Trailer Builder

Krueger’s key to success

MULTIMODAL TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS PROVIDER, TASMAN LOGISTICS SERVICES, RELIES ON KRUEGER TRANSPORT EQUIPMENT’S SERVICE AND PRODUCT QUALITY TO EXCEL IN BUSINESS.

Ivan Vanis, CEO of Tasman Logistics Services, holds a longstanding partnership with trailer manufacturer, Krueger Transport Equipment. “They are our go-to for new equipment,” he says. “The service and quality of their product and competitive pricing structure are the key reasons we have remained loyal to Krueger for more than 15 years.” Tasman Logistics Services has made considerable investments in its PerformanceBased Standards (PBS) fleet including the acquisition of Krueger PBS-approved A-double combinations. “They have been fantastic and are a key asset within our fleet,” he says. “We have had no issues with the equipment. There have been obvious productivity gains although we are still struggling at times with weight allowances and mixing/matching containers to ensure we are compliant on the road. There seem to be more and more PBS combinations on the road across the industry which goes to show the efficiency and success of these vehicles.” As for Krueger’s workmanship and engineering capabilities, Ivan’s workshop staff rate Krueger’s team at a very high level. “We are constantly working on new projects including infrastructure jobs that have requirements for specialised and specific equipment,” Ivan says. “We are seeing changes and modifications to equipment to make it safer and more efficient. I feel that we will be seeing more and more longer vehicles on the road as our freight task grows.” Fleet presentation is also extremely important to Ivan. “We want our equipment looking sharp on the roads,” he says. “We have a maintenance and cleaning program in place for all of our equipment and an amazing team that manages all that. Krueger knows our branding and colours well and it makes it easier when placing orders.” Tasman Logistics Services’ business, according to Ivan, is quite diverse. “We pride ourselves on being able to assist

Krueger produces versatile trailers that deliver peak operational performance.

all customers with all kinds of freight,” he says. “We have a mentality in our business that if we are asked to do something that isn’t within our current scope of works, we will endeavour to create a new area of expertise through the acquisition of talented people. We are excited to be involved in some major infrastructure projects that keep everyone on their toes as its far from a conventional ‘pick up and drop off’ scenario. Fortunately, Ivan’s business has not been overly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. “There are a handful of clients with volumes that have slowed due to their exposure to the hospitality and entertainment industries, however we are also a service provider to large multinationals that are essential services whose volumes have grown significantly. The drop and rise in different clients have basically offset each other to show overall we are roughly where we were pre-Covid-19.” Earlier this year Ivan joined a number of industry partners in an initiative led by the Victorian Transport Association (VTA) to transport more than 20 shipping containers to support families who lost their homes during the recent bushfires. “The opportunity to assist our fellow Australian’s at a time when they needed our assistance arose with the VTA and other industry partners,” Ivan says. “It was a time when competitors came together for the common good of helping people who had gone through a tough time. Helping our

Tasman Logistics Services specifies new road transport equipment from Krueger.

local community and beyond is a key part of our mission in being a successful business, a time when profit is put aside to assist those who needed us most.” Ivan was also named Young Achiever of the Year at the Australian Freight Industry Awards (AFIA). he says being awarded this prestigious accolade was a career highlight and an absolute honour. “The recognition from my peers and other industry partners, associates and competitors was very humbling,” he says. “The fact that I alone was recognised doesn’t showcase the quality of people I have around me that have significantly contributed to the success of our business and the award itself. I am most proud of the team we have built at Tasman and the growth that our business has seen which in turn has resulted in us growing our workforce by more that 75 per cent in the past four years.”

PBS A-double built by Krueger Transport Equipment.

Fast Fact

Krueger Transport Equipment is at the forefront of modern trailer design, manufacturing its versatile ‘Kurtainer’ curtainsiders, open decks, skeletal trailers, freezer vans, dry vans and other custom builds. These models stand out in the market for their engineering excellence, load restraint options and enhancements that optimise vehicle operator safety and promote higher productivity.

Contact Krueger Transport Equipment 275 Fitzgerald Road Derrimut VIC 3030 Ph: 03 9366 2133 Web: www.krueger.com.au

Versatility to a T

AS A SINGLE FLOAT OPERATOR, MOUNT GAMBIER BASED WINTERFIELDS FLOAT HIRE NEEDED A HEAVY HAULAGE UNIT THAT WAS SUFFICIENTLY VERSATILE TO CARRY A WIDE VARIETY OF STANDARD AND OVERSIZE LOADS. ACCORDING TO THE COMPANY’S OWNER, MATTY WINTERFIELD, A NEW DRAKE 4X4 HYBRID STEERING WIDENER IS THE IDEAL UNIT.

A Mount Gambier native, Matty Winterfield has been driving trucks for around 25 years, having previously been a diesel mechanic after completing an apprenticeship in the trade. His first driving job in the mid ‘90s was with forestry company K.C & M.R. Boult, initially hauling B-double loads of woodchips and logs, then later transitioning to float work after the company bought a Drake tri-axle Deck Widener to shift its woodchippers and log harvesting equipment. Then 11 years ago he decided to start his own heavy haulage business, purchasing a second-hand tri-axle Full Widener and dolly along with an ex-K&S Freighters Ford LTL9000 powered by a 400 Cummins to tow it. As time went by machinery got bigger and he took on more customers, necessitating the replacement of the trusty LTL with another ex-K&S unit – a considerably more powerful Kenworth T904 that had been hauling roadtrains in WA. “That was a really good truck too but we

Drake’s innovative Hybrid 4x4 float with twin BPW Transpec steer axles has proven to be the ideal unit for Winterfields Float Hire. were still getting busier so I started talking to Drake and we were soon the proud owners of our first new Drake Hybrid 4x4 float, and a second-hand Kenworth K104B to pull it,” Matty says. He employed driver Peter ‘Darky’ O’Dea, who remains a highly valued employee today, to drive the cab-over while he continued driving the T904, eventually replacing the original Full Widener with a second Drake Hybrid 4x4 trailer pretty much identical to the first one. Sometime later the Kenworths were progressively supplanted by a pair of Scania R 730s and the business continued to flourish. More recently, work has slowed somewhat which gave Matty cause to sell one of the Scania and Drake Hybrid combinations. When you own a heavy haulage business, being able to quickly and efficiently adapt to a wide variety of haulage tasks is definitely the key to success, which is why Matty reckons his latest Drake Hybrid 4x4 float is the best thing since sliced bread.

According to Matty, the Hybrid Steering Widener is an ideal compromise between a Full Widener and a Deck Widener, in short, the best of both worlds. The Hybrid, for stability, has the forward two axles that widen with the deck as per a Full Widener, while the rear pair of axles remain fixed in Deck Widener fashion. Furthermore, a big benefit of the BPW Transpec rear tandem axle set is its steerability – with all four duals either self-tracking when travelling forwards or command-steerable when reversing into tight confines. The command steering is controlled by a radio remote that can be used either in the cab or at the rear of the trailer. “This is the third Drake Hybrid quad float I’ve owned, and I’ve found it to be a really good option – the best of both worlds,” he says. “You get the stability of a Full Widener along with the manoeuvrability of a Deck Widener. “It’s also very useful when you’re travelling on a skinny road and have to pull over to pass an oncoming vehicle or to let following

Heavy haulage specialist, Winterfields Float Hire, invests in Drake trailers.

traffic pass. That’s because the left sets of wheels on the rear two axles can remain on the tarmac which helps maintain stability, with only the forward left wheels having to run off onto the gravel.” Another feature of the Hybrid with twin steer axles that Matty appreciates is the reduced tyre wear. “I’ve been consistently achieving around 170,000km from a set of new tyres. This means the extra cost of the BPW Transpec steering axles is recovered inside 12 months.” He does, however, add that there’s a caveat for achieving this phenomenal rubber longevity – timely tyre rotations including turning of the steering axle tyres on the rims. “It’s necessary to move the tyres from the steering axles to the forward fixed axles because the steering action tends to wear the inside shoulders after a while,” Matty says. “We turn the tyres on the rims initially and then we move them to the forward axles to ensure we get the maximum life from them. “We don’t do big kilometres, we average around 120,000km per year, a lot of which is around town in tight subdivisions, and a lot of forestry work where narrow tracks make access for Full Wideners more difficult. The Hybrid is definitely the best option in these situations.” Matty adds that he likes the fact that the rear steer axles are BPW Transpec units because of the simplicity and reliability, with spare parts readily available off the shelf. The most important thing, he says, is to keep the grease up to the kingpins. “In my experience, if you grease them regularly, they have a very long service life,” he says.

All up, for Matty Winterfield there is no substitute for high quality equipment, such as his Drake Hybrid 4x4 float, that enables him to do his job in the most efficient, safe and cost-effective manner possible.

Contact The Drake Group of Companies 19 Formation St Wacol QLD 4076 Ph: 07 3271 5888 Web: www.thedrakegroup.com.au

Matty Winterfield said the Hybrid combines the stability of a Full Widener with the manoeuvrability of a Deck Widener.

A leader in the A-double revolution

IN A CONCERTED EFFORT TO SIGNIFICANTLY AND SAFELY BOOST PRODUCTIVITY ON EASTERN SEABOARD LINEHAUL RUNS, VISY LOGISTICS HAS ENLISTED THE EXPERTISE OF VAWDREY AUSTRALIA AND SMEDLEY’S ENGINEERS IN THE UNIQUE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF PERFORMANCE-BASED STANDARDS–APPROVED 30-METRE A-DOUBLE COMBINATIONS.

The A-double in PBS guise is starting to make inroads in Australia as operators realise the substantial gains in payload capacity that can be achieved. However, for Visy Logistics, one of the largest logistics service providers in Australia, achieving worthwhile payload benefits required a good deal of ‘out of the box’ design and engineering due to the high centre of gravity nature of some commodities it transports. The firm currently uses its own equipment for 40 to 45 percent of its work, with the remainder done by subcontractors. The plan is to flip this figure as the company continues to grow, with the new A-double fleet being a strategic element in this growth plan. “As we continue to grow and win additional contracts, we will replace subcontractors with company owned assets and fully utilise those assets,” says Angela Kranjcic, GM Sales and Business Development at Visy Logistics. “Intrinsic to this is a change in our equipment model and obviously the advent of the A-doubles encourages further internalisation of our transport task on linehaul corridors where it’s commercially feasible to use these advanced pieces of equipment.” A key product carried by Visy Logistics, for which specific engineering and design elements of the new A-doubles were imperative, is large reels of paper that are transported on their ends; when loaded they stand three metres high and weigh three tonnes apiece. “It is a very awkward commodity to transport, and it posed one of the biggest challenges in terms of meeting the static roll threshold or high-speed off-transient manoeuvre test requirements for PBS approval,” says Visy Logistics Fleet and Equipment Manager, Glen Fulton. “This was particularly challenging because we were going from a roll coupled (B-double) to a non roll coupled (A-double) combination, so

coming up with a design that would satisfy all the criteria was difficult at the start. “It took several attempts and a lot of work in close collaboration with specialist PBS engineers and Vawdrey Australia to come up with a solution that would work for us,” Glen says. “But in the end it was all worth it because we managed to achieve around a 20 per cent payload gain over the B-doubles we were using to transport the paper reels, with the opportunity to increase that figure further moving forward by adding some smarts in relation to vehicle design.” As for the considerable PBS-specific design and engineering work that went into the project, Robert Smedley, Managing Director of Melbourne-based Smedley’s Engineers, says lofty goals were achieved by incorporating some groundbreaking solutions. “This is the first time a Concessional Mass Limit (CML) of 17 tonnes has been approved for PBS operation of a tandem axle dolly with standard 385/65R22.5 (low profile) super-single tyres,” Rob says. “This is an absolute game-changer for the industry and along with the wide-track axles and suspension – which haven’t previously been used on trailers in Australia – enabled us to achieve the unprecedented level of stability that was required for the high payload height loads.” Rob adds that a lot of testing and validation work went into ensuring the super single wheels on the combination would be allowed the same mass limits as dual wheels. When it came time to start building the curtain-sided trailers, Vawdrey faced some frontiers of its own as compared with regular trailers the European sourced widetrack axles and suspension required wider spacing of the chassis frame rails. Vawdrey Australia Director, Paul Vawdrey, takes up the story. “We’ve designed and engineered unique frames to suit the cutting-edge axles and suspension that enables these units to meet the stringent PBS criteria – both the trailer frames and dolly frames were clean sheet designs for us,” he says. “The internal payload height and the minimal tare weights we were able to achieve were really, really good.” Paul is adamant that the Visy A-doubles are game-changers in the industry. He says that the latest super single tyres are technically far superior to the units of yore that failed to gain widespread acceptance largely because their maximum weight allowance was significantly less than duals. “These new super singles are a magnificent piece of engineering,” Paul says. “The fuel savings and the weight savings they

provide, along with the extra payload height we were able to achieve – all these benefits would not have been possible with dual wheels.” Glen adds that in addition to the mandatory Electronic Stability Control (ESC) technology, other cutting-edge features include intelligent Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) that ensure correct tyre pressures are consistently maintained across the entire combination. “All of our prime movers feature state-ofthe-art fatigue management and all-around visibility camera systems and each of our drivers completes a specialised and comprehensive DECA training program to familiarise them with the new A-double combinations and the technology before their first journey,” Glen says. With a batch of Vawdrey A-double combinations set to be progressively introduced over the next six months or so, Visy Logistics is effectively raising the bar by a considerable margin in the safe and efficient transport of its commodities.

Contact Vawdrey Australia 1-53 Quantum Close Dandenong South VIC 3175 Ph: 03 9797 3700 Web: www.vawdrey.com.au