Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 372 i Australasian Transport News (ATN)

“PBS vehicles are well placed to assist industry and government in coping with forecasted growth” THE NATIONAL TRANSPORT COMMISSION (NTC) is seeking industry feedback on performance-based standards (PBS) to help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the scheme. NTC has released a discussion paper, Assessing the effectiveness of the PBS marketplace and identifying barriers to vehicle design innovation, which includes preliminary findings from an evaluation of the scheme and potential ways to improve it. It is the first comprehensive evaluation of the scheme, which was introduced as an alternative performance-based regulatory system that could replace the prescriptive method of using mass and dimension limits. NTC chief executive Paul Retter says the review aims to build on safety and productivity gains as Australia’s freight task grows. “Road freight is projected to…

“I am concerned about the effect these charges will have on small trucking operators” FEDERAL OPPOSITION TRANSPORT spokesman Anthony Albanese has made plain his concern over the threatened proliferation of terminal access charges and their impact on smaller trucking firms especially. Albanese’s comments come after federal transport minister Darren Chester and New South Wales freight minister Melinda Pavey refused to rate haulage and supply chain concerns about surcharges on third party and non-contracted stakeholders. “I am concerned about the effect these charges will have on small trucking operators, given many are family run and operate on very tight margins,” Albanese tells ATN. This aspect was highlighted by Road Freight NSW in its campaign against DP World and Patrick ‘infrastructure surcharges’. While the fact of the access surcharges clearly irk those…

Delivery service provider ANC has appointed Kylee Bidwell to the new senior position of national projects manager in an internal promotion. Bidwell, right, who has been with ANC team since 1993, was most recently Western Australian state manager, where she was responsible for day-to-day operations of the state including management of more than 50 staff and contractors servicing clients such as Bunnings, Fantastic Furniture, Telstra and IBM. The newly created role of national projects manager will oversee the implementation of new client operations with a focus on the development of internal and external processes for maximum effi ciency and effectiveness of resources. Bidwell will report to national manager operations Roger Cengarle.…

VIDEO: 2017 VOLVO DRIVERS’ FUEL CHALLENGE Among several valuable initiatives showcasing the skill of operating heavy trucks, the Volvo Drivers’ Fuel Challenge brings together those who do their companies, their industry and themselves proud. Very proud!¥ VIDEO: MERCEDES-BENZ ACTROS RIGIDS Hot on the heels of its acclaimed prime mover range, Mercedes-Benz has showcased a new rigid truck line-up during recent drive events in and around Brisbane. The new trucks provide Benz with more opportunity and more success than ever before in Australia. VIDEO: KENWORTH’S NEW LEGEND 900 The original Kenworth T900 was born in the economic upheaval of ‘the recession we had to have’ at the start of 1990 and there’s no doubt, it was a truck Kenworth needed. Steve Brooks reflects on the making of Legends after a stint…

From the outside looking in, the Volvo Drivers’ Fuel Challenge has all the appearance of just another publicity exercise by a company highly skilled in selling marketing messages to the masses. But step inside and take a closer look. Talk with the executives and organisers who make it all happen. Ponder the extraordinary efforts and expense of bringing together such an eclectic bunch of individuals from all over Australia. Spend time mixing with the drivers as they first shrug it off as a bit of fun, a couple of days outside the ordinary, before suddenly becoming intensely serious and very determined. Consider, if you can, the personal satisfaction and surprise of realising you’re someone at the centre of something very special, instead of a daily routine where derision and ridicule…

While illegitimate or incompetent visa holders have gained truck-driver licences, the issue of companies attempting to fill a recruitment hole with overseas staff became a talking point. And so, evidence before the Senate committee shed light on the Transport Workers Union’s (TWU’s) campaign against transport and logistics firm Northline. With former TWU member Senator Glenn Sterle in the chair, TWU national secretary Tony Sheldon had a receptive ear to explain his concerns to. Sheldon cast Northline as an embodiment of a “race to the bottom —one that is entirely legal and one that successive governments are facilitating”. He claims such companies are “gaming the system” to drive down costs. At issue was Northline’s seeking of a labour agreement to bring in 60 overseas forklift drivers on 457 visas. “For us,…

Let’s face it, when it comes to the lighter ends of the truck business, if you’re not Japanese, you’re just fighting for scraps. It’s a plain, incontestable fact. Ever since the Japanese first started asserting their strength in the mid- to late-‘70s with trucks that were generally well made, well priced and remarkably reliable, anything from anywhere else has had a horrendously hard time. Going way back, brands like Bedford, Dodge and Leyland were probably headed for extinction anyway, but there’s no question the Japanese onslaught fast-tracked the trip to oblivion. The biggest scalp of all, however, was International. Light- and medium-duty Inters were once common as cockies in this country but, under a deluge of dilemmas, the seemingly indomitable International Harvester company went into corporate collapse just as the…

Piers Hammond (right) and Steve Hamilton (left) are on the trip of a lifetime, having travelled overland from the UK on their KTM adventure bikes. Darryl and Scooter bumped into this pair of mad bastards at Mt Dare after a failed attempt to cross the Simpson unassisted. After a chat they decided to tag along for the ride. They made it second time around! Both guys are ex-RAF chopper pilots and have seen active service in the Bosnian conflict and Iraq as well as Afghanistan. It made for some fascinating campfire conversation as Piers regaled us with tales of flying a Chinook with a failing engine amongst other hair-raising adventures. Their ride around the world is to raise awareness and money for a couple of charities. The John Egging Trust…

“Thanks to blockchain, access to capital would no longer be a hurdle limiting the ability of people to innovate” The state government-owned investment company Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) expects “major changes” in the transport sector using new technologies such as blockchain. In its recent red paper, Blockchain is Knocking at Infrastructure’s Door, QIC states that although autonomous vehicle (AV) technology that allows vehicles to operate fully without a human driver (Level 4 automation) is still 5-10 years away from commercialisation, and up to 20 years away from universal adoption in Australia, the next two decades will see significant strides in new technologies such as blockchain. Car manufacturers like Toyota, Ford, Honda, Hyundai and BMW are currently exploring the use of blockchain technology (BT). “At the moment, blockchain technology is being…

2017 TOYOTA TUNDRA PLATINUM 5.7L V8 Petrol Engine, Selectable 4x4, 6 speed automatic with overdrive, traction and stability control, 4 wheel ABS. Power windows, driver seat memory, full rear window power horizontal drop. SA 08 7099 9200 $125,990 inc GST 2015 CHEVROLET SILVERADO 2500HD LONG BOX This American Legend incorporates the latest mechanical technology and is packed with all the creature comforts. Its fully loaded including Off Road package, fully complied to Australian regulations and has been converted to RHD. VIC 0475 412 010 $149,900 inc GST 2004 FORD F350 XL RN This car has a powerful 7.3 litre engine with low kilometres. Equipped with ABS brakes. This car has passed an offi cial Certi›cate of Inspection. QLD 0414 582 371 $75,000 inc GST 2017 FORD F250 Brand new 2016…

“The acquisition is aligned to Linfox’s growth strategy” LINFOX HAS acquired full ownership of drinks transporter BevChain after buying the 50 per cent of the company Lion controlled. Linfox says the “strategic acquisition” will provide with a direct inroad to the multi-billion dollar beverage industry and will enable the business to meet the needs of a wide range of customers in the alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage sector. “BevChain began in 2006 to provide a specialised service to the alcoholic beverage industry. We plan to grow the business further by expanding into new sectors within the broader beverage industry,” Linfox CEO Annette Carey says. “The acquisition is aligned to Linfox’s growth strategy and we will continue to invest in sectors where we see an opportunity for growth.” Since 2011, BevChain has…

“The upgrade of these bridges will improve driving conditions for residents and local freight operators” THE THIRD ROUND of the government’s Bridges Renewal Program will see replacement or upgrade of 186 bridges across Australia, federal infrastructure and transport minister Darren Chester announced last month. The project is part of the government’s $75 billion infrastructure investment plan that has seen more than 200 projects either underway or completed across the country. Chester says the government will spend a total of $162.53 on these upgrades, with federal funding limited to $5 million per project. “The bridges renewal program gives local, state and territory governments the support they need to replace and upgrade key bridges,” Chester says. “This new funding is in addition to the $216 million already committed under the first two…

MOREE PLAINS SHIRE COUNCIL has backed the New South Wales Grain Harvest Management Scheme (GHMS) after a brief hiatus. The council dug its heels in due to lack of detail in the absence of a report on the 2015-16 harvest. It will now participate in this season’s scheme, to a point. Councillors expressed concerns that the industry data indicated higher than anticipated breaches within the shire. “I am pretty disappointed that the data seems to show that the system is being abused by some operators,” mayor Katrina Humphries says. “We were assured by industry representatives in the last few years that this would be utilised only as a tolerance – not become a backdoor way of overloading trucks.” The council agreed to participate from October 1 to December 31 with…

When a mainstream media exposé on trucking industry issues leads off with a video loop of flames engulfing the Cootes tanker in Mona Vale in 2013, the industry assumed that nothing positive would come its way. And it wasn’t alone. While the September trucking industry-focused news feature series stoked industry tensions over chain of responsibility (COR), safety and compliance, those who oversee it also scrambled to respond to the airing of the sector’s dirty linen in the Fairfax press. Few ‘hot-button’ items were missed in the news feature article entitled “On the road to the next trucking tragedy”, in the examination that dovetailed with aspects of Transport Workers Union (TWU) critiques of industry woes. Yet this was mainstream journalism aimed at the reading public, not a submission to government. The…

“The board has high expectations of the year ahead” The financial year end results of four major listed freight transport companies reflect a positive picture. K&S, CTI Logistics, Lindsay, and Chalmers reported improved performance of specific business units owing to various initiatives such as operational efficiencies and cost reduction strategies. A full year rebound helped K&S hop back on profit track after seeing significant losses in the previous year. Reducing costs across various segments was big on the company’s plan for 2016-17. Its Energy business reported growth owing new contracts but the most significant results came from across the Tasman, with New Zealand business taking a big leap in profits. For CTI Logistics, revenue and certain market conditions were on a positive path despite profit falling from the previous financial…

“We use the term Ambassador because that’s what they are, they’re brand ambassadors for our company” In business terms, growth is always considered good. Growth, however controlled it is, can also present its own challenges in this day and age – especially in trucking! However, one company is taking the bull by the horns to be the driving force behind its expansion and evolution, with innovative thinking to address the growth challenge. Eastern Plant Hire started out as a modest equipment agency business in 1997, run by brothers Michael and David Willson. Since then it has grown to become a specialist earthmoving transport company involved in projects across three states. With more than 50 trucks in the company fleet and over 3000 independent contractors on the books, EPH runs under…

IVECO EUROCARGO 225E28 6x2 Day Cab, 280 hp turbo intercooled, 9 spd manual transmission, 14 pallet insulated curtain sider, barn doors rear, Thermo King T-1000 fridge motor, air bag suspension, brand new tyres front and rear, Vehicle has only travelled 202,191 Kms, NSW Rego till Nov 2017. NSW 02 8279 7051 $94,750 inc GST 1999 IVECO EUROCARGO ML120E18 Fitted with a 7.6 metre steel tray, load binder track, tow bar, toolbox, 6 cylinder diesel, 6 speed manual, 513,000KMS. SA 08 7007 6826 $37,000 inc GST 2010 IVECO EUROCARGO 120E24 12 pallet fully refurbished curtain sider, ratchets both ends only, 148000KLM one owner, auto trans good rubber drives like new, suit new buyer rare to ›nd used truck of this quality. QLD 07 3073 8129 $64,950 inc GST 2006 IVECO EUROCARGO…

IVECO 55S17W 4X4 3.4m wheelbase Cab Chassis or Dual Cab, with a 4.495 tonne GVM. 3.0 litre direct injection diesel engine. 170hp (125kW) of power and 400Nm of torque from a low 1,250rpm while still meeting the latest Euro 6 emissions standards. QLD 07 3073 8162 $96,500 inc GST 2012 IVECO EUROCARGO ML160 Iveco Eurogargo 2012 Tilt slide truck & trailer. 16000 GVM and only travelled 251,100km’s. Both bodies have full remotes and winchs and is available for immediate delivery. VIC 03 9998 4841 $160,000 inc GST 2016 IVECO 55S17W 4X4 Available with GVMs of 4495kg (can drive with car licence) and 5.5 tonnes; feature a braked towing capacity of up to 3.5 tonnes and available as either a single or dual cab chassis. Muddy tracks, rough ground, steep slopes…

“It turns out that the appropriate slot for the key was right in front of my face” I sat at the wheel of the Renault Trafic Crew recently looking very much like a goose, though while geese do in fact have tongues, I doubt they poke out of the corner of their beaks while they’re concentrating. The reason I was looking so perplexed was the Trafic Crew I was sitting in uses Renault’s smart key card, and I was having diffi culty finding the slot to put it in. Clearly the reason that it’s called a smart key is that only smart people are allowed to drive Renaults. I was in danger of not making the grade. It turns out that the appropriate slot for the key was right in…

“The FWO investigation concluded that the driver was underpaid $50,856 between 2011 and 2014” A FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN (FWO) intervention has resulted in farming waste company Downes Rice Hulls to agree to pay underpaid truck drivers nearly $94,000 within 12 months. An FWO audit found that the Deniliquin-based company had underpaid 16 drivers their overtime and weekend penalty rate dues. The case was brought to the Ombudsman by a former driver contracted by the company at its Leeton depot. The FWO investigation concluded that the driver was underpaid $50,856 between 2011 and 2014, with a wider audit proving that the company had underpaid further 15 full-time or casual workers a total of $43,138 between a three-month period from January to March 2016. The company was also found to have failed…

THE NATIONAL HEAVY VEHICLE REGULATOR (NHVR) wants to be central to freight transport’s future role in continuing the nation’s economic success and needs tools to make that a reality. The call is one of the main thrusts of the NHVR’s recommendations to National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy (NFSCS) as it seeks to influence industry behaviour through greater powers over enforcement and monitoring. This can only be done with the requisite resources, so it wants cash from the regulatory component of heavy vehicle registration charges to fund its operations. But the rewards promise to be great. “According to an assessment by the National Transport Commission (NTC), improved access for heavy vehicles alone can deliver $7 billion in benefits through the reduction of time and cost for the heavy vehicle industry…

THE VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT’S insistence that West Gate Tunnel Project tolling changes will be a boon for Millers Road residents has been met with Container Transport Alliance Australia (CTAA) concern. Roads minister Luke Donnellan has flagged a reduction of tolling points from two to one, asserting it would mean 3000 fewer trucks will use Millers Road, located a few kilometres to the west of the West Gate Bridge, by 2031. But CTAA director Neil Chambers believes that Millers Road truck access is crucial to the West Gate Tunnel Project’s success and has aired doubts about the thoroughness of VicRoads’ modelling. “It is vital for Millers Road to be upgraded to allow safe and productive Higher Productivity Freight Vehicle [HPFV] operations to the M1 for access to and from the Port of…

“Our Migration Act powers are quite narrow in our ability to gather evidence” Australian authorities’ lack of coordination and liaison has again been laid bare again in the Senate and the trucking industry continues to be worse for it. So believes Senator Glenn Sterle, who remains in a constant state of incredulousness as how large the holes are in enforcement of rules and regulation – some due to lack of imagination and some to rigidities within the Australian legal and administrative structure. Indeed, while not blaming frontline enforcement staff in any way, Sterle, a former truck driver, continues to give the impression that he finds the situation personally offensive. Earlier this year, his Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee’s ‘Aspects of Road Safety in Australia’ inquiry gave him…

Several supply chain, services and logistics companies saw overall growth despite fluctuations in certain divisions. One of the common denominators for this increase was targeted acquisitions except in the case of rail freight operator Aurizon, which divested a key division following a massive fall. The company’s intermodal arm took the biggest hit as Aurizon dived into a full-year loss. Disruption in operations following Cyclone Debbie was one of the primary reasons for this. Significant financial losses in intermodal over the years led to the decision to sell the Queensland business to a consortium of Linfox and Pacific National, with the latter also snapping up Aurizon’s Acacia Ridge terminal. Aurizon MD and CEO Andrew Harding said the changes will see simpler structure and greater management accountability. Meanwhile, logistics giant Qube Holdings…

Against an early morning backdrop of glowing outback rock escarpments, I rolled out of my swag to contemplate the coming day … and to have a wee. The cries and squawks of birdlife wafted through the trees overhead as our party stirred and shuffled bleary eyed into the rapidly growing light. The early explorers faced innumerable hardships and challenges as they traversed this harsh wilderness. In those early days, central Australia was no place for the faint hearted. A MOTLEY CREW Our party consisted of an anaesthetist, an ENT specialist, an ex-MotoGP star and sports commentator, the owner of an ARB 4x4 store, two ex-RAF chopper pilots circumnavigating the globe by motorcycle, a fix-it-all truck driver, a dirt bike-mad Iveco engineer, and me … who was told there would be…

2006 RENAULT KANGOO X76 Refrigerated X76 4 speed automatic van, doors 2, seats 2, cylinders 4, fuel type petrol - Unleaded, capacity 1.6, gears 4 speed, odometer 50,531, drive type FWD. VIC 03 9998 4838 $16,990 inc GST 2012 RENAULT MASTER As good as it gets! This Renualt Master drives great and would make a great addition to any work ›eet. 6Sp auto, air conditioned, power steering, 2.3L engine, seats 3. Sold with RWC and rego. VIC 03 8547 8574 $29,990 inc GST…

Every time I drive a big Yank pickup these days I find myself a little frustrated. The main reason is that I long ago exhausted my supply of redneck anecdotes. I’ve worn out many a back-woods cliché when writing about full-sized pick-up trucks. I guess I’ll just have to resort to reportage instead. They stand out like the proverbial pair of canine accoutrements here in Australia. However, over in the US of A, full-sized pick-ups are the best-selling vehicles by a mile. And it seems Australia is set to follow suit, though admittedly on a smaller scale. It seems everybody wants a dual-cab 4x4 ute these days, though maybe not everybody wants one of these American monster utes! LIGHT TRUCK OR PICK-UP? Really, they’re closer to being a light truck.…