Scania Experience #19

BUSINESS

| VEHICLES | TRENDS

N O 1/2018

#19

WWW.SCANIA.COM.AU

EXPERIENCE UPTIME

Delta Good Run

A demanding urban environment provides no problems for Delta Group’s hard-working Scania hooklifts and tipper and dog sets.

New Truck Generation

Logging on to Scania

EVALUATION FLEET ON THE ROAD HERE

SA’S GOCAT ENJOYS V8 PURFECTION

Tailored Finan Solutions Whatever the size of your fleet, whatever the application, Scania Finance Australia can tailor a funding solution that perfectly meets your need and the needs of your business.

We offer a full range of funding options for vehicle renewal, to preserve your capital and enhance your cash flow.

We can structure an operating lease that includes repair and maintenance so all your running costs, except fuel, are covered by one monthly payment.

We have flexible loan terms from 12 to 84 months, and we can offer you no-risk financing where you simply hand back the vehicle at the end of the term, with no residual value worries.

Talk to us today to find out how we can swap you out of your existing vehicle into a new, fuel efficient, safe and comfortable Scania, that could cost you less to run, saving you even more.

Scania Finance Australia www.scania.com.au Phone: 1300 695 226

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January 2018

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CONTENTS Scania Experience No.19 6 News

Scania poised to launch New Truck Generation and new Touring charter coach during 2018.

16 Evaluation fleet on the road here

Scania Australia has 10 new trucks under evaluation with customers after completing internal trials.

22 Hungry for innovation

Logistics specialist VISA Global is focused on efficiency and smart operating concepts.

28 Cleanest trucks in the West

South West Express is shaping up as the cleanest fleet in WA, with 13 Euro 6 Scania trucks to ply the roads in 2018.

32 Big little loads

22

Queensland heavy-haul specialist operator Egans is the latest to adopt the mighty power of the R 730 V8.

36 Cover Story: Delta's good run

A successful debut for Scania with Delta several years ago spurs the addition of 10 new trucks in 2017.

40 A fine reward

Long-time Scania owner-driver Thay Kour traded up from an R 620 to the R 730 V8 for his new tipper.

44

44 Feline groovey

Logging in SA's Moount Gambier is hard work made simple with the power of a Scania V8, as George Catalano has found.

48 Something different

American truck operator Dave Haywood tries his hand at a European cab-over and finds it's love at firght sight.

52 Downsizing by powering up

WA's Lyndon Telini shed his fleet and retained just one truck. He's now far happier, and better off all round.

56 Riding in style

The school children of Northampton and Geraldton in WA ride to and from school in style on Phil Sotiroff's new Scania-powered bus.

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48

Editorial

58 Executive class

Melbourne coach operator Michael Oaten has added his first new Scania to the fleet, a 490 hp Euro 6 fitted with plenty of luxury features.

60 Grand designs

Port MacDonnell's Barry Williams commissions his latest Scania-powered V8 cray boat, with 1000 hp on tap.

62 The power of one

Jayden Lee has switched to a pair of 900 hp Scania V8s from American V12 engines and is counting the savings.

63 Three's a charm

David Perham is repowering his 23-year-old cray boat, choosing Scania power once again, this time with a pair of 750 hp 13-litre 6-cylinder engines in place of two V8s.

64 Service directory

Where to find all our service and emergency dealers.

66 The Back Page

After more than 4 million km in the same truck, one Scania die-hard reckons it could be time to quit, even if his truck won't.

Scania Experience Scania Experience is a magazine about business, vehicles and trends, for ­transport operators and professionals, and is distributed free to all owners of Scania trucks, buses, coaches, and industrial and marine engines.

Managing Editor Alexander Corne Contributing Photographers Charlie Suriano, Mark Horsburgh, Paul Kane, Mark Morawitz, Warren Aitken, Paul Blake

Graphic Design and Layout Motorink Pty Ltd Scania Experience is printed by PostScript Printing Publishing Agencies Motorink Pty Ltd (Aust) + Appelberg, Stockholm, Sweden www.appelberg.com Scania Experience is published by Scania Australia 212-216 Northbourne Road, Campbellfield, Victoria 3061

No reproduction in whole or in part of this publication is allowed without the permission of the Managing Editor. The publisher does not accept responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs submitted to this publication. The opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of Scania Australia. This publication is issued for informational purposes. Any use of the information provided is at the user’s sole risk, and the publisher shall not be liable for direct, incidental, consequential or indirect damages of any kind arising out of the use of the information made available in this publication. Scania Australia thanks the owners and operators of Scania vehicles for their time and assistance in the compilation of material for this edition. www.scania.com.au

www.scania.com.au

“ We can interpret the data for you and show you where savings can be made.”

Mikael Jansson, Managing Director

Big data, big help Scania is raising the bar in Australia in terms of our vehicle and engine sales success. But we aren’t focussing on our numbers, but rather on your numbers.

While it is very pleasing for me to report to our factory that we have delivered more new Scania trucks to more customers in 2017 than any previous year, and a record number of buses to our retail customers, and installed the most industrial and marine engines yet, but the most important fact is that you are happy with your investment in our products and services.

Delivering reliable, durable, fuel efficient and low emission products is what drives us, along with ensuring through our nationwide service network that you benefit from maximum uptime and the most effective Total Operating Economy.

We can offer you vast insight into how your assets are being deployed and where you can make meaningful savings, using our Scania Communicator teamed with our Fleet Monitoring System and Scania Optimise.

We can interpret the data for you and show you where savings can be made.

In such a competitive economy every little helps, and as some of our customers have already experienced, the savings can soon add up to significant amounts over the course of a year.

Our contracted services with flexible maintenance plans can also make a significant difference to your operating costs.

We have marshalled big data in Sweden to understand better when replacement components can be installed, ahead of them failing in service. With around 300,000 connected vehicles around the world; in Europe, Russia, Asia, South America and Southern Africa as well as Australia, we can understand in granular detail how our trucks perform under specific working conditions. This translates to servicing schedules that can be as individual as your business, meaning in many cases, fewer days off the road for regular maintenance giving you more opportunities for profitable business.

We can also take into account how your drivers are scoring using the on-board driver support system as a way to calculate service intervals and cost-per-km for repair and maintenance contracts. So, your best drivers will be able to save you even more money in day-to-day running costs, above and beyond their more fuel-efficient driving performance.

In your competitive business environment, you may have several rivals doing the same job as you. But, by working with Scania and optimising your efficiency, we can give you the edge that enhances your profitability and potential for growth and success.

MIKAEL JANSSON MANAGING DIRECTOR

N o 1/2018 • SCANIA EXPERIENCE 5

News

A Grand Achievement

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cania has supplied more new trucks to Australian customers in 2017 than in any previous year in its history, breaching the 1000-deliveries barrier for the first time.

The achievement comes on the back of several strong years for sales development, but in 2017 the company out-performed its previous best result by a significant 29% to post this new high-water mark.

“The delivery of more than 1000 new Scania trucks to the Australian market in 2017 reflects the appeal and success of the Scania Total Transport Solutions sales concept among customers,” said Martin Toomey, Director of Sales for Scania Australia.

“Our previous best result was 778 truck deliveries, so the 2017 result reflects the market’s appreciation of the Scania offer beyond simply providing reliable, durable, comfortable trucks, speaking to the value placed in our aftersales services.

“We have long maintained that assisting our customers to achieve the best possible total operating economy benefits their profitability, which in turn ensures Scania is understood to be an important part of their business success,” he said.

“Our commitment to uptime and customer aftersales service, teamed with our very successful trucks with their huge driver appeal, have been very attractive arguments to convince new customers to join Scania during the year,” said Dean Dal Santo, National Sales Manager – Trucks, at Scania Australia.

“We have seen interest across the range of applications, from long distance linehaul to city-based distribution, as well as construction and forestry, while our mining and resources division based in Perth has also been busy.

“Increasingly, we are seeing high levels of success meeting the needs of companies participating in the infrastructure building sector, specifically in Sydney,” Dean said.

“Scania also enjoyed record deliveries of buses and coaches to retail customers in 2017, with more than 250 vehicles supplied to private operators, from a total of 310 passenger carrying vehicles delivered in 2017.

Despite muted demand from some state government bus operations in 2017, the fully-imported Scania-Higer A30 continued to perform well in the retail market, along with locally-bodied buses for school and charter work, and some good touring coach deliveries including several complying with Euro 6 emission regulations.

“It was a very successful year for our bus business,” said Julian Gurney, National Sales Manager – Bus. “We are confident our momentum will carry through into 2018, especially as we are looking forward to introducing the all-new Scania Touring two-axle school and charter coach later in the year, ideal for customers

looking for a ready-made solution boasting a higher luggage capacity than the A30.”

In the Scania marine and industrial engines division, André Arm, National Sales Manager – Engines, said deliveries had also set a new standard for the year, with irrigation, work-boat and pleasure-craft leading the charge.

“We have been able to broaden our offer across these sectors with new output options up to 1200 hp, but it is the Scania operating parameters and back-up we provide that is also very appealing to operators, where, just as in the truck and bus business, uptime for our customers is of paramount importance.

Also like truck and bus, we are very excited by the opportunities we see available in 2018,” André said.

“Scania’s overall business is growing, driven by the simple fact that we care about our customers’ businesses, and we are dedicated to supply them with the right tools, at the right price and with the levels of uptime they need in order to maximise their profitability,” said Martin Toomey.

6 SCANIA EXPERIENCE • N o 1/2018 www.scania.com.au

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cania Australia will launch, and commence sales of its awardwinning New Truck Generation during 2018, following a preview event in March.

The first deliveries of the new vehicles are expected early in the second half of the year.

“We are delighted to announce that the 2017 International Truck of the Year, the New Truck Generation Scania, will begin to arrive in Australia during 2018,” said Scania Australia’s Director of Sales, Martin Toomey.

“The New Truck Generation has been much anticipated in Australia following its international launch in the third quarter of 2016 in Europe, and subsequent success in sales, as well as garnering many positive reviews and successful comparisons with direct rivals, and of course being awarded

International Truck of the Year for 2017.

“The new vehicles feature an all new cab, significantly revised engines and gearboxes, as well as improved aerodynamics, all of which add up to a 5% reduction in fuel use, providing operators with significant reductions in running costs, especially in long haul applications,” he said.

“We have been evaluating a number of the 6-cylinder and V8 models in Australia this year, and they have exceeded our expectations in every way,” Martin said.

“These vehicles are now on-test with selected operators, undertaking real-world driving duties in a range of applications across the country,” he said.

Globally, Scania’s NTG pre-production test vehicles covered more than 12.5 million km in all terrain and all climatic conditions prior to the European launch, coping with

the frozen Arctic Circle in the depths of the northern winter and the blistering dry heat of the mountains of southern Spain.

“The New Truck Generation arrives as Scania’s market momentum is reaching an all-time high, with record numbers of deliveries of the existing P, G and R-series trucks here, as operators are drawn by Scania’s incredible reliability, durability, operating economy and, of course, driver comfort and safety.

“As the need to retain quality drivers becomes ever-more pressing, both the existing range and New Truck Generation Scania will help operators hold on to their best drivers, and also attract the cream of the crop,” Martin said.

Further details regarding the specifications available on the Australia market will be announced from March 2018.

New Truck Generation on the way www.scania.com.au

N o 1/2018 • SCANIA EXPERIENCE 7

News

Performance and perfection

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oining the new G-, R- and S-series New Truck Generation vehicles unveiled in Europe recently was the all-new P-series, the stalwart of Scania’s vocational and distribution business.

The multi-role P-series was revealed in rigid distribution guise, coinciding with the unveiling of the XT Construction Truck range.

Traditionally, the practicaland productivity-focused P-series does duty as a

supermarket distribution prime mover, fire appliance rigid, Twin Steer 8x2 rigid 14-pallet delivery truck as well as the basis for many hooklift and refuse applications.

“While there isn’t evenly weighted demand for all the versions, for us at Scania it’s a matter of credibility to be able to offer the right variant for applications and requirements that are not so common, as well,” said Anders Lampinen, Product Director, Construction, Scania Trucks.

“The entire Scania philosophy of always being able to offer the best total operating economy, thanks to customised solutions for all applications, is based on the diversity and customer benefit provided by the Scania modular system,” he said.

The P-series in Europe is mainly intended for customers who rarely stay overnight in their vehicles but who often climb in and out of them.

The new CP17N or CP20N provides a cab that has 100 mm more interior headroom

than previous versions. This is consistent with all of Scania’s new generation cabs where interior space has increased.

Concurrent with the reveal of the new P-series cab is the unveiling of the revised and updated 5-cylinder engine family, which is a popular choice for many P-series operators.

Additionally, the P-series will be available with an array of 13.0-litre 6-cylinder engines.

Scania’s revised 5-cylinder 9.0-litre engine will be introduced in Europe with three different Euro 6-compliant power outputs (280 hp, 320 hp and 360 hp). The New Truck Generation 5-cylinder engines offer fuel efficiency improvements of around 3 percent compared with the previous iteration of this 9.0-litre engine.

Building Extra-Tough trucks

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cania has unveiled an allnew range of trucks tailormade for the mining, construction and infrastructure development industry.

The new construction range is the second stage in Scania’s introduction of new generation trucks, after the long-haul G-, R- and S-series trucks.

After extensive analysis of the multi-faceted mining and construction industry, Scania has developed a comprehensive range to meet the highly diverse transport assignments within these sectors.

Scania XT is uniquely offered in Europe for the entire range of cab and engine specifications, from the smallest

P-series cab to the spacious S-series cab. Customers can select engines with power outputs ranging from 280 to 730 hp. The broad specifications are complemented by a host of services to ensure the highest uptime, reliability and profitability for customers.

The high-rise chassis offers a number of site-friendly features to protect the vehicle and the driver, such as an all steel bumper and extra boarding steps as well as being well prepared for body-builders to add industry-specific machinery or bodies such as tippers.

Transporters in the mining industry normally form part of a larger process and crucially

must avoid disruptions and unscheduled downtime.

Scania has therefore – in addition to tough and durable vehicles – created an entire ecosystem of services that

ensure uninterrupted deliveries while improving customers’ profitability.

Details of the availability of the XT range in Australia will be announced in due course.

8 SCANIA EXPERIENCE • N o 1/2018 www.scania.com.au

New L-series unveiled

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cania now completes its rollout of the new truck generation with the unveiling of the all-new

L-series.

After the introduction of trucks for long-haulage (G-, R- and S-series), general distribution (P-series) and construction (XT), the focus is now on urban and additional low-carbon transport solutions.

The L-series is Scania’s newly developed cab series for urban transport, such as distribution, refuse collection and authority services.

Drivers will benefit from vastly improved direct vision of the surroundings. Drivers will also be at the same height as other road users, with the added advantage of improved working conditions when repeatedly entering and exiting the cab.

The Scania L-series features a kneeling mode and lower boarding steps on both sides of the cab. Drivers can also take advantage of the space in front of the engine tunnel to exit on the passenger side, thereby avoiding oncoming traffic.

“There is a clear trend towards low-entry cabs, which were traditionally mainly used for refuse trucks but are now finding their way into more and more applications,” says Henrik Eng, Product Director, Urban, Scania Trucks.

“A decade or so ago many people would have raised their

www.scania.com.au

eyebrows at a tipper truck with a low-entry cab, but soon it will be an everyday sight in some big cities. The concessions you need to make in terms of ground clearance and attack angles are outweighed by the advantages for those who mainly drive in town, allowing them to be more level with their surroundings.

“They are making legitimate demands that trucks must be modernised to fit in,” he says.

“A low-entry tipper truck with a Scania City Safe Window in the passenger door and a silent gas engine running on bio-methane is much more welcome on the streets of London than traditional vehicles.

“The fact is that zones with enhanced noise requirements, rules on emissions and interaction with other types of traffic appear to be banishing traditional tipper trucks to applications not found in the city.”

All-new CrewCab to answer call of duty

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cania’s globally acclaimed CrewCab has been re-invented from the ground up and is now safer, stronger and more customisable for individual customers. Once again offered in two sizes and able to carry up to eight occupants, the firefighter’s favourite cab-chassis can now also be manufactured more quickly, reducing part of the order-to-delivery wait.

“Scania’s new CrewCab offers the same quality, comfort and safety as our other cabs,” says Henrik Eng, Product Director, Urban, Scania Trucks.

The Scania CrewCab offers up to 500 hp engines, as well as excellent handling, especially vital for fire crews in a rush.

In manufacturing the new CrewCab, Scania has prepared it for routing of electrical and air connections needed by fire appliance body-builders. There are numerous robust attachment

points, and an upper row of holes is provided on the vehicle’s frame for the bodybuilders’ use.

The crew compartment area can be equipped with everything from separate A/C and heating systems, controlled either manually or automatically.

There’s a choice of bucket or bench seats, the former can be configured to cope with breathing apparatus.

The boarding step has been improved, and there are a number of clearly visible handles.

Like all Scania’s cabs, in addition to the usual crash tests, the new CrewCab is tested to the more stringent Swedish impact regulations. The new CrewCab is available in CP28 or the longer CP31 length, the CP31 being offered in a choice of low or normal roof heights.

Australian metropolitan fire services all use Scania, with more than 650 Scania-based fire appliances in use nationwide.

N o 1/2018 • SCANIA EXPERIENCE 9

News

Making the city safer

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cania is introducing a major innovation in the field of road user safety: the Scania City Safe Window. It can be optioned on all P- and L-series trucks and is a window inserted into the lower portion of the passenger side door. This enhances the driver’s ability to see if cyclists have positioned themselves alongside the front of the truck, for example at a set of traffic lights, or if there are small pedestrians, such as children waiting to cross who have positioned themselves out of his

natural field of view.

“For drivers who often drive in urban environments, a window in the door provides greater safety margins and significantly reduces stress levels,” says Henrik Eng, Product Director Urban, Scania Trucks.

“Solutions involving cameras and sensors do not in any way reduce the value of being able to see and even establish contact with other road users. Anything that helps to increase the driver’s vision can be of decisive importance to those caught in traffic.”

The Scania City Safe Window

is heated and can be ordered for the passenger door of all P and L cabs, the cabs most frequently used in urban applications such as distribution, waste collection and various maintenance vehicles.

Gassing it up

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cania is launching in Europe a groundbreaking Euro 6 gas engine capable of producing 410 hp. The 13-litre, six-cylinder engine can be used both for long-distance transport and construction-site applications. The performance is comparable to a diesel engine of the same size. The newly developed engine is the latest addition to Scania’s range of sustainable transport solutions, offering CO2 reductions of between 15 and 95%.

“There is considerable interest in Europe for long-distance, gas-powered transport solutions,” says Henrik Eng, Product Director Urban, Scania Trucks. “The engine meets these needs with all the total operating economy benefits of gas and no disadvantages.”

The new 410 hp engine develops 2,000 Nm

NTG is TOTY in Russia The International Truck of the Year 2017, is now also Best Commercial Vehicle of 2017 in Russia.

The jury of 10 journalists from the Russian automotive and transport trade press noted Scania’s high safety level, comfortable driver environment and overall economy for transport companies.

“Winning ‘Truck of the Year’ in Russia means getting the recognition of the whole transport industry,” says Wojciech Rowinski, Managing Director at Scania-Rus.

from 1,100 to 1,400 rpm. These figures compare well with diesel engines of a similar size. Fuelled

by LNG (liquefied Natural Gas), a semi-trailer truck of up to 40-tonnes would have an effective range of up to 1,100 km. With twin LNG tanks on rigid trucks, a range of up to 1,600 km is possible.

10 SCANIA EXPERIENCE • N o 1/2018 www.scania.com.au

Scania engineer awarded

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cania’s traffic safety engineer Fredrich Claezon has been awarded the European Traffic Safety Award Commercial Vehicles for his long-standing work with safety and driver assistance systems.

Lately, Claezon has been involved in developing the world’s first rollover side curtain airbag for trucks, as introduced in Scania’s new generation trucks.

The award is given by the European Association for Accident Research and Accident Analysis and DEKRA, as well as the German Road Traffic Safety Council. It honours experts who have invented, and subsequently introduced in series production, extraordinary safety systems. It also honours experts with a lifelong commitment to successfully increasing the road safety of commercial vehicles.

The unique rollover side curtain airbags deploy and protect those travelling in the cab if the truck rolls over. Scania’s solution targets one of the most serious consequences of rollover accidents, where drivers or passengers are injured or fatally injured in a collision by their own vehicle. It offers the potential for a significant reduction in deaths from rollover accidents.

Side mirrors go digital

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igital rear-view mirrors on trucks can replace conventional mirrors, reduce blind spots and improve visibility, according to a recently completed research project. This is a first — a digital camera mirror system that could completely replace conventional rear-view mirrors on trucks.

Along with Scania vehicle ergonomist Hanna Staf and technicians from Stoneridge Electronics, Azra Habibovic, project leader at the Swedish research institute RISE Viktoria,

www.scania.com.au

has created a digital rear-view mirror system prototype that represents a clear step forward for trucks.

The prototype includes cameras mounted near the upper front corners of the exterior of the cab. Displays on the inside of the cab show the rear view in real time.

By replacing conventional rear-view mirrors with digital ones, the driver’s direct vision is improved.

“Traditional rear-view mirrors typically block the

driver’s field of vision; by replacing them with digital systems it enables drivers to detect pedestrians and cyclists much easier – a typical problem at urban intersections and roundabouts,” says Habibovic.

The prototype provides a larger field of view and reduces blind spots, making the driver more aware of potential hazards around their trucks. Furthermore, Habibovic explains: “The automatic panning of the main view is especially useful for following the trailer end when turning or reversing. It eliminates the need for body and head movements to increase the field of view, which is usually the case when using conventional mirrors.”

Another advantage is that the prototype provides better visibility when door windows are dirty. During adverse weather conditions it can be a challenge for truck drivers to spot objects in conventional mirrors.

In addition to safety, the digital rear-view system offers reduced air-drag, and enhanced night-time viewing is also possible through an inbuilt infrared system.

Sustainable Truck of the Year in Italy The Scania gas-fuelled P-series distribution truck has been selected as Sustainable Truck of the Year 2018 in Italy.

Under the auspices of the Italian trade magazine Vado e Torno, in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Milan, the awards jury examined all new products revealed in 2017.

The jury noted that gas is increasingly seen as the road towards sustainable transport.

“For Scania, sustainability and addressing the environmental footprint of transportation is a key element in its strategy,” it said.

“Scania’s research and development each day focuses on reducing fuel consumption and operational costs. The fully automated Opticruise transmission, combined with 5-cylinder 280 and 340 hp compressed gas engines, shows Scania’s awareness of its customers’ needs.

Moreover, drivability in the gas distribution truck reaches the highest level ever.”

N o 1/2018 • SCANIA EXPERIENCE 11

News

Driver Services moves up a gear

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cania’s industryleading Driver and Connected Services team has completed another successful year of passing on highly valuable operator efficiency tips to drivers, customers and fleet operators across the country.

The Driver and Connected Services team is also connecting increasing numbers of customers to the Scania Control Fleet Management System including the pinnacle Scania Optimise package that provides very detailed fleet monitoring, as well as driver training and one-on-one follow up coaching.

“We have 3000 vehicles now connected in Australia, including 600 vehicles on the Control Fleet Management System,” says Richard Bain, Manager of Scania Driver and Connected Services.

“We have found some customers are very data hungry and we can provide monitoring analysis broken down into very easy-to-digest bites, so they can see at a glance where they may have issues to address. This of course makes the data more relevant to them, and prompts actions to remedy problems.

“We also provided driver training for 700 vehicles in 2017 and 1000 driver coaching sessions, and we look forward to another year of growth in 2018, with the arrival of the New Truck Generation Scanias.

“Feedback from our customers who have accepted our driver training offer has been sensational in 2017, once again, thanks to the skill, passion and commitment of our very experienced driver trainers.

“The numbers of new customers taking up Driver

The Scania Driver Training team from left: Manager Richard Bain, Peter Verbrugge, Hamed Shoghi, Lindsay Pollock, Grace Mattielli, Josephine Chedraoui, Craig Shipcott, Alan McDonald and Andrew Nicholls.

Training is on the rise. This training ensures drivers understand how to operate all of the technology installed on their vehicles, with the aim of maximising their fuel efficiency, reducing wear and tear and fatigue, thus enhancing safety on the road for all.

“In fact, we have had a lot of customers wanting us to deliver more than the initial four hours of Driver Training, so that more of their drivers can understand the basics of efficient driving, such as avoiding harsh acceleration and braking, anticipation on hills and safe descent, plus of course reducing wasteful idling,” Richard says.

“As fleet operators spread this knowledge across their driver group, the benefits scale up dramatically.

“Anecdotally, we have had operators tell us they can save up to $20,000 worth of fuel each year per truck in long-haulage work.

“With the more detailed Scania Optimise programme we have seen in excess of 9% fuel savings over an extended period, proving the value of the on-going coaching programme where the Scania driving values become ingrained and habitual.

Reducing fuel consumption also reduces carbon emissions, an

important part of the Scania bid to promote sustainability.

“In 2018 we plan to deliver more application-based driver training, in line with Scania in Europe, offering practical and specific tips depending on how the vehicle is specified and used.

This training will help increase safety, reduce fatigue and fuel consumption as well as exhaust emissions,” Richard says.

“We’ll also be modifying the way we present driver results, with more tips on erasing poor driving habits and adding encouragement to try new ideas behind the wheel. The number of parameters being monitored by the Scania Driver Support System rises from four to six, with the results viewable on a special Scania Fleet app,” he says.

Flexible Plans wins Scania Maintenance with Flexible Plans has won an award in Brazil, just two months after being launched there.

Leading Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo has given Flexible Plans its inaugural Best Maintenance Contract prize, as voted for by its transport journalists and users of the TruckPad application.

“This recognition confirms that we are revolutionising the service market for commercial vehicles,” says Fábio Souza, Director of Services for Scania Brasil.

12 SCANIA EXPERIENCE • N o 1/2018 www.scania.com.au

Scania Finance adds new BDM

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Martin Toomey to direct sales

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xperienced industry executive Martin Toomey joined Scania Australia in August in the revived role of Sales Director across all divisions of the business: Truck, Bus and Engines.

With 17 years of industry experience working for multinational component suppliers at General Manger and Managing Director level both locally and across Asia, Martin is well placed to join a vehicle manufacturer that sells directly to its customers.

“I am excited to be joining Scania at this stage in the company’s history,” Martin says.

“Over the past few years, Scania’s rise under Roger McCarthy’s leadership has been resolute and admirable.

“Scania is evolving its hardware and software products and services into a new paradigm, whereby we will increasingly play the role of an insightful business partner to our customers, offering them solutions tailored to their exact needs.

“We will be looking to bring many more customers to the Scania family, as well as to expand the scope of our offer to our existing customers in order to facilitate their journey to greater profitability,” he says.

“Given the high degree of localisation we are able to add to specialist applications for customers – Scania Australia could become the global benchmark within the company for specialised and high productivity vehicle solutions.

“The lessons we learn in this market, given our arduous operating and far-reaching compliance environment, can benefit other markets in the Scania world,” he says.

cania Finance Australia has strengthened its team by appointing Aaron O’Neill as its Business Development Manager for New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT. Aaron joins Scania from a retail automotive background where his most recent area of responsibility was as an Asset Finance Broker. A mechanical fitter by trade, with experience in longwall mining and water treatment, and the son of a truck driver, Aaron says he has enjoyed the challenge of a new environment at Scania, but one that is essentially familiar: finance and trucking. He will be based at Scania’s Prestons branch in western Sydney.

“This has been a big change for me mentally, and it is one I have enjoyed,” he says.

“Much of the first few weeks have been spent getting up to speed with the Scania Finance offer, but deals have been concluded and I have had an approval to finance signed off in each of my first couple of weeks, including my first settlement, so I have been up and running very quickly.

“I am helped by the fact there are excellent sales teams in place in New South Wales and Queensland.

“My family and trade background have given me a good understanding of the Scania business but also the businesses run by our customers, both within truck and bus operational enterprises,” Aaron says.

“Our aim at Scania Finance Australia is to enhance the operating environment for our customers, helping them to be more profitable by utilising the wide array of services we provide.

“I am meeting a lot of customers who are very financially aware and very astute business people. They understand that Scania is able to help them to improve their total operating economy via our menu of business services, of which finance is a key element,” Aaron says.

Scania wins Sustainability Award Scania’s European Cruise Control with Active Prediction now featuring ‘Pulse & Glide’ has been awarded the European Transport Award for Sustainability 2018.

The new version offers the driver more customisation options in driving modes to save even more fuel. The www.scania.com.au

system uses topographical map data and GPS technology to determine the characteristics of the road 3 km ahead.

Based on this data, it selects gearing and speed strategies for the lowest possible fuel consumption.

“The award is yet another affirmation of the innovative

strengths of Scania’s new truck generation,” says Peter Hornig, Managing Director Scania Deutschland Österreich.

“All technological developments that enable fuel savings contribute positively to sustainability.”

N o 1/2018 • SCANIA EXPERIENCE 13

News

Battery and Hybrid buses ready to roll

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t the BusWorld Europe show in Kortrijk, Belgium, in October, Scania unveiled its hybrid Scania Interlink Low Decker (low floor), and a Battery Electric city bus set for real world trials within months.

With the addition of hybrid technology, Scania now provides a wide range of renewable fuel solutions for suburban and inter-city operators. On certain routes with frequent stops, hybrid buses are the best choice in terms of fuel economy, carbon reduction and other emissions.

The Scania Interlink LD is presently

available to run on diesel, biodiesel, HVO, CNG/CBG, ethanol and, with this latest addition, a hybrid powerplant. It complements the Scania Citywide Low Entry Suburban, which is also available for the full range of renewable fuels as well as a hybrid mode.

“Accelerating urban growth in the world is largely rapid suburbanisation rather than expanding city centres,” said Karin Rådström Head of Buses and Coaches at Scania.

“That means longer commuter trips to work and, in fact, suburban public transport presently consumes three times more fuel than city centre transport. Thus, we need a greater focus on finding non-fossil alternatives for these journeys.”

For many European city and suburban bus operators, gas propulsion is the most readily available alternative. With natural gas, the carbon reduction is up to 20% and with biogas up to a full 90%. Scania therefore introduces larger compressed gas tanks that in spite of their greater volume actually weigh less. This not only paves the way for increased passenger capacity but also for an extended range without refilling.

Another Scania premiere at BusWorld

was the battery electric Scania Citywide Low Floor bus. This bus will begin trials to ensure that it meets the highest Scania standards before commercial release during 2018. Scania has built 50 test buses for trials in northern Sweden, and to show off to prospective European city bus customers.

“Scania provides operators with an outstanding freedom of choice too, with retained total operating economy, making the necessary shift to more sustainable passenger transport services,” Karin Rådström said.

Scania bus sales globally set new records in 2016, and thanks to a broad and increasing range of vehicles joining the market, 2017 deliveries look set to exceed the 2016 high-water mark.

Touring takes fuel efficiency win

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he Scania Touring has swept the board in the leading Italybased European newsletter ‘BusToCoach’s’ comparative test of eleven 2-axle coaches from six bus builders.

In testing, the Scania Touring recorded an impressive and unbeatable 18.2 litres/100 km, comprehensively out-pacing its rivals in terms of fuel efficiency.

The Touring used 12% less fuel than the runner-up, and was 31% better than the

thirstiest coach on the 347 km of varied road conditions driven in Lombardy, Piacenza and Liguria.

“The results have exceeded all expectations in terms of consumption, plus a remarkably interesting purchase price,” the publication wrote.

“The consumption turned out to be better than any optimistic prediction.”

Average speed on the test was 77.4 km/h and the air conditioning was only in operation half of the time.

BusToCoach found that the low fuel consumption could primarily be attributed to Scania’s 13-litre SCR-only engine, the automated Scania Opticruise and Scania Active Prediction, which provides topographical information to the on-board control system, allowing the vehicle to predict approaching hills or descents.

In addition to the fuel consumption, the newsletter praised the Scania Touring for its “very good interior quietness for both passengers and the driver, and the wellfinished trim.”

14 SCANIA EXPERIENCE • N o 1/2018 www.scania.com.au

Karin Rådström, Mikael Jansson and Karolina Wennerblom at the Scania BIC Dinner.

Global Head of Bus and Coach visits Hobart

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arin Rådström, Global Head of Bus and Coach for Scania and Karolina Wennerblom, Director of Product Management and Presales for Scania Bus and Coach, both visited Hobart in November along with Fredrik Langsmo, KB area manager to join the industry at the Scania Dinner at the Bus Industry Confederation Conference.

Karin and Karolina took time out to talk to local bus media as well as meet many customers and industry luminaries, hearing about their operating environment and talking about the rise of renewable fuels and the prospect of battery electric vehicles joining the mix of bus technologies.

At the Scania Dinner, Scania National Manager Bus and Coach Julian Gurney announced that one of the new Scania diesel electric hybrid buses would be tested in Australia next year, one of three global markets (along with Hong Kong and Singapore) to trial the technology.

“The hybrid’s powerplant is a 9-litre Euro 6 diesel engine supplemented by an electric motor,” Julian said. “It can meet the needs of intercity and CBD operators, running silently in the city, while the electric motor gives the diesel a boost on hills on inter-city routes.

“Buses such as this hybrid bring to life our commitment to sustainability that delivers real-world solutions. These are on

the verge of becoming a commercial reality for Scania in Australia. We are making our buses and coaches cleaner and kinder to the environment, but critically, without losing sight of the importance of maintaining total operating economy for our customers.

“When we talk about sustainability we see it as a marriage of innovation, technology, and efficiency combined to deliver our customers new vehicles that sustain their business, enhance their profitability, and allow them to meet increasingly stringent environmental operating conditions,” Julian said.

“Scania doesn’t consider environmental and commercial sustainability as competing objectives.”

Touring to launch Down Under

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cania will bring a 2-axle version of the highly successful Touring coach to Australia in 2018, to service the needs of school and charter bus operators who require additional luggage space. The Touring, which recently won a significant victory in a European fuel test against many rivals, will be offered in Australia with 9.0-litre 5-cylinder and 13.0-litre 6-cylinder powerplants, fitted with a 3.8 m high body that is 12.3 m long.

“The Scania-Higer A30 has been a great success for us in Australia with more than 300 now on the road, many in the hands of school and charter bus operators,” said Julian Gurney, Scania’s National Manager for Bus and Coach.

“It has opened up Scania to many new customers, as well as supporting our existing www.scania.com.au

clients’ business needs across the country.

“The Touring will sit alongside the ScaniaHiger A30, and it is a Scania from bumper-tobumper.

“The Scania Touring has been a huge success in Europe, Asia and South Africa, so we are very confident it will be similarly well received here in Australia,” Julian said.

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NTG ON THE ROAD

Photos: Charlie Suriano and Paul Blake

The R 620 V8 Euro 5 engine fitted to the New Truck Generation vehicle was tested head-to-head with the R 620 V8 Euro 5 of the existing range and provided a notable improvement in fuel efficiency. The new truck is wearing a locally-sourced bull bar suitable for highway work.

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CANIA AUSTRALIA HAS NAMED

11 New Truck Generation vehicles after the 11 longest serving staff in the business (see list at right).

The names have been emblazoned on the doors of the new trucks which comprise G 450, G 500 and R 620 V8 models, which were used initially for internal testing, before ten of them were dispatched to THE FIRST

customers for evaluation.

Following the launch of the New Truck Generation in Europe, demand for Scania's trucks has spiked to record levels.

The NTG was voted International Truck of the Year 2017, as well as Green Truck of the Year in Europe, underlining its advances in technical, environmental and driver safety areas. It is also more enjoyable to drive, costs less to run, and importantly, it

16 SCANIA EXPERIENCE • N o 1/2018 www.scania.com.au

NTG ON THE ROAD

Evaluation fleet hits the road

Stuart Armet Technical Information Administrator Dealer Support Centre 40 years with Scania Trevor O’Brien General Manager, Vehicle Sales Support Dealer Support Centre 35 years with Scania Sharon Aquilina Contracts Administrator Dealer Support Centre 32 years with Scania

Nick Kassinidis Parts Product Specialist Dealer Support Centre 31 years with Scania

Ken Godbold Parts Advisor Richlands Branch 30 years with Scania

Paul Cant National Warehouse Campbellfield 30 years with Scania

Russell House Parts & Logistics Coordinator Dealer Support Centre 30 years with Scania

Spencer Ellicott National After Sales Support Manager Dealer Support Centre 30 years with Scania David Nicholls Customer Services Advisor Wingfield Branch 30 years with Scania

Robert White Customer Service Representative Wingfield Branch 30 years with Scania

still looks like a Scania. The record levels of inquiry and sales are an excellent indication that customers are responding positively not only to the new vehicles but also to the services that come with them, such as Scania Maintenance with Flexible Plans.

Back in Australia, the first 11 NTG vehicles that arrived for evaluation were fitted with bull bars by King Bars, differing in size as per application. www.scania.com.au

The two G 450 6-cylinder Euro 5 trucks are named for Sharon Aquilina and Spencer Ellicott, the G 500 6-cylinder trucks for Russell House, Trevor O’Brien, Paul Cant and Ken Godbold, and R 620s carry Robert White, Jason Grech, David Nicholls, Nick Kassinidis and Stuart Armet.

“We thought the arrival of the very first of the New Truck Generation vehicles would be the perfect opportunity to thank our

Jason Grech Technical Support Manager Dealer Support Centre 30 years with Scania

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Insde story: The spacious, comfortable and high quality all-new cabin pampers drivers with a greatly improved driving position, all new dash and steering wheel, perfectly laid out controls and thinner A-pillars for improved vision. The mirrors have been moved as well to provide better vision when pulling out. Lighting master switches are now grouped together on the window ledge as a result of moving the steering wheel closer to the door. Side curtain airbags are available for both sides of the truck to protect in a roll-over. A new Retarder wand, top, provides even easier control for efficient braking.

longest serving and most loyal members of staff,” said Ron Szulc, Brand and Communications Manager of Scania.

“The trucks were registered for the road in September and were initially used to check performance against our expectations, and against identical vehicles from the existing G- and R-series ranges.

“With that task completed, ten of the vehicles were dispatched to a range of customers as evaluation vehicles so that these customers can gauge the value of the new features and design both to their operating economy and their driver satisfaction,” he said.

“We are working towards the launch of the new range of trucks in March 2018, but the information we collect from the first 11 trucks will be very important to us, allowing us to collect performance data and driver feedback that we can use in our sales and

marketing activities in the future.

“While the New Truck Generation has been lauded in Europe, we need to understand how well they will perform here in Australia.

“Thanks to the commissioning of the new industry-leading climate chamber at the factory, our engineers can accurately produce extreme cold and extreme heat to replicate the full range of Australian operating conditions.

“Having customers incorporate these vehicles into their day-to-day activities better enables us to refine the Australian specification to ensure the vehicles are optimised for the combination of high

18 SCANIA EXPERIENCE • N o 1/2018 www.scania.com.au

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Evaluation fleet hits the road

weights, long distances and variable terrain and weather, typical of Australian running.

“Our customers will be running a combination of inter- and intrastate routes working the eastern seaboard between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and west from Melbourne to Adelaide.

“Our R 620s are some of the very first V8 6x4 trucks the factory has built, and while the G 450 and G 500 6x4s are also a relatively unusual specification for Europe, they are what our market expects,” Ron said.

“We have had Alan McDonald, Lindsay Pollock and Craig Shipcott from the Scania Driver Training team behind the wheel for a month, driving these trucks nonwww.scania.com.au

stop between Melbourne and Sydney and Melbourne and Adelaide, switching drivers and loads on a regular rotation. This gives both the existing G- and R-series and the NTG trucks the most even evaluation possible. “ This is so that we can make a definitive determination on how much more frugal or easier the new trucks are to drive,” Ron said.

“The specifications our pre-sales team have created from the array of options available at the factory is based on 40 years of experience specifying trucks for the highly competitive Australian market, so we are confident we’ll have the exact specification we need to be successful,” Ron said.

Scania Master driver trainers Alan McDonald, top, and Lindsay Pollock, above, put thousands of km under the wheels.

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Evaluation fleet hits the road

20 SCANIA EXPERIENCE • N o 1/2018 www.scania.com.au

NTG ON THE ROAD

The new G 500 provides V8 style power and torque from a 6-cylinder, and can pull a linehaul B-double without a problem.

The G 450 provides the perfect power option for single trailer supermarket application or for intra-state work.

Where the New Truck Generation trucks have been compared with their natural predecessors, fuel efficiency gains have been consistent and impressive.

www.scania.com.au

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Photos: Charlie Suriano

Imagination, innovation and advanced technology drive VISA Global Logistics’ growth, now assisted by Scania’s Total Transport Solution concept.

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Hungry for innovation ISA GLOBAL LOGISTICS

believes it is at the cuttingedge of logistics development in Australia.

It delivers a fully integrated solution including international freight forwarding, customs clearance, warehousing, distribution and value-added services.

The company began in 1982, and over the past 35 years has become one of Australia’s largest privately-owned international freight forwarding companies. VGL opened its first

international office in Hong Kong in 2000, and currently operates in 15 countries with its most recent off-shore expansion being the establishment of a joint venture logistics business in India. The company has more than 800 employees across Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and Europe.

When VGL Executive Director Simon Hardwidge explains how his business operates, words such as ‘agile’, ‘processdriven’, ‘paperless office’ and ‘innovation’ spill into the conversation at regular intervals.

VGL runs a large fleet of 130 pristine

prime movers around Australia, replete with a distinctive blue white and green livery.

Now there are 19 Scanias in the fleet, split between R 560 V8s and G 480 6-cylinder prime movers, offering not only operating efficiencies, but via the Scania Total Transport Solutions concept, numerous synergistic benefits to help the business keep on top of its asset utilisation, total operating costs and ultimately, relative profitability job-to-job.

“We have digitalised the business,” Simon said.

“We operate a paperless office for our

22 SCANIA EXPERIENCE • N o 1/2018 www.scania.com.au

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One of the new VISA Global Scania V8s rests momentarily in the yard at Altona North prior to heading out. VGL Executive Director Simon Hardwidge sits behind the wheel for the photo, but the moment he's had his picture taken, the wheels are rolling once again.

logistics operations, including our transport divisions in Australia and New Zealand.

Through our in-house software platform “OneTrack” our drivers operate using tablet devices that provide all daily work orders including sign on glass, mass and dimensional information, safety checks, etc., and is their tool for recording their hours of work.

“We have been able to track our trucks through GPS for a while, but now we have GPS locators on the trailers too. Now, through our OneTrack software platform wherever a container is anywhere in the world and whoever is moving it for whichever customer, we have its live position at all times until its journey is completed,” he said.

“As a company, we are hungry for innovation. We have as many smart systems www.scania.com.au

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Hungry for innovation

operating as we can lay our hands on, so the whole business is run electronically. In our OneTrack software team we have 10 in-house programmers writing our own programmes, with new iterations released fortnightly.

It’s a system that has been in constant development for 15 years,” Simon said.

“We feel this makes us responsive and agile.

“Technology is great, but it has to deliver a benefit. We can clearly see our systems lower our operating costs, and provide

both visibility and service benefits to our customers.

“Several years ago, we were working in a manual environment, but we have used our brainpower to put in place processes and automation that removes the mundane from our staff’s daily tasks to allow them to focus on the important operational matters.

“The outcome delivers a better customer experience, that’s what’s driving us,” Simon said.

What is good for the customer can also

be good for society and the environment as a whole as well. High productivity vehicles are joining the business and have the potential to reduce total truck movements, which means less fuel consumed, fewer exhaust emissions, less impact on the road network, and faster delivery for clients’ goods.

“We are aware of the need to do what we can to make a difference, and high productivity vehicles are a contributor,” Simon said.

“We are running these vehicles in

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Operator’s View

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Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, and will this month begin running them in New South Wales after the recent opening up of the NSW road network to HPVs that operates to/from the Sydney Port,” he said.

“We only run Euro 5 and Euro 6 emission compliant trucks, and every vehicle is on a long-term maintenance plan with the supplier, which reduces the risk of unplanned stops and importantly provides us with known whole of life costs prior to the asset purchase decision,” he said. www.scania.com.au

he National Transport Manager at VISA Global Logistics is Scott Walker.

He looks after the fleet of trucks and trailers across the country and he has been hands-on with the Scania in operation since late 2016.

“We have R 560 V8 and G 480s in the fleet on container work in B-double and Super-B, rated at up to 90 tonnes, as well as some single trailer applications,” he said.

“The Scanias have been doing well.

We’re very happy with them and they have been very reliable. We’ll see about 80,000 km per year on average across these trucks, which doesn’t sound much, but they are largely metro work miles, low speed and in traffic.

“The feedback from the drivers has been positive too. They say they are very quiet, comfortable and easy to drive.

“We have plugged into the Scania fleet and driver monitoring system to see how they are going and the system tells us automatically when vehicles are due for service. This saves us time and effort, especially when you have a national fleet of so many vehicles. We have a manager in each state responsible for service scheduling for both prime movers and trailers.

“The monitoring system shows us how the vehicles are being handled and if there are drivers who could benefit from more training to get their efficiency levels up.

“Fuel consumption is critical, and a small percentage improvement makes a big difference across the fleet,” Scott said.

“The Scania Driver Support system keeps drivers updated on their efficiency

on the road and in real time, and helps to reduce fuel waste, but of course we have to take into account that driving conditions differ from state to state; crawling through the M5 car park in Sydney with one trailer on, or pulling a Super-B through Melbourne in the middle of the night when the traffic is lighter, you’ll get a different fuel result. We aim to keep one driver with a particular truck which helps ensure they’ll drive it more carefully.

“The Scania repair and maintenance programme has been very good. This is a concept we have embraced for quite some time in the company, and it is one of the factors that directs our purchasing,” Scott said.

“Scania has been very proactive with maintenance, and has a preventative programme that does not wait for a part to fail and leave you stranded. Scania understands that time is money.

“Fundamentally the Scania driver training, service notification and quality of after sales service were the biggest reasons we chose them for our fleet acquisitions this year. That the trucks are good, reliable and sturdy on the road also helps,” he said.

“Before we looked at Scania in detail we knew they had a good reputation and were from the top echelon of European trucks, and the move to Scania has provided no dramas.

“We run a 7-year turnover programme, which has increased from 5-years, because we found that after 5 years the trucks had a lot of life left in them, so we’d keep them for 2 more years after the end of the R&M programmes. Now with Scania we have the vehicles covered for all 7 years,” he said.

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Hungry for innovation

“We have a well-evolved programme of letting the manufacturer’s service agents look after the truck while we get on with what we’re good at. We hold our trucks for 7 years, matched to the suppliers’ maintenance plan, before replacing them.”

In late 2016, VGL turned to Scania to supply heavy-duty trucks for its logistics operations.

“We know that the purchase price is just the start, it is whole of life cost that we focus on,” Simon said. “Our 4 purchasing rules are whole of life cost, technology, after sales support and relationship. Scania has delivered in all 4 areas, leading us to commit to the purchase of another 10 trucks over the next 3 months.

“On the technology side, there’s also a high degree of telematics data available, which fits with our ethos, and will enable our programming team to integrate this information into our OneTrack software platform providing valuable data to our transport team.

“We also found that working with Scania’s National Fleet Sales Manager, Jarrod Hegarty, we could devise PBS-compliant vehicles exactly for our needs.

“In fact in one market we have a need for a certain length vehicle for a niche application that will allow us to carry two 40foot containers for last mile delivery, without a permit, at 27.5m. Jarrod has come up with a solution to this, which will make our operation far more efficient and productive.

That’s the responsiveness and expertise we’re looking for from our supplier, a can-do attitude and tailored solutions,” Simon said.

At the other end of the vehicle combination, VGL has been innovative in the design of trailers.

“Through our design of container ramp trailers we have substantially reduced our

reliance on the use of side-loaders in our heavy 20-foot container work throughout Australia. We were the first to develop stag B-double container combinations and retractable container quad trailers and the first also with B-double tipper container combinations,” Simon said.

“The B-double tipper arrangement was specifically designed for a particular contract win, to deliver granules to a plastic bottle manufacturing plant. We are now able to halve the number of journeys, which not only cuts our costs but also reduces our carbon footprint. For delivery of two containers we have the option now for stag B-doubles. The 20-foot container is usually the heaviest, while the 40-foot usually cubes out. So we put the 40-foot up front so it has less impact on the front axle loading, and the heavier 20-

foot container goes on the back,” he said.

The business has been growing organically, reaching out into new overseas markets, and this strategy is set to continue.

“We run around 130 trucks now, up from around 100 two years ago,” Simon said. “I envisage this organic rate of growth continuing at around 10% per year with half coming from new contract wins and the other half coming from ongoing growth in world trade, in line with forecasts from respected international analysts.”

According to Scania National Fleet Sales Manager, Jarrod Hegarty, the opportunity to supply Scania prime movers to VISA Global Logistics brought two like-minded companies together.

“Scania and VGL are both very focused on sustainability, efficiency and utilising

26 SCANIA EXPERIENCE • N o 1/2018 www.scania.com.au

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VISA Global driver Wes Allender, is enjoying his time behind the wheel of the Scania V8.

the latest technology to promote business efficiency. So, when we started talking about a new fleet of trucks, the synergies were plain to see.

“With our tailored approach to vehicle specification and the sophisticated after sales monitoring and maintenance programmes we operate, plus our in-depth driver efficiency training, VGL could achieve everything they wanted from a truck supplier with Scania.

“As we go forward, we’ll be able to expose Simon and his team to more of the Scania Total Transport Solutions concept offer to ensure that we help them realise the best possible total operating economy, as well as the highest levels of uptime, and from that we’ll be making the most efficient contribution possible to their operational profitability,” Jarrod said. www.scania.com.au

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Photos: Paul Kane

CANIA’S EMISSIONS

is leading the build-up of its fleet presence in the wide-open, windblown spaces of Western Australia, but probably as much for fuel efficiency as it is for clean air. The international ructions from the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change don’t count for much on a two-hour grocery cruise south of Perth, but TECHNOLOGY

saving increasingly important litres of fuel does.

Mark Mazza’s South West Express, based in Bunbury south of Perth, has always reflected that fuel focus in the make-up of its Scania fleet and driver training.

But additionally, both the company and customers share in the fuel efficiency benefit when the fuel component of the company’s rate is calculated.

The business sets its rates with a fuel

baseline price of 105.75c/litre. For every cent the diesel price exceeds that baseline, the company wears three quarters of it, while the customer gets billed the remaining quarter as a levy.

That’s why Mark’s customers are as interested as he is in the fuel gains Scania technology brings to the transport task. And it’s also why Mark sticks with Scania for his fleet purchases - to stay at the forefront of emissions and fuel technology.

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Clean Fleet Mark Mazza’s South West Express opts for a new Euro 6 fleet to keep its image spotless.

South West Express’ Scanias were the first Euro 5 fleet in WA, and that trend has continued with its latest fleet additions.

Four G 490 Euro 6 prime movers joined up recently, replacing R 500 V8s that had completed their five-year tenure in largely metropolitan work.

The new trucks are capable of handling occasional regional work with multi-trailer rigs, but most of those tasks will be allocated to the fleet of R-series trucks. www.scania.com.au

As well as being a banner fleet for Scania in terms of on-the-road exposure, the company’s service contracts are also establishing real-time evidence of efficiencies.

Mark and co-owner, wife Andrea, have opted for Platinum service contracts with all their trucks, and they are one of the first operators to sign full-service contracts for the entire fleet.

The contracts deliver bumper-to-endof-chassis service and back-up for the five

years each truck remains on fleet. The average cost is around $1,800 a month per truck, but it varies according to rating and distance travelled. For example, the new G 490s Euro 6 rated at 50-tonnes and set for suburban work cost $800/month, while a 130-tonne R 620 that clocks up the biggest distances, costs $3,600/month.

Towing expenses are covered if a truck has a major failure, however Mark has structured the fleet to allow for one truck N o 1/2018 • SCANIA EXPERIENCE 29

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to be in service at any time. The contract also requires Scania to fix an unscheduled breakdown in 24 hours. If it can’t, it pays its customer $500 per day until the truck is back on fleet.

Certainties such as these have allowed Mark and Andrea to commit their trucks to the tight schedules demanded by customers with perishable supplies.

The Scania efficiency bug has spread to more than just the truck fleet. A 24 kW solar array sits on the warehouse roof, cutting power costs and grid dependency by 51 per cent.

Mark’s business kicked off in 1993 when, in partnership with Andrea, he bought a ten-year-old Atkinson with a 350 big cam Cummins and a 15-speed direct gearbox that clattered its way to 90 km/h after Mark fitted an overdrive kit.

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The operation was incorporated two years later, and Andrea has been “the administrative backbone of the business” since. It’s a family affair with four offspring hard at work - Justin is the line haul manager, Carl is the maintenance manager, Jenna the head receptionist and Ryan drives a road train.

Growth has been steady and uninterrupted, and the Scania connection has been a significant part of that. From servicing a couple of supermarkets in the south-west, the business now services nine stores for Woolworths, plus a wide range of other customers in the food industry.

Over time, Mark has zeroed in on the R 560 V8 as the perfect blend of performance and efficiency for the load and range profiles on his major routes. He has tried most of the horsepower options, evaluating less horsepower for economy, then more horsepower for trip times.

Ultimately the R 560 configuration is the best all-rounder for the multi-role tasks the business demands.

South West Express’ eye-catching yellow logos and signwriting are a common sight on highways south of Perth. The company Scanias tow 48-pallet capacity B-double and dog combinations that stretch out to 38.5-metres, 36- to 46-pallet capacity road trains, 34-pallet capacity B-doubles, a 32-pallet rigid truck and dog trailer and 22and 24-pallet semi trailers.

When contracts are being tendered, the technology level of the South West Express Scania fleet has played an important role in securing ongoing business. Mark’s Scanias have the highest level of telematics, safety and environment features available. Constantly pursuing the latest emissions standard has clearly paid off in real terms.

Mark’s General Manager, Tim Keays, says that every driver is trained by the Scania driver training team, but Scania’s fuel management engineering plays the www.scania.com.au

biggest role here. Fleet statistics reveal that economies of 1.4 to 1.5 km/litre from five years ago are now running at around 2.0 km/litre on the same load profile, a serious saving. Drivers who use the Scania driver training module on board are shaving a further 0.1 km/litre from the fuel bill.

In a straight comparison of Euro 5 vs Euro 6, the new trucks are delivering additional fuel efficiencies of between 0.2 to 0.3 km/litre.

Recently, Mark has been able to optimise his fleet utilisation with the addition of a back-loading contract for refrigerated freight back to Perth. Critical to that contract has been the configuration of his fleet of trailers.

Half of the 46 freezer trailers from FTE in Dandenong are multi-temp three-zone units that allow independent temperature control in each zone, allowing a freezer section, a chiller section and a section at ambient temperature, or just cool.

As one of Scania’s key fleets, South West Express is a success story that underpins good management with the very latest truck technology.

Mark stands proudly with his new fleet of G 490s, above left, and his drivers and management line up, far left, ready to take the trucks and trailers out on their first runs.

South West Express has a distinctive yellow and white livery, made all the more noticeable by prominent Euro 6 badging above the doors on each truck.

As we closed for press, Mark signed up to purchase eight R580 V8 Euro 6 prime movers to join the first R 580 Euro 6 in his fleet. This will give him a fleet of 13 Euro 6 Scania trucks with which to ply the roads of WA in 2018. This will be Scania's biggest fleet of Euro 6 vehicles in Australia to date.

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Words and photos Warren Aitken

Big Little Loads

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HEN YOUR COMPANY

to every extremity of this vast countryside, reliability and performance are big issues. When a transport manager refers to 60-80 tonne loads as ‘the small jobs’, then reliability, performance and straight up pulling power are very big issues.

So it makes sense that when the team at Egans Group were looking to put a cabover truck in front of their heavy haulage float, they turned to Michael Hamilton at Scania DELIVERS

Richlands in Queensland to see what they could achieve.

Egans Group is a Project Management and Plant Hire business that began 55 years ago. Its head office – where you’ll find director Mike Egan – is in Melbourne, Victoria.

Egans Group currently has more than 300 pieces of equipment on its books, which are delivered to customers in every corner and bush track across Australia.

Delivering much of that equipment Australia-wide has fallen on the company’s

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TESTIMONIAL

Switching from a bonneted truck to a cabover allowed Egans Group to dispense with a pilot for oversize deliveries, but it is the comfort and performance of the R 730 V8 that has made the biggest impression.

Stars in their eyes: The Scania R 730 V8 has made a lasting impression in a very short space of time, effortlessly coping with the biggest of loads.

A few modifications by the Egans workshop team to cope with the task adds some storage capacity and an additional AdBlue tank to the rear of the cab, above.

two transporters. In 2016 Egans Group decided to replace one of its bonneted American prime movers with a cab-over.

Remaining competitive in an everchanging transport industry was a leading factor in Egans’ decision to change from the big bonneted rig to the cab-over option.

Hooking up a cab-over unit in front of the float, a Drake 4X8 float with a 2X8 dolly, would mean the unit would measure under 26-metres, and as the majority of Egans’ work is also within the 3.5m limits, the need for a pilot vehicle evaporated; the cost savings on www.scania.com.au

a single job could shout the local footy team’s bar tab. Add those savings up over the year and you could be covering several NRL ‘mad Monday’ events.

The driving influence behind the new truck was Euan Rattray, Egans Group Transport Manager and also the man to pilot the new transporter. Though several manufacturers were in the running to begin with, the downhill finish went to Scania for one very simple reason: the downhill finish.

Euan recalls taking a forty-tonne water truck into Sydney from Brisbane with a

The performance of the Scania Retarder had driver Euan raving about its added safety and control on extended downhill stretches.

Behind the forbidding bull bar and luxury interior of the Scania cab lies a very long and heavy load.

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Scania R 620 V8 demonstrator. Those who have travelled that road are fully aware of the severe undulations that test every truck’s braking capabilities.

“I didn’t touch the foot brake once!” Euan declares. “The retarder (and downhill speed control) was phenomenal.”

That demonstrator experience sealed the deal. With the flick of a stalk, the choice to go Scania was made.

At Scania Richlands, New Truck Sales Account Manager Michael Hamilton was able to set them up with a R 730 very quickly, one perfectly specified for Egans Group’s requirements. It is rated for 130-tonnes and uses hub reduction. The truck was fitted out with plenty of kit for its long cross country runs: A Brisk Air Eco-wind system, a TV, and a microwave were added for interior comfort.

Kentweld Bullbars fitted one of their new HD high-top bull-bars in a black powder coat to ensure the roos and wildlife think twice before playing chicken with the big Scania.

Making sure the truck could carry a varied array of chains, dogs and straps for its varied loads the geniuses in Egans’ workshop in Brisbane manufactured and installed a couple of extra toolboxes up behind the cab.

They also mounted an extra AdBlue tank above one of the new toolboxes. The extra volume, coupled with the extra fuel tank that will be fitted on the float ensures the R 730 can spend a long time off the beaten track without topping up the essentials. The final

addition from the wizards in the workshop was to add a set of high performance LED spotlights, making night driving a breeze amongst the outback hazards.

The big Scania was eased into its new role with a couple of ‘smaller’ shifts before its first big test: carting a D10 dozer from Melbourne back up to Brisbane.

“It’s been great,” Euan admits. Sitting on 95-tonnes with headwinds so strong they could blow a dog off a chain, Euan was mightily impressed with the fuel economy.

“It’s sitting on 1.2 km per litre for that trip.

The old truck would have been between 1.0 and 1.1,” he says, “and this thing’s still new.”

When questioned about how the big R 730s V8 power performed, Euan was again elated. “You didn’t even feel the load, it’s amazing to think we’re touching 100-tonnes, and I still got pushed back in my seat.”

With more than a little smugness he beams as he recalls pulling away from a set of traffic lights and a fully loaded B-double and matching it off the line. “We were 95-tonnes, and we kept up.”

Transitioning from a longer wheelbase bonneted truck to the shorter wheelbase Scania was going to be a marked change in

both traction and comfort. As far as comfort was concerned “it’s beautiful,” Euan says, “ten times better than the old truck” and the traction of the Scania impressed Euan almost as much as the retarder.

“Guys kept telling me to stay away from airbag suspension, but traction was brilliant, every bit as good as the old truck,” Euan remarks. Taking a scraper up through some steep gullies in the Weipa area he admits he was a little concerned at first, but after one trip he now admits he has more confidence getting his new Scania in ahead of the previous bonneted truck.

The braking efficiency is an issue Euan harks back to quite regularly.

The Scania’s Retarder capabilities excite Euan more than most. He knows the price of the little things, like the 16 brake drums on his float. So being able to maximise the Scania Retarder, he’s already envisioning a reduction in wear and tear running costs.

Euan also commends the team at Scania Richlands. “The biggest thing for us is reliability, we are very customer focused,” Euan states.

“If a customer wants a machine, we need to get it there ASAP, if we don’t someone else

Big Little Loads

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will. The guys at Scania have been fantastic, nothing’s a problem for them.”

Having the big R 730 V8 on a maintenance plan and Scania’s quick turnaround mean Egans Group can uphold their stellar reputation for customer service.

So the change to Scania’s flagship R 730 is leaving Egans Group with fuel savings, operational savings, running cost savings and leaving Euan in particular, quite literally sitting pretty.

According to Michael Hamilton at Scania Richlands, the business owner, Mick Egan, was happy to put control of buying the new trucks into the hands of his trusted driver Euan.

“Mick indicated he had faith in Euan, and was comfortable that he would make a buying decision designed to reduce his operating costs,” Michael says.

“When they were shopping for a new truck, we put an R 620 V8 into their hands as a demonstrator. They quickly saw the savings that were possible with a cab-over bringing their overall length down below 26-metres, so they could dispense with the services of the pilot.

“A pilot could cost around $5000 when

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you take all the expenses into account, so that has a major impact on business expenses,” Michael says.

“It also means less paperwork, and more flexibility on trip times, because they don’t have to wait for a pilot to be available. This means greater efficiency and therefore more opportunity for profitable asset utilisation, something we always strive for at Scania.

“We have provided Egans Group with a five-year repair and maintenance contract so they can manage their monthly expenses with full transparency. Euan said with their old truck as it reached the later stages of its working life the repair bills were getting pretty heavy, but with the Scania contract maintenance they will know exactly what the truck will cost to maintain over 600,000 km for 5 years, and there will be no surprises.

“Like many drivers new to Scania, Euan could not believe how effective the Scania Retarder is.

“He was stoked to find he could take a 100-tonne load down the Toowoomba Range and only touch the brakes a couple of times. That’s good for safety and for driver confidence and comfort while on the job,” Michael says.

Stationed comfortably in the seat of power: Euan was elated with the R 730's effortless performance: “You didn’t even feel the load, it’s amazing to think we’re touching 100-tonnes, and I still got pushed back in my seat."

Already a familiar sight on Queensland roads, the Egans' R 730 with a big load on, below, and loading up, across both pages.

The extra long load copes easily with the bulldozer and its associated paraphernalia.

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Photos: Charlie Suriano

Hooked on Scania Demolition and earthworks specialist Delta Group is hooked on Scania for its Victorian operations.

D

ELTA GROUP IN VICTORIA

to Scania in a big way, based on the performance over the past 7 years of its first 8x4 P 360 hook-lift.

During the course of 2017 the company will have taken delivery of 10 new vehicles, comprising P 440 and G 480 8x4 hook-lifts and R-series V8-powered tipper and dog combinations.

The trucks are working within the confines of Melbourne’s central business district as well as the outer suburbs, carting demolished buildings, quarry materials as well as earthworks from deep excavations.

Dominic Santullo is the General Manager, Recycling and Logistics at Delta Group, based at the Group’s Head Office in Melbourne.

He is a confirmed fan of the way the Scania trucks drive and work. Their performance has him convinced they are the right tools for the job.

HAS TAKEN

“I’ve always been a fan. They’re a great truck,” he said.

“We had the new bin trucks delivered in January 2017. They have impressed with their tight turning circle and the drivers have been really happy with them, and they look fantastic on the road,” he said. “Fuel efficiency and running costs are the main drivers for me. We opted to upgrade to 440 hp so we have the ability to pull a trailer if we need it.”

The company still runs bonneted American sourced tippers pulling multi-axle dogs and the Scanias easily out-perform them thanks to the cab-over design which gives drivers far superior visibility on site.

“The trucks are easy to drive and manoeuvre in the tight laneways in the city and the turning circle is unbelievable,” Dominic said.

“After the new bin trucks arrived in January, around mid-year we took delivery of two R 500 V8 tippers with 3-axle dog trailers and two R 560 V8s pulling quad-dogs. The R 500 tipper and dog has a 31-tonne payload

for a 49.5-tonne GVM, while the R 560 has a 56.5-tonne GVM. Both use Hardox steel bodies in demolition spec for toughness and durability.

“The new trucks are supporting the growth of the business. They are additional trucks for our fleet of about 50 nationwide that we own, plus sub-contractor vehicles that we use.

“Our business is diverse. We’re not just focused on demolition and civil earth works, but concrete recycling is a growing part of the business, and we do business with Boral across Victoria in this area,” he said.

“We also run transfer stations, undertake timber recycling, and operate clean fill sites.

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re ple

Dominic Santullo , General Manager, Recycling and Logistics at Delta Group, far left, photographed at the Group’s Head Office in Melbourne with one of the new Scania V8-powered tipper and dogs.

Above and left, the new tipper and dog and upper left, the new 8x4 hooklift.

Delta Group manufactures its own bins in house for demoition operations.

Performance of Scania hooklifts over 5 years have proven that the vehicles are well suited to the tasks, and provide drivers with a comfortable and safe working environment.

www.scania.com.au

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Buying with confidence Delta Group used the services of Scania Finance Australia when purchasing the 10 trucks it acquired during 2017.

“Scania Finance Australia was really good to deal with,” Dominic Santullo says.

“We also have the trucks on a repair and maintenance contract with Scania, so we can predict our costs across the next three years, and manage our funds so we understand where the money is going.

“SFA made it convenient to be able to purchase and finance through Scania, and the rates were market-competitive, which was very important. We were investing a large sum of money, so a 1% difference in the finance rate would have been significant across 10 trucks,” Dominic said.

In recent times there has been some good growth in our businesses across Australia, and we have seen the management team grow with it. We pride ourselves on our service quality.

“In New South Wales in particular we have seen some massive opportunities for growth in the past 12 months,” he said.

The Delta Group trucks are on the road 6 days a week, dealing with congested traffic situations, but they need plenty of grunt to shift high payloads especially when pulling out of worksites which may require hauling the tipper and trailer at 56.5-tonnes up a steep excavation.

“Sometimes you’ll be pulling up a ramp from 20-metres below the road, so you need lots of torque to get up there. There’s no run up,” Dominic said.

“I love my trucks. I have always had a passion for trucks. Any opportunity I get within reason I will jump in to go for a drive.

I like the variety of trucks we have but when I jump in a Scania, it is a different experience.

The truck is on another level: the comfort, the power, the quietness, and I love the V8, the

Hill Holder and the Scania Retarder. Imagine, 1000 hp of retarder power!” he said.

“I really like how the drivers can pull the truck up, almost to a stop, without touching the brakes.

“To me, Scania has always had a great name, and any opportunity I have had to buy Scania, I have always jumped at it,” he said.

“The Scanias have also been very reliable in use. We have had years of issue-free maintenance and low running costs.

“All our trucks have GPS so we can monitor them, and keep track of PTO hours.

We don’t cover high km per year, per truck, but they are hard km in the city, and the PTO use hours are long. The bin trucks would do around 10 movements a day, and a full load is around 15-tonnes.

“The Scania sales manager we did business with this year, Mathew Staddon, has been fantastic. I deal with a lot of industries and I purchase a lot of machinery and different equipment, from heavy earthmoving machinery to trucks and crushers, you name it, I deal with a lot of reps, and Mathew has been good for us and a

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Hooked on Scania good representative for Scania.

“He gets back to us, he is across the technology, there’s never a drama. If there’s a problem, he deals with it, and he keeps us in the loop. What’s more, he delivers on his promises,” Dominic said. “It has been a great experience dealing with him.

“We definitely like the Scania monitoring systems. We have been reviewing how the trucks are working. The statistics have been good for us as a business to review and go back to the drivers and give them feedback on their driving skills, habits and how to improve and get better fuel efficiency.

“Our drivers use the driver support scores between themselves to rate themselves,” he said.

“The Scania Driver Trainers talked to all our drivers and everyone said it was great.

There are a lot of buttons and systems on the truck and not everyone understood how they all worked. It is hard to absorb all this information in one go, so we may revisit the training in 3-6 months to be sure drivers have captured all the functions and efficiencies they can get out of the truck,” he said. www.scania.com.au

Some of the Scania 8x4 hooklifts delivered early in 2017 along with one of the newest delivered in the latter part of the year.

Hooklift driver Sean Burns, below right, is a keen Scania driver, loving the in-cabin refinement.

N o 1/2018 • SCANIA EXPERIENCE 39

TESTIMONIAL Photos: Charlie Suriano

Just rewards Scania fan Thay Kour has worked his way up from a 112M to the Scania flagship.

"The R 730 is a bit of a reward to myself after many years of hard work, " Thay says.

The customisation has been done tastefully, it is an eye-catching truck that is distinctive and individual, subtly linking to the Resourceco colour scheme.

M

ELBOURNE-BASED THAY

is no stranger to the Scania brand.

With a passion for cars, trucks and machinery, Thay joined the industry 15 years ago and hasn’t looked back. With him on the journey from day one was Scania, with his first ever truck being a 112M, hauling a three-axle dog trailer.

As he established himself, work continued to grow, so it was time to bid his original Scania a fond farewell and welcome another, a 113M powered by a 380 hp engine.

Many years of loyal service later, Thay decided it was time for another upgrade and KOUR

bought a much more powerful Scania R 580 V8 and decided to relieve trailer duties for the 113M which he and his brother drive as a tandem.

It was around this time Thay decided to subcontract to Resourceco, a global company that specialises in the processing of construction and demolition waste materials, including asphalt, concrete, bricks and rubble. These waste materials are then used to manufacture a range of recycled aggregates and recycled asphalt products.

In 2015, Thay purchased another European truck, and explained it by saying: “The only reason I bought it was because I didn’t want to buy the same model Scania

40 SCANIA EXPERIENCE • N o 1/2018 www.scania.com.au

TESTIMONIAL

again, and thought I would try something different.”

“Although it is a good truck, the horsepower just couldn’t compare to the Scania V8, which I still own,” Thay said.

With Melbourne infrastructure booming, Thay made the decision to retire his trusty R 580 and order the flagship Scania: an R 730 V8.

“When I decided it was time for the R 580 to move on I didn’t consider any other brand,” says Thay, “The comfort, power, low operating costs and durability of the Scanias has always been brilliant and I have never been let down. So why would I want to change?” www.scania.com.au

Thay’s work for Resourceco is quite varied: from the confines of demolished or under construction city buildings and sky scrapers, to trips through regional Victoria and the occasional intestate trek.

“Most of the work is based around metro Melbourne with the majority of it in the city, so having the auto transmission in the new R 730 makes driving a breeze. It is no harder than driving a car,” enthuses Thay.

“We also cart a lot of quarry products and country runs carting contaminated materials plus the odd interstate trip.”

On average, Thay clocks up around 80,000 km a year; not big numbers compared to interstate haulers, but the nature of the low

speed, heavy payload trips are a test for any truck, and according to Thay the new R 730 is worth its weight in gold.

With only 17,000km on the clock so far, and pulling an additional 10-tonnes, it’s already proving more economical than the 13-litre European brand truck it replaced.

Thay considers a five-year lifespan is enough for each truck, and is quick to point out the business rationale behind purchasing the new R 730.

“There are many benefits. Finance is lower, you don’t have to worry about major breakdowns, meaning no downtime and the operating and servicing costs are lower.”

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Just rewards

42 SCANIA EXPERIENCE • N o 1/2018 www.scania.com.au

TESTIMONIAL has been serviced at Scania Dandenong, which he regards as friendly, helpful, knowledgeable, professional, and generally good blokes to deal with.

“My new R 730 came with three years free-servicing, so I just hand over the keys and it gets done, you can’t ask for more than that,” Thay said.

Although it has been on the road for only three months at the time of writing, the new R 730 has more than exceeded his expectations.

When asked why he chose the R 730 Thay laughed and mentioned the power once again.

“I originally ordered an R 620 set up with a three-axle PBS dog trailer running 49.5-tonnes, but then was to-ing and fro-ing as to whether it would have enough power, as I didn’t want to make the same mistake twice.

www.scania.com.au

So, one thing led to another and then I had to have the 730. It is also a bit of a reward to myself after years of hard work.

“Once I settled on the R 730 it was time to revisit Kevin Wright at Hercules Engineering and I had him redesign the combination to a four-axle trailer running PBS at 18-metres.

I also ordered a new and bigger four-axle trailer with a 37-tonne payload, as I know the 730 can easily handle it”.

When ordering his new rig Thay ordered hub reduction, which he reckons feels a lot stronger than the original diff, and an airbag front end, which is very helpful

getting in and out of construction sites.

Another reason for sticking with the Scania, is its excellent manoeuvrability.

“We can put the Scania into places where American brand trucks can’t go,” says Thay. “I can do a U-turn where most American trucks can’t.”

Features-wise Thay says the R 730 is spot on and has all the comfort he could ever want.

“The R730 is so incredibly easy to drive and the airbag front makes the ride unbelievably comfortable. The safety package is brilliant and does what it is supposed to, and the auto gearbox changes are very smooth. I spend a lot of time stuck in traffic on the Monash Freeway and I don’t need to worry about constant gear changes, kicking the clutch pedal. I just sit back and let the truck do its thing.”

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TESTIMONIAL

Photos: Charlie Suriano

Leave it to the eager beaver. With 65.5-tonnes of logs on its back the R 730 V8 doesn't even raise a sweat.

T

HE FORESTS AROUND MOUNT

Gambier in South Australia’s eastern corner are lush with renewable trees. They grow fast, and they grow thick and then like arable crops, they’re harvested and sent for processing.

Transporting logs or chipped wood keeps a number of operators busy, through biting cold and stinging rain or sweltering heat. Forest roads can be gnarly, pot-holed, washed out or just plain slippery, so traction is a key ingredient for success hauling a

fully-laden 68.5-tonne combination out of the woods, onto the highway and off to the chipper, port or mill.

George Catalano’s father was a logging contractor. So the lure of the wide-open highway was no surprise, but what has shocked him has been the ease with which a lifetime’s devotion to American trucks has evaporated after such a short association with Sweden’s finest: a Scania R 730 V8.

Undoubtedly the 16.4-litre Scania flagship provides an irresistible lure to owner operators seeking reward for the hard years

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Feline groovy When George Catalano needed a new logging truck he took a tip from neighbour Matt Winterfield and switched from American iron to Swedish steel, and he hasn’t looked back.

battling for survival, but George doesn’t keep his new R 730 to himself. The truck is doubleshifted with him sharing the driving with his long-time friend, Leigh Stevenson.

The Gocat Transport business started doing interstate freight runs nine years ago, and has spent the past 4 years logging from the bush.

Mount Gambier-based heavy haulage operator Matt Winterfield bought an R 730 for his float work and passed this to his driver Peter O’Dea before securing a second identical truck to drive himself, after Peter www.scania.com.au

gave the European cab-over a big tick of approval. Matt was amazed at how quickly the intoxicating mix of power, smoothness and economy won him over, so he was not shy to pass on the good oil about the R 730 to his friend George.

“We have now had the R 730 on the road for 8 months and it’s clocked up 100,000 km and it has performed awesomely well,” George said about the eye-catching V8 with its bright blue and white paint scheme.

“There’s been no trouble with it. It has been chugging along really well.

The beautifully presented blue and white truck benefits from some smart chrome touches so it really stands out on the road. Detailed scroll work also adds to its visual appeal.

George at the wheel, where he feels very comfortable. The truck can run up to three haul routes a day, clocking up well over 1500 km between the two drivers.

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Fuel consumption has been impressive, according to George who is saving a significant sum of money on every run thanks to the very frugal engine, despite its power and payload.

Pulling out of the forests outside Mount Gambier requires negotiating some fairly average roads, so positive traction is vital at all times. The Scania delivers in spades.

“We’re now double shifting it because the work is there, and we clocked up 30,000km last month,” he said.

“A typical haul for the R 730 is a 450-500 km trip, and we can do up to three trips a day, depending on where we go. We either work in South Australia or Western Victoria, and mostly we’re carting blue gum timber, as well as some pine.

“We cart for Merrett Logging,” George said, “they have looked after us well, kept us going, even in the quiet times.

“When we’re fully loaded at 68.5-tonnes, we’ll get around 1.6 – 1.7 km per litre.

There’s a lot of hilly country in Victoria, but compared to an American truck we had, the Scania is doing far better. We used to get only 1.3 – 1.4 km/l,” George said. “Fuel-wise, the R 730 has been awesome.

“If we ran in (flatter) South Australia only, we would be seeing better figures, but 1.7 km/l overall is great. We’re also running it for five years on the Scania repair and maintenance contract.

“We’ll run the R 730 on logs till the end of 2018 and then maybe run it on another logging contract. But I specified it with a sleeper so we could do interstate work with it, and for when we sell it, the sleeper cab will be an advantage. I reckon it’s the only Scania R 730 in this area doing logs.

“I’m sold on Scania now and we won’t buy anything else. What sold me on the truck was the quality of it: the driver comfort, and things like the wiring looms, engine bay, and

the insulation of the cab.

“You can’t beat the comfort of the R 730 and it just flies up hills smooth as silk. We can see a reduced travel time because of the additional speed up hills around 20 km/h faster than the old American truck. You’re not worried about logbook hours any more.

“This is the first Scania Leigh has driven and he is ecstatic about it,” George said.

“He absolutely loves it and in fact because we have the R 730 for the photos today, he had to drive a spare American truck and he is ticked off,” George said with a grin.

“I worked with Paul Riddell at Scania Wingfield in Adelaide to get the specification of this truck just right. I knew how to spec an American truck, but Paul was a real help and suggested hub reduction diffs to protect the

drivetrain and provide good traction.

“We have super-singles on the front, as per Paul’s recommendation, and they have been brilliant. Drive tyre life after 100,000 km is good, they still they look like new and there would be another 70,000 – 80,000 km in them, and it wouldn’t surprise me to get 200,000 km from them, even though this work includes 30 km each way on white metal, gravel and mud,” George said.

“I wasn’t sure how an auto transmission would go in the bush. Leigh said he’s been driving through bad patches where others would not make it through. The traction is that good off-road.

“The ride quality is very good especially off-road. Because it is so smooth you might think it feels disconnected off-road, but you

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Feline groovy

can still get plenty of that seat-of-the-pants feel, so you know exactly what it is doing on dirt, which impressed the hell out of me,” George said.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect that.

“The Scania Retarder is an absolute plus, especially in the hilly parts of Victoria. Leigh is amazed and says he can go 99% of the day without touching the brakes, which reduces running costs, but additionally, brake wear on the trailers also dropped dramatically.”

George uses Scania service agents OGR in Mount Gambier as well as the Scania branch at Wingfield, Adelaide for the maintenance of the R 730. He’s also had a stint with the Scania Driver Trainers as part of the delivery process.

“I had some Scania driver training www.scania.com.au

about 18 months ago, which was very good,” George said. “It gave me a new perspective and driving this truck is different. The Peak Efficiency programme was very good, and I loved learning how to drive the truck as efficiently as possible.

“Matt Winterfield and I are good mates and we both have R 730 V8s so we’ll be comparing our scores on the driver support system. Leigh is getting into it too and starting to figure out how to get his scores up.

Having the scores on the dash in front of you and the tips on how to keep the score up, is very useful,” he said.

“Paul Riddell has been very helpful and very easy to talk to. He’s delivered on all his promises, just like the R 730 has,” George said.

George plans to run the R 730 on logs for now, but has specified the truck to be able to switch to running interstate freight if the logging work dries up.

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TESTIMONIAL

Photos: Mark Morawitz

A chip off the old block The lure of the Scania V8 is hard for anyone to resist, even traditional fans of American trucking.

K

EMPSEY-BASED HAYWOOD

Transport and Landscaping Supplies has been hauling woodchips, fertiliser, stock feed, wheat, grain, landscape supplies and sawdust since

2005.

Owned and operated by husband and wife team of David and Darlene Haywood with 13 full-time staff and 10 trucks across the transport and landscape supplies business, they recently acquired a Scania R 730 V8

flagship. The gleaming blue and silver R 730 is the business showpiece and also the first Scania David has ever owned. Until then his fleet had a strong American flavour.

So why the switch to Scania?

“I went to the 2015 Brisbane Truck show to look around and because I was having trouble with a couple of our EGR powered trucks,” David explained.

“I wandered over to the Scania stand as I knew they had Euro 6 trucks and I was curious to know more about them, so I

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Driver Graham Ennis loved the Scania from the first drive and truck owner David Haywood says he can't get him out of it.

"And he won't drive anything else," David says.

The fuel efficient engine is saving up to $400 a week off the fuel bill, of almost $20,000 over the course of a year's driving.

started talking to one of the salesmen. I also jumped into the cab. It felt roomy, was very comfortable and had good vision.

Months later a friend, Paul Keast from Kempsey, drove his Scania into David’s yard and told him how good his was, especially the fuel economy, which he showed from the Scania vehicle monitoring report.

“Frankly, I was amazed,” said David, “so that got me talking to Butch Quin at K&J Trucks in Coffs Harbour, and the next day he was standing in my office. www.scania.com.au

“He asked if I’d like to drive the 620 hp version of the V8, and at that point I didn’t know he had it outside, as I didn’t even hear it pull up.

David’s first drive of a Scania R 620 left him deeply impressed.

“With the Scania, we thought the R 620 might have been okay for the 25-metre B-double we have. But then I had to go for the R 730 because of the extra torque and power. I’m a V8 fan, and big is better.

The Scania R 730 V8 engine produces 730

hp and 3500 Nm of torque, or 2583 lb/ft for those used to measuring output in American terms.

“It seems with Scania, the bigger the engine, the better the fuel economy, which is already 10 to 15 percent better than the previous trucks,” David said.

The more powerful and efficient Scania R 730 has replaced an EGR truck that proved to be unreliable, as well as costing David up to 40 percent more to run and maintain over his Euro 5 engines.

But to David Haywood, choosing a truck is more than just facts and figures.

“It’s nice and roomy inside, with great all-round vision,” David said, “and its comfort and driving ease is the best I have experienced.”

To accommodate the hydraulic tanks on the chassis, a vertical exhaust was fitted. Scott Hydraulics in Kempsey fitted the hydraulics that operate the walking floors in the B-double trailers.

The Scania R 730 has certainly proven efficient as evidenced by the fuel reports and driver’s daily sheets, and according to David it is saving him between $350 – $400 per week on fuel alone.

“That’s almost 20 grand a year!” he enthused. This in turn pays for the maintenance programme.

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TESTIMONIAL

A chip off the old block

50 SCANIA EXPERIENCE • N o 1/2018 www.scania.com.au

TESTIMONIAL David Haywood didn't even hear the Scania R 620 demonstrator truck pull up in his yard when Scania new truck dealer Butch Quin turned up to show it off. After the first drive he was hooked.

Over its planned six-year life the R 730 will clock up over 1,200,000 kilometres, regularly travelling from Kempsey south to Bombala, near the eastern Victorian - New South Wales border, west as far as Wee Waa and north to Gympie in Queensland.

“I need to talk to Butch about the lifespan of the engine and stuff like that,” says David.

“You hear different reports. If you can get 1,000,000 km out of an engine you should be a good for at least another 200,000 km after that, so we will probably keep it for about six years.”

But the R 730 won’t spend its entire life doing B-double work. Haywoods will replace it within four or five years and move it on to local work for a further two years before selling it off.

David has a habit of having wellpresented trucks.

“The colour scheme is pretty distinctive, and I like to spec my trucks up, so when you see it coming, you know it is a Haywood’s truck,” David said.

While David still spends some time driving the Scania R 730, it is largely piloted by long-term Haywood employee, Graham Ennis.

“He won’t get out of it”, says Haywood, “When Graham started with me he was driving a new American truck. I wasn’t going to buy another EGR truck. We’ve escaped the EGR syndrome with the purchase the 730, which now pulls the B-double trailers.

“We’d had the Scania R 620 demo for a couple of weeks from K & J, and Graham said the Scania was the ducks nuts. Now he will not drive anything else,” David said.

Graham and the other Haywood drivers welcome the R 730’s auto gearbox, engine retarder (a big selling point) and safety features like lane departure warning, that all

www.scania.com.au

reduce work on the driver.

David runs a Navman tracking system which enables him to advise customers where their goods are at any time, and so he can always provide them with an accurate ETA. The R 730 is on the Scania maintenance program and from a business view point, it was a ‘no-brainer’ according to David Haywood.

“It gives you a huge peace of mind,” he says, “one monthly payment and you don’t have to worry about a thing. If it breaks down or you have a problem Scania deals with it.

And from an owner’s view, I know exactly how much this truck will cost to maintain for five years from purchase,” he said.

The Scania Fleet Monitoring System gives drivers data and monitors efficiencies and each week Haywood receives a report from Scania that shows what the driver’s been doing, how much extra or less fuel has been used, how much idle time etc., and David acknowledged it is helping their bottom line.

David has also found the whole purchasing and ownership experience very professional.

“Butch Quinn from K&J is straight down the line. Nothing is ever an issue. He has given my drivers and me his mobile number if anything arises, and so far, it’s all good.

“Ninety percent of salespeople are full of hot air, but not Butch. There are only a few salesmen I have time for; Butch is one of them.

David has also been impressed with the after sales service, noting the whole K&J team is very good and they bend over backwards to help you, and “you can’t ask for more than that”.

“This R 730 is my first Scania and I have to say that once you have driven one, it’s pretty hard to get out of it,” David said.

N o 1/2018 • SCANIA EXPERIENCE 51

TESTIMONIAL

Photos: Paul Kane

Lyndon poses with his R 730 at the side of the road into Geraldton after another long day. These days the R 730 is the only truck he runs, and he's all the happier for it..

After running his own fleet, Lyndon Telini realised that he’d be better off with just one truck, so he chose the best there is.

A

N 11-HOUR WORKING DAY

not unusual out West.

The roads are long, hot and heavy, though generally lightly-trafficked, allowing truck drivers to get on with

IS

getting along.

Lyndon Telini has been in the transport industry for a very long time, and recently he figured out the truth of what he was told by a mentor many years ago: ‘You will be mentally and financially better off with one truck’.

“I have been a Scania fan for quite a while,” he said.

“When I started off by myself there was a five-month wait for a new Scania (so I bought something else), but it wasn’t long before I traded that for the Scania.

“Having driven both Swedish brands and an American truck I think I am well qualified to judge what the best is. I originally only 52 SCANIA EXPERIENCE • N o 1/2018 www.scania.com.au

TESTIMONIAL

Smooth ride to a rough finish

www.scania.com.au

N o 1/2018 • SCANIA EXPERIENCE 53

TESTIMONIAL

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GMA is the world’s largest producer of industrial garnet operating in the mineral-rich mid-west region of Australia, home of the world’s largest garnet resource.

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purchased the American truck because that’s what our driver preferred. American trucks are not for me,” he said.

After running three trucks for a while, two Swedes and one American, Lyndon is now running one truck, a Scania R 730 V8, loving the experience, and relishing the lack of stress worrying about the other two trucks.

He’s currently carting the mineral garnet (used in the production of worldclass abrasives, see breakout) on three haul runs a day, from Port Gregory to G.M.A. in Geraldton.

It’s a 3 and a half hour run there and back, and he’s doing it three times every day.

Sometimes 7 days a week. The payload is up

to 62-tonnes using the side tippers, and as he said: ‘extra payload equals extra pay’.

“I’m getting a bit old now, so I prefer not to do four runs a day anymore,” he joked.

It’s a tough gig, but one made easier by the smooth comfort and serenity of the R-series Highline Sleeper, with its spacious cabin, cold air conditioning, quiet driveline, high-end audio and Bluetooth connectivity.

Lyndon specified the new R 730 to replace his faithful R 620 V8, adding hub reduction differentials for pulling the really big loads, including quad trailers, even though he’s not doing that so much these days.

“The R 730 power is beautiful,” he said.

54 SCANIA EXPERIENCE • N o 1/2018 www.scania.com.au

TESTIMONIAL

Smooth ride to a rough finish

Canola provides a stunning visual backdrop but what's usually in the side tippers is Garnet, a material used to make sanding discs and abrasive products.

“I don’t need to use it all, but it is good to have it there. On the Garnet run with its hills I only need to drop back one gear.

“With the R 620 I didn’t include heavy diffs, but it still covered 1.0 million km within four years. I sold that when it was 5 years old and it had clocked up 1.1m km. ‘That was a damn good truck.’

“Tina, my wife and I used to cart coal from Collie to Geraldton; we worked seven days a week. How did it affect our marriage?

We get on great and work well as a team; we were hardly ever home apart from getting more supplies, so it didn’t take long to rack up the km. Tina would drive while I slept, that’s how we did so many km. Tina started www.scania.com.au

off driving during one of the harvest seasons, I know she loves the Scania, probably more than myself,” Lyndon said.

“I originally put the R 620 on the Scania maintenance contract and the new R 730 is on one too. The peace-of-mind is good if you do end up having trouble with your truck, it’s insurance.

“Neither of the Scania V8s I have owned burned much oil from service to service. I think it’s down to how you drive them. If you work the truck hard all day they will burn oil,” he said.

“With the new R 730 we’re up to 610,000 km after three and a half years; I am slowing down a bit, and enjoying being home most

nights as well.

“I really like the Scania Opticruise. Who wants to change gears all day long? Those days are finally gone.

“It’s good on fuel too. I know of other truckies doing the same run in another high output truck, and we do the exact same trips three times a day, but I use 100 litres less fuel than he does, every day; Same weights same distance. Maybe they drive it harder, I don’t know. I sit on 92-95 km/h, sometimes 85 km/h. Maybe they sit on 100 km/h.

“When I reach one million km in this truck, I will certainly be considering getting into the new generation Scania series,” Lyndon said, with more than a hint of anticipation in his voice.

“Looking at the numbers we decided to concentrate the business back into one truck a while ago. I know I am better off with one truck, as I mentioned earlier. A great mentor advised me: ‘You’re mentally and financially better off with one truck’. I am so grateful I finally listened. He told me: ‘It’s all great when things are going well, but when things slow down you still have to consider the drivers, they still need to be paid so they can feed their families.’

“He was right. I worked my guts out, stressed out when work stopped for weeks on end. So now, yes, ‘I am definitely mentally and financially better off.’”

N o 1/2018 • SCANIA EXPERIENCE 55

TESTIMONIAL

Photos: Paul Kaneano

West Coast Schooler 15 years driving a bus is a long time, so when Phil Sotiroff ordered a new one, he made sure it was a good one.

P

HIL SOTIROFF IS A SCHOOL BUS

contractor who knows exactly what he wants, and Scania was able to deliver it to him, clothed in a 57-seater Volgren body.

Phil has been running a school bus for 18 years and is based in Geraldton, on the very western tip of Western Australia.

A sea change took him from the retail world of car sales and finance to the maelstrom of teenage transport, collecting kids from as far north as Northampton, 50 km up the road, to deliver them into Geraldton’s education institutions.

“I worked for a family-owned car business for 22 years, but then it was time for a change,” Phil said.

“I love my job, I love dealing with kids.

Country kids are great, They’re different to big city kids. I make sure they toe the line on the bus, but they’re generally very good kids.

The secret is to have the right approach to them.

“This new bus is more luxurious than before, and the belted seats are better for the kids. We’ve also got a bull bar and stone guard to protect the driver, and good quality mirrors.

“On an average day we’ll get close to 250 km on the school runs, and in the past year with the new bus we have clocked up 67,000 km. So far, it’s all good,” Phil said.

“I’ve always been self-employed, even

when working for the car yard. I started there after completing my mechanic’s apprenticeship in 1975. I like the freedom. I run the bus business with my wife, Jenny, she also has a bus driving licence.

“Aside from the school run we also do charters for schools and private hires during the middle part of the day, and sometimes over the weekend. We look after cruise ship day-trippers as well as doing weddings and the like. The new bus has six big ‘side-to-side’ luggage bins which will swallow plenty of bags and surfboards, and there are luggage racks inside for the kids’ school bags.

“We’ve done day trips to Perth before, once we even took a group of fishermen down there for a 3-hour meeting before turning around and coming straight back.

That was a big day,” Phil said.

The new Scania-powered Volgren-bodied bus picks up 52 school kids each day. It is certified for 83 primary kids in the three-fortwo seats.

“It’s a nice bus, one I specified for my own needs after 15 years with a Japanese brand bus. That was very good, and reliable and clocked up 850,000 km, but the new Scania has superior braking and suspension systems, and the service I have had from Scania while specifying and building the bus has been excellent.

“Julian Gurney and Dean Cash from Scania listened to what I wanted. They even came to visit me, nothing was a problem; That service was unreal.

“I was very keen to get an Australian-

56 SCANIA EXPERIENCE • N o 1/2018 www.scania.com.au

TESTIMONIAL

Phil and Jenny pose with their new school bus in Geraldton. Above, Phil settles in behind the wheel. The 2 for 3 seats allow him to carry up to 83 primary-school students.

built body, one that could be built to my specification,” Phil said. “I specified three sliding window vents each side, as well. Sometimes you want fresh air not air conditioning. Volgren was very accommodating.”

The new two-axle bus is powered by the Scania 310 hp five-cylinder engine and uses SCR after-treatment to achieve Euro 5 compliance.

The bus drives through the familiar 6-speed push-button ZF automatic transmission, used widely on city route buses throughout Australia.

“I’m getting 3.6 km to the litre overall, and the Scania engine revs much lower than the previous bus, which would cruise at the limit at 2400 rpm. The Scania is more like 1200 www.scania.com.au

rpm, and I try to cruise along at 80 km/h when empty, or 90 km/h with the kids, which also saves a lot of fuel. There’s no need to go everywhere at 100 km/h. And the kids aren’t in a rush to get to school.

“I really feel that I have gone up a class with this new bus,” Phil said. “It really floats along on the air suspension, previously I was riding on parabolic springs. This bus is really excellent to drive, and it shares the chassis used for coaches which is why the ride is so fine.”

Phil also specified fully-chromed Alcoa wheels through Julian and Dean, rather than just polished rims.

“I saw how much time other drivers spend cleaning their wheels, but chromed rims just wash off and look great. That’s much

easier,” he said.

“We’re looking at running this bus for another 15 years,” Phil said. “After that, who knows?”

Scania Bus and Coach Account Manager for Western Australia, Victoria and South Australia, Dean Cash said he was delighted that Phil was happy with his new bus.

“Phil took a lot of time and paid a lot of attention to the specification of the new bus and we are very happy that he is finding it perfect for his needs.

“We worked closely with Volgren to ensure Phil’s specification would do the job for him over the long term. With very wellproven drivetrain components and a quality body, Phil has a bus he can be proud to drive and one he can rely on,” Dean said.

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NEW DELIVERY

Photos: Mark Morawitz

Business classy Loyal corporate and tourist travel operator Michael Oaten has just bought his first brand new coach, powered by Scania’s biggest and cleanest engine.

M

ICHAEL OATEN IS THE

Managing Director of Oakleigh, Victoria-based Executive Coach Travel and Deluxe Coachlines.

The company is active in the corporate transport sector but also specialises in hosting inbound American, Japanese and European tourism, with a strong emphasis on servicing the German market.

Michael has been committed to Scania since his first acquisition of an K 113 back in 2002.

Until this new 12.5 m K 490 Euro 6 3-axle Scania powered coach, fitted with a Coach Design body was delivered, Michael had focused on growing his fleet through the extensive used vehicle market.

The current fleet consists of nine large coaches, five mini-coaches and a school charter bus. Seven of the large vehicles are built on Scania chassis and drivetrains.

There are three K 113 chassis vehicles from the mid-1990s with 1.6 million, 1.8 m and 2.2 m km respectively under their wheels. The

two highest mileage vehicles are ex-Dysons and have had engine rebuilds. The K 113 with 1.6 m km has an Autobus body and is still on its original engine and has just been fitted with a new turbo and a new Scania radiator.

It had a new clutch at 900,000 km and has been perfect since, and Michael says it drives the best of the three.

Executive Coach Travel and Deluxe Coachlines also use a K 124 with Opticruise that’s an ex-AAT Kings vehicle that has now covered 1.1 m km, as well as a more recent ex-Bute Buses 2010 K 420 with a compound turbo that has now clocked up 415,000 km.

“Scania’s reliability has been the biggest benefit to my business,” Michael said. “If you keep up the maintenance, I find Scanias don’t break down.

“I run my own workshop and my mechanic is a strong advocate of one particular American engine brand but even he is impressed and respectful of the Scania engines.

“We only use genuine Scania oil filters and service by the book. Scania parts are trusted and if I have a problem I know I can

58 SCANIA EXPERIENCE • N o 1/2018 www.scania.com.au

Photos: Charlie Suriano

talk to Scania at Dandenong and they will help me out. We do our own regular services, but the larger jobs are done by Scania Dandenong.

“When I was specifying the new coach, I said I wanted the best available. The power’s there if the drivers need it.

“Also, the switch to Euro 6 is a long-term investment. I want the newest technology, so we have the cleanest engine, because we will run this coach for a long time,” he said.

Even though he’s the boss, Michael prefers to be behind the wheel alongside his drivers, rather than driving a desk back at the depot.

“The new K 490 drives beautifully,” he said, “it goes exceptionally well. It is magnificent on the road and of course it is now the flagship of the fleet. I thought the K 420 went well, but the new K 490 is something else. It will run up the Pentland Hills in top gear fully-loaded, perhaps only briefly dropping back to 11th, but we’re not holding up any other road users and our journey times are impressive.

“The new K 490 joined the fleet recently www.scania.com.au

and within a week was dispatched out to Darwin to run a 20-day tour that ended up back in Melbourne. It didn’t miss a beat and it has achieved 3.1 km per litre even though it’s only now clicked over 20,000 km. The K 420 delivers 3.0 km per litre with 415,000 km on the clock. I am sure we’ll see up to 3.3 or 3.4 km/l from the new K 490,” Michael said.

“We’ll also get the Scania Driver Trainer out to offer some efficiency tips. I’ll be listening as well as I am always keen to see how I can improve my driving efficiency,” Michael said.

“Fuel economy is good but what is more important is looking after the equipment.

If there’s no harsh braking or acceleration then the customers get a smooth ride and they’ll tell their friends what a pleasant and comfortable experience it is, and that’s as important as reducing wear and tear.

“My driver of the new coach, David Spencer looks after the equipment as if it were his own and takes a pride in his driving.

He’s even got a broom and a hosepipe to run off the water tank and every day or so he’ll be washing the coach when he’s away on an extended tour.

“I have been impressed also by the new Scania monitoring package that gives 4 years monitoring and weekly updates. I have been studying these to see how the coach is running and how the driver is performing. He is doing very well. He never speeds, and fuel use has been consistent,” Michael said.

The new K 490’s Coach Design body is luxuriously fitted out inside. Michael said the quality of the build is impressive.

“It is a beautiful, well-finished coach, and the driver loves it too. It has a separate driver air conditioner, so he can control his own climate independently of the saloon. We have an on board 80-litre fridge in which David keeps a supply of bottled water, and it has come in handy for corporate work, conveying picnic food, etc.”

The K 490 has 49 all leather seats and a hostess seat, and every seat has a USB plug.

There are two side doors and mid-mounted rest-room, underfloor heating, fully carpeted floor under the seats with a carpet runner in the aisle.

There is blue mood lighting in the roof, as well as LED reading lights, and forward looking cameras can display on the TV monitors the length of the saloon.

Michael drives the oldest coach in the fleet, refusing to pull rank to steer the most glamorous.

“I have four full-time drivers including myself and about 15 casuals. I really enjoy the driving, as do my drivers.

“David Spencer said that he has the best job because the scenery outside is ever

NEW DELIVERY

changing and you never see the same thing twice.”

David, pictured below left, said he has been driving coaches for 25-years, having started in Europe with Contiki.

“I’m not a 9-5-person, and I love driving.

This new coach is very smooth, it’s lovely to drive.”

Jamie Atkinson, Scania Bus and Coach Account Manager for Victoria said he was very pleased Scania was able to assist Michael specify and build his first brand new vehicle.

“After many years in business, and with a very strong history with Scania, we are delighted Michael has taken delivery of our pinnacle coach chassis and drivetrain.

“Being able to provide not only vehicle and driver monitoring, but driver training and finance for Michael underscores the benefits of the Scania Total Transport Solution concept, which focuses on how we can partner with our customers to deliver them the most comprehensive products and services to help them get the most from their assets,” Jamie said.

Ticket to ride As a small business owner, Michael, above, understands all about cash flow and the vagaries of financing. For his first brand-new bus purchase, he approached his traditional financial institution for funding. Even though he had a significant amount to put down initially, the bank wasn’t keen.

However, after a chat on the phone with Craig McFadyen, the Business Development Manager for Scania Finance Australia, Michael’s financing was quickly secured.

“It was exceptionally good to deal with Scania Finance Australia. They were easy to talk to and the process was simple. It just worked,” Michael said.

“In fact, everything in the process from Scania’s side and also from Coach Design was very straightforward; no pressure and no stress.

“After this experience, I hope to be using Scania Finance Australia for the next vehicle due for delivery in 2018. I can’t say enough about SFA, they were exceptional,” Michael said.

N o 1/2018 • SCANIA EXPERIENCE 59

TESTIMONIAL

S

Photos: Charlie Suriano

OUTH AUSTRALIA’S PORT MACDONNELL-based

cray fisherman Barry Williams has taken delivery of a new 61-foot boat that is powered by the new Scania 1000 hp V8 16.4-litre marine engine.

The motor powers a new West Australian Shoreline-built vessel that is said to be the largest now berthed at the Port MacDonnell harbour, home to around 40 cray fishing boats in Australia’s premier cray fishing waters.

Named ‘BroJak’ after Barry’s sons Brodie and Jack, the vessel will be used for daily fishing in the October to May quota period in South Australian waters. The boat supersedes Barry’s previous vessel of the same name (also Scania powered) and will fish alongside ‘Aqua Jade’ his other workboat which is powered by a 900 hp Scania V8, which now has 4500 wholly reliable hours on its clock.

This boat will now be used by a crew working for Barry while he and his sons fish off BroJak. “‘Aqua Jade’s 900 hp V8 has been delivering 28-30 litres an hour fuel efficiency out at sea and around 75-litres per hour at cruise, and I am delighted with that,” Barry said.

“This is far superior fuel performance compared with the American engines I have been used to in the past. I expect the same or better from the new Scania 1000 hp engine,” Barry said.

“Scania has been great as an engine supplier. The motors have been reliable, powerful and have the performance I need.

The 900 hp engine in ‘Aqua Jade’ starts at the

first twist of the key and it runs at 21 knots at 1900 rpm.

“But, this is the dream boat,” Barry said of BroJak. “One thing I have noticed about the new engine is that it’s so much quieter when it’s running. We can even have a conversation in the engine room, which is very unusual for cray boat engines.

“The performance is very smooth and the sea trials in West Australia were impressive.

The boat ran faultlessly from the go, and after trucking it across the Nullarbor, we put it in the water at Cape Jaffa and got to Port MacDonnell in about 6 hours. So, out of the box it was pushing 21 knots at a 2000 rpm cruise!

“Because this is the newest and biggest boat in the harbour, everyone has been asking about it along the coast. The next biggest boat is a 60-footer, so we have moved the game on,” Barry said.

“The new engine really holds the power well and the boat is very stable in the water.

It’s got plenty of power for getting through the breakers. The engine really bites.

“It was more expensive than the 900 hp V8, but so far it has been worth every cent,” Barry said. “I expect to put 1000 hours on it per year.

“It is the boat that I always wanted to build. It is bigger and more powerful than anything I have had before. It will give me the range to go further in a day, to widen the area within which we can fish,” Barry said.

“I am seeing 30 litres per hour already, and it is a level of consumption I am very happy with.”

The Scania V8 utilises the latest Scania engine control electronics to talk seamlessly

to the ZF 500 gearbox which drives a screw propeller.

“BroJak is a very well-equipped boat,” Barry said. “It can accommodate 6 comfortably, not that we plan to sleep in it, but it has a kitchen and bathroom and shower and hot water service.”

It is also equipped with state-of-the-art cray fishing technology, able to map the ocean floor and build an image of where the crays are likely to be.

“The Scania electronic engine management and information displays can be configured exactly as I want them to be which means I can monitor engine speed or temperature or instant fuel consumption in litres per hour, which is one of the most important measurements,” Barry said.

“Everyone wants to know how much

60 SCANIA EXPERIENCE • N o 1/2018 www.scania.com.au

TESTIMONIAL fuel they are using. Today this is standard, whereas not so long ago these readouts used to be very expensive additions. In the old days, you would have to drive the boat for a week on one setting and note the fuel used manually, and then try another week at a different setting, which could cost you a lot of fuel. But now you can see consumption in real time,” Barry said.

Barry Williams is a long-time Scania marine engine customer, and he has his vessels maintained by Randall Jones, owner of Ashbrook Diesel, Scania’s marine engine service agent.

Scania has seen a significant uptick in interest in its marine engines, as a result of purchases by professional fishermen like Barry.

“I have had lots of questions from cray fishermen in the port about the Scania experience, and I would say I have been responsible for getting a few of them over the line,” Barry said.

“Ten years ago, there were only a few Scania engines powering the cray fleet but

now they account for around 25-30% of the market here,” Randall said.

Four of the eight boats Barry has owned over the past 30 years have been powered or repowered by Scania engines.

“We have another customer in the port who puts about 2000 hours on his boat each year, far more than any of the other fisherman. His boat has been repowered with a Scania engine, a DI13 6-cylinder,” he said.

“We had an engine available when he needed one and we were able to install it quite easily into his boat, and he has been very pleased with the performance. He said he enjoys the fact that a compact 6-cylinder engine delivers such reliable hp and fuel economy, which is a similar story to many other customers in the area,” Randall said.

“We are very pleased with the performance of the new 1000 hp Scania 16.4-litre engine,” said Jeremy Tennant, Technical Sales Manager for Scania in Western Australia and South Australia.

“The new common rail injection technology in this engine contributes to its

quietness as well as its fuel efficiency, as it offers pre-, main- and post-injection in every firing cycle. The new injection system is responsible for the smooth power delivery that Barry has already noticed, assisted by a successful installation in the hull.

“The engine’s performance is easily channelled through the ZF 500 gearbox and channelled to the drive, and excellent fuel consumption is a given. Unlike with the previous engine, with the 1000 hp unit we were able to plug the gearbox oil cooler plumbing straight into the system, saving time, complexity and cost.

“We discussed the engine installation with boat-builder Shoreline at an early stage and the installation went very smoothly,” Jeremy said.

“With this new boat Barry is a fantastic advertisement for Scania marine power in the best cray fishing waters in Australia. With the economy of operation Scania engines provide, he will be able to maximise the profitability of his business as well as enjoy access to 1000 hp on the water.”

Dream Boat

After 30 years on the water Barry Williams knows what makes a great cray boat, and Scania’s new 1000 hp V8 ensures his newest is the best yet.

www.scania.com.au

N o 1/2018 • SCANIA EXPERIENCE 61

TESTIMONIAL

T

Photos: Paul Kane

Powered by reliability HE ‘POWER OF ONE’ WAS BUILT

Jayden Lee’s father in 1994 when he struck out on his own after working in a partnership.

As a metaphor for the life of a family cray fishing business, the name is particularly apt, because not only does the captain of the vessel need to be a first-class seaman, but he needs to watch international and local market prices to determine when to bring in the catch.

With a strong family heritage linked to the boat, and after years working in the family business, Jayden did however consider new sources for power when the American V12 engines he had been relying on to power him out to his lobsterpots finally ran out of rope.

“The V12s were 1100 hp units de-rated to 850 hp, but at high revs they were very thirsty,” Jayden said.

“By switching to V8s we’re both saving on fuel and on space and weight because the Scania engines are lighter and smaller which means there’s more tank room in the hold.

“I reckon we have seen around a 10% fuel saving since installing the two 900 hp Scania V8 16-litre engines,” he said.

“We probably spend at least $100,000 on fuel each year so our saving is around $10,000 annually.

“The Scania engines we were offered were very well priced, a good size, and they fitted BY

Managing risk is just as important as steering the ship, which is why Geraldton’s Jayden Lee has switched to Scania power. in with what I wanted to do. I have known people who have fitted Scania engines and they have a good reputation,” Jayden said.

With 180 pots in the water, the crew of three can spend up to five days at sea pulling up the catch and repositioning the pots.

Jayden has an 80-tonne quota, half of which is leased, making market prices an even more critical element of business stewardship.

“Like any business you have to manage your risk. It’s a big risk as you go off the previous year’s prices when leasing pots, and it’s a risk going into the next season, especially as we have dropped $10 a kilo this year. That’s pretty much all the profit on the lease pots gone,” Jayden said.

“Our long-term profitability should be fine, but we paid a lot for the lease quota this year because of the price last year, but the quota leases should be cheaper next year to even things out,” he said.

As a result, everything else in the business has to run as efficiently as possible to keep the fixed costs down to compensate for the unpredictability of the catch price.

“Scania’s service intervals are 400 hours, but there’s less oil required so that saves a bit of money. It will be cheaper when I do injectors as there will be only 8 per engine, so the savings all add up.

“We do our own servicing and it is easier with the Scania engines. We used to need eight drums of oil for the V12s but only three for the Scanias, so it’s a lot quicker and easier, not to mention cheaper,” he said.

“So far the Scania V8s have done 3000 hours and everything has been good.”

"Sometimes we have to go 50 miles out to sea, which takes three to four hours and it can be quite rough so you need a powerful motor that’s super-reliable. That far out at sea you don’t want any problems,” Jayden said.

62 SCANIA EXPERIENCE • N o 1/2018 www.scania.com.au

Photos: Paul Kane

Hooked on Scania David Perham has just had his third set of motors installed into his 23-year old vessel, replacing two V8s with a pair of 6-cylinders.

D

AVID PERHAM IS HAPPY

the new cray fishing quota. He likes the fact that he can fish 12 months of the year so the pressure to put to sea when the weather is bad or the market price is low has been removed from the old seasonal fishing system.

He said the new system means he can pick and choose his working days, or how long he spends at sea on any given day.

What hasn’t changed is his admiration for Scania’s engines.

His 58-foot boat, ‘Natural Selection’, is a 23-year-old vessel that has worked its way through two sets of Scania V8 motors, with the most recent set sold off to a fisherman in Darwin, even though the motors had decent life left in them. The new engines are a pair of 6-cylinder units, making 650 hp each.

ABOUT

“This boat was built in 1994, and it has always had Scania engines in it. I started with DI 14 V8 450 hp engines and then upgraded to 650 hp V8s. For the new units I have gone with the 750 hp 6-cylinder engines but derated them to 650 hp each,” he said.

“The last set of motors gave me about 16,000 hours. There was nothing wrong with them. I sold them to a guy in Darwin, pretty much gave them away, but they went to someone who needed them. You wouldn’t get those sorts of hours out of another motor,” David said.

“We’re servicing every 400 hours, and gave the V8s a top end rebuild at 7,000 hours.

It was more preventative than anything else.

You need to have a strong motor performing when the market is strong.

“We’re getting the same power from the engines as before but I think the torque is a bit stronger in the 6-cylinder motors, and

TESTIMONIAL

they are really good on fuel. We have only done about 500 hours on the new motors which were installed in November 2016, but we’re getting 42-43 litres per hour from both engines combined, so saving around 10% compared with the V8s,” David said. “(Scania’s agent in Geraldton) Kelly’s are really good. Dave Atkinson, their technician, pretty much knows everything about Scania motors. If you’re in trouble he’s the man to ring, but I have to admit there’s no trouble with these sixes, they are trouble free. I love them, you go to sea, do your job, return to the harbour, turn them off and go home, trouble free,” David said.

The new 6-cylinder engines are about 200 kg lighter than the V8s but it’s not a big saving that when there are three tanks holding the live crays that weigh 3-tonnes each.

“The cray pots weigh about 70 kg each. In a good pot you might have up to 30 crays in when you pull it out of the water, but 7-10 is more usual.

“We move the pots around a lot.

Sometimes we’ll be 20 miles up the coast and then move them 20 miles down the coast.

Depends on how the crays are looking and how the prices are. We’ll fish an area for a couple of weeks then move, say out to the deep from the shallows.”

David said he has been fishing for 40 seasons, and he would have retired already if the new quota system hadn’t come in to allow 12-month fishing in 2010.

“Now it is a really good lifestyle. The quota means you can work when you want to, and you aren’t competing against anybody.

You just catch your quota over 12 months so you don’t need to work the rough days, just work on the high price days. You can have a holiday, and when you come back, no one has caught your quota so you can resume where you left off.

“There are probably a dozen lobster industries around the world that supply into China. From the dock we can have the crays in China in under 48 hours,” David said.

David Perham has just had his third set of motors installed into his 23-year old vessel, replacing two V8s with a pair of 6-cylinders.

www.scania.com.au

N o 1/2018 • SCANIA EXPERIENCE 63

Scania Service Directory New South Wales/ACT

Northern Territory

Scania Prestons 16-18 Lyn Parade, Prestons nswbranch@scania.com.au 02 9825 7900

Darwin Diesel Contract Services (Engines) 14 Farrell Crescent, Winnellie dieselcontract2@bigpond.com 08 8984 4568

Scania Newcastle 1 Enterprise Drive, Beresfield nswbranch@scania.com.au 02 9825 7940 Albury Border Truck Repairs 33 Merkel Street, Thurgoona bordertruck@bigpond.com 02 6040 5500 Bathurst Johnson’s Towing & Mechanical 85 Sydney Road, Bathurst admin@jtmc.com.au 02 6332 5511 Canberra Glover Mechanical & Breakdown 101 Underwood Street Oakes Estate glovermechanical@bigpond.com 0429 650 147 Coffs Harbour K & J Trucks (Truck Selling Dealer) 1-3 Isles Drive North Boambee Valley service@kjtrucks.com.au 02 6652 7218 Dubbo Hall’s Transport Repairs 10 Richard Ryan Place Dubbo hallstrepairs@bigpond.com 02 6882 6060 Lismore Laurie Predebon Truck Repairs 42 Bruxner Highway, South Lismore admin@lptr.com.au 02 6622 0336 Port Macquarie North Star Motors 48 Uralla Road, Port Macquarie port@northmotors.com.au 02 6581 3533 Tamworth Wideland Truck & Machinery 137 Gunnedah Road Tamworth jonathan.mcclelland@ widelandgroup.com.au 02 6765 5552 Wagga Wagga NJ’s of Wagga (Truck Selling Dealer) 301 Copland Street Wagga Wagga njrepairs@bigpond.com.au 02 6971 7214

Darwin Vanderfield Cnr Stuart Highway & McKinnon Rd Pinelands darwin@vanderfield.com.au 08 8932 4200

Queensland Brisbane Scania Richlands 149 Archerfield Rd, Richlands richlands.service@scania.com.au richlands.parts@scania.com.au 07 3712 8500 Pinkenba Scania Pinkenba 213 Holt Street, Pinkenba pinkenba.service@scania.com.au pinkenba.parts@scania.com.au 07 3712 7900 Bundaberg Mechweld Industries 1/35 Steptoe Street Bundaberg East cleat.mechweldindustries@gmail. com 07 4154 4782 Cairns RSC Diesels (Truck Selling Dealer) 29-31 Ponzo Street Woree info@rscdiesels.com.au 07 4054 5440 Cairns McLeod Engineering (Engines) 50 Aumuller Street, Portsmith admin@mcleodengineering.com.au 07 4035 1364 Dalby West Dalby Ag Sales 62 Yumborra Rd, Dalby mail@westdalbyagsales.com.au 07 4662 5616 Emerald Mitch’s Mechanical Service & Repair 13 McKenzie Street, Emerald mitch@mitchsmechanical.com.au 07 4987 6733 Gladstone Outcall Mechanical 1 Anson Close, Gladstone admin@outcallmechanical.com 07 4979 0056

Goondiwindi Country Link Mobile Mechanical Service (Engines) 1 4 Boodle Street, Goondiwindi country_link@bigpond.com 07 4671 4222 Mackay Mackay Truck Parts & Repairs 2 Central Park Drive, Paget mytruck@bigpond.net.au 07 4952 3722 Rockhampton Tibbs Fleet Services 19 Somerset Road Gracemere admin@tibbsfleetservices.com.au 07 4933 2211 Salisbury DA.MET (Australia) 42 Precision Street Salisbury info@damet.com.au 07 3277 3111 Toowoomba Wideland Ag & Construction 55-57 Carrington Road Toowoomba admin@widelandag.com.au 07 4633 1150 Townsville Honeycombes Sales & Service 23-27 Langton Street, Garbutt admin_tsv@honeycombes.com.au 07 4727 5200

South Australia Scania Adelaide 218-234 Cormack Rd Wingfield adelaidebranch@scania.com.au 08 8406 0200 Mount Gambier OGR Trucks 203 Jubilee Highway West Mount Gambier admin@ogrtrucks.com.au 08 8725 7999

Tasmania Launceston C & I Transport Repairs 430 Hobart Rd, Youngtown admin@citransportrepairs.com.au 03 6344 7944

Victoria Scania Campbellfield 212-216 Northbourne Rd Campbellfield csrcampbellfield@scania.com.au 03 9217 3300 Scania Dandenong 2/66 Greens Rd Dandenong South csrdandenong@scania.com.au 03 9217 3600 Scania Laverton 125-129 Boundary Rd Laverton csrlaverton@scania.com.au 03 9369 8666 Bairnsdale Livingstone Truck Repairs 726 Main Street, Bairnsdale admin@livingstonetrucks.com 03 5152 1100 Bendigo TTW Truck and Bus 6 Waterson Court, Golden Square mark@ttwtb.com.au 03 5447 7272 Echuca Rich River Truck Repairs 26 Hume Street, Echuca richrivertrucks@bigpond.com 03 5482 3799 Geelong PJ & T Motors 311-319 Portarlington Rd Moolap pjt@pjtmotors.com.au 03 5248 4466

Port Lincoln West Coast Diesel Service 32 St Andrews Tce, Port Lincoln info@wcdiesel.com.au 08 8682 1753

Koroit Allansford Truck & Trailer 230 Ziegler Parade, Allansford attrailer@progresstransportservices. com.au 0459 320 500

Port MacDonnell Ashbrook Diesel (Marine Service) 14 Elizabeth Street Port MacDonnell ashbrookdiesel@bigpond.com 08 8738 2028

Leongatha Gippsland Truck Mechanics 16 Cusack Road Leongatha info@gtmleongatha.com.au 03 5662 5266 Mildura Marshall Group 335 Benetook Avenue nick@ngmgroup.com.au 03 5023 1701

64 SCANIA EXPERIENCE • N o 1/2018 www.scania.com.au

Morwell M & J Stewart Motors 111 Alexanders Rd, Morwell admin@stewartmotors.com.au 03 5134 4359

Esperance Kip & Steve’s Mechanical Repairs 21 Currong Street, Esperance kipandsteves@westnet.com.au 08 9071 2411

Shepparton Taig Bros 6 Wheeler Street, Shepparton scania@taigbros.com.au 03 5821 9811

Geraldton JMH Mechanical 210 Goulds Road Narngulu service@jmhmechanical.com.au 08 9935 9350

Wangaratta Robinson’s Truck & Coach Maintenance 45-47 Gibson Street Wangaratta rtcmaint@bigpond.net.au 03 5722 3644 Warracknabeal Brunt Truck Repairs Cnr Henty Highway & Gardner Street Warracknabeal brunttruckrepairs@bigpond.com 03 5398 1244

Western Australia Perth Scania Kewdale 527-529 Abernethy Rd Kewdale csrperth@scania.com.au 08 9360 8500 Albany SLR Albany Mechanical Lot 69 Pendeen Road, Albany accounts@slrmechanical.com.au 08 9844 3152

Kalgoorlie West Flex Industries 60 Broadwood Street West Kalgoorlie admin@flexindustries.com.au 08 9068 1500

Karratha Double R Equipment Repairs 2493 Collawanyah Road Karrartha karrartha@dblr.com.au 08 9185 2699 Picton

Scania Emergency Dealers Directory New South Wales Eden Phillip Mitchell Tractor Repairs 1 Government Road Eden phillipmitchell999@hotmail.com 0409 366 999 Griffith City Truck Repairs 1056 Bridge Rd, Griffith noelene@citytruckrepairs.com 02 6962 5216

Northern Territory Alice Springs Transport Maintenance & ENG Pty Ltd 7 Coulthard Court, Alice Springs manager@tmae.com.au 0437 162 796

Queensland

Southwest Isuzu 3 Giorgi Road, Picton reception@southwestisuzu.com.au 08 9724 8444

Gladstone Central Queensland Heavy Maintenance 34 Chapple Street, Gladstone richard@cqmotorsport.com.au 0400 012 815

Port Hedland Earthmoving Maintenance Solutions (EMS) Lot 843 Bell Street Port Hedland daniel.finch@emsl.com.au 08 9173 1115

Goondiwindi MacIntyre Mechanical Service Lot 11 Racecourse Rd Goondiwindi macintyr@bigpond.com 07 4671 3569 Gympie Gympie Truck & Bus 26 McMahon Rd, Gympie cardal@bigpond.com 07 5482 8545

Mount Isa JD Bradbury 178 Duchess Rd, Mount Isa john.bradbury48@gmail.com 0429 193 397

South Australia Bordertown Tatiara Truck & Trailers 4 McLellan Road, Bordertown admin@tttbt.com.au 08 8752 0077

Western Australia Broome Broome Diesel & Hydraulic Service 4 De Castilla Street, Broome bdhs@bigpond.com.au 08 9192 1330 Geraldton Taylor Mechanical Unit 12/5 Boyd Street Webberton rob@tmm.net.au 0419 187 857 Kununurra Top End Motors 28 Bandicoot Dr Kununurra service@topendmotors.net.au 08 9168 2207 Newman East Pilbara Mechanical 31 Laver Street, admin@epmechanical.com.au 08 9177 8795

NEW HOME FOR BORDER TRUCK REPAIRS

L

ong running Scania specialist, service and parts dealership Border Truck Repairs, based in Albury, NSW has relocated to new premises.

With over 30 years’ experience and 20 years in Scania services the family owned business, run by Peter, hope to maximise efficiency and customer satisfaction with the new facility.

“We are local, family-owned and very experienced truck & bus repair centre who strive to offer the highest standard of service at all times, no matter what the customer needs,” says Peter McGregor.

Designed for optimum safety and productivity, the new facility incorporates drive through bays, a service pit and hoist. This will allow the business to suit all bus, truck and B-double applications.

“We’ve designed the new facility in-house. Our core focus when building new was to modernise the facility to today’s standard.”

Currently, the dealership employs five qualified technicians and two apprentices. The move will see a new qualified technician and apprentice joining the crew.

www.scania.com.au

“We have included a customer waiting area and employee training room into the build.

The whole thing has been designed for safety, to be user-friendly and more efficient,” Peter says.

With the growth in Scania sales in both truck and buses in the region the Border Truck Repairs team is looking forward to the future.

N o 1/2018 • SCANIA EXPERIENCE 65

THE BACK PAGE

4,147,000 km and still going strong After the equivalent of five round-trips to the Moon in the same Scania V8, Leif Eriksen is finally ready to hang up his driving gloves.

W

These images are from a product brochure published in the early 1980s. At that time, Scania was already utilising a wind tunnel to obtain as low a drag as possible. By tilting the windscreen 20 degrees on the then new 142 R series cab, Scania achieved the lowest drag on the market.

HEN YOU TRAVEL

kilometres with a truck, it starts to feel more like an old friend than a vehicle; that’s the kind of relationship Leif Eriksen enjoys with his Scania 142.

Built in the 1980s, the 14-litre Scania V8 has clocked up an astounding 4,147,000 km, most of them with Eriksen at the wheel.

While that distance is the equivalent of five ENOUGH

return trips to the Moon, Eriksen says it’s been almost entirely trouble-free driving.

“It is getting along in years, but I’ve never had any problems,” he says. “There are no guarantees, of course, as it’s travelled so many kilometres, but it’s had no repairs apart from regular maintenance.”

Eriksen, who is from the town of Hadsund on Denmark’s Jutland Peninsula, spends his Saturdays washing and attending to minor repairs on the classic truck. Having

spent so long in the vehicle, he knows exactly where its sweet spot can be found when he’s driving.

“I drive nice and easy at 80 to 85 km/h,” he says. “That’s just the right speed, about 1,500 rpm.”

Having enjoyed a satisfying career, including transporting malt for Danish brewer Carlsberg, Eriksen is now ready for a rest. “I’ll be 70 soon so it’ll be time to retire,” he says.

66 SCANIA EXPERIENCE • N o 1/2018 www.scania.com.au

More Power Less Fuel.

Greater Range.

THE NEW SCANIA V8 MARINE ENGINE. Famous for our powerful V8-engines, we are now taking one step further away from the competition.

Based on a robust design and rated to 1200hp, the new engine promotes greater power with smaller dimensions. The Scania-designed XPI is a state-of-the-art common rail fuel injection system, optimised to make continuous, precise adjustments. Compared to other engine brands in the same power range, the new V8 has the top power-to-weight ratio on the market. It is the most fuel-efficient engine of its kind so not only do you get greater power from the same package, less fuel gives you greater range.

For more information go to www.scania.com.au/engines or email engines@scania.com.au

YOU

SCANIA

SAVE ON FUEL AND MAINTENANCE.

Scania has been helping waste contractors make a clean sweep of European and Australian streets for decades. Our success hinges on reliability, durability, low operating costs and maximum uptime. Your truck spends more time working, and you spend less on fuel and maintenance.

Contact Scania to find out how we can help you clean up your balance sheet as easily as you clean up the streets.

VICTORIA Scania Campbellfield Tel: (03) 9217 3300 Scania Dandenong Tel: (03) 9217 3600 Scania Laverton Tel: (03) 9369 8666

SOUTH AUSTRALIA Scania Wingfield Tel: (08) 8406 0200 NEW SOUTH WALES Scania Prestons Tel: (02) 9825 7900

Scania Newcastle Tel: (02) 9825 7940 K&J Trucks, Coffs Harbour Tel: (02) 6652 7218 NJ’s of Wagga Tel: (02) 6971 7214

QUEENSLAND Scania Richlands Tel: (07) 3712 8500 Scania Pinkenba Tel: (07) 3712 7900 Wideland, Toowoomba Tel: (07) 4633 1150

RSC Diesels, Cairns Tel: (07) 4054 5440 WESTERN AUSTRALIA Scania Kewdale Tel: (08) 9360 8500