Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 407 i Australasian Transport News (ATN)

Ray Scott, a name synonymous with Mt Gambier and the wider trucking industry, has passed away. The Australian Trucking Association (ATA) led the tributes, noting Scott had played a significant role in the industry, from humble beginnings in his father’s – Allan Scott's – family business, through to becoming a major shareholder in Scott Group of Companies, including the K&S Corporation. After Allan died, Ray established his own trucking operation, Raymond Scott Transport. "Trucking was a major part of Ray’s life since he was a child when his father, trucking magnate Allan Scott AO, established his transport empire in Mount Gambier in the 1950s," ATA chair David Smith says. "Ray was admired for his professionalism, passion, and extensive knowledge of the transport industry sectors, from livestock to oil hauling." Scott…

Leading Australian energy company Viva Energy has been announced as the exclusive broadcast partner of the second season of Bauer Media Group’s hit TV series, Mighty Machines. Aired on Network 10 in Australia and Prime TV in New Zealand, and amplified across Bauer Media’s suite of print and digital platforms, the 10-episode first season proved a ratings success, reaching an average TV audience of 264,000 in Australia alone. Based on this success, Season 2 of Mighty Machines will expand to an epic 20 episodes when it airs in Australia and New Zealand from Saturday, September 26. Leveraging the talent of Bauer Media Group’s stable of Australia’s leading transport and machinery journalists, videographers and editors, Season 2 will again showcase the mighty men, women and machines that underpin Australia’s vital transport,…

Burgeoning South Australian transport firm Cochrane’s has a new CEO in Martin Robb. The appointment comes after long-term predecessor Bruce Hampson departed to become operations manager at Auscold Logistics. “Martin has over 35 years’ experience in supply chain and operations management across several industry sectors officer,” Cochrane’s says. “Martin’s strategic capability will be put to good use as we look towards future growth in relocating to our new Gillman HQ later this year.” The Gillman facility involves an integrated transport distribution centre comprising a two-storey office building, sorting shed, storage warehouse, workshop, despatch and spare parts offices, associated car parking, landscaping, fuel storage. The site is 31,995 square metres and the warehouse takes up 4,135 square metres and the facility is nearing completion.…

While epidemiologists well versed in the history of pandemics always warned of a ‘second wave’ that could expose chinks in the national biosecurity armour, few would have anticipated what unfolded in Victoria from June onwards, especially after Australia emerged relatively unscathed from the first Covid-19 outbreak earlier in the year. Yet the escalating spike saw the state staring down the barrel of stage-four lockdown and all the social and industrial complexities that come with it. While initial consternation Victoria may try a New Zealand-style lockdown was abated, a complicated set of conditions to avoid total closure had industry scrambling to make sense of all its intricacies. By opting against a complete lockdown, one silver lining for Victorian premier Daniel Andrews was the public backing of the Victorian Transport Association (VTA),…

Not all aftermarket linings are created equal. So how do you select the right brake shoe lining for your vehicle? Well if you know your truck’s application, TRP can recommend a shoe for you. As a requirement, all brake linings are designed to exceed maximum load limits in Australia, so axle ratings, while important, should not play a huge role in determining the right lining. What is right for one application may not be suited to another. Brake linings certified at 23,000 lb (10,433kg) can prove to be much too aggressive for some applications, causing the brake drums to wear prematurely or result in brakes that ‘grab’. Similarly, brakes certified at 21,000 lb (9,525kg) may not provide sufficient braking power to stop some heavy vehicles. All TRP brake linings exceed…

In this Covid-19 world, Hino Australia adopted the social-distancing norm when it launched its 2020 Hino 300 Series range via a Zoom meeting. Despite this handicap, Hino’s enthusiasm was unmistakable as MC Neil Crompton welcomed president and COO of Hino Motor Sales Australia Sam Suda, general manager Bill Gillespie, and manager of product strategy Daniel Petrovski. Suda hit the nail on the head when he stated that the new challenges caused by the pandemic had forced Hino to be more innovative, designing a unique launch format using video and online launch methods to bring the new 300 Series to life. “We think the new 300 Series deserves the most innovative launch that Hino can give as it reflects the all-new safety innovation to keep our drivers and other road users…

The Amarok V6 arrived here in December 2016, but only with an eight-speed automatic gearbox and a single-range full-time 4x4 system. At the time, Volkswagen Australia said a V6 with a manual gearbox and dual-range part-time 4x4 was just 12 months away. As it has turned out, the V6 manual took more than three years to arrive. And while the V6 automatic comes in everything from farm stripped to Toorak fleshed out, and with two different engine tunes (550Nm and 580Nm), the manual only comes in base spec with two same-price ($49,590 plus orc.) variants, the Core and the Core Enduro. POWERTRAIN AND PERFORMANCE The Australian Amarok V6 manual is unique as it gets its own engine tune not available elsewhere in the world, where the manual gearbox is mated…

▪ What’s in a name …? Remember when the Islamist terror crisis was at its height five years ago? An otherwise blameless Danish dessert company called ISIS was forced to change its name to EASIS. It was probably as much to avoid people poking fun as the “political connotations” the firm blamed. Now, Coon cheese, the name of which was never associated with racial denigration, is to pass into oblivion and women named Karen are being placed in a similar category as those called Jan, through no fault of their own. This making light of names is part of the national psyche, so it’s entirely understandable that as NSW Police officers guard the border along the Rio Grande – um, we mean Murray River – they couldn’t fail to take…

Listed transport operator K&S Corporation’s compelling preview of its 2019-20 financial year performance is underscored by huge profit increase, revenue decline and JobKeeper subsidies. The company currently expects that reported statutory net profit before tax will be between $15.8 million and $16.8 million, compared to the prior comparative period (pcp) result of $3.2 million. "Based on unaudited management accounts, K&S Corporation also currently anticipates that the underlying profit before tax for the year ended 30 June 2020 will be between $11.7 million and $12.7 million, compared to the prior comparative period underlying result of $3.2 million," a company statement reads. The K&S accounts will look much different to past years, owing to operational changes, K&S notes. "While revenues have declined significantly in the year ended 30 June 2020 as a…

New South Wales is to see an updated road train policy. At the time of writing, state industry organisation Livestock, Bulk and Rural Carriers Association (LBRCA) has foreshadowed the move but, in response to an ATN query, Transport for NSW (TFNSW) was unable to provide details just now. "For many years, LBRCA has actively raised issues with authorities about the inconsistency of access requirements and conditions for road trains, especially east of the Newell Highway," the organisation tells members. But recently, it obtained information confirming that equivalent access in NSW for traditional and modern road trains will be a reality by the end of this month. "However, because of the fixed dimensions of livestock crates and inherent stability issues of transporting a livestock, Traditional Road Trains transporting livestock loads will…

Victoria Police have arrested and charged another person in relation to Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway crash in April that killed four police officers. A police statement says detectives from Taskforce Paragon arrested and charged a 49 year old Frankston man with four counts of manslaughter. "The arrest follows an extensive three-month investigation led by Road Policing Operations and Investigation Division with the assistance of specialist investigators from across Victoria Police," it adds. He appeared before an out of sessions hearing and was released on bail, with a commital hearing to take place on October 26. Mainstream media reveals the individual to be Simiona Tuteru, the Victorian manager at Connect Logistics. "The court heard the man oversaw the coordination of Connect Logistic truck drivers, including the driver Mohinder Singh, who was behind…

Every truck owner and driver has a story to tell about how they started out in the industry. For Steve Earl, he’s straight to the point with his explanation. “I was selling cooking oil and running it out the back of my ute, then in a little truck. “Then I thought, ‘bigger truck, bigger money’. How f***ing wrong I was,” he remarks with a wry grin. As you can guess, airs and graces are not part of the Earls Express culture. “There’s nothing politically correct in this place. We’re very down to earth, and very black and white,” Steve remarks. “If you can’t handle being told, you don’t need to be here.” Not that Earls Express has any issue with attracting the right employees. With the nucleus of Steve and…

The Brisbane Truck Show has renewed long-term partnerships with National Transport Insurance (NTI), BP Australia and Bauer Media Group ahead of the launch of the highly-anticipated 2021 event. The southern hemisphere’s largest automotive business event will return to the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre from Thursday, May 13 to Sunday, May 16, 2021. The show is presented by Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia (HVIA), whose founding members held the first event in 1968, prior to formalising their association two years later. Following last year’s show, HVIA was presented with two prestigious awards at the Australian Event Awards, with the Brisbane Truck Show named Australia’s Best Corporate Event and Best Exhibition or Tradeshow. HVIA chief executive Todd Hacking says the accolades only serve to inspire more energy to further improve the show.…

If half yearly results are anything to go by, truck sales figures for 2020 may not be the complete disaster some pundits have been spectacularly quick to predict. Certainly, the sales market to the end of June hasn’t been great and the strong figures of the previous three years now seem like a distant dream. Or were they an unsustainable illusion? Whatever, we’ve never seen anything like Covid-19 before and the simple fact is that 2020 numbers to date could have been worse. Much worse. For instance, as the Truck Industry Council (TIC) reported back in May: “Despite the plummeting sales, we have not yet reach [sic] ‘the worst sales on record’, with May 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2014 sales in the post Global Financial Crisis era, being slightly worse…

On July 24, National Cabinet agreed on a protocol for screening interstate freight workers, “but state governments imposed unachievable testing requirements and failed to provide the necessary testing facilities”, according to the Australian Trucking Association (ATA). Now, the National Cabinet has agreed to the Freight Movement Code for the Domestic Border Controls — Freight Movement Protocol. The enforceable measures are said to “ensure a consistent set of health measures apply across borders for freight operators, especially for routine Covid-19 testing, self-isolation requirements while working and reporting requirements to facilitate contact tracing”. State and territory governments remain responsible for implementing and enforcing the code. “Streamlining the process for crossing borders will make life easier for our freight operators,” federal transport Michael McCormack says. Assistant Minister for Road Safety and Freight Transport…

A Queensland freight company has been taught an expensive lesson in New South Wales around speed compliance. The company, which TfNSW declines to name, was fined $10,000 after being found guilty of having a speed limiter set above 125km/h. Transport for NSW (TfNSW) director compliance Roger Weeks says he welcomes the strong message sent to the Heritage Park-based company around the need to travel at safe speeds. "Excessive speed is a significant contributing factor to fatal and serious crashes and the impact of speed related incidents is significantly increased when it involves heavy vehicles," Weeks says. The Kenworth B-double combination involved was stopped at the Jones Island Heavy Vehicle Checking Station while travelling north on February 19. Tests carried out on the speed limiter found it was set to 125.5km/h…

Intermodal operator SCT Logistics and container logistics firm ACFS have formed a port rail strategy partnership. The collaboration is said to open up rail freight access to the Port of Melbourne for 300,000 tonnes of freight annually and will provide direct port connectivity to regional Victoria. For SCT, the strategy comprises increased volumes moving from its Horsham and Wodonga sites to the Port of Melbourne, while it marks a significant component of its ACFS’ port-related rail facilities, particularly its newly developed Altona facility. The parties note the project was facilitated by the Victorian Government’s Port Rail Shuttle Network (PRSN) and Port Rail Transformation (PRT) policies. "This announcement will be the first of many based on our on-going investment in rail freight in the state, supported by the Victorian government’s PRSN…

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has moved on streamlining oversize overmass (OSOM) movements across New South Wales’ Hunter Valley. The notice is the largest mass and dimension notice in the country, covering vehicles up to 184.5 tonnes for a combination up to 39.9 metres long, 5.9 metres wide and 5.2 metres high, travelling across the local government areas of Newcastle, Port Stephens, Singleton, Maitland, Upper Hunter and Warrumbungle. The New South Wales Class 1 Load Carrying Combination (Hunter Region) Mass and Dimension Exemption Notice will "reduce red tape and provide certainty" for the local mining and freight industry, the regulator notes. "We’ve worked with industry to identify significant productivity benefits by establishing a dedicated network for OSOM freight moving between the mines, industrial repair facilities and the port," NHVR…

NSW Police has launched Operation Stock Check to address livestock theft in the state. The police force says the operation is to prevent livestock theft by disrupting the movement of stolen stock in western NSW by allowing officers of all ranks to inspect vehicles carrying livestock to identify and target loads which may have been stolen. A total of 368 incidents have been recorded in the past two years alone and have had an impact on farmers across Central North, New England, Oxley, Central West, Chifley, Orana Mid Western and Barrier Police Districts, according to NSW Police. It puts the figures at about 20,300 sheep and 1,800 cattle stolen, roughly worth more than $4.3 million. "This operation is one of a number of steps the NSW Police Force is taking…

The National Diesel Dirt & Turf Expo at the Sydney Dragway, which was previously re-scheduled to October 2020, has been deferred until Thursday 9th to Sunday 11th of April 2021. The decision by the Expo management to set a new date for the event was taken after a detailed review of potential Covid-19 public health risks. Expo manager, Marti Zivkovich said, “these risks were assessed in conjunction with continual monitoring of the advice provided by the New South Wales government and New South Wales health that would enable us to fully comply with public health orders, and to protect the health and wellbeing of our exhibitors and visitors.” Another key factor in the decision to defer was the complexities faced by sponsors and exhibitors for effective planning of marketing campaigns,…

The background to one of today’s premier Australian transport and logistics businesses, the Glen Cameron Group, is one of classic determination and business nous. But like its competitors, the company is relying on the strengths that allowed it to survive and thrive over the years as it works through uncharted territory. Many of them were embedded at their foundation. From a single truck outfit launched in 1975 from a phone box in Bayswater, founder Glen Cameron built his transport business into a multimillion-dollar national logistics operation that spans the country. What started from one person, with a whole lot of determination is now is a team of over 700 staff and 500 contractors all playing an important role distributing a diverse array of freight the company handles on behalf of…

Let’s flick back to the good ol’ days. Like, last year’s Brisbane Truck Show. It already seems a lifetime ago but back in May 2019, when people stood shoulder-to-shoulder as the truck industry presented its latest and greatest hardware in all its glittering glory, it’s doubtful anyone had heard the term ‘social distancing’. If they had, it was probably in reference to inmates and introverts rather than the general population. Likewise, in most minds ‘Corona’ was just another beer and ‘virus’ was an annoying bug that seemed to affect computers more than people. But as we now all know only too well, there’s nothing flippant or frivolous about a pandemic. The changes in society and industry over a very short time have been breathtaking. Literally! Yet, without downplaying the seriousness…

AI and ML have been adopted into industries globally, helping businesses fast-track their digital transformations. The ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) along with AI and ML technology have only just started gathering strength across the Australian transport and logistics sector but will accelerate quickly. With Australia’s population expected to grow to 36 million people in the next 30 years, it’s more critical than ever for the government and transport industry to apply this technology and address traffic congestion, road safety and the increased freight task. It will deliver huge economic benefits – CSIRO’S Data61 estimates digital technologies, including AI, may be worth $315 billion to the Australian economy by 2028. However, smart technology isn’t only beneficial on a nation-wide scale. It delivers day-to-day benefits for businesses of all sizes by gathering…

The commercial vehicle sales year is starting to look like one of differing halves, with most of the first taking a double whammy of a slowing economy and Covid-19 lockdowns. The second half, however, and we will include June in that for the sake of neatness, is being marked by a return to some sort of form – 2017 form, though this is uneven. True, this was mentioned in passing last month and the Truck Industry Council’s (TIC’s) T-Mark statistics show the industry is behind where it was this time that year. But not by far and the industry can be forgiven the temptation of sighing in relief. How far is “not far”? Well, monthly and year-to-date (YTD) totals this year that are 2,891 and 19,339 while 2017’s are 2,951…