serious injuries and fatalities on our roads,” he said.
“In the lead up to the busi est season on our roads, I urge everyone to do their part and remember to rest, never speed, and always give heavy vehicles space, to keep you safe.”
A STUDY into chain of re sponsibility and heavy vehicle crash investigations is calling on governments to accept that the current processes just ar en’t working.
Ivan Cikara has been a strong advocate for change in the way heavy vehicle crashes are reported and investigated.
He launched the Heavy Vehicle Transport Industry Chain of Responsibility Sur vey two years ago and since then has also completed anal ysis of heavy vehicle crashes with trains at level crossings and analysis of coronial find ings of heavy vehicle crashes.
Cikara has a strong back ground in safety investigation, largely centred around work place, road and rail fatalities. His career began in the WA Police Force, where he special ised in road safety and investi gating fatalities.
Through the study, he says: “It was found there was a fo cus on human factors being attributed to heavy vehicle driver behaviour and limited examination of the deficien cies at the organisational level and other underlying factors that could influence heavy ve hicle driver behaviour.”
The study argued that to prevent a recurrence of a crash it is critical to identify
and analyse all the underlying causal factors of a crash.
Cikara highlighted the dis tinct absence of a uniform ap proach of investigating crashes to identify the systemic causal factors, as is already in place for other transport industries such as aviation, rail and mar itime.
“This study identified the need for governments to ac cept that current investiga tion processes are not work ing and a new approach to investigating heavy vehicle crashes is needed to assure the underlying causes are identi fied, the lessons learnt and effective corrective actions informed to prevent future crashes,” he said.
“The studies have identi fied that heavy vehicle drivers continue to be blamed for crashes as there is a lack of a systemic investigative process to capture the information that exposes the underlying causes as to why and how these crashes occur and what is needed to prevent them from occurring.
“If heavy vehicle crash in vestigations were effective, underlying causes of these crashes would be identified and a significant reduction in the number of crashes would be evident.”
HELP is at hand for Queensland truckies who find themselves the first to arrive on the scene at road crashes on ru ral and regional roads.
The Queensland Trucking Association (QTA), in part nership with the Motor Acci dent Insurance Commission (MAIC) is facilitating First on Scene: Remote Incident Train ing for Heavy Vehicle Driv ers’ training sessions around Queensland.
Griffith University is also working in collaboration with QTA and MAIC to conduct a project and outcome evalu ation.
The aim is to train 150 heavy vehicle drivers who fre quently travel highway, region al and remote routes in first aid and other immediate crash scene management skills.
The training will be deliv ered by qualified professionals from the Queensland Ambu lance Service; St John’s Ambu lance; Queensland Police Ser vice and Energy Queensland.
The half day face-to-face training sessions will be held for drivers around the state who travel on rural and re gional routes and will involve
practical application of learned skills. The training is fully funded by MAIC and partic ipants will receive a Certificate of Completion.
The training is expected to start in December 2022 and run through to November 2023.
A recent survey undertaken indicates that 70 per cent of regional and remote area heavy vehicle drivers report having been first on the scene of a road crash.
Fifty percent of these driv ers report having provided first aid for more than an hour be fore medical help arrived.
“We are pleased to be roll ing out this training to support our heavy vehicle drivers who are often exposed to confront ing scenes on our roads,” said Gary Mahon, QTA CEO.
“We want to ensure that they are well equipped to man age these incidents practically and safely, not only to look af ter themselves, but to provide the necessary assistance when emergency service authorities are required to travel long dis tances to the site.”
Insurance commissioner, Motor Accident Insurance
Commission, Neil Singleton said that with such a wide state to cover, truck drivers need to be on our roads night and day, and will often face incidents where they are required to pro vide emergency first aid.
“Within the Queensland Compulsory Third Party Scheme, while incidents in ru ral and remote areas thankfully happen less frequently, they often result in more serious in juries,” said Singleton.
“Providing correct training in first aid and first response can provide lifesaving assis tance at the scene of a road crash, prior to the arrival of emergency services. MAIC is proud to be collaborating in this First of Scene initiative which will provide important skills to ensure a truck driver can safely respond to these in cidents if required.”
Dr Darren Wishart, the re search lead on the project, said
this is a great initiative to sup port heavy vehicle drivers and regional road safety and an op portunity to evaluate the bene fits of such a unique program.
“First on Scene training provides an opportunity for heavy vehicle drivers to pro vide lifesaving primary care to road crash victims at a critical time,” said Dr Wishart.
Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) Assistant Com missioner for Central Region,
Robbie Medlin said that we know all too well just how critical the first moments after a road incident really are.
“For many serious road in cidents, it can be the difference between life and death,” said Medlin.
“Some members of our community, like heavy vehi cle drivers, are more likely to come across a road crash than others. This means it is in credibly important for them to know the basics of how to respond - this includes every thing from knowing how to call Triple Zero (000), being comfortable with CPR and basic first aid.”
In the event of an emergen cy in rural and remote areas, QTA recommend the use of the Emergency+ App to iden tify the exact location of the crash site.
This can save precious min utes for emergency services. The free app uses GPS func tionality to help a Triple Zero (000) caller provide critical details required to mobilise an emergency response, including exact location details.
For more information, visit qta.com.au/projects.
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BY JAMES GRAHAM
FOR a few anxious days late last month, Janus Electric hit a serious roadblock in the next phase of its trailblazing push to establish zero emission prime movers on Australia’s roads.
Just when the NSW-based start-up had been ready to roll out trucks into commercial trials, it discovered an over sight in the Australian Design Rules (ADRs), which effective ly stopped the operation in its tracks.
Under the code, zero emis sion trucks with a steer axle weight of over 6 tonnes (as most large diesel-powered trucks are) did not comply because it specifically required a Euro 4 or above IC engine, leaving companies such as Ja nus Electric unable to put its ever-expanding range of con verted Class 8 prime movers into commercial operation.
Several of the trucks Janus had converted from diesel to fully electric heavy-haulers had been due to hit the road this month, including a Western Star for Holcim which was to be powered by the company’s first charge-and-change battery
station near the Port of Bris bane.
The situation was so fraught that Janus Electric co-found er and general manager Lex Forsyth told us in a story first published on bigrigs.com.au on September 29 that the com pany would have to rethink its immediate future in Australia and relocate its operation over seas.
Then, out of the blue, with no consultation, or explana tion, Forsyth received an email
the next afternoon to say that the modification plates were ready to pick up for the West ern Star.
“I think the story [at bigrigs. com.au] has helped, but I think there needs to be greater input from NHVR and engagement across the whole sector with people who are actually doing it, not people who have not got any vehicles on the road in Aus tralia,” said Forsyth.
“We’ve got to make some decisions on how we’re going to
move forward on this because if we don’t get it right, it could set us back five years behind the rest of the world.
“Or we get on the front foot, and we lead the world, and that’s a choice we get to make. We need government to be involved proactively to help move this forward.”
Forsyth says the latest devel opment allows Janus Electric to get the trucks on the road, but the prime movers are still at a 1.5 tonne payload disadvantage
in comparison to an equivalent diesel truck.
“They’ll be at a productivity disadvantage from a tare weight point of view in comparison to the diesel, but at least it lets us get started and get these vehi cles out in operation and start to socialise it and get accep tance across the industry, rather than just waiting.”
Aside from the Western Star in Brisbane, Janus Electric also has a Freightliner ready to go into operation carting milk from Sydney to Wyong, up and down the Pacific High way, and then a Mack towing a fridge van in Melbourne.
Then there are customer trucks for Cement Australia, Fennell Forestry, Qube Logis tics and NewCold.
“It’s great that we’re on the road, now let’s talk about how do we make it comparative to a diesel, and help cater for some of this extra tare weight that we’ve got to carry as a bat tery-electric, even the hydro gen fuel cell have got the same issue.
“They’re going to have to look at a dispensation for tare weight, or an increase on axle mass.
“We need to set the frame work and go forward. Euro 6 is coming and a lot of the OEMs are saying they can’t comply on steer axle mass under the cur rent legislation.”
In an emailed statement, The Department of Infrastruc ture, Transport, Regional De velopment, Communications and the Arts told Big Rigs that it understands the axle mass limits, as currently written, are a concern for heavy vehicle in dustry as they can impede their uptake of heavier low and ze ro-emissions trucks in the Aus tralian market.
“The department is work ing with the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator and industry to consider options to ensure operators can purchase and safely utilise more low and ze ro-emissions trucks,” said a de partment spokesperson.
“The Australian Govern ment is committed to support ing the affordability, supply and uptake of lower and ze ro-emissions vehicles in Aus tralia, including heavy vehicles, while ensuring these vehicles meet the safety standards need ed to keep people safe on our roads.”
A NEW notice will allow certain truck and dog com binations to operate on ap proved networks without having to go through the Performance Based Stan dards (PBS) approval pro cess.
The National Class 3 20m Long 3-axle Truck and 4-axle Dog Trailer Mass and Dimension Exemption Notice 2022 (No.1) will effective ly take these combinations
out of the PBS scheme and into the ‘normal’ regulatory framework.
National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) CEO Sal Petroccitto says this will help get safer and more pro ductive vehicles on the road.
“With over 15 years knowledge and experience of hundreds of 3-axle truck and 4-axle dog combination designs, we are confident we can remove the need for
them to go through the PBS assessment process,” he said.
The NHVR says that by taking these common and well-understood truck and dog trailer combinations out of the scheme, it can reduce the regulatory and cost bur den for industry, as well as allow PBS to focus on new vehicle innovation.
Petroccitto said operators can still choose to operate these truck and dog combi
nations under the existing arrangements if preferred, or they can opt to use the new notice arrangements.
“The change does not affect the current access available to PBS operators of 3-axle truck and 4-axle dog combinations,” he said.
Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia chief executive Todd Hacking congratulated the NHVR for working with industry on this important
initiative, adding that the re form reflects the maturation of the PBS scheme.
“This is an excellent ex ample of the PBS scheme’s ability to enable the intro duction of innovative new combinations,” he said.
“This move allows the scheme to get back to focus ing on the next iteration of innovative vehicles, further enhancing productivity and safety.”
Eligible vehicles under National Class 3 20m Long 3-axle Truck and 4-axle Dog Trailer Mass and Dimen sion Exemption Notice 2022 (No.1) will operate on Lev el 1 (up to mass 50.5t) and Level 2 (up to mass 57.5t) networks.
A list of non-participat ing councils can be found under the network and mapping tool at nhvr.gov. au/C2022G00939.
SIGN-ON bonuses for drivers are nothing new in the trans port game: it’s been a ploy in the mining sector in WA for a number of years.
But there has been a notice able surge lately in the number of companies on the east coast following suit. Everything from a few hundred dollars to $5000 is offered to entice drivers.
We’re also hearing stories about bonuses for existing staff who bring new people on board, and more flexibility from employers with hours and shifts. In short, the market place has hit the reset button to preserve the industry’s most precious and increasingly scarce resource, its drivers. And not a
We need to do better as an industry to retain the ones we have. Our Facebook page is overflowing with disgruntled truckies walking away before their time.
In response to our online story about $3.5m in funding for 15 new projects under the Heavy Ve hicle Safety Initiative.
THREE and a half million dol lars for what exactly?
I have some tips, if the clowns who make the rules would listen to us.
Tips are:
• Improved roads • Speed limit increased to 110km/h
• A driver who wishes to drive directly in one go can do so without being told he must have a regulatory break
• Remove all time slots from all deliveries as there’s deadlines that cause drivers to push
themselves for the pay or boss
• Improved rest areas allowing trucks to get parking, showers and food at service stations
• One, or two, lights out on a truck or trailer to no longer be seen as a defect on first inter ception by authorised inspec tors and police
• Police being removed from
issuing defect notices. They aren’t qualified mechanics or inspectors, and are also not qualified to understand log book or tablet systems.
I believe that I have covered a good part of our issues but again just another waste of time and effort writing this because they won’t listen.
All that will come from this is absolutely nothing but a grab at the $3.5 million and no change. As to the speed in crease from 100 to 110km/h, it would reduce fatigue, lessen the amount of interaction between cars, for instance.
Most would agree, that over many a night, or day, many cars
overtake us. Then they do this anywhere from 5-8 times on our way and you notice that it’s the same cars repeatedly.
Increasing our speed would reduce those interactions, though, what would I know?
I’m just a truck driver.
- Marty De Vos
WA Police and other state in dustry stakeholders are calling for truckies to stop flicking their right indicator to signal to cars behind that it is safe to overtake.
In response to a spate of recent near misses in the state, police sergeant Bernie McCon nachie told Perth talkback ra dio show, 6PR Breakfast, that it’s time to stop the common practice.
“I think it’s time to stop the courtesy indicate,” said McCo nnachie.
“There has been a huge increase in those near misses. The ultimate responsibility of being on the road and being a
right into mine-site entrances only to have other vehicles at tempt to overtake at the same time,” Brouwer said.
Experienced WA truckie Heather Jones, CEO of Pilba ra Heavy Haulage Girls, told ABC News that she has had her own near misses when people misinterpreted her turn signal.
“A few years ago I had a four-and-a-half metre wide load on my truck, and the pi lot in front of me said, ‘There’s a cow on the road’, so I put my right indicator on to move into the other lane,” Jones said.
“Next minute, there’s fluff and dirt and everything is fly
would usually promote — but it can be dangerous,” Warner said.
Our Spy on the Road col umnist highlighted the same issue for Queensland truckies in a column published earlier this year.
He was told by a Transport and Main Roads spokesperson that anyone caught indicating it was safe to pass would receive an on-the-spot fine of $55.
Big Rigs readers seem divid ed on the practice, judging by the reaction when we first post ed this story at bigrigs.com.au.
“As a truck driver I agree with this,” Sean Caulfield.
“Some people don’t under stand what you’re doing then wait too long. Then realise and it’s too late, which leaves the you, as the driver, vulnerable in the case of an accident.”
Others are happy to keep
“It is a safe practise and I will still do it,” counters Dale
“How about educating drivers what one blink of in dicator on long highways ac tually means. Instead of drivers overtaking not knowing what’s
WHILE some have called for a towing licence to be intro duced for caravanners, Ken Wilson, manager of the pop ular Truck Friendly caravan movement, says a truck li cence won’t solve the problem.
“There is a recognised need for more education and training. Education is the key. Knowledge is power,” he said.
Wilson has been a strong advocate for compulsory tow ing education for caravanners.
His website shares infor mation about truck safety, caravan safety and road safe ty; and the ‘Truck Friendly – caravan road safety pro gram’ Facebook page has over 20,000 followers.
Wilson has shared his views on why he doesn’t support in troducing a towing licence for caravan drivers.
“While I am one of the first to admit that there is a real, and serious problem with a lack of training of drivers towing large trailers resulting in Queensland Police statistics showing that an alarming 90 per cent of caravanners were overweight in some respect, licencing is not the solution,” Wilson said.
The conundrum, he says, is that the total weight of a car and caravan being driven on a car licence, also falls into the light rigid truck class, which covers a rigid vehicle between 4500 kgs and 8000kg Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM).
“Special licencing and spe cial training is required before you can obtain Light Rigid or LR licence to tow a reason ably stable and rigid ‘truck’. These vehicles can also in clude many American and other utes with a GVM over 4500kg,” explained Wilson.
“It is well known that a caravan is a ‘pig’ trailer and one of the most unstable de signs and therefore not of ten used in heavy transport. They prefer the fifth wheel or semi-trailer design for more stability.”
Wilson says a light rigid or heavy rigid licence for ev eryone towing a caravan isn’t going to solve the problem.
“There is currently no part of the training required for a LR or HR licence that ex plains how to specifically load a pig trailer, caravan car trail er, horse float or other large trailers. It does not prepare
a caravanner for the caravan sway, loading, setting up cor rectly, tyre pressures, hitches, tow ball weights, balancing the load and other training needed for safe caravan or other towing,” he said.
“We have many current and ex-truck drivers follow ing the Truck Friendly car avan road safety education Facebook page with vast expe rience in driving heavy trucks, semi-trailers, B-doubles, tri
ples and road trains, who now also tow a caravan.
“All I have spoken to ad mit, while the experience does give you an advantage on the highways, it takes a very dif ferent set of skills to know how to safely load and tow an unstable pig trailer than a semi-trailer.”
While a special towing licence could help with the problem, Wilson says the issue then becomes the who, how,
when, where and what goes into these licences.
“We will need to include all drivers towing different sorts of trailers of a similar weight or specifications. We cannot just licence drivers towing car avans, but exclude boats, horse floats (some also have accom modation), builder’s trailers, car trailers and other large and heavy trailers,” he said.
“Who do we specify needs to have a towing licence. Is it
drivers of trailers requiring brakes (over 750kg), trailers requiring electric brakes (over 2000kg) or some other weight or do we licence by the num ber of axles (two or more axle groups)?
“We would need a rec ognised national standard approved course of some de scription, where ALL states agree on the content and the delivery method.”
“How do we introduce a towing licence, in six different states and two different terri tories? Remember, we would need all six states and two ter ritories to agree on the who, what, how and when of any towing licence if introduced and they cannot currently agree on towing speeds and many other road safety issues.
“For one state to ‘go it alone’, would be political and tourism suicide as mo bile tourists boycott that state when they cannot travel there without a towing licence. It would need a national ap proach.”
For more information about the Truck Friendly ini tiative, visit truckfriendly. com.au.
Rail freight giant Aurizon will be among the first transport companies in Australia to trial hydrogen fuel cell pow ered prime movers, thanks to a Queensland state govern ment handout.
Deputy Premier Stephen Miles and Energy Minister Mick de Brenni announced funding of up to $5m at Au rizon’s Townsville operation. Aurizon is undertaking a $12m trial to replace its diesel trucks with hydrogen vehicles, beginning from late 2024.
Aurizon plans to use four hydrogen-powered prime movers to haul goods in and around its freight operations at Stuart Terminal and the Port of Townsville.
Heavy vehicle safety services in NSW have a new home following the opening of the National Heavy Vehicle Reg ulator’s (NHVR) Parramatta headquarters.
The 310 staff will include 270 safety and compliance officers who will continue to deliver services from more than 200 existing heavy ve hicle inspection stations, safety stations and on-road enforcement sites across NSW.
NSW is the fifth state or ter ritory – after South Australia, Tasmania, ACT and Victoria – where the NHVR is directly delivering heavy vehicle reg ulatory services.
The Barrier Highway in SA will receive three new rest areas as part of a $62.5m package of upgrades.
One new rest area will be built 17km west of Cockburn, and two will be situated near Yunta (one 25km east of the township and another 11km west). An existing rest area 32km west of Cockburn will also be upgraded.
The Barrier Highway’s junc tions with Main Street and Whyte Road will be upgrad ed to enable future provi sion for use by Performance Based Standards Level 3B heavy vehicles (up to 42m long road trains). Works are expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2024.
Major upgrades to the Kyeamba Gap and Barry’s Bay rest areas on the Hume Highway are just two of the 18 projects to share in a combined $34.8 million in vestment targeting heavy ve hicle safety and productivity. The funding is part of the Aus tralian Government’s Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productiv ity Program (HVSPP), which aims to increase safety and productivity around Australia. Projects funded under the program include widening and upgrading roads used along heavy vehicle freight routes, as well as delivering new and upgraded truck stop rest areas.
Big Rigs understands that there is an additional $80 million to come for rest areas after Labor’s first budget is announced on
MORTLAKE Roadhouse owner, Dion Symons, who was a driving force behind mammoth efforts to raise money for injured truckie Mi chelle Pillar, met with her re cently to hand over more than $250,000.
The livestock truckie was involved in a horrific accident early this year that left her with life-changing injuries.
It took almost 12 hours to free her from the wreckage and she suffered critical inju ries, with both legs requiring amputation.
After being approached by truckies Matthew Brown from Boyle’s Livestock Transport and Jason Keane from Kel ly Livestock, who are friends with Michelle’s brother La chie, Symons started a fund raiser – and it took off. “They
wanted to do something for her and didn’t know how to go about it, so they came in and they’ve seen me and off we went,” he said at the time.
Symons set up a bank ac count under the name Fight Michelle, which was used ex clusively for donations, with money. There were also items donated for auctions, stickers made up, and more, all going towards the fundraiser.
“So all things take time, and l had plenty so was hap py to wait until Michelle was ready and able to meet up. She’s been heroic from where she’s been til where she is right now,” said Symons in a Face book post.
“This morning we met up at the bank and transferred all of YOUR money over into her name. Thanks again from
the boys for all your kindness, what a great country we live in.
“It’s meant a lot to me to be involved and always will, life changing experience to be honest, which seems very self absorbed considering the life changes Michelle has gone through in the same time, but it’s because of her and how she’s gone about the nine months and everyone in gen erals’ kindness that has me feel that way.”
He also took to social me dia to thank Big Rigs for its support of his fundraising efforts. “Thanks to you guys for the support through the whole thing, you outdone yourselves with articles etc on what everyone was doing for this tough young lady, it hasn’t gone unnoticed and will nev
er be forgotten, and to all the truckies and transport com panies that got behind this in one way or another thanks a shit load, it really was and is greatly appreciated from the two guys that started the ball rolling in Jason Keane (Kelly’s livestock) and Matt Brown (Boyles Livestock). Thanks everyone.”
Pillar also expressed her gratitude towards Symons and everyone who has gotten be hind her. “You’re an absolute legend Dion, and of course Matt and Jason. It makes me feel emotional to think of ev eryone that came together to help me out. I can’t thank you all enough for believing in me and wishing me well. I am very excited to see who actu ally donated bits and pieces so I can personally thank them
I’M ONE VERY LUCKY LADY. I’LL FOREVER BE GRATEFUL FOR ALL THE EFFORT YOU HAVE ALL PUT INTO HELP MAKING MY LIFE THAT BIT EASIER. I’M DOING WELL THANKS TO THE SUPPORT OF SO MANY OF YOU!”
MICHELLE PILLARand hopefully catch up with some as well,” she wrote.
“I’m one very lucky lady. I’ll forever be grateful for all the effort you have all put into help making my life that bit easier. I’m doing well thanks to the support of so many of you!”
A QUICK-THINKING
truckie may have saved his own life by making a dra matic 5km dash for help af ter being bitten by a snake at a remote parking bay in Queensland recently.
The 42-year-old had stopped to make a routine tyre check at Belyando Cross ing, about 5km south of the Belyando Road House on the Gregory Highway, about 306km west of Mackay.
According to a media statement released by RACQ CQ Rescue, while inspecting and checking the pressure in his semi-trailer and dog tyres, he was bitten twice by a snake.
The driver immediately jumped into the truck and drove 5km to the Belyando Crossing roadhouse at Llar nath to get help.
Roadhouse staff called 000 and helped bandage the bites and splint the driver’s leg to immobilise him.
“He was very unwell and in and out of consciousness,” said the media release.
RACQ CQ Rescue was tasked by Queensland Health about 12.30pm and with a doctor and Critical Care Para medic on board, departed for the scene, landing at the re mote roadhouse an hour later.
RACQ CQ Rescue landed in a parking lot near the road house and loaded the patient into the helicopter.
The man told the medical team he had previously had a life-threatening reaction to snake anti-venom, and being so far from medical care, the helicopter crew were ‘under pressure’ to transfer the truck driver to hospital treatment urgently. There was no time to ‘spare’.
After refuelling in Mo ranbah on the return flight, the truckie was delivered to Mackay Base Hospital by 3pm, and was discharged lat er the same night.
ASIDE from the two driver training programs highlighted on page 5 of this issue, a fur ther 13 industry-led projects received funding in the latest round of the Heavy Vehicle Safety Initiative (HVSI).
A total of $3.5 million is being invested into the proj ects, although the individual totals for each one are not made public.
Transport Minister Cath erine King said that with Aus tralia’s freight task is expected to increase 80 per cent by 2030.
“To make Australia’s roads safer for the growing trans port and logistics sector, we have listened to what the in dustry said they need, and are supporting the safety projects that will make a real impact to their day-to-day operations,” said King.
NHVR CEO Sal Petroc citto said greater road safety outcomes can be achieved through collaboration with government, industry and the community.
“There are some exciting grassroots projects included in Round 7 that can create meaningful change across a local, regional and national level,” said Petroccitto.
“I urge anyone who has a heavy vehicle safety project idea to get a head start on their application for Round 8 of the HVSI program, to contribute towards making Australia’s roads safer for all users.”
Here is a full list of the latest recipients, in addition to the Queensland Trucking Association and Women in Trucking Australia projects highlighted earlier.
Adbri Ltd
Project: Data-Driven Driver Behaviour Improvement Ini tiative.
Objective: To support the NHVR Heavy Vehicle Safe ty Strategy by using data and data analytics to provide driv ers with real-time training and feedback, as well as trends being shared across industry associations and training pro viders.
Project: Heavy vehicle safe payload height and safe speed SRT calculator.
Objective: This project is for the development of an on line tool which will be freely available to industry to easily calculate the Static Rollover Threshold (SRT) of Perfor mance Based Standards (PBS) and non-PBS heavy vehicle combinations to enable safe and productive operation, and compliance with industry codes of practice or guidelines.
Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Associ ation
Project: Using telematic data to reduce the incidence of truck roll-over crashes.
Objective: Promote, and pro vide guidance in, the use of telematic data from heavy ve hicle electronic stability con trol systems (ESC) to encour age safer driver behaviour in the livestock transport indus try and reduce the incidence of truck roll-over crashes.
Barunga West Council
Project: Barunga West Coun cil Network Level Heavy Vehi cle Route Assessment and Risk Analysis.
Objective: This project is for the Heavy Vehicle Route and Risk Assessments (HVRRA) for permit requests of the Na tional Heavy Vehicle Network. A report will be produced that will allow for the assessment of roads to determine suitability for possible gazetting of coun cil roads, as well as condition assessment. The report will provide data on carriageway suitability as well as identifying any deficiencies that may re quire upgrade and/or revision of safety design aspects such as: turn paths, speed, clear zones, overtaking and bridges/cul verts which will in turn assist in the assessment process, or consider refusal of some roads due to above.
Bus Industry Confedera tion
Project: Transition to zero
emission buses – Industry ad visories to support the transi tion to ZEBs.
Objective: The development of CoP, guidelines and adviso ries for Zero Emission Buses.
Container Transport Alli ance Australia
Project: Heavy Vehicle Safety and Safe Container Loading Practice Awareness.
Objective: Organisation and delivery of eight seminars, which are an extension of the Safe Loads/Safe Roads cam paign previously developed by CTAA. These now include the specific regulatory advice on managing the risk of trans porting freight inside shipping containers, recently developed by NHVR. The seminars will be delivered across five states in both metropolitan and region al areas.
Fenix-Newhaul Pty Ltd Project: Implementation of support products for the Log Haulage Code of Practice Objective: Kickstart Training Academy Steady State – Heavy Vehicle Simulator and Train ing Program.
ForestWorks Ltd
Project: Implementation of support products for the Log Haulage Code of Practice Objective: This project will develop two products that will support recognition, adoption, implementation and compli ance to the Log Haulage Code of Practice that is currently be ing assessed by the NHVR for registration. The products are:
• A set of educational videos directly related Log Haul age for free, widely accessi ble industry use
• An updated Log Haulage Manual that reflects, incor porates, and supplements the Log Haulage Code of Practice for free, widely ac cessible industry use.
Industrial Foundation for Accident Prevention Project: Road Hazard Iden tification and Avoidance Pro gram.
Objective: The development of the ‘Road Hazard Avoid ance Training Program’ fo cuses on: navigating road net works, hazard perception and awareness, driving to weather conditions, operating trucks on busy civil sites around small plant, the importance of con ducting pre-starts and fatigue management, mental health awareness around working in an isolated environment, im portance of movement breaks and physical activity while driving long distances and entering the transport/civil sector with limited English or from a culturally diverse back ground.
Livestock, Bulk and Rural Carriers Association Project: Heavy Vehicle Roll
over Awareness Program (HVRAP) 2.0.
Objective: This project is for the development of additional modules and case studies for the HVRAP. The LBRCA will extend the existing HVRAP modules around specific roll over awareness content and the HVNL and will develop an additional module that will capture consistent data and generate analytical reporting about heavy vehicle rollover events using a new Rollover Crash Investigation Tool (to be developed).
Opposite Project: Streamline for Safety Program.
Objective: This project will develop an interactive app for the heavy vehicle industry which will assess opportunities to simplify and optimise op erations in order to improve productivity, reduce fatigue, driver behaviour and improve the mental health of drivers.
The project will include a completed field trial of a simplification intervention and behavioural, health, and self-report measures related to fatigue and safety.
Tasmanian Transport As sociation
Project: Open Road – Driver
Health and Wellbeing Pro gram.
Objective: Through the Tas manian Transport Industry Physical and Mental Health and Wellbeing Program: Open Road, TTA, in partnership with Rural Alive and Well (RAW), is taking positive ac tion for the health and wellbe ing of drivers in our industry. The project takes an integrated approach to physical and men tal health and wellbeing with practical actions focussed on both aspects, including driver health and wellbeing consul tations at heavy vehicle driver rest areas, supported by the University of Tasmania.
Project: Over Size Over Mass Load Restraint Risk Reduction Program.
Objective: The project will develop training materials for a consignor/operator/loader/ driver training program. The project will also develop crit ical risk documentation and associated load restraint mate rials/documentation. The aim of the project is a reduction in risk for the transport of Over Size Over Mass (OSOM) loads in Victoria, through the provision of targeted training and awareness sessions.
Hilder Transport’s trucks have now made their final run, with a struggle to find skilled drivers and staff being the reason behind the tough decision.
“WHAT’S ALSO DIFFICULT IS THAT DAD WAS SO RENOWNED AND I’VE HAD TO MAKE THIS DECISION. IT’S BEEN DIFFICULT FOR ME BECAUSE DAD GAVE ME A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO START WITH AND I’VE DONE WELL OUT OF IT, BUT I JUST CAN’T FIND THE PEOPLE TO FILL THE POSITIONS.”
BERNIE HILDER“What’s also difficult is that Dad was so renowned and I’ve had to make this decision. It’s been difficult for me because Dad gave me a great opportunity to start with and I’ve done well out of it, but I just can’t find the people to fill the positions,” Bernie said.
BY DANIELLE GULLACIGEORGE Hilder started Hilder Transport in 1972. From a one-truck local oper ation, the business grew to a fleet of 14 trucks, operating from Rowville, Victoria and travelling all over Australia.
Continuing his father’s legacy, George’s son Bernie Hilder, now 48, joined the business in 1992 and took over its operations in 2004. Hilder Transport was started two years before Bernie was even born, so he quite literally grew up in the family business.
One of his earliest memo ries was a trip to Queensland when he was three years old.
“As a family, Dad took my mum, brother, sister and I on a trip to Queensland in the truck as a ‘family holiday’ –and we did 12-14 drops all over Queensland. While at a truck stop in Shepparton, Dad was fuelling up and I started the truck. I got in all sorts of trouble,” Bernie re called.
And it was these trips in the truck that ignited Ber nie’s passion for the industry. He started out in the busi ness as a truck driver, doing local work in the beginning.
“I had enrolled in uni, so it turned out to be the biggest gap year ever. Because of the family business, at 18 I was
able to get a restricted licence to drive a semi in Victoria.
Because I had the P-plates, I’d get pulled over all the time by the police and get scrutinised. After 12 months of being on the restricted licence, I start ed driving Australia-wide,” explained Bernie who would drive in the day and then complete a part-time univer sity course in transport and logistics at night.
The Hilder family had a history in sawmills and the timber industry and George started his career driving a log truck from a sawmill in Gembrook, before going out on his own.
In the early days, Hilder
Transport’s operations were centred around the timber industry and then progressed into produce.
“The transport task grew from those humble begin nings and Dad moved more and more away from the tim ber side and into the transport side of things,” said Bernie.
“Dad started out with one truck, a Commer Knocker, then moved into UD Trucks that served him very well for a long time. As the business moved into longer distance stuff in the mid 1980s, we moved to Kenworths and have stayed with them ever since.”
Sadly George was diag
nosed with dementia around nine years ago and passed away in 2019, at the age of 82, he however still worked in the business for as long as he was able.
Today most of the work was interstate. “Even our lo cal trucks would feed a lot of the interstate trucks. A lot of what we carried was for the building and manufacturing industries, so construction materials, food packaging and that sort of thing. A lot of our stuff is delicate and fragile freight too.”
At the time of its closure, Hilder Transport employed 18 staff, some of whom had been with him for over 10 years.
While rising costs and fuel prices have been the catalyst for many transport companies to shut shop, for Hilder Transport, that wasn’t the case at all. Bernie says the business has been very good to him, but he just can’t get the skilled staff he needs in order to keep things running smoothly. “I love what I do but couldn’t see it being sustainable. I had a profitable business but the reason we’re folding up is that the skills are just not out there to do what we need to do. There’s a big gap that we can’t fill. We had these beautiful Kenworths but couldn’t get people to fill the seats.
page 18
From page 16 “YOU might go through and trial five drivers before you find one that’s any good. Once they leave the depot, they’re on their own. If something moves on the truck at 10pm at night while they’re in Queensland, there’s no one to hold your hand. We’ve faced staffing is sues and a lack of skills within the truck.”
According to Bernie, his issues with finding staff has increased tenfold since Covid. Part of it he attributes to hav ing to compete with the min ing sector and local jobs where
drivers are back home at night; and the other issue is that young people just aren’t com ing through.
“It puts pressure on the entire industry, to the point where we’re having to wait three weeks to get a truck ser viced,” he said.
“It wasn’t as much of a problem before Covid. We had a good crew then, but the skills were still diminishing. Younger people don’t want to come in and do it. I joke that you go into a truck stop now and it looks like you’re in an RSL. There’s a fair bit of com
pliance too, which makes it hard,” he said.
Part of the problem in at tracting the next generation, he believes, is a lack of expo sure to the industry. “I have blokes who have young fam ilies and they ask if they can bring their kids along in the truck on school holidays –and they can’t. Kids have got no way of being interested in the industry because they’re not exposed to it. We need to introduce younger kids through schooling or some sort of course that is relevant to the industry.
“Everywhere you look there is a barrier and OH&S be comes intimidating too. As a kid I used to go in the truck with my Dad and it was no problem. Now you can’t do anything without an induction, there’s just so much red tape.
“My saying is that it’s not sold unless it’s delivered. Yes, you can have all the fancy auto trucks in the world, but there’s also the loading and unloading, and taking care of someone’s loads, so the skillset needs to be there.”
Though difficult, Bernie says the decision to close came
about fairly quickly. “I had some drivers who wanted to take on less and didn’t want to be away as much. I felt like they were still doing the work out of their loyalty to the busi ness. I always wanted drivers who enjoyed what they were doing, because if you don’t enjoy it, it’s a very long week. You’ve got to be passionate about it,” he added.
“I still regularly get in the truck, especially in recent times, as some of our freight is worth a lot of money, so some times it’s easier to do it myself. I did two loads to Adelaide a
couple of weeks ago, and I thought to myself this is like a paid holiday because I real ly do enjoy it. But it would be pretty hard to keep your moti vation up if you didn’t. I found I was spending too much time working for the business than working on the business. This is not a 36-hour a week job, you can’t just go home when you want and that’s it.”
And it was this that also played a big part in his deci sion. As a father of two young children, aged six and ten, Ber nie wanted to be able to spend more time with his family too.
“My 10-year-old daughter has disabilities, and I just haven’t been able to put enough time into helping my wife to look af ter her. I want to be able to help her and I can’t do that when the phone keeps ringing. I felt like I was helping everyone else’s family and not helping my own. And time-wise, with the staffing issues I’ve had, it was just getting harder and harder. You become the person you don’t want to be when you get worn down.”
Bernie put his entire fleet under the hammer with Ritchie Bros recently. “I’m selling all the trucks because I knew if I kept one and got a phone call tomorrow, I’d be straight back on the road,” he said, though he hasn’t ruled out returning to the industry in some capacity in the future.
“I’m not too sure what the future holds. I own the Rowville depot so I haven’t decided yet whether I’ll lease it out or do something on a much smaller scale. Next year I might even buy a truck and start again but for now, I’m go ing to take some time away to spend it with my family.”
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BASED on the Gold Coast, Sienna Hickey began driving trucks four years ago, but her foray into the industry began much sooner.
“My dad used to drive in terstate for Brown and Hur ley and SPD Transport. He had his own tipper business too. And was a policeman for 15 years before that. So he started me off on the trucks pretty early. Ever since I was a kid, all I wanted to do was to drive trucks. I was always in the truck with dad whenever I got the chance, especially on school holidays,” said Hickey.
“Dad taught me to drive when I was about 16 or 17, that’s when I was really get ting into trucks. I’ve always been a bit of a tomboy and the older I got and the more time I spent riding dirt bikes and getting into the car scene, I started to learn more and more about trucks and made the decision to drive trucks for a living.
“I find it amazing how big these trucks are and the skill it takes to drive them. I’ve also always admired the heavy haulage industry.”
Hickey now works for Heavy Machinery Transport (HMT), which is based in Ipswich.
She joined the business around 12 months ago and does truck and dog work, travelling as far north as
Rockhampton and down south as far as Sydney.
“We go wherever the work takes us really. The big trips are the better ones – they’re awesome. I love the long drives and the truck stays cleaner for longer!”
At HMT, Hickey now drives a flash set of wheels that she takes great pride in. “I drive a 2017 Kenworth K200 and have been in that one for about three months. My boss took a big leap of
faith with me to put me in such an expensive truck. I started off in an old R Model Mack with a tri dog and no dolly lock. Then an opportu nity arose and I was fortunate enough to drive a Kenworth T409SAR with a quad dog. After proving myself in that truck, I’m absolutely stoked to have moved up to my cur rent truck,” she explained.
“Reversing a truck and dog without a dolly lock is much more difficult when
you’re learning but I’m grate ful they threw me in the deep end because I’ve never had to use the dolly lock in any of my trucks. It will also make the B-double work much eas ier when I get there.”
And that’s Hickey’s ulti mate goal. Since scoring her MC licence in February, she’s hoping to one day progress to something bigger. “My end goal is to get into the B-dou bles, doing interstate work. That’s where I want to be eventually.”
Prior to her current role at HMT, Hickey worked for a horse transport company and says the experience she gained was invaluable. “It was the best thing I ever did as it pret ty much taught me the foun dations of driving a truck and how to make the trip as safe and comfortable as possible for the horses interstate and local. Again I’m so grateful to the people there who gave me a chance and taught me
so much,” she said.
Hickey also likes to keep her truck looking schmick. “I’m washing the truck now as I’m speaking to you,” she admitted. “I like to clean all my chrome every second day but once a week will suffice. I’m pretty particular though.”
Recently, Hickey entered the truck into various award categories at the Mt Gravatt and Lowood truck shows.
At Mt Gravatt, the gold-co loured K200, named ‘Styl ish’, took out second place in both the Best Tipper and Best Women’s Truck catego ries. “I didn’t win anything at Lowood but I’m glad I went because I made a lot of new great mates and it’s great to admire everyone’s pride and joy and how much effort goes into building and get ting ready for these shows,” she said.
For those considering a career as a truckie, Hick ey’s advice is, “No question
A LOT OF PEOPLE COME INTO THE INDUSTRY WANTING TO DRIVE SOMETHING FLASH, BUT YOU NEED TO GAIN THE EXPERIENCE FIRST AND I WAS REMINDED OF THIS BY THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE GUIDED ME AND WHO I LOOK UP TO.”
SIENNA HICKEYis a stupid question, ask as many as you can. You never stop learning. Never become complacent. Do everything at your own pace and don’t try and rush getting into the big flash trucks. A lot of peo ple come into the industry wanting to drive something flash, but you need to gain the experience first and I was reminded of this by the peo ple who have guided me and who I look up to.
“I really enjoy the chal lenge of the truck and dog work. You’ve always got to be on the ball watching not only what you’re doing but what everyone around you is do ing too. There are some awe some people in this industry who have been extremely supportive and I’ve made a lot of great mates who I call upon for help when I have questions. I’m still outnum bered, but it’s great when you see other women driving trucks too.”
So does Hickey see this as a long-term career? She answered without hesitation, “100 per cent. I’ll do it until I retire,” she said.
“I also encourage more women to get into the indus try and to not worry about the people who say you can’t. Just do what you love and don’t waste your time doing something you hate.”
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This stunning Kenworth T909 earns its keep hauling all manner of heavy loads but is also a rolling tribute to a classic 1970s movie.
BY DAVID VILETHE trucking scene around the world has over the years been an area of interest for Hollywood movie producers, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s.
It would be fair to say that the film Smokey and the Ban dit, released in 1977, would be the most popular and wellknown of the genre, as Burt Reynolds, Sally Field and Jerry Reed strutted their stuff with the help of a Kenworth W900A and a Pontiac TransAm on their mercy dash of Corrs beer from Texarkana to Atlanta.
Needless to say, the mov ie struck a chord with many truck operators around the world, and in the case of James Cornfoot, his Kenworth T909 is a rolling tribute to both the movie and, in particular, the ‘Snowman’s’ Kenworth which
hauled the bootlegged beer across the southern states.
The 2020-model T909 which has been painted in the same colours as the Snowman’s W900A, spent six months at the Klos Brothers workshop getting a makeover and Corn foot is delighted with the fin ished product.
“We set it up as a replace ment for a T900 and we thought we would go with an ‘old school’ look so we went with the black and gold colours. We went down to Geelong to see Justin Klos and we used some of his ideas and some of my ideas and we ended up with a cool looking truck,” he said.
The T909 has also had a bit of bling added with straight exhaust pipes, a few extra lights, stainless drop visor and guards on the rear, with a little bit of work done around the
back end to subtly acknowl edge the famous movie.
“The 8-inch pipes really make it stand out and we put the ‘Screaming Eagle’ on the back deck,” said James.
“In the movie they had the screaming eagle on the bon net of the Bandit’s Trans-Am so we put it there and we also put ‘’Smokey” there as a trib ute. It’s all about the truck, we didn’t want to overdo it, but everyone loves it.”
With a Cummins X15 under the bonnet and a 130-tonne rating the truck rides on Ne way suspension and is pretty much well spec’d for anything James throws at it as part of the Cornfoot Brothers Earthmov ing business which is overseen by James’ father Norm and un cle Brendan.
Along with all the earth moving gear, the operation also has around 12 trucks, in
cluding a Peterbilt 379 and a Kenworth T908.
James Cornfoot and his Kenworth get a good mix of work during the week in addi tion to working the variety of earthmoving gear.
“We run local and all over Victoria doing quarry stuff with a stag tipper set or, cart ing the machines about getting set up for the next job with our Drake 3x8 float.
“I do any of the truck work and also do grain harvest work in the summertime. We do fo cus on the earthmoving side, and we do trucks at other times - it’s a bit of a mix, I en joy the work and never get sick of it…I can keep myself busy!”
The machinery connection extends through to Norm’s
affinity for Wabco Scrap ers, which especially in the 1970s were a powerful piece of earthmoving kit, and also resulted in James heading north to Queensland in the Kenworth earlier this year.
“My dad has a collection of the Wabco Scrapers and he has the 111, 222, 333 models. They used to be in Australia until they stopped making them.
“With the old GM V12 and straight pipes they scream…they sound better than trucks! He buys them around Australia and takes them to the farm back in Nag ambie, we picked a 333 up in St George in Queensland few months ago. It was 65 tonnes and 4 metres wide.
“We shifted it to Melbourne in about two and a half days with the old man out in front on the pilot. It was one of the coolest trips I have done. Ev eryone was calling me up to say ‘nice truck’, or giving us the thumbs up!”
Along with its appearance as part of the Show ‘n Shine at the Winton Truck Races, James has clocked a few ki lometres this year travelling to shows at Craigieburn and Beaufort and along with ex tended journeys away over the June long weekend to the Alexandra Truck Show and a run up the Hume to the Clarendon Kenworth Klassic in September.
He has in mind a few more events looking ahead to the end of this year and into 2023 so will no doubt be looking at keeping the Kenworth looking sharp.
“I’m the only one who washes this truck. I told my dad I will look after this one and keep it 100 per cent. It gets a good wash every week.”
It goes without saying James’ Kenworth is indeed a fine tribute and he reckons it not only looks good but is a more than capable performer and it would be fair to say he will be at the controls of it for some time yet - even if he has to hand the wheel over to his father from time to time.
“It’s grouse, it’s just a lovely truck and everything is just spot-on, every time I shift gears its beautiful.
“I do let my dad drive it sometimes - but not every day - but I have to keep him hap py!” he concluded with a grin.
After
BY GRAHAM HARSANTIN 2006 I was working for Truckin’ Life magazine which had achieved 30 years of being No.1 in the marketplace.
We looked to do something special with the front cover and I came up with the idea of a cut-out figure 1. Who to sell the idea to?
The client had to be No.1 as well, which left only one choice – Isuzu. At the time the company had led total truck sales in Australia since 1989. Isuzu bought the inside dou ble-page spread, paid for the dye-cut and spent their good money on the ad congratulat ing Truckin’ Life.
Who would have thought that in 2022 Isuzu would still be the No.1 seller of trucks, now for 33 years straight. It is a remarkable achievement for a company celebrating 50 years in Australia.
It’s been quite a while since I climbed behind the wheel of an Isuzu so when I got the call recently inviting me to drive their product, I jumped at the chance. The invite was to drive 12 trucks in one day! Hmmm.
Greeted at Isuzu headquar ters I was relieved to find that the drive would be within 100km so no need to fill in the logbook. That alone would have taken up half of the allo cated time.
First things first, the assem bled trucking scribes are given the obligatory company pre sentation where we are taken through the range on offer.
There is of course refer ence to the company’s proud achievement at the top of the trucking sales ladder, followed by the range of trucks we are to drive. There’s the F, FX, FY, FRR-FTR, FV and too many other letters to remember. But if you’re in the market you’ll know what you’re looking for.
More important is Isuzu’s
updated warranty/s which are the best in the business bar none. This alone is a reflection of the company confidence in their product.
Of growing importance to the business are Isuzu’s Readyto Work models which cover much of the range. Isuzu has partnered with the very best body builders, such as Shin maywa tippers, to allow ‘off the rack’ purchases.
The latest in safety tech nology has been added across the range from Led headlights to AEB and ESC to Adap tive Cruise Control across the range are also there. From a user point of view all trucks now have a 10.1 inch touch
screen placed within easy reach, high on the dash. I’m to find out that this Apple Car Play/ Android Auto User Interface is super easy to use, is crisp, clear and quick to re spond to gestures – something the opposition with their 7 inch jobs could do well to copy. There’s also 32 Gb of on board storage and a standard reversing camera.
Presentations over, it’s time to meet the trucks. Out into the dank weather and there’s the N-Series Ready-to-Work NLR Servicepack-X, NPR Tradepack Premium and NNR Crew Traypack. Moving up to the F-Series and we have a range of Freightpacks, Tip
pers and an Agitator.
The drive will take us around Melbourne’s western suburbs, down the Geelong Road to Port Arlington, Ang lesea and Torquay. The mix of suburban, highway and rural drives covers all driving situa tions.
I climb into my first drive and am greeted by a modern, well laid out interior. Where’s the cup holders? “They pop out of the dash”. Where can I put my phone? “All trucks have a wireless charging pock et”. Where’s the clutch pedal? “They’re all two pedal, bar one – reflective of market de mand.”
Now, I could give you a
corner-by-corner, mile-bymile rundown on each of the 12 trucks I drove over the day but, apart from boring you sil ly there is no need. The fact is that no matter which vehicle I hopped in, from the small est car-licenced jobbie to the 14-palleter, these trucks all drove the same. ‘Same’ means ‘superb’!
Isuzu says that User Ex perience is a key priority and they have achieved it in spades. Engine noise – muted. Rat tles – none. Squeaks – none. Wind noise – none. Ride and handling – brilliant. Braking – also brilliant. Steering – the best in the business. It is easy to believe Isuzu’s long-stand
years.
ing motto: ‘Reliability is Ev erything’.
Isuzu have teamed with Allison to provide full auto and AMT gearboxes and it is a match made in heaven. The engines in these things are not necessarily the most pow erful in class but you’d never know it.
The power and torque curves are mated superbly with the appropriate gearbox to provide seamless changes at just the right time. With the vehicles loaded to 75 per cent, take-off was outstanding, keeping up easily with traffic and leaving many other trucks behind.
ling companion tells me – a little late – to hang a left into a road that climbs steeply.
In the steady rain I plant my foot on the brake and go around said corner a little faster than I’d like. Did I tell you that the brakes are light and very progressive? Going around that corner I notice the ESC light come on the dash. That’s all I noticed be cause I didn’t feel a thing!
The big truck behaved im peccably. It also powered up that rise like a gazelle rather than an elephant. A bit of journalistic licence there, but you get my drift – no pun intended. It brought home yet again just how well these powertrains and gearboxes are mated.
vicing of the vehicles and at tracting and training the very best people to do those jobs. Reliability for our customers must extend through the en tire life of their purchase and beyond.”
It’s a mantra that worked well for the company given their status of No.1 for all these years. Would I lay mon ey on them still being No.1 for 50 years in a row? If I thought for a moment I’d still be on this earth 17 years from
now then I’d be on the phone to one of the betting compa nies right now.
Postscript: all those years ago at Truckin’ Life the editor was a legend by the name of Jim Gibson.
Isuzu’s engineering sup port manager is one Jeff Gib son, Jim’s son. Ah, it’s a small world. “How’s Jim?” I ask.
“Still kicking on,” replies Jeff.
“Still as reliable as ever.”
They love that word Reli ability at Isuzu.
From page 24
Steering was equally good. Of course, it is easy to place a small tray truck in the mid dle of the lane and ‘throw’ it around corners, but to get into a 12- or 14-pallet tautlin er and have it feel exactly the same is no mean feat.
Turn the wheel and you know where the wheels are pointing. Hit a ragged
road edge and tramlining is non-existent. Feedback through the steering lets you know what’s going on un derneath you but it’s never a chore.
Suspension also deserves a mention. One of the trucks had an air-suspended front end and it truly wafted over many and varied road sur faces. That said, the sprung
suspensions of the rest of the fleet were only a smidge behind. In conjunction with that steering (and great seats, whether Isri or not) you are going to sit in your ‘office’ all day and love it.
The weather turned real ly sour in the afternoon. I’m heading down a country road in one of the bigger pallet trucks when my Isuzu travel
Reliability is Everything has long been Isuzu’s mantra, but this goes well beyond just the trucks themselves.
As managing director and chief executive officer, Takeo Shindo (“please call me Tac”) who has been with the com pany for over 36 years says: “The sale of a truck is just the beginning. Our motto must extend beyond that to accessi bility for the customer, to ser
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Hundreds of drivers, families and friends descended on the Gatton
for one of the biggest events on the trucking calendar.
ADAM Brown admits he hadn’t heard of the Lights on the Hill memorial event until recently, but one of the most emotional days on the truck ing calendar will now be im possible to forget.
Adam, along with four generations of his family, was in Gatton at the weekend to honour the life of his beloved
father Ellis ‘Scooby’ Brown, who passed away on February 16 after his truck rolled over while travelling southbound on Gympie Arterial Rd, near Gympie Rd, at Bald Hills just before midnight.
The 49-year-old father-ofthree, and grandfather of six, who was working for RTS Transport hauling asphalt, was
one of 59 new names added to the memorial wall on Sunday at the service at Lake Apex Park.
The weekend kicked off on Saturday with two convoys of trucks – one from Toowoom ba and an even bigger cohort from Brisbane – converging at the Gatton Showgrounds for an afternoon and evening of entertainment.
Adam joined in from Bris bane aboard a Western Star, owned by Scooby’s uncle Troy Thompson from Lisort Trans port, which had Scooby’s pho to adorned to the grille with the words, ‘In loving memo ry of Ellis “Scooby” Brown, 1972-2022, Sadly Missed’.
Many of the other trucks also carried images and names of fallen truckies and hundreds of people lined the route to
show their support.
Adam says it was an emo tional couple of days, but is grateful for the chance to hon our his dad and draw strength from the close-knit commu nity of other road transport families impacted by similar tragedies.
“He was a very energetic and outgoing person, who was always a laugh to be around,” said Adam of the popular truckie of 10 years who moved into driving full-time after working in excavation.
“He was always more inter ested in making everyone else smile and laugh and would give them the shirt off his back if he thought it would benefit them.”
David Tilley, advertising and promotions co-ordinator for the event, was blown away
by the turnout at the weekend, the biggest in Lights on the Hill’s long history.
He estimates that close to 300 trucks joined the convoy in Toowoomba and another 550 from Brisbane, the result of a big push in regional TV and radio promotions, and is confident that the 2023 event will be even bigger.
Like many others on the event committee, David also had a personal connection with the memorial, having lost son Nigel in a B-double fatali ty in Raleigh, NSW, in Febru ary 2019.
The highlight for David was being asked to release a white dove in his son’s honour – one of just three in total.
“I keep thinking to myself if only he’d stayed awake for another five seconds he would
have been past those bridges and culvert and would have come off into open highway where he probably would have knocked down a tree or two but he’d still be here with us,” reflected David.
Asked to explain why Lights on the Hill resonates with so many, and continues to gain stature on the calendar, David paid tribute to the hard-work ing voluntary committee, and the recognition that without truck drivers, Australia would grind to a halt.
“You can’t buy anything without a truck being in volved. There’s a truck in volved with everything we do,” he said.
“You’d never survive in this country without trucks, you just can’t.”
Continued on page 30
Names added to
Neil ANDERSEN
Gavin James BARTON “Gav”
Victor James BARRY “Swampy”
William Arthur BARRY “Bill”
Trevor Norman BLINCO “Tex”
Paul Kenneth BRIGGS “Orky”
William A BURKE “Bill or Willy”
Thomas James BURNS “Tommy”
wall
George William GIBBS “Grandad”
Hendrik Jeffrey GRIFFITHS “Hank”
Murray Ray HACKETT “Muz”
Warren Clarence Owen HARDY
David Lester HAUSER “Hooter”
Desmond Harold HESS “Des”
Robert Ross HIGGINS “Rob or Robbie”
Peter Charles HOPE “Pete”
Trevor HOURIGAN “Trev”
Ellis John George BROWN “Scooby”
Neville William CARR
Kevin John CLARKE “Pav”
Stephen John CLARKE “Clarkie or Stir”
Maurice CORK “Jim”
Mark Selwyn DE LA MOTHE
John Charles DIONYSIUS “Dyno”
Leonard Edward DIXON “Lenny”
Peter Joseph EVERAARDT “Theo”
Garry Robert FISCHER “Gaz”
Roger John GARDEM “Rog”
Anthony Harry JOHN “Harry or AJ”
Justin Keith KAY “J”
John KENDRICK
John James KING “Johnny”
Brett KNECHT “Beefa”
Darren Matthew LATIMER “Rooster”
Steven LATIMER
Allan Robert LEGGE
Barry John LEWIS “Micro”
Anthony John LIEBKE “Tony”
Hilary Cameron Ronald LITTLEMORE “Hil”
Errol Vincent MACK
Robert James McCARTHY “Robbie”
Peter Marshall McNICOL “Scotty”
Jo-Anne MILLS “Jo Jo”
Robert William MINNS “Bob”
Andrew Douglas PATON “Andy”
Jason PEACE “Big Fella”
Phillip Robert PEERS “Phil”
Ian Claude POLZIN “Wombat or Spook”
Kevin Gustav POLZIN “Kev”
Harry Birkenhagen ROWE “Grandad”
Ronald Garnett SHARPE
Eric John SHEPHARD “Nowie”
Brandon William STRICKLAND “Stricko”
Russell Arthur THOMAS “Grandad”
Robert John WALSH “Bent Axle Bob”
Timothy John WALSH “Timmy”
Thomas Vincent WHELAN “Tom or Tommy”
Stanley Richard WHITTINGTON “Stan or Skippy”
Bernard John WILLIAMS “Bernie”
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SHELL Rimula has partnered with Big Rigs in a big way – so now there’s even more reasons to send in your best truck shots.
Each month, the Big Rigs team will choose a #PicOfT heMonth, with the lucky win ner receiving a $500 Shell Coles Express Gift Card.
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for your best truck photos and add yours in the comments, or email them to editor@bigrigs. com.au.
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HANOVER in northern Germany is home to the IAA Transportation, the biggest truck show in the world.
How big? The Daimler Truck stand alone would equal 15 stands at the Brisbane Truck Show. The pavilion they are in is as big as the entire Brisbane Truck Show footprint, and there are some 27 pavilions. I walked over 13km on my first day!
Big Rigs was invited by Daimler to attend the show, witness the launch of their latest Actros prime mover, the next generation Fuso eCanter and test drive the electric Ac tros rigid around the streets
of Hanover.
As with the rigid truck, the eActros 300 4x2 prime mover is also electric. Indeed, some 80 per cent of the show was given over to alternative fuel sources – electricity, hydro gen and fuel cell technology. Whether we like it or not the world is changing and truck manufacturers in Europe are leading the charge.
Karin Radstrom, CEO Mercedes-Benz Trucks, artic ulated the company’s philos ophy moving into the future. Whilst many other electric trucks are still built like their diesel equivalent, Mercedes fundamentally changed the layout of the entire electric ve hicle.
Two e-motors sit directly at the e-axle, effectively making the power source and differ ential one unit, unlike earlier iterations where the electric motor was connected via a tail shaft. This new compact de sign frees up space between the chassis rails for more batteries, increasing the driving range for the Actros.
The eActros 300 can tow all common European trailers just like a diesel truck. It hous es three battery packs with 112kWh each, giving a range of up to 220km and can deliv er 400 kW peak and 330kW continuous power. The truck will go into series production in the second half of 2023.
The Mercedes-Benz eEcon
ic was also on display. De signed for municipal services such as waste collection, the truck has three battery packs providing sufficient charge to carry most drivers through their whole shift. Two of these vehicles which were launched in July are now in Australia and Big Rigs expects to test drive them later in the year.
The company is also work ing on the Mercedes-Benz eAtego, a medium duty elec tric truck coming in the next few years and completing the company’s range in the distri bution segment. All these zero emission trucks are designed for urban transport covering distribution, municipal and construction duties.
Taking centre stage was the worldwide launch of the bat tery-electric Mercedes-Benz eActros LongHaul prime mover. In consultation with customers, the top three is sues to be addressed with this truck were range anxiety, high er investment and uncertainty about reliability.
The batteries in the eActros LongHaul employ lithium-ion phosphate cell technology (LFP) which offers a longer
service life than other technol ogies and more usable energy, equating to a longer range. Customers will be able to do ‘megawatt charging’ which will allow the batteries to be charged from 20-80 per cent in well under 30 minutes at such charging stations.
A full charge will give the eActros LongHaul a range of around 500 km. While this distance is nothing in Aus
tralian terms, 60 per cent of long haul trips in Europe are shorter than 500 km so many customers will not need to rely on public charging but rather ‘fill up’ when the truck returns to the depot.
To address the need for some to recharge whilst on the road, Daimler have entered into a joint venture with Volvo and TRATON to build public infrastructure across Europe.
The company believes that these steps will address any concerns regarding range anx iety.
The cost of purchasing elec tric is more expensive than the equivalent diesel truck but the eActros LongHaul will have a much lower energy consump tion per kilometre compared to diesel – in fact less than half, meaning lower running costs. Mercedes says that over five
years at 120,000 km per year the electric version will amor tise costs on par with a diesel truck and from that point on the customer is ahead.
The LongHaul is currently being trialled on public roads, to be followed next year by selected customer testing with full series production to com mence in 2024. From Mer cedes’ first electric truck in 2016 the company is moving forward at an ever increasing rate in this field, as is every other OEM.
In 2018 Daimler Truck had just one zero-emission vehicle in series production – the FUSO eCanter light truck. Today they have a
portfolio of eight different zero-emission vehicles in pro duction in Europe, Japan and the Americas.
But the company is not stopping with battery electric. Cognisant of the long dis tances travelled in countries such as Australia, Daimler is investing heavily in partner ship with third parties on the development of hydrogen fu el-cell vehicles. A typical fuel cell will put out 150 kW and is compact enough for two or even 3 to be placed within a truck, giving plenty of pow er for the multi combination trucks in this country. The company quotes a range of around 1000 km with refu
elling to take no longer than filling a diesel tank.
The only emissions to come from these trucks will be water vapour in the form of steam.
I politely suggested to Daim ler Truck CEO, Martin Daum that if the company could find a way to make that steam black in colour they may well win over many diesel stalwarts.
“Hmmm,” he replied. “Maybe we should investigate that.”
At least he didn’t laugh at me. As illustrated at the Daim ler Trucks stand and every other OEM’s, it is a brave new world of trucking. Very shortly we will have no choice but to go along for the ride.
Continued on page 40
From page 39
WHILST the emphasis on the Daimler stand was on alternative fuel sources, the company also introduced the latest Actros L (as it is called in Europe), the company’s pre mium diesel-powered longhaul truck.
The truck incorporates a number of changes and im provements, the most visible of which is the MirrorCam, of which I will was already a huge fan. In its latest iteration the camera arms have been shortened by 10cm to reduce chances of damage.
The ‘mirrors’ placed on the A pillars now have nearly the same perspective as normal mirrors making reversing even easier. The tone of mapping of the cameras has also been improved meaning that the displays show contrast better than before which helps a lot when driving in the dark.
The drivetrain has also received attention with the heavy-duty OM 471 engine using up to 4 per cent less fuel consumption compared to the previous generation. The 12-speed gearbox - already a winner in my book - now fea
tures gearshift’s up to 40 per cent faster.
For those wanting the ulti mate in luxury the company is producing what they call ‘Edi tion 3’ which has over 30 spe cial features on both the exteri or and the interior of the truck.
Only 400 units will be pro duced, all in left-hand drive, so
we will unfortunately miss out on this ‘Rolls-Royce’ Actros here in Australia.
After the company’s presen tations I was invited to get be hind the wheel of the eActros rigid truck for a spin around the streets of Hanover. I’ve driven smaller electric powered trucks but this, by dint of size
alone was another-world expe rience.
Big, beautiful and above all silent, the truck wafts along the road with just the sound of the air-conditioning interrupt ing your thoughts. Plant your foot on the pedal and it jumps forward like a scalded cat.
Admittedly there was no
payload on board, but I have no doubt that it would win the traffic light races against any diesel-powered competition.
My driving experience with the steering wheel on the left-hand side was only tem pered on one occasion when I rubbed the right-hand tires up against the curb going around long curve.
My German host was ur gently saying two words to me that I didn’t understand but took to mean, “MOVE LEFT!” I was already ahead of him on that front.
Finishing the drive, I men tioned the incident to a sea soned Aussie truck journalist who congratulated me. “I did it four times,” he respond ed. “It’s weird driving on the wrong side of the road.”
Hanover was an eye-open er on many fronts, from the sheer size of the exhibition to the rapidly advancing techno logical developments.
I just hope someone will in vite me back again because two days was simply not enough to see even half of what was on offer. Simply incredible!
MODERN technology and the internet deliver the oppor tunity for listener- focussed broadcaster Australian Truck Radio to be ideally positioned for the captive niche market of Australian trucking. Founder and manager Simon Smith recognises the need for a con nection to trucking communi ty, and also the responsibilities which come with it.
“They’re a huge mobile community and they are look ing for their own station, and now we have to technology and re sources to provide that nation ally 24/7. The mobile phone is today’s radio transmitter and receiver,” said Smith, a veteran of radio broadcast ing who initiated the success ful ‘truckers’ radio’ format at several stations in southern NSW during the late 1980s, mostly on the midnight to dawn shift.
An unexpected bonus after the original show had been on air for a time was an anecdot al reduction in fatigue-related accidents involving heavy ve hicles in the areas where the broadcasts were being received.
The consolidation of com mercial radio networks in Aus tralia during the past few de cades has led to focus shifting from categories such as truck ing as more stations chose to concentrate on specific con sumer groups such as young homeowners or even attempt to be all things to all listeners while ultimately only satisfy ing the overall listening needs of a few.
Australian trucking is a huge mobile community looking for industry specific news and information and the drivers are at the same time looking for a radio station they can lock on and leave on while they are occupying their cabs and listening to the in formation and entertainment which apply to their own work activities as well as their often unique lifestyles.
“If you’ve got a radio station and you’re trying to be every
thing to everybody it’s not go ing to work,” said Smith. “We provide something that people want with a music-driven for mat, and in between the songs we can have a bit of a laugh and a bit of variety including regular on-air conversations with industry people.”
“The trucking industry has
changed,” Smith points out. “It’s mostly dual carriageway between capital cities such as Melbourne, Sydney and Bris bane.
“In the past, drivers would pull up at a roadhouse and sit around and have a meal to gether, but now with the dual carriageways, that opportuni
ty for camaraderie is no lon ger there.
“We want to provide a ra dio station that’s like a truck ies’ campfire where they can sit around and talk and listen.”
Smith says Australian Truck Radio, dubbed the ‘voice of Australian truck ing’ can be heard simply by
downloading the designated Radio Station app (scan the bar code on this page) or on a computer at the website truckradio.au.
“The mobile phone is to day’s radio transmitter. You can download the app straight onto your mobile plus you can of course listen online from our Australian Truck Radio website,” he adds.
“The Australian Truck Radio program format is de signed to be a radio station truckies around Australia can lock onto 24/7.
“There’s loads of trucking classics every hour with heaps of handy industry news and information plus lots more all day, every day.”
Music can range from any where between Slim Dusty and Lee Kernaghan, to Jimmy
Barnes, Midnight Oil, INXS, and Bruce Springsteen.
“It’s a jukebox for truckies that goes everywhere you do,” said Smith.
“The trucking industry is the biggest niche market in Australian radio and this huge mobile community deserves to have their own 24/7 radio sta tion – now they do.”
RADIO
THAT’S
CAMPFIRE WHERE THEY CAN SIT AROUND AND TALK AND LISTEN.”
AN Alice Springs-based man ufacturer, led by an Alice Springs local, will scale-up manufacture of the world’s first pneumatic, side-tipping, haulage trailer, dubbed Air Tip.
Air Tip’s co-funded proj ect, worth $553,000, will combine equal investments of $276,500 from the company and the Northern Territo ry Government via the Ad vanced Manufacturing Eco system Fund (AMEF).
It is anticipated that this investment will create 10 new jobs in the Northern Territory over five years, including en gineering, fabrication, profes sional and apprentice roles in Alice Springs.
Developed in collabora tion with Ross Engineering and the Complete Group, Air Tip said the pneumatic side tipping trailer will offer improved payload capacity, reduced operational costs,
“OWING TO ITS UNIQUE DESIGN, AIR TIP’S TRAILER INTEGRITY IS IMPROVED WHILST STILL REDUCING THE OVERALL WEIGHT OF THE TRAILER BY 12 PER CENT AND INCREASING THE TRAILER’S PAYLOAD BY 4.8 PER CENT.”
reduced emissions and does away with the need for a pow er-take-off (PTO) mechanism to be fitted to trucks – allow ing for greater flexibility and improved use of vehicle fleets.
The fully integrated trailer makes use of the truck’s stan dard pneumatic system which removes the need for fitment of expensive hydraulic systems – which can run into the tens of thousands of dollars.
Owing to its unique de sign, Air Tip’s trailer integrity is improved whilst still re ducing the overall weight of the trailer by 12 per cent and increasing the trailer’s payload by 4.8 per cent.
Through its engineering
partner, Ross Engineering, Air Tip will also embark on establishing bespoke design, fabrication and contract man ufacturing capabilities to sup port the NT manufacturing ecosystem.
“This co-investment will have broader implications across the Territory, giving Air Tip, Ross Engineering and the Complete Group the capability to design, engineer and fabricate componentry in Alice Springs – a capability once outsourced interstate,” said Clarke Petrick, Air Tip founder and managing direc tor.
“The addition of new ro botic laser cutting and CNC
capabilities will enable us to test, develop and commer cialise the Air Tip system in shorter timeframes, reducing the lag effect of having to outsource core manufactur
ing processes.”
The funding for the project is managed by the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Cen tre, an industry-led, not-forprofit organisation with a vi
sion to “transform Australian manufacturing to become an internationally competitive, dynamic and thriving indus try with advanced capabilities and skills at its core.”
FAMILY owned and oper ated, Ausway Transport was started in 2003 by the Sooch family. Based in Melbourne, it operates a fleet of over 50 trucks and more than 100 trailers, which run predom inantly as B-doubles; though plans are currently in mo tion to extend into triple and quad road trains too.
Operations manager Bobby Sooch says the busi ness transports general and refrigerated freight across the eastern seaboard, into Ad elaide, as well as occasional runs into WA.
His family has a long his tory in transport, beginning with his grandfather who started up a transport busi ness in northern India in 1962.
When the family migrat ed to Australia in the early 1970s, they continued in the transport game. Though Ausway Transport was of ficially started in 2003, its origins extend much earlier.
Sooch says the compa ny likes to stay loyal to its
suppliers. Trucks have been Kenworth and Volvo since day one, with Scania added into the mix more recently due to supply. Refrigerated trailers come from FTE and tautliners are manufactured by Vawdrey. And when it comes to wheels, Alcoa Wheels is the number one choice.
“We like to stick to the same suppliers where we can and stay loyal. We’ve used Alcoa wheels on all our trucks from day one, so it’s a 19-year partnership. Our trucks are 100 per cent on Alcoa wheels, and the trailers are now above 50 per cent on Alcoa – but it’s now be ing rolled out as standard on all our trailers coming out of FTE and Vawdrey too,” Sooch explained.
“The other big advantage with sticking to one brand is that you can keep a few wheels handy as spare parts. We keep polished and un polished truck rims handy in the workshop so we can do a quick changeover whenever
we need to, which is really time saving. That’s only pos sible when you’re using the same rims on all the trucks and trailers.”
Sooch explained that he prefers to have his trailers built as strong as possible. “We always build heavier trailers because when you build them too light, there can be ongoing concerns with cracks in the chassis and gooseneck. The only way to prevent that is through extra bracing, which we always re quest.
“When you push to build a trailer too much lighter, you have to cut corners to take the weight from some where. As we tell our trailer builders to build heavier and more solid, by using Alcoa, it means the extra weight they’re putting on is balanced out by the lighter wheels.
“Alcoa Dura-Bright wheels are lighter and more solid when compared to many other brands. If a driv er does hit a kerb or some
thing, they have that impact resistance.
“The other main concern we’ve found with some oth er brands is cracking. You just don’t get the cracks with Alcoa that you can get with
some of the other brands. Yes, there are some brands that are cheaper at the start, but they cost you more in the long term.”
And when it comes to cleaning, Sooch says Dura Bright is immaculate. “All they need is some water to make them shiny again. We take pride in our fleet and like to keep it looking flashy. Dura-Bright rims are a big part of that.”
Over the past 19 years,
the business has grown sig nificantly, with Sooch re vealing plans to add 14 tri ple road trains into the fleet.
“We are waiting on the per mits, as they’d need to run on PBS and IAP. There are only a couple of companies running triples here. There’s no current PBS triple net work in Victoria but one is due to be released this year I’ve been told. We’re hoping to get triples running Mel bourne to Brisbane.”
VIVA Energy Group Limited has announced it will acquire the Coles Express convenience business from Coles Group.
Viva Energy is a leading Australian energy company, supplying about a quarter of Australia’s fuel requirements through its network of around 1350 Shell and Liberty service stations across Australia.
Through this move, it will create the largest fuel and con venience network in Australia under a single retail operator.
said Scott Wyatt, Viva Ener gy’s chief executive officer.
“The pandemic has changed the way people work and how they shop. They are shopping more locally, and want more convenience and a wider range of quality prod ucts and services.
A transport depot and farm lo cated in the rural town of Bu lahdelah, in NSW’s Hunter/ Mid North Coast region, has been put on the market.
Bulahdelah Haulage has been building and improving this property for the last 15 years but now plans to relo cate.
In that time, the company has been running between six and 10 trucks, depending on the work. The fleet has includ ed a mixture of rigids, semis, truck and dogs, as well as a couple of B-doubles – includ ing both tippers and moving floors.
The company’s main trans port operations are hauling bulk product such as wood chip, sawdust, chicken ma nure and gravel – and the farm property had served the busi ness well.
Bulahdelah Haulage works closely with local sawmills to supply sawdust bedding to commercial chicken farms.
Delivering woodchips to a power station for use in mak ing green energy also keeps the company busy.
To add, firewood is deliv ered locally and into the Syd ney market.
Bulahdelah Haulage is a di versified business, which also operates a quarry, supplying road base to the council and to local farms.
Farm roads are built using its own tippers, grader and roller.
Another part of its opera tions is cleaning out commer cial chook sheds at the end of the laying or growing cycle and then delivering the manure to farmer’s paddocks to be used as fertiliser. This has provided many challenges during this very wet period.
The home on the property is surprisingly private and can’t be seen from the highway, nor can any other houses be seen. It has a large tiled office area, three bedrooms, two renovat
ed bathrooms and an enor mous screened north-east fac ing verandah area that includes a swim-spa.
The home and office have their own ducted r/c air conditioning units. Security cameras allow the office to view the work/parking areas. The office could easily be giv en its own separate entry if preferred.
The property was originally purchased because of its easy access to the Pacific Highway. The farm is also flat to un dulating, comprising 11 pad docks, and three small pad docks, most with dams and coming into a central yard.
Lots of manure, lime and seeding has been used to im prove the pastures. A 2000 tree mixed wood plantation was established many years ago. There are another approx imately 50 acres that is not yet fenced and improved, where disused crayfish dams are lo cated.
Viva Energy says the acqui sition accelerates the compa ny’s strategy to transition to a fully integrated fuel and con venience retailer and maintain its leading position in the fast growing convenience seg ment.
“This is an exciting step for Viva Energy that will en able us to further extend our network, invest in new and innovative convenience offers across our stores, and enhance our loyalty and digital pro grams to simplify the way our customers transact with us,”
“In the future, customers will also be looking for conve nient electric vehicle recharg ing options while they are on the road, and in time we can also expect to see hydrogen refuelling facilities at major highway service centres.
“Our nationwide network of more than 700 stores is ideally placed to meet these evolving needs and we are ex cited about the opportunity to expand and grow our fuel and convenience business with the acquisition of Coles Express and the retailing capability and customer service which is delivered by about 6000 team members across the country.
“By bringing our two busi nesses together we will be bet ter placed to make the invest
ments and innovations which will be necessary to deliver more value to our customers and drive our future success. This will see the company transition to being a fully in tegrated retailer, serving about 300,000 customers every day, to meet their energy and con venience needs.
“Our relationship with Coles spans almost 20 years and we are delighted to con tinue in partnership with them following this acquisi tion.
“While the Coles Express brand will eventually be re placed, customers will be able to continue to redeem their Coles Shopper Dockets and earn Flybuys points, and in time we plan to broaden the range of loyalty and digital offers to provide even more value to our customers. The company will continue to re tain the Shell brand.”
The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2023.
AN industry event for au tomotive employers is being held at TAFE Queensland’s Acacia Ridge trade training facility in November, with a focus on the changing tech nologies in the automotive industries and the training
changes that will be required in order to meet these.
Attendees will need to reg ister their attendance by Sun day October 30 via an online portal.
The event will run from 11am until 1.30pm on
Wednesday November 2, 2022 at TAFE Queensland’s flagship trade training facility at 247 Bradman Street, Aca cia Ridge, Queensland.
The event is billed as a forum for employers from the Greater Brisbane area to
stay informed on the train ing changes being made to automotive courses at Queensland’s largest and most experienced training provider.
The event is also set to include panel Q&A sessions,
campus and facility tours, a complimentary lunch, and an opportunity to network with other employers and exchange ideas and strategies that can be adapted to the changing landscape of the au tomotive industries.
TAFE Queensland is po sitioned well to serve the emerging needs of automo tive industries, with a large fleet of battery and hybrid electric vehicles on campus for students to train on and teachers who are actively upskilling in various electric vehicle areas as new process
es and trends continue to emerge.
The organisation’s Acacia Ridge campus will lead the state in EV training delivery, with infrastructure such as the Heavy Plant Centre of Excellence in place specifical ly for Electric Vehicle train ing.
Those in attendance will get a tour of the facilities that enable TAFE Queensland to train the next generation of workers in their industries.
For more information re garding this event, scan the QR code or visit tafeqld.edu.au to define your greatness.
WHAT a lot of people know about SAF-Holland is that it is a quality manufacturer among the top suppliers in the industry. However, what some may not know about the manufacturer is that it offers fleet training services to help customers get their equipment on the road.
SAF-Holland has been running its fleet training for over 10 years, but due to Covid-19, it’s had to sit out for the last few years.
With Covid seeming to slowly fade away, SAF-Hol land’s training has resumed. Available in house or re motely via a mobile set up, it teaches customers how to use SAF-Holland’s products be fore putting it to use in their fleet.
SAF-Holland Western Australia branch manager, Terry Stott, is in charge of the program and explains that by teaching clients how to take apart and fit their specific products – which are avail able to learn on during each session – they are much less likely to make errors down the line.
“The main thing behind
it is to offer the back up sup port,” he said. “So that once a customer buys a product they’re not just left on their own, there’s that aftersales support. That’s the biggest reason why we do it.
“It’s in terms of mainte nance in terms of new equip ment, so we also offer installa tion training as well, so you’ve got pre and post sales because we’re training the guys before
they fit the gear and then we’re supporting it on the maintenance side of things.”
Stott says the program doesn’t only offer installa tion training. Instead, it can branch out to service training and refresher training on the service side of products, as well as catering to new fleets who haven’t used SAF-Hol land’s products before.
“It gives them an under
standing and a familiarity that they’re not learning,” he said. “Then, once the job is in front of them and once the equipment comes in the door, they already know what they need to do and they’re famil iar with it, which in turn alle viates a lot of potential errors that could occur.
“It also helps from the safe ty side of things, in terms of correct torque settings and
adjustments,” he says. “It can help them by having a famil iarity with the product. In that, errors are less likely to occur, which can cause down time, injuries and financial implications if they do hap pen.”
The program has received a lot of positive feedback from fleets around Australia, main ly because of its usefulness,
but also due to the flexibility it offers.
“Everyone’s really grateful for it, and I think the fact that they’re not just left out on their own to figure it all out for themselves is greatly ap preciated,” Stott added. “We take training requests as well, so if anyone wants to reach out to do some training, feel free to contact us.”
CONTAMINATION in fuel, we know, can cause fuel system components to fail, resulting in costly repairs and downtime.
Understanding the impact of fuel contamination on your vehicle’s engine and limiting their negative impact can greatly increase the life expec tancy and vehicle’s reliability.
There are a variety of dif ferent types of contaminants that exist in fuel, namely or ganic and inorganic contami nants.
The increase of contami nation can be accumulative through all the processes in volved in moving fuel along the path from production to engine. Each process can add more and more contam ination to the originally clean fuel, rendering it unfit for use by the time it gets to the sen sitive components of the fuel system.
Organic contaminants re sult in premature filter plug ging or the development of corrosion leading to hard particle damage and with
inorganic particles being in troduced at fuel production, fuel transport vessels, storage tanks, transfer equipment, pumping stations and vehicle fuel tanks etc., controlling the impact of both types of con taminants is ever present.
If fuel is relatively clean, a quality and well-selected fil ter can help ‘polish’ the fuel, to meet the cleanliness spec ifications demanded by fu el-injector equipment man ufacturers. However, this is not so straight forward when it comes to cleaning dirty fuel with a single filter. Even with highly efficient filters, the dirtier the fuel, the more particles will pass through the filter.
For example, if a filter is 99.5 per cent efficient (for a given micron range), that still means 0.5 per cent of contam ination in the pre-filtered fuel will get through. Let us con sider that relatively clean fuel contains 1000 particles of a given size for every one millili tre of fuel. At 99.5 per cent ef ficiency, the filter would only
let five particles through. But let’s say the fuel is relatively dirty, with 100,000 particles of a given size in the same vol ume of fluid. That same filter would then let 500 particles through. That is 100 times the number of contaminants that accelerate the wear of fuel components despite the filter being 99.5 per cent efficient.
It goes without saying that it is important to manage the filtration of fuel at the numer ous points of distribution, handling and storage to keep the level of contamination closely controlled. Addition ally, pre-cleaning of the fuel may be required to further purify and cleanse fuel to help optimise engine efficiency. Such products as Fleetguard Diesel Pro, Fleetguard Fuel Pro and Fleetguard Indus trial Pro filters are purposely designed and provide a host of on-board, pre-filtering features to help reduce the burden on vehicle fuel filters when dealing with dirty fuel.
The Fleetguard Pro Se ries filters aim to deliver high
• Asphaltenes – From the refining process.
• Paraffin wax – Normally present in diesel fuel and more of an issue in colder climates.
• Microbes (or bugs) – These present filter-clogging issues and arise more commonly in bulk-storage tanks.
• Water – Causes corrosion, loss of lubricity and potentially damage to the injector tips.
efficiency media, through technological advancement in media design that allows large dirt-holding capacity, and excellent water-removal capabilities over the life of the element. Such advancements help extend the life of the fuel-system equipment and reduce filter-change intervals, resulting in lower total cost of ownership of the engine. Ac cording to Cummins Filtra tion, they are easily retrofitted to any vehicle fuel system.
Inorganic particles and contaminants
• Wear metals – These are inherent in the fuel system due to metal component degradation, sometimes caused by the corrosion.
• Dirt – The generic term for any other types of hard particle such as sand and dust that enters the fuel system from external sources.
Managing fuel cleanliness is about understanding the travel life cycle of fuel and identifying trouble travel spots for introducing addi tional, effective filtration to deal with practices that are far from satisfactory or even passable.
Cummins Filtration re cently introduced an effective and easy field-test kit that can help identify if diesel fuel pass es cleanliness requirements. Companies such as Cummins
Filtration, which invest in equipment and technology investigating the cleanliness of fuel and providing system improvement solutions, will prove to be the most consis tent and reliable products on the market. Fleetguard prod ucts know how best to control and protect your engine.
For more information, please contact Fleetguard on 1800 032 037 or visit the website at fleetguard.com.au.
COMMITTED to a green future, Webasto is shaping the transition to e-mobility through close collaboration with their partners and cus tomers.
Building on over 90 years of automotive expertise, We basto has developed a mod ular and scalable concept for the electrification of commer cial vehicles and construction machinery.
Manufacturing in a stateof-the-art German facility, Webasto offer a complete plug and play solution, providing
everything from one primary source: battery, vehicle inter face units and thermal man agement.
The core of the system is the CV standard battery with a configuration of 400v and 800v.
Designed to withstand the harshest environments, the battery has been homologated against recognised standards ECE R100, ECE R10 and test ed against the highest industry safety requirements. With con stant monitoring of multiple parameters the CV Standard
MANUFACTURING IN A STATE-OF-THE-ART GERMAN FACILITY, WEBASTO OFFER A COMPLETE PLUG AND PLAY SOLUTION, PROVIDING EVERYTHING FROM ONE PRIMARY SOURCE: BATTERY, VEHICLE INTERFACE UNITS AND THERMAL MANAGEMENT.”
Battery delivers safe, mainte nance free reliability across a wide range of applications.
The CV standard battery offers manufacturers flexible and easy integration into the vehicle due to vertical and hor izontal installation positions and the ability to communi
cate via CAN to the vehicle.
Up to 18 standard battery systems can be interconnect ed with the Vehicle Interface Gateway or up to 10 standard battery systems with the Ve hicle Interface Box. The VIB offers a cost-efficient interface as an intelligent power distri
bution unit, master BMS and is designed to enable DC and on-board charging.
Completing the pack age is the eBTM which is a stand-alone Battery Thermal Management Unit which en sures optimal functioning of water-cooled battery packs and provides ideal battery cell performance over the long term. All the necessary com ponents for heating and cool ing the battery are contained in one compact unit offering flexible installation on either the roof or the chassis via
multiple mounting points. Webasto empowers you to get started right away and save long development cycles; after all, they have already car ried out the certification and testing for you.
With Webasto by your side every step of the way, their experts advise you right from the outset and integrate their solution perfectly into your existing system.
For more details, visit the website at webasto.com or call Webasto on 02 8536 4800.
Cool Split
Cool Top RTE
STILL family owned and operated, Western Freight Management was started by John Peters over 35 years ago.
Since then, it’s grown to in clude four locations – Eastern Creek, Orange and Parkes in NSW, as well as a depot in
Melbourne. Building of a fifth facility in Brisbane will commence later this year.
The fleet consists of 129 prime movers, 14 rigids and 156 trailers, which are pre dominantly run as B-dou bles, doing general and ex
press freight, together with servicing the mining and re sources sector.
It’s a mixture of Ken worths, Volvos and Macks. This year alone, the compa ny has added 27 new trucks into the fleet – with plenty
more on order, though sup ply issues have delayed their delivery.
The trucks travel Aus tralia-wide, tackling some of the toughest routes and harshest climates the coun try has to offer, so a reliable
cooling system is a must.
Since 2019, Western Freight Management has been installing Coolabah air conditioning units on all its new trucks. Already there are 81 of these units out on the road.
Coolabah is a quiet, cost-effective, lithium pow ered sleeper cab cooling sys tem. It automatically adjusts in accordance with the envi ronment in and outside the cab. A variable speed con denser fan works to ensure an optimum refrigeration pressure for the most effi cient operation.
Developed by David Saliba and Lino Debono at MVM Auto five years ago, the Coolabah unit has quickly gained a loyal fol lowing. Along with its per formance, the reduced run ning costs when compared to a diesel-powered cooling system are impressive.
Western Freight Man agement workshop manager Mat Long explained, “With the Coolabah running on a battery rather than diesel, it saves a substantial amount along with reducing our car
LONG
bon footprint which is part of our continual improve ment, running Euro 5 and Euro 6 as standard across the fleet and its entirety. Just to service our previous diesel air conditioning units inhouse was about $200 each time when you’re having to buy oil and filters. And we were doing that every 80,000km and/or 300 diesel power unit hours, whichev
“WITH THE COOLABAH RUNNING ON A BATTERY RATHER THAN DIESEL, IT SAVES A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT ALONG WITH REDUCING OUR CARBON FOOTPRINT. JUST TO SERVICE OUR PREVIOUS DIESEL AIR CONDITIONING UNITS IN-HOUSE WAS ABOUT $200 EACH TIME WHEN YOU’RE HAVING TO BUY OIL AND FILTERS.”
er comes first, which comes around very quickly when our drivers are running in terstate.”
The company has been a customer of MVM Auto for many years and since mak ing the switch to the Coola bah system, it hasn’t looked back.
“We have a lot of inter state drivers who live in the truck for most of the week. Initially, when we first intro duced the Coolabah units, some of our drivers were a bit sceptical, because they were worried about how many hours they’d get out of it while sleeping, but we haven’t had any issues at all. On many of our two-up trucks, the system is running all the time,” Long added.
“It doesn’t matter what runs the trucks are on, ev erything has been getting a Coolabah unit in case the driver does have to pull up and have a sleep. That’s been our direction since we first started using them in 2019. All the new trucks we get have one fitted – it’s a no brainer.
“We have a lot of units based out of Brisbane, a lot in the Gold Coast, four in trucks that go across to Perth every week, so they’re in areas where having a proper cool ing system really matters.”
As well as the Coolabah units proving their worth out on the road, Western Freight Management has been equal ly impressed by the service
offered by MVM Auto too.
“Their customer support has been another good thing for us,” said Long. “If there is ever a problem, they jump on it straight away. There are no ifs, buts or maybes, and the warranty is good too. When you’re running a fleet of this size, you need to be able to make a phone call and get things sorted straight away.”
FOR EXTREME PRECISION, ADFUSE USES A COMPUTER-CONTROLLED ROBOT THAT IS ABLE TO PERFORM WELDING WITH AN ACCURACY OF <0.1MM, WHILE WELDING EACH TUBE IN LESS THAN TWO SECONDS.”
AS I write this column, I have just looked up the statistics; I can see we are up to 36 deaths this year alone, 36 truck driv ers who have died at work since the start of 2022.
The statistics kept by the Transport Workers Union show that 58 truck drivers have died at work since Sena tor Sterle shared his inquiry’s recommendations with the previous government.
The number increases the further back you go across the years.
Safe Work Australia remind us that this industry is one of the deadliest in Australia; they are backing up the statistics.
The family and friends of every truck driver who dies at work are the ones still wonder ing why and how the industry has been left in this state for so long. Governments owe the many families who are in mourning an explanation as to why our industry is still over-achieving when it comes to deaths at work.
October is National Safe Work Month and we are re
minded of the need for the solution that takes the pressure of the truck drivers who are forced to drive too long or too fast to make a deadline.
When profits are squeezed, operators are pressured through their cost burdens like Transurban toll road costs and fuel costs to delay main tenance, skip rest breaks and drive fatigued. Drivers lose their lives. That is work health
and safety under attack.
We must get behind the federal government plan to give the Fair Work Commis sion the ability to set standards to support cost recovery, sup ply chain accountability and a fair, safe and sustainable in dustry.
Level standards for trans port workers mean a fairer and safer industry, level standards take the pressure off those be
hind the wheel. This enforce ment of industry standards has been called for by workers, clients, employers, industry groups and gig companies.
Over 130 years ago, own er-drivers, those who were carters and draymen founded the union based on the princi pal of better standards for the work they do.
We are still taking that fight on, not just through our
branch offices and Officials, but through our thousands of transport workers, own er-drivers and employees who are standing together to win a better deal for themselves and their families.
Those members coming to gether, united, ensure we can hold wealthy supermarkets, oil companies, manufacturers and retailers at the top of supply chains to account for truckies’
astronomical operating costs and operating standards.
Truck driving is the work that keeps our country mov ing, but the stark reality of exploitation, undercutting and a lack of standards means that the pressure never lets up.
Decades of independent research has shown that unsafe rates are a significant cause of fatal truck crashes which kill too many workers every year.
It’s pleasing that the indus try is taking part for a future that means a transport work er has a stronger chance of getting home safely, properly paid, paid on time, with the costs recovery enabled for ev ery hour, every kilometre, ev ery part of doing the job.
That is what we are fighting for. Are you on board?
GMP Law is investigating a class action and the compensation could potentially be a significant proportion of the purchase price
vehicle.
There
no risk or cost to
for being a class member.
is no risk or cost to you for
have owned a Hino vehicle
Owner-operators working for Toll at the Woolworths Distribution Centre at Minchinbury parked up last month to take the fight for a fairer pay deal to management. Photo: Facebook/TWU NSW
Hino misreported the Performance,
Efficiency,
of their
WE MUST GET BEHIND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PLAN TO GIVE THE FAIR WORK COMMISSION THE ABILITY TO SET STANDARDS, TO SUPPORT COST RECOVERY, SUPPLY CHAIN ACCOUNTABILITY AND A FAIR, SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRY.” RICHARD OLSEN
tiatives breakfast is on Octo ber 13 and is almost sold out. See trybooking.com/CCXNV for tickets, then the TWAL combined NHVR breakfast in Ballarat on October 12 is on sale so get your tickets asaphttps://www.trybooking.com/ CDAYL or check TWAL so cial media.
ON cleaning out the shed, looking to get rid of excess paperwork and trash, I found copies of 1998 trucking maga zines and I was looking at the stories and headlines before deciding to consign them to the recycling.
It was depressing to find that many of the headlines are the ones we still see today; fatigue and work hours, green house gas emissions, calling for better roads and facilities, and examples of bad load restraint.
While so many things in the industry are much im proved, how sad is it that we are still campaigning for better roads and better facilities for drivers, that almost every day we are still seeing loads badly restrained, and we are still of ten having the same fatigue and work diary debate. Ob viously, we have come a long
way on greenhouse gas sub missions.
On the positive side after reading those magazines, our major highways between Mel bourne and Sydney, and Syd ney and Brisbane are almost (not fully) completely divided, we have the second crossing of the Toowoomba Range and many other improvements, but we still have a way to go on rural and regional roads and bridges.
Unfortunately, rest areas are still needed in many more places, and facilities need to be provided at all truck rest areas if we are to manage our fatigue properly.
We have the advantages BFM, and AFM have given us but without properly prepared rest area facilities that are not overtaken by non-heavy vehi cle operators, we will always have issues.
I am not sure how many
load restraint courses, posting of accidents and incidents re garding load restraint fails can be done before people start to realise enormous cost of loads shifting both in money and injury. The Load Restraint Guide is there to use.
The 2022 Driving the Dif ference scholarships are now open for application and of fered to all members of Trans port Women Australia Limit ed and employees of corporate
members. They are offered to people who want to advance their career within the trans port industry or to enter the industry.
All courses chosen by the applicants must be related to the transport industry or able to be applied within the trans port industry. For application forms or for any queries please contact chair@transportwom en.com.au
The Sydney Learning Ini
The TWAL AGM is being held via Zoom on November 15 and all current for mem bers are invited to attend, de tails will be sent the email and posted to social media.
Also, check our social me dia for all the end of year events happening in Perth, Albury/Wodonga, Melbourne, Brisbane, Wollongong, Syd ney, and Dubbo. We would love to see you there and may be we will see you in more re gional areas in 2023.
We will be presenting the scholarship winners with their certificates and cheques at the end of year functions and announcing the 2022 Trish Pickering Memorial Award Recipient, as always, the TWAL board is extremely excited about announcing the outstanding person we have chosen as a recipient for 2022.
engine additives necessary to operate a heavy vehicle effi ciently and safely is of critical importance – especially when it is considered there are only two fuel refineries in Australia and we are reliant on imports to sustain our industry’s thirst for technical grade urea used in AdBlue.
bre-rattle with respect to the status quo in Taiwan.
TRANSPORT operators are now starting to feel the impact of the return of the full fuel ex cise after its temporary halving expired late last month.
Thankfully, its resumption coincided with the reinstate ment of the fuel tax credit, which the Commonwealth Government thoughtfully in creased to 18.8 cents, with the higher amount intended to offset an increase to the heavy vehicle road user charge of 0.8 cents per litre.
Factoring in tension and uncertainty from earlier in the year when supplies of AdBlue were disrupted, together with confusion over the suspension of the fuel tax credit whilst the fuel excise had been halved, it’s been a tumultuous year for operators of all shapes and sizes.
The supply of diesel and
Indeed, the fiasco that oc curred at the beginning of the year with AdBlue lays bare just how vulnerable Australia is to supply chain disruptions of the business inputs we need to operate.
We commend the govern ment for committing $49.5 million over four years to in crease the security of the diesel exhaust fluid market, with en ergy minister Chris Bowen an nouncing a stockpile of 7500 tonnes of technical grade urea, a competitive grants program supporting sovereign capabili ty, and collection of voluntary data from industry for market awareness of urea and DEF stocks.
Whilst pandemic-relat ed supply chain disruptions are easing, tension in Eastern Europe is showing no sign of abating any time soon, and the Chinese continue to sa
This amplifies the need for Australia to strive for supply chain sovereignty for the key inputs our industry needs to seamlessly operate. Fuel, fuel additives and a reliable labour force to service and maintain heavy vehicles are an absolute must for an economy as re mote as Australia. If we can’t refine or make fuel and fuel additives locally, stockpiles are essential.
This also applies to the spare parts and components mechanics need to keep the nation’s heavy vehicle fleet safe and reliable. In the absence of local manufacturing, pro vision for a buffer of parts to hedge against the potential for fewer ships coming to Austra lia due to rising costs and ship ping lane disruptions because of geo-political tensions.
As I said to VTA state con ference delegates in March, we need regulatory and legislative settings to identify the risks that inhibit us from standing on our own two feet when it comes to things like labour and fuel security.
A growing workforce, suf ficient reserves of fuel and
energy, and the inputs neces sary to keep road, rail and sea transport supply chains intact, are the basics we need for sup ply chain sovereignty and cer tainty as we recover from the pandemic and confront the geopolitical tensions in East ern Europe and, increasingly, the Taiwan Strait.
On this measure, the in coming Albanese government is off to a good start, as evi denced by its commitment to stockpile technical grade urea, and its proactive outreach to groups like the VTA for assis tance and industry advice.
Its open-door policy with respect to fuel additives and other industry issues like minimum standards is very encouraging at a time when the economic and geopoliti cal headwinds are quite con fronting. On these measures, they can expect candid and honest advice from the VTA on how to best protect the in dustry and, as a consequence, the Australian community we service.
A VTA industry survey ear lier in the year showed labour availability, costs and rates management, and fuel pricing are the most pressing issues for
freight operators.
We maintain that only by attaining higher rates of sup ply chain sovereignty will our
industry and our community have economic security and confidence in our commercial viability.
but it will help ease some bur dens – if operators actually claim their due.
“The transport industry has been going through a world of pain over the last few years because of a combina tion of factors including in creased operating and compli ance costs and staff shortages.
DID you hear that sigh of re lief that went out across Aus tralia last month?
It was the sound of trans port operators breathing a little bit easier as the tempo rary Fuel Tax Excise reduction expired, and Fuel Tax Credits (FTC) were reinstated, along with a 1 cent increase to 18.8 cents per litre.
Before we break out the party poppers and balloons, there’s a catch. The underlying rate of the excise increased by 1.8 cents per litre compared to the period prior to the re duction, and the heavy vehicle Road User Charge (RUC) also increased by 0.8 cents.
Still while it might feel like giving with one hand and taking away with the other, there’s at least one reason to celebrate: transport operators know where they stand.
“These changes give our industry one important thing: certainty,” said Simon O’Ha ra, CEO of Road Freight NSW (RFNSW).
“The past two and a half years have been incredibly disruptive, from the pan demic and lockdowns to floods and fires. If that wasn’t enough, there was the head ache created by the fuel ex
cise reduction, the AdBlue crisis and staff shortages in an industry that was already struggling to attract and re tain talent before ‘The Great Resignation’.”
And let’s not forget cus tomers who can sometimes be allergic to price increases even though the cost of everything from fuel to labour has sky rocketed.
Consequently, many oper ators are feeling like they are copping it from all sides and are close to walking away from the industry entirely. Many of them will take any relief that they can get.
“We weren’t classified as es sential workers, even though we are essential. We worked full tilt through the pandem ic, and many operators hav
en’t had a break. Truckies and road freight operators need more than a pat on the back for this marathon of effort.
We need substantive help,” said O’Hara.
Providing a route for ward
Which brings us back to FTCs. Being able to claim them again is not going to solve all the industry’s woes,
This was compounded over the past six months be cause of the federal govern ment’s FTC suspension, said Peter Perich, director at PPM Tax and Legal.
“The FTC reinstatement is welcomed, but at the same time, they’ve also increased the full rate of excise payable at the pump and the Road User Charge. To minimise the effect of this, it’s a good time for operators to review their current and past FTC claims with a view to appor tioning fuel between on and off-road usage and maximis ing their returns.”
However, claiming FTC has traditionally had its chal lenges, as it relied on operators to calculate how much of their fuel use was off public roads. Many just underestimated their claim for fear of run
right choice.
Especially when they are most likely having to wear ev ery hat in the business and so don’t have the capacity to take the short-term hit of adopting a new process, even if it would provide long-term benefits.
Which is unfortunate be cause that’s exactly who has been suffering most from the recent disruptions, because they don’t have the systems and means to quickly adjust to changing demands or the margin to erode their profits.
In some instances, small
THE Federal Budget’s tem porary fuel excise reduction, which saw the amount of tax paid on fuel halved for a six-month period, ended at 11:59pm on September 28, 2022.
While prices at the bows er are expected to slowly rise, truckies are once again enti tled to claim Fuel Tax Credits
their first on-road FTC claim in October, ensuring that any fuel held in bulk tanks at Sep tember 28 is not factored into the claim.
Whilst the reinstatement of the ‘on-road’ FTC may appear to be good news for the sector, the cost to transport operators to use the roads has also in creased following the National
FOR the past four year, Wayne Toohey has delivered food and ice around his homebase of Cooktown in the far north and to remote communities such as Hope Vale, Wujal Wu jal and Laura.
Toohey is employed by Cooktown Food and Ice Ser vice, which has a new Isuzu truck and a Toyota Hilux, both refrigerated.
“Not many would know
my Christian name, Toohey has stuck for many years and most call me that,” he said.
Toohey said that whilst items such as milk, bread, ice cream, ice and other popular food were his most common deliveries, there were some in the ‘once in a blue moon’ cat egory.
“I have delivered caviar, pig’s trotters and a few other things and we drop off at busi
nesses, hotels, hospitals, road houses and other places.”
I asked Toohey to nominate a favourite roadhouse in his area and he soon came up with one. “I would have to say the Lakeland Roadhouse where they are all very friendly,” he said.
Cooktown is a coastal town at the mouth of the Endeavour River, on Cape York Peninsu la in Far North Queensland,
where Captain James Cook beached his ship, the Endeav our, for repairs in 1770.
The company Toohey works for is owned by Kim and Dan Krebs, with help from Ashton Virinatuleo, who said Toohey, was a good work er.
Another worker Sophie Detonen has her HR licence and works for the company doing various duties.
Toohey said one of the best known places he delivers to is the Lions Den Hotel just near Cooktown.
“There are lots of characters at the Lions Den,” he said.
Outside work Toohey does some fishing from the Cook town jetty, from where he can catch a variety of species which provide good eating.
“I don’t own a boat like lots of other locals,” he said.
Probably a smart move considering the large number of saltwater crocodiles which inhabit the Endeavour River.
But overall his favourite recreational passion is garden ing. “I have a vegetable garden and grow tomatoes, apples, cucumbers and some egg cus tards,” he said.
I asked Toohey the busiest times of the year and he swiftly nominated Rediscovery Week end most years during June
and the Laura Festival.
“Thousands turn up for those and they need lots of food and ice to keep the drinks cold,” he said.
During Rediscovery Week end locals do a re-enactment of the landing of Captain Cook and crew on the riverbanks, where it actually occurred 252 years ago.
Long-time Cooktown res ident Bob Norris described Toohey as one of the best known residents of Cooktown which has a population of about 2500.
“He works mainly doing deliveries around Cooktown and environs and gets to see lots of people every week,” Norris said.
Aidan Pope hopes that more young men and women be come truck drivers to ensure the long term future of the in dustry. “We need lots of young drivers or we will run out of them,” he said.
Pope, 31, works for Nor trans based at Townsville and Big Rigs saw him and his Western Star 4800 one recent afternoon at the Port Access Road.
He was heading to Mount Isa, which is 900km away from the coast, with a load of gas
cylinders.
“I have been with the com pany for six years and they are really good to work for,” he said.
Nortrans is owned by mem bers of the Battle family, who are highly respected in the road transport industry.
From humble beginnings during the post WWII years the Battle family have been in strumental in the shipment of goods throughout Queensland and the Northern Territory.
The company hires lots of
young drivers and whenever I see one of their trucks it is gen erally clean and flashy.
“All of the trucks are well maintained and I try and pol ish the truck when I get time,” he said.
Pope likes dropping into the nearby BP Cluden and he reckons it has plenty of park ing, good food, friendly staff and facilities.
Regarding rest areas, Pope said that more are needed, es pecially for truckies.
“Everybody needs to leave rest areas clean so they can be used by the next person,” he said.
His hobbies outside work include camping and there are plenty of places to enjoy the recreation.
“My favourite places to camp are anywhere out of mo bile phone range,” he said.
Pope said the job is well re warded for those who put the effort in.
“The money is good and I enjoy the work. But I would like to see more young people starting,” he said.
Nortrans is a community minded company which enters numerous trucks in Townsville Convoy for Kids events.
“I have taken part with oth ers at the past four or five,” he said.
A trusty 2007 model series 300 Hino carrying beds, mattresses and other furniture is a com mon sight around Townsville.
Big Rigs recently saw the Hino, which is owned by Bed shed, and spoke to driver Jack Thompson (pictured right), and his offsider Ethan Wilson.
“We deliver furniture to many Townsville suburbs and the outer beaches areas and get to meet lots of friendly peo ple,” Wilson said.
The reliable Hino oper ates out of Bedshed’s storage warehouse beside Duckworth
Street in Garbutt.
The company also has its headquarters, showroom and store at the giant Domain Centre.
Some of the customers who purchase from Bedshed include famous sporting stars such as NRL footballers.
The boys never know who they get to meet when on de livery.
Supervisor Jack has the same name as a famous Aus tralian television star.
Jack Thompson, AM (born John Hadley Pain; August 31,
1940) is an Australian actor and a major figure of Austra lian cinema, particularly Aus tralian New Wave.
He is best known as a lead actor in several ac claimed Australian films, in cluding such classics as The Club (1980), Sunday Too Far Away (1975), The Man from Snowy River (1982) and Petersen (1974). He won Cannes and AFI acting awards for the latter film. He was the recipient of a Living Legend Award at the 2005 Inside Film Awards.
FOR experienced MC truckie Ben Stamatovich, 48, the sky has become his playground and the open highway his canvas. Driving his weekly 5400km two-up run from Ad elaide to Perth and back again, together with wife Jacinta Brennan, 49 – and of course, his drone – Stamatovich cap tures some of the most breath taking views from above.
Stamatovich began driving trucks in his early thirties.
For the past eight years, the couple has been with HPS Transport, a family owned and operated business that specialises in produce and re frigerated transport from Ad
elaide to Perth. Last year they were handed the keys to a new Freightliner Cascadia, which he says is beautiful to drive.
“These trucks are built for comfort. The Cascadia is my absolute pick out of the trucks I’ve driven. At HPS, they’re a really good bunch of peo ple who really look after you.
That’s what you want at work, to know that you’re not just a number,” he said.
Stamatovich’s foray into trucking started when he got a job as a forklift driver at the age of 25. “That’s when I start ed to get my shit together –and I worked my way up. I’ve been driving trucks for about
15 years and in road trains for the past 10. Jacinta actually got her MC licence before me and started doing the run to Perth. I jumped on board and then we began doing it together. She’s having six months off at the moment to do some stuff with her horses, so I’m doing two-up with a mate for now.
“Jacinta and I get along re ally well and are really good mates. If you’re not getting along, then you’re not with the right person.”
Stamatovich says he and Brennan enjoy the time they get to spend together. “I love getting in the truck. We know what we have to do, it’s such
a great job and we get to do it together. It’s good work, good pay and I get to take some great shots out on the road. So it’s a win-win. Two birds, one stone. This is the best job I’ve ever had.”
He bought his drone about four years ago and shared a photo from his travels on line. The response was over whelming. With that, The Drone Way was born, with his Facebook page very quickly racking up a strong follow ing, which now sits at over 105,000 followers.
“My wife wanted a drone to follow her on the horses. So we bought a drone and it sat
in the cupboard for about a year and a half. Then one day
I thought I might as well take it with us. I took a shot of the truck and posted it on Face book and it went nuts, so that prompted me to keep doing it.
I look back at that photo now and think it’s horrendous,” laughed Stamatovich.
But in his younger years, it wasn’t an easy ride for Sta matovich. He did it tough growing up but thankfully, he overcame his demons and was able to turn his life around. Now, through The Drone Way, he continues to give back to those who are struggling.
“I was on the streets for nine years when I was a young fella, so I did it tough and I know what it’s like. I also got into drug addiction. When I started The Drone Way page, people started asking for prints, so I decided to donate a large por tion of the proceeds to support those who are homeless or struggling,” Stamatovich said.
“When I started doing char ity work, I put my heart on my sleeve. People trust me and know that if they buy some thing, I’m giving the majority of it back. It’s a good feeling to be able to give something back. When I’m having a down day, I’ll do a giveaway and it makes me feel good.”
There are two chosen chari ties he likes to support, which he says are both doing great
things: Community Pantry in Melbourne and Breakfast Bel lies in Adelaide. “They do so much great work. I support those guys and do my other stuff too. I try and do a good deed every day that I’m home. Whether it’s paying for a holi day for someone who needs it or buying someone a coffee,” he explained.
Stamatovich’s aerial shots are simply breathtaking and they’ve become a hot-ticket item. As you’d expect, driving across the Nullarbor offers some great subject matter for his drone work. But on one occasion, he got much more than he expected.
“We were driving along the Nullarbor cliffs and my wife woke me up to get the drone out. I asked why. Then I saw about 40 camels walking about 30 metres from the edge of the cliff, in single file. It’s about an 80 metre drop down to the ocean and a fall is cer tain death!” he said.
On another occasion, Sta matovich said he was asleep in the back when he woke up almost hitting the gearstick. “We were crossing through Balladonia just over the WA border when my wife had to the hit brakes after a bunch of camels ran out onto the road. When I looked up, I saw the last of them running across. That woke me up quicksmart,” he said.
FOLLOWING the recent news that this outback truck ing family will be appearing in their own reality TV show, Danyelle Haigh spoke with Big Rigs about what we can expect.
Danyelle and Anthony Haigh, together with their two young boys Heath and Theo, are best known for their regu lar appearance on the hit tele vision show Outback Truckers.
They run Murranji Water Drilling, which sees them trav el to some of Australia’s most remote and desolate land scapes.
Though the family called the town of Allora in the Southern Downs Region of Queensland
home, much of their time in recent years has been spent liv ing in their road trains.
That was until their move late last year to the NT, to a property known as Territory Grape Farm, located around 200 kilometres north of Alice Springs.
The 2100-hectare property near Ti Tree was snapped up for around $7 million and is the site of their next business venture, which encompasses a farm, complete with vari ous crops, and a luxury park.
“We will still be drilling in be tween developing the farm,” Danyelle said.
Their new reality show is called Outback Farm and will
be produced by Prospero Pro ductions, the same produc tion company that’s behind Outback Truckers.
“We were approached by Prospero Productions late last year after they heard of our new adventure in the NT. They asked what our plans were and if we were keen to turn it into a TV show. I can’t reveal too much yet but there’s no scripts, no lines, just what it looks like in out back Australia trying to start a
new business venture and de velop a tourist attraction. It’s hard work, sweat and tears, trying to make our dreams a reality,” explained Danyelle.
Filming for Outback Farm began in February this year. There will be six episodes in the season. “We are hoping for it to hit the TV screens in early 2023 on Chanel 7, Dis covery, Quest and a couple more channels showing across the world. We are opening our lives and our home for
this reality TV show. It’s just us, our family, our friends and the businesses we use that will feature in it,” Danyelle added.
“We’re really putting a lot on the line to do this. It’s scary but we feel it’s im portant to showcase the hard work behind the scenes of life on the land. We are excited to share this with the world.”
While the immediate fu ture of Outback Truckers is still in the air, Danyelle ex plains that the two shows will
remain completely separate.
“This show isn’t replacing Outback Truckers, which is on a totally different budget and has a totally different team,” she said.
Back in May, Prospero Pro ductions told Big Rigs that it was working hard to be in a position to green light a new series of Outback Truckers.
But to date, there has still not been any further news re lating to a new season of the popular show.
Together with their two young boys Heath and Theo, the family have begun their next adventure.
Danyelle and Anthony Haigh made a big move to the NT, after purchasing Territory Grape Farm.
Filming for the new show started earlier this year.
are less than one minute (of ten only seconds) in all trials done to date by individuals concerned about through traffic in Latrobe.
However this type of ex cuse given by truck drivers fails dismally when looking at council’s recorded figures of travel direction.
From the Apple Isle comes concerns by Latrobe council mayor Peter Freshney, which were published in the local paper The Advocate about safety concerns in his very busy small town in North West Tasmania.
Scenic Latrobe in just off the Bass Highway and not far from Devonport.
Latrobe has become a very popular town for tourists and locals alike, maybe due to no parking meters in town. The town has been expanding quite quickly with new hous ing builds.
This route is listed as a gen eral access heavy vehicle route, but not a restricted access heavy vehicle route.
A study shows there have been a small number of re stricted access heavy vehicles using this route, which is il legal.
While government has this route listed as a general access heavy vehicle route it is not ideal to be used as a through route, when there is a more suitable high mass limit route that bypasses the Latrobe township if the detour is used.
And that’s the reason Freshney is calling for some thing to be done to reduce the daily amount of trucks where possible.
That bypass route only takes a couple of minutes ex tra to use as has been proven by independent trials using similar vehicles.
It has been reported to the mayor that a lot of truck driv ers are using the Latrobe town route to avoid having to stop at a right turn intersection leading to a couple of trans port depots.
They argue it is better to go via Latrobe westbound and turn left, rather than to wait to turn right at the right turn junction.
The right turn junction is part of the higher mass route which bypasses Latrobe. It has an extremely good and long view of oncoming traf fic and maximum wait times
Freshney said there appears to have been an overnight, or quite a sudden increase in heavy vehicles through the town in recent times. He is not sure of the reason why.
His concerns have support from some quarters due to the car drivers not being attentive when swinging their car door open into busy traffic.
When this happens in front of trucks there is very little room and often both cars and trucks have to stop to avoid hitting the door or the person exiting the parked vehicle.
It has been reported that NHVR recently apprehend ed a high mass class 9 vehicle passing through Latrobe.
That truck was taken on a 26km (one-way) detour back to Ulverstone weighbridge (adding 52km to his day) to weigh.
Freshney is well aware of his responsibilities around al lowing a limited amount of these vehicles access into his town as they are needed to ser vice the hardware shop, super markets and building projects.
However those deliveries are very small when compared against the survey counts of trucks passing through that council has in its possession.
There are a couple of small transport operators based within town boundaries who need access to their depots. When that is allowed for there are at least 45 to 50 trucks a day, maybe more still using this route when there is no real reason to do so.
The busy George Chaffey Bridge across the Murray Riv er at Mildura is on the border between NSW and Victoria.
Every day hundreds of trucks meander over the bridge delivering goods around the country.
Depending which way you are going, it begins at Buronga NSW and ends at Mildura in Victoria and is part of the Stu art Highway.
A truckie named Phil was enjoying some food from the
area below the bridge in late September and snapped some road trains crossing it.
Phil kindly sent them onto Spy and I am thankful.
It was named after engineer George Chaffey.
The current bridge opened on March 12, 1985. The ninespan, 331 metre long and 9.8 metre wide prestressed con crete bridge was designed and constructed by the Depart ment of Main Roads (New South Wales). The Victorian approach is 500 metres long, with a six-span, high-strength reinforced concrete I-beam floodway bridge that’s 80.4 metres.
The NSW approach to the main bridge crossing is 1.3 kilometres long, and includes three floodway bridges.
Several truckies have found a café in South Australia which they describe as a hidden gem for drivers wanting a deli cious meal.
The place is called Beli cious at Inman Valley near Victor Harbour in South Australia.
It includes a waffle house and tea room and a truckie told Spy of his experience.
“At Belicious we had chick en and mushroom crepes fol lowed by ice-cream and maple syrup waffles. The coffee was excellent. We gave them a fivestar rating,” he said.
Spy tried to phone the café after finding a contact number but there was no answer on several occasions.
A well known NT truckie was becoming concerned at the amount of money his wife was spending on haircuts and styles.
It was between $150 and $200 a month and he told her so. She wasn’t impressed, so with a degree of outward com mon sense, he turned a blind eye to it.
“Happy wife, happy life,” he figured.
But the wife didn’t forget the nagging she had received and imagine her anger when hubby took the pet dog for a haircut as the temperature soared.
Especially when the cost for the pet’s trim was $220.
Bush cops better Every day you hear truckies
criticise overzealous police or scalies who will try and in fringe them for the most me nial thing.
On the flip side Spy heard numerous road transport peo ple singing the praises of the bush cops who were on duty at the Ewen Races held on September 25.
Ewan is located off the Gregory Development Road out from Charters Towers and racing first started there 100 years ago but went into recess during the depression of the 1930s and the severe drought in the years that followed.
The Ewan Amateur Turf Club was regenerated in 1955 and the present track estab lished with full camping facili ties, which are available for the thousands who gather for the festivities.
Anyway cops at such bush race meetings have been known to set up outside the front gate and alcohol breath test every driver who leaves.
Sometimes they end up with a boast for consolidated revenue when drivers over the limit think they had slept off their alcohol level.
At Ewan however the cops went around and offered ev erybody a test to ensure they didn’t drive over the limit.
It was a sensible and much appreciated act.
Ewan Races were broadcast on Sky Racing channel and were a great success.
While our owner operators and small fleet owners worry about rising fuel costs and fair rates, many retired truck driv ers are concerned about a drop in their superannuation.
“It was going good until this year and I received my super annuation statement recently and this time my total value has reduced by $20,000,” one told me.
That echoed what other retirees have passed on to Spy.
One gent received $42,000 annually from his super and said with all the rising costs he was struggling to live a quality life.
He reckons after paying taxes all his life and not receiv ing welfare, he deserves better.
So he is heading off to Cen trelink next week to see what is available.
They hope with interest rates rising so too will their su per accounts
A super fit middle-aged truck ie from the far north is often told he looks younger than the 67 years written on his birth certificate.
“I tell them I have discov ered the fountain of youth and bath in its waters regularly,” he said.
However for reasons known only to himself, the energetic driver won’t divulge the fountain’s location.
Except to say it is up past the Daintree re gion well up past Cairns. Footy coach praised In football circles around the country it is common knowledge that teams which win premierships two years in a row are few and far be tween.
However, up on Thursday Island which is the business centre of the Torres Strait, coach Terence Yusia has led his team Roosters to backto-back grand final wins.
Roosters beat archrival Mulga Tigers 40-20 in the September decider and will be going for number three at the end of next year.
Yusia works at the busy TI Seaswift, where the boats and barges arrive and load onto trucks for local delivery.
Milton behind the wheel Six-year-old Milton Stout wants to follow his late grandfather Gary Stout and one day become a truck driver.
He lives in Townsville and travels 130km a month with his proud dad Anthony Stout to Charters Towers to compete in a buggy race for boys and girls at Charters Towers.
Milton has signed up for rugby league, football (soc cer), cricket, follows rodeo, and also races a buggy as part of the North Queensland Mower Racing Club in Charters Towers.
“Milton was first placed in his division on September 24 and was third at the NQ Titles back in July,” proud mum Kylie told Spy.
His late grandfather Gary Stout was a handy cricketer and rodeo enthusiast who has a grandstand named in his honour at Bartlett Park Rodeo Grounds at Kelso.
along and catch up with their mates, in person and with their trucks. O’Neills Heavy Towing and Salvage will be sponsoring a barbeque and all are welcome.
Convoy For Kids Goulburn
November 19, 2022 Goulburn, NSW convoyforkidsgoulburn.com.
au Convoy for Kids Goulburn pro vides support for local children with cancer, terminal illness and permanent disabilities, by providing financial assistance to the families of such children with special needs. For the first time in two years, the Convoy Carnival Day will be run in its entirety, with a Guinness World Record attempt for the largest parade of trucks, entertainment and plenty of kids activities.
Dane Ballinger Memorial Truck Show
November 19, 2022 Bathurst Showgrounds, NSW bathursttruckshow.com.au
HERE’S a look at some of the trucking events to add to your calendar in the coming months.
Tamworth Truck Drivers’ Club Show & Shine October 15-16, 2022 Tamworth Truck drivers memorial grounds (New England Hwy, Tamworth Next to the Lions Park) Held in conjunction with the Dungowan Village Fair. All trucks to be parked by 9am with the presentations starting from midday. Entry fee for trucks is just $25, and other highlights include a
Tug-O-War for teams of six with a first prize of $1000. All event enquires to Damien Hook (president) 0439 278 885; Max Thomas (Vice president) 0407 014 235; Victor Kent (Secretary) 0439 486 095; or Patricia Downey (Treasurer) 0401 428 208.
Deni Truck Show & Indus try Expo
October 22, 2022 Memorial Park, Deniliq uin, NSW denitruckshow.com.au
This event sees many trucks making their way to Deniliq uin, a town in NSW’s Riveri na region. There will be Show
and Shine Awards, auctions, exhibition stands, and a Wall of Fame Dinner that cele brates contributions to the local transport industry.
Gold Coast Truck Show October 23, 2022 Mudgeeraba Showgrounds, Queensland goldcoasttruckshow.com.
au The Gold Coast Truck Show will see trucks of all sorts rolling in for an impressive display. Entry is $25, which includes passengers, trophy nominations and judging for awards across various catego ries.
Convoy for Kids Sydney October 30, 2022 Hawkesbury Showground, Clarendon, NSW convoyforkids.com.au Convoy For Kids Sydney Inc was started in 1992 by a small group of dedicated people from transport and associated indus tries who shared a desire to help sick children. The 2022 convoy will start at the Sydney Drag way and finish at Hawkesbury Showgrounds for a fun day out for the whole family. The event will raise money for NETS Ambulance Service.
Brisbane Convoy For Kids
November 5, 2022 Brisbane, Queensland brisbaneconvoyforkids. com.au
This truck convoy runs Lara pinta to Redcliffe, followed by a fun-filled family day, which will include truck awards, live entertainment and a spectac ular fireworks display, all to raise money for a very worthy cause.
Newcastle Truck Meet
November 5, 2022
McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle, NSW newcastletruckshow.com.au
At the very first Newcastle Truck Meet, people can come
The Dane Ballinger Memorial Truck Show will feature plen ty to see and do for the entire family, including over 200 market stalls, food stalls, enter tainment and kids rides. The Bathurst Swap Meet Car and Bike Show will be held as part of the same weekend.
Illawarra Convoy
November 20, 2022 Illawarra, NSW illawarraconvoy.com.au
Touted as the largest truck and motorbike convoy in the Southern Hemisphere, the Il lawarra Convoy raises funds for individuals and families af fected by potentially life threat ening medical conditions, to gether with charities that work
with these people, and local hospitals.
November 26-27, 2022
Castlemaine, Victoria castlemainetruckshow.com
This is the 34th year for the an nual event, which celebrates the important contribution of the trucking industry, with enter tainment on offer for the whole family. Event proceeds will go towards local youth and com munity projects.
Koroit Truck Show
January 28, 2023
Koroit, Victoria
After a Covid-enforced hiatus, the Koroit Truck Show will return with a bang during the Australia Day Long Weekend.
Newcastle Truck Show & Convoy
February 26, 2023
McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle, NSW newcastletruckshow.com.au
The Newcastle Truck Show & Convoy is a fun, family day where the community and transport industry come together to celebrate and ap preciate the contribution of the transport industry to our nation. The convoy departs at Newcastle Markets and ends at McDonald Jones Stadium, where over 200 trucks will be on display.
East Gippsland Convoy for Kids
March 4, 2023
Great Lakes Airfield, Lakes Entrance, Victoria facebook.com/profile. php?id=10006477645 4174
The convoy will commence at Traralgon and Orbost, coming together at the Greater Lakes
Airfield at Lakes Entrance, where there will be plenty of trucks on show, with previous years attracting more than 200 vehicles. Money raised will go towards the chosen charities: Angel Flight, Camp Quality and the Ronald McDonald House.
MAY Brisbane Truck Show
May 18-21, 2023
Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre brisbanetruckshow.com.au
The Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre and South Bank Parklands will be wall to wall with the latest and best trucks, trailers, technology, components and equipment when the show returns in 2023.
Have you got an event you’d like included in the next Save the Date? Email all the details to editor@bigrigs.com.au.
KENWORTHS new and old, working and retired, re stored and original, came out in droves for the Clarendon Kenworth Klassic over the weekend.
It takes place every two years and is run as part of the Clarendon Classic Rally, at Hawkesbury Showground in Clarendon, NSW.
Held over the weekend (September 17-18), it was time well spent, as truck en thusiasts gathered to show off their prized Kenworths, ad mire the trucks on show and enjoy all of the fun and enter tainment that was on offer.
This year, the Award of Ex cellence 2022 went to Tracy and Scott Martin. They own a 1986 SAR, powered by a Detroit 892 engine, which takes them far and wide. They purchased the truck from Ul ladulla in NSW and built up
the fridge van as accommoda tion.
The Dane Ballinger Memo rial Award was also presented. Named in memory of Dane Ballinger, a truckie whose life was tragically cut short three years ago, when he passed away at the age of just 36, the award is presented to an ex ceptional operator. Kenworth Klassic organisers said, “At the last KK (Kenworth Klassic) we had all experienced the unex pected and heartbreaking loss of Dane Ballinger and decided to remember him each year at the KK for who he was and what he did.”
This year the award was presented to Muscat Haulage, a small family owned trucking company that operates out of Yass, NSW. Tony and Beth Muscat started the business in 1977, transporting gen eral freight, and since then it
has continued to grow, with more and more Muscat fami ly members joining the ranks.
This week, Muscat Haulage welcomed the first of the third generation of Muscats into the company.
At the event, Danielle and Sam Ballinger presented the Muscat Haulage team with the Dane Ballinger Memorial Award.
Following the win, Muscat Haulage took to Facebook, “Clarendon Kenworth Klas sic has always been about the comradery within the indus try, and good looking Ken worths. This year’s Classic was extra special with Muscat Haulage coming home with the Dane Ballinger Memo rial award. It means a lot to us to receive this recognition from the Ballinger family. Thanks for a great show to all involved.”
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WITH women currently repre senting only 7 per cent of the operational team at Cleanaway, the recycling and waste man agement services business has launched a program that aims to increase female participation across its workforce.
Cleanaway’s Driver Acade my for Women was launched in late 2021 to give people out side of the waste management industry an opportunity to start a new career path.
The second group of re cruits in Victoria were recent ly welcomed to Cleanaway’s Brooklyn yard. All cadets in the second Victorian cohort are in the process of becoming of ficially HR licenced with sup port from Wodonga TAFE.
“The first day nerves were certainly circling around the room in the morning and by the end of the day, the room was full of energy,” said acad emy manager Chelsea English. “The group are progressing well through their coursework thanks to our amazing edu cational partner, Wodonga TAFE. The team was excited to visit our landmark facilities including Victorian Com mingled Resource Recovery
network, Melbourne Regional Landfill, South East Organics Facility and South East Mel bourne Transfer Station.”
Operational roles, includ ing heavy vehicle driving, are the most widely held positions at Cleanaway. Traditionally they’ve been filled by men. Cleanaway says it’s looking to break that mould and create
a more diverse and inclusive workplace.
“Our goal is to create a pipeline of great women in our operational teams to drive and become our leaders of the future,” said Cleanaway Solid Waste Services executive gener al manager Tracey Boyes.
Tailored to women, fe male-identifying and non-bi nary people who have never driven a truck before, the Driver Academy for Women provides heavy vehicle training and ongoing support.
Sarah Corvi and Lisa Car berry were among the wom en who took part in the first round of the Driver Academy in Victoria. They are both now qualified side lift drivers with Cleanaway.
Before joining the Driver Academy, Corvi had worked in administration, delivery driving and warehousing, and was returning to full-time work after several years as a stay-athome mum. “I was apprehen sive about the hours and mak ing sure I had an understanding with my employer that I was first and foremost a mum,” she explained. “Cleanaway blew my expectations out of the wa ter and all of that apprehension and fear disappeared.”
Carberry joined the Driver
Academy following a career in customer service in the tele communications and utilities industries. She admits it was daunting at first to go from driving a car to a truck – but says she’s glad she took the leap.
“The training through TAFE and the support from all the managers has made me feel like I can approach them with any concerns I have. The buddy system is amazing, with lots of on-the-road training. To this day, my buddy still checks in with me to see how I am go ing,” explained Carberry.
Corvi agreed. “The knowl edge given to us, from both the TAFE course and Cleanaway employees from all different parts of the company, was over whelming. We had amazing support from basically every one at Cleanaway. It’s been the most inviting team at any com pany I’ve ever dealt with and feel comfortable and confident in my colleagues to be able to stop and ask for help when I need.”
Driver Academy partic ipants receive support from both experienced Cleanaway employees and accredited training providers, but Boyes added that it doesn’t stop there, “One of the best things about the Driver Academy is that the
women create a community, so they have a team to bounce off and support each other as they navigate this new career.”
Cleanaway is continuing to expand the Driver Academy for Women, with programs now being run through its Solid Waste Services busi ness units in Victoria, NSW, Queensland and South Aus tralia. In Victoria, the program has been extended with the addition of a Plant Operator Academy for Women, which provides training in earth mov ing equipment.
“I’d love to see at least an other 50 to 100 women join Cleanaway through our Driv er Academy in the next 12 months. Supported by their networks of incredible women, I hope to see them stay and en joy long careers at Cleanaway,” said Boyes.
“As a driver, you’re first in the chain – without you, we don’t collect the waste that we then turn into products. It’s a critical role, in an industry that is critical today and into the future.”
For graduates Corvi and Carberry, the program has giv en them a foot in the door to a new career path and they’re excited to see where that leads.
“This is not just something
THE TRAINING THROUGH TAFE AND THE SUPPORT FROM ALL THE MANAGERS HAS MADE ME FEEL LIKE I CAN APPROACH THEM WITH ANY CONCERNS I HAVE. THE BUDDY SYSTEM IS AMAZING, WITH LOTS OF ON-THE-ROAD TRAINING. TO THIS DAY, MY BUDDY STILL CHECKS IN WITH ME TO SEE HOW I AM GOING.”
LISA CARBERRYI want to do, but it is a new passion I have. I can see myself not turning back to my old life as an office worker and instead being a heavy vehicle driver for the rest of my working life,” said Carberry.
While Corvi added, “I have a plan of where I want to be in ten years with my driving and how I’m going to get there. I see the bulldozers, tippers and double semis with walking floors at Melbourne Regional Landfill (MRL) and can’t help but think that I could operate them someday, and Cleanaway has made that a possibility with the Driver Academy.”
The first group that graduated from the program in Victoria. Learning to lift bins during the training program.PENSKE Australia and New Zealand has presented Shan non Dickson and Bryce Bell with the 2022 Penske Guild Master Technician awards for off-highway and on-highway, respectively.
A leading hand from Kings Park, NSW, Dickson compet ed with five other off-high way finalists prior to being crowned the off-highway Master Technician.
Securing his second on-highway Master Techni cian award, Bell, a diesel tech nician from Perth, also vied against five other on-highway finalists.
Open to all Penske Guild members, the Master Techni cian contest saw participants from around Australia and New Zealand compete in qualification rounds prior to the final.
The annual competition includes both general proce dural tasks as well as advanced diagnostics scenarios, with fi nalists contending against the clock.
“This year’s Penske Guild Master Technician skills and diagnostics contest was our most competitive yet,” said Kathy Bandounas, group
HIGHLYSKILLED MASTER TECHNICIAN FINALISTS
BROADER TECHNICIAN
DELIVER
learning and development manager at Penske Australia and New Zealand.
“Congratulations to Shan non and Bryce, as well as our other ten highly talented par ticipants who were pipped at the post.
“We’ve seen the skill level increase year-on-year, and the competition get tighter as the 12 competitors strive for the spoils.”
Encompassing Penske’s product portfolio of on- and off-highway brands, the breadth of the challenges undertaken by the finalists is indicative of the daily tasks a
Penske technician undertakes.
Hamish Christie-John ston, managing director of Penske Australia and New Zealand, said the high level of ability demonstrated in the competition directly translat ed to the excellent service de livered to customers.
“Our highly-skilled Master
Technician finalists are indic ative of our broader techni cian base at Penske and what we deliver to customers across our Australian and New Zea land branches,” he said.
“Our staff live our com pany values of ownership, teamwork, integrity, care, and especially passion, which is
evident in this competition.
“All our technicians, from our Penske Guild members to our most recent apprentices, have the opportunity to work on a wide range of products across our varied customer group.
“This diversity yields a sig nificant opportunity for our
team that provides personal growth and career fulfilment – and this is our Penske dif ference.”
The two newly-crowned 2022 Master Technicians will enjoy trips overseas to Ger many and the United States to visit the mtu and Detroit plants.
Shannon Dickson (left) and Bryce Bell.THE MTA Institute’s best and brightest apprentices have been recognised for their excellence and dedication to the automotive trade, with the finalists officially an nounced for the 2022 MTA Queensland Apprentice of the Year award.
The line-up includes An drew Shepherd, who recently completed his Certificate III in Heavy Vehicle Technolo gy with Trucks on the Run, Toowoomba, and Emily Hodda, a fourth-year Cer tificate III in Heavy Vehicle Technology apprentice from BMAS Biloela.
The winner will be an nounced at the annual MTA Queensland Industry Awards Gala on Saturday, November 19, at the Emporium Hotel, Southbank, Brisbane.
Thanks to tool sponsor Milwaukee Tool, the 2022 Apprentice of the Year will take home a 218-piece au tomotive starter toolkit A1, ensuring they are equipped with the necessary equip ment to thrive as they con tinue on their journey into the automotive trade. The runners-up, meanwhile, will receive a Milwaukee Tool
3/8” Drive 56-piece Ratchet & Socket Set.
The others in the running for the award are:
• Mitchell Johnston – re cently completed his Cer tificate III in Light Vehicle Mechanical Technology with Cam Duffy Autos, Malanda.
• Todd Marshall – recently completed his Certificate III in Light Vehicle Me chanical Technology with Insane Performance, Rock hampton.
• Britain Leotta – second-year Certificate III in Automo tive Electrical Technology apprentice from Mackay
Transit Coaches.
• Grace Campbell – fourthyear Certificate III in Parts Interpreting apprentice from Central Bike Centre, Emerald.
• Jack Farraway – third-year Certificate III in Light Ve hicle Mechanical Technol ogy apprentice from Done
Right Automotive, Char ters Towers.
• Timothy Louden – fourthyear Certificate III in Light Vehicle Mechanical Tech nology apprentice from GMW Mechanical & Tow ing, Gladstone.
• Nathan Faggotter – sec ond-year Certificate III in Automotive Electrical Technology apprentice from Longreach Motors.
• Klarah Cassar-Tan – fourthyear Certificate III in Light Vehicle Mechanical Tech nology apprentice from Mercedes-Benz Sunshine Coast.
• Lucas Giacoboni – thirdyear Certificate III in Light Vehicle Mechanical Tech nology apprentice from Auto Giant, Brendale.
• Phoenix Ah-Toon – thirdyear Certificate III in Au tomotive Refinishing Tech nology apprentice from Allspec Coatings, Yatala.
MTA Institute general manager Paul Kulpa said: “With over 2200 apprentices currently training with the MTA Institute, the standard of nominations for the Ap prentice of the Year award has never been higher.
“I am absolutely blown away by the passion and the craft our finalists have ex hibited throughout their ap prenticeships to this point, and I congratulate them all on this well-deserved recog nition.
“As the automotive indus try continues to experience critical skill and labour short ages here in Queensland, the ability to come together to recognise and acknowledge those achieving and doing incredible things has never been more important. I have little doubt these individu als will continue to aspire to great heights as they progress on their journey in the auto motive industry.
Kulpa said he’s also excit ed by the breadth of regions being represented by this year’s finalists.
“From the Gold Coast to Malanda, and from Gladstone, Mackay, and Rockhampton to Biloela, Longreach and Charters Towers, this is the most geo graphically diverse group of finalists we have ever had and speaks to our commitment to delivering crucial skills right across the state.”
