COLD COMFORT

FOR LEADING VICTORIAN BASED REFRIGERATED TRANSPORT COMPANY SRT LOGISTICS IVECO’S LATEST FLAGSHIP PRIME MOVER PROVED THE PERFECT ADDITION TO ITS SIGNIFICANT FLEET, ENABLING DRIVERS TO HANDLE MULTIPLE TRAILER SWAPS EACH DAY, WITH GREATER EFFICIENCY AND SAFETY. WE TAKE A LOOK AT SRT AND THE REASONS WHY THE IVECO X-WAY WAS SUCH A COMFORTING PURCHASE FOR THE COLD STORAGE AND TRANSPORT SPECIALIST.

Like many road freight transport companies, SRT Logistics has faced plenty of challenges in the last few months due to vastly changed operating conditions surrounding the COVID pandemic . But with challenges, come opportunities.

As a specialist provider of refrigerated transport and warehouse services to both wholesale and retail food outlets in Victoria and Tasmania, demands on SRT have significantly increased during the current pandemic. It’s a situation that has also seen it add four new Australianmade Euro6 IVECO X-Way AT 6x4 prime movers to its fleet, operating out of its Laverton North depot in Melbourne.

The four new trucks are engaged in single trailer refrigerated work throughout metropolitan Melbourne, normally coupling to trailers in Port Melbourne that have arrived from Tasmania and transferring them to the distribution centres of Australia’s largest supermarket chains.

According to SRT Logistics’ Director, Brent Miller, the trucks operate from 5am to 6pm, seven days a week, with the drivers often coupling and uncoupling trailers up to 15 times per day.

As one of the sons of the company’s founder, Jim Miller, Brent and his brother Robert purchased SRT in 2012, but both originally started as drivers and it’s this time behind the wheel that helped shape some of the company’s criteria in purchasing the new X-Ways.

“The X-Way has the connections for the airlines and cab tilt on the driver’s side of the cabin. This means drivers can get out of the cabin and more efficiently connect or disconnect the trailer; they don’t even have to step up onto the catwalk, it can all be done at ground level,” Brent said.

“This makes the process safer, faster and overall just easier, especially considering that they are coupling and uncoupling so many times per day.”

SRT Logistics is no stranger to the Iveco brand having previously used Eurocargos as part of its medium duty fleet and more recently, four 6x2 Stralis ATi rigids.

Looking at the specification of the X-Way, Brent thought it was ideal for single trailer metropolitan work.

“With output of 460 horsepower and 2150 Nm, a 12-speed automated manual transmission and a full suite of safety features, on paper the X-Way ticked all the boxes for us. We then had the opportunity

to access a demonstrator which confirmed that the model was an ideal fit for our application,” Brent said.

“The engine is responsive and output is right where it needs to be – why pay for extra horsepower when it’s not required? Contracting to the major supermarket chains, we also needed to meet certain emission and safety standards, which the X-Way easily does.”

Among the X-Way’s safety equipment is Adaptive Cruise Control, ABS brakes with Advanced Emergency Braking System, Electronic Stability Program, Anti-Slip Regulator, Hill Holder and Lane Departure Warning System, ensuring the trucks are brimming with active safety features.

Again, recalling his time as a driver, the X-Way’s ergonomics and cabin appointments also ranked highly in Brent’s consideration set, and the positive feedback from the drivers is an endorsement that the correct decision was made in purchasing the X-Ways.

“The drivers have commented that the steering is lighter than on the other European brand trucks that the X-Ways replaced, and that the turning circle is great – important characteristics considering the amount of tight manoeuvring these trucks do every day,” Brent said.

“The pedal placement is also excellent as is the quality of the seating (air suspended, heated and with lumbar adjustment) and other cabin appointments, which make for a very user-friendly and comfortable truck, especially in the city.”

Delivered in April this year, Brent has assigned each of the new trucks to a specific driver, all of whom are looking after their vehicles with pride, while servicing of the new trucks is being carried out by Adtrans Truck Centre, which is conveniently located in the same suburb as SRT’s Melbourne depot

SRT Logistics offers a complete transport and distribution service to key markets in Tasmania and Victoria as well as a national service to all states through forwarding partners.

The company boasts a comprehensive range of refrigerated and dry grocery equipment ranging from small delivery vans through to B Doubles, and currently has in excess of 186 registered vehicles on the road including 38 small vans and heavy rigids, 36 prime movers and over 90 trailers and reefer containers.

Its coverage of Tasmania sees it service every corner of the state through three distribution facilities, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, employing staff directly, ensuring it has hand selected people and trucks delivering premium service to its customers.

SRT Logistics says it is the only transport company in Tasmania that boasts a service that covers every single town in the state every week.

In Victoria operate its distribution centre in Laverton North is its main hub for logistics planning and coordination of all shipping services in and out of Tasmania and enables it to be the only provider shipping to and from Tasmania with a refrigerated door-to-door freight service.

It operates four distributions centres in total including three in Tasmania at Brighton in the south, Western Junction in the north and Quoiba on the North West coast) as well as its main hub at Laverton North in Victoria.

All of SRT’s sites operate with dedicated refrigerated storage and each has refrigerated cross-docking environments with sealed loading docks to ensure the temperature integrity of perishable goods. Each site offers chilled, frozen and dry storage with a team of dedicated warehouse professionals providing storage and pick and pack services as well as cross-dock and deconsolidation.

“At SRT Logistics we do not just see ourselves as a service provider, rather we see ourselves as a business partner of our customers. Whichever end of the food supply chain you are in, you need a logistics provider that cares about your goods and your customers as much as you do,” Brent Miller said.

Over the past two decades SRT Logistics has worked with some of Australia’s premium wholesale and retail food brands including Woolworths, Lion, CCA, Schweppes, Inghams, Bidvest and JBS and in Tasmania with customers who service the boutique and mainstream retail food industries, such as: Tasmanian Bakeries, Ashgrove Cheese, Nichols Poultry, Moo Brew, Willie Smith Cider, Hansen Orchards and Premium Fresh Tasmania.

The wealth of experience SRT has built up over the past two decades in designing, implementing and managing complex high and low volume supply chains has positioned it well and reckons the purchase of the new Iveco’s is part of the positioning ensuring a better and more efficient service in the long run.