Trailer Magazine December 2022

From the Editor’s desk

PUBLISHER

John Murphy john.murphy@primecreative.com.au

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Luke Applebee luke.applebee@primecreative.com.au

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Power plays

Over the past 12 months we have seen major players in the transport industry expand their operations, grow their truck and trailers fleets and more broadly announce impressive acquisition deals that are set to change the market landscape.

Last December, supply chain business, Mondiale VGL, consolidated its national presence and increased it service capabilities by acquiring South Australian customs and logistics operation, Customs Agency Services.

In March, integrated port-to-door service provider, Silk Logistics Holdings, acquired Fremantle Freight & Storage (FFS) for a consideration of $23.6 million payable up front with a further $7.8 million payable contingent on achieving agreed financial milestones for the period ending 31 July 2023.

In June, DHL Supply Chain agreed to purchase the Glen Cameron Group, a national logistics operator with a fleet of a thousand trucks and trailers and more than 820 employees Australia-wide. This deal was reported to be about 10 years in the making and was finalised by 31 July.

Last month there was speculation regarding transport and logistics company, Team Global Express (TGE) preparing to take over a major rival. This follows Allegro Funds’ ownership of the now rebranded TGE and the company’s subsequent refinancing deal with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

The leadership team at TGE, according to Fairfax Media, is gearing up to make an offer for Direct Couriers Group. This would involve assembling a team for the auction and sending proposal requests to investment banks.

The Direct Couriers business provides courier, warehousing and logistics services throughout Australia and New Zealand. It reported $210 million in revenue for the year to 30 June which was up $155 million in FY2021.

It has a fleet mix of station wagons, utility vehicles, vans, curtainsiders, semi-trailers and flat top heavy vehicles.

TGE has approx. 6.8 per cent of Australia’s courier pick up and delivery services market which, according to Fairfax Media, trails DHL Express (9.8 per cent).

Demand for final mile transportation and related services continues to increase, following trends in e-commerce supported by recent commentary from national courier, Australia Post.

This courier market is estimated to be worth approx. $10.6 billion a year, according to IBIS World, and has grown 8.0 per cent a year in the past five years due to spikes in online shopping.

30 Economy

What you need to know about the 2022-23 Budget.

36

PBS report

Optimised and innovative heavy vehicle design, thanks to Performance-Based Standards, is helping Australian operators tackle the national freight task with the safest and most efficient trucks and trailers in the market.

48

PBS equipment

A look at the latest Performance-Based Standards (PBS) truck and trailer combinations being deployed across the country.

58

Tippers

Victorian based transporter, Australian Fuel Hauliers, has improved the safety and productivity of its operations after taking delivery of two new trailer combinations from Bulk Transport Equipment.

64 Trailer builder

A reliable and quality supplier for hundreds of Australian fleets, Krueger Transport Equipment recently delivered its 20,000th trailer to CTI Logistics. 72 Service & maintenance

By offering training and demonstration sessions for its wide range of products, JOST is taking the next step in its well-known path to commitment towards its customers and the transport industry. 74 Trailer building materials/components

These are the suppliers that keep Australia’s heavy vehicles operating safer and more productive. 84 World map

Learn more about Coldstores Group of Saudi Arabia.

86

88

Fleet of the month

Global Product Supply Management celebrates 20 years of operation.

Industry Innovators

From an early age Nial O’Brien always dreamed of being a Civil Engineer. 90 What’s on

Upcoming shows and field days.

VTA calls for $1B to fix flood-damaged roads

Up to $1 billion may be needed to reinstate damaged road and rail networks according to the Victorian Transport Association (VTA).

The organisation urges all sides of federal and state politics to unite with a plan and additional funding for the work that lies ahead.

“As floodwaters slowly recede in regional Victoria after the devastation of record rainfall in southeast Australia last month, the damage to the state’s road and rail transportation network is becoming clearer,” the VTA said in a statement.

“Hundreds of kilometres of roads have been impacted, with damage ranging from small, medium and large potholes, through to entire swathes of roadway being lifted up and literally washed away.”

VTA CEO, Peter Anderson, said the current Victorian budget allocations for road safety, maintenance, repairs and upgrades are already committed to projects that were in place before the floods, and that significantly more is now needed.

“We estimate between $500 million and $1 billion will be needed to fix our flood devastated transport networks, which includes gazetted routes operators rely on to carry freight,” he said.

“This funding must be additional to project allocations in the state budget, and as politicians traverse Victoria contesting the election, we’re looking for meaningful announcements on fixing the damage that’s been done, and we’re looking for it urgently.”

Anderson said the extraordinary repair

bill needed to be addressed by state and federal governments because, while it is mainly state road infrastructure that has been damaged, the impact will be felt nationally.

“We are already seeing evidence of how national supply chains have been compromised with farmers struggling to get their goods out of regional Victoria to the ports and on to interstate and international markets,” Anderson said. “The flow-on effect will be felt leading up to Christmas in the form of higher consumer prices and a shortage of supply.”

Anderson said setting aside the impact on supply chains, there is a real likelihood of personal injury and lives lost because of the inevitable spike in accidents damaged roads will be a factor in.

“Our road authorities are doing a magnificent job quarantining motorists from damaged roads, but the size and scale of this event means accidents will unfortunately happen,” he said.

“The risk of this is felt most by the road freight industry that is acutely aware of its obligation to its customers and the Australian community to keep our supply chains moving as safely as they can.

“This underscores the urgency of the task ahead, which is why we’re advocating for rapid evaluation, development of a repair strategy and the qualifying of cost with the support that a plan will be acted upon to make our regional roads safe and operable as soon as possible. Until that happens, every road tragedy created by the condition of the roads from this point will burn on our collective conscious.”

Drake employee named Apprentice of the Year

The Drake Group has announced that one of its team members has won two major awards from Apprenticeships Queensland’s 2022 awards night.

Erin Vanderreyden from The Drake Group won the Senior Engineering award, and as a result she was nominated for the overall Dave Handyside Apprentice of the Year –which she also won.

Vanderreyden began her journey at The Drake Group at the age of 16 as a work experience student, and she has now successfully completed her Certificate 3 in Engineering Fabrication with Apprenticeships Queensland.

The Drake Group said it was a proud moment to see Vanderreyden receive these accomplishments.

“Not only is Erin working in the male dominated industry of manufacturing, but she is also heavily involved in the sport of sprint car racing,” it said.

“Her ethos is ‘Live Big’, nothing holds her back and she is always up for a challenge.

“She is a true inspiration to all other apprentices, especially the six female apprentices that we now have at Drake.”

In addition to Vanderreyden’s accomplishment, a number of other The Drake Group employees have also received awards from Apprenticeships Queensland.

Clancy Reberger was a runner up in the School Based Apprentice of the Year and received an Encouragement award, and Rohnan Wells was also a finalist in the Senior Engineering Apprentice of the Year but just missed out.

Elise Miller and Kelsea Patterson from The Drake Group were also runners up on the night, as they were nominated for the Junior Engineering Awards but missed out on the win.

The 34-metre-long bridge was constructed by Highway Construction-Albem Operations Joint Venture as part of the $31.48 million BHP funded Stage 1 works.

Construction of two roundabouts on Powell Road at the intersections of Dalton and Hamilton roads were also completed as part of Stage 1 in June 2022.

Great Northern Highway (north of the Port Hedland International Airport and the Walkabout Village), including the construction of new access roads due to the realignment.

A second bridge over the BHP rail line will also be constructed, eliminating the existing level crossing.

improvements that will bring major safety and economic benefits to Port Hedland,” said Federal Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Minister, Catherine King.

“The Australian Government is pleased to partner with BHP and the WA Government to support these important upgrades.”

Road trains keep watermelons on the move

National logistics company, Primary Connect, has been busy moving 36,000 pallets of watermelons for Greenview Farms with the support of its transport partner, ABC Transport.

Every harvest season, Primary Connect plays a key role in the transportation of watermelons from Greenview Farms in the Douglas Daly region all the way to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

“The Northern Territory provides optimum conditions for growing melons with the season running from June to October,” Primary Connect said in a statement.

“Greenview Farms is expected to use 200 hectares of land to produce 12,000 tonnes of melons this season.”

In 1998, ABC Transport opened for business with one truck to service remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Pitjantjatjara Lands of South Australia. It has since grown – in 2020 the fleet had about 30 triple road trains traverse the Stuart Highway.

The Primary Connect supply chain business began in Australia in 2003 and has since committed to improving

efficiencies and making safety a priority.

In other news, Primary Connect appointed Tamara Manasserian as its new Director – Supply Chain Development and Program Delivery.

Manasserian began her career in the Woolworths Group’s supply chain more than 20 years ago, and has a deep understanding and experience across supply chain automation, transformation, international supply chains and online networks.

During the last five years, Manasserian has also been leading the future network design of eCommerce at WooliesX.

Primary Connect was pleased to welcome Manasserian to the team.

“Congratulations to Tamara Manasserian on her appointment as Director – Supply Chain Development and Program Delivery,” it said.

“Tamara says she looks forward to continuing to drive the success of Primary Connect’s network transformation program and world-class automation solutions.”

Last month, Primary Connect was awarded the supply chain tender for international consumer goods company, Reckitt Benckiser, for the next two years.

Reckitt Benckiser (RB) is a global brand and key supplier to Woolworths, which manufactures well-known hygiene, health and nutrition brands such as Veet, Dettol, Nurofen, Finish and Clearasil.

Primary Connect transports products from RB’s warehouse in Sydney several times a day while also providing warehousing and pallet solutions.

Specialised transport is used to ensure the highest possible safety and compliance standards as many of RB’s products are classes as dangerous goods.

RB Logistics Operations Manager –Transport, Yang Liu, said the team at Primary Connect had a deep knowledge of RB’s transportation operation.

“The strong partnership between the two organisations has allowed us to constantly look into and implement continuous improvement initiatives,” she said.

“Unlocking B-double delivery into two NSW distribution centres is a very good example. It has not only reduced the congestion across both Reckitt and Primary Connect DCs but has also reduced carbon emissions into the environment.”

Mondiale VGL appoints executive

Supply chain business, Mondiale VGL, has strengthened its international senior leadership team.

Mondiale VGL has appointed Natasha Dunbier to the role of Chief People Officer, effective mid-November.

She previously held various senior executive human resources positions at construction firm, Fletcher Building.

Also, she has experience in partnering with leaders to facilitate and embed people strategies via the human resource management roles she held with Coca Cola Amatil NZ and Fonterra.

Mondiale VGL Group CEO, Ray Meade, said Dunbier will bring a deep knowledge of engagement, change management, talent management and strategic planning to the company.

“Natasha’s experience and expertise will add significant value to Mondiale VGL and its employee base of more than 1,500, both here in New Zealand and across our 63 global offices,” he said.

“Our people are our greatest asset, and I’m eager to work with Natasha to evolve the Mondiale VGL employee experience.”

Dunbier said: “Mondiale VGL is a rapidly growing business with a more than 30-year history of success centred around its people and its global network of relationships. I’m looking forward to building on this company culture to support ongoing success in the market and an employee experience that sees our people thrive in meaningful careers.”

New road tech promises to ditch potholes

Researchers at the University of Technology Sydney have developed a technology that is being touted as a major breakthrough in the mitigation of potholes.

The ‘intelligent compaction’ technology integrates into a road roller and can assess in real-time the quality of road base compaction by processing data from a sensor.

Months of heavy rain and floods have highlighted the importance of road quality, with poor construction leading to potholes and road subsidence.

This not only causes tyre blowouts and structural damage to cars and trucks, but also increases the chance of serious accidents.

Improved road construction is not only vital for reducing potholes and maintenance costs, but leads to safer, more resilient roads.

A recent study was led by Associate Professor Behzad Fatahi, Head of Geotechnical and Transport Engineering, together with Professor Hadi Kahbbaz, Dr Di Wu and PhD student Zhengheng Xu.

“We have developed an advanced computer model that incorporates machine-learning and big data from construction sites to predict the stiffness of compacted soil with a high degree of accuracy in a fraction of second, so roller operators can make adjustments,” said Associate Professor Fatahi.

Changes inbound for PBS tyres

Performance-Based Standards (PBS) vehicles will be able to use a broader range of tyres from From 1 December 2022.

This, according to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, will enable the PBS scheme to better support and promote the next generation of smarter, safer and more productive vehicles.

The new approach will remove the restrictive and outdated tyre requirements that created unnecessary costs and allow PBS operators to use any brand and model of tyre, as long as it meets relevant PBS Standards.

NSW Minister for Regional Transport and Roads, Sam Farraway, said the introduction of the PBS generic tyre approach was a significant development in supporting greater industry productivity and delivering improved economic benefits.

“At all levels of government, we have a responsibility to ensure the heavy vehicle industry can meet the country’s growing freight task,” said Farraway.

“PBS vehicles allow more goods to be delivered with fewer vehicles in a safe and sustainable manner – offering productivity improvements of 15 to 30 per cent compared to their prescriptive counterparts.

“New South Wales is leading the way in delivering greater access to PBS vehicles and welcomes this sensible decision by

the NHVR, which will only continue to encourage greater PBS uptake.”

NHVR CEO, Sal Petroccitto, said the NHVR is committed to reforming the PBS scheme to break down barriers and make it easier for operators to get on with doing business.

“We listened to industry and provided a solution that will provide operators with greater flexibility, increased productivity and lower costs, without impacting safety or performance.

“Since Ministers endorsed the new tyre approach, we have undertaken extensive testing to ensure the safety of PBS vehicles will not be compromised and that the transition process is as smooth as possible.”

Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia (HVIA) CEO, Todd Hacking, said the introduction of the generic tyre approach was a significant announcement for all PBS operators.

“HVIA members brought this issue to the table with a view to fixing an impediment to what is otherwise a great driver of innovation,” he said.

“The PBS scheme creates the platform for incorporating the very best in design, engineering and manufacturing ingenuity to address the challenges of our everincreasing freight task in the safest way possible.

“We are grateful that the NHVR and

the Australian Government are taking an increasingly collaborative and consultative approach with industry with a view to improving both safety and productivity outcomes.”

Acting Chairman of the Australian Tyre Industry Council (ATIC), Silvio de Denaro, said that, as the peak industry body for tyres, ATIC warmly welcomed the expedited implementation of the new system.

“This does not arrive one minute too soon, as countless hours have been spent by industry advocates in the attempt to improve the previous restrictive arrangements,” said de Denaro.

“This step has been years in the making, and hopefully now we can turn this page and engage in other, more useful work with the NHVR in the pursuit of increased safety and productivity for Australian road transport.”

The amended PBS Standards and Vehicle Assessment Rules will be made available on the NHVR website prior to the commencement date for the generic tyre approach.

From the commencement of the generic tyre approach on 1 December:

• PBS certifiers will no longer be required to confirm that a specific brand/model of tyre is fitted to a PBS vehicle. They will just need to confirm that the fitted tyres meet the size, load rating and configuration requirements.

• There will be a three-month transition period for any applications underway, during which operators can continue to make design approval applications using the existing specific tyre approach or, alternatively, they can use the generic tyre approach.

• All existing PBS vehicles will be deemed to comply with the new approach –with no need to be reassessed – and operators will not be required to have their existing vehicle approval amended to reflect this change.

• Updates to vehicle approval documents issued before the introduction of the generic tyre approach will only occur when they need to be updated for some other reason.

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At Smedley’s Engineers, we help you optimise payload profit on your entire fleet. Our goal is to take the process of navigating PBS off your hands so you can get on with what you do best. We partner with clients to provide essential advice relating to engineering compliance, optimising payload and any expansion of your fleet as your business grows. We also assist with the ongoing management of PBS compliance and access across your fleet.

Sydney Gateway Project 50 per cent complete

The $2.6 billion Sydney Gateway Project, which will transform the way motorists travel to and from the Sydney Airport precinct, has hit a major milestone.

Construction on this significant road project is now 50 per cent complete, with work set to begin on the installation of the signature twin archway bridge over the Alexandra Canal in Tempe.

“This is another example of the NSW Government’s commitment to delivering city-shaping projects as part of the $76.7 billion transport infrastructure investment across the state over the next four years,” said Minister for Infrastructure, Cities and Active Transport, Rob Stokes.

“The Sydney Gateway project includes a new three kilometre pedestrian and cycle path along Alexandra Canal, creating a transport link for those who want an alternative way to travel to or from work or home.”

Minister for Metropolitan Roads, Natalie Ward, said the focus over the next few months would be the fabrication of the first of the two arch bridges that will connect St Peters Interchange with the International Terminal.

“Sydney commuters are now another step closer to faster and more reliable trips from St Peters Interchange to Sydney Airport, the M5 and the Eastern Distributor as this transformative project hits the halfway mark,” she said.

“The foundations have been laid, and workers will soon embark on the major engineering feat of putting together the 3,000 tonnes of 100 per cent Australian steel to form these eye-catching bridges.”

The project is on track to open to traffic in late 2024.

Construction underway for major NT route

Construction on a new overpass at the Tiger Brennan Drive and Berrimah Road intersection is underway, which will make the journey of 20,000 vehicles safer every day.

Local business, Sitzler, has been awarded stage two of the contract for $127.8 million to complete the detailed design of the project which will be delivered over the next two years.

The construction of the new overpass will separate the major flow of traffic on Tiger Brennan Drive from the traffic movements on Berrimah Road, and will result in reduced traffic delays during peak hours, shorter travel times and improved connectivity for freight transport to East Arm Wharf.

The project is prioritising safety and connectivity, which includes:

• a grade separation that will see Berrimah Road passing over Tiger Brennan Drive

• realignment of Tiger Brennan Drive to become free flowing

• entry and exit ramps connecting Tiger Brennan Drive and Berrimah Road

• improvements to Berrimah Road catering to requirements for road trains

• earthworks, drainage works, pavement construction and asphalt works

• s treet lighting, line marking and road safety barriers

• traffic signals on Berrimah Road

• improved pedestrian and cyclist

accessibility, landscaping and urban design

The project is jointly funded by the Australian and Northern Territory Governments.

Northern Territory Chief Minister, Natasha Fyles, said creating safer roads for all Territorians is a priority of the Territory Labor Government.

“The new overpass will enable the continuous flow of traffic along Tiger Brennan Drive resulting in reduced traffic delays during peak hours and improved connectivity for freight transport to East Arm Wharf,” she said.

“This landmark roads project will make the daily commute for 20,000 Territorians a whole lot safer.”

Federal Member for Solomon, Luke Gosling, said he was delighted to be able to deliver for the Territory.

“Territorians have lost their live at this intersection. It’s busy and dangerous, and I know that the people and businesses of Greater Darwin will warmly welcome this much-needed overpass, which will greatly improve safety and save lives,” he said.

“The Australian Government is proud to be working with the NT Government to deliver exactly this type of vital infrastructure project in the Territory, including almost $2.5 billion of key infrastructure election commitments in the recent Federal Budget.”

Qube sees a strong start to FY2023

National transport and logistics conglomerate, Qube, has reported a strong start to FY2023 with continued high volumes and margin improvement across most parts of its business.

Underlying revenue, earnings and margins were ahead of Qube’s internal expectations at the end of Q1.

Despite the uncertain economic and interest rate environment, Qube is remaining positive about the remainder of the period.

Qube has confirmed its FY2023 full year guidance of underlying NPATA growth relative to FY2022 and higher underlying EPSA growth due to the full year benefit from the share buyback completed in May 2022.

This outlook continues to reflect the expectation of strong growth in underlying revenue and earnings (EBITA) in the Operating Division, strong growth in underlying EBITDA/EBIT for Patrick Terminals, and increased corporate costs and a significant increase in interest expense.

“This outlook continues to assume no material adverse change to current conditions in Qube’s markets or domestic or global economic and/or political conditions, including any deterioration due to Covid-19 that impacts Qube’s workforce, customers, markets, or operations,” the company said.

It also assumes that any further extreme weather events do not materially disrupt the operations of Qube or its customers during the remainder of FY2023.

“Qube has come a long way in a short time,” said Qube Managing Director, Paul Digney.

“In just 15 years we’ve grown substantially.

“From 30 sites in 2007, to 160-plus

today. What has driven this success is no secret. It’s something that’s in our DNA. A willingness to go above and beyond, and to seek solutions outside the box.

“We have built a well respected, robust and high quality business. We have become a market leader in integrated supply chain logistics. And with plenty of opportunity for continued growth we will build on the momentum we’ve created to thrive into the future.

“I’m extremely excited for what the future holds for Qube.”

The business has an operational focus to build, expand and enhance service capabilities, diversify through ongoing investment in assets, key infrastructure, technology and people. It also strives to drive innovation at all levels with a strong focus on safety and culture, attract and retain experienced management and workforce, plan for and deliver a decarbonisation road and deliver positive customer and shareholder outcomes.

It also has a fleet of approx. 1,336 prime movers and 4,543 trailers. Qube Ports & Bulk has 760 prime movers and 2,639 trailers.

As for emissions goals, Qube aims to introduce biofuels into its prime mover fleet (pilot projects and commercially viable options are being investigated) and trials are underway involving battery technology for heavy vehicles across long instances in outback terrain. By 2027, Qube expects 95 per cent of its prime mover fleet to be Euro 5 and 6 compliant by 2027.

This week Qube announced Tamworth Intermodal Freight Facility, within the Tamworth Global Gateway Park, is expected to be fully operational in mid-2023.

Tamworth Region Mayor, Russell Webb, said that he was excited to see construction of the facility about to begin.

“The Tamworth Intermodal Freight Facility will enable suppliers, businesses and producers to have competitive rail access to ports for imports and exports, opening Tamworth up to international markets,” said Webb.

“With the Tamworth Global Gateway Park and intermodal facility key components of Council’s Blueprint 100 strategy, the Tamworth Intermodal Freight Facility will help us continue to create a prosperous and connected region.”

Digney said this development underscored Qube’s commitments to regional New South Wales and to expanding the businesses rail services offering, as increasing volumes of freight shift from road to rail.

“We’re very pleased to be backing the Tamworth Regional Council’s investment in the local economy with the construction of the Tamworth Intermodal which will enable local producers to efficiently get their products to market, through Qube’s unprecedented Paddock to Port export supply chain,” he said.

“Delivering the Tamworth intermodal is consistent with our plans to continue investing in intermodal and rail infrastructure – getting trucks off highways, contributing to emissions reductions and supporting regional communities with competitive and costeffective freight and logistics services.”

The construction of the Tamworth Intermodal Freight Facility and associated rail line works has been planned in line with the NSW Government’s vision to increase levels of freight transported by rail, creating a more efficient freight network and reducing congestion on roads. It is expected to cost approximately $8 million, with this cost to be funded by Qube.

WA tow truck drivers required to declare maximum fees

Amendments to the Road Traffic Vehicles Regulations 2014 have been made as part of the Western Australian Government’s ongoing tow truck industry reform.

These have introduced consumer protections for vulnerable road users involved in an accident, along with updating technical standards and inspection requirements for tow trucks.

From 7 November 2022, WA tow truck drivers will be required to declare the maximum fees that will be charged for the towing, salvage, and storage of a vehicle before the vehicle is towed.

The maximum fee must be displayed on the written statement a tow truck driver provides to the person authorising the tow.

The amendments also prohibit the charging of any additional fees other than for the towing, salvage, or storage of a vehicle from the scene of an accident.

Drivers are reminded that they have the right to refuse a tow from the scene of an accident if the maximum fees to be charged have not been disclosed on the tow truck driver’s statement, or if they are asked to sign a statement that has not been completed in full by the tow truck driver.

Tow truck technical standards have also been brought up to date to reflect current industry practices and contemporary vehicle standards.

From 7 November 2022, tow trucks will be required to meet these updated technical standards before a vehicle licence can be granted.

To allow the industry time to ensure that currently licensed tow trucks can

meet the updated technical standards, the requirement for tow trucks to be inspected annually will not commence until 7 November 2023. After this date, all tow trucks will require an inspection before a licence can be renewed, and annually thereafter.

The State Government is now in the process of developing a second tranche of tow truck industry reforms, which will further strengthen protections for consumers.

Western Australia Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said progress had been made by the State Government on its commitment to reform the WA tow truck industry and better protect drivers involved in a crash.

“The requirement to include maximum

ACFS expands to NZ

Container logistics operator, ACFS Port Logistics, opened a distribution centre in Auckland, New Zealand, on 14 November 2022.

With a capacity of 25,600 square metres and a 8,400-square-metre container yard, the new site is reported to have excellent transport links to the north into Mt Wellington and Penrose.

It is located 18 kilometres from the Port of Auckland and CBD and about 10

fees for the towing, salvage, and storage of a vehicle in the tow truck driver’s statement intends to provide price transparency for road users, while the State Government works on further reforms to the industry,” she said.

“Drivers have the ability to refuse a tow from the scene of an accident if the tow truck driver has not declared the maximum fees to tow and store the vehicle, and should not sign a tow truck driver’s statement authorising the towing of the vehicle if it has not been completed and provided to the driver,” said Saffioti.

“Amendments to technical tow truck standards will bring them up to date with contemporary industry practices to improve safety and roadworthiness.”

kilometres from Auckland Airport.

ACFS said the site will have more than 30,000 pallet locations and will service 3PL, e-commerce and freight of all kinds.

“This is seen as a step change milestone in the ACFS journey, and we are proud to share this with our valued partners,” said ACFS Port Logistics.

“We look forward to sharing many more exciting developments in New Zealand as they occur.”

New bridges increase freight transport in NSW

Two new bridges have been officially opened in Kyogle and Lismore, New South Wales, which will allow more freight to be transported through the region.

The new bridges are stronger and more resilient to natural disasters, which will benefit the transport and logistics industries.

Minister for Regional Transport and Roads, Sam Farraway, said the new Kyogle bridge replaced an 83-year-old concrete structure that had been operating under a 20-tonne load limit for the past two decades.

“This new larger single span concrete structure, founded on steel driven piles, has been designed and constructed to achieve

a 100-year design life while improving flood immunity and safety for local farmers and truck drivers,” he said.

“Further efficiencies will be realised for local freight including diverting timber, dairy and agricultural products away from the Omagh Road route, saving truck drivers a 10-kilometre detour.”

The project received $2.1 million through the NSW Government’s Fixing Country Roads program as well as $300,000 from Kyogle Council and a $212,000 contribution in materials supplied by Grahams Quarry.

A new $517,000 bridge in the Lismore City Council area has also been opened, which replaced a flood-damaged culvert that

washed away in flooding earlier this year.

The Keerrong Road Bridge was jointly funded by the NSW and Australian Governments under Disaster Assistance Arrangements for the March 2022 flood event.

Lismore Mayor, Cr Steve Krieg, said the opening of the bridge was great news for the community.

“The new bridge will ensure our farmers can get their produce to markets and improves the connectivity across our whole local government area,” he said.

“Importantly, Council has built back better by improving the resilience of the bridge to flooding.”

Transport organisations join forces

The National Rural Women’s Coalition (NRWC) has announced that Transport Women Australia Limited (TWAL) will be joining its Board.

This agreement marks the first time in more than 10 years that a new member organisation has joined the National Rural Women’s Coalition.

TWAL was formed in 1999 to assist those working in all forms of transport by providing scholarships, networking,

leadership and mentoring to its members.

NRWC Chair, Leonie Noble, was pleased to announce the new partnership.

“We’re very excited to welcome Transport Women Australia Limited and utilise its high level of experience and expertise in transport to bring about change in this space,” she said.

TWAL Chair, Jacquelene Brotherton, said the new relationship would allow the

organisations to learn from each other and continue to grow.

“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to broaden our horizons and to do more for our rural communities,” she said.

Brotherton identified the huge cost of road freight in rural, regional and remote Australia as an issued to be addressed, and she said those who live outside of metropolitan should not be penalised or disadvantaged.

Infrastructure Australia releases independent projects evaluation

Infrastructure Australia has released its independent evaluation of the business cases for several proposals, in line with the Infrastructure Australia Assessment Framework.

These proposals include:

• Great Western Highway (Katoomba to Lithgow) Upgrade Program – East & West Sections (NSW)

• Singleton Bypass (NSW)

• Logan-Gold Coast Faster Rail: Kuraby to Beenleigh (QLD)

Vale Stephen Brown

Road transport stalwart, Stephen Brown, has passed away due to invasive cancer.

Stephen was the founder and Managing Director of 1st Fleet, the former Sydney based national logistics and express road freight company.

Brown also won a Don Watson Memorial Award in 2003 for his conspicuous service to the Australian trucking industry.

Former Western Star Trucks Australia National Fleet Manager, Bruce McKee, said he was fortunate to know Brown as a friend.

“Stephen Brown was a force of nature, he could be loud, brash, outrageous and totally politically incorrect, but with a generous heart of gold,” he said.

“He was a road transport entrepreneur, a risk taker, backing his judgement in running a successful road transport enterprise for over 25 years.

“I was extremely fortunate to know him as an equipment supplier, industry associate, and for a brief time as an employee, but most importantly he was a great friend.

“He was extremely loyal to his customers, employees, suppliers and mates. He was a unique character, one of the road transport industry good guys, a champion bloke, I will miss him dearly.”

• Dorset Road Extension (VIC)

• Napoleon Road Upgrade (VIC)

• Packenham Roads Upgrade (VIC)

• Monash Roads Upgrade (VIC)

• Melbourne Airport Rail (VIC)

• Mitchell and Kwinana Freeways Upgrade (Transforming Perth Freeways) (WA)

Of the proposals that are unfunded and therefore eligible for inclusion, the Mitchell and Kwinana Freeways Upgrade (Transforming Perth Freeways Phases 2 and 3) in Western Australia has been recommended as “Investment-ready” (Stage 3).

The Mitchell and Kwinana Freeway Upgrade proposal addresses serious congestion issues on the main northsouth arterial road corridor through Perth, which serves both commuter and freight transport.

According to Infrastrucure Australia, this proposal demonstrates good strategic alignment with government policies and

objectives, and is expected to deliver considerable net economic benefits to Western Australia while also making better use of existing assets.

Infrastructure Australia’s evaluation found that the strategic need for Melbourne Airport Rail is strong and the proposal will offer long-term benefits.

However, it is recommended that further consideration be given to the timing of delivery to maximise economic and community benefits. Therefore, this proposal has not been progressed on the Priority List at this point in time.

The Dorset Road Extension and the Napoleon Road Upgrade proposals were also not endorse for inclusion on the Priority List. These proposals intersect with each other, but the business cases considered them separate.

The remaining projects are fully funded and as such are not eligible for the Infrastructure Priority List.

VTA calls for training over experience

The Victorian Transport Association (VTA) is advocating for a heavy vehicle licensing regime that prioritises training over experience.

This is in response to Austroads’ National Heavy Vehicle Driver Competency Framework Consultation RIS (Regulation Impact Statement), where the VTA reiterated industry concerns that the current licensing system does not produce the safety standards or skill levels that meets community and industry expectations.

The VTA submission advocates for focused training at the front end of the licensing process, with adequate time to ensure candidates are well trained before being engaged as a professional driver.

It also reaffirmed VTA’s support for young people to be trained at an early age as a heavy vehicle driver, putting it at odds with Austroads and its Consultation RIS.

VTA CEO, Peter Anderson, said that under the current time-based graduated system, an aspiring driver can only attain the entry level heavy vehicle license at the earliest age of 19 after holding a car license for a year.

“It then takes another year to graduate to the next level and a further year still before a license can be granted for all heavy vehicles on Australian roads,” he said.

“This has led to a situation where the necessary skills and competencies are being learned on-the-job rather than prior to taking the job.

“This is one of the basic deficiencies with the current licensing system, whose focus is on assessment rather than effective heavy vehicle driver training.”

In its submission, the VTA expressed concern that heavy vehicle licensing is not sufficiently focused on risk, presenting safety challenges for all road users.

According to Anderson, heavy vehicle crashes are serious because of their size and weight, regardless of who is at fault.

“It is the skill, knowledge and training of the driver that maintains a safe outcome for all road users,” he said.

“However, while the current system satisfies the criteria of our institutionalised licensing system, it is not recognised by industry as being able to produce

competent, safe, low risk drivers.”

The submission was also critical of statutory authorities’ inability to provide license applicants with the skills, knowledge and training required to ensure they can drive a heavy vehicle in a safe manner.

“Given licensing services are consumed by those wanting to enter the road transport industry, heavy vehicle licensing should also adequately prepare applicants by ensuring that they receive adequate Behind the Wheel training in driving environments they are likely to be exposed to on a daily basis,” Anderson said.

As a result, the VTA rejected Austroads’ proposal for lack of practical time behind the wheel.

“The proposed six to 10 hours behind the wheel training for rigid license holders is totally insufficient and does not provide adequate time to effectively cover the 130 plus areas and competencies required to produce a safe, low risk heavy vehicle driver,” Anderson said. “This is a major limitation and deficiency of the Austroads proposal.”

Rapid e-commerce growth has seen great success for the parcel delivery division of national courier, Australia Post. The strength of the parcels-delivery business overshadows losses in letter volumes which totalled $255.7 million in FY2022, up from $205.7 million in FY2021.

“The success of our parcels service has been a great story for Australia Post and the community, but it has obscured the significant structural challenges in our letters service which are deepening and beginning to significantly impact our financial performance,” said Australia Post Group CEO and Managing Director, Paul Graham.

“Over the past three years, parcels delivery revenue has increased by 65 per cent, while letters revenue has fallen by more than 17 per cent.

“While we remain committed to meeting the needs of the community, the ongoing and rapid decline in the letters business is not sustainable. As we flagged in our full year results, it’s clear that losses in this business are expected to continue into the future, and at an accelerating rate.”

Graham said revenue from Australia Post’s letters services is declining because people are sending fewer letters. Simultaneously, the cost of delivering letters is increasing while the number of delivery points is growing.

Demand for online services has also seen a reduction in the number of Australia Post customers accessing post offices.

“Despite the headwinds, we are continuing to invest in our digital technology, network capability, and parcels business, which operates in a highly competitive environment,” said Graham.

“This will help to meet the needs and expectations of customers and communities, as digitisation continues to fundamentally change the consumer landscape.”

Skyroad soars to new heights

Victoria-based carrier, Skyroad Logistics, has announced it is part of a massive investment.

Europe’s largest Road Feeder Service (RFS) provider, Luxembourg-based Wallenborn, is acquiring a significant shareholding in Skyroad Logistics adding Oceania to its fast-growing RFS network which already provides extensive coverage in Europe and the Middle East.

Strategic investment will reportedly expand the fleet and facilitate development of new products and services for the Australian market.

Peter Assel who co-founded the business will remain as a major shareholder as well as Managing Director. The agreement covers Air Cargo RFS, Express Transport and Project Transport service offerings.

Skyroad Logistics will continue to operate from its head office in Melbourne, and service depots in Sydney and Brisbane.

“Skyroad is a perfect fit in our portfolio of quality-focused organisations providing a full spectrum of products and services,” said Frantz Wallenborn, President & CEO at Wallenborn Transports.

“They’re pioneers in the Australian market – for example the first TAPA TSR

certified company in Australia – and their ‘can-do’ spirit has dramatically changed the air-cargo landscape since 2015. Together we’ll be delivering even more benefits and opportunities for our customers in Australia and beyond.”

This ‘Next Chapter’ for Skyroad Logistics was announced on Friday 11 November at an event for Skyroad’s peers, colleagues and suppliers at Butler Lane by Peter Rowland in Richmond, Victoria.

The venue, with its industrial warehouse aesthetic, was complemented by a lush courtyard, and on this occasion, featured a 50th anniversary edition Kenworth tribute prime mover as the centrepiece.

Australian Idol finalist, actor, television personality and singer-songwriter, Rob Mills, was lead performer and handled the MC duties on the night.

Assel said the company had achieved its goal of market leadership in RFS in Australia within just seven years, and with strong growth and a strong future investment plan in place including record fleet orders from Kenworth, it was timely to seek further investment partners.

“Since my co-founder Anthony Clark passed away from cancer early in 2020

my focus has been on our goals and our company vision,” he said.

“However, with our rapid expansion, it was obvious I needed a partner and Wallenborn ticks all the boxes with a similar customer profile, an ambitious business plan and the expertise to scale up.”

By the end of 2023 Assel expects the business in Australia to have at least 34 trucks and 40 trailers. He is also working towards bringing new products to market that will reduce carbon footprint.

“We intend to rapidly leverage off the Wallenborn knowledge and quality management to bring even better services and capabilities to Australia and to extend our lead in service capability,” said Assel.

“Skyroad’s strengths will remain unchanged with our strong commitment to company owned fleet, great suppliers such as Kenworth, Cummins, and Thermo King, and of course our commitment to sustainability.”

Wallenborn, which was founded in 1920, has 1,100-plus drivers, more than 900 trucks in control and has a very similar DNA to Skyroad.

“We’re very proud to have Wallenborn come a long way to join us in Australia,” said Assel.

Princes Highway transformation powers ahead

The transformation of the Princes Highway is progressing, with the Milton Ulladulla bypass taking another step forward with the location of the northern and central connections now confirmed.

The $940 million joint funded project is expected to ensure a smoother journey for freight operators travelling through the region.

Minister for Regional Transport and Roads, Sam Farraway, said $5.1 billion has been committed to the Princes Highway since 2011 to transform and improve freight, local and tourist travel.

“We’re currently building the new Nowra Bridge which will provide a new four lane bridge over the Shoalhaven River, upgraded intersections and additional lanes on the Princes Highway – and next will be the

Milton Ulladulla Bypass,” he said.

“This is all part of the NSW Government’s plan to make the Princes Highway safer and more efficient.

“We have already opened the Albion Park Bypass, the Gerringong Bypass, the Foxground Berry Bypass and by the end of the year the Berry to Bomaderry 10.5-kilometre duplication will be fully completed.”

Parliamentary Secretary and Member for South Coast, Shelley Hancock, said stage one of the $500 million joint funded Jervis Bay to Sussex Inlet Road Princes Highway upgrade has progressed.

A major intersection has been announced for Hawken Road, which will feature a grade-separated overpass to allow traffic access to the highway in both

directions and improve connectivity to the surrounding local villages.

“Along with the duplication of the sixkilometre stretch of the Princes Highway between Jervis Bay Road and Hawken Road, the new intersection will provide safer journeys and better support local traffic, tourism, and freight movements along this section of the highway,” she said.

“This upgraded section of highway will also connect with the new Jervis Bay Road intersection, which is on track for early work to start later this year.”

The community will be provided the opportunity to comment on the preferred option report by early 2023, similar to the community of Moruya which had its say on the three shortlisted corridors for the Moruya bypass.

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Commitments funded in the Budget include: $300 million for Western Sydney Roads Package and $500 million for the High Speed Rail Authority; $2.2 billion for the Suburban Rail Link in Victoria; $586.4 million of additional funding for a major upgrade of the Bruce Highway to widen a 13-kilometre stretch through Brisbane’s outer northern suburbs; $1.5 billion for upgrading important freight highways, sealing the Tanami, and upgrading Central Arnhem Road, as well as the Dukes, Stuart and Augusta highways in SA.

$540 million to upgrade Tasmania’s important road corridors, including the

Bass Highway, the Tasman Highway and the East and West Tamar Highways; $125 million funding to help build an electric bus network for Perth; and a further $250 million has been committed for the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure program, enabling every local council across Australia to deliver priority projects to quickly stimulate local economies.

Heavy vehicle rest areas

Through the October 2022-23 Budget, the Australian Government is committing an additional $80 million to improve safety outcomes for the trucking industry by

building and upgrading heavy vehicle rest areas to ensure drivers have the facilities they need to rest, recuperate and return safely home.

The Australian Government will work closely with the industry through a Steering Committee which will be made up of long-distance truck drivers, industry representatives and technical experts.

The Steering Committee will share strategic advice, set priorities for heavy vehicle rest area projects and assess heavy vehicle rest area projects against these set priorities.

the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program (HVSPP).

Applications for the funding stream will be accepted year-round, and are expected to open to state, territory and local governments from mid-2023.

Fuel update

The Heavy Vehicle Road User Charge rate is set to increase from 26.4 cents per litre to 27.2 cents per litre of diesel fuel. This will, according to the Treasury, decrease expenditure on the Fuel Tax Credit by $215.7 million over four years from 2022–23.

Here is a deeper dive into the infrastructure investment program by state and territory:

Australian Capital Territory

The Australian Government is investing over $90 million for vital land transport infrastructure projects in the ACT in the October 2022-23 Budget to improve safety and reduce travel times.

This includes committing funding to progress the Canberra Light Rail Stage 2A project, as part of a strategy to ease congestion and improve access.

This Budget follows a repositioning of the Infrastructure Investment Program to respond to market capacity constraints, creating a more sustainable infrastructure pipeline while continuing to support priorities for the ACT.

This Budget will also begin to action the Powering Australia Plan with more than $800 million invested in cutting electric car taxes, building a national electric vehicle charging network and hydrogen refuelling stations on highways.

New South Wales

The Australian Government is investing almost $1.4 billion for vital land transport infrastructure projects in NSW to improve safety and reduce travel times.

Key projects include a planning study for a Nowra Bypass, the Epping Bridge upgrade, and planning and early works for Sydney’s North West Growth Corridor. These

projects form part of the Government’s strategy to ease congestion, better connect regions, improve access and safety of the state’s roads as well as tackle the national freight challenge.

The Blue Mountains Roads Upgrades project has been allocated $12.5 million which will help to improve community access and contribute to safety and efficiency for road users in the area. The project is expected to commence in early 2023 and be completed by early 2026.

Meanwhile, $17.4 million has been committed for safety upgrades to a dangerous section of Brindabella Road from Brindabella Valley to the ACT border.

A commitment of $40 million for Central Coast Road Upgrades will help to improve safety for all road users, reduce congestions

and improve network reliability. The project is expected to commence in early 2023 and is expected to be completed by early 2026.

Upgrades to Coulsons Creek Road between Merriwa and Willow Tree will receive $38.6 million in addition to $9.66 million from the NSW Government. Coulsons Creek Road has been significantly damaged due to heavy rainfall and subsequent land slips and remains closed to all traffic. This urgently needed upgrade will reconstruct the road, improve safety for all road users, and bolster the road’s resilience. The project is expected to commence in mid 2025 and is expected to be completed by mid 2027.

The state has a long list of other infrastructure road works which are a part of the Budget spend.

Northern Territory

The Australian Government is investing $550 million to deliver its election commitments for vital land transport infrastructure projects in the Northern Territory to improve safety and reduce travel times.

This includes sealing and upgrading the Tanami Road and the Central Arnhem Road, and the delivery of the NT Strategic Roads Package as part of a strategy to better connect regions, improve access and road safety.

A commitment of $740 million to the upgrade the Northern Territory section of the Tanami Road and the Central Arnhem Road also includes $350 million of additional funding.

Sealing the Tanami and Central Arnhem Roads will improve safety, travel times

and freight efficiency, connectivity, flood immunity, safety, and social and economic development for the region. Project timeframes will be determined in consultation with the Northern Territory Government.

The Australian Government has committed $332 million for the NT Strategic Roads Package, which includes $200 million of additional funding to the existing commitment of $132 million to seal the Mereenie Loop. This package will include upgrades across the Territory to help provide remote communities reliable year-round connections to the services and opportunities that they need. Project timeframes will be determined in consultation with the Northern Territory Government.

Queensland

An investment of $2.1 billion for vital land transport infrastructure projects in Queensland is expected to improve safety and reduce travel times. This includes committing to key road corridor upgrades and providing planning money for future projects in Queensland as part of the Government’s strategy to ease congestion, better connect regions, improve the access and safety of the state’s roads as well as best prepare industry for the national freight challenge.

A Budget allocation of $586.4 million aims to upgrade 12.9 kilometres of the Bruce Highway from six lanes to eight lanes at between Anzac Avenue and Uhlmann Road. The Bruce Highway Upgrade (Anzac Avenue to Uhlmann Road) will help to improve road safety for all road users, reduce congestion and improve connectivity between people with jobs and services, and goods with markets. The project will commence construction following the completion of the business case and is expected to be completed by mid 2024.

An allocation of $210 million will be used to widen lanes, install additional guardrails and reinforce roadsides to prevent landslides on the Kennedy Highway between Smithfield and Kuranda.

Meanwhile, $200 million will see the build and upgrade of new passing and dual lanes, new overtaking lanes on the GavialGracemere link, and other improvements on the Bruce Highway, between Gladstone and Rockhampton. The delivery schedule will be determined in consultation with the Queensland Government.

Additional works have been announced including the widening of Bruce highway in Brisbane, Cavendish road level crossing in Coorparoo, Boundary road level crossing

in Cooper Plains, $22.5 million Loganlea road upgrade, an acceleration of the Bribie Island road upgrade with $20 million from the Budget and $10.4 million from the Queensland Government as well as Ipswich Motorway upgrade planning and more.

South Australia

The Australian Government is investing $660 million to deliver its election

commitments for vital land transport infrastructure projects in South Australia, to improve safety and reduce travel times.

This includes committing to the Southern Expressway and Majors Road Interchange and Nationwide Freight Highway Upgrade Program (SA) for $400 million.

The Australian Government has committed $200 million for the upgrade of Marion Road from Anzac Highway to

Cross Road, in Adelaide. This is in addition to $200 million from the South Australian Government.

The Marion Road – Anzac Highway to Cross Road project will help to improve freight productivity and access to freight corridors. The project will commence in late 2023 and is expected to be completed by mid-2026.

The Australian Government has also

An investment of $2.1 billion for vital land transport infrastructure projects in Queensland is expected to improve safety and reduce travel times.

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committed $60 million for the construction of new on/off ramps for the Southern Expressway at Majors Road, Adelaide, in addition to $60 million from the South Australian Government.

The Southern Expressway and Majors Road Interchange will help to increase efficiency and ease congestion. The delivery schedule will be determined in consultation with the South Australian Government.

Tasmania

A Budget allocation of $570 million will include upgrading the Mornington Roundabout and safety improvements for the Bass and Tasman highways.

An investment of $540 million is set to upgrade key road corridors in Tasmania, including the Bass Highway, the Tasman Highway and the East and West Tamar Highways.

The Tasmanian Roads Package will improve safety for all road users, improve efficiency and network reliability, and improve freight productivity. The delivery schedule will be determined in consultation with the Tasmanian Government.

Meanwhile, $30 million in funding to upgrade the Mornington Roundabout in Hobart will help boost network reliability.

Victoria

With a Budget investment of $2.57 billion, Victoria is committing to projects such as the Suburban Rail Loop East and Barwon Heads Road Upgrade – Stage 2.

A series of other projects include $150 million for the Camerons Lane Interchange

at Beveridge, $125 million to upgrade and duplicate Barwon Heads Road, $57 million for the Ison Road overpass, $11 million to upgrade roads in the Macedon Ranges Shire and Mitchell Shire, $10 million to develop a business case to upgrade the Western Highway between Melton and Caroline Springs in Melbourne along with other rail works and feasibility studies.

Western Australia

With an investment of $670 million, key projects include the sealing of Tanami Road which includes $434.2 million with an additional $108.6 million from the state government, resulting in a $542.8 million joint commitment.

Electric bus charging infrastructure will see $125 million. Also, there are other major rail and road projects announced as part of the Budget package.

Western Sydney

The Western Sydney Roads Package comprises an allocation of $300 million in addition to the establishment of an expert panel for Western Sydney infrastructure planning.

In total, $728.1 million is being invested in nine projects across Western Sydney this Budget to help reduce congestion, improve community access, contribute to safety and efficiency for road users and provide planning for future investment decisions.

The Albanese Labor Government’s first Budget is touted to be responsible and ‘right for the times’, targeting a broad range of areas that are deemed important for Australians.

There will also be provision for safeguarding farmers and primary producers from biosecurity threats as well as improving disaster resilience and preparedness.

The Budget is reported to substantially downgrade the outlook for many of the world’s major economies – reflecting the impact of conflict in Ukraine, a global energy crisis and inflationary pressures, and unprecedented synchronised global monetary tightening.

Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is forecast to grow by 3.25 per cent in 202223, before slowing to 1.5 per cent growth in 2023-24 – as global challenges, high inflation and rising interest rates weigh on domestic consumption.

Inflation is still forecast to peak at 7.75 per cent in the December quarter this year, but is expected to be more persistent – largely due to higher energy prices, turbocharged by conflict in Ukraine and exacerbated by the energy policies of the prior administration.

The October floods will also add further to inflation, partly offsetting lower-thanexpected fuel prices relative to the Ministerial Statement in July.

Inflation is forecast to gradually ease to 3.5 per cent by 2023-24, and return to be within the Reserve Bank’s inflation target band by 2024-25.

Unemployment is forecast to be 4.5 per cent through 2023-24 and 2024-25 – below the pre-pandemic level of around five per cent.

Wages growth is expected to pick up – forecast at 3.75 per cent in 2022-23.

receipt upgrades to the Budget; focusing new spending on initiatives that grow the capacity of the economy; and new policies have been largely offset over the next two years, to avoid adding to inflation.

Almost all tax receipt upgrades have been returned to the Budget according to the Federal Government. Specifically: 99 per

The underlying cash balance for 202223 is expected to be – $36.9 billion – an improvement of $41.1 billion compared to the Pre-election and Economic Fiscal Outlook (PEFO).

The Government said it inherited a trillion dollars of debt without an economic dividend to show for it – with gross debt as

The Government’s Budget repair package delivers $28.5 billion in improvements over the next four years, including: $22 billion in savings from the Government’s Spending Audit; and $4.7 billion from making sure multinationals pay their fair share of tax in Australia and extending successful ATO tax compliance programs.

Champions of productivity, sustainability and safety: PBS

Optimised and innovative heavy vehicle design, thanks to Performance-Based Standards, is helping Australian operators tackle the national freight task with the safest and most efficient trucks and trailers in the market. This special report, sponsored by Smedley’s Engineers, takes a closer look at how Lindsay Transport , Clenton’s Transport and Cartage Australia are using the high productivity scheme to their advantage.

With the support of more than 30 stores and depots, Lindsay Transport services customers across a wide realm that encompasses food processing, food services, fresh produce, agriculture and horticulture. More commonly, the business is regarded as an integrated transport, logistics and rural supply company,

Transport, Rural and Fresh Logistics. As an essential service provider, Lindsay Transport helps to grow and move an increasingly valuable commodity: food.

The founding business, Lindsay Brothers, which commenced operations in March 1953, thrived as a carrier of fruit and vegetables, loading up the trains at Coffs Harbour to supply the markets in Sydney. In time, it diversified its freight task to include timber and fuel and by the 1970s it expanded its transport portfolio to include state-of-the-art refrigerated trucks and trailers.

Its leaders, as the business grew, were committed to continuous improvement at all levels.

In 1983 a small rural supply company in the Bundaberg region called P&H Rural opened its doors and would become the foundation of Lindsay Rural. Two decades of growth ensued.

By 2001 Lindsay Australia Limited listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, incorporating both the Lindsay Transport business and the Lindsay Rural business formerly known as P&H Rural supplies.

The Brisbane markets welcomed the launch of Lindsay Fresh Logistics in 2014 which offered industry a range of services including unloading, cross docking, storage, ripening, fumigation, sterilisation, quarantine and inspection-related services for produce export.

Today, the Transport division of the business, alongside Rural, provides complementary products and services along the supply chain that cover the key needs of its customers throughout the production lifecycle.

To appreciate the scope of its operations across Australia it is worth noting that Lindsay Australia’s FY22 revenue of $553.1 million was 27.1 per cent above the

motion regarding investments into the road fleet to deliver an increase in operational capacity to meet service demands.

In its quest to improve safety and achieve gains in productivity and efficiency, Lindsay Australia has engaged the PerformanceBased Standards (PBS) specialists at Smedley’s Engineers for various consulting services in recent years.

Nick Lindsay, Fleet Quality and Efficiency Manager at Lindsay Australia, says these services have been predominantly focused on assistance with PBS vehicle approval design, inspection and permit applications.

“Smedley’s provides detailed technical expertise assisting our organisation in complex vehicle design and access applications,” he says. “The process of obtaining access approval for PBS equipment, for instance, has become easier with the help of consulting service providers such as Smedley’s. However, it remains an expensive and complicated experience which is enough to intimidate most operators. Smedley’s, though, has a strong understanding of operators’ requirements and a vast network of engineering knowledge to support this.”

Nick says productivity gains and fleet efficiencies can be achieved if an organisation is flexible enough to comply with robust regulatory conditions.

“The challenge is designing fleet composition around the purpose-built equipment and access restrictions,” he

allows Lindsay to focus on becoming a more socially responsible freight provider by minimising its environmental footprint and the overall risk to road users. Both initiatives provide the customer base with a more carbon-friendly mode of transport and underpin Lindsay’s drive to become a more sustainable service provider.

The team at Lindsay Transport understands there is room for improvement in the route access application process, an objective industry continues to strive towards.

“It is somewhat complex and difficult to understand,” Nick says. “The experience tends to create some confusion leading to frustration. Despite these regulatory hiccups, Lindsay Transport will continue to leverage technology and vehicle safety developments to drive better industry outcomes and improve overall road safety.”

More than a few recent developments have resulted in improvements to the PBS process such as the 20m truck and dog gazette which is finding support within the industry. Some combinations that previously required PBS approvals to operate will now be able to run under a notice according to Nathan although additional requirements under the notice are required and can be costly.

“The vehicle must still operate at the weights calculated on the tier 1 bridge formula and there are additional conditions

has five PBS combinations on the road of which four are 26-pallet semi-trailer combinations and one A-double high productivity vehicle along with an additional three configurations in the vehicle design approval pipeline that are expected to facilitate upwards of 30 additional combinations once approval is sought.

“Lindsay Transport has 12 sets of 42-pallet quad-quad B-double sets in production,” Nick says. “This will increase cubic capacity by eight pallets per freight movement from Queensland to South Australia to Victoria. Once this equipment has commenced its work, there is a further commitment for 20 more sets throughout 2023-24.”

As for observations with PBS trends, Nick points to an increasing variety in vehicle configurations which may be attributed to operators and customers collaborating to establish dedicated freight lanes that facilitate compliance with PBS requirements. With that in mind, ultimately, it is safety and compliance that is at the heart of Lindsay Australia’s organisational values and decision making

“Given our industry’s recent challenges throughout Covid, any productivity improvement that can result in a reduction in costs will be welcomed and implemented whenever possible,” Nick says. “PBS strongly appeals to Lindsay Transport due to its tendency to combine these elements which will undoubtedly figure in future equipment procurement.”

truck and dog operators and manufacturers

Trailer Sales Brisbane and Sales Manager, Scott Thiesfield, were an integral part of the Smedley’s partnership with Lindsay Transport.

Split-quad side loader delivers the goods for Sydney-based container haulier, Clenton’s

Transport

When it comes to PBS vehicles, the short history of Clenton’s Transport, dating back to 2015, compares favourably to almost anybody. At the outset of the heavy vehicle PBS scheme, the business has been right at the forefront adopting high productivity combinations. Being the first carrier in Sydney to receive full route approval with unconditional road access for 85 tonnes Gross Combination Mass (GCM) 30-metre A-doubles direct from Port Botany to its yard has paved the way, subsequently, for it to show great leadership in container transport innovation.

This year, having sought a different solution for moving heavy and super heavy containers, Clenton’s Transport pushed the envelope again, by introducing a new Hammar MegaReach – the first of its kind in Australia.

Level 2 access restrictions currently curtail the movement of the A-double sets it runs. Operationally, the imperative was to find a vehicle capable, under law, of traversing both Level 1 and Level 2 networks as part of the PBS network in Sydney. Achieving the same payload capacity as an A-double set, however, would be impossible. The necessity, consequently, was for the vehicle to accommodate a substantial increase in

mass over a prescriptive semi-trailer.

“Obviously, PBS through A-doubles are a great vehicle for high productivity gains to run from wharf to the yard, but we needed to be able to take it one step further,” says Managing Director Jason Clenton. “We really needed to facilitate the access to be able to deliver direct to our clients from the wharf.”

As Jason was aware of several clients avidly looking for a carrier who could fulfil this request, he didn’t waste any time in putting the business forward as a preferred carrier that specialises in heavy containers direct from the wharf to the client. The only way to achieve this, however, was to enter into discussions with Hammar. As the position and height of the goods inside of containers is not always accurately known, it presents a challenge in achieving the higher payload height required by Clenton’s Transport. A standard side loader, for instance, is not going to be suitable when moving imported concrete blocks on road.

A range of options, as is par for the course, were considered during the initial design phase.

“There was a consideration as to whether we used super singles or if it would not be a split quad at all and just be four axles,” says Jason. “What the experts tell us through the technology that they use to gain the maximum load height and, to be as safe as possible on our roads, is we

needed to go with a split quad design over a 48’ chassis instead of the standard 45’.” That first conversation took place over two years ago. The high productivity solution that eventually would materialise was 12 months itself in planning.

“It was a mutual decision with Hammar to engage Smedley’s Engineers as the preferred engineering certifier to help us achieve the maximum load height and the distribution of weight across the axles,” recalls Jason. “There is overhang on each end and that helps us to have flexibility with being able to move the cranes on the chassis forward or back to help with the weight distribution across those axles. So, you can actually move it all the way back and take the weight off your drive axle and put it over your quad which was a crazy advance in technology for us to be able to move the container onto the actual chassis.”

Technically, the configuration is a tandem-tandem split quad semi-trailer, with each of the tandem axle groups on the trailer equipped with a steerable axle, to pass the PBS pavement horizontal loading and swept path requirements. GCM under a Tier 1 bridge formula is 55.1 tonnes on the PBS Level 2 network and 50.5 tonnes on the Level 1 network. Based on the manufacturers estimated tare weights this would afford approximately 34 tonnes in payload according to Nathan.

“The suspension models used for the trailers were some of the most important aspects of the build, as the payload height was critical on this vehicle,” he says. “It was pertinent that the suspension was able to display high roll performance.”

A secondary, but no less, crucial consideration to provide a reasonable factor of safety, was to ensure there was an ability to position the cranes and container/s on the trailer body to allow for correct weight distribution and therefore compliant axle weights.

Knowing the maximum amount of weight possible on a crane was one thing to want. But what would it look like? Jason also needed maximum load height.

“If someone told me the load height is only going to be one metre inside a container than that’s no good. I would not have bought the machine,” he says. “But we were able to get full load height in the container which hasn’t been achieved before.”

Equipped with an extendable top arm, the Hammar MegaReach, has six metres

option on the ground. But instead of being able to stack containers two high next to

A-double set — two retractable skels joined by a dolly. It was an exciting project,

that would fit into that spec and make it a 30-metre retractable A-double. They’re

Exclusively PBS with Cartage Australia

Quarry product transport specialist, Cartage Australia, runs more than 110 rigid tippers and dogs across its 24-hour operations in Victoria. The vehicles in the fleet can, in the main, be identified by a truck, usually a Volvo, pulling a dog trailer en route to or departing from one of its two depots. These can be found in Truganina out west, and Devon Meadows in the southeast, where the brand is a frequent presence on the South Gippsland Highway.

The six-axle truck and dog configuration is a typical specification across the fleet although it also runs five- and four-axles. With virtually every unit approved under the Performance-Based Standards (PBS) scheme, Cartage Australia has, since the inception of PBS in 2007, when Co-founder and company Director, Ray Cauchi, participated in the pilot program, forged a reputation as a reliable and ever-improving organisation.

Fleet procurement is overseen by Ray’s son, Manager Jake Cauchi. The decision to add two high productivity A-double combinations last year, according to Jake, was prompted, in part, by the current climate of challenges being felt right across the industry.

“There’s always been a driver shortage,” he says. “It’s been an issue in our industry for as long as I’ve been in it which is now ten years. My father has been in it since 1978. It’s a problem that hasn’t gone away.”

Carrying extra capacity becomes a must when supplementary drivers are increasingly hard to find and demand for product continues to increase. In keeping with this, the A-doubles serve to reduce gaps in personnel and supply that have plagued even the most adventurous, resourceful and innovative-minded businesses.

“In recent times with Covid we’ve also had parts shortages, truck shortages and that’s required us to become a bit more creative when carrying more capacity to assist with those challenges,” Jake says. “Traffic on the roads, for one example, is only going to get worse. It becomes much harder to move product under these conditions.”

As a business, Cartage Australia sought to overcome the twofold challenge of rising demand and skills shortages by increasing productivity on a per combination basis. In essence it was a

bimodal approach according to Jake.

“In one instance we help the community having taken trucks off the road and replacing them with A-doubles,” he says. “It also assists us in carrying that extra capacity to support all our customers.”

Working in close collaboration with Smedley’s Engineers, Jake and Ray met with VicRoads to consider the best options. It resulted, initially, in a half dozen different A-double designs for the purposes of moving quarry material. Topping out at 68.5 tonnes GCM previously on the route in question, Cartage Australia determined that through the new high productivity vehicles an increase of 85.5 tonnes GCM could be achieved. An A-double tipper was soon agreed upon.

“Smedley’s assisted in helping Cartage Australia go through several designs to identify the safest combination and making it as driver friendly as possible,” Jake says. “With Smedley’s we mapped out the level access 2a and 2b using the NHVR map and worked out every single route that we can currently get to the concrete plants that we have available.”

In collaboration with Ian Mond at VicRoads, Smedley’s helped guide how the A-double combination would ultimately work best across the available network. Design assessments evaluated tare weights and payloads at once to narrow down the asset that would conform to the easiest swept path. After a series of long deliberations with Ian and Smedley’s, Cartage Australia devised an A-double combination it is confident will be used in future as a template across the tipper industry.

The next step, once access was confirmed in principle, was ordering the specialised equipment. Orders were placed with Hercules, who build all of Cartage Australia’s trailers and CMV Truck & Bus, who supply the majority of the fleet’s commercial vehicles. On this occasion it was a Euro 5 540hp Volvo FM with low sleeper cab — the driver rest option upgraded by the added bunk.

“We’re Volvo born and bred. CMV Truck & Bus have got to be the best service department in Australia in our opinion,” says Jake. “They bend over backwards for us day and night to make sure everything is serviced and up to scratch. We’ve got Volvo gold contract maintenance on every asset.”

Enhanced visibility is a must when accessing quarries and concrete plants on

the larger combination. The Volvo FM door line is low and the window surfaces, by design, are generous.

Every trailer also has a scheduled fourweek service.

Hercules offers a standard safety spec fitted across all trailers. These feature WABCO ABS/EBS systems on SAFHolland Intradisc axles with patented Integral disc brake designs.

Cartage Australia maintains their own mechanics and workshop for minor breakdowns. Workshop Manager, Danial Cauchi, and Maintenance Manager, Paul Charalambous, work closely together to ensure all assets are serviced correctly. For Cartage Australia preventative

maintenance is applied as part of an overarching objective in which it’s not enough to only have the safest vehicles but vehicles with the highest safety standards.

It’s one thing to get the design and build right, but an A-double needs route access. As one of the most critical steps in the process it can take time.

The 29-metre A-double design was developed according to the Victorian High Performance Freight Vehicle reference to gain access to the HPFV network. Outside of that, Smedley’s had a clean slate to come up with something in a time sensitive manner that fulfilled these requirements without having to reinvent the wheel

according to PBS Certifier and Consultant, Jackson Heil, at Smedley’s Engineers.

“Hercules were involved to ensure it could be built as required for the networks needed,” he says. “Being dependant on bridge assessments was the other major criteria.”

The A-doubles are now running in the western suburbs on the network. Getting A-double access to Werribee, however, was incumbent on receiving Forsythe Road approval which proved a hurdle initially.

“This involved collaboration with the Department of Transport in assessing the Forsyth Road bridge which took some time however DOT greatly assisted us,” Jake says.

Access to both onramps and offramps can be a challenge under the current road management modelling. Returning from quarries via the Western Ring Road requires Cartage Australia to disembark at Fitzgerald Road, a main arterial, run down it and rejoin the freeway to comply with the current bridge assessment. It can add ten minutes to the trip, given traffic.

“In peak hours it can take an extra 20 minutes,” Jake says. “It’s shorter in actual kilometres but the unit is travelling at a stop and start speed.”

Cartage Australia has plans to replicate the first two A-doubles pending driver demonstration of the vehicle. Even though it technically falls under a multi-

Until VicRoads opens up the network east-west to reasonable mass, the real advantage of these can’t be realised.

”

combination (MC) licence, the different moving points on the trailers require some extra attention for new operators. Additional roads will need to be opened up also to encourage companies involved in major haulage operations.

“The Westgate Tunnel is the next major arterial route which will get us into Dynon road,” says Jake. “Once they do that than we can look at feeding a lot of the city area for higher capacities and then we’d look at getting more combinations.”

A-doubles, in a post-Covid world, are meeting the needs of road transport operators according to Jackson.

“It is becoming a more normalised type of combination that in this instance is quite versatile with a swept path much like a 26-metre B-double,” he says. “The A-doubles are becoming the new B-double with a similar manoeuvrability but such a massive gain in freight movements.”

When factoring in truck movements and payload, this PBS combination achieves major performance and efficiency gains for the fleet. On the standard truck and six-axle dog, Cartage Australia gets a payload of close to 48.5 tonnes total whereas the A-double improves it to 60-tonnes. The extra capacity has resulted in a net gain of just under 12 tonnes per trip for the A-double. Multiplied by the amount of trips it completes in a week, the A-double represents an enormous jump in productivity.

Smedley’s Engineers Managing Director, Robert Smedley notes that these units are only effective if access is granted at a reasonable mass.

“At the moment these combinations and all combinations are significantly limited when crossing the city east-west, and only getting 68.5 tonnes,” he says. “Until VicRoads opens up the network east-west to reasonable mass, the real advantage of these can’t be realised.”

As part of the VicRoads requirement the trucks were mounted with onboard mass scales on the whole asset. The trailers, otherwise, were kitted out in the Cartage Australia spec which includes V.Orlandi open and close jack knife sensors on the rear of the semi. Should a trailer start to jack knife on the drawbar a buzzer sounds an alarm. The tippers are also equipped with tilt sensors. If the ground underneath the asset is uneven the body won’t go up for it to be able to tip. The PTO disengages.

“That’s just the original Cartage spec that we affix to all of our vehicles,” says Jake. “Directors Wayne Vella and Ray Cauchi made the decision that every truck and trailer bought will include every extra optional safety feature on top of the standard features. Everything Volvo can give us we have to make it the safest truck on the road.”

Drive Support Systems on the new Volvos include Forward Collision Warning

with Emergency Brake, Adaptive High Beam, Lane Keeping Assist, Passenger Corner Camera, Downhill Cruise Control, Stretch Brake, Electronic Stability Control, Driver Alert Support, Distance Alert and Adaptive Cruise Control.

Also Included in Cartage Australia’s spec list are Artificial Intelligence cameras which identify distractions, dangerous driving, and mobile phone use. These are managed by Caleb and Jed Vella who run the operational office in Devon Meadows. They receive alerts concerning any unsafe behaviour so the company can educate and retrain heavy vehicle operators in any areas needed. The system in place is very beneficial, according to Jake, as it helps the team address any distracted or unsafe driving before an incident occurs, rather than finding out after it’s too late.

“You’ve got a driver who is going to spend 12-13 hours in a truck and trailer, we want to make sure that they’ve got the best and safest truck possible,” says Jake. “That’s what we pride ourselves on.”

The trucks are driver friendly across the whole operation for Cartage Australia. Manual tarps are long gone. To open and close tarps, and to tip off the body is now just the push of a button away.

“There’s no getting out to roll back tarps or to close tailgates,” says Jake. “It’s really become a driver’s luxury truck. The manual labour component of it is long gone”

The two Volvo FMs, paired on the

A-double combinations, incidentally, came off a ship Volvo imported overseas with an estimated 500 trucks on it.

“It was one of the first times in history that they’ve done that to keep up with the demand,” says Jake. “We got both the A- and B-trailer in a matter of four weeks. Hercules have got a constant build slot with us.”

Given the critical timeline in place, delivery, however, was not the major focus of obstacles on the project.

Cartage Australia collaborate with Smedley’s Engineers and work with the Department of Transport to ensure final

mile destinations with bridge assessments are approved before combinations are even operational. That said there are always improvements that can be done to improve the PBS process according to Jackson who cites the digitisation of certain process that the NHVR is currently working on to the streamlining of bridge assessments as positive steps that are being undertaken.

“With various odd requests appearing more often to fulfil customer needs these days anything that can be streamlined is a welcome opportunity,” he says. “Internally

we are working on things, externally the NHVR and the various road managers are also working away to try get everyone on the road sooner.”

The NHVR has always provided welcome technical assistance from those early, pioneering days when, Ray Cauchi, was working closely with Les Bruzsa, NHVR Chief Engineer, on the PBS pilot program, to the A-doubles of today. In terms of its size, the Cartage Australia PBS fleet comfortably sits inside the top 10 for units in the country. Smedley’s Engineers according to Jake, have been phenomenal for support and expertise from the outset of the latest project.

“Jackson Heil and Robert Smedley answer their phone calls and attend meetings no matter the time,” he says. “When you have a question, they are there for you. When you need help, they are there, it doesn’t matter the time, they understand the urgency.”

The Westgate Tunnel is the next major arterial route which will get us into Dynon road. Once they do that than we can look at feeding a lot of the city area for higher capacities and then we’d look at getting more combinations.

”

What you need to know about the NHVR’s 2021-22 findings

The 2021-22 Annual Report, published 28 October 2022, is reported to be in line with the commitments the NHVR made in its Corporate Plan 2021–2024.

It provides a detailed account of the organisation’s operational and corporate performance during the 2021-22 financial year.

The NHVR’s purpose is to enable safe and efficient heavy vehicle movements for the benefit of all. Heavy vehicles are defined in Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) as a vehicle that has a Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) or Aggregate Trailer Mass (ATM) of more than 4.5 tonnes, with the GVM of a vehicle being the maximum it can weigh when fully loaded as specified by the manufacturer. ATM in this instance refers to the total maximum mass of a heavy trailer including the load and mass imposed on the towing vehicle by the trailer when the towing vehicle and trailer are on a horizontal surface.

As for the Regulator’s vision it is striving for a safe, efficient and productive heavy vehicle industry serving the needs of Australia. This is further supported by the organisation’s mission to administer a statutory national system through

leadership and influence that delivers consistent and streamlined regulatory services and administration to the Australian heavy vehicle road transport sector. It aims to foster greater safety and productivity while minimising regulatory burden.

In 2021-22 the NHVR reportedly delivered a safer, more productive industry with 32 road access notices (29 in 2020-21) and a better customer experience with 54 per cent faster Performance-Based Standards (PBS) vehicle approval turnaround (6.49 days in 2021-22, 14 days in 2020-21).

It also reported 16 per cent growth in Advanced Fatigue Management (AFM) accreditation (89 in 2021-22, 77 in 202021) and 15 per cent faster NHVR permit processing time (2.48 days in 2021-22, 12.11 days in 2020-21).

A new in-house contact centre managed to resolve 90 per cent of its initial calls, too.

There were 15 charges relating to breaches of the primary duties under HVNL (15 in 2020-21) and 15 Enforceable Undertakings (EUs) under the HVNL (two in 2020-21).

NHVR Chair, Duncan Gay, said there is nothing more important that the Regulator

does than ensuring heavy vehicle drivers get home safely to their families.

“In both my current and former roles, I’ve been fortunate to get to know drivers and operators who live and breathe the transport task every day,” he said.

“I’ve learnt how much the heavy vehicle industry relies on government to make good and timely decisions that impact their livelihoods.

“Most critical to these decisions is ensuring we are making every effort to eliminate trauma and the loss of lives on our roads.”

There is a clear focus for the organisation to reduce the road toll. During 2021-22, 187 people died in crashes involving heavy trucks, up 16 per cent year-on-year.

“We know different factors play a role in heavy vehicle crashes that occur right along the supply chain,” said Gay.

“We also know that light vehicles continue to be the at-fault party in eight out of 10 fatal crashes involving cars and trucks in Australia.

“As a modern and intelligence-led regulator, we are committed to challenging the system and finding new ways to bring down the number of fatalities on our roads.”

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has reviewed its efforts to drive sustainable improvements to safety, productivity and efficiency across the road transport sector.

borderless regulation.

“We have already created consistent, borderless operations in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria, where we have assumed regulatory responsibility for heavy vehicles through delivery of the National Services Transition (NST) Program,” he said.

“In these jurisdictions, we have increased the levels of resources, services and functionality – at no cost to industry.

“We have also provided improved regulatory capability and are starting to see the benefits of harmonised policies, procedures and training of our staff.

In August this year, regulatory services transitioned to the NHVR from New South Wales – the largest of the HVNL participating jurisdictions.

This grew the NHVR’s workforce by 70 per cent, with around 340 new people joining the New South Wales team; 310 of them transferring directly from Transport for NSW (TfNSW).

“We have also been working closely with the Queensland Department for Transport and Main Roads (TMR), with a view to completing transition in 2023. We are grateful to TfNSW and TMR for their cooperation throughout the process so far and for the strong, supportive relationships we have built.”

(SLGAAP).

“The SLGAAP has enabled us to go ‘back to basics’ to assess the state of infrastructure on local government roads, so we can continue to use roads as economic assets and gain the greatest efficiencies,” said Gay.

“In under two years, the SLGAAP has delivered 465 bridge assessments across 74 council areas with up to 500 more assessments still to be undertaken, and we are seeing the benefits, with access opening across previously underrated or uncategorised assets, enabling drivers to use shorter, safer routes.”

Meanwhile, NHVR CEO, Sal Petroccitto, has reflected on his past eight years of service in his role.

He is proud to see how much the industry has changed and continues to change through innovation, technology and by sharing common goals to make the roads safer for everyone.

“It has been gratifying to see – and be part of – the collaboration and teamwork that has been pivotal to enabling our industry to keep performing effectively, especially throughout the crises and emergencies of the past few years,” he said.

“Just as we were learning to live with the constantly changing and complex logistical impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic – both from an individual and industry perspective – we were tested by devastating weather events and floods across the country.

“Yet trucks kept moving, enabling communities to access essential supplies

to be key to delivering improved safety outcomes in the future.”

Over the past year, the Regulator’s data-driven approach to target greater risks have proven to be more effective in detecting non-compliance than routine intercept programs.

“Data is provided to our officers on the roadside in near real time, as we have streamlined the processing of large datasets from 15 minutes to under one second,” said Petroccitto.

“This enables us to detect risks as they are happening and intervene where there is an imminent danger to public safety.

“By creating a more reliable crash prediction model, we have used vehicle, defect and crash data to identify a cohort of 197 extreme-risk vehicles and operators that have a one-in-38 chance of being involved in a fatal or serious incident on any given day.

“This information allows us to identify the parties most likely to be responsible for breaches of the HVNL and take early preventative action.”

The NHVR is committed to a regulatory intervention strategy focused on informing, educating and enforcing.

“Wherever possible and appropriate, we opt for more modern education options

to encourage voluntary compliance,” said Petroccitto.

“During the year, we accepted 15 EUs under the HVNL as alternatives to prosecution, where we were satisfied organisational safety reform could be achieved. We also made seven successful applications to courts for supervisory intervention orders (SIOs), which addressed the offending behaviour by focusing on education and strategies to prevent the offence recurring.”

To improve customer interaction and to undertake regulatory activities more efficiently, the Regulator continues to improve its NHVR Portal. For instance, the NHVR Portal Asset module is reported to contain more than 3,000 road assets such as culverts and bridges to help road managers make informed access decisions.

“Critical to this work, during the year we continued working with industry and road managers on the NHVR National Spatial Program, which will deliver a national automated road access solution for heavy vehicles and provide a single, dynamic, national map for heavy vehicle access on all public roads,” said Petroccitto.

The Next Generation Route Planner made its debut in March 2022 which was touted by the NHVR CEO to be an important milestone in the delivery of a nationally consistent and intelligent route planning platform.

“The new Route Planner allows updating with real-time changes to the road network and is helping operators plot more accurate heavy vehicle routes, minimising routing errors leading to rework and reducing the time it takes to plan a journey,” said Petroccitto.

July 2021 saw the launch of an in-house contact centre to enhance the customer experience.

“This has been successful, with the Contact Centre’s performance exceeding expectations and receiving a 96 per cent satisfaction rating from customer feedback,” said Petroccitto. “This is an exciting time to be leading the NHVR on its journey to becoming a modern, datadriven, risk-based regulator. Access to new technologies and innovative practices is continually changing the regulatory landscape, enhancing our ability to deliver improved productivity and safety outcomes for governments, industry and the community.

The NHVR regulates more than 814,000

registered heavy vehicles of which there are 230,000-plus registered operators –42 per cent organisations and 58 per cent individuals.

It provides a range of services to 8,198 National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme (NHVAS) accredited operators. About 55,000 are registered NHVR Portal users. Also, 465 bridge and culvert assessments were completed under the SLGAAP. At the time of writing, there are more than 14,500 PBS-approved combinations operating in Australia.

There were also 143,231 road access permits issued – 6,057 individual PBS vehicles approved, 52,213 calls through the NHVR contact centre and 949,729 unique visitors to the NHVR website.

A national roadworthiness survey –based on assessments between May-July 2021 – showed significant improvement in national fleet mechanical condition.

The overall national non-compliance rate improved from 48 per cent (2016) to 31 per cent.

Vehicles inspected at roadside checkpoints or depots included rigids, semi-trailers, B-doubles, road trains, buses and Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs).

Fixed rigid heavy vehicles remained the vehicle class with the highest noncompliance at 38 per cent; however, this was down from 52 per cent in 2016.

Brakes were the component with the highest level of non-compliance.

The average age of inspected vehicles was 10.2 years, up from 9.2 years in 2016. The Regulator found a strong correlation between the age of a unit and the incidence of non-conformity. Freight hauling units showed the greatest increase in non-conformity with age – at 14 per cent for vehicles less than three years old to 53 per cent for those aged 12 years or more.

Every vehicle, according to the Regulator, was subjected to a comprehensive visual inspection and a roller brake test, based on the National Heavy Vehicle Inspection Manual (NHVIM). Use of registration data, roadside data capture technology and coordinated inspection methodologies reduced average inspection times from 45 minutes to 31 minutes (equating to a 2,000hour improvement) compared to activities conducted in 2016.

Reflections from the Quadfather

NHVR Chief Engineer, Les Bruzsa, known to many as the ‘Quadfather’, has been at the forefront of heavy vehicle innovation

in Australia as well as Europe, boasting more than 30 years of industry experience. His first local project, in fact, was the introduction of 25m B-doubles.

With a Master’s degree in mechanical engineering, a background in private consulting, about 18 years with Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads, as well as being a Fellow of Engineers Australia, it was his stint with the National Transport Commission pre-2007 that saw him work on the development of PBS. Since 2013, Bruzsa joined the NHVR and his continued his important contributions to this area of regulation.

Earlier this year, 27 August 2022, Bruzsa was inducted into the National Road Transport Hall of Fame in Alice Springs. This achievement officially acknowledges the Chief Engineer’s contributions to the heavy vehicle industry, specifically leading the strategic development and improvement of the PBS scheme. Five years prior he was humbled to receive the Castrol Vecton Industry Achievement Award for leading continuous improvement in heavy vehicle regulation and standards.

In terms of emerging trends in PBS, Bruzsa has his finger on the pulse.

“We are seeing significant growth in terms of PBS combination numbers. By the end of October, this year, we had more than 15,600 PBS combinations on our register. That number is interesting because when the PBS review was completed in 2011 we predicted that we we’re going to have about 14,000 PBS combinations by 2030. So, now we are in 2022 and those combination numbers have exceeded all of our predictions which is fantastic and shows how well the industry is taking up these high productivity vehicles.”

On the other hand, Bruzsa said this has lead to a huge workload on the administration of the scheme.

“This year [at time of writing], we approved more than 1,920 combinations and as opposed to 2,100 last year,” he said. The trend is not slowing down – it is actually increasing.”

As for the most popular PBS vehicles hitting the road, the NHVR has seen the re-introduction of PBS A-doubles which appears to be an emerging trend.

“Last year, truck and dogs represented half of the approved combinations and A-doubles were around 18 per cent. This year, truck and dog was around 41 per cent, while A-doubles spiked to about 32 per cent.”

A-doubles are becoming increasingly popular especially in those jurisdictions where access has been improved for these combinations.

“New South Wales and Victoria have been extremely proactive in the introduction of A-doubles and larger combinations including B-Triples,” said Bruzsa. He added that over the past few months he has seen more A-doubles being approved than truck and dog combinations.

His engagement with industry, particularly with trailer manufacturers and transport operators, confirms that the rise in A-double uptake over standard B-doubles is certainly on-trend.

Bruzsa also observed that some jurisdictions are prepared to look at A-double combinations for Level 2 which are longer than 30 metres.

“Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales are now looking at the length limit,” he said. “If an operator needs to optimise a vehicle for a freight task and if it’s a little bit longer than 30 metres, but it still meets PBS Level 2 performance requirements, then the jurisdiction will investigate potential options for access. This could be a game-changer for A-doubles because using 45’ trailers under the 30m overall length limit can be difficult. But if the length is around 30-32 metres it’s just a small enough addition to enable an operator to utilise existing 45’ long trailers.”

operators running PBS vehicles.

not a niche small market anymore,” said Bruzsa. “We have a lot of operators on our books – it’s a big number.”

To support these PBS advocates the NHVR has committed to improving its administration processes including a boost in resourcing.

“We’re focused on making the submission of PBS documents easier, trying to digitalise all the documents, which is going to be very useful,” said Bruzsa. “Especially when we are looking at access applications and vehicle design applications. We are trying to make the PBS scheme much more transparent and user friendly for the industry. And we have to do that if we want to manage this growth in PBS uptake more efficiently.”

Also, processing times have effectively halved.

“In 2020-21, we had really a difficult time with Covid and the impact it had on our team as well as the industry at large,” said Bruzsa. “The pandemic demonstrated just how important supply chains are and the role the transport industry plays in that space. So, yes, we put lots of emphasis on reducing the response times and, yes, it’s true that we have to handle more applications. It’s a big challenge for the NHVR but you only need to look at a brand-new vehicle combination sitting in a yard, a serious fleet investment, to realise that each day of lost production is costing industry substantially more. We understand the implications of our response times and we want to provide a much, much better

can see that the industry is optimising vehicles elsewhere,” he said. “Now we see innovation in fuel tankers, logging vehicles along with new prototypes and other technological developments such as split axle groups. PBS is providing the framework for innovation and that’s fantastic.”

Looking ahead, the NHVR is reviewing some Performance-Based Standards such as braking requirements and the pavement horizontal loading standards. Surprisingly, since the introduction of the high productivity scheme in 2007 there hasn’t been an official review of PBS. Bruzsa has teased work behind the scenes on a more strategic project, PBS 2.0.

“We’re trying to come up with future directions, particularly when it comes to policy and technical innovation,” he said. “We’re quite proud of the notices we have released, too, which enable more certainty regarding access for PBS combinations.”

It cannot be stressed enough how valuable the NHVR’s data is when reviewing safety performance of PBS-approved combinations.

“PBS vehicles are significantly safer than the prescriptive fleet,” said Bruzsa. “Also, the PBS fleet this year would have saved, I predict, about 900 million truck kilometres due to the productivity and efficiency gains those vehicles offer. What does this mean? Well, in a sense we save lives with reduced heavy vehicle travel exposure on Australian

Return of the Swinglift

With a long-term commitment to increasing productivity and payloads, O’Phee Trailers has positioned itself as a leader in Performance-Based Standards alongside The Drake Group. Its popular side loader option, Swinglift, continues to impress the transport industry with its new and improved design.

In 2019 BoXLoader acquired the Swinglift brand which enabled The Drake Group to offer two quality side loader options in the name of O’Phee to the Australian market. Since then, the Swinglift and BoXLoader ranges have taken a different shape. O’Phee Trailers now manufacture a new and improved design chassis at its facility in Wacol, Queensland, which features a

low profile, high tensile and lightweight build.

“We designed a new chassis that is legal with high cube containers,” says Mick O’Phee of The Drake Group.

“It also has a low-profile neck which legally allows you to put a nine-foot-six container on it with a 4.3m overall height.

“It’s still very light tare with our standard

removable engine oil tank fuel carrier, so that during fit out we can build a whole engine and oil tank on the bench and then fit it up into the trailer and then vice versa –if there’s ever an issue, we can just unbolt it and the whole cradle comes out.”

Compared to other models, the Swinglift Inline is very different in design. Mick explains that the stabiliser legs are in line with the crane, which is where the name Inline comes from. In simple terms, as you’re unfolding the legs to the container, the crane comes along with it simultaneously. Whereas other side loaders in the market are built with the legs on the outside and the crane on the inside, meaning that it has a dual function which requires you to put the legs down first and then put the crane out onto the container.

“So, you can imagine that there’s a delay by a couple of minutes by the time you get the leg on the ground and hit the other button for the crane to come out,” he says. “That’s where the speed of the Inline comes in. It’s quicker because the more containers you can cart in a day, the more money you’re going to make. If you can get another

two, three or four trips a day saving three minutes every container, that’s what it’s all about.”

The Swinglift and BoXLoader models are manufactured in France because, according to Mick, there isn’t a crane manufacturer in Australia that can compete with the same level of exceptional quality.

“France is a very high-tech country in manufacturing, from fabrication through to hydraulic cylinders and valves,” Mick says. “The European manufacturer of the arms and the fabrication is very high level, and their hydraulic valving and cylinder manufacturing is second to none. That transpires in longevity, and it’s just a higher quality product. No one can manufacture hydraulic cranes to that level here in Australia.”

With its dedication to improving

productivity and payloads at the forefront of its builds, O’Phee has established itself as one of the first pioneers of PerformanceBased Standards (PBS) throughout the last decade, and now half of its builds are standard and the other half is PBS.

“We’re continually looking at different ways through the PBS system to benefit the customer, and the customer may come to us with a particular freight task or a higher container and different way that they want things done,” Mick says. “Under the prescriptive standard models that are available, it’s impossible. So, you’ve only got one choice, which is to become a little bit innovative and create a trailer that can do that task, and that’s where PBS comes in and that’s what we do.”

PBS is a very important factor to consider, which Mick says not too many people are

prepared to do as it is a big risk to take.

“It’s very important but not too many people are prepared to do that, because they want to see whether it’s going to work before they invest in it,” he says. “We have a different mindset and we’ve always had that mindset. Even with our standard type trailers we try and push the boundary with our customers rather than building the same old thing. It’s worked well for us, and it’s helped us become the leader in the industry, and I’m pretty proud of that.”

Contact

The Drake Group 19 Formation Street Wacol QLD 4076 Ph: 07 3271 5888 Web: www.thedrakegroup.com.au

TEAM PBS

Transport Engineering and Management (TEAM) commenced business in Adelaide as Edwards Consulting Services in July of 1988, with Managing Director, Bob Edwards, leading the company through the industry to what it looks like today.

Bob was introduced to transport in 1962 when he signed on as a heavy vehicle mechanic apprentice. However, at the time he was unaware of how influential his efforts would be in driving better standards for the road transport industry for decades to follow.

After spending 14 years maintaining heavy vehicles and trailing equipment, Bob moved on to study engineering. In 1974, he went on to serve with the South Australian Transport Department with an educated perspective and practical experience under his belt. His focus on heavy vehicle modifications and road traffic regulations for the state government introduced him to the next step of his career.

“I started Transport Engineering and Management in 1988 in response to the inevitable progression of accreditation systems and safety standards prior to the take-up of the Performance-Based Standards (PBS) high-productivity scheme,” he says. “It’s ultimately grown over the years with major changes to laws. So, my growth has been along that path, driven by what happens to the law to some extent.”

Bob undertook his new role as a PBS certifier which saw him dealing with new trailer manufacturers that would build to specification and then call in a certifier like himself.

“My role is to thoroughly inspect a combination to be approved and make sure that it meets all of the requirements included in the assessor’s design,” he says. “I look at truck and trailer combinations or multiple combinations, measure them up and make sure that the suspensions, axles,

Transport Engineering and Management has been catering to Australia’s changing transport laws and regulations for over 30 years. Established in 1988 in South Australia, the company houses a team of engineers and consultants committed to Australia’s transport industry.

Transport Engineering and Management Managing Director, Bob Edwards.

According to Bob, the majority of combinations seen at his early stages were three axle trucks and three and four axle dog trailers. Over time five and six axle dog trailers, A-doubles, B-triples and even larger combinations have become more popular for the PBS process.

“There are a lot more operators with existing equipment that are coming to us nowadays, asking if they can make it fit the rules,” he says. “In the past, the original situation was that trailer manufacturers were getting approval for new vehicles and then building. Now we’re finding that the information we submit to an Assessor is often for an existing combination, so it’s a reversed engineer situation. We are providing these services across Australia.”

With its processes TEAM often guides its client towards an In-Principle approval from the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) – a step before certification which it highly recommends. This allows operators to obtain a partial assessment and determine whether they will be allowed to use local roads before spending money upfront on a more expensive, full assessment and certification.

Bob has been a nationally recognised PBS certifier since its arrival in 2008. With TEAM he offers several services including accreditation, ADR (Australian Design Rule) compliance approvals, fleet management, general advisory services, mass and dimension permits, modification approvals, structural damage reporting and truck and trailer mass upgrades.

Contact Transport Engineering and Management Ph: (08) 8342 5999 M: 0419 049 210 E: sara@team.net.au

“The service life of TCK pins in comparable operating conditions regularly doubles the life of original equipment pins.” ADR compliant where necessary

On the quest for maximising productivity and safety

Since joining the family business in 2009, Luke Baker has developed the same level of confidence in the Borcat brand that his father, Ted Baker, saw when he first bought a Borcat tipper more than 20 years ago.

Western Sydney-based Bakers Group is always buying new trailers from Borcat. Last year, the company bought three rigid 6x4 truck bodies and three quad dog trailers from Borcat and this year, so far, they have got three 10-wheeler rigid tipper bodies from them.

Currently over 80 percent of Bakers

Group’s trailer fleet is from Borcat, featuring super dog aluminium tippers and quad dog tippers, with a huge majority built on Performance-Based Standards (PBS) specifications. The fleet also includes prime movers, B-doubles and some drop decks to move its civil equipment. While the trailers are involved in a range of operations from

grain and produce cartage to coal transport, the major task is excavation haulage and material and tunnel cartage for the Sydney Metro rail projects and other various New South Wales road infrastructure projects.

All of the company’s PBS fleet complies with the New South Wales Safety Productivity & Environment Construction Transport (SPECT) Scheme. The NSW Class 2 Safety Productivity & Environment Construction Transport Authorisation Notice 2016 (No.1) gives the nominated vehicles greater access to a prescribed network in return for greater compliance requirements. The notice provides the authorisation for vehicles to use the networks developed and administered under the SPECT Scheme.

“It is a big thing in Sydney at the moment. SPECT allows us to drive into full councils rather than applying for single roads, which helps us boost safety, environmental performance and productivity of heavy vehicles,” says Luke Baker, of Bakers Group.

“Borcat’s range of products is forever growing and the quality of products is second to none. In terms of design, usability and construction these trailers are right up

there with the best. The Borcat team builds a light enough trailer to get a good payload in without sacrificing longevity or any other aspect. They’re well built and we fit BPW axles and together they deliver a reliable combination with a good warranty.”

It was Luke’s father, Ted Baker, who bought their first Borcat tipper trailer over two decades ago, and Luke has continued to stay with the brand “for its quality and the people behind it”. He currently takes care of the entire fleet of vehicles and plant equipment, he is also responsible for ordering new trucks, changing configurations, fleet maintenance and nearly all day-to-day operations of the business. He also oversees the workshop

“It’s a family business that dad started back in 1980,” Luke says. “He built the company from nothing – from one little tipper truck back then all the way up to now where we have over 25 trucks on the road working on most of Sydney’s major infrastructure, roads, tunnels and rail projects. We also have over 30 pieces of plant and machinery for our civil contracts, crushing and screening projects and plant hire. We have a team of 50 employees. We’ve surely come a long way.”

With changing times and growing business needs, the Bakers Group team has been exploring newer technologies and vehicle designs and the team at Borcat has been there supporting them in

new ways to carry more weight safely,” he says.

“Paul and his team, and the quality of products they make are the reasons we keep going back to them for new vehicles,” he adds. “We have known Paul for a long time now. Dealing with Borcat

‘Me and dad’: Luke and Ted Baker.

Watson’s Bulk Logistics (WBL) is a familyowned grain transporter operating in Southern New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. It has been involved with the industry for 10 years and can move any load up to 58 tonnes, averaging 7,000 tonnes moved each week.

WBL Manager, Joel Watson, has been running B-doubles in the fleet for the majority of the company’s operations, but he is now beginning to switch over to road trains and other high productivity combinations.

Joel has counted on Chris’s Body Builders (CBB) multiple times during the last few years when looking to add Performance-Based Standards (PBS)

vehicles to his fleet, which has allowed him to develop a relationship with the team. After experiencing the demonstrated high quality and reliability from CBB firsthand, he decided to return once again for his latest combination.

“We were happy with our previous purchases with CBB, which is why we decided to go forward with this combination in our third year dealing with them,” he says. “We purchased a 30m PBS A-double with two semi-trailers. The trailer has a capacity of up to 85.5 tonnes, which gives us a payload of 58.5 tonnes.”

Joel has been very pleased with the trailer’s tare weight, build quality and overall performance in his fleet. On top of that,

CBB was also very accommodating to his specific needs.

“Their personalised service is excellent, and they are very flexible with what our requirements are,” he says. “We’ve found them great to deal with and I can’t complain about anything with them.”

The new A-double combination was developed with a new fixed drawbar dolly as opposed to the standard hinged option.

This drawbar features a dual bushed design which allows for easy change over between drawbars in the case of damage or different length requirements for different applications, such as A-doubles to AB-triples.

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This dampening bush feature also reduces material fatigue and high stress areas around the dolly, reducing cracking and improving durability. The new drawbar is also known to reduce cabin slap experienced by the driver while at the same time increasing braking and roll stability of the vehicle through the removal of the additional hinge point.

CBB developed this fixed drawbar dolly earlier this year to allow its clients to operate under certain PBS schemes which require a tandem dolly configuration while getting the better performance characteristics of a more stable vehicle.

According to CBB, this particular combination is a well-designed and tailored solution that really benefits the operator. It’s a versatile dolly that has been designed to endure the harshest of environments while maintaining outstanding performance. Having everything removable by bolt-on or bolt-off, including the drawbar eye, means that the entire dolly is changeable

for fleet operators, giving them a massive advantage over fixed options.

With extensive engineering put into the design and CBB considering every factor possible, Joel’s A-double is ensured to be a reliable solution going forward.

Contact

Chris’s Body Builders

2-24 Burwood Avenue North Sunshine, VIC 3020 Ph: 03 9311 6124 Web: www.chrisbodybuilders.com.au

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Cartage Australia sets high standards with SAF-Holland

Founded in 2004 and based in Truganina and Devon Meadows, Victoria, Cartage Australia is a bulk haulage specialist with a workshop that is second to none – tailored to streamline the fitment and maintenance of SAF-Holland components.

Everything Cartage Australia has done to grow its 100 per cent PerformanceBased Standards (PBS) approved fleet has always been driven by its focus to be as safe and as productive as possible. It is this mindset, according to Danial Cauchi, a Workshop Manager at Cartage Australia, that has prompted the business to be an early adopter of new and emerging technologies.

“We don’t skimp on safety, which is why we completely rely on SAF-Holland axle and suspension systems,” he says. “We’ve been with SAF-Holland since day one and we’ve tried other brands. With SAF-Holland, though, it’s all about the people. When you have an issue with their products, they’re there to support, and they stand by their product 100 per cent.”

This long-term partnership has added tremendous value to how Cartage Australia and CMV inspect each of its 110plus trailers every month.

“On a monthly basis Cartage Australia inspects every single trailer,” Danial says. “We conduct a trailer inspection from the front to the rear, taking note of any defects occurred or coming up. Every four to six weeks, every single trailer goes into CMV as well.”

By doing this, Danial and his team have been able to perform preventative

maintenance on all of their assets rather than react to situations as they arise.

Danial explains that this commitment to ‘road-worthiness’ benefits the general community as well as reducing the likelihood of injury in the workshop.

“By completing preventative maintenance and keeping our vehicles roadworthy Cartage Australia hopes to achieve safer vehicles on the roads for our drivers and the local community,” he says. “Also, every defect that is entered into our maintenance system is reviewed by the maintenance team and allocated by priority to be repaired immediately.”

In the interests of bolstering operational safety and efficiency, while making it

even easier to work with SAF-Holland parts, Danial has incorporated a variety of custom tools in the workshop.

Danial saw that there was a need for improvement in the SAF-Holland repair and preventative maintenance of axles, which is why he went to Calitools with a concept design and collaborated with them to create the tools required.

Cartage Australia’s workshop also features a custom wheel hub bearing station which utilises advanced tools usually found in production environments that have error proofing features and documentation of torque results. This setup ensures that every rotor replacement by Cartage Australia is

completed to SAF-Holland’s specifications.

One of these tools includes a Calitool Transducerised Nutrunner, which locks onto the wheel hub and digitally controls the exact torque and angle required.

The tool is set up in two stages – the first stage applies 50Nm to tighten bolts, and the second can apply 120-degrees of turn with great accuracy. These tools are calibrated to within plus- or minus-five per cent and replace Cartage’s previous methods which saw mechanics using a digital torque wrench to constantly pull on a bolt until 120 degrees came up on the

Calitool has also supplied Cartage Australia with a torque wrench used for wheel bearing nuts. The Torque Multiplier Trolley TMT Series makes the job of tightening axle nuts of large vehicles much easier and accurate as only one third of force is required compared to other options. This virtually eliminates the risk of strain, injuries or slips, and it means the job can be done by one operator as opposed

This is especially critical in terms of saving time while using SAF-Holland componentry because it turns a traditional two-person job into a single-person job. By torquing with a torque wrench there is room for the tension bar to come off the wrench and cause injury whereas the multiplier eliminates this.

By being more proactive rather than reactive, Danial believes Cartage Australia has avoided problem after problem, whether it be with breakdowns, injuries and other issues.

“The more we invest in these tools, the safer the work environment will be for our employees as well as the wider community,” he says. “Every single defect fixed or preventative maintenance task completed is documented and readily

available on the cloud for our personnel to review.”

Cartage Australia also uses online forms to support various maintenance regimes such as wheel nut checks. Danial is then able to generate spreadsheets or dashboards based on these forms which can flag preventative issues as well as serviceable and unserviceable products. Another way Cartage Australia excels in its safety-focused approach is by operating an exclusively PBS-only fleet. By ensuring that it has the safest equipment fitted to its vehicles, and optimised vehicle designs, Cartage Australia is able to carry maximum payload and support customers with all of their needs. Danial says SAF-Holland’s products and ongoing support has greatly contributed to this effort.

“Everything we do from front to back of that trailer, everything that we touch, we’ve made it as easy as possible and

we’ve developed has been specified for our truck and trailers to make it easier and safer for the mechanics. We want to make sure that every bolt we touch and every nut we tighten is done to the specification of the supplier’s recommendation, and we want to make sure that we’ve got the correct tools to go above and beyond to meet them. That way, we can say everything that we do is 100 per cent beyond compliant, it is not what the regular fleets do.”

Cartage Australia is committed to improving heavy vehicle equipment with SAF-Holland to ensure it maintains the safest and most productive trucks and trailers on the road as well as in the workshop.

Contact SAF-Holland Australia 115 High St Melton VIC 3337

BTE exceeds expectations once again

Victorian based transporter, Australian Fuel Hauliers, has improved the safety and productivity of its operations after taking delivery of two new trailer combinations from Bulk Transport Equipment .

As a family-owned business, Australian Fuel Hauliers (AFH) was originally involved with LPG gas and then branched out to deliver bulk commodities such as aggregate, sand, soil, potting mixes and landscaping products across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia. Running the family business is Managing Director, Neil Davey, and his son

“I’ve been dealing with the same guys from several years back, so I know and trust them,” he says. “After having our old six axle roll over last year, I wanted a drop deck. But, because of Covid and short supply at the time, I ended up getting just a conventional five-axle from BTE which we’re very happy with.”

Last June, Neil decided to acquire the

you’ve got the increased productivity with extra volume because the drop deck allows you to have bigger volume without having any higher bins,” he says. “If you’ve got higher bins, you have higher wind resistance which means more fuel.”

While Neil has shopped around with other manufacturers for possible additions to his fleet, he says his previous fixe-axle

Along with its productivity and safety, the fact that BTE were willing to work with Neil on what he wanted also contributed to the purchase decision.

“Lead time had a lot to do with it as well,” he says. “Due to Covid, it took around 14 months to get the truck and the trailer. In terms of lead time in getting it built, we were quoted significantly longer lead times by other manufacturers. Another good thing for us is that they’re in Dandenong and we’re based in Cranbourne.”

It’s been all positive for Neil so far, and he says he couldn’t say enough about BTE’s

“So far, I couldn’t complain, I couldn’t say enough about them,” he says. “We took our trucks to a truck show on the weekend. We weren’t paid to, but we put them on the stand because I’m happy to promote their product. Our next truck is already in the pipeline, we will be ordering a tri drive with a five-axle behind it from BTE.”

E-Plas provides a quick fix for operators

Based in Perth, Western Australia, Boomerang Engineering is regarded as one of Australia’s premier suppliers as it approaches almost 60 years of quality tipper engineering. Established in 1963, the company has steadily grown from a two-man operation to the multiple-facility organisation that it is known as today. Boomerang Engineering now has more than 100 staff and is still owned and operated by one of the founding families. While Boomerang Engineering manufactures side tipper and end tipper trailers, it also offers a series of other specialised services including technical heavy vehicle design consultation, trailer

straightening, workshop maintenance and repair, sandblasting and painting, and it also provides numerous workshop stands for hire.

E-Plas, with its range of high-performance plastics and other products, bolsters the resale value and durability of Boomerang’s side tippers and end tipper combinations.

Fast fact

QuickSilver

Marco De Filippis, the Managing Director at Boomerang Engineering, said a fleet specified the QuickSilver tipper lining system from E-Plas to dampen the noise when carting coal from mine sites as they operate close to residential areas.

“QuickSilver has been known to limit the amount of noise when travelling so this was the transport operator’s priority,” he says.

QuickSilver also helps to optimise heavy vehicle turnaround times as the product carried, depending on the commodity, will often transfer more quickly and won’t get stuck as a result of compaction on the surface of the tipper bed. This means

there is potential for a tipper to move more loads in a day.

There is also the additional benefit of using a system that effectively self-cleans. Better yet, QuickSilver is lighter in weight when compared to aluminium and steel and, according to E-Plas, can outwear them both.

Marco says his customers are satisfied that Boomerang can accommodate the niche requirements of tipper operators with the QuickSilver tipper liner from E-Plas. “They love it; I’ve heard good and bad things about other products in the market, but I haven’t heard anything bad about this one. It seems to work really well to get the product out at a lower tipping angle, too, as opposed to other ones

Fast fact

Bulk up

MGM Group’s origin dates back to the 1950s where founder, Mario Giacci, and his family started a small business specialising in transport and logistics – known as Giacci Bros. In 2004 MGM Group was officially formed and it quickly established itself as a leading supplier of reconstituted blocks, concrete and premium quarry materials. The next decade saw MGM Group expand

bulk division to the Group, MGM Bulk, and turned to Bruce Rock Engineering (BRE) for tipper trailers.

MGM Bulk (MGM) has since experienced significant growth while continuing to provide bulk haulage and material handling services to its clients in Western Australia. In a matter of only eight years, the company has managed to add over 500 BRE trailers

“BRE is another family business, so if there’s any issue we can just pick up the phone and go straight to the top, without having to deal with layers of people to get an answer.”

Also being a family business, MGM prides itself on building long-term, continuous relationships with people – whether that’s with its clients or its suppliers as well. Because of this business model, the Verhoogt family at BRE caught MGM Bulk’s eye from an early stage.

“We were introduced to BRE many years ago, and we believed that they built a really high-end quality product and that they had the backup support to go with it as well,” he says. “Since then, we’ve developed a very strong relationship with them and we’re very happy with the product. Within the space which we operate in, we believe that BRE’s gear stands the test of time. Its build quality, load tare weights and the technology gone into each build is ideal for our business operation.”

In the last year MGM has added a new 32m Performance-Based Standards (PBS) combination to its fleet, built by BRE. The trailer is being used to transport copper concentrate for a major client between its

Maintaining a positive reputation in the transport industry for over 60 years is quite the achievement, and with the help of over 500-plus trailers built by Bruce Rock Engineering, MGM Group has stood the test of time.

James says the trailer has provided the fleet with a series of benefits, such as a light tare weight which allows it to carry more material with less movements on the road.

“The combination has done around 280,000 kilometres in the last 11 months, and its gross combination mass of 116 tonnes has given us an 80-tonne payload capacity,” he says.

James explains that BRE was very accommodating for this application. Due to this and an unmatched aftersales service, BRE has been the best option for MGM’s operations.

“BRE is our preferred supplier,” he says. “If we have something different that we want to try, we will engage with them and they will come up with the answers for us. We work together to get those combinations to work.

“The guys have been very helpful and approachable, and their backup support is fantastic. We’re not a company that dilutes the waters or jumps over to another product because it’s cheaper. We’d rather pay that little bit more if we know that the relationship with that person is there, and that we can call on them as soon as we

As MGM approaches 10 years of dealings with BRE, it’s clear that the trailer builder has kept true to its word – which is demonstrated with each build travelling Australian roads today.

MGM Bulk take delivery of another new Ultra Quad which grows the fleet to more than 80-plus super and Ultra Quad combination road trains operating within the Northwest of Western Australia.

MGM Bulk’s new 32m PBS combination operating within the Southwest of Western Australia.

More than 20,000 trailers strong: Krueger

Victoria-based family owned and operated trailer builder, Krueger Transport Equipment, is committed to maximising the profitability and productivity of the transportation industry while providing reliable and innovative maximum capacity trailers.

Throughout the changes to the Krueger portfolio, the core of the business has held true, revolving around founder and Managing Director, John Krueger, who started the business in 1976 after finding himself unimpressed with the state of the market. Taking matters into his owned hands, John designed and built his very first trailer in the front yard of his house – marking the beginning of what would become one of Australia’s most prominent trailer manufacturers.

“Next year, we will be celebrating 45 years of operation,” says Krueger General Manager – Manufacturing, David Grant. “Seven years ago, we migrated to where we currently are in Truganina which is purpose built for our operations.”

David has been involved with the company for almost 20 years, joining the team in 2005 as a Service Manager at Krueger’s Laverton site. The role saw him responsible for running the service department which

resulted in his second promotion in 2020 to lead the National Service division.

In September last year, David was promoted to the role of General Manager of Manufacturing. This enabled him to deliver Krueger’s 20,000th trailer – a remarkable achievement for the company.

“I think it’s a huge milestone, when you think of making 20,000 trailers,” he says. “And, we still have upwards of 13,000 registered Krueger trailers in Australia. It just goes to show the longevity of our trailers and their resale value.”

CTI Logistics General Manager, Mark Cameron, says it was a pleasure to receive the milestone vehicle.

he says. “For us to take delivery of the 20,000th trailer was a privilege and something that we are really proud of.”

The trailer has been delivered to CTI Regional Freight in Western Australia and will be used to service linehaul runs from Perth to Broome, Port Hedland and Karratha. The 20,000th trailer is one of the many units recently added to CTI’s fleet to cope with growth in the WA regional operation over the last 10 years.

“The quality of the trailers is really important to us,” Mark says. “With Krueger, we know they are engineered and manufactured in Australia to a very high standard. We have been to the Krueger

A day of celebration for the Krueger factory workers, family and staff with the #trailer20K.

Fast fact

Krueger has a vast portfolio of innovative transport solutions including the Kurtainer, a curtainsider with load restraint Slide-A-Gate technology, retractable skels and more.

Grant Krueger, the company’s National Sales Director, was entrusted with selling the 20,000th trailer. The delivery was a big deal for the family’s name, and he had the opportunity to see it through to the end.

“I am proud to have grown up in a family business with strong values with a brand that has forged its reputation into history based on innovation, reliability and quality,” he says. “Even though 20,000 is a grand milestone, we take pride in every new Krueger that hits the road.”

While Krueger has remained loyal to its values over the last four decades, Grant explains that the thing that stands out between trailer one and 20,000 is Krueger’s structural integrity.

“Krueger trailers have always been built to last but the biggest difference with the 20,000th trailer is the advancement in technology and making the trailer user friendly,” he says. “This can be seen in our current load restraint curtains, self-lifting gates, mezzanine decks, and Electronic Braking System (EBS).”

What remains similar between each and

every trailer though, are the processes originally set up by John.

“John’s manufacturing strategy is to build the trailers in jigs and rotary jigs,” he says. “By controlling tolerances we have been able to make dimensions 100 per cent accurate which has seen our early manufacturing days turbo charge us into the future. Our company philosophy is continuous improvement, so during the

production of our 20,000 trailers, we have always had a strong engineering background to ensure our designs and products are refined and updated to advance with the times.”

Contact Krueger Transport Equipment Ph: 03 9366 2133 Web: www.krueger.com.au

Son, Grant, and father, John, have built quite a legacy at Krueger.

Blown

With more than 11 years of operation and 30 years’ worth of experience in transport and warehousing, JD Refrigerated Transport prides itself on delivering tailored solutions for its customers.

Since entering the transport sector, JD Refrigerated Transport has grown into a 43-unit fleet ranging from small refrigerated utilities all the way up to 34-pallet B-double road trains.

In this trailer space, Schmitz Cargobull is a reasonably new supplier to the fleet.

JD Transport Managing Director, Joe Joseph, says that after receiving a new contract with a major client, and being impressed with Schmitz Cargobull’s previous combinations built for him,

he decided to invest in the reliable manufacturer once more.

“We picked up a new contract last year with an existing client,” he says. “They’re a very large client of ours where we do shuttle work, which involves moving all product from their production site to their distribution site. It is a 24/7 shuttle arrangement where we need two prime movers paired with six trailers.

“I’d been talking with Brown and Hurley about the Schmitz Cargobull product for quite some time, and we decided to give them a go – we’ve been really happy with the trailers. Some of the innovations on those trailers, particularly the roller bumpers on the back, have worked really

well. They’re protecting the rear of those trailers from damage.”

JD Transport also takes great pride in its well-maintained fleet, which Joe says is something that is often brought up in conversation with his industry partners and inspired him to take his equipment to the next level.

“The thing that really first and foremost got me was the design of the rear of the trailer,” he says. “We do a lot of dock work, so some of our trucks travel five or six kilometres between docks with shuttle work, and they probably dock 20 to 30 times a day. So, making sure that we’ve got a really good rear bumper design was critical and I found that to be quite good.”

Joe praises the team at Brown and Hurley which assisted in making this combination possible, and he says that the support that they provide is like no other.

“One of the things I’ve got to give credit to is the guys at Brown and Hurley – they really support the product well,” he says. “The service we’ve got from the team at Brown and Hurley gives me a high degree of confidence that moving forward, if there is a problem it will be fixed.”

Although Joe’s refrigerated units have just recently rolled off the production line, he says they have gotten off to a good start so far with only positive feedback from the team.

“The initial feedback from drivers, and having seen quite a lot of dock work on those trailers, is that they hold up really

well,” he says. “They’re a sturdy, strong product which is important for us.”

While attending the IAA Transportation event in Germany this year, Joe was astonished at Schmitz Cargobull’s global presence. This, he explains, has convinced him to work even closer with Schmitz Cargobull for the manufacturing of his trailers.

“Schmitz Cargobull is one of our preferred suppliers for trailers moving forward, off the back of their innovation,” he says. “I attended IAA in Germany during October this year, and when you go there it really blows you away just how big Schmitz Cargobull are. Everything I saw on the road in Germany was a Schmitz product, I don’t recall seeing another brand. That’s how dominant they are over there. “I used that opportunity to have a look

at what they’re running over there and some of their innovations, and that’s part of what we look for in a supplier – that innovation pipeline,” he adds. “We follow a lot of what goes on overseas, and I’m really excited to tap into that innovation pipeline from overseas. That rear bumper setup was something we saw overseas, and we took a couple of images of some other rear bumper designs that I want to look to incorporate on our new trailers in the next year.”

Contact Schmitz Cargobull Australia Unit 2, 221 Browns Road Noble Park North 3174 VIC Ph: +61 434 743 144 Web: www.cargobull.com.au

We do a lot of dock work, so some of our trucks travel five or six kilometres between docks with shuttle work, and they probably dock 20 to 30 times a day. So, making sure that we’ve got a really good rear bumper design was critical and I found that to be quite good.

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On top of the demand

AAA Trailers was incorporated in 2015 by Managing Director, Jeffrey Wang, who with an extreme acumen for business, insists on only employing highly skilled individuals with extreme pride in their work that are driven by high quality results.

AAA Trailers strictly complies with the Australian Design Rules (ADR) and is growing extremely fast, with its products becoming known for its unbeatable and affordable prices at the company’s high standard of quality.

To satisfy the demand in its trailers, AAA has a display warehouse located in Epping, Victoria, and a factory in Canning Vale in Western Australia. The WA factory features over 20 different trailer models with eight experienced and highly qualified staff to manufacture the trailers.

AAA offers a turnaround time of only two to five working days, after a payment in full has been made. This means that within a week of ordering, customers can receive a brand-new trailer built to the high quality and excellence that Jeffrey demands them to be, while adhering to the ADR standards. AAA also accepts customised orders, however as expected,

AAA Trailers is an Australian owned company that provides a series of high quality transport options at competitive prices. What makes the business stand out in the market is its commitment to swift turnaround times without compromising on quality.

a longer turnaround time will come with this option.

AAA Trailers have purposefully designed its trailers with more tare weight, making the chassis much stronger and more durable for customers. It has many different trailer models which are all fitted with an Electronic Braking System (EBS), and up until recently, its most popular builds have been its drop deck with bi fold ramps, drop deck widener with bi fold ramps and its side tipper trailers. Despite Australia’s high demand for curtain side trailers, AAA has continued to design and build quality options, using leading edge technology to maximise safety, efficiency and durability.

As a result, its new drop deck curtain side A and B trailers are fit for purpose and are road trainable. The drop deck curtain side B trailer is manufactured with a high tensile, steel grade mainframe with 5mm steel chequer plate, and comes with load restrain curtains, aluminium hanging gates and mezzanine floors through all stations. It also features 11 load binder winches on its winch rack, five-inch coaming with tie rails, full LED lights, and many other options for operators to take advantage of.

The drop deck curtain side A trailer comes with all of the B’s specifications, with minor differences. There are no mezzanine levels with this option, and instead of 11 there are eight load binder winches on the winch track.

AAA also offers curtain side trailers

in two flat top configurations. Its flat top curtain side B trailer is also manufactured with a high tensile, steel grade mainframe with 5mm steel chequer plate and forklift rated flooring, and features aluminium hanging gates, a Ringfeder bracket, fiveinch coaming with tie rail, full LED lights and much more.

The flat top curtain side A trailer includes

Contact

AAA Trailers

159 Walker St, Helensburgh, NSW 2508 Ph: 02 9188 3322 Web: www.aaatrailers.com.au

all of the B trailer’s features, with the main difference being that it has eight load binder winches on the winch track.

A view of inside a flat deck curtainsided B trailer.

A and B drop deck curtainsiders.

Powered by Vawdrey

Flex

When Flex Contract Logistics began operating last year, Managing Director, Lachie Boyd, chose Vawdrey as the exclusive trailer manufacturer for his fleet. Following his previous eight years dealing with Vawdrey at Silk Contract Logistics alongside his father, the CEO of Silk Contract Logistics, he knew there was no other option.

“During my time at Silk Contract Logistics, I was able to witness the quality of Vawdrey through each and every trailer delivery,” he says. “My family has worked closely with Paul Vawdrey over the years, and we have

developed a strong relationship because of that. We’ve always found his equipment to be the best in the market, very high quality and also high resale value. I know that Vawdrey provides the best trailing equipment in Australia, and Flex Contract Logistics is a business that delivers a very high level of service to its customers. So, making sure that we have the best equipment and setting ourselves up to be the best is really important.”

Lachie has recently taken delivery of several B-double mezzanine sets and B-double straight deck sets from Vawdrey.

Contract Logistics is a Sydney-based business which commenced operations just over 12 months ago. It specialises in local distribution and interstate linehaul services and has grown rapidly in a changing market that demands high quality service. It also leverages a longterm relationship built on trust with Vawdrey manufacture its entire trailer fleet.

“It’s the best piece of equipment, and it comes with the best service we can get,” he says. You get the trust not only in the equipment but in the people at Vawdrey to make sure that your business is looked after for the long term. Everything goes back to the brand quality – we know what we’re getting. It’s manufactured here in Australia, and it comes with the highest level of service. That’s what’s really

The new B-double sets will be used across all major capital cities in Australia and will carry a variety of commodities including palletised freight, timber and steel. As Lachie explains, Vawdrey was the right choice for this freight task as it surpassed every option the market has to offer.

“With every corner we looked at, Vawdrey continued to come out on top,” he says –adding that high quality and long service lifecycle are essential for Flex’s trailer fleet.

Critically there is a strong alignment of values between Flex and Vawdrey, with customer centricity at the core, which gives Flex comfort that each of its orders are prioritised and delivered every time.

Flex’s fleet is growing at a rapid pace and the team is looking forward to growing its fleet further with the help of Vawdrey.

“We’ve had support from everyone involved at Vawdrey,” he says. “We’re growing very rapidly and we are looking forward to continuing the partnership with Vawdrey.”

With Vawdrey standing by its product and backing its promises every time, Lachie is confident that his fleet will perform to its highest capability.

“It’s a good piece of equipment, the longevity of it is second-to-none and it’s backed by our relationship with Vawdrey,” he says. “You talk to drivers who are on the road daily, and every single one of them will tell you that Vawdrey builds the best piece of equipment. For us, it’s just really about high quality, longevity and making sure that we have the best piece of equipment on the road.”

Contact

Vawdrey Australia

1-53 Quantum Close, Dandenong South, VIC 3175

Ph: 03 9797 3700

Web: www.vawdrey.com.au

customer awareness

In the last few years, JOST Australia has received many requests from fleet and OEM workshops to conduct onsite training sessions on the service and maintenance of its fifth wheels. JOST Australia gladly accepted this challenge and now offers a course which goes through the whole service and maintenance of its products.

JOST National Training Manager, Bob Martin, explains that the original training sessions from start to finish used to take around two hours in the workshop, which resulted in a loss of production.

“At JOST Australia we have totally redesigned our training packages,” he says. “We now go out into the workplace and do a practical demonstration first, which takes around half an hour. We show our attendees how the fifth wheel works, how to service and maintain it, how to do an

adjustment, and we also show the students our range of tools.

“From there the attendees are enrolled in our online course where they can go and complete the course at a time that suits them and their employer. There is a questionnaire at the end and if the student is successful, the online portal provides a certificate to say that they’ve passed the course.”

By taking up the offer of JOST’s training, OEM workshops and fleet operators can upskill on the JOST product and learn how to correctly service, maintain and adjust it which, according to Bob, leads to a better service life of the product.

“The fifth wheel on the back of a prime mover is probably one of the most neglected pieces of equipment in the whole transport industry,” he says. “It’s

often covered in grease and mechanics – if they’re not trained in it – don’t know anything about it, they’re reluctant to even touch it.

“By going out and providing this training on how to do the adjustments and how to maintain the thing gives technicians the confidence they need to work on the product. It gives the product a longer life if it’s adjusted and maintained correctly, which brings about cost savings for the company as well.”

JOST Australia offers this training nationally as well as overseas, and over the years Bob has conducted training in New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.

“Not only do we offer workshop technician training, we also offer online spare parts interpreter training as well,” he says. “Any of our JOST spare parts distributors can

By offering training and demonstration sessions for its wide range of products, JOST is taking the next step in its well-known path to commitment towards its customers and the transport industry.

be enrolled in our online course, they can go online and go through the course that we’ve put together to help them identify the different models of JOST fifth wheels.”

JOST has received excellent feedback from its clients, in particular due to the convenience of its online courses.

“With the Covid scare, workshops were reluctant to have people come in from outside to do training, and the spare parts distributors didn’t want outsiders coming in either,” Bob says. “With our spare parts training, if they send us their spare parts interpreters’ names and email addresses, we can enrol them in our online course. They get sent an email and it’s all done online, hands-free – we don’t even have to attend site”.

Another aspect of training that JOST delivers to the transport industry is driver coupling and uncoupling training, which sees the team travelling around the country to provide driver training sessions to fleets of all sizes.

“It is imperative that drivers know that they are coupled up correctly”, Bob says. “We teach them what to look for when coupling to ensure the trailer king pin is secured within the fifth wheel.

support to the transport industry and the fleets that are using our product. It’s one thing to buy the JOST product upfront on a new vehicle, but if it’s not serviced and maintained correctly, the life of that product will be diminished. So, we regard it as vital that we get that training out there so that the fleets’ technicians and workshops are

correctly servicing and maintaining the equipment, giving it a longer life and saving the operators money.”

Contact

Web: www.jostaustralia.com.au

The pinnacle of reliability

Membrey’s Transport & Crane Hire was established in 1962, meaning it celebrates 60 years of crane and transport hire solutions this year. After 25 years of applying BPW Transpec equipment to dozens of trailer combinations, Membrey’s has picked its favourite in the field.

For more than 65 years, BPW Transpec has been providing the transport industry with high quality, durable and reliable components. And, for the last 25 years, it has been working with Membrey’s Transport & Crane Hire to offer transport the best trailer suspension and axles possible.

Membrey’s offer trailers to clients to suit a broad range of applications, while providing a wide selection of heavy haulage solutions that is hard to come across in the industry. In addition to its large range of heavy haulage resources, Membrey’s also offers a plethora of services including crane hire, crane trucks, auto and bus towing, pilot vehicles, traffic management and transport solutions.

Managing Director, Craig Membrey, has been at the forefront of the company since taking over from his father in 1989. Still family owned and operated and abiding by its motto of ‘make it happen’, the business has grown in leaps and bounds and now operates a fleet of over 100 highly specialised trailers.

During his time with the company, Craig has selected BPW suspension and axles time and time again for trailer builds due to their high quality and never-ending reliability.

“When I spec up a new trailer, BPW is what I ask for right from the start, every time,” he says. “They’ve got the latest technology and they’re the best of the best – there’s no one better than BPW in the market.”

Membrey’s recently accepted delivery of a Drake 8x8 Steerable Extendable trailer supported by BPW axles, along

with Drake hydraulic suspension, double acting suspension RAMS, return to ride height, radio remote-control steering and stainless steel as far as the eye can see.

Craig says the trailer has gone straight to work in Queensland, and with BPW’s axles, he’s confident that it will excel in every operation commenced.

“It’s gone straight to work doing windfarm work for the next two years out of Brisbane to a windfarm in Queensland,” he says. “I’ve never had a problem with them, they’re my favourite axles.”

While BPW’s prices may sit on the high end of the market, Craig says the product is well worth it in the long run.

“My preference is BPW’s axles,” he says. “They aren’t the cheapest, but in the long run it’s definitely worth having them. BPW keeps up with all the latest technology and innovations as well, and because of their commitment to quality you’re guaranteed to excel with the product.”

BPW Transpec is known for offering class-leading trailer suspension systems that provide cost effective, safe and reliable solutions whether you need air or spring suspensions, or in Membrey’s case, a swivel axle bogie.

“I’ve had no problems at all,” Craig says. “BPW backs its product, and the team has always been very accommodating to my demands. I’m a very fussy person as a lot of people know. What I want is what I get, and BPW have definitely delivered for each application.”

Contact BPW Transpec Ph: 03 9267 2444

Web: www.bpwtranspec.com.au

Walk the walk

Paying attention to the wear limits of tow couplings is known to reduce the risk of on road failures, improving safety and minimising downtime. TCK Australia’s products are made using high quality Australian steel and superior manufacturing processes, and when put to the test, they’ve come through with flying colours.

TCK Australia’s coupling pins are designed, developed and manufactured locally in Australia and are tested and certified compliant under a range of Australian standards.

Due to a lack of standards enforcement for fitment of aftermarket parts, there are alternatives available on the market which may not be safe to use. Often referring to safety-critical parts such as tow couplings, understanding the difference between trustworthy components and others is crucial.

Living up to his words, founder, former owner and Managing Director of TCK Australia, Graeme Rowlands, took on the task of having its components certified, where required, by approved Australian authorities to Original Equipment (OE) specifications.

“Even though there are no enforced standards for aftermarket parts, we understand the concerns about noncompliant parts being supplied to the market and wanted to give customers peace of mind that there is an aftermarket option that is proven,” he says. “The performance and functionality requirements say that automatic pin couplings must comply with Australian Standards 2213.4-1998 50mm pin type couplings and drawbar rings for trailers or ISO 8755 to meet ADR 62 standard. TCK coupling pins meet both those standards and are also compliant with ECE 55-01, the appropriate United Nations Regulation.”

Certain parts of a tow coupling have a predetermined working clearance to enable the device to operate effectively, while other parts of the coupling function best with zero clearance in a normal operating state. Graeme explains that constant pounding from massive longitudinal and vertical loads caused by terrain and general driving conditions quickly accelerates working clearances into excessive, self-destructing contact points.

“Once the parts deviate from the predetermined working clearances, they

Fast fact

TCK Australia manufactures tow coupling pins, repair kits and associated parts to suit the full range of 40 and 50mm trailer couplings available in Australia and New Zealand, including Ringfeder, VBG, and V.Orlandi. It supplies quality products that offer a safe and highly effective low-cost alternative to OE brands and has been doing so in Australia and overseas since the early 2000s.

must be replaced as soon as possible to avoid component failure,” he says. “To get the full life from their tow coupling, tipper operators often hang a rubber flap over the exposed area of the assembly when loading loose materials to stop fragments being caught in the component. We also find that for tipping applications, it is better to run the component dry, rather than greased, because the grease captures fragments and becomes a grimy mess that

makes the coupling parts wear out faster.”

According to Graeme, the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has stated that because the TCK coupling pin has been tested and identified as comparable to the OE part, use of this component during maintenance or repair is acceptable.

The unique shape of the pins has been a major factor in providing exceptional performance in terms of durability and resistance to wear, with significant cost savings because of reduced frequency of servicing and the replacement of wear parts. In most applications the TCK coupling pins will at least double the service life

compared to others in the market place.

“The use of TCK’s certified coupling pins will not downgrade the load rating integrity of the main coupling assembly,” Graeme says. “In the past there has been some misinformation in the industry about aftermarket trailer coupling parts, but the TCK pins have been proven in the field to be a superior product for an excess of twenty years.”

Contact

TCK Australia Ph: 0407 176 551 Email: admin@tck.com.au

Shining light on safety industry-wide

With more road trains and large heavy vehicle combinations operating on Australian roads every day, operator demand for reliable safety features is on the rise. Lucidity Australia

LocAI aluminium for lower carbon emissions

primary aluminium option, LocAI ,

locally manufactured extruded aluminium

LocAI will include two lower carbon aluminium options; LocAI Green with carbon emissions of 8kg carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)/kg AI and LocAI Super green at 4kg CO2e/kg AI, which is among the lowest carbon aluminium available globally.

Earlier this year Capral committed to reaching Net Zero emissions by 2050, which will drive rapid innovation and cultural evolution throughout the business. The introduction of LocAI demonstrates the deliberate shift in Capral’s procurement strategy for primary aluminium billet, which General Manager of Supply & Industrial Solutions, Luke Hawkins, says is a high priority for the transport industry.

“In 2022, 22 per cent of the primary aluminium billet Capral uses in its eight local extrusion presses has a carbon content lower than eight kilograms CO2e per kilogram of aluminium,” he says. “Approximately 300 tonnes have a certified carbon content lower than four kilograms of CO2e per kilogram of aluminium. This is a strategic change for Capral, driven by our desire to make lower Carbon aluminium accessible to Australian manufacturers. The market is looking for this product, and as Australia’s largest

extruder of aluminium, we must make it available.”

Aluminium is often regarded as a sustainable metal, with its versatility and recyclability earning the reputation. However, there are significant variations in the carbon emissions generated by smelters during the production of primary aluminium, meaning that some aluminium may be considered more sustainable than others.

The main contribution to aluminium’s carbon emissions comes from the electrolysis process used in aluminium smelting. Around 60 per cent of the aluminium sector’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions are from the production of electricity consumed during the aluminium smelting process.

The carbon emissions in the production of primary aluminium range from under 4kg CO2e/kg AI to over 20 kg CO2e/

Fast fact

The four aluminium smelters producing primary aluminium within Australia consumes approximately 10 per cent of the national energy grid.

kg AI, depending on the energy sources used. The current global average carbon emission for primary aluminium is approximately 16.8kg CP2e/kg AI.

Capral General Manager of Marketing and Technology, Michael O’Keefe, explains the LocAI Green offer already beats the current global average carbon emissions by a large margin.

“At eight kilograms of carbon emissions per kilogram of aluminium, the LocAl Green offer has 50 per cent lower carbon emissions than the current global average for primary aluminium,” he says. “At four kilograms, LocAl Super Green is 75 per cent lower; this is a significant reduction. It gives Australian manufacturers an important opportunity to make more responsible procurement decisions when they source extruded aluminium.”

In addition to lower carbon emissions, the primary aluminium offered under the LocAI brand is sourced exclusively from Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) certified smelters.

ASI is a global non-profit organisation which brings together producers, users, and stakeholders in the aluminium value chain. ASI members are committed to the responsible procurement and sustainable

Capral is introducing a lower-carbon

which will be available across its

products – and it will provide Australian manufacturers with access to more sustainable aluminium for their projects.

production of aluminium, and because of this ASI has become the cornerstone of sustainable aluminium procurement for the world’s leading aluminium organisations.

“Being able to offer LocAl aluminium sourced from ASI-certified smelters gives us the added assurance that the aluminium we buy has been produced responsibly with consideration given to sustainability and societal impact,” Luke says. “It helps us stand behind the product we sell and tell our customers we’ve done the best we can to deliver you a product that has been

produced responsibly at all stages in the value chain.”

According to Capral, although the focus is on cleaner engine and fuel technologies, the next logical step is towards vehicle manufacturing and embodies carbon in materials.

“At Capral, we want to be ready to help forward-thinking businesses in the transport sector get ahead of the curve, making access to lower carbon extruded aluminium products possible for these manufacturers,” Luke says. “It’s ready. All

our customers need to do is ask.”

Capral is ambitious about offering LocAI to Australian manufacturers and Luke is hopeful that the demand for lower-carbon aluminium will continue to grow.

“We hope that in 2023 more and more of the aluminium we source will be LocAl to meet our customer’s demands,”

Contact

Capral Aluminium Ph: 1800 258 646 Web: www.capral.com.au

Carrying sustainability in refrigerated transport

Scott’s Refrigerated Logistics has embarked on a fleet upgrade and renewal program to better service its customers as well as become a more sustainable operation. This undertaking to maintain and modernise its trailer refrigeration units is supported by Carrier Transicold.

Fast fact

The internal architecture of the Vector HE 19 has been significantly redeveloped. Combined with its new ultra-modern design, it improves fuel consumption by up to 30 per cent, reduces unit weight by 10 per cent and achieves lower noise levels all at the same time.

Kelly explains that the Carrier BluEdge Elite plan is the ultimate worry free, peace of mind program for clients who demand the highest level of equipment reliability, uptimes, and fiscal certainty.

“By combining your Carrier Transicold transport refrigeration units with our BluEdge service maintenance package, you can be confident you will be receiving optimum levels of product support that will keep your fleet operating as effectively as it was originally designed,” he says.

According to Anthony, Carrier took over the task of helping SRL bring its aging fleet maintenance up to scratch during a difficult period of global supply chain shortages and covid related resource constraints, and it has delivered on all of its promises made. “We couldn’t be happier with the progress we’ve made together in reducing our costs, improving our fleet’s uptime and the plans we’ve made for fleet renewal that will save us money and reduce our environmental footprint at the same time,”

CGS dominates KSA transport refrigeration

Coldstores Group of Saudi Arabia (CGS) is a leading supplier of insulated reefer bodies and temperature controlled semi-trailers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The company brings the latest transport refrigeration technologies to the Middle East and uses a state-of-the-art production facility that uses open pouring panel production and computerised chassis welding capabilities. As a cold chain specialist, the company provides refrigeration solutions for process and cold storage, and operates a Kingdom-wide service network. Customers of CGS value their engineering competence, quality mindset and service orientation.

“To keep pace with industry demand while ensuring great versatility, CGS continuously invests in new technologies,” said CGS Group CEO, Peter Färber. “This enhances the final product, assures production quality and improves process automation.”

The OEM collaborates globally with the best partners in their respective sectors. It also works to upskill its team of professionals who hail from 25 different countries; they represent a microcosm of

the world in terms of language, culture and religion for a truly global approach.

Together with Carrier Transicold Europe, CGS introduced the latest microprocessorcontrolled refrigeration units in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom of Bahrain. Strategically placed locations at Riyadh, Dammam, Jeddah, Madinah and Bahrain provides CGS with a clear competitive advantage.

Since 1978, CGS has exclusively distributed Carrier Transicold products and is currently its second oldest partner globally. Carrier transport refrigeration units have been jointly optimised to operate reliably in the Middle Eastern climate, too.

Carrier Transicold has a long tradition in the Middle East, especially in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for close to 45 years and that too with CGS. CGS has successfully established and developed an unmatched sales and service organisation for Carrier Transicold.

“The partnership between CGS and Carrier Transicold has developed through years of collaboration thanks to a mutual respect and shared professionalism.” said Färber.

“The quality of services that CGS offers customers of Carrier Transicold products is extremely professional, excelling in all areas, whether management, sales, service, administration.”

Meanwhile, tail lift specialist, Anteo, has a long tradition and solid reputation in the Middle East, especially in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia together with CGS for over 25 years. CGS has successfully established and developed a premium sales and service network for Anteo.

“The partnership between CGS and Anteo has developed through over three decades of collaboration thanks to very professional teams of both companies,” said Färber. “Temperature-controlled logistics solutions have always been one of the most sophisticated sectors in the road transport industry. By understanding market requirements, CGS provides continuous product development efforts with teams focused on improving transportation, temperature management, and refrigerated technologies. The company is committed to exploring all possibilities in terms of the best and most economical solutions.”

Since 1976, CGS has pioneered cold chain solutions. Engineering competence, with the latest product design and production technology, CGS is positioned as an accomplished cold chain specialist for perishable goods in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East .

Ports and all: GPSM

Global Product Supply Management runs its own transport division, making it a rare industry presence given its line of work. Earlier this year it celebrated its 20th anniversary by investing in a showstopping new Kenworth T909 prime mover.

The name of the business – Global Product Supply Management (GPSM) –derives from its inaugurated model of helping importers better manage the supply of their products, not just their shipments.

“We felt that the customer service for that last mile was almost more important than getting it here on a ship,” says GPSM founder, Bill Alexiou.

For a while there the business dabbled in opening an interstate office which, ultimately, wasn’t pursued when it was decided Sydney operations alone had more than enough opportunities and electronic lodgements to cater for all interstate customers. Six years into its existence GPSM did purchase a small husband and wife transport business.

“They basically had two trucks and from that we built it up only to satisfy the needs of our clients so we focused on that as a key driver to improve service,” Bill says. “We didn’t want to get too big. With transport there’s always something happening — fines, accidents, drivers off.

You’re throwing money at it all the time. It’s a very hungry capital-intensive beast, but it’s a beast our customers need us to manage and manage well.”

The business prides itself on its interactions with suppliers. Instead of servicing customers just on the purchase order level, particular emphasis is placed on the type of products being shipped. It differs somewhat from most freight forwarding models in which the shipper, once they know when the goods are ready, simply retrieve the goods to ship them out.

The fleet consists of mainly prime movers, most of which are 600 horsepower Volvo FHs, with a pair of Tautliners assigned to LCL air freight, a 450hp Volvo FM and a new Kenworth T909. The Kenworth, which is pulling A-doubles from the wharf at Port Botany, making it unique in Sydney alone for its individual specification, has been added as a commemorative vehicle to recognise the company’s 20th anniversary. Because it is ferrying A-double skels between the

port and Eastern Creek, the only Kenworth of its kind to do so, the vehicle has needed to undergo several modifications through its design and build stages.

The 30-metre allowance in Sydney nominally prohibits bonneted American trucks like this from operating in such an applications on the wharf.

Designed in collaboration with Gilbert and Roach to ensure it met the requirement, the Kenworth T909 has undergone a host of interesting changes including a shorter wheelbase so that the front of the skel could be shifted all the way forward. A day-cab was also imperative.

“I’m really happy with the fleet we’ve got,” says Rob Sullivan, GPSM Transport Governance & Compliance Manager. “It’s diverse and we’ve got a good variety of trailers and services from the dock. A lot of trailers we’ve investing in are interchangeable. There’s rollback skels and lift-on, lift-off Carrier Eco-Drive GenSets. For the size of the fleet I’m really proud of the volume of work it does.”

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Living the dream

With an engineer for an uncle who travelled the world, civil engineering sounded like the job for Nial O’Brien.

“When I was a teenager there was a bypass being built around the town I lived, called Braintree, which is in Essex, England, and this gave me visuals of what civil engineering was all about and how I could get into the industry,” he says.

Nial registered at the University of

Industry Innovators

Made possible by Smedley’s Engineers, Industry Innovators is a series dedicated to honouring the individuals who are transforming the commercial road transport industry.

Hertfordshire in 1994 to study Civil Engineering. After graduating, he obtained his Class 1 Heavy Combination licence in 1997 and spent a couple of years driving T44s and semis all over Europe, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

“It was a good period of my career in terms of getting hands-on experience and understanding the issues with the industry,” he says. “I feel it’s given me a pretty good platform to have a voice in the room – I’ve not just been a designer or someone who can just talk about freight, I’ve been behind the wheel and experienced it firsthand amongst multiple jurisdictions.”

Nial left driving to work for an engineering contractor and then moved to engineering consulting in 2000. He moved

to Australia in 2005 and joined Aurecon to continue his journey.

“I’ve been here ever since,” he says. “I plan and design roads and highways and big freight projects across Australia, New Zealand and Asia.”

Nial has been involved with several major projects during his career. However, he says his favourite would belong to the Pacific Highway Woolgoolga to Ballina project, which involved a 155-kilometre pacific upgrade which through two big river systems and nine years of his career.

“I took that project from route options all the way to concept design before it was handed over to contractors to do the detail design and construct,” he says. “I learnt a lot on that project which could contribute to the viability of industries in this country. That particular section of the road had up to 20,000 vehicles a day at certain points but only 4,000 of those were interstate traffic, so it was carrying a lot of trucks from one end to another.

“That was the primary reason why the road was being considered and to be constructed, because those vehicles were travelling on roads which were mapped out over a hundred years ago and desperately needed to be upgraded in order to drive efficiency and safety.”

In hindsight, Nial says he enjoys looking ahead and contemplating what the future holds for the transport industry. He also believes that it’s very importing for designers, operators and legislators to work together to plan what the industry looks like tomorrow.

“I see the changes in the next 20 years to be far greater than what we’ve experienced over the last 70,” he says. “There’s huge opportunities in terms of what the industry can be in 20 years’ time when we look at emerging technologies and trends in freight safety and efficiency.

“I think it’s important to always think about the future, because if you just accept what’s happening today, then you can become irrelevant pretty quickly.”

I see the changes in the next 20 years to be far greater than what we’ve experienced over the last 70.

“

Truck Shows & Field Days 2023

Pencil in some information on dates and venues of various truck shows, field days and road transport industry conferences both locally and internationally.

Got an upcoming event? Then let us know about it – email editor@trailermag.com.au

2023: January Victoria

Geelong Classic Truck and Machinery Show 14-15 January Geelong, VIC Visit: www.classictruckandmachinery.com.au

February South Australia

evokeAG 2023 21-22 February North Terrace Adelaide, SA Visit: www.agrifutures.com.au

March South Australia

South East Field Days 17-18 March Lucindale, SA Visit: www.sefd.com.au

Victoria

Wimmera Machinery Field Days 7-8 March Horsham, VIC Visit: www.wimmerafielddays.com.au

Farm World 24-26 March Warragul, VIC Visit: www.lardnerpark.com.au/event/farmworld/2022-03-24/

May New South Wales

Tocal Field Days 5-7 May Paterson, NSW Visit: www.tocalfielddays.com

Queensland

Brisbane Truck Show 18-21 May Brisbane, QLD Visit: www.brisbanetruckshow.com.au