Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 474 i Deals On Wheels Australia

Has the truck sales record tilt run out of puff? Plenty of punters would be tearing up their tickets now in similar circumstances at a race track. The reason, the November Truck Industry Council (TIC) T-Mark figures show, is the size of the dip from October to November. In the record year of 2018, it was 54 units, while this year it was 155. This left the market with a 297 unit deficit running into December. This year had a November figure of 3,650, with a year-to-date (YTD) of 37,876 against 2018’s 3,727 and 38,173. Insurmountable? Maybe. Especially if Isuzu is left to do all the heavy lifting. And Isuzu certainly is proving a titan, having broken into four figures for the month at 1,010. This time in 2018, it…

Scan with your Smartphone camera to check out this deal! 2020 Freightliner Cascadia 126 6x4 3,000 (ex-demo) $276,500 Calare, NSW West Orange Motors 02 8279 7042 If you can’t get your hands on a brand spanking, straight off the production line number, this Freightliner Cascadia 126 prime mover has got to be the next best thing. The 6x4 is this year’s model and has a grand total of just 3,000km on the clock. It’s so clean and young, you could use a cutthroat razor to shave in the reflection from the bumper chrome in perfect safety – if not quite comfort. That is what a $276,500 former demonstrator truck that is soon to be available gives an owner. But, as they say in the classics, that’s not all. Try the…

So, the year is ending – where to start? At the beginning, one supposes. But that seems so long ago. In January, people were wondering what the ‘new normal’ would be like. Certainly freight transport and logistics players were given hope that, as far as the pandemic was concerned, it would resemble the latter half of last year. Still awful at the time, it became possible to look back almost wistfully to the so-called National Cabinet and a recognition that smashing the economy to protect often under-resourced state health systems was wilfully obtuse. No “we had to destroy the village to save it” nostrum here – the drivers and their trucks would still cross state frontiers, with almost-uniform safeguards in place after liaison with other states. Well, that didn’t last…

In one of the more sensational episodes involving police this year, a high-profile and alleged bail-breaching fugitive, the driver of the truck he was transported in and the driver’s truck company made headlines following arrests and a raid. Widely named as Mostafa Baluch and described as the nation’s “most-wanted man” by domestic and international media, the suspect was the subject of Strike Force Jillabenan II, established by Organised Crime Squad detectives assisted by the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, Australian Border Force, the NSW Crime Commission, and interstate police. Acting on information from investigators, Queensland Police stopped a truck as it crossed the border into Queensland. Officers searched the container on the back of the truck, where they located the 33-year-old man hiding inside a grey Mercedes…

Tom Lindsay, one of two brothers who founded what has become one of the great names in transport and logistics, Lindsay Brothers Transport, has passed away at the age of 90. The Lindsay family paid tribute, noting his and his late brother’s focus on the task with an eye to the future. “Tom’s partnership with his brother, Peter [decd], began in 1953,” the tribute reads. “Tom and Peter Lindsay formed a unique partnership to guide their local Lindsay Brothers Transport venture to develop into the thriving national transport and logistics company that Lindsay Australia Limited is today. “Through hard work and the dedicated work ethic of their employees, Tom and Peter built the Lindsay Brothers business through long-term associations and friendships with their customers and suppliers. “The Lindsay Brothers were…

The Lindsay Group has negotiated an enforceable undertaking with the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) over charges brought 12 months ago following a fatal truck crash in 2018. The accident involved a heavy vehicle that crashed over an overpass, triggering the NHVR investigation. Proceedings had been issued in the Local Court of New South Wales against Lindsay Transport Pty Ltd and Lindsay Brothers Management Pty Ltd. Those have now been discontinued. “Following a consultation process with the NHVR, the NHVR has accepted the terms of an Enforceable Undertaking (EU) proposed by the Lindsay Group,” the company said in a statement. “The entering into an EU is an alternative to the court proceedings. “The activities required under the terms of the EU will deliver safety related educational initiatives training initiatives, and…

Iveco said it’s on a transformation path and announced development of a Customisation & Innovation Centre (CIC) and related changes that will impact its Australian manufacturing arm. The CIC is a business unit that will leverage Iveco’s local engineering and manufacturing expertise, transforming the company’s focus towards the customisation and innovation of its vehicles for local markets. The CIC is being developed to “better assist customers and body-builders – particularly those with complex body types – to achieve a more streamlined design and body fitment process for their vehicles”. Promoting innovation will be another key aspect of the CIC, the company said, with Iveco placed to “work more closely with Europe and local partners to explore areas such as alternative propulsion solutions, digitisation, connectivity and autonomous driving”. Iveco Australia and…

Daimler Trucks has celebrated 25 years of the Mercedes-Benz Actros model with a birthday retrospective featuring five generations of the premium hauler brought together. Daimler says that 25 years ago, Mercedes-Benz set out on a new path with the Actros – specifically for long-distance and distribution haulage. The first generation, launched in 1996 to celebrate the 100th birthday of the truck that was invented by Gottlieb Daimler in 1896, marked the start of a model series. “For a quarter of a century now, the Actros has been the flagship of our product portfolio,” Mercedes-Benz Trucks head of marketing, sales and services Andreas von Wallfeld said. “Worldwide, over 1.4 million trucks sold in this premium model series are clear proof of very satisfied customers.” Numerous technical milestones, such as the first…

In my lifetime, the last 18 months have been the most challenging I have experienced. This was, in many ways, due to the serious impacts and challenges that the Covid-19 pandemic has had, and continues to have, on all aspects on our personal and work lives. The road transport industry has played a vital and essential role in assisting the Australian community to navigate this constantly changing environment – and that’s a huge credit to the sector. Importantly, our industry and supply chains continue to be stoic in their approach to ensuring the best health and safety outcomes are pursued for our drivers and others who have daily interactions with each other. During this time, the need for improved national consistency and communication was under the spotlight for governments, as…

Australian energy academics have discounted the push towards hydrogen as a road transport fuel. While pointing to its importance in other fields, such as ‘green steel’, University of Technology Sydney adjunct associate professor Robin Smit and PhD candidate Enoch Zhao, along with Swinburne University of Technology professor of future urban mobility Hussein Dia, see hydrogen for road transport, including heavy vehicles, as transitional at best. The dissenting opinion comes at a time when the federal government has banked on hydrogen as a priority low-emissions technology, with a focus on hydrogen refuelling infrastructure for major freight routes and other road corridors. “Hydrogen may play a larger role in the long-haul truck market, as its stated benefits include a long drive range and short refuelling times, which are important for this sector,”…

Back in what some might say were the good ol’ days of Australian road transport, you couldn’t call yourself a truck driver – or at least, not a real truck driver – if you couldn’t use a Roadranger manual gearbox with any degree of proficiency. In some quarters, it’s an opinion that still exists. Indeed, such was the hold of Eaton’s constant-mesh, twin countershaft shifter on heavy-duty trucking that anything other than a Roadranger was for decades seen as something outside the norm. Spicer, for example, made a good fist of fighting Eaton’s supremacy in a multitude of demanding roles and Mack, of course, had its own brand of highly durable boxes specific to its own models. Still, neither came close to diminishing Roadranger’s domination. Meantime, for those companies and…

Scan with your Smartphone camera to check out this deal! Western Star 6900 FXC Tri Drive Cummins X15 18 spd $220,000 Perth, WA 0400 607 021 You may need to have an instant fleet for some seriously heavy work or have landed a contract that your present equipment will struggle to handle. Or, you may fancy one or some of the more glorious and powerful examples of the Western Star genre. I mean, what’s not to like about the big stacks and wicked intakes? If this is in your ball park, you can take your pick of five of these Western Star 6900 FXC Tri Drive 8x6 prime movers rated at 196 tonne. Traditionalists will enjoy the 18-speed Eaton Road Ranger stirrers and anyone would like Meritor RZ78-188 diffs and…

HERE ARE THE 12 FINALISTS FOR THE 2021 OWNERDRIVER TRUCK OF THE YEAR The 2021 Truck of the Year Award marks the culmination of the fourth year of the highly-popular Truck of the Month feature in OwnerDriver. The team at our sister publication OwnerDriver 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 OwnerDriver magazine over the past 12 months. The outright winner will be decided by…

Economic issues are translating significant industry challenges in Western Australia that could see firms fail to keep their heads above water, according to the Western Roads Federation (WRF). A confluence of developments against a backdrop of the state’s famous boom and bust cycles have industry observers noting that freight transport there is suffering something akin to a ‘green drought’. And a word only now coming back into common parlance is being used – inflation. “Many members are reporting rapidly escalating costs of operations – from fuel, tyres, spares and wages,” WRF CEO Cam Dumesny observed. Dumesny noted that discussions with both state and federal Treasury departments seem to indicate a real concern that we may have far higher levels of inflation than is currently reported. “Transport operating cost price increases…

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC’s) warning of container logistics disfunction is being played out now in Melbourne, with one haulage interest saying the wheels are “well and truly falling off” productivity there. Container Transport Alliance Australia (CTAA) saw this as the result of a confluence of industrial actions, weather events, high peak volumes, port congestion and ship delays. CTAA charged that truck turnaround times at DP World West Swanson Terminal blew out to more than four hours after storms lashed the city in October, and due to high volumes and other operational problems. Transport operators have been left being unable to collect all available import containers, and export receivals have been disrupted, leading to more congestion in West Swanson Terminal. There are several large empty bulk runs scheduled…

Scania’s newest flagship, the V8-powered R-series prime mover, is now in Australia, arriving 12 months ahead of expectation. The initial arrival will be used as a company demonstrator, but Scania said the order books for the 770hp (574kW) are now open. “We often say, ‘You’re never late in a V8’, but this time we’ve outdone ourselves, bringing the 770hp variant to Australia a good 12 months ahead of the rest of the revamped V8 family, and ahead of our target,” Scania Australia director of truck sales Dean Dal Santo said. “We’re very excited to be able to open our order books for the 770 for delivery during the second half of 2022. “The 770 is the absolute pinnacle of Scania V8 performance and efficiency, together with low emissions, and so…

Ford’s Next-Generation Ranger is the “smartest, most versatile and most capable Ranger ever” according to the company, with the latest model updates aiming for an adaptable midsized ute that reflects how people want to use their vehicles. The Next-Generation Ranger project was led by Ford’s Product Development Centre in Melbourne, with a 2,000-strong team of dedicated designers and engineers. “Our team was focused on one goal – to make this Ranger the toughest and most capable we’ve ever created,” Ranger vehicle program director Graham Pearson said. “They put it through one of the most exhaustive global testing schedules we’ve ever developed and would not rest until we were satisfied that it was ‘Built Ford Tough’.” According to Ford, customer input was key to developing the Next-Generation range. To that end,…

Eaton Vehicle Group has reported that its vehicle group has demonstrated cylinder deactivation (CDA) as an effective technology for meeting future global emissions requirements for diesel-engine powered commercial vehicles. To date, the technology has been evaluated with a close-coupled selective catalytic reduction (SCR) after-treatment system with and without a 48-volt electric heater. “Our CDA technology has proven it can help our customers meet increasingly strict emissions regulations for diesel engines,” engine air management business unit director Christopher Mancuso said. “This comes at a time when many global manufacturers are determining what technologies they will leverage in next-generation vehicles to reduce harmful emissions.” New emissions regulations spearheaded by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and European Commission (EC) are slated for adoption in coming years. These…

All-new Renault Kangoo Van and the new Mercedes-Benz Citan have won the International Van of the Year award (IVOTY) 2022, as voted by a jury of 24 European journalists. Innovations, not least for cargo accessibility, put the pair, which share the same base and have common characteristics, on the podium. The outcome, announced at the Solutrans 2021 trade fair in Lyon, is the result of multi-year collaborative project between the French and German automotive companies with contributions being “Upon appraising the new Kangoo and Citan, the jury heard about the multi-year collaborative project between the French and German automotive companies, with each brand bringing their own DNA and thereby unique features to the joint development program, resulting in two vehicles with distinct characteristics, such as the ‘Open Sesame’ doors in…

they really wanted a heavy truck with a decent 500hp-plus engine Fuso has picked the best fruit from its family tree to create the 510hp (380kW) heavy duty Shogun that has launched in Australia. The new hero of the Shogun range, which instantly turns Fuso into a serious heavy-duty challenger, has been made possible thanks to a cherry-ripe 13-litre engine from within the Daimler Trucks family. The same Euro 6 OM471 six-cylinder engine that powers the Shogun’s Mercedes-Benz Actros and Freightliner Cascadia 116 siblings is now available in a Japanese truck that has a genuine gross combination mass rating of 63 tonnes. Fuso says the Shogun 510 will be at home hauling a single or double trailer set, a tough tipper and dog combination or as a rigid. It isn’t…

Before we climb behind the wheel, let’s go back to early June and a big showroom tucked into a quiet backlot of an inner Sydney suburb. Inside, Hino Australia’s leading lights were gathered, eager in this pre-Delta Diaspora to showcase their new series of heavy-duty hopefuls. To be blunt, though, none of this was particularly surprising. After all, in the wake of new 300-series light-duty models and, later, advanced standard and wide cab versions of a newly crafted medium-duty 500-series range, it was plainly apparent that Hino would eventually follow suit with a completely reworked range of 700-series heavy-duty trucks. What did surprise, however, was just how far Hino had gone in its bid to make the 700-series a far more competitive and appealing line-up: a line-up entirely capable of…

it is extremely important to build long term relationships with companies For more than a decade, Western Australian transport specialist Freight Lines Group has relied on Vawdrey Australia for efficient and reliable trailers, which are often set up as pocket road train combinations and re-configured for optimal fleet utility. In the 1960s, a humble freight company commenced operations in Esperance to Perth. By the 1980s, it established a fuel distribution arm along with fresh fruit and vegetable operations. The business collectively known as Freight Lines Group (FLG) has since expanded into mining, bulk commodities, agriculture and specialised freight, boasting a team of about 210 staff. “The fuel business was sold and then Harding Transport was born with the fruit and veg distribution – this evolved over time to the company…

ACFS Port Logistics spent part of late last month recovering its IT systems after a cyber-attack. The national container logistics company found its systems breached, affecting operations and empty container park services. “It’s been an amazing effort by the team,” ACFS CEO Arthur Tzaneros told ATN. “We caught the cyber incident very early and shut all our systems down very quickly so information wasn’t compromised. “It was all managed very, very quickly, due to the security systems we had in place.” Those systems are managed by eSecure, the Melbourne-headquartered information security and risk management services with offices in large eastern capitals and London, which was bought by Australian digital services and cybersecurity firm Orro in September. Tsaneros would not be drawn on the detail of the attack, beyond saying that…

In an occurrence that is rare in Australian – let alone Western Australian – business annals, a bus company has taken over a trucking company. Though it is not without trucks in its line-up, Northfleet primarily focuses on passenger transport hire in WA’s mining-centric north but also in Perth. The company has taken to social media to say it had “successfully acquired Kwik Logistics” – a statement confirmed in a call to the company and in business news outlets in the state. Kwik Transport and Crane Hire Pty Ltd had been under McGrathNicol voluntary administration for about two weeks. With several large-scale construction projects commencing in 2022 and beyond, the acquisition builds on Northfleet Transport’s ability to offer clients a complete transport solution for life of project requirements, the company…

The Transport and Logistics Training Package (Release 10.0) has been endorsed by the nation’s skills and training ministers for implementation, VET 4 T&L has highlighted. “The Transport and Logistics Industry Reference Committee and Rail Industry Reference Committee, with the support of Technical Advisory committees, have updated the Transport & Logistics Training Package through the projects below to address priority skills needs,” VET 4 T&L said. “The changes incorporate recent technology advancements and align with applicable regulatory requirements.” The move comes a month after the skills ministers backed reform of vocational education and training (VET) system to make it more flexible in the face of swift economic change, including for transport and logistics (T&L). “Industry Clusters will replace the Industry Reference Committees [IRCs] and the Skills Service Organisations [SSOs].”. This is…

The National Road Transport Association (NatRoad) has put the case for the return of mobile speed camera signage and for better data to inform road safety to a New South Wales Parliamentary inquiry. The NSW Parliamentary Standing Committee on Road Safety is enquiring into the state’s mobile speed cameras and the decision in November 2020 to remove warning signage. NatRoad CEO Warren Clark said that, as professional drivers spending much of their waking time behind the wheel to make a living, his members have safety at the heart of everything they do. “Speed limit signage plays an important educational role,” Clark said. “It reminds a driver to check their speed and slow down, if necessary, and it reduces confusion. “Driver education is fundamental to road safety, particularly the education of…

The onset of a new year used to be an excuse for reflection. I can understand why many in our industry don’t want to do that after the challenges of 2021. You can’t safely move forward without looking in the rear view mirror. The lessons we all learned are important. Santa has been and gone. Without appearing to be ungrateful, there’s still a long wish list of what we should all want in 2022: 1. Consistency from government Any government. Please. The endless barrage of border access changes and quarantine requirements in 2021 was almost impossible to keep up with. At last count, NatRoad changed its online advisory 150 times in six months – and that excludes the sometimes daily bulletins going straight to members’ email inboxes. We know Australia…

The winners of Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia’s (HVIA’s) awards for leadership and innovation in the heavy vehicle sector were presented at a recent gala event in Brisbane. The presentation, sponsored by National Transport Insurance (NTI) and Truck Assist, was also streamed around the country. Speaking at the event in Brisbane, assistant minister for road safety and freight transport, Scott Buchholz, recognised and commended the heavy vehicle industry’s contribution to the nation’s resilience. “We really, really appreciate everything the transport industry does for our great country,” Buchholz said. “The government is absolutely committed to getting our tax settings right, reducing the costs of doing business and providing an environment where, if you are manufacturing here in Australia, that your order book is full. “And we did that during the pandemic, by…

Exchangeable truck battery firm Janus Electric has linked with Li-S Energy for battery-pack technology development and testing. The partners are to look into the suitability of lithium sulphur and/or lithium metal battery cells, in a move Janus foreshadowed at this year’s Brisbane Truck Show. Back then, the company explained that its battery-cell technology would be “fully upgradable with new emerging battery technology” as lithium cells are superseded. The focus of the research will be on proving advanced technology using boron nitride nanotubes (BNNT) and Li-nanomesh, both Li-S specialties. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) identified lithium-sulphur as a future development for vehicle batteries in a Senate submission on electric vehicles in 2018. Sulphur is seen as an inexpensive boosting agent for batteries. Each Janus Electric exchangeable battery pack…

I have to admit it – my first real chat with a tow truck driver turned out to be a lot more enjoyable than I expected. Admittedly, I’ve always been fearful that I’d be trying to explain to a towie that it’s not my fault, the gearbox came like that and the jack shaft was broken when I got it, all while sitting in the middle of a three-lane highway waving at the cars honking at me. Instead, it turns out my first chat was while sitting on a crate in the shadow of a big red T409, sharing a cold can of coke and trying to contain my excitement at the idea of shooting a massive iconic Peterbilt. For once, real life beat my imagination. The crate that my…

For the most part, Brett Cleary is a bloke who likes to keep things relatively simple. Simply put, he is the third generation of Cleary Bros, an immensely proud and resourceful family company that, for more than 100 years, has built and operated quarrying, transport and civil construction enterprises from a base on the Illawarra coast, which, nowadays, is little more than an hour’s drive south of Sydney. Similarly simple, within this family’s code resides a strong, historic appreciation for things that work well and, at the other end of the scale, an equally strong disdain for things that don’t. When it comes to equipment that doesn’t meet expectations, second chances are rare in the Cleary mould. These formidable and sometimes fierce attitudes are in the blood. Brett’s 80-year-old uncle,…