Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 412 i Australasian Transport News (ATN)

Listed national operator K&S Freighters faced charges recently over a 2018 incident at an Adelaide depot. Statutory authority Comcare reports the Commonwealth director of public prosecutions filed two charges in the Adelaide Magistrates Court at the end of last year, alleging K&S failed in its duties under the Work Health and Safety Act. It was alleged that K&S, a self-insured licensee under the Comcare Scheme, failed to provide a safe system of work and adequate training and supervision. The incident happened on November 25, 2018 at a freight depot in Adelaide’s northern suburbs. "After delivering a load of steel coil, workers were raising the heavy interlocked gates on a truck trailer when the gates fell on a K&S worker, causing severe leg fractures," Comcare's statement notes. "The charges are Category…

Coles and the Transport Workers Union (TWU) have signed a charter on standards in road transport and the gig economy, focusing on safety, driver education and mental health. Describing it as "ground-breaking", the union says the charter commits Coles and the TWU to working collaboratively on ensuring high standards on safety and fairness throughout the supply chain as a way to ensure positive health and safety outcomes. This includes a formal consultation process between the pair to ensure an ongoing emphasis on safety and to establish mechanisms through which safety issues can be identified and addressed. They will also work together on safe and fair outcomes for workers in the rapidly-growing gig economy. Under the terms of the newly-signed charter, Coles and the TWU will now establish pilot programs with…

One of the more significant reforms of Sydney’s container haulage system is to be reviewed, Transport for NSW (TfNSW) reveals. The Port Botany Landside Improvement Strategy (PBLIS), put in place more than a decade ago under the Labor state government, has helped keep the task on a fairly even keel since then. TfNSW is already consulting industry and other port stakeholders on Ports and Maritime Administration Regulation 2012 and minor proposed amendments to PBLIS Mandatory Standards. The standards include detailed rules of the PBLIS scheme that regulates freight movements to and from Port Botany. "These arrangements were introduced following a 2008 Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal finding about inefficiencies with container movements at Port Botany," TfNSW states in an industry advisory on the initial two consultations. "It is now timely…

DRIVERS’ TAKE What driver training was there? PK: I covered this in the routing part of the response – the vehicle needs to be driven differently to an ICE truck to maximise the regenerative braking and battery performance. We now have a program where a new driver travels as the ‘offsider’ for deliveries where they can see the different driving style and discuss this with an experienced driver. FD: ANC selected some of our best delivery teams to become our firstEV [electric vehicle] drivers. They were accomplished professional drivers already, but there was a learning curve in transitioning to driving a commercial EV. SEA played a crucial role, by providing training days and putting technicians in the trucks with our teams for the first month out on the road. What…

This time last year, Michael May was the head of Daimler Australia’s Mercedes-Benz truck and bus operations. A brand on the boil, kicking goals and much like the shrewd, mild-mannered May, secure in success. From the outside looking in, it appeared a productive, comfortable, satisfying existence continuing to evolve on the back of a modern, efficient and increasingly popular line of trucks far removed from problems of earlier generations. And as director of Mercedes-Benz Truck & Bus, supported by capable people above and below on the corporate ladder, May’s engineering background and steady hand had played a major role in ensuring the new Benz models were tested and tailored to Australia’s unique demands. Sure, there was no resting on laurels but nonetheless, after the hard groundwork it was time to…

■ Truck appreciation and the love of muscle and fast cars do tend to go hand in hand. And it is a fact that Supercars teams spend a hefty amount on the skins and bling of their vehicle transporters. But who outside the wonderful world of racing V8s and cars with the sounds of the 60s, 70s and 80s would want to know what the net worth of Jon Kelly is? Pictured here in happier times, Kelly, you may recall, headed the now defunct Heavy Haulage Australia (HHA). He and his magnificently turned out trucks and characterful drivers were the stars of TV show MegaTruckers some six year ago. Well, car enthusiasts’ website hotcar.com, that’s who. We neither, but without a direct quote from the man, and while going into…

How did you see the New Year in? Has there ever been one we’ve looked forward to more? Yet, it’s like none we have ever celebrated. Did you make a New Year’s resolution? How about “in 2021 I am not going to miss the Brisbane Truck Show”? For all the good intentions about giving up junk food, exercising more, spending more time with your partner/kids/mum/dog, this one is fully within your powers to pull together. We could talk about how good it’s going to be to catch up with colleagues, customers and mates in the flesh, but let’s look at this purely from a professional perspective. This is the biggest business-to-business event that will have taken place in Australia in 18 months. It is the rebirth of major indoor events.…

Transport for NSW (TfNSW) is crediting its regulatory approach for an improvement in the fatal heavy vehicle crash rate. New statistics shows an even outcome over the 12 months up to and including October 2020 and an improvement over the three year average. The department sees the better figuresas being the result of a combination of education and an outcome-focused and risk-based compliance approach. "Our focus is on heavy vehicle speed limiter compliance, driver fatigue and roadworthiness, particularly around brakes," TfNSW deputy secretary safety, environment and regulation Tara McCarthy says. "Brakes remain the most common major defect type, with 24 per cent of all heavy vehicles inspected having some sort of brake fault." As part of TfNSW’s program to improve brake compliance, it says the Heavy Vehicle Rating System (HVRS)…

The 2020 Valvoline Truck of the Year Award marks the culmination of the third year of the highly-popular Truck of the Month feature in Owner//Driver. The team here at Owner//Driver has chosen the 12 finalists, but the responsibility of selecting the winner is now turned over to you – our valued readers. Among the nominees are some amazing trucks – so we don’t envy the job ahead of you! Read on to find out how to vote, and what you can win for your efforts! HOW IT WORKS To be eligible, trucks must have appeared as a Truck of the Month in Owner//Driver magazine over the past 12 months. The outright winner will be decided by popular vote – with the winner featured in the March 2021 issue of Owner//Driver…

What better way to start off a huge 2021 than with a huge story? Quite literally, it doesn’t get much bigger than this. I’m not just talking about the size of the awesome trucks I got to shoot for this story or the size of the awesome load I got to see moved; I’m talking about the huge lessons I learnt about myself during this story. I know, I’m diverting your attention from some of the coolest Kenworths in Australia, including a rebuilt 2013 C509 workhorse, so I can waffle about my own self-reflection. I very rarely get to turn a story around and make it about me, so give me a little leeway here. Not that I need to ask; as the journalist here you guys really don’t have…

Mazda has said goodbye to Ford, after its decades-long partnership creating utes and other commercial vehicles, and embarked on a new era, this time teaming up with Isuzu for its new BT-50 ute. While the earlier Ford/Mazda one-tonne utes were primarily developed and built by Mazda and then rebadged as Ford products, the last generation of the partnership was primarily developed by Ford (in Australia) with input from Mazda, then re-skinned and badged as BT-50s. The new BT-50 is essentially a re-skinned Isuzu D-Max, and that is the all-new 2020 D-Max that launched just a few months before the BT-50 hit the market. Mazda is banking on Isuzu’s reputation for engineering strong, reliable vehicles and class-leading levels of safety technology in sharing the D-Max’s platform, while wrapping it in stylish…

Officers from the Major Crash Investigation Section and the Heavy Vehicle Enforcement Section investigated a crash on October 12 on Spring Gully Road after a concrete truck struck a tree. The crash killed the driver, a 30-year-old man from Parafield Gardens. SAPOL alleges the concrete company’s truck fleet revealed "significant deficiencies", with 19 of the company’s 20 vehicles defected by police at the company’s Salisbury South depot. Reports indicate the company involved is Hi Mix Concrete. Two company managers were arrested on November 30 and charged with manslaughter. Two Rosslyn Park men, aged 61 and 34, were refused police bail and will appear in the Elizabeth Magistrates Court. SAPOL is also seeking former employees of the company, or anyone with information, that can assist the investigation.…

US-based Velocity Vehicle Group (VVG) is poised to become Australia’s newest truck dealers through a deal signed with Eagers Automotive. Eager reveals in a stock market advisory that, in a deal said to be worth A$108 million, it has signed an agreement to divest its 15 Daimler Trucks dealerships and the Stillwell Trucks premises in Sydney’s Milperra. "The divestment of our Daimler truck operations represents another key step in the ongoing simplification of our automotive retail business," Eagers CEO and MD Martin Ward says of the move. Daimler points out that, as with its US operation, VVG’s Australian network will only sell and service commercial vehicles, with a focus on the needs of truck and bus customers. It will also exclusively represent Daimler brands Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner and Fuso. A privately-owned…

A Mackay, Queensland operator who left six failed companies owing $4.5 million is banned from managing companies for five years, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) reports. David James Pattison was found to be a director of six failed entities involved in the automotive maintenance and haulage industries operating in Palmerston City, Northern Territory, between 2014 and 2017. Those include: Pattison’s Maintenance, Minesite Freight, Norter (previously Pattison’s Heavy Machinery Maintenance), NT Diesel Services (NTDS), Northern Territory Diesel and Heavy Diesel Consulting. ASIC lists Pattison’s rap sheet as: • failed to exercise his duties as a director with due care and diligence in respect of Pattison’s and Norter • failed to ensure that Pattison’s, Norter and NTDS paid taxes • failed to properly use his position as a director of…

SeaRoad Shipping is chartering the roll-on-roll-off cargoship Liekut over three years for Bass Strait freight work in what promises to be a hefty capacity boost in the trade. The $80 million investment will see the Searoad Tamar replaced with the Liekut while a new SeaRoad ship is constructed. "We’re taking big steps to ensure SeaRoad’s future and the provision of ever-improving, reliable Bass Strait services for our clients," executive chairman Chas Kelly says. "This will lead to greater opportunity for Tasmanian agriculture, aquaculture and manufacturing industries, ultimately attracting further investment in these sectors. "MV Liekut will complement our other modern ship, MV Searoad Mersey II, which is similar in size and speed, increasing SeaRoad’s total lane metre capacity by almost 70 per cent." SeaRoad reveals its senior management team assessed…

Indicating a healthy level of activity across various sectors, a wave of new facility unveilings or development announcements in Australia hit the back end of 2020. Some of the recent moves involved Australian Container Freight Services (ACFS), Linfox, Toll, Mainfreight, DHL, MaxiTrans and Komatsu A number of these projects had long been in the pipeline, while Covid-19 heightened demand in some sectors or prompted a business pivot in others. ACFS Construction approval for the flagship St Marys Freight Hub may have been the pièce de résistance this year for container logistics firm ACFS (and its project partner, rail operator Pacific National). However, its Altona, Melbourne super-site also came to fruition. Adjacent to the Melbourne-Geelong freight rail corridor, and adjoining an empty Maersk depot, the new site has access to the…

In those milder, less vexatious days before virus, vitriol and violence conspired to make America weird again, there was a trip in mid-2019 to Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) headquarters in Portland, Oregon. The main objective, obviously enough, was to see how much work Freightliner had done in preparing its Cascadia conventional for the Australian market prior to the truck’s launch here a few months later. Thankfully, like most trips to DTNA in Portland, 2019 also included a presentation at the full-scale wind tunnel – described by one wit as the ‘tunnel of shove’ – just across the road from head office. This is a truly impressive built-for-purpose facility designed entirely to determine the most efficient and practical aerodynamic shape for shoving through the air a full-size, road-going truck and…

Well, here’s thanks that 2020 is behind us and we can look forward to getting the economic resurgence on in earnest – as much as the virus will allow. Certainly, 2020 Truck Industry Council (TIC) T-Mark commercial vehicle sales figures show fleets and other owners doing what they can to lay the groundwork for that. They also emphasise an economy looking to push through the pandemic, despite the challenges. The year ended on 34,476 units sold and it should be a surprise to no regular reader that this is slap bang in the middle of 2016’s 32,964 and 2017’s 36,825. Of the December year-on-year (YOY) totals, it can be argued that the market is showing signs of a big year ahead. Last month came in at 3,478, up more than…