Prime Mover August 2021 by Prime Creative Media

August 2021

Victorian Freight Specialists Call of Duty AUGUST 2021 $11.00

ISSN 1838-2320

9 771838 232000

Industry Fleet: Wallace International Feature: Hino 700 Launch Showcase: Aftermarket Personality: Paul Pulver

Innovation Fleet: JJ Hawkins & Co Feature: Wishart Contractors Test Drive: Volvo FH Dual Clutch Delivery: Adelaide Urban Electrical

T H E P E O P L E & P R O D U C T S T H AT M A K E T R A N S P O RT M OV E AUSTRALIA’S GUIDE TO UTES, VANS, LIGHT TRUCKS & PEOPLE MOVERS

Delivery Magazine inside: Pages 71-80.

MAGAZINE

August 2021

MEET THE TEAM

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

Victorian Freight Specialists

John Murphy | CEO

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

Call of Duty AUGUST 2021 $11.00

ISSN 1838-2320

9 771838 232000

Industry Fleet: Wallace International Feature: Hino 700 Launch Showcase: Aftermarket Personality: Paul Pulver

Innovation Fleet: JJ Hawkins Transport Feature: Wishart Contractors Test Drive: Volvo FH Dual Clutch Delivery: Adelaide Urban Electrical

T H E P E O P L E & P R O D U C T S T H AT M A K E T R A N S P O RT M OV E AUSTRALIA’S GUIDE TO UTES, VANS, LIGHT TRUCKS & PEOPLE MOVERS

Delivery Magazine inside: Pages 71-80.

MAGAZINE

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

William Craske | Editor

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

managing editor, transport group

Luke Applebee luke.applebee@primecreative.com.au

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

business Ash Blachford

development ash.blachford@primecreative.com.au manager 0403 485 140

art director Blake Storey blake.storey@primecreative.com.au Peter Shields | Senior Feature Writer A seasoned transport industry professional, Peter has spent more than a decade in the media industry. Starting out as a heavy vehicle mechanic, he managed a fuel tanker fleet and held a range of senior marketing and management positions in the oil and chemicals industry before becoming a nationally acclaimed transport journalist.

design production manager

Michelle Weston michelle.weston@primecreative.com.au

client success manager

Justine Nardone justine.nardone@primecreative.com.au

Starting out at the coalface, Paul completed a heavy vehicle and plant mechanic apprenticeship before transitioning into professional heavy vehicle driving where he became proficient operating semis and B-doubles. Some 17 years ago he made a giant leap into transport journalism and has been an ongoing contributor for several commercial road transport publications.

Ashley Blachford | Business Development Manager

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

www.primemovermag.com.au

Kerry Pert, Madeline McCarty

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

Paul Matthei | Senior Journalist

design

head office 11-15 Buckhurst Street South Melbourne VIC 3205 P: 03 9690 8766 F: 03 9682 0044 enquiries@primecreative.com.au

subscriptions

03 9690 8766 subscriptions@primecreative.com.au Prime Mover magazine is available by subscription from the publisher. The right of refusal is reserved by the publisher. Annual rates: AUS $110.00 (inc GST). For overseas subscriptions, airmail postage should be added to the subscription rate.

articles

All articles submitted for publication become the property of the publisher. The Editor reserves the right to adjust any article to conform with the magazine format.

PRIME MOVER magazine is owned and published by Prime Creative Media. All material in PRIME MOVER magazine is copyright and no part may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic or mechanical including information and retrieval systems) without written permission of the publisher. The Editor welcomes contributions but reserves the right to accept or reject any material. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information Prime Creative Media will not accept responsibility for errors or omissions or for any consequences arising from reliance on information published. The opinions expressed in PRIME MOVER magazine are not necessarily the opinions of, or endorsed by the publisher unless otherwise stated.

CONTENTS

Prime Mover August 2021

36 58

COVER STORY “The Actros has been an absolute weapon for our business. The fuel is just second to none. We ran a lot of tests in the early days and there was just nothing that could really compete with it.”

RESERVOIR DOGS

Prime Feature Stories FLEET FOCUS 26 Call of Duty With an overarching commitment to service and integrity, Victorian Freight Specialists delivers parcel and freight services across an extensive network throughout southeastern Australia.

48 Masters and Apprentices Isuzu Australia is looking to keep Australia moving by supporting apprentices with real world skills and programs to help secure not only jobs but the industry’s long-term future.

32 Custom Made A strong reputation and a knowledgeable team have formed a platform for the success of Wallace International. Over 40 years it has provided customs brokering and freight forwarding services including all aspects of international freight and the associated landside logistics.

58 Two for the Road Using data from the Cloud, Volvo’s Dual Clutch transmission delivers a new dimension of smooth operation.

36 Sea Change After being a loyal single-brand truck operator since 1974, privately-owned Perth-based carrier J.J. Hawkins & Co recently jumped ship, purchasing three new Scania prime movers. The company plans to gradually replace its entire fleet of 20 prime movers with those of the Nordic brand. TRUCK & TECH 40 Reservoir Dogs A new Western Star rigid approved for PBS Level 2 compliance in South Australia is turning heads and meeting requirements for Wishart Contractors.

TEST DRIVE

Regular Run 06 From the Editor 08 Prime Mover News 62 Personality 64 Prime Movers & Shakers 67 Delivery 78 ARTSA-I Life Members 80 National Heavy Vehicle Regulator 82 Healthy Heads in Trucks & Sheds 83 Australian Logistics Council 84 Trucking Industry Council 85 Victorian Transport Association 86 Peter Shields’ Number Crunch

FROM THE EDITOR

In the Loop

William Craske Editor It came as a shock ousting. Although it was no incident in isolation. In Canberra there was a new Deputy Prime Minister who doubled as the Minister for Transport. Only the new Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport was the old one. Which is to say the former minister was now the current and the current was the former. Let us recap. A spill motion initiated in the Nationals party room by Queensland Senator Matt Canavan, unseated Michael McCormack, from the nation’s second highest office. The National Party Leader was at the time, ironically, occupying the highest office as Acting Prime Minister, with Scott Morrison quarantined at home after a trip to the G7 summit in the United Kingdom where, presumably, he received his talking points regarding net-zero carbon emissions, the same issue, in another cruel irony, that had apparently removed his 2IC. Just as Barnaby Joyce assumes the key portfolios of Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development (correct, no less, at the time of publishing) his sudden ascension comes as the Nationals push back against a sharp pivot to net zero emissions policy made by the

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Prime Minister, who himself first took office by supplanting Malcolm Turnbull who had usurped Tony Abbott, who was really unpopular with the media but was voted in by taxpayers in a landslide. You need not have read Friedrich Dürrenmatt for all of this to seem so recently familiar. The net zero emissions stratagem by 2050, however, could not be adopted by Morrison without the support of the Nationals according to Resources Minister Keith Pitt, who had declared as much to foretell the spill to come. For his part in the gambit, Joyce, who had launched an unsuccessful challenge to McCormack last year, returns after regional Australia suffered through a sustained period of drought, bushfires and COVID-19 restrictions. As new Nationals leader, Joyce’s rhetoric is very much rooted in local affairs and unlike that of Morrison, whose advisory has found it near impossible of late to navigate the optics of a 24-hour news cycle, impossible to ignore. Joyce indeed spoke about fires, droughts, cyclones and addressed the men, women and children, who had helped elect his colleagues to govern, in some cases, many of the departments that directly impact the commercial road transport industry. But when pressed on the policies his leadership would invoke, he proved evasive referring to “a different suite of attributes.” Even so, he announced it was time to give Aussie battlers a fair go, a time-honoured Australian axiom that sounds good in a performative sense as it can attract votes but, serves, more shrewdly in the body politic as a mechanism to buy more time. Since the Coalition came to power in 2013, the minister for transport has changed four times, with Warren Truss, Darren Chester and the outgoing McCormack all serving in the role. In that period the issues perhaps most relevant to the ministry like road pricing

reform, the launch of a new national freight and supply chain strategy and the National Road Safety Strategy have made negligible progress. The National Land Transport Network, for one example, has authorised spending on 33 projects which were categorised as “inter-modal transfer facilities,” but delivered instead, a handful of commuter carparks with many more cancelled or yet to be assessed. Let us count the ways to run out the clock. Such inactivity, objectionable as it is, will pale into insignificance once concerned industry stakeholders are besieged again by the campaign pledges of the next, do or die, election. Political power differs from trucking in that the former insists on embracing solutions to problems whose cause must, for the sake of narrative, be too often ignored. Were it a rarity that these heightened accords of activism to have seized government as a kind of moral lodestar — all of the cyclical and endless stagnation, might not appear, even to the casually invested, so fatally incurable. Under this “habit of promiscuous commitments” to borrow a phrase from Angelo Codevilla, in which the ruling class achieves little, but looks busy as it shuffles the deck chairs on the sinking ship, there is always a lesson of sorts for people that industry is captured by politicians who will use any means to exclude them from the political process. Yet it may still beguile some of us as to why no live minutes are recorded at the National Cabinet, we are free, at present, to reflect on it while breathing in our own noxious carbon dioxide owing to mask mandates compelled by the same governments, who are arguing about invisible trace gases and the many experts, fictional and otherwise, they have decreed to save us from them.

THE ALL-NEW 700 SERIES HAS ARRIVED THAT’S ANOTHER HINO

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users. Designed to meet Euro 6 exhaust emission standards, it’s the cleanest Hino heavy-duty yet. Delivering increased

performance with more engine power ratings, a wider range of axle configurations and the choice of a true automatic or

automated manual transmission. With an eye catching new interior and exterior, offering improved comfort and functionality targeted squarely at the driver. The all-new 700 Series is the truck of the future, here today. Find out more at hino.com.au

PRIME NEWS

> Western Truck Group acquires iconic Mackay dealer Ownership of the Mackay-based Crokers Truck Centre is set to be transferred to Western Truck Group (WTG). The stewardship of the Crokers Truck Centre after 44 years of serving transport operators in the Mackay region, will be transferred to WTG and in doing so consolidates its growing network across central and northern and Queensland and also the Northern Territory. With a history stemming back to 1889, the enterprise of the Croker family has ranged from shipping, sugar warehousing, fuel distribution, fertiliser, homewares, motor vehicle sales, steel and pipe galvanising and even insurance. From its outset in 1977, Crokers Truck Centre held the Volvo Trucks franchise for the area. It added Mack and UD to its brand portfolio in the mid-2000s. “The partnership between Crokers Truck Centre and Volvo Group Australia has provided customers in this region with unmatched service for over four decades,” says Martin Merrick, President and CEO, Volvo Group Australia. “The various Croker businesses that have supported local industry have helped Crokers Truck Centre in Mackay.

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to create a successful bustling regional hub, it is a legacy to be proud of.” Crokers Truck Centre has traditionally serviced customers across the region from St Lawrence to Bowen, and inland to Clermont. Joe White, Dealer Principal, Western Truck Group said bringing Crokers into the WTG network was a privilege. “We are taking on the stewardship of a family legacy that has a long and proud history in Mackay,” he said. “We will ensure that the loyal customer base that has been built up by Crokers over the decades will continue to be serviced in the same customer-centric manner as we continue to grow the business even further.” WTG was established in 2018 after the acquisition of Queensland Truck Centre (QTC) which had been operating in Toowoomba, Mt Isa and the Sunshine Coast areas since 1993. Taking on the existing relationship with VGA, WTG established itself as a vital network partner looking after the transport needs of customers throughout Southern and Western Queensland.

As a result of that strong relationship, in March 2020, WTG entered into an agreement with VGA to acquire its dealership operations in Darwin, Cairns, Townsville and Rockhampton. Mackay’s location on the Queensland coast as a major port for coal and sugar export has made it a strategic location for transport operators and heavy industry. The acquisition ensures that even those operating in the geographically remote regions of Australia will be serviced by a network that is second to none according Richard Singer, Vice President Aftersales and Network Development, Volvo Group Australia. “The sale of Crokers Truck Centre to Western Truck Group is a fantastic result for our customers both within the region and for those passing through,” he said. “I’d like to thank and congratulate all those at Crokers, especially company directors Glen Croker and Ross Kynaston whose efforts over the years have made the business what it is today, they have been real ambassadors for everything that Volvo Group Australia stands for.”

ISUZU SERVICE AGREEMENTS

Zero-stress servicing. Brought to you by Isuzu. No business wants big, unexpected bills. But with an Isuzu service agreement, you can flatten your truck servicing costs into a predictable monthly payment (or upfront fee with Isuzu Essentials). You’ll also be part of one of Australia’s biggest dealer networks, so you can book a service at locations around the country. With the new Chain of Responsibility laws, proper servicing will protect your business. Lastly, service agreements come with Isuzu Care, Australia’s most comprehensive truck customer care programme. To find out more, see your nearest Dealer or visit isuzu.com.au/care-support/service-agreements.

Ask your local Isuzu dealer about which service agreement is right for you.

FSA/ISZ12886

Isuzu Essentials

Isuzu Essentials Plus

Isuzu Total

Isuzu Heritage

PRIME NEWS

> Volvo launches new specially designed emergency vehicle

The Volvo FM Crew cab on the streets of Woolloongabba.

The new Volvo FM Crew cab has been launched with emergency services personnel front of mind. According to Volvo Group Australia, the needs and safety of Australian firefighters have been prioritised through feedback collected from the field by the commercial vehicle manufacturer in creating what it considers as being the safest, most comfortable and effective vehicle for those tasked with protecting the community during times of crisis. In conjunction with Rosenbauer Australia, this new vehicle has been specially designed and equipped, front to back, under the ethos that safer emergency vehicles mean a safer environment for all road users. A key focus during the development of the Volvo FM Crew Cab was to create a cab that made a firefighter’s job easier while also supporting the health and wellbeing of their teams in the challenging conditions they often face. The result, per Volvo Trucks, is a more human centric approach to emergency 10

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vehicle design. Available with both 11- and 13-litre engine options with the option of Euro 5 and Euro 6 emissions ratings, the Volvo FM Crew cab offers a 6-speed Powertronic torque converter automatic transmission and class leading 12-speed I-Shift AMT with the added option of crawler gears. The wellbeing of firefighters took precedence according to Gary Bone, Vice President, Volvo Trucks Australia, so that the vehicle was imbued with better operational logic and information was easily accessible. “We looked at improving the cabin with features like greater access with the egress-fold down step, wide door openings, and enhanced grab rails,” he said. “Firefighters were also front of mind when we designed the cabin interior, ensuring that the interior is safely lit whilst also preserving low light vision,” said Bone, who confirmed Volvo intended to build the vehicles at its Wacol facility in Brisbane. “I am proud that our products are able to play a role toward improving the safety

and wellbeing of emergency services personnel now, and into the future.” He added, “With over 40 years in the Australian market, Volvo’s innovative trucks are a combination of global vision and local intelligence.” The partnership between Volvo Trucks and firefighting equipment specialist Rosenbauer Australia, is based on a commitment of keeping people safe both on and off the road according to Arthur Wiemer, Managing Director, Rosenbauer Australia. “Drawing on global expertise to provide an optimised local solution for Australian firefighters shows that we have both the agility and ability to target the specific requirements of emergency services personnel,” Wiemer said. “We look forward to continuing to work with Volvo Trucks with the aim of building these appliances here in Brisbane.” The Rosenbauer equipped, Volvo FM Crew Cab, will have its first public showcase at the 2021 AFAC exhibition, 17th-20th August.

SPICER SELECT

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PRIME NEWS

> Scania invests in two new spare parts warehouses Commercial vehicle manufacturer, Scania, has announced the establishment of two new parts warehouses. Increased investment in its Australian operations will see the company continue to support company-owned branches including the latest facility at Eastern Creek scheduled to commence operations later in the year. These investments consist of a new national warehouse in Campbellfield and another in Perth dedicated to mainly to its mining customers in Western Australia. Part of a strategy to secure additional capacity for spare parts storage and dispatch, Scania is looking to provide a higher level of first pick of spare and replacement parts, underpinning its promise of exceptional uptime for customers. The Campbellfield facility, which is located near the Victorian headquarters of Scania and includes a 9000 m2 warehouse, is set to open in September. According to the company it is substantially bigger than the existing National Parts Warehouse which opened in 1992. The second investment is in a new standalone warehouse facility in Perth, where 2000 m2 of parts storage will support Scania’s WA operations from July 2021.

This facility is required to service the growing Scania on- and offroad population, particularly among demanding applications such as Scania’s many mining customers for whom uptime, and therefore parts access is critical. “We have taken this decision to expand our national and regional warehousing capacity as a result of the accelerated growth of sales of trucks, buses and engines over the past decade, and therefore the expected demands for replacement and service parts for these vehicles and engines over the next decade and beyond,” said Patrik Tharna, Scania After Sales Director. “We have doubled our truck sales and market share since 2010, and our bus market penetration remains extremely high, underscoring the need to supply many customers around the country with a reliable flow of parts, as well as the additional service capacity we are adding with our new company-owned branch at Eastern Creek. “We live in an increasingly uncertain world and we have all seen over the past year the impact on long-distance supply chains. With this added capacity for parts-holdings we anticipate being able to provide more parts, more quickly to more customers from these new warehouses.”

Last year as COVID hit, Scania began to increase parts stocks at its National Warehouse in Victoria and at branch warehouses around the country in order to build resilience in case of major supply chain disruptions. Scania also secured capability to deliver directly to workshops and customers from other warehouses in Europe and Asia. Despite these efforts, production capacity and container availability has continued to impact spare parts availability. According to Ben Nicholson, National Parts Manager for Australia, the after sales team member responsible for the warehouse capacity expansion project, the new National Warehouse in Melbourne will allow for even more stock to be located in Australia to counter the negative effect COVID-19 has had on global supply chains by making Scania more independent. “With the addition of the new Regional Warehouse in Perth, we will also build some additional resilience into our supply chain within Australia,” he said. “When the new warehouses are online, we will improve spare parts availability reducing lead times, as well as being better at pre-picking kits to provide superior support to our own and our authorised independent dealer workshop operations.”

Ben Nicholson and Patrik Tharna.

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PRIME NEWS

> LINX names new CEO LINX Cargo Care Group has announced its Chief Executive Officer, Anthony Jones, has resigned from his position. Jones began his career with the Patrick business, now LINX, some 23 years ago on the wharf at Port Botany in NSW. Jones was instrumental in the establishment of LINX following the separation from Asciano in 2016. He held the CEO position for the last five years. In a statement issued to media, LINX thanked Jones for his leadership in the expansion and positive promotion of the LINX CCG businesses and its people. Brookfield’s Managing Partner, Patrick Boocock, has been appointed to replace Jones as LINX Cargo Care Group’s CEO. He will join the Group from 1 July and commence working closely with Jones and the LINX Cargo Care Group Senior Leadership Team over the coming months to ensure a smooth transition to the role. Boocock has been with Brookfield since 2009 and has led businesses on

Patrick Boocock.

behalf of Brookfield previously including CEO of the Australian AET&D group in Perth, Global CFO of Multiplex and most recently leading and expanding Brookfield’s asset management platform in Asia. He comes to the role with significant experience in growing, scaling and transforming businesses and working collaboratively to achieve shared objectives. “Through changing and challenging

market conditions and now an unprecedented global pandemic, Anthony has delivered great outcomes for LINX Cargo Care Group, its customers and stakeholders, as well as bringing a strong and active voice when contributing to industry, market and wider stakeholder forums and discussions,” the company said in a statement. Jones said he was sad to leave the business and people who were formative in his career to date however, reaffirmed his belief in the positive future ahead for LINX Cargo Care Group. “To move on from LINX Cargo Care Group was a difficult decision to make, especially after investing my career over the last 23 years with the then Patrick business and now LINX Cargo Care Group,” he said. “However, I know I leave LINX Cargo Care Group in a sound position and continue to stand by my long-term, genuine belief in the Group’s people and its future in Australia and New Zealand’s logistics supply chain industries.”

> Victorian Govt expands network of high productivity vehicles Freight connections will be improved across Victoria through the expansion of the High Productivity Freight Vehicle (HPFV) network according to the State Government. The upgrades are anticipated to save farmers, freight operators and businesses time and money and further encourage freight operators to invest in newer, safer and cleaner vehicles. Around 3,000 kilometres of road have been added to the preapproved HPFV network, reducing costs and saving farmers and businesses time by eliminating the need for individual route assessments. The new networks will be published online and include key freight routes along the Bass Highway, Murray Valley Highway, Wimmera Highway and Ballarat-Maryborough Road. A-doubles, according to a media release issued by the Minister for Roads and Road Safety Ben Carroll, that meet the 14

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HPFV specifications, which include strict safety and emissions requirements, will have improved access on these routes. In addition, the Government is also issuing six new A-double tanker networks to help streamline the transportation of milk and other liquids across the state. These routes have been developed with industry and tailored specifically to A-double tankers, which have different specifications and requirements to other A-doubles on the network. The routes will reportedly provide more simple, safe and connected journeys for the movement of key products such as milk, grain and livestock in regional Victoria. The expansion of the HPFV network only includes roads in regional Victoria and any trucks coming into metropolitan Melbourne will need to abide by existing curfews. Truck curfews are enforced in areas including Melbourne’s inner west,

to limit the number of heavy vehicles in busy residential areas. “These upgrades will deliver stronger, safer and more reliable roads for the freight industry – meaning farmers and suppliers will be able to get their goods to market much more efficiently,” said Carroll. “Improving the network will take trucks off local roads – backing local jobs and making our country roads safer.” Reducing freight costs and encouraging investment in safer, cleaner and more efficient trucks was a win for farmers, businesses, freight operators and the community said Minister for Ports and Freight Melissa Horne. “Improving access for High Productivity Freight Vehicle’s is vital to meeting the state’s growing freight industry needs as efficiently as possible while minimising the number of trucks trips on our road network.”

the new benchmark in six-cylinder performance With a massive 2700Nm of torque the benchmark for 13-litre six-cylinder engine performance has just been reset. With a standard rating of 75,000kg, and generating maximum torque at low revs, it’s well equipped to take on the most demanding task with a minimum of fuss. Throw in Scania’s renowned fuel efficiency and advanced safety features, including side curtain airbags, and luxury interior and you’ve got a package fit for the only business that matters. YOURS.

For more information on the all-conquering 540hp simply contact your nearest Scania branch/dealer. VICTORIA Scania Campbellfield Tel: (03) 9217 3300 Scania Dandenong Tel: (03) 9217 3600 Scania Laverton Tel: (03) 9369 8666

NEW SOUTH WALES Scania Prestons Tel: (02) 9825 7900 Midcoast Trucks Coffs Harbour Tel: (02) 6652 7218

QUEENSLAND Scania Richlands Tel: (07) 3712 8500 Scania Pinkenba Tel: (07) 3712 7900

SOUTH AUSTRALIA Scania Wingfield Tel: (08) 8406 0200 WESTERN AUSTRALIA Scania Kewdale Tel: (08) 9360 8500

PRIME NEWS

> Followmont lands first Evolution models delivered in the world

The new Mack Evolution Tridents unveiled in Brisbane.

The first two of four Mack Evolution Tridents purchased by Followmont Transport have arrived. Executives from Volvo Group Australia met with key management from Followmont Transport this week in Brisbane where the new commercial vehicles were delivered in a handover ceremony. New Vice President of Mack Trucks, Tom Chapman and UD Trucks Vice President Lauren Downs attended along with Followmont Managing Director Mark

Tobin, Followmont General Manager Fleet & Compliance, William Fisher, VCV Brisbane Area Sales Manager Steve Helms and VGA Vice President Services & Retail Development Richard Singer. All four Mack Evolution Tridents are expected to be operational by the end of July. Featuring an all new sleeper cab, the Mack Evolution Tridents have integrated active driving aids along with all the standard Followmont Transport safety

specifications. Integrated safety details include an equipped Bendix Wingman Fusion camera up front which works in conjunction with Collision Mitigation system in detecting anything stationary on the road. Adaptive cruise control, Vehicle Stability Control and Blind Spot Radar, an alarm that alerts the driver of the unsafe proximity of a vehicle when the indicators are on, are all included. Like most modern passenger vehicles the radio and many control functions are all found on the steering wheel. The new trucks will be running exclusively in Followmont’s Brisbane-based linehaul fleet, servicing regional Queensland. “The Mack Evolution Trident further enhances on previous integrations of Volvo Group Technology into Mack Truck’s,” said William Fisher. “It’s the best of both worlds in my opinion. We get the safety, driver comfort, reliability and reduced running costs of the European brand with the good look’s of the American Brand,” he said.

> New Adelaide Hills sawmill to improve supply, transportation routes A new $4.5 million sawmill in the Adelaide Hills will be built thanks to a new long-term log supply agreement with ForestrySA to help industries still reeling from timber supply shortages. KSI Sawmills, which currently operates a small mill at Nuriootpa, will build the new mill which will be strategically located allowing for expansion, offering improved transportation routes central to both local timber plantations and downstream markets. The news comes after an emergency summit at South Australian Parliament were informed that Australia’s timber shortage was having a domino effect on builders and trades dependent on the construction industry. Sharp increases in global demand during the COVID-19 crisis including the success of the Federal Government’s HomeBuilder scheme has caused rises in the cost of

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building materials, including timber. Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development David Basham said the new $4.5 million mill will help KSI Sawmills more than double their current production to approximately 60,000m3 annually and create nearly 30 jobs. “The new local log processing program will inject over $12 million in direct value into South Australia’s economy each year,’ Minister Basham said. “I congratulate KSI Sawmills for making this significant investment in South Australia’s timber industry which will increase supply and create local jobs. This investment has been made possible thanks to a new 10-year log supply agreement between Forestry SA and KSI Sawmills. “KSI will predominantly consume lower grade log from ForestrySA’s plantations in the Adelaide Hills. The majority of timber products

will be consumed by the local packaging industry. “Some higher-grade products will meet structural grade and be consumed by the local building and construction industry, while residue materials will support Adelaide Hills based agriculture. “This will lead to improved product utilisation and better environmental outcomes with less waste, and better estate management for ForestrySA.” Minister Basham said a recent tender process for log supply from ForestrySA has resulted in new long-term supply agreements, helping to secure the future of the domestic processing industry including KSI Sawmills. “New arrangements will allow for all log of sawmill quality to be provided to the processing industry for increased value-adding, predominantly in South Australia,” Minister Basham said.

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PRIME NEWS

> Isuzu welcomes new boss Commercial vehicle manufacturer Isuzu Australia Limited (IAL) has announced the appointment of Takeo Shindo to the position of IAL Managing Director and CEO. Shindo san’s appointment comes as the Australian truck market leader bids a fond farewell to former Managing Director and CEO, Ms Hiroko Yaguchi, following her highly productive almost four-year assignment in Australia. With a tenure spanning 35 years at Isuzu Motors Limited Japan (IML), Shindo san brings to Australia a wealth of experience garnered from all facets of the global Isuzu family. Having previously worked across corporate, operational, sales and retail roles in Japan, North America and Africa, as well as several growing South-East Asian markets, Shindo san joins IAL during a time of consolidated domestic growth and rapid industry change. IAL Director and Chief Operating Officer, Andrew Harbison, extended a

warm welcome to the latest member of IAL’s Australian Directorate. “We’re extremely pleased to welcome Shindo san to Australia and to the role of Managing Director and CEO at IAL. We’re looking forward to continuing to build on the great work between our Australian and Japanese operations,” said Harbison. “IAL has big plans for the future, especially in relation to our ability to adapt to rapidly evolving domestic and international industry change. “Shindo san’s formidable track record at our parent company in Japan, especially in the product development and planning space, and his tenure across the breadth of Isuzu’s global markets, fills us with great confidence.” Harbison also took the opportunity to extend a sincere thanks to outgoing Managing Director and CEO, Ms Hiroko Yaguchi (Yaguchi san). “Despite the great news, it is a bittersweet moment for our business,

Takeo Shindo.

as we bid farewell to Yaguchi san, who is returning to Japan after an extended four-year assignment here in Australia,” said Harbison. “Her strength, resilience and business intelligence during that time and indeed throughout an unprecedented 2020, won’t be forgotten. We wish her every success in her future endeavours within Isuzu Motors Japan.”

> Adelaide supply company reaches milestone with delivery truck

Peter Masseroni.

A Fuso Canter operating for Adelaide business, Newtons Building and Landscape Supplies, has achieved 1 million kilometres. The truck is owned by 83 year-old Peter Masseroni who delivers firewood, sand, loam and other landscaping materials to various Adelaide suburbs. He founded the Newtons Building and Landscape Supplies business back in 1979. Masseroni drives the Canter tipper six 18

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days a week. On Sundays he goes for a bike ride. Neither Masseroni nor his truck, are likely to stop any time soon. “It’s too late for me to retire,” he said. “The truck works like a charm. It never breaks down.” In fact, the vehicle has only ever had one non-consumable part replaced. “All I have had to do is replace one clutch at around 500,000km, that is it,” said Masseroni. “I have not touched the engine, the diff, nothing.” Based in the Adelaide suburb of Campbelltown, Masseroni takes pride in ensuring his trusty truck is well maintained and that it remains in excellent condition. Masseroni came to Australia from Italy in 1959 and started at the Holden Woodville plant before going to drive for Ready Mix. From there he went on to start his own business supplying concrete as well as building and landscaping material, before selling the business to current owner and friend Frank Ferella in 1996. However,

Masseroni stayed on to drive for Newtons, which has grown throughout the years, and bought his current Canter in 1998. Masseroni, according to Ferella, is the perfect employee. “Peter’s work ethics are second to none – he is always on time and brings nothing but joy to the staff and customers,” said Ferella. “He puts smiles on everyone faces.” Fuso recently presented a special “one million km” plaque to Masseroni during a special ceremony attended by his workmates, friends, family and representatives from Daimler Trucks Adelaide and Fuso head office. Fuso Truck and Bus Australia Director, Alex Müller, said of Canter’s half century history in Australia, Peter’s is one of the very best. “We would like to congratulate Peter on this exciting milestone and thank him for being such a good ambassador for Fuso,” he said.

PRIME NEWS

> Hamilton Contracting doubles down on latest bonneted heavy vehicle technology A Jerilderie-based bulk transport specialist has shared insights on its latest mobile asset, purchased to meet the demands of the grain harvest. Hamilton Contracting took on a new Freightliner Cascadia 126 before harvest season last year. So impressed with the performance of the 60-inch sleeper cab, owner Troy Hamilton recently added a second Cascadia which is due for delivery later this month. The first Cascadia is running with a stag trailer at a combined weight of 68.5 tonnes, hauling grain and fertiliser to and from ports at Geelong and Port Kembla as well as a range of storages across New South Wales and Victoria. To date, the Cascadia is proving the most fuel efficient truck in the fleet, however, Hamilton is reserving final judgement until he sees a year of data on its fuel efficiency. “If I was to choose to drive a truck

tomorrow I would choose the Freightliner every time because the gear-shifting, the bunk space, the long wheelbase, the smooth ride, it is an absolute no-brainer,” Hamilton said. “The driver driving it loves it, he thinks it is fantastic.” The 16-litre Detroit six-cylinder generates 600hp and 2050lb-ft of torque and meets the GHG17 emission level, which is even more stringent than the Euro 6 standard. Following a positive experience with a Mercedes-Benz Actros, Hamilton thought the Cascadia’s 16-litre engine and 12-speed Automated Manual Transmission would perform well and he was right. While the Cascadia can be ordered with an 18-speed Eaton manual, Hamilton recognised the Detroit 12-speed AMT suited his needs best. “I think the 12-speed in the Cascadia is a no-brainer, I really do. Especially

when we are running on the leg going into Port Kembla with its steep terrain,” he said. “It takes all the stress out of being a truck driver, such as when you have to split a gear knowing that if you miss you might come to a dead stop and have to start from a standstill. This way, all you have to worry about is staying on your side of the road and watching what is in front of you.” The full suite of advanced safety features that comes standard in the Cascadia including a driver’s airbag, advanced emergency braking system, adaptive cruise control and lane departure warning has provided Hamilton with peace of mind. “We have never had a major accident where someone was hurt or had damage to a truck, but it is comforting to know that you have got that kind of stuff on your side if it ever was to happen,” he said. Freightliner Cascadia 126 at the Goorambat grain silos.

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> MEGATRANS returns to Melbourne One of the biggest industry events for the logistics and the supply chain sectors is set to make its return in Melbourne. MEGATRANS returns 8-10 September at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre following the disruption last year of COVID-19 which resulted in the postponement of many events. As one of the industry’s first face-to-face events, the threeday integrated trade exhibition and conference launches under the slogan ‘Reimagining the supply chain’ and will showcase the full freight and logistics supply chain, spanning warehousing and logistics, through to multimodal freight and final mile delivery. A showcase of innovative solutions to the challenges wrought by COVID, MEGATRANS offers an opportunity for industry to engage with wider audiences and this year adds a strong focus on the retail and foodservice sector.

Exhibitors include MTData, EKT, ANL, Australian Border Force, ASCI, CEVA Logistics, Muskat Trailers, NARVA, Colliers International, DMC, Goodyear Dunlop, Kynection and many more. This year’s event also includes a conference, awards ceremony and government breakfast. The Mercury Awards, the official awards program of MEGATRANS, also make their return to celebrate innovators, individuals and companies across all forms of freight transport, logistics and materials handling, infrastructure and storage and warehousing. Representatives from OMC International (Dynamic Under Keel Clearance System), PTV Group (PTV Route Optimiser), Visa Global Logistics (Fleet In-cab tablet technology) and DB Schenker (Direct Express Australia) have all been nominated in the Freight Transport Solution of the Year category. “Trade exhibitions will look a little

different in 2021, with a raft of health and safety protocols to be implemented as directed or recommended by authorities and safety experts at the relevant time,” said Simon Coburn, General Manager Events. “After a disrupted year where face-to-face business interactions have been dramatically reduced, physical events that allow you to engage with potential customers will be more important than ever and can provide a valuable advantage over any competitor who is not on display in the exhibition. “We thank the majority of 2020 exhibitors and sponsors who have carried across their support to the new dates and we are looking forward to welcoming the industry to MEGATRANS in September. “Tickets are now on sale for both the exhibition and conference – please book now to ensure you don’t miss out on the industry event of the year.”

> Kenworth T360 nine-metre long tilt tray joins WFL Transport fleet Melbourne company Waverley Forklifts (WFL) Transport has taken delivery of its fourth new Kenworth T360 8×4 tilt tray that will be based at the company’s Sydney branch. The new T360 will play a pivotal role in the WFL Transport fleet which has the responsibility of moving Waverley Forklift Group’s national forklift hire fleet of around 3,500 units to meet the needs of its clientele. The stunningly presented Kenworth features a nine-metre tilt tray – said to be the longest of its kind fitted to a T360 to date. It was handed over to WFL Transport on 4 June after taking pride-ofplace on the PACCAR stand at this year’s Brisbane Truck Show (BTS). According to WFL Transport Manager, Rob English, who drove the truck from Melbourne to its new home in Sydney, the new Kenworth is a highly versatile unit – having a big-truck feel while being extremely agile in busy around-town environs. “With the wide cab there’s plenty of

space inside – it’s certainly a very comfy truck to drive,” vouched English. “It’s much like being in a T610 but without the big bonnet in front of you. “Power-wise it performs equally as well as a T610 pulling a semi-trailer.” The truck is punched by a Cummins ISLe5 engine rated at 400hp (298kW) accompanied by 1,255lb-ft (1,700Nm) of torque. It meets Euro 5 emissions standards using Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology. It features an 18-speed manual RoadRanger transmission which ensures there’s a gear for every occasion. “It’s a great truck to drive, really well mannered, steers well, rides well and is also very quiet inside,” said English. “This T360 is next-level for us in terms of its suitability for our application.” With a payload capacity of 14 tonnes, the T360 will play a pivotal role in WFL Transport’s Sydney operation, transporting rental forklifts around metropolitan and greater Sydney regions.

The tray was custom-built by Custom Transport Equipment (CTE) in Drouin (Vic), which builds all of the bodies for WFL Transport. “The truck was spec’d for us and we made a commitment to purchase it after it had been displayed at the BTS,” said English – who added that in common with the new T360, most of the company’s trucks have manual transmissions due to their reliability and durability. Kenworth T360 with tilt tray.

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GLOB AL NEWS

> Daimler unveils new electric vehicle in Europe

Mercedes-Benz eActros.

Mercedes-Benz has released its heavy duty eActros battery electric truck in Europe. Utilising the cab and frame of the diesel powered Actros, the series production model of the eActros is equipped with either three or four battery packs with the maximum range of 400 kilometres. The technological centrepiece of the eActros is the drive unit which consists of a rigid drive axle with two integrated electric motors and an automatic two speed transmission. The motors are liquid cooled and deliver a continuous output of 330kW with a peak of 400kW. Connected to a 400A DC charging station, the three- battery versions need just over one hour to recharge from 20 per cent to 80 per cent. Daimler confirmed the eActros is available as a two or three-axle rigid truck with 19 or 27 tonnes Gross Vehicle Mass respectively. The vehicle features a high 22

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level of safety including protection for the batteries in the event of a side-on crash, while sensors integrated in these can detect a crash scenario. In such a case, the high voltage batteries would be automatically isolated from the rest of the vehicle. The driver always has the option of actuating the HV battery shutoff at any time from the cab. To ensure the vehicle is easier for road users such as pedestrians and cyclists to hear, the eActros comes as standard with an external Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS). Sideguard Assist comes as standard on the eActros along with fifth generation Active Brake Assist emergency braking system with pedestrian recognition. After sales support for the eActros includes advice offered by the eConsulting team at Mercedes-Benz Trucks and includes route analyses, verification of any available subsidies,

assistance in operative fleet integration and the optimisation of the total operating costs. Further steps for long distance haulage are also well advanced and series production of the low-floor MercedesBenz eEconic truck is expected to start in 2022. In addition, the battery-electric eActros Long Haul is expected to be launched in 2024 and the GenH2 Truck with hydrogen-based fuel cell will come in the second half of this decade. “We are very excited about groundbreaking Mercedes-Benz electric trucks and buses, including the pioneering eActros,” said Andrew Assimo MercedesBenz Trucks Australia Pacific Director. “We are not yet in a position to confirm any local electric model introductions, but are certainly working towards making these exciting vehicles available in Australia and New Zealand at the appropriate time.”

> Wiseway expands in the US Integrated logistics provider, Wiseway, with operations in Australia, New Zealand and China, commenced ground operations at a new branch based in Los Angeles, effective from June. This development follows a need to satisfy growing demand for Trans-Pacific integrated logistics services and is also a significant step in the company’s organic growth strategy. “Building on growing demand for Trans-Pacific logistics services from our existing customer base, I am pleased to announce that we have accelerated our growth in the US by establishing on-theground strategic presence in California,” said Wiseway CEO, Roger Tong. “Establishing our local capabilities through our US branch will help meet the growing demand from our existing customers while opening new opportunities for

revenue synergies and partnerships across Wiseway’s global network. “This is an exciting milestone in our well measured growth journey which started in Australia more than 10 years ago, and this step will expand our addressable market, diversify our income streams, and cement our position as a global freight and integrated logistics operator.” Wiseway has completed the required registration process and will operate a lean model for its in-country operations with a highly experienced team strategically based in Los Angeles, California. Los Angeles is a strategic hub in Australia’s Trans-Pacific trade, being the largest inbound and outbound freight destination in North America according to The Bureau of the Infrastructure, Transport, and Regional Economics

(BITRE) in 2020. It is also the fourth largest inbound freight destination globally, making it the ideal next step for Wiseway to expand and diversify its global operations. “We have a strong track record in successfully growing our business across borders in new and complementary markets,” said Tong. “Our experience in global operations and our strong balance sheet will ensure a smooth execution of this opportunity and create long-term value for our customers and shareholders.” The new US route joins Wiseway’s expanding global network and operations across Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific, including established branches in Guangzhou and Shanghai, and will allow the company to extend its operations to new shipping destinations.

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MENTAL HEALTH MINDSET

Naomi Frauenfelder Naomi Frauenfelder is the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of Healthy Heads in Trucks & Sheds. Previously, Naomi was Executive Director of the TrackSAFE Foundationan Australian rail industry not-forprofit, that addresses suicide on the rail network and the resultant trauma caused to train drivers and other frontline staff. It is this experience that Naomi will draw upon and apply to HHTS, to strengthen and grow the organisation and work to improve mental health in the trucking and logistics industry.

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BEYOND THE ROADMAP Looking ahead of the mental health and wellbeing landscape of the supply-chain sector in 2024.

n May 2021, Healthy Heads in Trucks & Sheds (HHTS) delivered an industry-led, industryspecific strategy for improving mental health and wellbeing for road transport, warehousing, and logistics workers - the National Mental Health and Wellbeing Roadmap (the Roadmap). The Roadmap intends to provide strategic guidance and support for creating psychologically safe and thriving workplaces. The success of this Roadmap now lies not only with HHTS but those who can support its implementation, including industry bodies, large businesses, small and medium enterprises, and owneroperators. Everyone has a role. We know the industry faces significant challenges relating to mental health and wellbeing, in 2019 employees in the transport, postal, and warehousing sectors were reported as feeling the least connected out of 19 other industries in Australia, according to SuperFriend. What is even more sobering is an analysis by the Coroners Court of Victoria that showed truck drivers had the highest number of suicides out of any other profession between 2008 and 2014. To generate genuine change requires shared responsibility and committed collaboration to establish a psychologically safe solution.

The Roadmap itself priorities the risk factors that directly impact the mental health and wellbeing of those in the sector; - Trauma and critical incidents - Long hours, shift work, and fatigue - High job demand - Isolation and social disconnection - Gambling addiction and excessive behaviour - Third-party workforce arrangements - Mental health stigma Through an evidence-based Framework and a set of workplace strategies, the Roadmap aims to address these risk factors, designed specifically to support all people in the road transport, warehousing, and logistics industries. The Roadmap suggests that a psychologically safe and thriving workplace promotes mental health and wellbeing. It supports those who already experience positive mental health and contributes to stopping or lessening movement along the mental health continuum. Building a workplace that is psychologically safe and thriving requires a systemic and integrated approach to supporting mental health positively, seeking to create an environment where the mental health and wellbeing of all workers is prioritised and cared for.

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best practice, making sure continuous improvement is occurring. By 2024, three years on from the delivery of the Roadmap, we expect that our industry will have seen a positive change in key risk factors and will be in better positions with the tools to address troubling risk factors that may arise in the future. We aspire to have achieved industry-wide adoption and support of the Framework, making our sector a leader in mentally healthy workplaces. Ultimately, we hope that mental health is as everyday as physical safety and that stigma relating to mental health is no longer prominent across the vital supplychain workforce. HHTS encourages all of the industry to get on board the Roadmap, which is freely available via our website.

Isolation and social disconnection for truck drivers have been identified as risk areas under the Road Map. p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

COVER STORY

CALL OF DUTY Victorian Freight Specialists delivers parcel and freight services across an extensive network throughout south eastern Australia.

The distinct black cab of a VFS Mercedes-Benz Actros on a highway outside Melbourne. 26

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COVER STORY

reight deliveries, whether pallets or parcels, don’t just happen. It takes an investment in equipment, infrastructure, technology and, most importantly, people to be able to reliably and efficiently provide an end-to-end parcel service which extends across both city and country landscapes. Victorian Freight Specialists (VFS) is an organisation which pays attention to all of those vital factors, as well as having an overarching commitment to service and integrity. VFS was established in 1998 by John Rowe and Roland Neef, both of whom had previously held senior roles with well-known national road transport organisations. A major component of the VFS operation is the fleet of 40

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courier vans performing same day doorto-door parcel pickups and deliveries across the Melbourne metropolitan area. Each van is equipped with smartphone scanning technology and real time tracking is available via the VFS website. VFS is also a major provider of overnight freight and parcel delivery to regional Victoria, Southern NSW and Mt Gambier in South Australia involving an extensive network of 26 long-established agents. VFS has its head office and main depot located in Dandenong, supported by another a depot in Truganina servicing the northwest area of Melbourne. VFS also operates its own depots in the growth areas of Wodonga and Gippsland and a regular service is now being provided into Canberra. Currently around 170 company

employees plus more than 200 sub-contractors look after the customers’ freight requirements. VFS is a conscientious organisation and compliance and safety are always core values. A recent move was the appointment of a very experienced specialist manager dedicated to focus on those critical areas. The amount of freight out of Melbourne and into the country regions has experienced significant growth in recent years and VFS management has made a point of choosing vehicles which best suit their specific applications rather than sticking with one brand. “The fleet was one dimensional at the start and that was my doing,” says VFS Operations Director Chris Collins. “I liked the products we had but I had

to venture out of that a little bit with certain applications. We’d bought four Fusos and they’re a good reliable truck and that purchase opened the door for Daimler to put a Mercedes-Benz Actros in here. We did some testing and, although I liked the product we were running at the time, there were some things the Actros did very well. It’s got all the safety devices and it’s important we give our drivers the best equipment.” The Mercedes-Benz prime movers have continued to impress Chris in the fuel economy results and there are now ten Actros prime movers in the VFS fleet. The fuel economy of the Actros models continues to impress Chris. “We haven’t looked back. The Actros has been an absolute weapon for our business. The fuel is just second to

VFS curtainsider B-double loads up with parcels for interstate linehaul.

none,” he says. “We ran a lot of tests in the early days and there was just nothing that could really compete with it.” While on a Daimler sponsored study trip to Europe, Chris was able to spend a day and a half with the factory driver trainers in Germany. “It was a worthwhile trip and I came back and reset my mind on a few things with a different mentality about how they drive their trucks and fuel efficiencies,” he recalls. “I came back knowing we could do better. It’s all about the little details.” Drivers new to VFS receive comprehensive coaching to assist in them maximising the performance and efficiency of the trucks. Every VFS and sub-contract vehicle is equipped with the additional information screens for

the MTData compliance system which includes approved Electronic Work Diaries and GPS tracking as well as speed monitoring and nonconformance reports. In addition to the compliance aspect, Chris sees the MTData system as a way to further improve fuel efficiencies. “It’s a good driver tool to use,” he says. “We don’t buy just one of any model of truck. We run ten Actros’s now, and we’ve got 15 or 20 of the same Isuzu rigid model so we actually get to see driver patterns.” Chris Collins’ father and grandfather were in road transport and he’s glad he decided to make a career for himself in the same industry and has been at VFS since 1998. “I didn’t really have a clear path

“It’s a good driver tool to use,” he says. “We don’t buy just one of any model of truck. We run ten Actros’s now, and we’ve got 15 or 20 of the same Isuzu rigid model so we actually get to see driver patterns.” Chris Collins, VFS Operations Director.

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COVER STORY

Dandenong depot and head office of Victorian Freight Services.

when I left school and I was given the opportunity by John Rowe, who went back a long way with my family, and basically I took on a full apprenticeship under John himself,” he says. The most recent Mercedes-Benz Actros 2263 to begin working in the VFS fleet has been liveried to pay subtle homage to John Rowe. “The Actros was something from me and my other business partners to recognise what John Rowe had done in the transport industry. It’s the flagship of VFS, and it’s appropriate it carries his name,” says Chris. The handover of the Actros and its new Vawdrey trailer set was celebrated with a number of suppliers and VFS’s key people. Although the overall operation has achieved significant growth, VFS retains the culture of a family business. Staff turnover is minimal. “There are people who have been here since day one and they know the 30

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standards and the way John went about meeting them and what he required as a business,” Chris says. “It wasn’t just one thing to be good at, it was the multiple of little things put together and all the small details that made a good transport operation. We continue to do that with all the young guys coming through now. John still comes to the board meetings every week and keeps us all in line. We all work hard and that’s a pivotal part of what John did right up until the day he stepped back. He had confidence in a few of us younger guys he had trained and we’ve taken it on from there.” Adopting the latest in transport technologies aids VFS in achieving the efficiencies necessary to maintain a viable operation without taking focus away from the people involved in moving the freight and their desire to provide a superior level of service to the clients. The custom developed ‘Good Track’ IT system provides services such as online ordering and quoting, real time tracking

and electronic invoicing. VFS has its own full customer service team which answers calls and acts immediately if something needs to be escalated. VFS doesn’t have sales people doing things like cold calls, instead it has account managers who continually work closely with clients. “We’ve got a really good reputation in the industry. We’ve got some good brands that we carry for who speak of us highly. And those brands are expanding as well, so we’ve got a level of organic growth.” VFS remains committed to providing good, old fashioned service with honesty, integrity, and a smile. Considerable effort has been put into VFS being able to rightly claim Victoria’s best country parcel freight network with the strength of the association with longstanding country depot operators. “We’ve got some great country people and they’re a part of VFS, they’re not a third party or merely an on-forwarder,” Chris says.

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FLEET FOCUS

CUSTOM

MAD A strong reputation and a knowledgeable team have formed the platform for the success of Wallace International.

he demand from Australian consumers for imported goods has never been higher, nor has the export of local products been more important. For many households, COVID has actually seen an increase in disposable income, which may have harmed sectors such as tourism and entertainment but has also delivered a boom in retail and online shopping. As an island nation Australia relies on sea and air freight to facilitate the movement of goods each way across

its borders and this also necessitates a complex system of checks and balances which require a high level of expertise and experience to navigate smoothly. Wallace International has been providing such customs brokering and freight forwarding services including all aspects of international freight and the associated landside logistics for 40 years and as the company has expanded so too has its in-house road transport division. In the field of import and export, compliance with the requirements of the two regulatory bodies of Customs and Quarantine is essential. “In dealing with Customs in this country, if you do everything right, then everything is OK and provided you have everything ready you can clear your cargo in about one and a half minutes,” says Wallace International founder Bob

Wallace. “We spend hours getting all the data in place and ensuring it’s correct but after lodging with Customs the response is almost immediate and we have to have this all in place well before the arrival of the Ship or Plane. It’s all about the preparation you have to do. If you talk to a painter he’ll probably tell you it’s 90 per cent preparation and 10 per cent the actual paint that makes the paint job look good. Dealing with Customs is the same thing – as long as your preparation is fine, and you know what you have to do, you can go through the system pretty quickly.” Dealing with the Quarantine can sometimes be a different experience as the regulator moves to meet the demands of the growth of its tasks in recent years. “It’s the customs clearance that is what I call the glue,” says Bob. “Unfortunately,

A T409SAR is loaded with containers by a Kenworth T409. 32

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Bob Wallace, Founder Wallace International. p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

FLEET FOCUS

Kenworth T610 B-double carrying timber.

we don’t charge the worth for our customs clearance services because we’re fighting against the ‘sausage factories’ (multi-national competitors) but our cartage and warehousing offerings link everything together.” Bob considers it vital that the one entity has end-to-end control of the import or export process and sees the future in continuing to provide wharf to door and air freight terminal to door services as the future. “If you’re not able to provide the whole process, I can’t see how you can be in the game much longer,” he says. “The big multinationals don’t really care and you’re just a number, whereas we can show we can control it and do the whole thing from go to whoa. I think that’s been a reason why we’ve been able to outlive a lot of independents.” Wallace International sub-contracts its wharf cartage in Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth and since 2000 has been operating its own fleet of semis, B-doubles and rigids from its Sydney facilities in the suburb of Rockdale which is ideally located in close proximity to the Port Botany and Sydney Airport. 34

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The current business model had its origins back when containerisation began. Shipping companies prefer not to handle traditional cargo unless it’s in containers and this has led to the industry developing specialised road transport equipment including skels and sideloaders. Wallace International has four Hammar sideloaders located in Sydney. The use of efficient sideloaders in Australia is in contrast to the situation in the United States where wharf carriers have multiple trailers which are left for sometimes extended periods of time at client’s premises. Bob is surprised that sideloader manufacturers such as Hammar and Steelbro haven’t made attempts to enter the US market. “When sideloaders came here from New Zealand it was probably only going to suit a couple of places such as Perth and Brisbane because we had the room to drop the containers,” he says. “Take a sideloader into Sydney back then they would have had a heart attack because none of the places had the facilities to drop a container but that’s all since changed.” At Wallace International it is its prime movers that capture attention because of

their striking liveries and bright polished metal components. Supported by Isuzu rigids, the mostly Kenworth fleet stands out due to the always immaculate presentation – one of the benefits of a ‘one truck-one driver’ policy. This guideline also encourages the drivers to approach with pride, not just the presentation of their vehicles, but also their interaction professionally with clients and the public. “We put Kenworth’s on because I like longevity and reliability and Kenworth have serviced us very well. I’m not sure if some of our drivers are married to the truck but they certainly treat them that way, racing around with the spray and wipe on the chrome, and the more chrome they have on them the more they’ll keep it up,” Bob says. “They keep them immaculate and I’m very proud of them for that.” Fleet Manager Gary Perry ensures it’s not just the truck’s exteriors that receive attention and has a strict servicing regime that involves each truck receiving a service every 10,000 kilometres. Container work is demanding on trucks as they are mostly running close to their maximum allowable weight and are

subjected to the strains of starting and stopping often in heavy traffic. Kerbside cameras are fitted to each prime mover as a safety measure for operation in Sydney traffic where car drivers frequently ignore the rules and occupy spaces that are entitled to a turning truck. “Some people who drive cars can’t understand that the driver is ten feet up in the air and he’s got a big bonnet in front of him and he can’t see a car that’s only three feet high,” says Bob. “It annoys me that people don’t think twice nor understand sharing the road with trucks.” Technology plays an important role in many aspects of the Wallace International operations. “I’ve been in this for 52 years,” says Bob. “I was at the start of automation with Customs so that’s how old I am. I think the best thing about technology is it’s actually assisted us in a lot of ways. We can keep a better eye on the trucks, and that’s not necessarily keeping an eye on

the truck drivers, but it provides a better ability to move them around the place.” On the clerical side of the business technology has brought such improvements as electronic PODs. Even so Bob is adamant technology won’t replace the moving of freight. “Somebody has still got to physically move it. Until someone comes out with the Star Trek technology of ‘beam me up’ we’ll still need people to physically move the stuff and I think that’s where trucks and forklifts are still going to be around for a while yet,” he says. “But that doesn’t stop people making the forklifts better. And today, the trucks are better and they last a lot longer than they used to.” In recent years Wallace International has expanded into the third party logistics sector and provides warehousing and distribution for clients who are importing or exporting including many food products. Because Wallace International has built a strong

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representation as a ‘one stop shop’ it doesn’t perform 3PL work for any other brokers or forwarders. As it stands, Wallace International moves truckloads of freight by road from Sydney to Brisbane for several of its importer clients. “They’ve got national contracts with carriers, but they ask us for a price and by the time they move their product to a freight hub and have it collected from a local hub at their end we can save them two or three days and also the cost of double handling,” Bob says. The Wallace International journey started in 1981 when Bob and his then business partner decided to leave their jobs in multinational companies because they realised there was a need in the market for a more personalised service where customers were treated based on their unique needs. Today that vision is shared by more than 90 employees across most states of Australia.

FLEET FOCUS

SEA

CHA

After being a loyal single-brand truck operator since 1974, privately-owned Perth-based carrier JJ Hawkins & Co recently jumped ship, purchasing three new Scania prime movers. The company plans to gradually replace its entire fleet of 20 prime movers with those of the Nordic brand.

The first of the new Scania R 620s JJ Hawkins will add to its Western Australian fleet.

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o most people change doesn’t come easy. There’s a certain sense of comfort that comes from familiarity; and fear of the unknown often drives humans to stick to a particular course of action rather than face the reality that things aren’t ideal and need to change. However, everyone has their limit and as for David Hawkins, Director of J.J Hawkins & Co, his limit arrived last year when he made the much deliberatedover decision that continuing with the brand of truck that the company had faithfully adhered to since 1974 was no longer tenable. The company was founded by David’s father, Joe Hawkins, while David’s son Troy is now also actively involved in running the business. While David acknowledges the business had been well served by the other brand, he equally asserts that several serious issues he encountered at the dealership level ultimately forced him to look elsewhere. “I just felt the customer service of the dealer left a lot to be desired and there seemed to be no clear indication of that changing anytime soon,” he says. Yet it’s clearly not only the brand of truck that has changed in the operation, as David describes the move to a set lifespan of prime movers and contract maintenance with the Scanias that will essentially remove the headaches of unscheduled downtime and access to suitably skilled technicians that has plagued the company in the past. “We had historically kept our trucks

“There’s a massive amount of technology in modern trucks which the average mechanic is usually not fully across, so it makes sense to leave it to the experts.” David Hawkins Director of JJ Hawkins & Co

for a long time and did all our own maintenance and repair work but for various reasons we’ve decided to move away from this scenario and allow Scania to take care of everything for us,” David says. “There’s a massive amount of technology in modern trucks which the average mechanic is usually not fully across, so it makes sense to leave it to the experts.” He adds it’s not just the knowledge of the mechanics and electronics but also the specialised tools that are needed to diagnose faults and ensure all the systems are operating as they should. “I looked at all the electronics which make it more difficult to work on the trucks and I decided Scania is the best option to look after their own products because they train their technicians to the high standard necessary,” David says. “For me, it was a no-brainer.” Having a lack of suitably skilled technicians is a razor-sharp doubleedged sword for family-owned trucking businesses like his, particularly in Western Australia. Not only is there the general shortage of skilled tradespeople across the board,

but thanks to the burgeoning resources boom the mines are luring the best people with lucrative salary packages that are well beyond the means of the average transport company. Further to his decision to move to Scania trucks, David says he has had his eye on the brand for some time and has seen the company and its products develop in a positive way in recent years. He was invited to visit the Scania factory in Sweden some years back and was very impressed with what he saw and heard. “There were six of us in a group and I was the only non-Scania customer in the group,” he recalls. “They got each of us to stand up and give a short speech and I told them I wasn’t a Scania customer but that I was interested to find out more about the brand. Afterwards they got us together with their engineers in an auditorium and asked us to explain our operations, what problems we faced and what we required of our trucks.” David is now convinced, now that his business is operating Scania commercial vehicles, that the truckmaker not only listened to what he had to say but incorporated some of his ideas into the p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

FLEET FOCUS

The first Scania R 620 in a roadtrain configuration for regional work.

trucks. “In my view, the trucks they build now are certainly worth having,” he says. One area he emphasised to the engineers was the need for reliable operation and quality parts so that if there is a problem with anything it needs to be jumped on quickly and rectified, and not allowed to continue. “During that trip to the factory,” David continues, “Scania made us feel like they wanted us to be part of the family and to stay there.” While it’s early days, with the third new Scania about to join the fleet, David admits he is already very impressed with the fuel economy of the R 620 model that he runs. The first unit that was delivered in November last year has done just over 100,000km and according to David is doing everything right. “I can’t fault the truck and the service that Scania Perth has given us so far – they have been very accommodating,” David says – adding that the dealership is handily located at Kewdale which 38

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is an easy 25-minute drive south from JJ Hawkins & Co, which is based at Landsdale in the northern suburbs of Perth. “The new Tonkin highway extension running directly from Muchea to Kewdale was recently opened and has made the trip a lot quicker, which is a great advantage for us,” David says. JJ Hawkins & Co runs a diverse carrying operation covering a large part of Western Australia from Port Hedland in the north to Albany and Esperance in the south and Kalgoorlie in the east. Over the years the business has evolved to serve a number of different industries using a range of trailers including tippers, curtainsiders, flat-tops, dropdecks, floats and moving floor units. The company’s transport operation is augmented by a large bulk storage facility located in the Kwinana Industrial precinct. One of the interesting facets of the company is a small affiliate business called L’Haridon Bight Mining – a shell

mining operation at Shark Bay some 50km south of Denham and about 800km north of Perth. The environmentally sensitive operation on the pristine beaches flanking the vibrant aqua ocean involves harvesting the naturally occurring Fragum erugatum variety of cockle shell which are continually washed up on the coastline in vast numbers. The shell product is graded into three categories and packaged before being shipped to customers in local, national and international locations. The tiny Shark Bay shells lend themselves to a wide variety of uses from stock and avian feed to aquariums and landscaping. David Hawkins is justifiably proud of this operation which employs three to four people in Denham and is an environmentally sustainable adjunct to the main transport business. “It is the most renewable resource you could imagine,” he says. “Every time after you harvest some shell away the mighty Indian ocean comes in and replenishes it.” The mining lease has very strict conditions attached including a set quantity of shell that can be harvested per annum and the requirement to rehabilitate the sites without adding any foreign elements after mining in each area is completed. “We aim to leave a minimal footprint and for me the most exciting part is the rehabilitation afterwards,” David says. “We took over the business after it had been running for a few years and we cleaned up some of the areas where extraction had previously occurred over a number of years. “We levelled the area about ten to 20 metres from the water’s edge and used the native branches, sticks and leaves to cover it and before too long the naturally occurring regrowth of the native bush made it look as though it had never been touched. I was over the moon about that.” The shell business also enhances the operational efficiency of J.J. Hawkins and Co because the company hauls

general freight from Perth to Geraldton, Kalbarri and Denham, with the trucks returning to home base loaded with the shells. “While it varies depending on the production rate, we regularly send a number of trucks to pick up the shell, taking general freight up which is great because the truck is loaded both ways,” David says. For this operation David uses AB-triple combinations which consist of a semitrailer in front of a B-double, with the trailers hitched together via a tri-axle dolly. “We’re running a few of these combinations and they are working well for us,” David says – adding that the company is also planning to take advantage of Performance-Based Standards (PBS) with its future trailer combinations. “Our aim would be to enable us to carry a 100-tonne payload by using either four ‘A’ trailers and a ‘B’ or two B-doubles hooked together with a tri-axle dolly – combinations that are already in use in Australia” David explains.

“We aim to leave a minimal footprint and for me the most exciting part is the rehabilitation afterwards.” David Hawkins Director of JJ Hawkins & Co

He ventures that one of the challenges with these long curtainsided combinations is the amount of time it takes the drivers to manage the curtains and restrain the load due to needing two straps for each pallet space when securing double-stacked Bulka bags. According to David, this amounts to around 50 straps per combination, along with another 90odd buckles. “With the large number of straps and buckles on these long combinations it takes the drivers a huge amount of time and effort every time they load and unload,” he says. “We’re looking at how we can reduce this through automation to make it easier for the drivers.” As for the new Scania prime movers,

David has no qualms whatsoever – describing them as the ultimate in terms of being a supremely comfortable and minimal fatigue workplace for his highly valued drivers. “It is really just like driving a big luxury car and the excellent Scania telematics and driver information systems make life a lot easier for us and the drivers,” he says. “It also gives us great peace of mind to know that Scania is taking care of all the maintenance and keeping us informed of when each truck is due for a service.” He adds, “This is a welcome benefit that lets us concentrate our efforts on other important facets of the business, of which there are many.”

Loaded with a conveyor belt for mines, who are one of the bigger customers for JJ Hawkins & Co.

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TRUCK & TECH

RESERVOIR

DOGS A new Western Star rigid approved for PBS Level 2 compliance in South Australia is turning heads and meeting requirements for Wishart Contractors.

Western Star rigid 4864 FXC tows two five-axle dog trailers in South Australia. 40

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TRUCK & TECH

egional transport businesses have long had an intrinsic value for the communities in which they reside. Wishart Contractors, a South Australian business specialising in bulk transport, employs 22 full time staff in the picturesque Riverland region and supports, depending on the season, another dozen subcontractors. Loxton North, where its founder Max Wishart was also born and raised, is an advantageous geographic location for a transport company given three major freight routes intersect nearby with the B57 (Ngarkat Highway) providing connection to agriculture destinations like Pinnaroo and Border Town to the south while the B55 (Castlereagh Highway) runs direct into Loxton and joins the A20 better known as the Sturt Highway to the north. It’s on this stretch of road that Wishart Contractors received recent approval to operate a unique new vehicle combination. Delivered in June by Wakefield Trucks, a rigid Western Star 4864 FXC specc’d with a powerful 600hp Cummins X15 engine has been coupled to a pair of five-axle dog trailers built and designed by long-time Murals and logo on the tipper trailers designed by Panagraphix in Adelaide.

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associate and heavy transport equipment specialist Barry Stoodley. Making an effectual and immediate impact in operations with its extra carrying capacity, the PerformanceBased Standards approved vehicle combination has a GCM rating of 102 tonnes and is limited, as a result, in its approach to Adelaide. Although Max is at present applying for permits from the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator for access to additional routes. “I’ve been a truck and dog person since the ‘60s,” he says. “I’ve stuck with that over the years for a few reasons. It’s much easier to unhook if we’re doing split loads with grain and fertiliser and it gets us a good payload.” The improved payload, to be more specific, is 72 tonnes. The means to achieving these kind of productivity gains are sometimes less covert than others. Sporting eye-catching murals and a revamped logo, courtesy of Adelaide-based Matt Bowering at Panagraphix, the vivid imagery featured on the dog trailers was taken by part time photographer Stephen McKenzie, one of Max’s drivers. The ‘W’ logo, first unveiled on the new Western Star towed combination, was redesigned after

management agreed that a new look was in order. Of the fleet of 18 rigids, Western Star is the predominant brand and has been since Max purchased his first back in 1997 from Wakefield Trucks. That very first Western Star, which predates the brand’s Constellation model, recently enjoyed a new paint job and is still running true mostly now utilised for carrying anything bulk. The partnership with Wakefield Trucks dates back even longer. It started out more than 45 years ago when Max was running International commercial vehicles. His first truck was an International Acco 30/70 tipper. The company was conceived as an outward looking operation dedicated to the supply chain of local growers of grain, grape and fertiliser with a capacity for interstate deliveries. It was interstate long haul that gave Max his start driving for his father, Doug, in the late 1960s. He was 17. After ten years he went out on his own. The client base kept growing and so did the business. He married his wife Lyn, whose initials also form part of the registered business name, M&LJ Wishart Contractors, when he was 26. Although Lyn doesn’t work

The Western Star 4864 FXC is powered by a 600hp Cummins X15 engine.

for the business her sister Veronica, however, does along with Max’s son Nathan, who joined at the start of the year in a logistics management role. Wishart Contractors also transports landscape supplies and the Western Star vehicles in the fleet provide it with a flexibility in operations so that it can cart anything commonly associated with bulk. The fleet also operates a couple of Freightliner Argosys. These were purchased on the cheap a while ago, as the dimensions of the cabover according to Max helped to facilitate extra weight in a truck and dog application under the current laws. There’s also an International S-Line similarly acquired at the time of purchase for a compelling price — a recurring theme for many independent and family-owned operations in the grain game with each season never the same as the last. The new Western Star, which pulls a dolly coupled to a B-trailer followed by another dolly coupled to a B-trailer, is performing to and above expectations according to Max. In fact many truck drivers and transport operators have enquired as to how it tows. “It’s doing what we wanted it to do and more,” says Max. “It’s a Cumminspowered truck giving us 1850 lb-ft

of torque. I like the build quality of a Western Star. My driver just made comment about how well it tows on the road. A lot of truckies want to know if there’s much sway with the trailers. My driver said it sits like a brick and tows extremely well. Better than even he thought it would.” The driver, Tony Simons, has been working with Max and the team for the better part of ten years. In that time he has towed all sorts of truck and dog combinations from three-axles up to this current one. “He says it tows better than all of those trailers,” Max declares. “It’s the best of all he has been towing in a straight line.” As Loxton North is on the periphery of a farming district, there’s no shortage of truck and trailer combinations running through the district. The area was once rich with apricots, oranges, peaches and limes. Many of the orchards have been replaced by vineyards although some cittrus growing holdouts remain. Vitaculture is another source of revenue for the business and it deals with wineries in the Riverland, the Barossa and Clare Valley. Accolade in nearby Berri, one of their customers, is reportedly the biggest winery in the southern hemisphere. As part of these logistics, Wishart Contactors moves

grapes and affiliated byproducts around the state and east into the Mallee region in Victoria. While the new combination is designed to adapt to multiple tasks the drop decks on the dog trailers are not suited to grapes according to Max. “You’re better off to have a level floor with grapes,” he says. “As a delicate freight there’s too much chance for the grapes to collect at the back of the trailer and then you’d have grape juice everywhere. It’s not ideal.” Max defines the subject of business through his relationships with people. There’s a good reason why he has been with the likes of Wakefield Trucks and Barry Stoodley for so long. “One of the things I do rate highly is the people we deal with,” he says. “Wakefield Trucks and people like Tom O’Hara, who we deal with at present, have been good to us” The same holds true of the nearly fivedecade partnership he has built with trailer manufacturer Barry Stoodley. “Aside from a couple of trucks which I bought second hand, I’ve always had Barry Stoodley products,” Max recalls. “I first went to Barry back in the late ‘70s. He understands my requirements and he’s very fussy about the end product. I have no reason to go anywhere else.” p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

TRUCK & TECH

U N PAC K I N G T H E

HIGH SPEC

HINO

The all-new Hino 700 Series is the safest Hino truck ever and meets Euro 6 exhaust emission standards while offering a wider range of axle configurations, transmissions and engine power ratings.

he new Hino 700 Series is the latest chapter in the comprehensive evolution of the entire Hino truck range and incorporates a number of significant advances in terms of safety and mechanical technologies. Hino has left no stone unturned in their efforts to pack the new 700 Series trucks with an expansive

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range of features that will appeal to a wide market. Basically, everything other than the chassis rails has received attention with the new air suspended cabs designed to allow more rearward adjustment of the Isri driver’s seat. Larger staircase designed access steps are progressively spaced away from the door to make access easier and safer.

There are three cab heights and by incorporating LED interior lights the Hino 700 acquires an additional 40mm of head room in all of them. As it did with the 500 Series, Hino has moved away from the various shades of grey interior surfaces commonly found in Japanese trucks and the new 700 Series cab interiors feature a combination of ‘earthy’ tones with carbon-

fibre and silver highlights. The new wrap around dash has controls logically located and the steering wheel is loaded with various switches and the automatic climate control keeps occupants comfortable in all weather conditions. Polished Alcoa alloy wheels are now standard fitment on all new 700 Series models, which lowers tare weight considerably compared to steel wheels. All Hino FY 8x4 models now have an additional one tonne of payload compared to the previous model, due to the mechanical load sharing front suspension which increases the combined steer axles’ capacity to 11 tonnes which will make the 8x4 versions contenders in applications such as agitator, bin lift and hook lift, as well as tipper and beverage deliveries. A significant redesign of the rear suspension on leaf spring models has improved articulation and also lowered the tare weights. The new Euro 6 A09C nine-litre long stroke engine is a variant of what is available in the Hino 500 Series Wide Cab and also has some heritage with the all-conquering Hino Dakar Rally racing trucks. There are two power ratings available depending upon the model and wheelbase. The 320hp model has exceptionally flat power

The 13-litre Hino 700 Series is the only Japanese heavy-duty truck available with a Jacobs Engine Brake as standard equipment.

The entire Hino 700 range is now two pedal operation

and torque curves and delivers maximum torque of 1,275 Nm between 1,100 and 1,600 rpm. It is backed by an Allison 3200 torque convertor transmission. The more powerful 360hp versions deliver their maximum torque of 1,569Nm also in the 1,100-1,600rpm band and drive through an Allison 4440 automatic transmission. The nine litre engines use an innovative micro-dimpled textured cylinder liners to reduce piston friction. The familiar 13.0-litre engine has two power ratings of 450hp/2,157Nm and 480hp/2,157Nm across the now wider range of 1,000 to 1,500rpm. To comply with the Euro 6 exhaust emissions standards, the Hino 700 Series engines utilise a combination of Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system, cooled Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) and a Diesel Particulate Active Reduction Filter (DPR). The entire Hino 700 range is now two pedal operation with the E13C 13-litre engines matched to the latest generation of the ZF TraXon 16-speed Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) which is controlled via a shift dial gear selector on the dashboard for selection of Drive, Neutral and Reverse, and features a ‘slow’ mode in forward and reverse for improved manoeuvrability control. The dashmounted dial selector is complemented by a sequential-type shift lever on the steering column which allows the driver to switch the transmission mode between automatic

and manual, and to manually select gears without having to take their hands off the steering wheel. All vehicles in the new range now feature an Electronic Brake System (EBS) combined with the Hino Taper Roller brake system, which enhances braking performance and reduces maintenance requirements. Hino has moved from S-cam braking to the taper roller design to reduce tare weight, decrease compressed air requirements, and deliver a smoother brake feel for the driver and reduced maintenance due to less moving parts. The 13-litre models are equipped with a belt and braces approach to auxiliary braking on downhill descents due to the inclusion of the ZF Intarder integrated into the TraXon transmission as well as the Jacob’s engine brakes. The Intarder has four levels or retardation controlled by a lever mounted on the steering column and can apply up to 680kW (900hp) of uninterrupted driveline braking power even during clutch actuation and gear down shifting. The 13 litre Hino 700 Series is the only Japanese heavy-duty truck currently available with a Jacobs Engine Brake as standard equipment. Safety is a central design principle of the new Hino 700 and the Hino SmartSafe system includes a Pre-Collision System (PCS) with Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), Pedestrian Detection (PD), Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Lane p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

TRUCK & TECH

All vehicles in the new range feature the Hino Taper Roller brake system.

Departure Warning System (LDWS), Vehicle Stability Control (VSC), Reverse Camera and a suite of other standard safety features. Due to the requirements of local certification procedures SmartSafe will be included on the 8x4 models from early in 2022. Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) is considered as the cornerstone of the Hino SmartSafe active safety system and was first introduced on Hino 300 Series models in 2011. VSC continually monitors the steering angle, wheel rotation speed, yaw rate and lateral G forces and working in conjunction with the brake and engine control systems, VSC can help prevent the truck from rolling over when entering or exiting a corner too fast. VSC is also able to enhance vehicle stability on slippery surfaces by autonomously reducing engine power and applying the brakes to individual wheels, helping to keep the truck on the driver’s intended path. The new Driver Monitor system has been added into the Hino SmartSafe package and constantly monitors the driver’s attention towards the road using key metrics such as driving posture, face orientation, and eyelid status via a camera integrated into the A-pillar. The system provides a visual and audible alert if it detects drowsiness or a lack of attention from the driver. First introduced on the Hino 500 Series Standard Cab in 2019 followed by the 300 Series in 2020, Hino’s Pre-Collision System (PCS) is an active safety system which can detect potential collisions with another vehicle via image and radar sensors by continuously scanning the road in front of the truck and can assist the driver to actively minimise the type of accidents that regularly occur through driver distraction or poor judgement. The driver is warned both audibly and visually on the LCD Multi Information Display if it predicts a collision is likely to occur. If the driver fails to react to the imminent danger, PCS can, as a last resort, engage Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) to apply the brakes to minimise the vehicle’s speed and subsequent damage in the event of a collision, or in some circumstances, assist the driver to avoid the collision altogether. Pedestrian Detection is designed to detect a pedestrian in front of the vehicle and will 46

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respond in a similar way. At a global and Australian level Hino is involved in a number of joint ventures, partnerships and collaborations aimed at reducing emissions and waste. The Hino Environmental Challenge 2050 has, as a key component of the global program, Hino’s aim to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of its vehicles by 90 per cent, which includes the development of next-generation vehicles such as plug-in hybrids, battery and fuel cell electric vehicles.

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TRUCK & TECH

MASTERS AND

APPRENTICES Isuzu Australia is looking to keep Australia moving by supporting apprentices with real world skills and programs to help secure not only jobs but the industry’s long term future.

An apprentice on the job at Gold Coast Isuzu.

ustralia’s well-publicised battle to develop and retain skilled labour has been consistent, since a Federal Government inquiry into skills shortages in 2002. Shortages is the automotive sector, specifically mechanical technicians, date as far back as 1994. That said, it’s never been a better time to become an automotive apprentice in Australia. Backed by the support of the Federal Government’s $1 billion JobTrainer

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Fund—now extended with over 100,000 additional places announced in the 2021-22 federal budget—an apprenticeship in the road transport sector presents a secure career pathway with consistent wage growth. Aligning with the JobTrainer package, the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements program, supporting apprentices and trainees has been promised a $2.7 billion extension until March 2022, subsiding wages by up to 50 per cent for eligible businesses.

Over the course of the pandemic, the automotive industry, and in particular the truck and road transport sector, has weathered the storm, proving to be virtually recession-proof. As supply disruptions began in earnest, the road transport industry secured its position as an ‘essential’ service, supporting surging sectors such as online shopping. As demand for services spiked, securing skilled automotive apprentices and service technicians to keep Australian

trucks operational and on the roads also came into sharper focus. Isuzu Australia Limited (IAL) National Service Manager, Brett Stewart, recognises the impact that stimulus measures such as the wage subsidy has in supporting economic recovery, while also encouraging workers to start a career in the workshop. “The reality for many employers is that there’s a lack of quality applicants, an ageing workforce and an ongoing need to train and upskill existing workers,” he says. “Apprentice wages should be expected to rise with the continuing wage subsidy, acting as a pull factor to draw in quality applicants from across Australia. “Once in the workshop, specifically an Isuzu dealership, upskilling and training becomes a common ritual. From online training to keep on top of changing technology, to mentorship under a qualified technician, apprentices and fully qualified technicians are subject to constant education and development throughout their career.” Tallia Herbertson, a final year apprentice technician at Gilbert & Roach Isuzu, has taken part in Isuzu’s online training courses, which she says is improving her ability to diagnose the trucks that come through the workshop. “We have a lot of resources to help us diagnose issues with the trucks that come in,” says Tallia. “I want to work towards becoming a master technician

NEW

in the future and there is a lot of learning to do. You need to continually build up knowledge of the product and the issues, but it’s a great thing to work towards as a career goal.” Over the border in South Australia, Courtney Hodgson is also earning her stripes as a technician at Mount Gambier Isuzu. Now in the third year of her apprenticeship, Courtney has always held a keen passion for trucks. But she notes her family and peers expected her to take another path in life, with young women in her area unlikely to take on an apprenticeship. “At the last workshop I was employed with, the older blokes weren’t really open to the idea of a young woman working there,” she explains. “And before my interview at Mount Gambier Isuzu, my recruitment officer actually said to me, ‘I just don’t want you to get your hopes up. You are a very short, small girl.’” Told she would never be able to move truck piles or lift the bonnet of a cab, Courtney was advised to go work on cars instead. “It’s different at Isuzu. I was hired at Mount Gambier very quickly,” she says. Apprenticeships have traditionally, according to Brett, come with some stigma attached, especially in the automotive sector. He says that employers should consider apprentices as an opportunity to build the business, with real world advantages for both employee and employer.

An apprentice technician tests the wheel alignment on an Isuzu vehicle.

“Managed right, having an apprentice or trainee on board can be mutually beneficial,” Brett says. “Apprentices gain real world experience and skills development from experts in their field. And for employers, hiring an apprentice is an opportunity to mould your newest talent into a well-rounded employee that is a perfect fit for your business, as they train and learn on the job. At the end of their apprenticeship you have a specifically trained, well-adjusted resource adding genuine value to your operation. You’re also helping to strengthen the automotive industry as a whole. With extensions to government support programs recently announced in the federal budget, there’s never been a better time to act.”

AFTERMARKET SHOWC ASE

FIFTH

DIMENSION More than ever the availability of aftermarket parts and the ease of service and maintenance are key considerations for freight and bulk carriers looking to optimise their total cost of ownership.

n aftermarket resultant from global supply chain shortages and sharp uptake in incentivised commercial vehicle orders differs in scope and size from that to which the industry is accustomed. Surges in demand, at present, have meant that product portfolios more than ever need to be supported by inventory. In this climate, where delays are no longer the exception to the rule, wait times for parts on builds and repairs are crucial. For heavy vehicle equipment specialist, SAF-Holland customer satisfaction from the initial purchase to aftermarket and customer support are integral to its brand. Just as total cost of ownership means factoring in everything that comes after the sale, SAF-Holland understands the value of this for its customers who are looking at these little differences long term when evaluating equipment like axles and fifth wheels often used relentlessly in unforgiving environments. SAF-Holland offers two styles of fifth wheels in the marketplace. As the mounting plates are standardised with 50

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ELI-te top plate with sensors.

only the design of the feet and tops dissimilar, customers can choose the style that suits their unique operational needs. While the North American range of Holland fifth wheels have weld-on feet, the European range are products that traditionally feature feet with an ISO bolt pattern. Offering standard fifth wheels, the European range also includes the RECOSS system as an option, which is a 3-sensor system for Volvo, Daimler and Scania vehicles that illuminates a light on the dash for safety and driver piece of mind. For its North American range of fifth wheels, SAF-Holland also offers the new ELI-te system. An abbreviation for electronic lock indicator — technology enhanced, the ELI-te reduces the costly

disruption of the failed coupling of trailers. The system works via two sensors that trigger a visual indicator that confirms the successful coupling of the fifth wheel cam plate and the trailer kingpin. To prevent mistakes and ensure best practice, the ELI-te also warns a driver if the process is incorrect. High intensity white LEDs light up on the jaws of the fifth wheel to indicate a correct seating of the kingpin. Red lights, however, flash on both sides of the coupling to assist the driver in quickly recognising what might be a potentially costly mistake before attempting a tug test or driving away. SAF Holland offers fifth wheels – and suitable kingpins – for almost every market segment delivered to OEMs and dealers, fully painted, drilled, with mounting bolts for a fast and efficient

fitting all over Australia. Local authorities, it should be noted, have different rules on ‘blue plating.’ The company according to Phil Crosbie, SAF Holland National Aftermarket Manager, can help its customers with this for each state. “Always make sure that rating labels are on the fifth wheel, as there has been a review by authorities recently that all fifth wheels have the ratings sticker and are fit for purpose,” he says. Safety often determines the reliability of a product. In the aftermarket compliancecritical parts that are supplied and fitted to in-service heavy vehicles can have indeterminate quality and an unknown legal compliance status. Phil emphasises the importance that all fleets keep their fifth wheels serviced in the market place with genuine spare parts. “Fleets have the choice of servicing their fifth wheels or saving labour and replacing the full top on a FW351, FW331, G36, G36L, FW70 or FW72,” he says citing a range of models the company currently offers in the market. SAF-Holland has spare parts for all fleets ranging from new feet bushes, new jaws, new foot pins and a full service kit like a RK351A kit. Any level of service is supported. Of course, the necessity of receiving exceptional aftersales support is not something reserved just for the

SAF-Holland fifth wheel fitted to a prime mover.

top tier fleets. SAF-Holland understands the critical nature of the work undertaken by its clientele and is focused on giving them what they need when they need it. This includes support and timely advice. “Holland is a trusted product in the market being used by many people,” Phil says. “Due to the fine tolerance of all fifth wheels, Genuine Holland parts need to be used as other products may

fail or not match exactly.” The company chooses top tier Service Centre Partners that not only deliver high quality service to their customers but also have many of the same company objectives and aspirations. These founding principles have helped differentiate SAF-Holland from the competition. Its customers are noticing the benefits of this given the current environment.

SAF-Holland offers full service kits like the RK35503A.

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AFTERMARKET SHOWC ASE

RULES OF

COOL

An air conditioning compressor failure can have a major impact on the rest of the components in the system. PACCAR Parts takes us inside the system to show why preventative maintenance is critical to its operational longevity.

he commercial vehicle Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning system more commonly known as the HVAC is designed to transfer heat from one place to another thereby lowering temperature in the cabin or refrigeration

Phil Reynolds PACCAR Parts Senior Product Manager. 52

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unit. Most new all-electric HVAC systems are designed to provide clean, quiet and cost-effective cooling and heating without the need for a separate diesel auxiliary power unit. Any climate of extremes, such as those seen in Australia, where transport operators contend with

sweltering summers, intense humidity and jarring cold in alpine regions, will soon push the best HVAC systems to their efficiency limits. Heating for vehicles is achieved by sourcing hot coolant from the engine and running it through a heater core

akin to a small radiator inside the cab. For comfort, heat output is controlled by taps that modulate coolant flow and blower fans. Ventilation, according to Phil Reynolds PACCAR Parts Senior Product Manager, is merely the means of moving heated, cooled, internal or external ‘fresh’ air around a cab. “This is done with ducts but also mechanisms to control the direction of flow, so we can choose between feet, head, screen or a combination,” he says. “This control is also available for either recirculating the air inside the cab or taking fresh air from outside to pass through our HVAC system.” Over time this technology has evolved. The mechanisms have gone from simple cables to vacuum lines coupled between servomotors electrically controlled for ease of operation. On a commercial vehicle the air conditioner system, which remains at the core of the HVAC system, relies on a compressor, the only mechanically driven part in the whole system and commonly the part that malfunctions when issues are present elsewhere in the system. Acting as a high-pressure pump, it compresses low pressure refrigerant gas from the evaporator. This is then transferred into a high-pressure hot gas to the part on the front of a truck that looks like a thin radiator — the condenser. The condenser cools the hot gas reducing the pressure and returning the gas to a liquid state. The low boiling point of a liquid refrigerant is essential to an air conditioner system and its ability to operate in a real-world environment. The receiver dryer takes the liquid refrigerant by filtering it and removing moisture — the arch nemesis of the AC system according to Phil. Below zero it becomes a vapor. Filtered and moisture free liquid refrigerant is now moving towards the cabin, ready to pass through the Thermal Expansion valve (TX valve). “High pressure liquid refrigerant is forced through the TX valve where it expands, dropping in pressure and

A Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning system at work.

temperature and evaporates,” says Phil. “Think of turning on your BBQ gas bottle and as the gas comes out from the high-pressure liquid state within the bottle it expands to its gas state cooling as it does.” Once it has entered the evaporator core, the blower fans push air across the surface area of the core to exchange that cool refrigerant into cool air inside the truck cab. Once through the evaporator core the low pressure refrigerant heads back to the compressor to start its journey again explains Phil. “There are hoses and pressure switches along the way to keep everything contained and in check,” he says. “If you do experience an air conditioning compressor failure, think about the impact on the rest of the components in the system.” When doing preventative maintenance on the system or should an operator experience a compressor failure Phil suggests it is always good practice to change the receiver dryer and the TX

valve, which has low tolerance for foreign material. “The amount of refrigerant and lubricating oil is also critical, so make sure you get, repairs done from your authorised dealership such as the PACCAR dealer network which supplies quality, warranty–backed HVAC parts and technical wizards trained in the art of HVAC,” he says.

Turning the A/C dial initiates an involved system process.

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

AFTERMARKET SHOWC ASE

INDUSTRY

FIRST

With a complete portfolio of hydraulic components for Australia’s road transport operators and manufacturers, OMFB doubles down with a three-year manufacturer warranty.

PTO.

Gear pump.

n Italian family business has come a long way from its humble workshop roots to what is today a vast international brand. In 1950, OMFB ramped up the production of spare parts for Italian, American, English and German heavy vehicles set for postwar reconstruction applications. The following year, OMFB added Power TakeOff (PTO) units to its rapidly growing portfolio. By the 1960s, years of innovation led to export opportunities throughout Europe and beyond. Fast forward to today, the business distributes hydraulic components to more than 90 countries, including the Australian subsidiary, OMFB Pacific which opened in 2020, with a solid product supply backed by various service and installation points. The company’s growth can be attributed to many recent developments including the launch of a new warehouse which doubled stock capacity, an almost everexpanding product range that has been backed by numerous distributors as well as local activities in conjunction with 54

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Tipping valve.

Variable displacement piston pump.

Side mount oil tank.

partners to better assist the market’s requirements and needs. OMFB Pacific Account Manager, Shane Roberts, says the latest development from the business is set to transform and better assist the industry. “We are launching the first complete hydraulic system extended warranty program,” he says. “Peace of mind for the end user is the driving force behind it. The extended warranty entitles you to a three-year manufacturer warranty. Simply, enquire through our approved distributors for an easy and fast extended warranty registration on complete OMFB hydraulic systems.” A pioneer in hydraulic and technical solutions, OMFB retains its own stateof-the-art manufacturing plant in Italy, ensuring 100 per cent in-house solutions for various trucking and industrial applications. The company provides a full range of hydraulic equipment and stands by its commitment to delivering quality products and services. Shane is pleased that OMFB Pacific is now providing a better repair and/ or replacement process which further

Pneumatic control box.

enhances the hydraulic specialist’s value proposition. “Our dealer network, Transport Engineering Solutions (formally Gough Transport Solutions), Truck Hydraulic Solutions and Heavy Hydraulics provides industry complete access to the OMFB portfolio of hydraulics equipment with peace of mind when it comes to product quality and supply,” he says. As a complete hydraulics solution provider, OMFB Pacific offers PTOs and pumps, including variable-displacement piston pumps frequently used with cranes and agricultural spreader vehicles and bent-axis piston pumps including dualflow models for operating two circuits simultaneously from a single oil supply. As for tipper support, OMFB Pacific has a variety of valves, some of which feature dual-pressure relief, ideal for trucks that interchange between towing semi-tipper and moving floor trailers. Another stalwart in the OMFB arsenal are steel and aluminium oil tanks which have sight gauges and smart mounting systems to streamline installation and optimise space.

The Best Products Backed By The Best Warranty

OMFB achieves industry first with its 3 year extended warranty program. Enquire through our approved distributors on complete OMFB hydraulic systems. Distributed and supported by:

www.omfbpacific.com OMFB Pacific Pty Ltd Phone: +61 (0)3 9330 2694 Email: sales@omfbpacific.com

INDUSTRY

COUNTING NTARC’s annual report takes a detailed look at truck crashes in Australia.

he National Truck Accident Research Centre (NTARC) is an independent research facility wholly funded by Australia’s largest truck insurer NTI Ltd. A key activity of NTARC is the Major Accident Report and the 2021 Report covering the 2020 calendar year is the tenth edition of the detailed study. The inaugural report was published in 2003, followed by biennial releases until 2019 and then a shift to annual publication in 2020. In that time frame, the Australian road freight task has increased by over 50 per cent and the size of NTI’s insured portfolio of trucks has more than tripled in number. With a fixed threshold of $50,000 in claim value for inclusion in the study, the number of incidents qualifying for the Report grows consistently year-on-year. This is due to growth in the freight task, growth in NTI’s insured portfolio and the effect of inflation all combining to increase the cost of claims. Corrected for inflation the $50,000 threshold for inclusion in the Report currently equates to $73,527 in 2003 dollars. In the period since that inaugural report in 2003 Australia has had a 55 per cent increase in trucks on road (640,651), and a 51 per cent increase in road freight volumes (224.6B tonne per kilometre). The 2020 Report finds the overall frequency of large loss crashes involving heavy vehicles declined in 2020. The comprehensive study is authored by well-known and respected industry identity Adam Gibson, supported by Associate Professor Kim Hassall, who is also familiar to many in the transport sector. Inappropriate Speed and Driver Error Crashes continue to be a serious concern with 54.5 per cent of all large loss crashes in 2020 caused by these two 56

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Adam Gibson.

factors. Losses as a result of Driver Error continued to increase in 2020 albeit at a reduced rate, increasing to 40.6 per cent from 39 per cent in 2019. Over three quarters (77.1 per cent) of Inappropriate Speed crashes are ‘Off path on curve’ crashes. The overwhelming majority of these crashes manifest as ‘untripped rollovers’ where due to the combination of the centre of gravity height and the speed of the vehicle, it rolls over while on a curve in the roadway, without that rollover being initiated by external factors such as striking a barrier, hence referred to as ‘untripped’. The Report suggests that given the high proportion of rollovers resulting from inappropriate speed, prevention of this type of crash needs to be given the highest priority within the transport industry. Evaluation of the speed zones in which these incidents occur provides another interesting insight. While it is unlikely to be a surprise that the largest proportion (36.4 per cent) of Inappropriate Speed crashes occur in 100km/h zones, when

compared to the distribution of speed zones for all incident causes, it is 80km/h and 90km/h zones which are over-represented, with 22 per cent of Inappropriate Speed crashes occurring in these speed zones compared to 13.1 per cent for all crash types. After a tragic increase in 2019, truck occupant crash deaths dropped to a level slightly below the long term averages with 31 truck occupants (and one bus occupant) losing their lives in crashes in 2020. Correcting for the freight task shows that averaged over the last decade, truck occupant crash deaths have remained largely static at around 0.17 truck occupant deaths for every billion tonne/kilometres of freight moved. Looking at all heavytruck-involved road crash deaths over the same time period and correcting for freight task growth shows a steady decline of around 0.04 deaths per billion tonnes/kilometres per year. This delivers a strong indication that it is other road users, rather than the truck drivers themselves, who are benefitting

T H E LO S S E S from the huge strides in the safety performance of the trucking industry. Inattention and Distraction crashes continued to increase, representing 15.4 per cent of large loss crashes making these factors responsible for more than fatigue and mechanical failure combined. Following a dramatic increase between 2017 and 2019, Inattention/Distraction crashes continued to increase in 2020 however at a reduced rate. This sub-cause rose to be 37.9 per cent of all Driver Error crashes, which equates to over one in every seven large losses in 2020. Inadequate Following Distance caused nearly one in ten (9.3 per cent) of large losses, with 96.2 per cent of these incidents involving nose-to-tail crashes with other vehicles. From an insurance and road rules point of view, the vehicle at the rear is always considered atfault, yet truck drivers have for decades been highlighting issues around other vehicles cutting into their safe stopping distances. “Any effort to influence these inadequate following distance crashes needs to be a holistic one, including the behaviours of all road users, not just truck drivers,” says Report Author Adam Gibson. Interactions between light and heavy vehicles remain an area of concern with no significant shifts in the data. Consistent with previous years, during 2020 in nearly eight out of every ten (78.3 per cent) fatal crashes involving a truck and a car, the car was the at-fault party. Again, consistent with prior years, this proportion reverses when examining non-fatal crashes involving a car and a truck, the car was the at-fault party 35.5 per cent of the time. The 2020 data on large loss crashes caused by fatigue shows the long term downwards trend in this category of loss which had plateaued slightly in

2017-19 has taken another significant step downwards, dropping to 8 per cent of all large loss crashes in 2020, the lowest ever proportion. Looking at the events caused by fatigue in more detail, following a very poor year in 2020, South Australia saw a reduction in its relative frequency of Fatigue crashes (for a given freight volume). Queensland regained the dubious title as the state with the highest risk of a Fatigue crash for a given freight task, with a risk of being in a Fatigue crash 52.9 per cent higher than the national average. Victoria remains the best performing state in terms of the prevalence of Fatigue crashes. Regardless of the distribution of Fatigue crashes by state, the overall reduction is unequivocally a positive given the high risk of death and serious injury associated with Fatigue crashes. NTI goes beyond the role of an insurer

to the industry as evidenced in its two decades of support for the NTARC. Its online better business hub is a gateway for the wider trucking industry to access vital and current information ranging from compliance and safety to tips around improving business cash flow. “While the NTARC Major Accident Investigation report will continue to be the pre-eminent data reference for industry and government alike, there will be far more follow-up than in prior years,” says Adam. “Our objective is to trigger and support a conversation within industry, identify what is already being done to manage the risks in transport, and determine how we, as an industry, can roll that out on a broader scale. Australia has the potential to lay claim to the greatest road transport industry in the world. NTARC has a commitment to helping make this happen.”

Since the first NTARC Report in 2003 Australia has had a 55 per cent increase in trucks on the road.

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

TEST DRIVE

T WO FOR THE

ROAD Using data from the Cloud, Volvo’s Dual Clutch transmission delivers a new dimension of smooth operation.

ometimes referred to as ‘power shift’ transmissions, the use of a dual clutch format has been utilised across a diverse range of applications ranging from agricultural tractors to F1 racing cars. There is a marked distinction between drivelines employing a twin plate clutch and those with a dual clutch driveline. Twin plate clutches involve two friction discs sandwiched between the pressure plate surface and the engine’s flywheel, with a floater plate in the middle. The intention is to spread the torque load over a larger surface area and such arrangements have been employed for decades in many vehicles from heavy trucks to performance cars. A dual clutch set-up, however, is much more complicated and involves two independent clutch assemblies and a significant re-engineering of the transmission as well. Volvo has been the first manufacturer

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Volvo FH 13-litre takes in the sights of Tallebudgera Creek on the Gold Coast.

to offer the dual clutch option across a range of trucks in Australia and New Zealand. The dual clutch version of the Volvo I-Shift transmission uses two dry clutches which operate independently of each other and each clutch drives one of the concentric input shafts of the 12-speed transmission. Unlike the familiar conventional I-Shift, the dual clutch version is essentially two parallel gearboxes in the one transmission case. One clutch connects to the odd numbered gears while the other is used when engaging the even numbered gears. The fundamental benefit of this arrangement is the transmission pre-selects the next gear and has it ready to accept the drive force while still driving in the current gear. As one clutch disengages the other engages the next gear and the process is repeated sequentially either up or down through the ratios. The only exception is on

the shift between sixth and seventh gears as this is the ‘range change’ and a conventional shift is required, albeit automatically without any driver input. Gear changes take place in a fraction of a second and results in an almost seamless delivery of torque as the driveline between the engine and the rear wheels is in constant connection. The latest dual clutch innovation brings a new dimension to the transmission’s ability to extract the maximum efficiency from the engine. New drive modes have been developed to optimise the truck’s behaviour. That means it’s now easier for the driver to control the vehicle by toggling between the different Drive modes on the revised I-Shift control. What were previously termed the ‘ECO’ and ‘POWER’ modes have been replaced with new modes focused on fuel efficiency being balanced with performance and utilising input from the I-See terrain predictions. The

‘Economy’ mode focuses on achieving the lowest possible fuel consumption and limits the level of power available. There are two other transmission modes to select from: ‘Off Road’ in which agility is prioritised, and ‘Heavy Duty’ which optimises driveability at high loads above 85 tonnes GVM. The inherent design of the dual clutch I-Shift with its concentric twin input shafts dictates that its maximum torque capability is 2,800Nm which results in it being limited to 13-litre applications. The Volvo FH prime mover for this test is rated at 70 tonnes GCM and is powered by a 13-litre Euro V engine rated at 540hp between 1,450-1,900 rpm, with 2,600Nm of torque available from as low as 1,050rpm through to 1,450 rpm. The dual clutch version of the Volvo I-Shift adds 100kgs to the truck’s weight and the overall transmission is 120mm longer than a standard version. The Dual

Clutch contributes to more effective engine compression braking due to faster down shifts to take advantage of the engine brake which has a maximum retardation of 375kW at 2,300rpm. This transmission always starts in first gear and on the flat the difference in shift quality is immediately noticeable. Reduced throttle application once rolling encourages the transmission to skip shift and maximise the advantage of the engine’s torque characteristics because the power is transferred continually to the wheels and therefore the risk of losing traction in slippery conditions is also greatly reduced. The dual clutch is particularly suitable for applications which involve sensitive freight such as livestock and will be a definite advantage in carrying liquids by reducing the ‘slosh’ effect due to the almost imperceptible gear changes. The additional stability will also be favoured by carriers moving loads with

high centres of gravity and, if necessary, drivers can instigate manual shifts with confidence even midway through a bend without upsetting the stability of the vehicle. Fuel consumption on flat terrain will essentially be similar to that obtained in the same circumstances if the truck has the traditional I-Shift. It is on undulating roads where the Dual Clutch is able to assist in fuel efficiency. Volvo claims between three and five per cent improvement should be easily realised on travel on these roads. The advantages of the dual clutch I-Shift are many. Driver comfort and load stability are obvious, as is improved fuel efficiency. Long term maintenance costs are also kept in check with transmission oil changes stipulated at intervals as far as 450,000km. As each clutch is only performing half of the shifts the service life of those components are extended significantly as well. p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

TEST DRIVE

The Volvo FH handles a corner on the rise at Alexander Headland.

The combination of the Dual Clutch transmission and Volvo’s I-See terrain prediction program enhances fuel efficiency as well as safety and driveability and removes considerable pressure from the driver. The first time the truck goes up a hill the information about ascending that hill is stored in the I-See memory. The next time the same hill is travelled this saved information is used to maximise fuel efficiency. The basic principle is to use the kinetic energy of the vehicle in an intelligent manner. For example, when approaching a hill, the truck downloads data from a highresolution commercial topography map Automatic headlights come into full effect on the Story Bridge at night in Brisbane.

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and the information is then used to maximise the truck’s kinetic energy and reduce fuel consumption by up to five per cent, compared to a truck without I-See. If the road isn’t featured on the map, or if the server connection should fail, the truck will fall back to a shared database solution. I-See primarily uses shared data which is stored in the Cloud and if needed, the system uses locally stored data. If a hill is ahead I-See knows it and has the truck build momentum by accelerating on the approach so the truck remains in a higher gear for longer as the hill is ascended and downshifts are minimised. Speed is curbed at the

crest of the hill and when the downhill section is approaching I-See stops accelerating unnecessarily. To save energy and minimise braking, I-See temporarily disengages the powertrain and engine brakes and lets the truck coast to build up speed for the next climb. I-See also controls downhill braking by knowing where one slope ends and where the next begins, and applies the brakes as needed. Volvo is synonymous with safety and as an example this test Volvo FH Globetrotter XL has a passenger side ‘corner camera’ located in the foot of the kerbside mirror which is activated automatically via the turn indicator stalk and can also be activated manually by the driver at any time. The wide vision on the side display screen is sharp even in the inclement weather which follows us for most of the trip along the Hume Highway. Revealed in Europe in early 2020, the latest range of Volvo trucks incorporates an impressive array of innovations and improvements including the ability for the Volvo Dynamic Steering to be ‘customised’ to suit individual drivers’ preferences, all via the new touchscreen located on the left side of the dash. Volvo’s adaptive cruise control continues to increase its level of sophistication without becoming too complicated to set and operate and automatic headlights and windscreen wipers make their own contributions to safety and convenience.

REIMAGINING T H E S U P P LY C H A I N

PROUD PARTNER

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I T I O N

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PERSONALITY

LOWERING THE

LIMIT

An industry association has developed an innovative proposal which may prove to be a game changer. Livestock and Bulk Rural Carriers Association President Paul Pulver shows us the ropes.

ince 2015, the Livestock and Bulk Rural Carriers Association (LBRCA) in NSW has been recognising young professional drivers through its Young Driver of the Year award. As an organisation committed to addressing the shortage of commercial heavy vehicle drivers, a significant challenge for the road freight industry nationally, the LBRCA has developed a proposal for a driver cadetship which aims to attract and retain young people in the heavy vehicle industry. LBRCA President Paul Pulver is the driver behind this LBRCA initiative. Paul has almost 50 years of experience in the road transport industry from driving livestock Paul Pulver.

vehicles to being an acknowledged authority in the area of compliance. PM: How has the pathway to becoming a truck driver changed? PP: In rural areas there would always be a tray body truck that kids learned to drive in. Then they had all of the stepping stones to go on to their semi licence. A lot of them also went on and did their apprenticeships as mechanics and things like that. Over the last 25 years too many kids are leaving their rural homes and going to Sydney or Newcastle or Port Kembla so we’ve lost them and they never come back. There’s no one staying on the farms anymore and we

haven’t got the growth of the young people coming through. Because of the shortage of young people the country towns have got a problem because they don’t get their football sides or their netball teams and the whole community starts to break down. PM: So how do you keep them in rural regions as truck drivers? PP: The real issue, we’ve had all the way through, is the kids who are available don’t really want to stay, they just want to go to the cities and drive a big truck, which currently they can’t do until they are 21. It’s been suggested they go to TAFE for a while. Well, TAFE is not going to teach them what they need to know, much the same as university doesn’t necessarily turn out people job-ready. We need to have people who are job- ready and the only way we can do that is to lower the age to 18 to have a B-double licence. That doesn’t mean all of them will be in that position, but some will. PM: Wouldn’t a HC semi-trailer licence suffice? PP: There are a lot of companies out there that only have B-doubles and don’t have anything else. One of the main changes that I’m putting forward is we’ve always given the new young kid the old truck from down the back yard, because it’s paid for itself. My point is we don’t give them old technology trucks even if they are well maintained and roadworthy. These kids have got to get into a truck that has the latest technology like roll stability,

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electronic braking, lane departure, adaptive cruise control and driver monitoring such as Seeing Machines. PM: Is technology part of the answer? PP: I can go through the list and tick off all the issues anyone may have in relation to a young driver. What if he goes to sleep? Seeing Machine. What if he doesn’t concentrate? Seeing Machine. What if he goes into a corner too fast? EBS and roll stability. PM: After the truck is decided, what next? PP: The next thing after you’ve given them a good truck, you’ve got to pick the right person. They have got to have finished their red ‘P’ probationary licence period with a clean record with no major offences such as negligent driving or DUI. They will then be put through a comprehensive induction period with the employing company and after that they are fully supervised by an experienced driver for 200 hours driving two-up at the wheel of a

modern truck. Only then would they have the ability to get a Heavy Combination licence although through the process of an independent assessment, not by an employee of the company. Once that licence is granted that licence belongs to both the company and the driver. It does not solely belong to the driver and the licence has to be locked into that company. PM: How does this resolve the shortage of good B-double drivers? PP: So we’ve got a safe truck, the driver has gone through a proper induction, we’ve got the right kid that’s willing to have a go, we’ve got a company that supports them and we’ve got all the bells and whistles such as GPS tracking. After another 100 hours of two-up supervision in a B-double and they can apply for their MC B-double licence. PM: What about insurance? PP: NTI have written a letter to say they are in support. NTI are already insuring 19 year olds driving triples in the Northern Territory. The transport company involved

is not going to risk their insurance if they don’t think it’s going to work. Any decision to what the cadet driver is doing has to come from a level above the operations manager so they are not thrown into any situations they are not ready for. This doesn’t have to be done every day, just the first time a particular task is allocated to them. The company also has to be a rural carrier who pick up or unload at rural destinations. We don’t want people running Sydney-Melbourne to get involved in this. PM: So where do you go from here? PP: For a start all I want is a sign-off on an exemption for six drivers for a trial. I’ve met with NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro and Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Paul Toole and I told the Minister I believe I can put an 18 year old on the road who could be safer than a 50 year old because of their attitude and acceptance of the technology. Basically it’s a safe driver in a safe truck with a responsible company and I believe we can make it work.

A stock crate B-double parked up in Griffith, NSW. p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

PRIME MOVERS & SHAKERS

A Mack truck, popular in 42 different markets, navigates the traffic of downtown Manhattan.

I T S TA R T S W I T H

THE PARTS Richard Singer has spent most of his career, to date, connected with the spare parts, wholesale and retail environments surrounding Volvo Group trucks. Recently, following a three-year tenure with Scania, he returned to the fold of Volvo Group Australia as Vice President, Services and Retail Development.

aving grown up in Brisbane, Richard Singer’s first job after finishing his education was at the privately-owned Volvo truck dealership Collins and Davey at Breakfast Creek. “I’d finished college and wasn’t really sure what career path I wanted to pursue,” Richard says. “I saw a job advertised for a spare parts interpreter, so I applied for it and was successful. At that stage, it’s fair to say, I saw this as a job I would do until I worked out what I really wanted to do.” As it turned out though, Richard has remained in the trucking industry and, more specifically, for the most part involved with Volvo Group brands, from that day forth. He quickly progressed through different roles in the parts department and ended up being Parts Manager at the branch. Eventually Collins and Davey was bought by Volvo Group Australia (VGA), with Richard continuing as Parts Manager at the new company-owned dealership. 64

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“I stayed in that role until 1995 when I was offered an internal promotion to help kick start a company called VMR Truckparts, a wholly-owned subsidiary of VGA that refurbished second-hand Volvo trucks, parts and components,” he says. VGA started VMR as a wholesale business to supply its dealer network with quality, refurbished trucks to sell. It was also designed to cater for the older vehicle park in Australia, supporting existing customers of earlier Volvo trucks with affordably priced remanufactured engines, transmissions and differential assemblies and other parts which were becoming harder to obtain. “We would get the majority of our stock through auctions of older traded-in and written-off vehicles and we ended up with quite a good business where we would bring them in, strip them down, rebuild all the components, catalogue all the parts, then ship them off to the dealers for sale,” Richard says. The business, according to Richard, proved

very successful because it filled a niche market for in-demand parts that were getting harder to procure and parts that were no longer supported globally from a remanufacturing perspective. After his stint at VMR, Richard moved into a role with VGA at a wholesale level as National Parts Manager for Volvo trucks. He held this position for a few years and then in 2007 was given the opportunity to take a two-year assignment at Volvo’s global headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden. “I worked on a Retail Development program focusing on the definition of an ideal service and repair process – how customers are received and how the repairs are carried out,” Richard recalls. “This included an extensive pilot program in South Africa which was a great learning experience.” He adds that working directly with colleagues in Sweden was a real eye-opener – understanding how their processes work and the methodology behind building the trucks and buses.

Richard regales another enlightening aspect of his overseas sojourn, saying it enabled him to understand first-hand how and why, in his opinion, the Volvo Group has been so successful as a global organisation. “The company recognised early on that operating solely within its home market was unsustainable, and therefore its focus on global operations has always been strong,” he says. “This is in contrast to some of our competitors with strong home markets where exporting vehicles seems to be a somewhat lower priority.” After his two-year stint in Sweden, Richard returned to a commercial aftersales role in Australia and was soon working on projects pertaining to the integration of Mack Trucks into the VGA operation following the Renault/Mack acquisition. “It was a great opportunity to work with the two different brands and navigate the best path for cultural and brand integration,” Richard says. “We were able to consolidate warehouses and introduce economies of scale that assisted in the more efficient operation of the group as a whole.” Following the integration, Richard was given the opportunity to run Commercial Aftersales nationally for Volvo and Mack, looking after parts, service and technical. Then in 2010 he took up an offer to move to Beijing and become Commercial Director of Volvo Group operations Australia/Pacific (APAC) covering five brands across the entire Asian market including Japan and India. “That was a particularly fascinating period in my career, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting my head around the various nuances of emerging markets, multiple brands and cultures,” Richard says. “It really was an amazing experience to immerse myself in the emerging markets, to find out what makes them tick and to understand how the Volvo Group products fit in.” From there Richard made the move to Mack’s global headquarters at Greensboro, North Carolina, as Commercial Director specifically for the Mack brand. “I was responsible for the commercial aftersales functions of Mack in 42 countries, again, a superb opportunity to work within different markets including

Richard Singer, Volvo Group Australia Vice President of Services & Retail Development.

Central and South America where the Mack brand is particularly strong.” After that, Richard and his wife decided to repatriate to Australia, predominantly to give their children some normality in their high school years. At the time there were no suitable opportunities at VGA, so Richard took up a role with the Victorian CMV dealer network, where he was employed for three and a half years running retail branches. “This was another interesting phase for me as I had previously spent 25 years in the wholesale side of things,” Richard says. “It was intriguing for me to be able to test the water and adapt the things I’d learned in wholesale to the retail space. I also thoroughly enjoyed the accessibility and close relationships with the end customers.” According to Richard, this experience gave him a thorough understanding of the pressure and pain points that truck owners and operators experience on a day-today basis. “In a lot of cases, their truck is their only source of income, so if it is not ready to go to work, they might struggle to keep food on the table,” he says. After this, Richard accepted an offer from Scania to take up a senior leadership role in Brisbane. He saw it as an ideal opportunity to be re-employed in his home state as he had been flying from Brisbane to Melbourne on a weekly basis while

employed by CMV Group. He worked as a Regional Executive Manager with Scania Australia for three years with responsibility for retail in Queensland as well as being a member of the Scania Australia executive team. By his own admission, Richard has Volvo blood coursing through his veins. As such, while he says he enjoyed his time with Scania, when the opportunity to return to the ‘big V’ presented late last year, he grabbed it with both hands. “I felt the time was right and I was keen to re-join VGA in a new role, so in February this year I jumped back into the Volvo family as Vice President of Services and Retail Development, and the rest is history so far,” he says. His comprehensive experience abroad has been a valuable asset that will help him succeed in his current and future roles. “In Sweden I learnt a lot about the European market, and the pilot we did in South Africa gave me exposure in that market. I also covered a lot of Asian countries during my time in China, following which I was privy to the unique requirements of the good ol’ boys in the US and Canada, in addition to their counterparts in Central and South America,” he says. “I am very thankful for all the opportunities that have come from working within a global organisation and being able to spend time employed in so many different countries.” p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

COLD CHAIN & REFRIGERATION ADVERTISE IN OUR OCTOBER 2021 PRODUCT SHOWCASE ON THE WORLD OF COLD CARGO. What does the refrigerated transport world look BOOKING DEADLINE like during and after COVID? What impact will supply chain disruptions and lockdowns have on refrigerated freight? Who are the market leaders in the field? Where is it headed in accordance to emerging technology and already established, customer-approved solutions? Rising movements of consumer goods and increasing demands on distribution channels are having an appreciable impact on cold storage and distribtion, as its footprint grows to accommodate a climate of constant demand. Fresh produce, essential goods, ambient freight and medical supplies are all contingent on refrigerated transport, a category no less interesting of late for its innovation and market growth. Our industry showcase dedicated to the refrigerated goods equipment, cold chain solutions, cold storage and distribution will offer a platform in which to introduce new products and acquaint a commercial road transport audience with tried and tested solutions and services they need to know about to drive greater efficiencies in their business now and into the future.

7 SEPTEMBER 2021 ®

August 2021

Victorian Freight Specialists Call of Duty AUGUST 2021 $11.00

ISSN 1838-2320

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Industry Fleet: Wallace International Feature: Hino 700 Launch Showcase: Aftermarket Personality: Paul Pulver

Innovation Fleet: JJ Hawkins Transport Feature: Wishart Contractors Test Drive: Volvo FH Dual Clutch Delivery: Adelaide Urban Electrical

T H E P E O P L E & P R O D U C T S T H AT M A K E T R A N S P O RT M OV E AUSTRALIA’S GUIDE TO UTES, VANS, LIGHT TRUCKS & PEOPLE MOVERS

Delivery Magazine inside: Pages 71-80.

MAGAZINE

TO BOOK IN PRIME MOVER CONTACT ASHLEY BLACHFORD NOW ASHLEY.BLACHFORD@PRIMECREATIVE.COM.AU | 0425 699 819

AUSTRALIA’S GUIDE TO UTES, VANS, LIGHT TRUCKS & PEOPLE MOVERS

www.deliverymagazine.com.au ISSUE 100 AUG 2021

NISSAN NAVARA PRO-4X

ULTIMATE

WARRIOR PLUS: ADELAIDE URBAN ELECTRICAL | ISUZU MU-X

AUG

CONTENTS

Welcome to Delivery…

74 DELIVERY NEWS

LATEST FROM THE INDUSTRY

RIDING SHOTGUN

BOYS LIGHT UP

Having undergone continued growth since it was established, Adelaide Urban Electrical, needing to bolster its fleet of commercial vehicles, turned to Renault for the latest in LCV technology and comfort.

ON SITE

ULTIMATE WARRIOR

The first of the new Warrior models has been launched in the Nissan Navara line-up, representing the latest collaboration between Nissan Australia and automotive and manufacturing company Premcar.

HOME RUN

ENTER THE WAGON

Now in showrooms of Isuzu Ute Australia dealerships, the all-new Isuzu MU-X, with its major revisions to the body, chassis, interior and engine, marks another milestone for Isuzu Ute Australia this year.

a u g u st 2021

While smaller businesses have been decimated at the expense of lockdowns, the continued expansion of government has been reflected in end of financial year sales ending in June. Government vehicle purchases saw a sharp rise of 10.4 per cent compared with the same month last year while sales across all vehicle types for the Rental market were up 192 per cent for the same period. Although a traditionally strong period for new vehicle sales it was the Sports Utility Market that increased by 1,837 vehicle sales (+3.5 per cent) on the year prior. LCV manufacturers can be encouraged by the Light Commercial Market which remained steady despite the delivery challenges caused by microprocessor shortages and bottlenecks in the supply chain which are yet to be fully resolved. Even so 28,550 light commercial vehicles were sold, a meagre 0.3 drop on the same time in 2020, taking the year-to-date total to 133,507 units. Toyota was market leader in June, followed by Mazda for whom it led with a margin of 8,851 vehicle sales and 8.0 market share points. Ford, whose Ranger was the highest selling vehicle (6,058), came in third. Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries Chief Executive Tony Weber all parties are continuing to find ways to meet the strong demand for customers across all sectors. “Right now, we would expect customer demand across all segments to remain strong for the second half of 2021 which has the market on track to return to a result in excess of one million vehicles,” said Weber. The Toyota Hi-Lux (5,412) was the second highest selling vehicle followed by the Isuzu Ute D-Max (3,167), Mazda CX-5 (3,018) and the Kia Cerato (2,711). Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors Corporation have co-invested an estimated AUD$160m AUD into UK electric-vehicle startup Arrival. A joint release said the venture would enable both companies to develop competitively priced small and mid-sized batterypowered vans for logistics, on-demand ride-sharing and shuttle service operators. Arrival was founded in 2015 and reportedly runs production facilities and Research and Development sites in the US, Germany, Israel, Russia, and the UK. Its ‘Generation 2’ vehicles are designed to be assembled by micro-factories which are said to be positioned to serve local communities, with small footprints in order to achieve profitability. Arrival brings to the table a so-called ‘skateboard’ vehicle platform with a modular component structure incorporating the battery pack, electric motor and driveline components. It’s claimed that Hyundai and Kia’s commercial vehicles will be grafted onto the Arrival platform, meaning it won’t need to develop its own complete vehicles.

RENAULT MASTER it’s my business it’s my van

“They look great on the road and they are great for business” “I have a fleet of Renault Masters. I started my business in 2002 with 5 Renault Masters. I now have more than 40 across Australia. They look great on the road and they are great for business. There’s loads of storage throughout and tech keeps us connected. Both rear doors open and you can load a pallet straight in. We love the way our signage looks on the van. You can’t miss us on the road!” Peter, Cowan Restoration Services renault.com.au

NEWS

TUMUT RIVER BREWING ADDS ANOTHER RENAULT Located in the picturesque sub-alpine town of Tumut, the appropriately named Tumut River Brewing Company (TRBC) has expanded its fleet of delivery vans with a new Renault Trafic recently joining the company’s existing Renault Kangoo

and Ford Transit vans in making deliveries of packaged and keg beer throughout the region and performing double duty at night with the local delivery of pizzas. The need for the additional van has been brought about by the success of

Tumut River Brewing’s Renault Kangoo and newly acquired Trafic.

the TRBC operation which has occurred despite the challenges wrought by COVID lockdowns on hospitality-associated industries. Manager Tim Martin’s plan was to build a food and live entertainment business to generate tourism around the town of Tumut with the key factor being the range of boutique beers and ciders brewed on site and featuring such novel names as ‘Full Grunt’, ‘Deliverance’, ‘Voodoo Child’ and ‘Here Gose Nothin’. “I knew nothing of Renault when I first bought the Kangoo,” said Martin. After owning the Kangoo for some time and being impressed with its performance it was a logical decision to purchase the Renault Trafic as the need developed for a larger van. A fundamental requirement was the rear barn doors which permit the use of a forklift to load and unload heavy pallets of canned beer as well as kegs. “The guys at Renault in Wagga Wagga were amazing and it was probably the best experience I’ve ever had with a car dealer,” Martin said.

JEEP GLADIATOR MOVES TO LIGHT GOODS CARRYING CLASSIFICATION The 2021 Jeep Gladiator range will introduce a higher payload capacity of 693kgs and a GCM of 5,601kgs on the new Night Eagle model. Jeep Gladiator Rubicon models will expand payload to 5,656kgs. According to Jeep, the extra capacity is a step towards the Jeep Gladiator being reclassified from an offroad passenger vehicle to a light goods carrying vehicle. For 2021 the Jeep Gladiator range features a comprehensive selection of updates as well as the new Night Eagle variant which includes a range of standard features above the Sport S model, including an upgraded rear suspension with a 4.10:1 ratio in the nonlocking rear axle, remote start system, 17-inch black alloy wheels, gloss black grille, deep tint sunscreen windows, and the latest Uconnect 8.4 inchTouch Screen Display and Satellite Navigation system 70

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which complements the 7.0 inch Driver Information Display. The nine speaker Alpine premium audio system incorporates both Apple Car Play & Android Auto. A new security alarm is also a feature. Other heavy duty inclusions are a new 240 Amp Alternator, rock slide rails and three skid plates to protect under carriage components. In celebration of Jeep’s 80th anniversary Jeep Australia has launched Jeep Wave, a comprehensive program providing peace of mind for owners. Jeep Wave is a commitment to Jeep owners, supporting them with a comprehensive Capped Price Servicing program for new vehicles including the 2021 Jeep Gladiator range, Lifetime Roadside Assistance when service is carried out through Jeep dealers and 5 Year/ 100,000km factory warranty.

Jeep Gladiator Rubicon.

NISSAN APPOINTS NEW MD IN AUSTRALIA

Adam Paterson.

Automotive company, Nissan recently confirmed the appointment of a new boss. Adam Paterson has been named in the role of Managing Director, Nissan Oceania. Paterson is currently the Director of Marketing at Nissan Canada, and has strong leadership experience from his previous role as Managing Director of Infiniti Canada. Over the past ten years, Paterson has held a number of roles throughout Nissan and Infiniti Canada including marketing, sales operations and dealer operations. Paterson was also Regional General Manager, Western Canada

for Nissan where he was responsible for regional marketing, distribution, dealer network development and financial controls. He officially commenced his new role on 1 July, 2021 at Nissan’s Australian headquarters in Melbourne. Stephen Lester, the former Managing Director of Nissan Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) had been in the role since September 2017. “His leadership has contributed to the success of Nissan Australia and New Zealand and we thank him for his contributions,” Nissan said in a statement issued at the time of the announcement.

PUBLIC SENTIMENT SHIFTS AGAINST LOCKDOWN INCONSISTENCIES AFFECTING SMALL BUSINESS The results of a recent survey released this week have found that four out of five people want small retailers exempt from closing shop during future lockdowns. Thousands of small businesses have born the economic brunt of lockdowns and restrictions when COVID cases appeared in Australian cities. New research reveals that a vast majority of Australians have not agreed with Government-mandated business closures and do not want businesses subject to them again should another lockdow occur. Parcel delivery service CouriersPlease commissioned a survey of an independent panel of 1010 Australians to gauge consumer sentiment on Governmentmandated business closures. Nearly 77 per cent of those surveyed said it was unfair that big retailers deemed essential services could continue trading during last years’ pandemic-induced lockdowns while small retailers had to close. Even with the one-person-per4sqm rule put in place to limit close contact and to slow the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, some small retailers were forced to shut shop due to space limitations. The findings reveal that nearly two-thirds

of respondents thought this restriction was unnecessary to minimise the spread. CouriersPlease also asked respondents if both small and big retailers should remain open in the event of future lockdowns. Approximately 88 per cent of respondents agreed that all retailers should follow the same rules. The recent seven-day lockdown in Melbourne saw many local businesses hit hard, with some business leaders forecasting it would cost them more than $1 billion. Despite the Victorian Government providing a $250 million business support package – set to help 90,000 SME businesses and sole traders – CouriersPlease Chief Commercial Officer Paul Roper said consumers play a vital role in helping small retailers and small businesses recover. “We know consumer confidence takes a hit each time a State goes into lockdown, which has a long-lasting impact on businesses. We’ve also seen many retailers over the past 12 months go under as a result of these restrictions, and consumers want to avoid this continuing,” he said. “Despite SMEs receiving some Government support, I encourage

shoppers to support and spend with the small players, now more than ever. Small purchases can have a huge positive impact on a small retailer, particularly if there are multiple shoppers getting behind them. “Support for businesses can also go beyond spending – with the power of social media and online reviews, a social post or a positive review about the business can be very impactful. It’s important that as our economy recovers, we show our support for the micro and small players – those most affected – and help them get through this challenging period.” Even so, Australia’s e-commerce sector is expected to maintain double-digit growth in the next few years due to the impact of COVID-19. Food retailing, up by 1.5 per cent, led the rises in the retail sector last month, but this was offset by falls in Household goods (-1.0 per cent), and Clothing, Footwear and Personal Accessory retailing (-1.5 per cent) according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. In Victoria, coronavirus restrictions led to a fall of 1.5 per cent in the state with five of the six industries down. d el i ver ym aga z ine . c o m . a u

RIDING SHOTGUN

BOYS LIGHT UP Having undergone continued growth since it was established, Adelaide Urban Electrical, needing to bolster its fleet of commercial vehicles, turned to Renault for the latest in LCV technology and comfort.

esidential and commercial electrical service provider, Adelaide Urban Electrical (AUE) has kept busy building its brand since Owner and Senior Technician Benjamin Colic founded the beachside-based Glenelg business in 2017. In the last four years it has steadily grown having, as an essential service, consolidated itself last year during the onset of the COVID crisis. The business, which services

the Adelaide metropolitan area, responds to callouts from homeowners, brings older houses up to spec by providing a full rewire and performs standard upgrades from switchboards. “A rewire on an old house can give it a new life for another 20 years,” says Ben. “We also do data wiring installations for remote workers in home offices with everyone running a lot more data. Nowadays, it’s important that Zoom and other office

AUE’s new Renault Trafic.

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communications platforms run smooth and there is no dropouts.” In addition to providing LED lights for improved ambience in many cafes, restaurants and bars, AUE also secures and makes safe new audio and audiovisual equipment in night clubs. They’ll even install the disco ball. The business has been prone to work on major projects, too. Recently AUE assisted one of the major infrastructure contractors by attending a late call out to ensure the machinery for steel work kept going through the night on the latest stage of the South Eastern Freeway. These kind of emergency callouts when there are power issues or when storms cause outages require a reliable working van. The business currently runs three vans, each from a different OEM. A Renault Trafic is the most recent addition having been added in April. The six-speed Trafic uses an automatic transmission and comes with a long wheelbase to accommodate bulky loads. An extra 400mm was added between the axle centres, making it an attractive modification for a business like AUE that doesn’t so much rely on maximising payload as it does carrying longer articles such as torpedoes, the colloquial name for capped cylinders that store conduit. Although it’s the first Renault product

Ben has introduced into his operations he says it’s unlikely, given how well it has been received, to be the last. “Renault gave me a fantastic deal. The brand has come a long way since the first generation,” Ben says. “Now the standard model gives you a touchscreen and a reverse camera. It’s a good environment for the guys to cruise around in. It’s comfortable and spacious – that’s what we need so when we need to load it up we can.” The extra cargo space saves having to tow a trailer and is crucial to the needs of daily operations in which larger data racks and ovens, for real estate, have to be carried to the job. AUE’s Renault Trafic is fitted with roof racks, comes with a rear step, interior shelving and racking according to the specifications Ben requires. The standard large sliding side doors are also welcome. One is used for loading up the van, the other Ben has converted to a section of trays that contain gear all neatly arranged, so it can be located without much of a search. “It’s got a bit of a system to it as I like to keep things simple,” he says. “If you have multiple projects on the go, it’s good to know you can store it in there while being able to access other articles for different jobs as well. “It’s Lego for big boys the way we can assemble and detach things.” The last thing an electrician needs, according to Ben, when he is on the way to or from completing a job, is to feel squashed into the driver’s seat. “For taller people there’s generous legroom which isn’t always the case with these light commercial vehicles,” he says. The power to weight ratio is strong and it’s proven economical to date in regard to consumption. Depending on services the business attends, the vans travel up to 500 kilometres a week, mainly within a 30-kilometre radius of Adelaide. As Adelaide has yet to succumb to any prolonged government lockdowns, business remains steady. “Our turnover has gone up and our

Trays holding essential gear have been arranged neatly in one of the sliding doors.

profit has been solid as well,” Ben says. “Not knowing where last year was headed, another financial year has flown past and it’s been hectic, but a real positive for us.” Part of this growth saw AUE move into a new warehouse and office space. Resources have slowed of late to keep up with the demand in housing that has inevitably flowed downstream to businesses like Ben’s. “What we’re finding is that with people largely restricted in their travel they have concentrated on upgrading their homes which has helped keep our business busy,” he says. A sole trader prior to establishing AUE, Ben has given the new Renault to one of his sparkies who is impressed with the comfort it offers and the sound system, which is getting plenty of use, to judge by the music coming from it. “I’m the lucky one who pays the bills and someone else gets to enjoy it,” Ben quips, noting he has driven it a few times. “It’s a good set of wheels for sure. It’s definitely got good grunt and noticeable torque and that’s what we need when we’re loaded up. We’re not struggling at the traffic lights. I like the electronics on it, the windscreen wipers and lights. All it really needs is a

coffee machine and a toaster in there. I can see myself eventually making all the vans in our fleet Renault.” Ben Colic, Adelaide Urban Electrical Founder.

d el i ver ym aga z ine . c o m . a u

ON SITE

ULTIMATE WARRIOR

The first of the new Warrior models has been launched in the Nissan Navara line-up, representing the latest collaboration between Nissan Australia and automotive and manufacturing company Premcar.

rdained as the flagship of Nissan’s Warrior model range, the Navara PRO-4X lands in market credentialed as the rugged epitome of exhaustive field-evaluations. Equipment and OEM parts enhancements in conjunction with multi-varied off-road, on-road and bench testing designed to replicate the harshest of conditions have gone into verifying the latest Warrior is up to spec. On-road development drives were conducted on sealed, dirt and

Navara PRO-4X Warrior comes with several suspension enhancements. 74

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gravel roads — graded and ungraded — while the off-road testing phase was conducted at the Australian Automotive Research Centre (AARC), Toolangi, Narbethong, Walhalla and Big River. Several key improvements made by Nissan on the Navara PRO-4X highlight the continuity of its dual-cab ute range. Updates such as steering quality, extensive safety equipment, NVH levels, core dual-cab functionality and a host of practicality considerations have been overlayed by Nissan’s in-house

engineering expertise. Victorian manufacturer Premcar, who reengineered the Navara PRO-4X Warrior, first partnered with Nissan on the first Navara N-TREK Warrior in 2019. Drawing on its decades-long history of vehicle performance in Australia, the Navara Warrior program is now home to 35 of Premcar’s engineers, manufacturing experts and executives, all of whom approached the new PRO-4X with a single goal: to develop a dual-cab ute ideally suited to Australian conditions both on- and off-road, without sacrificing safety, technology or on-road comfort. Final testing on the exclusive model in the Nissan Navara range was nearing completion in June following a comprehensive program, according to Nissan, designed to deliver vehicles that share the attributes of Australia’s rugged and exhilarating landscape. This has

been made manifest, just for starters, in improvements via the winch compatible bullbar, additional underbody protection, modified towbar and wheel, tyre and suspension enhancements for improved ground clearance. A wider stance and improved ride handling, additionally, confirm that the vehicle significantly improves on the previous N-TREK Warrior. As part of its 100kg GVM upgrade, now 3250kg, the Warrior is equipped to carry a payload of 961kg with a manual transmission (it’s slightly less for an automatic) giving it a boost in payload and towing. In order for it to produce better handling under these new weight adjustments, the vehicle’s track has been widened from 1570mm to 1600m which Premcar has determined gives it better cornering capability and stability. Naturally, with any premium four-wheeldrive, one of the major focuses of a new model, are the enhancements made to its ride. The new Warrior comes with a revised suspension setup that increases ground clearance but provides better handling whether on or off-road. Modifications to the spring rate deliver

better handling by providing more frontend support and less body roll, while the front damper has less low-speed damping to deliver a more compliant ride with increased road isolation. The high-speed rebound and compression rates at the front have also been increased by around 50 per cent and 100 per cent respectively (over the PRO-4X) to deliver greater control of the wheel and to prevent bottoming or topping out over larger impacts. Reduced float in the rear of the vehicle when towing has been achieved through an increase in the rear dampers’ low-speed control. Rebound damping has also been increased by more than 50 per cent to improve handling stability, while compression damping has also been improved. A new jounce bumper, now larger and taller, engages the chassis rail earlier in the suspension travel, while delivering a more progressive rate, controlling the wheel movement at maximum suspension travel. Nissan is confident this upgrade delivers a more compliant and softer transfer of energy into the

chassis, controlling the wheel and suspension more effectively. This should also significantly improve the harshness and noise transfer into the chassis and cabin over rough road conditions. The noise and vibration performance of the vehicle has undergone baseline testing taken at the driver’s seat, steering wheel and rear seats. Little to no NVH degradation was recorded. As now is customary among top shelf contemporary utility vehicles, a new 7.0inch Advanced Drive-Assist instrument cluster display, with a high-contrast 8.0inch touchscreen display includes Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity surrounded by a leather-accented interior. Part of the PRO-4X added value offering, at least for some buyers, is realised with a Navara-branded bashplate. It also comes with full size spare tyre. With international holiday destinations not foreseeable in the immediate future, holidaymakers are turning their attention from overseas to the great outdoors of Australia. The ability to tow a smaller pop-up camper now looks even more attractive when embarking on a trip away from home or leaving behind the memory of recent lockdowns.

A significant boost has gone into the Navara PRO-4X carrying and towing capacity. d el i ver ym aga z ine . c o m . a u

HOME RUN

ENTER THE WAGON The all-new Isuzu MU-X is now in showrooms of Isuzu Ute Australia dealerships.

ow that it has arrived the new Isuzu MU-X marks another milestone for Isuzu Ute Australia this year. The company insists the four-wheel-drive wagon is new from the ground up and it’s pleasing to note major revisions have been made to the body, chassis, interior and engine. The new model, which now supersedes the immensely popular first-generation MU-X that debuted locally in 2013, promises class-leading safety, including a centre airbag between the front seats, as per its D-Max brother, that’s claimed to be a first in this segment. The seven-seat MU-X encompasses a suite of features previously unseen in any Isuzu before, while retaining the proven formula of durability and reliability for which Isuzu vehicles are renowned. As a premium product replacement, the new Isuzu MU-X incorporates advanced technology systems including radar cruise control, twin-camera autonomous emergency braking, blind spot warning,

The new Isuzu MU-X will give its competitors somthing to think about. 76

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rear cross-traffic alert and speed sign recognition. High end models are will receive dual zone air-conditioning and rear air vents. The revised 3.0-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel engine now produces 140kW and 450Nm of torque – a useful increase over the current version’s 130kW and 430Nm. It gets paired with either a six-speed automatic or six-speed manual transmission and come in 2WD or 4WD variants. As with the new Isuzu D-Max, a rear differential lock will be standard. New available features include cooled front seats, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror, a household power socket inside the cabin, extra USB charging ports front and rear, premium audio and an electric park brake. High-end models will also receive a remote operated electric tailgate and

paddle gear shifters mounted on the steering wheel, along with wireless smartphone mirroring and bi-LED headlights. Exterior ameliorations include sporty 20-inch alloys and LED tail lights on high grade variants, along with electric power steering incorporating an automated parking system working via front and rear sensors. The infotainment system features a large nine-inch touchscreen with Apple Car Play and Android Auto, while a digital speed display is now part of the instrument cluster. As for the styling of the new MU-X, it is apparent that Isuzu has gone to considerable lengths to differentiate the wagon from its D-Max ute stablemate. While the current Isuzu MU-X trails its direct competitors Toyota Fortuner, Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and Ford Everest, in terms of refinement and technology, the new model is expected to redress the balance, and then some.

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INSIGHT | VICTORIAN TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION INSTITUTE

Safely delivering untapped heavy vehicle mass productivity

CHRIS KONIDITSIOTIS

hen I began my transport portfolio career as a graduate engineer, I was promptly informed that a heavy vehicle’s mass is a key consideration in the design and maintenance of our transport infrastructure networks. Indeed, there was a co-dependency between the pavement, bridge, and culvert structure and the length, axle group spacing, and mass of both the axle groups and the heavy vehicle as a whole. The general policy was (and in many aspects continues to be) that we structurally build infrastructure to accommodate a suite of heavy vehicle types with maximum mass limits. We expect industry operators to, among other things, load a heavy vehicle within the set mass limits. As a young engineer with responsibility in the traffic loading and the development of national design guides and standards; the integrity, accuracy, and frequency of available mass information were at best an estimate. Routine or day-to-day collection of heavy vehicle mass data was limited to on-road weigh-in-motion systems used in research initiatives and key projects. These initiatives and projects were limited in number due to the fiscal capacity to weigh heavy vehicles. Furthermore, such investment in heavy vehicle mass data was dependent on 78

ade u gc ue st mbe 2021 r 2018

individual champions in road transport agencies and associated research and academic institutes. To put it simply, we had limited information and hence visibility to quantify the actual traffic loading. Given the context and environment, we adopted a more conservative approach to considering heavy vehicle traffic loading in developing the design and maintenance guides and standards. In the case of bridge design, load safety factors of 2 were adopted and for pavements, average traffic load distributions were embraced — one for rural and one for urban networks. The design guides and standards could be applied for specific traffic loading; however, the issue was such data was simply not routinely available. So, 35 years ago we dreamt of the day when we would routinely have access to heavy vehicle mass information with integrity and associated accuracy, and a frequency that provided insight, allowing us to address directly the contribution of mass to the design and maintenance of our transport infrastructure. Thus, today I pose myself the question — have we arrived and achieved our goal of more readily available heavy vehicle mass data? Has the journey that we have travelled over the past three decades reached its destination? My answer is — yes, we have arrived, however, do we really understand that we have arrived? A range of on-road weigh-in-motion systems and acquisition models are now commercially available in Australia. We have both national and regional specifications. We have widespread networks of high-speed weigh-inmotion systems used for a myriad of different purposes. We have progressed from not only using high-speed weigh-in-motion as a pre-screen for

compliance and enforcement but now to be able to deliver direct enforcement. We also have in-vehicle technologies, commercially available and readily used by the heavy vehicle industry. Also available are national specifications with recognised accuracy and integrity that are routinely used by transport operators, regulators, and road managers to achieve their private and public policy needs. The integrity and accuracy in the collection of mass information are now readily and commercially available for routine traffic load and individual heavy vehicles. Routinely, transport operators are adopting in-vehicle technologies to accurately measure axle group and gross vehicle mass, furthermore, the weighin-motion networks are now greater in number and use across the road network. However, this advance in technology and associated public and private investment is not fully utilised. Rather, it is predominately driven by responses to ensure compliance to mass loading obligations. That is, these advances are used to continue to fulfill the industry operators’ obligations to load a heavy vehicle within the set mass limits. It is not that I am questioning this foundational use; however, I want to go back to the start, to when I started in the transport portfolio, due to the lack of availability, our mass limits were by necessity, conservative. Today we need to rethink and re-evaluate our approach and consider the fact that we have readily available mass information and acknowledge its immensely improved accuracy and integrity. We are so much better informed! What we dreamt of 30 years ago is now available. Are we today, taking full advantage of this capability or are we still using conservative approaches as if we are stuck in the past? My thesis

ARTSA-I LIFE MEMBERS

Powered by is that we need to, as a minimum, be aware of the now available capability as this provides us with a whole new set of opportunities. This technical capability can permit us to improve our design and maintenance, and now, in addition, how we operate our networks to improve both safety and productivity. So, what does this entail? What are the next steps? The development of traffic loading inputs to the design and maintenance of infrastructure has traditionally been based on scare data. Hence a conservative approach has been built into the guides and standards, arguably for legitimate reasons. The readily available traffic data now provides an opportunity, and, I would argue an obligation, to revisit our guides and standards. To effectively revisit the traffic loading inputs and do what we dreamt of 30 years ago. Traffic loading assumptions and associated safety

margins can be re-assessed in light of the more accurate and readily available data. Secondly, the use of in-vehicle on-board mass systems for the first time permits the specialised operation of a heavy vehicle on the road network. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, based on conservative loading distributions, or in the case of bridges, high order load safety factors, because the transport operator is making available the actual mass of their vehicle, access arrangements can be customised. It is recognised that heavy vehicle mass monitoring is opening doors to improve access to parts of the network or provide increased mas on existing routes. For example, bridge guides and standards have been changed to provide load safety factors of 1.8 (rather than 2), subject to the capacity of the structure and the use of on-board mass with regulatory telematics. However,

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for the most part this still remains very specialised. The challenge is for road managers and regulators to consider this practice the norm rather than the exception. On-board mass systems provide the opportunity to significantly increase network and commercial productivity and, just as importantly, not compromise safety. This being achieved by the transport operator providing vehicle- specific mass information. Australia has a world leading position concerning road transport heavy vehicle types, mass monitoring technologies and telematics. The challenge for road managers, regulators and operators is to work together to safely deliver the untapped mass productivity gains. Chris Koniditsiotis ARTSA, Life Member President, International Society for Weigh in Motion McColl’s showcases a new Tieman built 26-metre tanker for its farm milk division.

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INSIGHT | VICTORIAN TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION

SAL PETROCCITTO

ustralia’s road freight task is growing at almost twice the rate of our population and is expected to increase 80 per cent by 2030. While we work together to plot a path out of COVID-19, the heavy vehicle industry is playing a lead role in keeping Australians connected and I’m incredibly proud of the resilience that everyone in the industry has demonstrated over the past 18 months. As our country strengthens, so too will our productivity. From an industry perspective, increased road network access, greater certainty, practical guidelines and advancements in technology are key to our collective success. To achieve these goals and develop a prosperous future, the NHVR worked with over 250 industry and government stakeholders to develop a Heavy Vehicle Productivity Plan 2020-25 (HVPP). The Plan was unveiled in August last year, with key objectives to provide access certainty and consistency, partner with local government to build capability, and promote safer and more productive heavy vehicles that are better for the environment and communities. Together, we’ve made a lot of progress in the first year, with 30 tasks well underway or completed to benefit industry productivity. I’m particularly excited by a few of the actions that have come to fruition in the past few months or are on track to be completed in the

ade u gc ue st mbe 2021 r 2018

A plan driven by productivity near future. The Strategic Local Government Asset Assessment Project commenced in late 2019, with a Federal Government funding grant to assist the NHVR and local road managers undertake heavy vehicle assessments of on-road assets. The project has delivered considerable success and increased access for a range of heavy vehicles into local communities, so much so that the Federal Government’s budget recently extended the funding grant for the next three years. In this next phase, up to 1000 asset assessments will take place, predominantly across regional and rural Australia, providing new and improved access for drivers. The more assets that can be assessed and accessed, the greater the level of productivity and safety. A new notice is providing greater flexibility and easing pressure on drivers, while improving safety and increasing efficiencies. The National Road Train Prime Mover Mass and Dimension Notice commenced at the start of June, following widespread consultation between the NHVR, road managers and industry groups. The notice provides access to more networks for longer combinations, and resolves issues that have faced roadtrain operators in the past, with benefits including an increase in the use of standardised trailer sets instead

of shorter trailers and providing better options for operators to use existing vehicle combinations more efficiently. When it comes to performance and productivity, the NHVR has been collaborating with industry and collating feedback on a generic tyre approach for the increasing number of Performance-Based Standards vehicles. This tyre approach is anticipated to deliver a reduction in costs, delays and practical difficulties that currently exist. I expect to have a positive outcome to this approach soon and look forward to continuing to consult with industry. Another program of work underway is our National Spatial Program. The industry relies on accurate and up-todate mapping and route planning in order to maximise efficiency, and this program will deliver Australia’s first national harmonised mapping solution for heavy vehicles. The benefits include nationally consistent network spatial services and standards, improved ability for road managers to establish and manage heavy vehicle networks, and solutions enabling dynamic mapping and intelligent routing so that the trucks are matched to the most suitable and productive roads. All of this work – and much more – is well underway as part of the HVPP and the NHVR will continue to work closely with stakeholders to deliver effective improvements for the industry.

NATIONAL HEAVY VEHICLE REGULATOR | INSIGHT

We are only one year into the plan and I encourage you to review progress on the NHVR’s website. Similarly, I encourage you to reach out to the NHVR if there

are productivity measures that are not captured as part of the HVPP, which should be considered. Together, we are delivering a safer, more

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efficient and more productive industry. Sal Petroccitto, CEO, NHVR More TEUs will be loaded onto skels as the demand for port cartage skyrockets this decade.

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INSIGHT | HEALTHY HEADS IN TRUCKS & SHEDS

Owning positive improvements in mental health

TONY CLARK

arlier this year, NTI’s National Truck Accident Research Centre (NTARC) released its 2021 Major Accident Investigation Report. This is the 10th report in a series that has spanned almost two decades. When NTI first startied collating and analysing data on serious heavy vehicle crashes John Howard was still Prime Minister, Apple had just launched iTunes, and you could still buy an International Eagle 9900. It was a different time. The data set over the ten reports tells an important story about focus and investment in our industry; a focus on new technologies such as fatigue monitoring systems, updated legislation on fatigue, and greater awareness of and accountability for safety under the Chain of Responsibility. Throughout the report series, serious accidents caused by fatigue have been a closely watched figure, with many from across the industry using NTI’s data to highlight improvements and successes and push for greater attention on this important issue. The 2021 report highlighted encouraging new trends; fatigue-related crashes involving heavy vehicles were down from 27 per cent in 2005 to eight per cent last year. This is despite the number of freight movements and heavy vehicles increasing by around 50 per cent during this same period. This is a fantastic outcome — but certainly not the end of the road. What it tells us 82

a u g u st 2021

is that when our industry works together to put a spotlight on an issue, educate on the positive impacts of new technologies, responsibly introduce or update legislation, and not give up when conversations get difficult, positive change can happen. NTI’s organisational purpose is ‘To make you safer and more sustainable’. In recent years, this has resulted in the launch of services beyond insurance, that aim to help transport and logistics businesses become more proactive in the way they look after the safety and wellbeing of their people. Our Traction Program, for example, involves sending our team of Culture and Change experts to support a business to resolve identified cultural areas of improvement in safety. This helps management and leaders in the business to uncover the ‘people levers’ that are preventing a business moving from “good” to “great”. Our confidential Business Health Check service also helps businesses to look at their performance across six key metrics to ensure they are best practice against industry benchmarks. To support businesses who bravely choose to pursue the journey from good to great, we have also invested in our ‘Better Business Hub’, a free online platform for anyone in the transport and logistics industries, containing practical tools, templates, and tips across a range of topics: Profitable Business, Managing your Team and Cutting Red Tape. At the heart of these initiatives is a focus on people. We want to help them better understand how to stay safe at work, how to better communicate with their managers or employees, and how to better understand their people and processes for improvement. We want to help businesses in our industry to become safer and more sustainable. Essentially, we’ve learnt that there is a lot we can all do to help transport businesses so that they have more time and increased skills to focus on the wellbeing of their most important asset — their people. As an organisation, NTI is proud to be an Open Road Partner of Healthy Heads in

Trucks & Sheds (HHTS). For many years, we’ve offered counselling and health support for our customers, as well as our own people. What excites me about HHTS is the opportunity to work with others within transport and logistics to deliver tangible improvement in mental health to our Industry. We’re proud to be involved in developing and promoting an industry-wide strategy towards best practice psychological safety, wellbeing, and physical health for everyone no matter how big or small their business may be. Our Risk Advisory Services programs such as Traction and Business Health Check have already shown us the positive effects of communicating openly and honestly within a business. Imagine the outcomes if we did this for our whole industry. HHTS recently launched its National Mental Health and Wellbeing Roadmap. This is an opportunity for all of us – businesses and individuals – to shine a spotlight on this vital initiative. The Roadmap has been created as a shared starting point and a conversation starter for the industry and just as we have seen improvement with fatigue, it is all of our responsibility to ensure that our industry keeps talking about, and acting on, mental health and wellbeing — even if it gets uncomfortable. Within NTI, we have a rally cry for our people: #OwnIt. It’s simple. Let’s not step to the side and hope someone else takes responsibility for an initiative; instead, we should all ‘own it’. No matter what role we play in the industry, or how big or small our business is, let’s all ‘own’ the issue of mental health and wellbeing and play our part in actioning and promoting adoption of the Roadmap. Let’s not allow positive change in the industry to slow. Let’s make sure that, in years to come, we are talking about the positive improvements in the mental health and wellbeing of our greatest assets, our co-workers, our friends, our families — our people. Tony Clark, CEO, NTI

AUSTRALIAN LOGISTICS COUNCIL | INSIGHT

RACHEL SMITH

reight affects every Australian, every day, everywhere. Common goods purchased by Australians such as food, clothing, household appliances and medicine all need to be transported by freight operators. Similarly, the freight supply chain provides the materials to build and operate critical community infrastructure – roads, hospitals and schools – which are fundamental to our society. An inefficient and unproductive national supply chain can ultimately result in lost export income, reduced employment, higher consumer prices and Australia becoming less competitive in the global market. ALC believes road pricing processes should fairly capture all the relevant cost components of roads, without distorting the choice of transport unfairly, particularly from rail to road. This is the second inquiry that has been recently conducted into road tolling by the NSW Legislative Council. A specific issue was that heavy vehicles will have a toll imposed that is three times higher than car tolls. However, the economic rationale behind the three-time multiplier has never been explained. Heavy vehicles currently pay road user charges for using Australia’s roads, through a pay-as-you-go model (colloquially known as PAYGO). In a nutshell, PAYGO is designed to recover from heavy vehicles the allocated proportion of the amount jurisdictions spent on the construction and

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Road user pricing needs to fairly capture costs without placing bias on rail maintenance of roads over the previous five years. Australian governments are now considering a new pricing mechanism being developed under a project called Heavy Vehicle Road Reform (HVRR) to replace PAYGO. Put simply, the HVRR concept road owners will put forward for the consideration of governments road construction and maintenance proposals, with costs calculated on a ‘forwardlooking basis’ using the ‘building block’ method of developing charges used in the water, rail and electricity sectors. However, both methods only require heavy vehicles fund the additional maintenance costs incurred as a result of the road infrastructure carrying a heavy vehicle. It doesn’t establish a profit centre for road owners. It has been reported that trucks are avoiding using, for example, NorthConnex as a result of the costs imposed on using the infrastructure, clearly imposing freight chain inefficiencies as well as adding to the road congestion that access to infrastructure of a motorway standard was meant to avoid. However, the toll road pricing regime should support other government policies designed to ensure the efficient movement of freight, particularly within the Sydney Metropolitan area such as port rail mode share targets. As the NSW Government has said: A Strategic Target of the NSW Freight and Ports Plan 2018-2023 is to increase the

share of rail freight at Port Botany to 28 per cent or 930,000 TEU by 2021 (against a 2016 baseline of 17 per cent or 388,552). Transporting freight on the rail network significantly improves efficiency, congestion and sustainability, especially around major trade gateways. This is important as the volume of freight moved through NSW ports will grow in the future. This target has not been met. ALC insists to the Government that the rationale behind the principle of requiring heavy vehicles to pay three times the toll of light vehicles for access to toll roads be investigated. Perhaps most crucially, the government road pricing principles need to also consider the objectives of other relevant polices such as the NSW Freight and Ports Plan and the NSW Ports Masterplan to increase the level of the movement of freight by rail. Australia’s freight needs to be planned and considered as a total connected end-to-end supply chain solution. Only when supply chains are planned and utilised from an end-toend solutions perspective, are all modes of freight able to benefit and maximise productivity and efficiency gains. Rachel Smith, Interim CEO, ALC

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INSIGHT | TRUCK VICTORIAN INDUSTRY TRANSPORT COUNCIL ASSOCIATION

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A hydrogen reality check

TONY MCMULLAN PETER ANDERSON

n my column last month, I explained the need for Australian governments to develop an allencompassing ‘net zero emissions’ greenhouse gas plan, one that outlines a pathway forward for each industry and for each State and Territory. To highlight the size of the problems and challenges associated with this very complex issue, I detailed some research findings from Europe and the electricity supply infrastructure that would need to be built if countries like Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom were to fully embrace a shift to e-mobility for their fossil fuelled vehicle fleets. I also detailed the similar task faced in Australia if we were to switch to electric powered vehicles. The examples used, were based upon a move from fossil fuel (petrol, diesel and gas) powered cars, trucks and busses, to electric vehicles powered by electricity gained from the respective country’s power grid, this being the hope portrayed by many media commentators, globally and in Australia. This led to some comments and feedback, suggesting that ‘plug-in’ electric vehicles, is not the only potential pathway to a carbon neutral future. I agree one hundred per cent with those comments! It has always been the Truck Industry Councils (TIC) position that our governments, Federal, State and Territory, in Australia, should not attempt to pick ‘winners’ in the ‘net zero’ emissions race, but in fact offer impartial

a u g u st 2021

and objective financial and regulative incentives designed to allow many different technologies to be explored and developed. Most of those who made comment, proposed hydrogen as the ‘universal solution’ to a ‘net zero emissions’ future for vehicles, and perhaps hydrogen will be — in time. However, hydrogen is not the panacea that is being currently touted by much of the mainstream media, at least not in the short term. While hydrogen is the universe’s most abundant element, here on Earth it doesn’t naturally occur pure in nature, rather it must be extracted from another compound. The most common technique is to extract hydrogen from water, which is two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen (H2O). Doing this is fairly simple, however, this requires energy, a lot of energy. I will discuss this in more detail below, but let’s first look at a few of hydrogen’s disadvantages. Due to its small molecular size, hydrogen can permeate metals, making them brittle and leading to premature failure of pipes and tanks. This makes hydrogen difficult to contain and store. It is also difficult to transport, as hydrogen is naturally a gas and takes up a lot of space. While hydrogen can be compressed to a smaller volume, this requires a lot of energy. Finally, hydrogen is 20 times more explosive than petrol, hence the safe handling and use of hydrogen is a significant concern. Today, hydrogen is most commonly used by the oil refining industry and to produce ammonia fertilisers. It is typically produced using heat and chemical reactions to release hydrogen from organic materials such as fossil fuels. But this is enormously polluting. For a colourless gas, hydrogen gets referred to in very colourful terms, depending on how it is produced: • BROWN hydrogen is produced using coal where the emissions are released

to the air. • GREY hydrogen is produced from natural gas where the associated emissions are released to the air. Both these processes are VERY CO2 intensive. • BLUE hydrogen is produced from natural gas, where the emissions are captured using carbon capture and storage. This process would roughly halve the amount of CO2 produced, but is not commonplace. • GREEN hydrogen is produced from electrolysis powered by renewable electricity and could largely be free of CO2 emissions. Unfortunately, GREEN hydrogen currently accounts for less than one per cent of total global hydrogen production, according to a June 2020 report from USA Energy Consultants Wood-Mackenzie. Then there is the cost of hydrogen production. Brown, grey and blue hydrogen cost about AU$2 per kilogram (though the price varies depending on where it is produced), while green hydrogen is around AU$4 per kilogram. One kilogram of diesel, that is about 1.2 litres, costs well less than AU$1 to produce, I am comparing production costs here, not what you and I pay once governments add their taxes. At AU$4/ kg, green hydrogen has some way to go to be cost-competitive with diesel, despite having an energy density just over twice that of diesel. Now you may ask, how do we use this gas to power cars and trucks? And when will we see such vehicles gracing our roads in significant numbers and greening our planet? Well, those are questions that I will have to answer another day, as I have exhausted my word limit for this month. Tony McMullan CEO, Truck Industry Council

VICTORIAN TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION | INSIGHT

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Bans and restrictions aren’t the answer

PETER ANDERSON

s CEO of the Victorian Transport Association I am often asked in public forums: “How do we get trucks off our roads?” We also often see the public messaging stating that the new tunnel will get thousands of trucks of our roads. In the contrarian world we live in, and within which public debate seems increasingly black or white, it is acceptable in many circles to advocate for absolute views about issues without a thought or consideration for what the alternative might look like. In this magical utopian world, our streets are absent the very vehicles that keep our economy humming along, and that stock grocery store shelves, and keep our construction and building sites equipped with supplies, our factories stocked with raw materials, and our cars filled with petrol or diesel. The scale and enormity of the freight task is lost in the narrowly focused, ‘not in my backyard’ mentality of not knowing how goods move through our communities. But let’s consider the impact if such draconian bans were to occur, against the backdrop of the slippery slope many inner-city councils and local governments are putting us on, through increasingly restrictive conditions on heavy vehicle movements in our cities and towns. For one, congestion would be worse, with the increased reliance by businesses and consumers on smaller vehicles

making many more journeys and offsetting any benefit of having no or fewer trucks on our roads. Streets would be gridlocked with vans and lightweight delivery vehicles that experience the same demand for goods, but with the additional pressure of more frequent deliveries required to keep shelves stocked and construction sites busy. And as for parking, well you can forget about that. In the face of fewer loading zones in our cities thanks to new infrastructure and dedicated lanes for bicycles on most of our city streets, all these delivery vans will be fighting for what little street parking remains, with an influx of motorcycles and delivery scooters dangerously littering footpaths. The safety consequences are equally stark with road accidents likely to increase thanks to additional congestion and more vehicles occupying the roads, with the added heightened risks to pedestrians having to navigate trolleys and pallet jacks carrying goods to shops from delivery vans parked blocks away. The benefit of less noise and fuel emissions from supporters of no or fewer heavy vehicles is just as mythical, with the explosion in numbers of delivery vans and motorbikes needed to meet consumer demand more than negating any ‘benefit’ brought about by less trucks. We can take comfort that level heads are prevailing in the upper echelons of State and Federal Governments, who recognise the vital work transport workers do in keeping supply chains functional, together with how essential heavy vehicles are in delivering the growing freight task. Regrettably, the same cannot be said for a growing number of local government

authorities around Australia, whose transport plans seem to be predicated on reducing or eliminating trucks from roads and thoroughfares, and taxing transport operators for doing their jobs. The City of Melbourne has reduced the number of loading zones in the CBD over the past 12 months in order to provide fixed infrastructure and new dedicated lanes for bicycles, forcing delivery trucks to park many blocks away and walking trolleys through the pedestrians. Greater traffic congestion is a by-product of reducing loading zones, with operators remaining in town for longer with nowhere to park. This is exactly the kind of slippery slope we must avoid, and actively discourage transport policy makers from setting us on – often encouraged by fringe groups and their ban-trucks-at-all-costs mentality. Supply chains must flow and decision makers must understand the size and scale of the freight task that keeps the millions of people supplied with the goods they need every day determines the nature of the vehicle size on our roads. The industry needs Clearways not Curfews. The industry needs better road management through dedicated routes and varied access permissions. The industry needs a far greater maturity shown by those advocating to getting heavy vehicles off our streets. The VTA continues to advocate for the legitimate rights of operators to use the road network, and to articulate the vitality of trucks and heavy vehicles in our supply chain. Peter Anderson CEO, VTA p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u

PETER SHIELDS’ NUMBER CRUNCH

Par for the Course May’s 1,050 and representing 240 more than in June 2020 (+21.2 per cent). The first half result of 5,790 Heavy Duty trucks shows a very healthy 17.8 per cent growth (+876 units). It seems that, for a while at least, demand is not an issue facing the new truck industry in Australia. For local manufacturers, the challenge will be meeting that level of demand as the effect of some component shortages impact production rates. Importers may not be immune from the situation either, as global shortages of some essential components will constrict supply of exportready trucks and vans.

June is typically a strong month for new vehicle sales in Australia as businesses seek to maximise their tax advantages for the close of the financial year and dealers seek to minimise inventory. The Federal Government’s extension of the ability to fully expense new business-use vehicles through to June 2023 may have encouraged expectations that the market would steady somewhat, yet the sales figures for June indicate that purchasers of commercial vehicles have not lost any appetite at all in their desire to replace existing vehicles and to increase the size of their fleets in response to the growth in consumer demand for freight services. During June 3,828 new trucks and 913 new vans joined the national fleet, an increase of 935 (32.0 per cent) in truck sales over the previous month of May, and 167 (22.4 per cent) heavy vans more than during May. Comparisons with the June results from 2020 reveal trucks collectively to be 5.9 per cent up (+214 units) while vans conversely were 7.1 per cent down (71 units). The year-to-date accrued result of 16,197 for trucks is 2,758 more than for the first six months of 2020 (+20.5 per cent) and the total van count of 3,723 represents an additional 714 units (+23.7 per cent) over the same period of time. The growth of the Light Duty category eased off during June, the 1,620 units being just 2.3 per cent more than for June last year, however the year-to-date total of 6,870 is 1,625 more than at the same time last year (+30.7 per cent). Medium Duty actually went backwards slightly month-on-month at 834 units during this June compared with 897 during June 2020 (-7.0 per cent) although the half year accrual of 3,537 shows an extra 272 units than for the first half of last year (+8.3 per cent). The Heavy Duty category shows a diverse range of results across the various brands with some almost 50 per cent up in their first half results compared with 2020, while several others languish 20 or 30 per cent below where they were at the same time last year. Overall, even despite this, the category continues to display remarkable growth with the total of 1,374 for June, eclipsing 86

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June-21

YTD

% Change YOY

ISUZU

1085

4768

17.7%

HINO

761

3203

24.7%

FUSO

568

2179

38.2%

KENWORTH

325

1203

47.1%

MERCEDES-BENZ

198

873

49.7%

VOLVO

152

740

-22.5%

IVECO

183

658

3.3%

SCANIA

122

576

41.2%

FIAT

294

-22.6%

MACK

292

1.7%

UD TRUCKS

257

7.1%

DAF

252

7.2%

FREIGHTLINER

172

56.4%

WESTERN STAR

162

32.8%

MAN

139

-32.5%

HYUNDAI

126

129.1%

FORD

102

175.7%

RENAULT

-11.8%

DENNIS EAGLE

182.1%

VOLKSWAGEN

-16.0%

INTERNATIONAL

-17.4%

CAB CHASSIS/PRIME

3828

16197

20.5%

M-B VANS

283

1172

0.8%

FORD VANS

119

888

52.8%

VOLKSWAGEN VANS

161

694

34.5%

FIAT VANS

261

572

16.4%

RENAULT VANS

220

88.0%

IVECO VANS

177

25.5%

VANS

913

3723

23.7%

TOTAL

4741

19920

21.1%

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

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