Big Rigs 27 September 2024

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Call for unity on fixes

BY JAMES GRAHAM

A renewed call to split the MC licence into two classes will need a more unified approach from industry if it’s to get the support it needs from transport ministers.

That’s the message from grass roots body, the National Road Freighters Association (NRFA), after a roundtable in Canberra earlier this month to discuss some of the industry’s biggest issues and what can be done to fix them.

The NRFA, which mainly comprises of working truckies, said it agreed with the push by the Australian Trucking Association around changes to the MC classification that if passed would see the existing class split into two with the breakpoint at 37 metres.

This would mean that A-doubles, B-doubles and B-triples would be in the MC1 licence class. Longer combinations would require the MC2 licence.

But NRFA president Glyn Castanelli said that concept had already been floated in a review of the National Heavy Vehicle Driver Competency Framework by a consortium of experts led by Dr. Kim Hassell.

“It’s a great idea but it’s been agitated for the last 18 months and failed to get to

the ministers in their decision regulation impact statement,” Castanelli said.

“For us now as an industry we need to work together as a combined unified industry and say that’s what we want.

“That will only happen if we all go to our state ministers and ask for it and say, ‘why was this too hard?’”

Castanelli also agreed with the ATA’s passport concept, but again said that wasn’t anything new. Teacho has already had something similar in play with its BlueCard system for a number of years.

Castanelli said the proposed changes to the MC licence is just one of several improvements that urgently need to be made to industry training.

“We’ve expected that somebody who turned up with a licence was already trained, and that’s why we’ve got such a problem with training and licensing; the license is just your P plates.

“Everybody advertises for experienced drivers, and then they struggle to find experience.”

Castanelli said the main issues for him from the roundtable were the need for nationally recognised training, a driving apprenticeship and to lift the driver’s position to a trade status “because it’s a very technical job now”.

“The only way we can get

people to come into our industry now direct from school is to offer a trade.

“Where they can start from school at 16 on a forklift, where they can get an HR licence at 18, where they can work their way up and by the time they’re 20-21, they could be in an MC truck with four or five years of experience behind them.

“They’re the most important things that will help fix our industry.”

Castanelli stressed that if there’s unified approach, the right results are attainable.

He is confident that everyone who “drives a truck down the road” would have been happy with the progress made in the roundtable convened by former truckie turned Senator Glenn Sterle.

“We’re in a position now that we want to collate what we need as an industry to go forward, and then work out the best way as a united group that we can take that through whatever channels we need, be it state or federal levels.

“We’ve just got to stop running around in different directions.”

Senator Sterle was pleased to get all the big issues on the table with staff shortfalls in every industry sector only forecast to get worse.

He estimates the deficit to already be double that of the

26,000 vacancies advertised.

“We’ve killed off the nursery through occupational health and safety and lawyers, and no, we can’t go back to the good old days, but we haven’t backfilled it with anything.

“We need fit for purpose training.”

Sterle said he was also tired of hearing about ongoing issues around fixing the licensing issues the industry has.

“This divide between the commonwealth and states is now becoming embarrassing.

“The states have got to get over this thinking they have the biggest, hairiest chest just because there is a dotted line on the map that says they’re smarter on one side of the line than the other.

“We’ve got to get away from this nonsense and start talking to industry.

“They’ve got the answers –

they know what they need.”

Sterle pointed to his home state of WA as a classic example and the work being done there already by the Western Roads Federation in recruiting and training new drivers, along with other jurisdictions such as Queensland and Victoria.

The senator said he also wants to see drivers from overseas trained and licenced to an Australian standard.

In his roundtable speech, Melbourne small fleet owner and NRFA member Jaswinder Boparai agreed.

Boparai told the 36 other attendees, which at one point included Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, that he strongly believed holders of Indian heavy vehicle licences should not be given any shortcuts.

“They should start by obtaining a car license, then drive a car for a year beforebecoming eligible for an HR licence,” he said.

“After holding an HR licence for a year, they should be eligible for an HC licence, and after another year, for an MC licence.

“Each class of licence should be held for at least a year before upgrading to the next class. The reason for this is that obtaining a heavy vehicle licence in India is relatively easy, and the training standards may not match those required in Australia.”

Even so, Boparai, 38, said there are still issues with training in Australia that need to be urgently addressed. He progressed to his MC licence in Brisbane in 2013 after driving HR trucks for two years and HCs for a year after that.

On the first day of his sup-

posed two-day MC training course (the RTO wasn’t Indian, stressed Boparai), the morning was spent on theoretical training and assessments followed by practical training in the afternoon.

During this session, Boparai and one other trainee, hooked up the trailers, along with the driver-trainer, and drove around the block a few times.

on learning how to reverse the MC combination, an aspect of driving that certainly cannot be mastered in such a short time. The next morning, I was handed a certificate declaring that I was a well-trained MC driver, but in reality, I knew almost nothing about operating an MC combination.”

To help rectify that, Boparai worked without pay for two months with a B-double owner-driver.

“It was only after this handson experience that I felt confident enough to drive a B-dou-

Boparai cited the Canadian approach as a training model that Australia could adopt.

“In Canada, there is a twoweek course for obtaining a heavy vehicle license. This course covers everything from driving the truck, loading the trailer, and setting the trailer axles to basic truck maintenance. It provides a well-rounded education that

Industry working group to now lobby ministers

Senator Sterle noted that much of the discussion aligned with recommendation four from the senate inquiry into the road transport industry, namely:

• Introduce a standardised, universal, and compulsory safety induction unit for the road transport sector.

• Develop an industry skills passport for recording induction and training credentials

• Expedite consideration of the Austroads review of the Heavy Vehicle Driver Competency Framework and implement its recommendations.

• Create a national apprenticeship scheme for the road transport industry.

• Collaborate with Safe Work Australia to develop strategies for enabling 16- to 18-year-olds to train on forklifts and implement incentives for businesses to attract young trainees, women, and people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The next stage is the formation of a working group with association representation from each state, the Bus Industry Confederation, the Australian Road Transport Industrial Organisation and the Transport Workers Union who will confirm the top industry priorities.

Sterle said the issues raised will go to a number of portfolios in Canberra, but he also said, “the states need to wake the hell up”.

“They need to get out of this ridiculous slumber that they are in where they think they know every damn thing – and they don’t, that’s the truth.

“Once I collate who’s who in the zoo, we’ll get back together, probably on a smaller scale but before the end of the year, make no mistake.

“I’ll contact the ministers and tell them I want to bring a delegation of industry leaders to come and see them and raise their concerns.”

Sterle later doubled down at the NatRoad annual conference on his push to provide an MC pathway for school-leavers by making it legal for them to drive a forklift at 16, an idea also mooted by former PM Scott Morrison in early 2022.

“ We have the appropriate gear, we have the appropriate safety things in place and the people to train and do all this,” Sterle said.

“The industry needs to step up to the plate and stand next to me and run this argument. I don’t care about all the bed wetters.”

Whiteline wins legal fight to clear name

BY JAMES GRAHAM

ADELAIDE-BASED Wh-

iteline Transport and its high-profile owners have won a four-year legal battle against SA Police and the NHVR to quash a raft of alleged fatigue-related breaches.

The regulator confirmed to Big Rigs that it had withdrawn all charges against Whiteline, its directors Sharon and Bob Middleton and all 23 of its drivers after the Adelaide Magistrates Court refuted much of the prosecution’s evidence in preliminary trial hearings.

In one ruling about an order on evidence improperly and unfairly obtained, four of six notices were ruled to have been issued unlawfully.

Magistrate Brian Nitschke also described one SAPOL

officer’s actions in issuing a notice as “lazy and unlawful”.

“To assert on a notice that he or she holds a reasonable belief when they in fact hold no belief whatsoever is worrying,” he said.

“I exercise my discretion to exclude the evidence obtained by this notice.”

A source close to the Middletons told Big Rigs that the parties are now negotiating what is expected to be a “very substantial” costs settlement, and they may return to Adelaide Magistrates Court next month if an agreement can’t be reached beforehand.

The charges stemmed from a fatality involving Whiteline driver Kingsley ‘Kingy/ No.1’ Bowley on December 27, 2020.

Bowley, 67, had allegedly failed to see a motorist up

ahead in time due to smoke on the road that suddenly thickened from a grass fire adjacent to the motorway.

At the time, Bowley had been two hours out of Adelaide en route to Perth on his regular run across ‘The Paddock’ after returning from four days off. SAPol based their investigation of Whiteline on an allegation the fatality was fatigue-related but under cross examination in court admitted they knew a couple of weeks after the crash that it was not.

On March 1 the following year, Bowley was charged with aggravated driving and dangerous driving causing death.

Just five days later Bowley died in his truck at the Whiteline depot from an apparent heart attack immediately after returning from a run to Perth.

Much-loved Bowley had been with Whiteline for 18 years and until the December 2020 tragedy, had driven four million-incident free kilometres, Sharon Middleton said

Almost six months after friends, family and colleagues said their farewells at a packed funeral service in Gawler, South Australia Police issued a Prohibition Notice taking all Whiteline trucks off the road on August 28, 2021. After two hearings in the

Supreme Court, the judge quashed the notice, and the trucks were rolling again on September 3, but the Middle ton’s long legal fight was far from over.

The NHVR persisted, laying fatigue-related charges against 23 drivers and also against company directors Sharon and Bob Middleton for alleged false work diary entries.

The regulator also laid further charges against the company and against the Middletons under Section 26 of the HVNL, alleging failures of primary duties, based on the fatigue-related charges against their drivers.

is known as a voir dire, or pre-trial proceeding to decide whether the evidence would be admissible in a trial proper.

Much of SAPOL’s investigation relied on cross-referencing data from Whiteline’s GPS systems, the inbuilt GPS in the trucks and the GPS within the Guardian fatigue monitoring system, with the drivers’ work diaries to ascertain whether they had been falsified.

But the court found that it did not consider the systems used, the police processes in securing the data and ana-

lysing it, provided it with any confidence in the accuracy and reliability of the data, so the court refused to admit the data.

In a written statement to Big Rigs, an NHVR spokesperson confirmed that the decision to discontinue proceedings with this matter was in-line with the NHVR’s Prosecutions Policy.

“The NHVR is committed to performing its prosecution functions fairly, in an open, reasonable, consistent, impartial, efficient, and accountable manner, and in the public interest,” the spokesperson said.

“Because aspects of the withdrawal are still before the

court, the NHVR makes no further comment.”

Sharon Middleton, a Member of The Order of Australia and one of the most respected operators in the country, also chose not to comment about the case as the costs settlement was still being negotiated. But in her recent welcome speech at the South Australian Road Transport Association’s annual conference, the association president and long-time board member of the Australian Trucking Association, ga the legal battle had taken.

“All I will say about it today [the legal battle] is that all the charges against our company, Bob, myself and 23 of our drivers have been withdrawn,”

Middleton told attendees who included NHVR CEO Sal Petroccitto and a large table of his high-ranking senior staff.

“We have really appreciated the amazing support from industry which has helped us through this extremely difficult time.

“Now it’s about healing mentally, physically and financially; to learn to live

Prosecution policy is working, says CEO

NHVR CEO Sal Petroccitto is adamant that the regulator’s enforcement policy of informing and educating before enforcement is a good one –and is working.

At a ‘fireside chat’ with SARTA executive director Steve Shearer during the association’s annual conference, Petroccitto said he believes the NHVR’s “proportionate” approach is successfully driving enforcement activity throughout the organisation.

“It’s across everything, not only on roads,” Petroccitto said.

“It’s in our prosecutional space, it’s in our investigation space. It’s in the way we start to look at our policy development.

“It’s right up and down the organisation, and it has to be.

“Are we perfect? No. I’ve got 1000 staff now, so we’re not a small organisation anymore. It’s going to take us time, but I think the foundational pieces are being put there.”

Given that policy, Shearer asked Petroccitto if he’d then expect his officers to engage with an operator to try and resolve any apparent “significant” safety issues in a bid to resolve them.

“Or let them run for a year, or more, while stuff’s collected and a case is built, because I see a real dilemma there, a huge dilemma,” said Shearer to Petroccitto.

“I just don’t see how as the national regulator with a

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principle concern of safety, if you’re aware of an issue, I don’t see how you cannot work with the operator, if they’ll work with you,” Shearer said.

“Surely, you’re duty bound to work with them. You might still prosecute them for something they’ve done. Why let stuff run for a year or more and refuse to have engagement?

Petroccitto said he has the fundamental view that if the NHVR knows something is wrong, “we should be having the discussion”.

“We should be alerting earlier, which is why we’re working on a lot of the systems where, when we see something on the side of the road, the oper-

ator should be told, and we’ll continue on that digital program of work.

“I think the days of keeping things close to the chest, in my view, is old school regulation.

“But I’m one individual that’s trying to change that philosophy. I think we’re getting there, but it’s going to take some time.”

Petroccitto said the one thing he wanted to assure industry is that the regulator is starting to capture “some pretty good data”.

“The reason we have to capture the data is it then allows us to determine which of the operators we know are doing the right things and which of the operators that we need to

go focus on.

“But what we’ve also realised is that as we capture that information, I need to share it so the offer the operators they know the areas that they should be focusing on.”

“We’re not going to move away from that. We’re just working out the mechanics of that.”

When Big Rigs later asked Shearer whether he was referring to the Whiteline case during the conference interview he said not specifically.

“But many of the fundamental NHVR policy and procedural questions I put to Sal were certainly relevant to major failings in the Whiteline case, as well as more broadly.”

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States slow to answer truckies’ SOS call

JAMES GRAHAM

STATE governments are dragging their feet on applying for a share of the $140 million in federal funding for truckies’ rest areas, reveals WA Senator Glenn Sterle.

Speaking at the announcement of the third tranche of approved projects, the chair of the Heavy Vehicle Rest Area Steering Committee told Big Rigs he was disappointed in the states’ overall responses so far.

“We know where we need to do the upgrades; for crying out

loud it shouldn’t be that hard,” Sterle said.

“I wanted to get the money out quicker. I wanted to be inundated with projects.

“Hopefully the message has got out and I’m going to see some quality proposals put forward to help us improve the lot for our truckies.”

In NSW, operator Scott Hannah is still waiting for state authorities to return his calls about his concept for a megastop on a large empty block of land at Eastern Creek.

As revealed in the April 12 issue of Big Rigs, Hannah

has the answer to all of Syd ney’s rest stop woes with a site that could accommodate 600 trucks, just a stone’s throw from the M7 and M4.

But Hannah hasn’t heard a peep from anyone in authority, despite state Roads Minister John Graham repeatedly announcing that he wants a new site for truckies in Western Sydney as soon as possible.

So far just 15 projects have been announced under the Heavy Vehicle Rest Area initiative, with $26.5 million in funding from the Australian Government. None of them

are in the Sydney metro area. Projects announced in tranches 1 and 2 are currently in planning, with some projects set to start construction later in 2024 and through 2025.

With so much money in the fund still to allocate - $113.5 million over the next eight years – Sterle is at least pleased to now have the services of the rest area committee, made up largely of working truckies, until June 30, 2025.

They assess and shortlist the

applications before Infrastructure Minister Catherine King signs off on the final spend.

“They are absolutely brilliant,” Sterle said.

“Every single proposal that has come across, the truck drivers on the committee know the bay or area, and what they’re proposing.

“For example, Bruce Skelton from Queensland. There was a proposal somewhere out of Townsville.

The latest rest area projects d “Greendog” Stevens Truck Parking Bay Renewal (NSW) – total cost

w Pindari Tops Rest Area on Thunderbolts Way (NSW) – $300,000. w heavy vehicle rest area on the Bourke to Milparinka Road at Goonary

kinbudin Heavy Vehicle Rest Area (Western phalt surfacing of Road train / truck stop area at intersection of Bayley Street / Great Eastern Highway and Ladyloch Road in Coolgardie (Western Australia) – $990,000.

• Northern Territory – Five Heavy Vehicle Rest Areas on Buntine Highway to be upgraded – $5m.

A spokesperson said Tranche 4 of the fund is currently open to applications, closing on September 30, 2024.

“So, we encourage communities to raise heavy vehicle rest area projects in need of funding with their states, territories and local governments.”

“He knew the bays and said no, that’s not the right one, it should be over here, and we

Qld service station to tow illegally parked vehicles

BP Archerfield in Queensland has announced it will begin towing unhitched trailers and illegally parked vehicles from Tuesday, October 1. Management have said they “understand frustrations” around parking availability and want to ensure that their customers have reliable parking options.

“We’re committed to resolving this issue,” they said in an update. “We apologise for the inconvenience and thank you for your continued support.”

A spokesperson for bp told Big Rigs that the safety of all customers and staff is their top priority on site.

“Ensuring truck drivers have access to parking for their compulsory rest periods is an issue impacting many sites across the country,” they said. “bp is managing these issues on a site-by-site basis and asks that truck drivers are shown the respect they deserve by allowing them access to the rest areas.”

Bp Archerfield is located at the corner of Randolph Street and Boundary Road and is open 24 hours.

According to the bp website, it offers a truck driver lounge, restaurant, take-away food, showers and a washing machine.

Much-needed truck parking being taken over by cars, caravans, unhitched trailers and trucks left unattended for long periods is a common issue for truckies – not just in Queensland but throughout the country.

In Victoria earlier this year, flyers at the bps in Officer and Rockbank alerted customers that overnight parking is strictly for interstate/interchange vehicles and unauthorised vehicles will be towed away at the owner or driver’s expense.

“Any cars parked in heavy vehicle zones except staff vehicles will be towed away,” management added.

Truck licensing loophole exploited

BY KAYLA WALSH

MANY new drivers are taking advantage of how easy it is to get a truck licence in Queensland, says a former staff member at the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) familiar with the state’s licence training procedures.

The source, who wished to remain anonymous, told Big Rigs that drivers based in Victoria and NSW are even faking residency in Queensland to exploit the state’s less stringent training and test requirements.

This allows them to travel up to complete their heavy combination (HC) or multi-combination (MC) training and assessment, to give themselves a better chance of passing – even though they may not have the

skills required to make them a safe driver, he said.

They then simply transfer their licence back to their home state. The source said tests are easier in Queensland for a number of reasons.

“In NSW and Victoria, the truck you take out needs to be loaded to 75 per cent of its maximum GVM.

“In Queensland, it’s empty. So, you don’t need to be good at braking with a load – it’s almost like driving a car, because if the lights turn orange, you can just jump on the brakes and it will pull up.

“You don’t need to think ahead and start slowing down in case the light changes, etc.”

Another example he shared was the requirements around reversing.

“For your HR test, accord-

ing to the official guidelines, you need to reverse the truck around a corner without hitting the curb or bumping into any thing.

“But depending on where you go for your test up here [in Queensland], if they ‘can’t find’ a suitable place for you to reverse around a corner, they just get you to reverse in a straight line for 20 or 30 metres.

“That doesn’t require anything special – if you can’t do that, you probably shouldn’t be on the road at all.”

The source also thinks truck schools in Queensland get away with far too much and more random audits need to be taking place.

“The quality of schools up here is abysmal and they’re not getting audited unless there’s a

reason to audit them,” he added.

“A nybody and everybody is getting a licence, and these schools continue to fly under the radar.”

The insider said TMR first discovered the residency ruse because there were a few driving schools where many people who were passing their tests had listed the same address, usually one that the school provided and monitored.

However, once TMR cracked down on this, he said truckies got craftier.

“They started saying, ‘Alright, if you want to change your home address to Queensland, we need to see a home loan or a rental agreement.

“But they accept handwritten rental agreements, so truckies realised that if anyone writes

‘ pays $500 rent a week’ then they’ll take that as proof of residency.”

In a written statement, a TMR spokesperson told Big Rigs that due to “some concerns” raised about the process to obtain an MC licence in Queensland, all RTOs have recently been through a thorough audit or have one in progress.

The audits to date have resulted in five Service Provider

“In each instance, significant non-compliance was identified during the RTO audits,” the spokesperson said. TMR said it had commenced 19 audits of MC RTOs, with seven of those completed and closed with no action.

The spokesperson also added that TMR no longer accepts bank statements or declarations signed by a landlord as proof of residency.

Fatigue Management Solutions

Sleeper Cab Cooling and Heating

Fails the

EDITOR JAMES GRAHAM

cordingly. Failing that, they better have bloody good staff who can do the thinking for them.

State premier Steven Miles appears to have neither of those assets in his corner. How else do you explain the unchecked insensitivity of his call to fly a taxpayer-funded private jet 11 minutes from Hervey Bay to Bundaberg to deliver a birthday cake to the local MP?

Miles was at pains to tell us that he drives the southern leg of the Bruce every day. Maybe it even did make more economic sense to fly, as he also pointed out. But after a horror week on the highway in which three people died and truckies were grounded for five days, a bit of solidarity with those keeping shelves stocked wouldn’t have gone astray. No matter how you want to spin it Premier Miles, this just didn’t pass the pub test.

Letters to the Editor Road academics need to start talking

THE ONLY regional road safety solution Australia’s academics appear to have, is to lower speed limits on Western Australia and Northern Territory regional roads.

As Western Australia headed towards a road safety summit with the premier, the mainstream media was flooded with calls by such academics (often from the inner city) calling for speed reductions.

This one-dimensional solution by Australia’s road safety academics does not do justice to their intelligence while depriving Australia of the multi-factor solutions needed to improve road safety, particularly in the regions.

Examples

• What about road funding? No mention of the appalling underfunding of Australia’s regional roads, as The Guardian reported on November 12, 2023: “Regional Australian roads have become a “dangerous disgrace”, according to a new report that warns they will get worse due to paltry funding that favours cities and forces poorer regional councils to waste repair money erecting signs in tribute to government grants.”

• What about enforcement? Recently driving back from Sydney to Perth, I saw just two police patrol cars over a 4000km

• titude? One of the most frequent comments from truck drivers is the appalling attitude of drivers. People in various vehicle types who think that they are more important than others on the road and whose driving behaviour is commensurately high risk.

• What about alternative travel? What about things like why regional people

to get to a capital city for a medical appointment etc. What options do they have? Regional airfares are prohibitively expensive and limited, as for taking a train or bus well that is not an option in large parts of regional Australia.

• There are lots of other “what abouts” that could be added, especially by truck drivers who are the on-road driving profes-

the road safety academics.

National Road Safety Strategy is failing

The National Road Safety Strategy 2021 to 2030 target was to reduce Australia’s annual fatalities by at least 50 per cent and serious injuries by at least 30 per cent by 2030. YET, in the last five years, the national road toll has risen over 20 per cent from 1102 people

in FY 2019/20 to 1327 FY 2023/24. Clearly it is NOT working.

What do the speed limit academics really want?

The call by road safety academics to lower speeds may or may not have merit. But where do they stop in lowering speeds?

Recently Canberra bureaucrats proposed a 40km/h dusk-to-dawn speed limit on some regional highways. Sim-

THIS ONEDIMENSIONAL SOLUTION BY AUSTRALIA’S ROAD SAFETY ACADEMICS DOES NOT DO JUSTICE TO THEIR INTELLIGENCE WHILE DEPRIVING AUSTRALIA OF THE MULTI-FACTOR SOLUTIONS NEEDED TO IMPROVE ROAD SAFETY, PARTICULARLY IN THE REGIONS.”

ilar proposals to have nighttime road safety speed limits have also been proposed for regional highways. This poses the question of what is the target speed limit academics want on Australia’s regional roads?

Need to try harder

Our road safety academics need to try harder, as do we all, to find solutions to this national road safety tragedy. For the academics, their first step should be to start consulting with our nation’s truck drivers!

Cam Dumesny CEO Western Roads Federation

IN BRIEF

Superload on the move

A large power transformer made its way from the Wilson Transformer Company in Glen Waverley, Victoria, to Queensland earlier this month.

The mammoth move was facilitated by oversized transport specialist Ares Group, with the combination being almost 62m long, including two prime movers, 4.4m wide and 5.3m high, with a gross mass of 312 tonnes.

Due to the size of the load, it travelled across several nights, under police escort.

The combination was required to travel at an average speed of 40 km/h, reducing to as slow as 5km/h when navigating corners and bridges.

$31.8m

overtaking lanes

Three new overtaking lanes, at a cost of $31.8 million, are set to be constructed on Main South Road between Myponga and Cape Jervis.

They will be built between Second Valley and Normanville (northbound), Delamere and Second Valley (southbound), and Cape Jervis and Delamere (northbound).

The SA Government said the new lanes will improve traffic flow and boost safety for all motorists, including heavy vehicle drivers.

Concept designs for the overtaking lanes are now being developed with further engagement to be held with key stakeholders and the local. The project will be funded by the South Australian and Australian Governments on a 50/50 basis.

Oxley Highway upgrades

A 6km stretch of the Oxley Highway will receive $11.5 million in safety upgrades that include widening and rehabilitating the pavement, widening nine culverts and sealing works.

Upgrade works began in mid-September and are taking place about 50km west of Gunnedah.

Barwon MP Roy Butler said this work will help improve the road’s ability to resist future flood events and remain open.

Work will be carried out over the next eight months on weekdays between 7am and 6pm and on Saturdays between 8am and 1pm, weather permitting. Changed traffic conditions while upgrades are carried out, including single lane closures and reduced speed limits of 40 km/h through the work zone.

Get your BTS tickets

Tickets are now on sale for the 2025 Brisbane Truck Show.

With all exhibition space already sold out, there will be over 30,000 square metres of exhibitions of the latest trucks, trailers, technologies, and parts and accessories available on the Australian market. The 2025 show will run from May 15-18, as part of Truck Week, a weeklong festival incorporating an array of activations in nearby South Bank Parklands, including the Premier Boxing Series, Australia’s Best Show N Shine, and The Depot careers and entertainment hub – plus the Heavy Equipment and Machinery Show at RNA Showgrounds and the Heritage Truck Show at Rocklea. Visit brisbanetruckshow.com.au for ticket info.

BY DANIELLE GULLACI

SINCE moving to their remote outback farm, Danyelle and Anthony Haigh have been juggling trucking and farming – and their upcoming return to our screens will show how they go about managing both.

The couple became familiar faces on popular television show Outback Truckers, alongside their two young boys (Heath, 10, and Theo, 5) and then had their own spin-off show called Outback Farm.

While you won’t spot them on season 10 of Outback Truckers, currently airing on 7Mate and 7Plus, they’re making a return next year and have already begun filming for season 11.

The Haigh family are no strangers to the show, but Danyelle says her beloved 2015 Mack Superliner, affectionately named Pink Bits, will be ma king its debut.

Danyelle and Anthony run Murranji Water Drilling, which they took over in 2014. It sees them travelling to some of the most remote locations, drilling bores in search of water.

They also operate a remote 5000-acre outback farm, located some 200km north of Alice Springs. Despite their farm being located in the middle of the desert, their primary business is producing and delivering hay for the cattle industry.

And if that’s not enough to keep them extremely busy, Danyelle is also building up

her tourism business at the property too.

When Danyelle chatted to Big Rigs recently, the family had just returned home after being on the road for almost four weeks, drilling on the Barkly.

The Outback Truckers production crew also came along to film the couple hard at work.

When asked what’s it like to manage both businesses, Danyelle revealed, “It is a challenge trying to balance both because we’re really busy at the farm. It’s been stinking hot at the moment too, so it’s nice to be back home.

“We’re lucky to have a really good team to manage the farm when we’re not here. They’ve been with us from the beginning and they’ll be here again next year.”

The drilling season usually takes place between May to September/October, depending on rainfall.

“Because we’ve been so busy here, we’ve only done about six weeks of drilling all up this year. We have to work it around the hay, because Anthony is the only one who bales the hay. Anthony and I also do a lot of the hay deliveries ourselves,” added Danyelle.

“We have a lot of repeat customers for the drilling business, who’ve been with us since we started. We’ve become friends with a lot of them, so we know what their schedules are like and can plan ahead.

“For Murranji, we haven’t taken on an offsider this year,

NATROAD has announced the winners of its annual awards, with Tim Giles receiving the prestigious Ted Pickering Memorial Award in recognition of his 50-year career in the trucking industry. Giles, who is the editor of Big Rigs’ sister publication PowerTorque, was praised for his dedication to informing and uplifting the industry.

The truckie-turned-journalist’s ongoing passion for technology and preparing the industry for the future was also noted by the judges.

Other winners included Jade Harney from Followmont Transport, who was named the Sam Sali National Young Driver of the Year.

Harney was recognised for her motivation and commitment, earning multiple licenses and certifications by the age of 24 while demonstrating a proactive approach to problem-solving and safety.

Meanwhile James Ellison from Ditton Bulk Haulage went home with the Professional Driver of the Year Award.

Ellison, who has been driving over 200,000 kilometres every year without a single incident to date, was lauded for his impeccable safety record and dedication to mentoring others.

NatRoad CEO Warren Clark said: “These awards reflect the hard work and passion of individuals who have excelled in their roles, and gone above and beyond to have a significant positive impact on the broader industry.

“This year’s award winners have all made outstanding contributions to the sector. They have truly set the standard in our industry and exemplify the kind of commitment, professionalism, and passion that drives the road transport sector forward.”

so it’s just me, Anthony, the kids and the governess. We’ve sacrificed that so we can have someone else here at the farm to manage the tourism side, as it’s hard to manage that when I’m not there.”

As for the family’s upcoming appearance in Outback Truckers, season 11, Danyelle said, “I think what we’ve just filmed will be a good episode because it shows aspects of how we’re doing both the farm and the drilling. We’re looking to put some more pivots in and develop the farm a bit more, so we’re utilising the revenue from Murranji to support that.”

Outback Truckers is currently casting for season 11 and Danyelle encourages truckies to give it a go – and is also encouraging others to try their hand at trucking too.

“I think there are people who are scared to go on TV in case they look like a dickhead. But what you see is how we are.

“I’m not going to put on a façade and not wear my lipstick to go on the show. Even though I might go out in my pearl earrings and my jewellery, I still give everything a red-hot crack.

“I want to try and encourage people to get out there and get into the industry, even if they don’t think it’s for them – I never thought it was for me either and I’ve loved it.

“I was a city girl and never thought I’d be doing what I’m doing,” she said. “I couldn’t even drive a ute, now I’m driving and reversing a triple!”

Trucking family returns to screens Magazine editor wins top honour

Fox named ‘Personality of the Year’ at freight awards

BY KAYLA WALSH

THE winners of the Australian Freight Industry Awards were announced recently, after the judges received a “record-breaking” number of applications across a range of categories.

Lindsay Fox, founder of freight giant Linfox, was awarded Personality of the Year in recognition of his contributions to the transport industry and the wider community.

“From little acorns, oak trees grow, and in my case, that’s been trucks, people and charitable organisations,” he told the crowd. “You never go broke by giving.

“I came from living in a boarding house until I was four, and then we lived in a house with three bedrooms.

“Those various aspects that I went through were a great educator.

“I appreciate everything my parents did, and I’ve tried to be the same role model for my children and friends.”

Other award winners included:

• Na mrita Anchan of Linfox Australia, Women’s Leadership Award –sponsored by Viva Energy Australia

• Sean Draffin of Xtreme Freight, Emerging Leader Award – sponsored by Daimler Truck Australia

Pacific

• Qube Bulk, Green Star Award – sponsored by National Transport Insurance

• Secon Freight Logistics, Application of Technology Award – sponsored by Transport Certification Australia

• Freight Cyber, Best Practice Safety Award – sponsored by Gallagher

• Alex Fraser Recycling, Investment in People Award – sponsored by Logical Staffing Solutions

• Australian Paper Recovery, Waste & Recycling Business of the Year Award – sponsored by RSM Group

The winners were announced at a black-tie gala event at the Crown Palladium in Melbourne, which was attended by hundreds

of guests from the transport industry.

Attendees also enjoyed comedy from Master of Ceremonies Lizzy Hoo and live music from the Matt Hetherington Band and the Zandra Trio.

VTA CEO Peter Anderson, who presented the awards, said: “After what has been another challenging year, it was fantastic to take a moment to reflect on and celebrate our industry and those that keep pushing for greatness and embracing innovation to keep our country moving.

“The AFIA Committee extends its sincere congratulations to every winner and finalist and thanks those who lodged an entry and shared their stories. We look forward to building on the success of this outstanding event for many years to come.”

BRUCE HIGHWAY CRISIS

Hope for embattled highway

BY JAMES GRAHAM

ATHOL Carter grew up in the 1980s with a bedroom window that faced the Bruce Highway in Gympie.

You could literally set your clock to the timetables of dozens of big bangers that rumbled by just a few metres away running north and south each night of the week, Athol recalls.

“You knew what trucks were coming through from miles away due to their sounds,” recalls Athol, now the central Queensland manager at Frasers Livestock in Rockhampton and vice president of the Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association.

“It was a time gone by, but that’s what it was like back then. There was definitely a different culture [on the Bruce].”

Queensland’s 1679km section of Highway 1 – the longest national highway in the world – starts in Pine River in Brisbane and runs all the way north to Cairns.

Even though he’s still in his early 40s, the Bruce today bears little resemblance to the one Athol knew growing up in a truck cab alongside his old man.

He can still vividly remember the Bruce going through nearly every local town that was dotted on the map.

Coming out of Brisbane it would meander through Caboolture, from the Glasshouse Mountains to Tanawha, to Woombye, Nambour, Yandina and Eumundi. In most of those towns, it was all single and dual lanes with traffic lights.

From Eumundi it was on to Cooroy, Pomona over Black Mountain down into Cooran and into Traverston Crossing, through Kybong before rolling past the Carter’s house in Gympie.

“You were seriously in the middle of these bustling towns that’s now the Sunshine Coast.

“Every single one of those towns has now been bypassed, including Gympie. There’s always been that fear that a highway that bypasses a town will kill the town but from what I’ve seen it’s totally the opposite effect.

“It allows the town to grow and to prosper, and none of these towns had anywhere for heavy vehicles to stop, to start with.”

Not all doom and gloom

Athol concedes there is still a lot of work to be done on the Bruce, the scene of three major accidents last month in the space of a week, including an ammonium nitrate explosion that claimed the life of 21-year-old ute driver Max Rourke and closed the highway at Bororen for five days. But there are plenty of major improvements that he believes

have benefited industry.

One of the first that comes to mind are huge upgrades at Apple Tree Creek, a “fatal hotspot” for years between Childers and Gin Gin en route to Bundaberg.

He’s also seen huge improvements to the infamous Gin Gin corner, aka rollover corner.

“Many a fleet had rollovers there every day of the week.”

The Wallaville Bridge bypass in the late 1990s between Isis and Gin Gin is another massive boon for truckies.

From Gin Gin north, there’s also the more recent realignment of the ‘Dipper’ and ‘steps and stairs’ on the way to Miriam Vale.

“All that road is now changed. I find it hard to know where some of the old road is these days.

Further north, there’s also the Rocky Ring Road project, upgrades to the Rocky-Yeppen Lagoon, the Mackay Ring Road and the Townsville Ring Road.

“There’s certainly been huge upgrades along the entire Bruce Highway, but it still is in major need of investment.”

Closer to Brisbane, Athol says the Bruce is just too “stop-start” where it goes from four lines into six, back to four, then on to eight.

“It just cannot handle the volume of traffic from Pine River through to the Maroochydore turn-off.

“A s Queensland has grown, and as our infrastructure has grown, it means going from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast for a morning swim is normal for many people; it can be done that quick.

“But if you get 100 of us wanting to go do that, it clogs up our road network.”

Dual carriageway debate

Athol doesn’t believe the answer to the Bruce’s safety issues lies in building a dual carriageway from Gympie to Cairns, as many critics were calling for in the wake of the August tragedies.

“We probably do have the traffic volumes [to justify it] but some of those stretches are remote as well,” Athol says.

He’s more concerned in the short term about traffic flows on the first and last mile of the soon-to-be-completed Gympie Bypass.

“The minute we get to Curra from what I can see we are back on to one of the worst bits of the Bruce Highway known to man.

“We’ve got this first and last mile that connects with this beautiful four-lane highway through to Brisbane, which is going to be another bloody death trap.

“People are now going to come off a 110km/h four-lane roadway back to a narrow, rough two-lane highway.

“I can almost guarantee

that there will be an accident there.”

Athol agrees that dual carriageways are definitely needed before and after major regional towns.

He said there are multiple sites that fit that bill, particularly between Curra and Maryborough, and Maryborough and Gin Gin.

“But let’s not beat around the bush, it’s from Mackay to Townsville, the whole way.”

Inland Freight Route will help

Athol says the sooner the Inland Freight Route (IRF) – also known as the Second Bruce – is finished the better.

The 1185km route from Mungindi in the south of the state to Charters Towers will take a huge weight off the storm-ravaged Bruce and prove to be a key corridor for the industry’s high productivity vehicles.

“You can never forget the fact that the eastern seaboard of Australia is prone to suffer the effects of natural disasters.

“This really drives home that other important investment for the Inland Freight Route. To have that freight that is coming out of Sydney, Melbourne, etc, and vice versa, from North Queensland.

“North Queensland produce and agriculture feeds Australia – it’s in the markets in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, and in every town in between.”

Athol says the IRF will pull the “unnecessary freight” that is going to the hubs in Mackay, Townville and Cairns off the Bruce.

“Rail freight only really kicks into gear from Rockhampton north where we have that big intermodal interface with the Linfox’s and the Tolls and those other rail freight operators.

“Plus, there’s also transport companies like Simons, Blenners, Lindsay Brothers that utilise rail.

“It’s like Woolworths and Coles here in Rockhampton, apart from their fresh, cold food that comes out of the Brisbane DCs, everything gets delivered into stores here off rail in a container.”

Preparation is everything

The spate of accidents in August – in one of the bleakest weeks on the highway for some time – has also highlighted the need for better communication, and a return to some of the “old school” practices, believes Athol.

One of those that was drilled into him by his father was to always be wearing a set of boots and a uniform.

“Especially if you are carting dangerous goods. Time and time again I am just absolutely gobsmacked at the appearance and the uniform of some of their drivers out here.”

“You need to be prepared at all times. You might have to, through no fault of your own, bail out and either run for your life, or help others. With a pair of boots on, you can do all that.”

Athol also urged drivers to make people aware that you might have a passenger on board.

“How many times has there been a serious accident in this industry in which someone’s had their girlfriend, a child, or someone in the cab you didn’t know was there? And if you don’t know they’re there, you can’t go looking for them.”

Athol strongly believes that there should also be more industry communication between fleets who are carting dangerous goods and more education about what to do in an emergency.

“Our fleet is interacting with other freight sectors carting ammonium nitrate on a daily basis and we might come across a vehicle carrying ammonium nitrate 10, 20, 30 times a day.

“Only in the very rare circumstances do we see a catastrophic outcome [like the one on August 30] but there’s been many instances where this product is involved in rollovers and other accidents and it comes in many shapes and forms.

“We really need to have a briefing on what it is and what it can do. But unfortunately, for whatever reason, we just don’t have that, that awareness.

“The same goes for oversize, overmass loads. I see it. I drive around Australia all the time and there really is a disconnect between fellow truckies and oversize loads.”

Giving truckies a voice Athol firmly believes that the best way to ensure the dust doesn’t settle after the horrific week on the Bruce and the industry gets the safety changes it needs is for truckies and operators to get behind an association.

Association of Queensland [LRTAQ] and support industry.

“I get sick and tired of hearing all these excuses. Look at the great work that those two associations do, and the funding that they achieve, and the world class programs that they develop and put on for drivers and industry.

“The industry can do better. We’ve got to do better, but you’ve got to get behind these people.

“It takes time, but Gary Mahon [QTA CEO] and Gerald Johnson [LRTAQ president] and their teams all chip away and we make things happen for the industry.

“Don’t whinge – you’ve got

“It’s now or never. Our road toll is rising, and we’ve got to

The road rule leaving truck drivers short-changed

Breaking this road rule could see truck drivers in the west stung with a fine of up to $200, while those in the east could be fined almost $2000.

BY DANIELLE GULLACI

WHAT constitutes driving too close to the vehicle in front of you? Sure it’s common knowledge that tail-gating is illegal. But if you’re driving a truck, how many metres is considered a safe driving distance?

The answer is not as simple as it seems. It depends on the length/type of heavy vehicle and what sort of road you’re travelling on.

Big Rigs was contacted recently by a Sydney driver who was fined $1636 and received four demerit points, for driving too close to a truck and dog that pulled out right in front of him.

He’s now taking that court, with a date scheduled for late November. He’s also supplied dash cam footage to prosecutors, showing the incident, which occurred on the Great Western Highway, at Little Hartley in the Blue Mountains – right near a fixed camera.

In sharing his story online, we were surprised by the number of readers who have shared a similar fate.

As one truckie explained, “I had the same thing happen to me going south through Tomingley (NSW). Had a bloke pull out in front of me just before the safety cam and got done for being only 55 metres away from him, argued the point even down to the fact that my speed was 35km/h as I had to come to an almost complete stop not to hit him, but as far as they were concerned I was too close and I had to pay. It was too hard to fight it in court as I’m from Queensland and it would’ve cost me more to fight it than to pay it.”

HAD A BLOKE PULL OUT IN FRONT OF ME JUST BEFORE THE SAFETY CAM AND GOT DONE FOR BEING ONLY 55 METRES AWAY FROM HIM.”

apply. The penalty in NSW for breaking this rule is a fine of $544 and 3 demerit points.

This truck driver added, “Same happened to me. A car cut me off just when I was about to pass Peak Hill (NSW). Average speed camera, $1360 for drive close to another vehicle.”

all revenue raising.”

Safe driving distances are covered under the Australian Road Rules (ARRs):

• 126: Keeping a safe distance behind vehicles; and

Another driver commented, “I got the same coming

While this driver said, “This happened to me. I took it to court, mind you I was travelling at 73km/h in an 80 zone but I was coming from Sydney heading to Mudgee. And I got done for being 20 metres away. I thought I was at a fe distance – I don’t have a

• 127: Keeping a minimum distance between long vehicles

Under rule 126, it states, “A driver must drive a sufficient distance behind a vehicle travelling in front of the driver so the driver can, if necessary, stop safely to avoid a collision with the vehicle.”

the driver, unless the driver is: (a) driving on a multi-lane road or any length of road in a built-up area; or (b) overtaking”.

In this instance, a long vehicle refers to any vehicle that is 7.5 metres or longer.

If you’re driving a road train that is behind a long vehicle, the general rule is to keep a distance of at least 200 metres – unless the jurisdiction you’re travelling in specifies another distance.

But if you’re in a “long vehicle” (other than a road train) are behind another “long vehicle”, that distance between you and the driver in ont of you needs to be kept

Big Rigs has contacted the

relevant road and enforcement authorities in each state for further detail. Here’s what they had to say.

Travelling in NSW

Under NSW Road Rule 126, for those who fail to keep the prescribed safe distance to the vehicle travelling in front of them, drivers can expect to face a fine of $544 and 3 demerit points. This rule applies on all roads in NSW to drivers of all vehicles, regardless of vehicle type.

NSW Road Rule 127 is specific to drivers of long vehicles. As per ARR 127, the sa me distances of 60 metres for long vehicles and 200 metres for road trains travelling behind another long vehicle

But – if the offence takes place in a Safe-T-Cam zone or average speed detection zone, a $1636 fine and 4 demerit point penalty applies. oad safety is a shared responsibility. Heavy vehicles require more time to op than light vehicles, so it’s important to maintain a safe distance and be aware of blind spots,” said a Transport for NSW spokesperson.

“In NSW, drivers must keep a safe distance based on speed and conditions. For long vehicles over 7.5 metres, maintain at least 60 metres behind other long vehicles, or 200 metres for road trains.”

Travelling in Victoria In Victoria, road rule 126 requires all drivers to keep a safe distance behind the vehicle in front of them, so they can stop safely to avoid any potential collision. However the Department of Transport and Planning advises that, “While this rule applies to all drivers, drivers of large vehicles face a higher penalty due to the increased risks involved.

“The three-second rule is the best way to work out if you’re leaving a safe gap between your vehicle and the vehicle in front. Always drive at least three seconds from the vehicle in front of you and allow more space in wet or icy weather.”

Under ARR 126, the infringement penalty for not keeping a safe distance is $296 and 1 demerit point. If challenged in court, the maximum penalty is $988 and $1976 for large vehicles. Road rule 127 requires drivers to leave a minimum distance of 60 metres when travelling behind long vehicles (7.5m or longer), and 200 metres when travelling behind a road train in certain circumstances (not on a multi-lane road, in a built-up area, or when overtaking). The infringement penalty for this offence is $395 and 1 demerit point. If challenged in court, the maximum penalty increases to $1976.

Huge disparity between jurisdictions

From page 14

Travelling in Queensland

For drivers in Queensland, the penalty for breaking ARR 126 or 127 is $376 and 1 demerit point.

“Like all drivers, truckies must keep a safe distance behind the vehicle travelling in front of them so that they can stop safely and avoid a collision,” said a Transport and Main Roads (TMR) spokesperson.

“There is no prescribed distance that is considered safe as this depends on the type of vehicle, and travelling speed, as well as the road and weather conditions.

“As a general rule in good conditions, we recommend truck drivers keep at least a 4 second gap to the vehicle in front of them. This recognises that trucks are much heavier than cars and require longer to stop. In adverse conditions, even greater following distances may be required.

“On single-lane roads outside of built up areas, trucks that are longer than 7.5 metres must leave a specific distance between another truck in front. For road trains, this is 200 metres and for other trucks this is 60 metres.”

According to TMR, “This rule prevents long convoys of trucks that make it difficult

for other vehicles to safely overtake. This rule does not apply on multi-lane roads, where other lanes can be used to overtake, or built-up areas, where overtaking is generally not suitable.

“If a vehicle does pull in front of a truck in a way that creates an unsafe following distance, the truck driver should safely apply their brakes and create a safe space as soon as possible.”

Travelling in South Australia

South Australia follows ARR 126 and 127, with the same safe distance rules in place: 60 metres for long vehicles and 200 metres for road trains travelling behind another long vehicle.

Breaking ARR 126 carries a penalty of $504 and 1 demerit point, and for ARR 127 the penalty is $393 and 1 demerit

However if the offence is committed by a heavy vehicle driver within 100 metres of a Safe-T-Cam, those penalties are greater, with fines of $779 and 1 demerit point in place for both ARR 126 and 127.

Travelling in Western Australia

The WA Road Safety Commission says that Regulation 110 of the Road Traffic Code 2000 (WA) requires a minimum distance to be kept between long vehicles. It contains two different offences. The first offence applies to

Changing

the driver of any long vehicle (7.5m or longer) that is not a B-double or road train.

As the WA Road Safety Commission explained, the driver of a long vehicle when following another long vehicle, a B-double or a road train outside a built-up area must, wherever conditions permit, keep the vehicle not less than 60 m behind the other vehicle unless the vehicle is: (a) on a carriageway with two or more marked lanes available exclusively for vehicles travelling in the same direction as that in which the vehicle is travelling; or (b) overtaking or passing.

Breaking this rule incurs a $200 fine and 2 demerit points.

The second offence applies to the driver of a B-double or road train, when following a long vehicle, B-double or road train outside a built-up area.

Wherever conditions permit, the driver must remain at least 200 metres behind the vehicle in front of them. That’s unless the vehicle is on a road with two or more lanes in the same direction; or is overtaking or passing. This offence carries a $100 fine and 1 demerit point.

Travelling in Northern Territory

In the Northern Territory, NT Police, Fire and Emergency Services told Big Rigs that while ARR 126 and 127

the guard in the NHVR senior team

THE NHVR has confirmed the appointment of a new director-prosecutions, and the departure of its long-serving executive director statutory compliance.

Sydney lawyer Brett Hearnden steps into the director-prosecutions role vacated by Belinda Hughes in January this year, while Ray Hassall, the executive director statutory compliance, calls time at the end of 2024 after 11 years with the regulator.

“Brett has a wealth of experience in regulatory law, as well as an in-depth knowledge of the Australian transport sector, specifically in the regulation of the road transport sector,” an NHVR spokesperson said.

“The NHVR is excited to welcome Brett onboard in the very near future and looks forward to the significant contributions he is sure to bring to our organisation and to heavy vehicle compliance on Australia’s roads.”

The spokesperson added that Hassall’s departure

would be a big loss.

He had played an influential role in strengthening the regulator’s relationships with policing colleagues across the country and has synchronised activities with other safety regulators and law enforcement agencies to drive greater safety and compliance outcomes across the heavy vehicle industry, the spokesperson said.

“The NHVR congratulates Ray for his outstanding contribution to the NHVR and the heavy vehicle industry.

“He has been an invaluable member of the executive leadership team, and va luable contributor to improving road safety. While we are saddened to bid him

farewell, the NHVR wishes him all the best with his future endeavours.”

Hassall continues in his role until December 2024.

Recruitment for his replacement will commence in the coming months, the spokesperson added.

do apply and are relevant, there is no offence provision directly relating to those sections of the regulations.

What does that mean? If police observe a vehicle driving too close, the offence of ‘Careless Driving’ may be enforced. The penalty this incurs is a $150 fine plus a $40 victim’s levy. The offence does not incur a loss of demerit points.

Travelling in Tasmania

In Tasmania, a long vehicle travelling in a road train area is required to keep a minimum distance of 200 metres to the vehicle in front of them. A long vehicle in another area is required to keep a minimum distance of 60 metres – unless they are driving on a multi-lane road or any length of road in a built-up area; or are overtaking. The fine for

ON SINGLE-LANE ROADS OUTSIDE OF BUILT UP AREAS, TRUCKS THAT ARE LONGER THAN 7.5 METRES MUST LEAVE A SPECIFIC DISTANCE BETWEEN ANOTHER TRUCK IN FRONT.”

TMR QUEENSLAND

either offence (ARR 126 or 127) is $202 and 1 demerit point.

Travelling in ACT

In the Australian Capital Territory, for either offence (ARR 126 or 127), the penalty is $434 and 1 demerit point.

* Penalty details are current at the time of writing and are subject to change.

Mass limits rise seen as boost for productivity

REGULATIONS

set-

ting mass limits under the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) have now been amended to allow heavy vehicles to meet the latest international standards.

In what is widely seen as a boost to trucking productivity, from November 1, 2024, a 500kg increase in general access mass limits will apply to trucks in Australia that comply with Euro 6 or equivalent noxious emissions standards.

The federal government said this will improve safety and emissions reduction outcomes in the heavy vehicle fleet and follows the government’s recent announcement of tighter noxious emissions standards for new trucks and buses,

which must be met from November 1, 2024 onwards.

The mass limit amendments have been made under the HVNL, which is based in Queensland and adopted states and territories, excluding WA and the NT.

“The increase in heavy vehicle mass limits is an important step towards improving productivity and safety in the heavy vehicle sector, while reducing emissions,” said Transport Minister Catherine King.

“I thank state and territory colleagues, the National Transport Commission and the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator for working together to achieve this important change.”

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Ditching the office for the red dirt roads

Looking for a new adventure, this go-getting truckie ditched the corporate world and now travels the red dirt roads, behind the wheel of a new C509.

BY DANIELLE GULLACI

LOOKING for a challenge and an escape from the daily office grind, Tash Hughes decided to ditch the corporate world and try her hand at trucking – and three years on, she hasn’t looked back.

Tash, 33, now travels to some of the most remote locations in the country, with her dog Roger by her side.

Originally from New Zealand, Tash lives in Alice Springs with her partner.

She’s been working for Stanes Transport since 2022. “I mainly deliver refrigerated goods to remote indigenous stores in Central Australia.

We do go as far as South Australia and Western Australia as well. My main runs now are generally day trips, with a weekly overnighter into the APY lands (Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara) in South Australia,” explained Tash.

Her job is definitely not for the faint-hearted. “Most of the runs are rough. The red dirt can get quite badly corrugated, and during summer, when we get much of our rain, these roads can get flooded fairly easily.

“I’ve been on roads where the rain comes so quickly that water is flowing past me as I’m driving, and it just kept getting deeper and deeper.

“Some roads that don’t flood, get slippery. You can’t stop because you’ll never get going again, but the trick is finding a good speed, so you don’t lose control or get stuck. It’s all about reading the road and the conditions – and driving to them.

“All the communities are only accessible by dirt roads, but some of the runs do include bitumen.”

With her current runs, Tash usually tows one or two trailers. She’s hoping to begin pulling triples into WA too though, within the next few months.

Tash’s longest trip away to date saw her on the road for five days. “I did my regular run down into the APY lands and then continued on to Port Augusta to collect a fairly large wheel loader that I brought back to Alice. It was a great experience for me, getting the chance to load and secure the machine to a drop deck as well as driving an oversized load, it was very different to our usual freight.”

ing wasn’t always on the cards for Tash. “I have to admit, I didn’t realise I wanted to drive trucks until I began driving trucks!” she said.

“I sort of fell into it really. My partner and I had moved around the country a couple of times and then finally decided Alice was going to be home.”

Originally from a small town called Invercargill in the deep south of New Zealand, Tash moved to Australia in 2013 so her partner could pursue his career as a pilot.

As she explained, “We lived in Perth for a few months, then moved to Coober Pedy in South Australia where he worked on sheep and cattle stations. Then we made the move to A lice Springs in 2016.”

Tash secured her HR licence in 2021, at the age of 30. “The main reason was because my partner and I were heading back to NZ for a few months while we supported an unwell family member. Knowing we were going to have to work to support ourselves, the easiest way to get a well-paying job was to do the one-day HR course which converts to a NZ class 4.”

After spending a few months in New Zealand, Tash returned to her government office job in Alice Springs. As she quickly found, she wanted something more.

“Discovering the stacks of paperwork that was left for me to process, I decided to respond to a job advert on Seek. The next morning a reply was sitting in my inbox and as they say, the rest is history!

“Being in the office, I was struggling with all of the office politics and was feeling very unfulfilled. This opportunity at Stanes came along and I really love it.”

When she first joined Stanes, Tash was in a Volvo rigid, gradually working her way up to something bigger. “I’ve just recently been trusted to drive the brand new Kenworth C509, which is an absolute privilege and way better than the other trucks in the fleet,” she laughed. “Well in my opinion anyway.”

Stanes Transport is owned and operated by Mark and Kylie Stanes – and for Tash, the company has been the perfect fit.

IT’S ALL ABOUT READING THE ROAD AND THE CONDITIONS – AND DRIVING TO THEM.” TASH HUGHES

ing staff in the company that supports each other and treats each other with respect, especially with me being a woman and new to the industry, is extremely important and more va luable than they are probably even aware of.”

When asked what she loves most about the job, Tash is quick to respond. “Everything!” she said.

“W here do I begin? After working office jobs for years, I love that I’m not inside all day. I have a sense of freedom. I like being in my truck with some good music and my dog Roger.

“I love the team I work with, and the laughs we all have. Every day has its own challenges, and I’m constantly learning. As someone who struggles with being out of my comfort zone, this has well and truly put me out of it, and I really think it has im proved my mental health and my confidence too.”

When quizzed on her favou rite places to travel, Tash says she looks forward to her fort nightly day run to a Northern Territory Aboriginal commu nity called Hermannsburg, and then onto another com munity called Haasts Bluff.

“The first time I did this run was one of my favourite mo ments in the truck,” revealed Tash. “The first drop off was to Hermannsburg, then carry ing on west it follows the road passing Gosse Bluff. This road is sealed and quite a popular tourist route, but it’s winding and hilly and very spectacu lar. Then onto what is known locally as ‘Beer Can Corner’ which links up to the Papun ya/ Haasts Bluff Road.

“It’s all dirt and not being the main access road, it often lacks maintenance, but it’s awesome. It has a few river crossings which are soft when dry but with a bit of rain they start flowing and can take months to dry up.

lightning storm started brewing over Alice so I had a front row seat as I was coming into town too.”

“On the way back it was starting to get dark, just as I pulled onto Namatjira Drive a full moon had risen and shone over Ormiston Pound lighting up the hills. Namatjirra Drive ing past the gaps and gorges, a

Given her small stature, Tash says she’s had to find her own ways of doing certain things.

“Being that I am only 5’2” and 50kg, I do struggle with the physical things like chang ing tyres and lifting bonnets, etc. But I have managed to find techniques that work for me, and although it may take me a little longer, generally I can still manage these things, and I thoroughly believe it shouldn’t discourage others in my position from giving the industry a go.”

By taking a dive out of her comfort zone, Tash has found her calling in a career she can see herself continuing in for many years to come.

Her advice for anyone con sidering taking a similar path is, “Just give it a go!”

“I’m probably the last person you would expect to find do ing this type of job, but I find it rewarding, empowering, at

times challenging, but I absolutely love it. Driving in such remote areas means having to think on your feet when things go wrong, having to diagnose and carry out repairs with limited resources,” said Tash.

driver and was able to progress through my HC and onto my MC in a little under two years. I don’t think I would have gained the opportunities or the time in the seat to achieve this in the same timeframe if I was

Stand-out T909 is on tune

An eye-catching pink and black Kenworth has been getting plenty of attention as it makes its way around

the truck show circuit.

BY DANIELLE GULLACI

SINCE being delivered in March, this pink and black Kenworth T909 has been to two truck shows, where it’s al ready picked up three awards.

At the Casino Truck Show on August 3, it took the gong for Best Custom Paint; and then two weeks later at Lowood Truck Show on Au gust 17, it received the Char ity’s Choice Award and Best Truck in the one- to five-yearold category.

The truck is owned by hus band and wife team Steve and Tracey Armstrong, who run STA Trucking out of Jim boomba, Queensland.

They’ve named the truck after one of P!nk’s songs –F**kin’ Perfect, which has been written onto the truck’s paintwork and etched into the cabin’s interior.

Their fleet consists of 10 trucks, 25 trailers and five dol lies. All but one of the trucks are named after songs – and that’s only because it already had a name when they purchased it.

“With the new T909, I figured it’s a pink truck, it has to be a P!nk song, and those lyrics represent my journey and our business’ journey. It’s us all over,” said Tracey.

The idea for the truck came about when Tracey said she wanted a pink truck.

Steve wasn’t entirely on board at first.

As Tracey explained, “Purple was our original company colour, but now we’ve only got two trucks in the purple – the K200 Big Cab and our purple

I FIGURED IT’S A PINK TRUCK, IT HAS TO BE A P!NK SONG, AND THOSE LYRICS REPRESENT MY JOURNEY AND OUR BUSINESS’ JOURNEY. IT’S US ALL OVER.”

TRACEY ARMSTRONG

that. He loves how it’s turned out now.

“He actually tripled our bling budget for that truck without me knowing about it. But it was worth it,” she said.

purchased from Brown and Hurley at Yatala. No strangers to truck shows, Steve and Tracey head to Lowood and Casino every year with a selection of trucks from their colourful Kenworth fleet. The next event on their calendar is the Brisbane Convoy For Kids on November 2.

However Tracey was excited to reveal that she’s also in the process of organising a truck show for the local community, which will be held at Jimboomba State Primary School on May 31, 2025.

“It will be called the Scenic Rim Truck Show,” she said.

tion. They support and help kids who have been through traumatic situations. We’re hoping to run the show annually if this one is successful.”

Steve, who is a third generation truckie, has been around trucks his whole life; while Tracey has been around trucks since she met Steve!

“Pop drove a garbage truck and dad was an interstate truck driver,” said Steve. “It’s just in my blood I guess. I’ve been working with trucks since I left high school. And even before that, I washed them while I was still at school.”

But before Steve got behind the wheel, he worked under the hood. “I got my truck licence at 21 and did my diesel mechanic apprenticeship before that,” he said.

“A ll I ever wanted to do was drive trucks from when I was a kid. I just wanted to know how to fix them before I drove them.

“The first trip I did to Perth was with dad. That was when I was in my 20s.”

Steve bought his first truck – a second-hand K100G – in 2002 and worked alongside his father for a decade, before he and Tracey started STA Trucking.

“We had the work and thought it was a good time to go out on our own while the iron was hot,” revealed Steve. Tracey added, “We were liv ing in Lowood at the time and n moved about an hour away to Jimboomba, which is where I grew up.”

STA Trucking is involved in refrigerated transport, run ning road trains and B-dou bles out to Adelaide and Perth. ile Steve has a preference for the bonneted Kenworths, there are two exceptions in the company fleet – one is the Freightliner Coronado and the other is the purple K200 Big Cab. “We have that cabover so we can tow a 34-pallet B-dou ble, so it’s purely just for the gth,” said Steve.

ence for Kenworths, he added, y’ve got a good name for themselves. They’re built well and most truckies love to drive

But it’s the pink and black T909 that’s become the pride of the fleet. “It gets so much attention. I think it’s the colour, it’s bright and it really pops,” said Tracey.

“The driver gets pulled up all the time by people wanting to take photos of the truck; and at the shows there are people photographing it and videoing it. I was at the post office the other day and someone came over to talk to me about that truck.”

While that T909 is undoubtedly a stand-out, the other trucks in the fleet get their fair share of attention too.

Steve and Tracey’s 11-yearold daughter Charli has also had input, with one of the T909s painted in her favourite colour – teal. She also chose the song to name it after, landing on ‘Bad Habits’ by Ed Sheeran.

had a truck called ‘Same Ol’ Situation’, named after the Mötley Crüe hit. “Because he was buying yet another truck,” laughed Tracey.

Then there was a truck they purchased off a friend called ‘Friends in Low Places’ after a Garth Brooks’ song.

Another called ‘Welcome to My Nightmare’ was named after the song by Alice Cooper, as the couple were actually at his concert when Steve decided to make the purchase via online auction.

An SAR that was rebuilt following a crash was renamed ‘Livin’ On The Edge’ after the tune by Aerosmith. “That’s because the decisions he made on that truck were without my approval!” added Tracey.

The only truck not named after a song is a blue T909 called ‘Daddy of Em All. Steve and Tracey are planning on having the words, “Let’s go make some money boys” from the movie 8 Seconds, added to the truck.

“Those words and the lyrics of the songs we’ve chosen all

Commenting on his prefer-

Firing up at the first responders’ summit

BY DAVID VILE

SCANIA Australia has been a supplier of vehicles to firefighting and emergency services agencies in this country for over four decades.

The Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council (AFAC) Conference and Exhibition held in Sydney early in September allowed attendees to view the current specification P320 Crew Cab fire pumper appliance.

“We are really celebrating our long-standing relationship with all the firefighting authorities around the country, and this is a good example a of a modern heavy-duty pumper that we do, it is our most popular firefighting model,” said Alexander Corne from Scania Australia.

Shortly to be put to work in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide for the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service, the Scania has been fitted out with bodywork by Fraser Engineering Group, complete with pumping gear and full slew of firefighting and rescue tools and equipment.

The safety of personnel travelling in an emergency situation is paramount with the truck featuring a number of in-built features to provide a safe working environment.

“Safety is one of our core areas for emergency services vehicles, and Scania is the only manufacturer to have a curtain airbag on every door which prevents serious injury in a rollover,” Alexander explained.

“We have had features such as traction control and anti-skid/advanced emergency braking for a very long time and the airbags offer another layer of rollover protection, plus the cab is all steel built and built in factory to Scania’s standards.”

Powered by a Scania DC09 127 engine rated at 360hp which is coupled to an Allison 3200 6-speed auto transmission with a retarder, the appliance also features a rear diff lock, driver’s airbag, seatbelt pretensioners, LED daytime running lights and fully automatic climate controlled-air conditioning.

With Scania a popular choice for emergency service

organisations globally, within Australia various models are put to work in a variety of applications from pumpers through to aerial platforms (skylifts) and bulk water carriers.

“We are very happy with this type of business, the 8x4’s with the skylifts on them is something we do particularly well and around the world Scania does a lot of fire-service work,” said Alexander.

“Fire crews love their Scanias, they get in them and go, they have a great ‘cold start’ performance. These trucks travel harder and faster than any other trucks - obviously, they don’t do as many kilometres as other trucks, but they have to be reliable. We also do some emergency service work with police search and rescue units.”

With the continual development of electric vehicles, emergency services is one area where Scania is targeting and having displayed a 25 P-Series BEV model at AFAC 2023 in Brisbane, Australia will be one of the first countries to receive the Crew-Cab version of the 25P-BEV when it goes into production shortly.

“With electric there is a demand in Europe, nobody yet is doing a crew-cab with EV

- we believe we will be the first. It makes sense in this perspective in that a truck could be sitting for most of the day in the fire station on charge, and when they do go out on a job it is relatively local so range distance - wise isn’t a huge issue,” said Alexander.

“If they were at a fire for a longer period of time you can always recharge but the benefit would be zero noise. If say they were at a house fire in the middle of the night the

benefit would be zero noise and emissions with a diesel motor running. It depends on the working environment too of course so if you pick the application, it would probably work quite well.”

Having exhibited at AFAC for a number of years, the association between Scania and the fire services sector extends to sponsorship of the annual Melbourne Firefight er Stairclimb which raises mo ities including Lifeline and

the Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation. The company has also assisted the Fire Services Museum of Victoria with the restoration of historic fire appliances, including a ‘Mark 3’ pumper which was the first Scania unit purchased by the former Melbourne Metropolitan Fire Brigade (now Fire Rescue Victoria) and was commissioned to commemorate both 100 years of Scania and the MFB

Game-changers honoured at MEGATRANS

THE winners of the 2024 Mercury Awards were recently announced as part of MEGATRANS, Australia’s largest integrated exhibition and conference for the logistics industry.

The expo showcased cutting-edge technologies and services for the supply chain, from vehicle telematics and fleet management software to warehousing solutions.

Hundreds of attendees came along to Melbourne’s Convention and Exhibition Centre from September 1819, enjoying interactive displays, live demonstrations, and the opportunity to speak with experts in their respective fields.

A glamorous gala dinner also took place to celebrate

the Mercury Awards, recognising the achievements of companies across the logistics, supply chain and materials handling sectors.

See the full list of winners below.

MERCURY AWARDS

Sustainability Initiative

Award

Winner: CEVA Logistics

Finalists for the Sustainability Initiative Award were assessed on the practicality of the program, as well as its difference to other projects available to the industry.

CEVA Logistics, a global logistics and supply chain company that operates both freight management and contract logistics, won the award for their project ‘Zero Waste to Landfill in Australia’.

Best Technology Application

Winner: Skilled Materials Handling

Finalists were assessed on how their technology has improved logistics and materials handling efficiency and cost-saving, as well as how it has improved either the environment, production outputs or safety.

Skilled Materials Handling, a Dandenong-based company engaged in the design, manufacture and commissioning of equipment for the conveying of bu lk materials, won the

tive Membrane Expansion Tan k.

Freight Transport Solution of the Year

Winner: MachShip

For this award, finalists were assessed on how well their freight transport solution enhances efficiency, traceability, cost-saving, or sustainability.

Melbourne-based company MachShip were recognised for their time-saving freight management software, also called MachShip.

Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

Winner: Allotrac

For the Supply Chain Innovator of the Year award, finalists were judged on what their company has done to disrupt the supply chain industry, as well as the capability to introduce their project to the wider industry.

INDUSTRY AWARDS

SCLAA Contribution to Industry Award

Winner: Dr. Elsie Hooi, Senior Lecturer at RMIT University MH D Sustainable Warehouse Award

Winner: Silk Logistics Holdings

The MHD Sustainable Warehouse Competition aims to celebrate and promote the ground-breaking efforts of warehouses across the nation who are dramatically reducing their emissions and implementing sustainable practices.

Silk Logistics Holdings, a leading Australian-owned logistics business providing an integrated ‘port-to-door’ service to some of the world’s best-known brands, took home the award for their sustainability efforts at their Kenwick 2 site.

New South Wales software company Allotrac took t the trophy for their AI assistant, Allie, which they describe as “the next step in transport management software”.

FOR THE LONG HAUL

IT’S SECOND TO NONE”

MARC SOFTLY, WILLATON TRANSPORT

Classic truck display in Echuca

THE American Truck Historical Society (ATHS) is all about old trucks, and it’s old trucks that come to all their events, including their latest get-together at Echuca. Some of these trucks have been totally refurbished, nut and bolt, but many turn up warts and all.

This year we thought we’d take a closer look at a few of these oldies that still wear their battle scars proudly, as well as a mint V8 Mack, and we’ll wrap up with a rebuild that may offend a few purists – but hey, it’s not their truck!

Founding joint organiser of the Koroit Truck Show, which is on again on January 25, Graeme Morris arrived at Echuca in his White Road Commander. With motive power being a VT903, Graeme says, “She is a bit of an old rattler and nothing flash, but it’s reasonably presentable and not a bad old truck. In fact, she drives like a dream.”

So why did Graeme buy a White?

“I drove one many years ago on interstate and when this became available, I couldn’t resist. The cabin needs bit of work but it’s presentable. One day, when and if the time becomes available, I’ll do a bit more work on her. It’s good to have a toy.”

Graham was accompanied on the trip from Koroit to Echuca by young Will McCosh who works for Graeme Morris’ son, Anthony, at Warrnambool-based company, PTS (Progress Transport Services). Will arrived in his dad’s International T2670.

“Dad’s had the truck for about 30 years now,” said Will. “He used to run Sydney- Perth, Brisbane and all over the joint with a flat top and tarps, as was the go back in the day.”

The old girl has over 2.5 million kilometres under her belt and the original 250 has been replaced with a 350 Big Cam Cummins and these days runs a 15 speed ‘box. The cab was tricked up prior to this year’s Crawlin’ the Hume, with new paint work on the chassis to come.

We’ve met Jason Nind before – when his boss won Rig of the Show at Castlemaine a couple of years ago. At Echuca, Jason turned up with his

“I bought it as a hobby about two-and-a-half years ago and finally got it on the road last year. I don’t have anything else – no kids, no wife, no girlfriend. Just me and the truck.”

Jason should have enough money to do this up then, because wives and kids take up a lot of cash.

“This is an expensive hobby, but at least she doesn’t talk back,” laughs Jason in reply to my comment. “The truck is powered by a 400 Big Cam Cummins running through a 13-speed gearbox, AirGlide 100 and SP40 3.5 ratio, so it was a quick truck in its day.”

Jason bought the truck from a bloke in Finlay who wanted $28,000 cash. So, Jason ar rived with $25,000, which the guy turned down. Long story short, he ended up buying it for $18,000.

“I don’t know a lot about the truck other than it was brought from Kenworth, Footscray as a stock truck. It was originally blue and white and had an A-model CAT in it.”

How do you continually remind the old man that he’s to leave you his truck in his will? Get the truck tattooed on your leg is how! Joe Wood owns the 1967 W-model Ken worth, and Alec is the tat tooed son.

said Joe, who, in a concession to getting older, recently added AirGlide 460 airbags for a more comfortable ride.

At 27, Alec’s earliest memories are of being in the truck and going to work with dad, “because day-care wasn’t a thing back then. This truck has been a part of me my entire life.”

Tim Bickley arrived in what seems to be the flavour of the month in truck renovation,

that being a V8 Mack Superliner, and be in no doubt, Tim has done a great job with his.

“It’s a newly finished project. I’ve had the truck for 15 years so it’s taken a while. We added four foot to the chassis and I bought the bunk out of the US in 2008 off another Mk2 superliner. Lines and scrolls and the name on the door are to come next week.”

The interior is as good as the outside and you can hear the truck coming from miles away when Tim blasts the train air horns situated underneath the driver side steps. Tim is a farmer and the truck pulls grain tippers and hay, so this truck is more than just a show pony.

Trevor Davis is known around the traps as Trevor Slowspeed, a result of his ownership of a beautiful but sluggish 1927 International. Life however is about to speed up a little for Trev, with his acquisition – followed by a nut and bolt restoration –of another International, this time a 1960 AA 150 which he has been working on for close to two years, and unveiled at Echuca.

Painted in a deep purple, the truck certainly drew plen

ty of looks, with 99 per cent approving. The 281 cubic inch Inter engine has been updated with the addition of a turbocharger putting out 8lb of boost, and a Holly 600 carby sitting atop the block.

“She goes up hills now,” said Trev.

In a stroke of genius, he bought a bunk off an old Ford F150 and reversed it, placing double doors at the

“The old man always said he was going to get a tattoo of Popeye, which is on the side of the bonnet, but he’s scared of needles. I came home one day and told him that I’d done it, but also included the rest of the truck.”

Now, Joe also has a daugh ter. “Yes, and she will no doubt get the house, which is fully paid for,” laughed Joe.

rear and windows on three sides. The result is an air-conditioned home-away-fromhome that he can open up to enjoy the view and get in and out of with ease.

A McGrath trailer is waiting to be colour matched and then ‘Slowspeed’ can haul his ‘27’ and a 1918 International (still to be rebuilt) to truck shows – and get there quicker!

We gently pointed out to Alec that if he inherited the house, he could re-mortgage a fraction of it and use that to buy a truck.

“You can sleep in a truck,” quips Alec. “But you can’t drive a house!”

The day-cab truck was im ported from Seattle by Blue Circle Southern, and Joe has owned it for the past 30 years. It works every day, doing tautliner work around Mel bourne.

Joe did interstate for six years, removing the passen ger seat and replacing it with a bean bag for a bed. “It’s

BY GRAHAM HARSANT

MOVE Museum at Shepparton recently celebrated the opening of their Trucking Hall of Legends with the second annual Chairman’s Dinner.

During the evening, tribute was paid to the local trucking legends who have passed in the last 12 months.

A true legend and pioneer

Fred Borg was born in Mackay and grew up on a sugarcane farm. As soon as he was of an age that allowed some independence he moved to Sydney where he met his wife to be, Margaret. Together they set off travelling, working seasonal jobs in various parts of the eastern states, including Cowra, Mildura and Shepparton. They liked Shepparton and in 1971, permanently settled in the area. This is where Fred’s first introduction to the transport industry occurred. He worked at a local fruit operation, JD Morey & Sons, where he initially drove for the company, moving onto running the cool rooms but quickly settling on running the transport operations of the business.

Fred’s ability to develop relationships with Morey’s customers saw this business grow to incorporate around 15 to

Celebrating trucking legends NEW AFTERMARKET PARTS

20 trucks, a big operation for those days.

Fred soon realised that there were bigger opportunities in the transport industry and in 1978 Fred’s Interstate Transport was born. Using the relationships forged at Morey’s, Fred initially used owner-driver’s to transport his clients’ products. Being the lateral thinking he was, Fred quickly realised the benefits of owning his own vehicles and in 1979 took delivery of a brand-new Kenworth K125 with a Cummins 903 engine.

Fred’s relationship with Kenworth and Cummins has stood the test of time and continues into the modern day operation. Couple this with Fred’s association with Barker Trailers and you had a business model that allowed Fred to grow the business rapidly in line with his customers’ success and growth. This included his beverage, building and packaging customers – some of whom still remain today.

Fred took delivery of his first SAR in 1982. In son, Danny Borg’s recent podcast on Copy Southbound, he makes mention of how much Fred loved his SARs and how they became a major part of the fleet.

At his peak, Fred grew the business to 85 single trucks. With the introduction of

B-doubles in the early ‘90s the fleet was rationalised to 65 units which is essentially where the business is today.

Fred was passionate about the industry and along with a number of other operators, had joined the Long Distance Road Transporters Associa tion (LDRTA) to dispute the Interstate Drivers Award. He felt that the association wasn’t doing enough and along with three other local operators –Sam Sali, Cosimo Roccisano and Doug Treece, formed their own organisation, the National Transport Federa tion (NTF). The NTF later merged with the LDRTA to become NatRoad in 1994.

Fred was passionate about relationships and son, Danny recounts many stories about trips interstate to meet with customers – often not even talking about rates or perfor mance – but just to see how things were going, and to have some social connection that solidified the rapport. He also hated changing industry and was often known to say, “We need it, but what a load of bullshit it is”.

Deserving of the highest respect

Fred worked on the principle that if you employed good staff, had the right equipment and looked after your customers, then the rest would take care of itself, and this still rings true in the business today. Fred stepped back from

Ian Cootes AM was born in Kyabram in 1941 and at the age of 11 moved to a property north of Wangaratta, where he helped with the farm work, including taking lambs to market, carting wheat and digging out stumps.

Ian’s son, Geoff recounts that Ian said many times throughout his life that the only qualification he really ever had was as a wool classer. But his fascination was in watching the continual

married Dot, who was a great support for Ian, and in 1965 the dream of owning his first truck came to fruition. And it came in the most entrepreneurial and innovative way. Ian wanted to cart fuel, so he literally knocked on the door of the BP head office in St Kilda Road, Melbourne where the company informed him that they had work for him if he purchased a truck – and he did, an AB-184 International, with this leading to service station deliveries across Met-

the program for Ian involved driving all week, Saturday deliveries, where sons Geoff and Paul would help out, and Sunday was for servicing and washing the trucks. The fleet had grown to three Kenworth, one Mack, one ACCO and one Dodge. The 1980s saw steady growth and during this time Ian was building a customer base and staff that would be treated like family, with many becoming close friends. It was in the 1990s that the business grew rapidly with the fleet al-

ways immaculately presented and with the strong employee culture and respect for customers, the business had expanded to have a presence in all mainland states of Australia.

During this time Ian took delivery of the first three iconic Kenworth T900’s that were produced by the factory in Bayswater. 1998 was another monumental milestone that saw IR Coutts take over all of the Shell fleet in Australia on the one day, with this including the storage and delivery of fuel to Melbourne and Adelaide airports.

It was at this point that IR Coutts was Australia’s largest tanker operator and a dominant player in the transport industry with over 800 highly respected employees and 325 immaculately presented vehicles.

Ian did a lot of business travel during these years and formed long lasting relationships. To Ian, the fuel depot manager in a small country town was just as important as a CEO of a large multinational oil company. He was a genuine and loyal person with unquestionable morals and ethics.

But Ian did not just focus on his business. He was also a director of the Australian Road Research Board and played a crucial role in raising the safe

The business was sold in 2000 and Ian was induct ed into the National Road Transport Hall of Fame in 2003. He was made a Mem ber of the Order of Australia in 2016 for significant service to the road transport industry and to the development of im proved safety and efficiency standards.

Ian also dedicated himself to many charitable causes and was a significant benefactor to many charities, including the Alfred Hospital, where he was chair of the board for many years, and the Variety Club, raising millions of dollars for those who needed it the most.

A giant of road transport

Sam Sali – a man who was instrumental and prominent in the transport industry and a dedicated community leader.

Sa m was born in 1937 and with parents and brother, Alan migrated to Australia. Although the country was in the grip of the great depression, the Sali’s saw the country as a land of great opportunity.

Alan purchased his first truck in 1946 when he turned 18 – a KS5 International. With Sam being nine years younger, he watched Alan work non-stop through his first summer fruit season,

with the purchase of a six ton Bedford truck.

Sam would maintain and load the truck and Alan would make the trip each day to the Melbourne market. A fact is not commonly known is that the S in S Sali & Sons was not for Sam, but his fa ther, Sabri. Quoting Sam, “Dad lent us money to get started, so we thought it only fitting that the business was named after him.”

Sam’s sense of family and absolute devotion to them was displayed back then and continued all the way through his life. Family means everything to him. 1958 saw the purchase of their first semi-trailer, and a

ness, still with Alan by his Along with Sam’s passion

bargaining to the industry. Sam was certainly ahead of his time. The NTF and the LDRTA merged in 1994 to become NatRoad and Sam continued to serve as a director of NatRoad until 2001.

Quoting current NatRoad chairman, Paul Fellows, “Sam Sali was a giant of road transport and a passionate champion for our industry.” NatRoad have recently renamed their National Young iver of the Year Award in honour of Sam. It will now be known as the Sam Sali National Young Driver Award. In 2003 Sam was awarded one of the Australian trucking industry’s major awards e National Award for

PARTS ON DEMAND

Share your truck pics to win with Shell Rimula

SHELL Rimula has partnered with Big Rigs in a big way – so there are even more reasons to send in your best truck shots.

Each month, the Big Rigs team will choose a #PicOfTheMonth, with the lucky winner receiving a $500 Shell Coles Express Gift Card.

Keep an eye out for our regular posts on the Big Rigs National Road Transport Newspaper Facebook page, calling

for your best truck photos and add yours in the comments, or email them to kayla.walsh@ primecreative.com.au.

Don’t forget to include a brief note about the truck and where the photo was taken.

We’ll feature some of the best photos in each edition of Big Rigs Newspaper, with one winner announced each month.

Keep those amazing truck pics coming!

When the going gets tough, truckies keep everyone going

The jump starting solution

IN the heavy equipment market, there is no great solution to jump starting large trucks and industrial machinery.

In most cases, workshops have trolleys with large batteries – and often they have not been recharged so just when you need them most, they have a flat battery. Those requiring portable jump starting are often carting around ute trays or small trucks filled with batteries to start the equipment.

Now you can say goodbye to those headaches – with Projecta’s Intelli-Start industrial jump starter IS5000HD. It’s the latest instalment of the world’s best jump starters by Projecta – designed for unrivalled versatility.

Since the market changing launch of the IS3000 and IS5000 jump starters, the team at Projecta has added even more functionality to the industrial jump starter range with this latest release.

Jump start just about anything

The IS5000HD has been designed to start just about any machinery, will never be flat (due to RRT), is ultra safe, workshop tough and light enough for just about anyone to carry with just one arm.

World’s most advanced jump starters

The Intelli-Start industrial jump starter IS5000HD offers unlimited jump starting

due to its patented Rapid Recharge Technology (RRT). It’s been tested and proven to start just about anything with up to 1500A of clamp power (12V); and is supplied with detachable clamps with a multi-pole heavy duty connector. This ensures all safety protocols remain active, even when interchanging cables.

As this jump starter is lightweight and portable, it’s a truly mobile solution that won’t break your back. The IS5000HD is designed to be the safest jump starter on the market – an advanced all-inone protection system preventing surges, short-circuits and overheating; offering 12/24 volt operation with automatic voltage detect.

Adding to its range of benefits, it’s easy to use too, featuring – intuitive an colour screen that indicates alarms, battery status and vehicle status.

Multi-pole heavy duty connector

While the standard IS5000 offers enough starting capacity to start just about any industrial equipment, some machines and heavy transport vehicles have specific jump-starting points that may be impossible to reach with standard clamps. To overcome this, the

IS5000HD incorporates a multi-pole heavy duty connector which allows the heavy-duty clamps to be disconnected from the jump starter leads. This allows the user to switch between clamps, 350A heavy duty connector or CAT connector depending on the vehicle/ equipment they are starting (adapters sold separately).

The multi-pole connector is especially important for applications requiring clamps, as it allows the sensing wires to remain intact so the jump starter can work just like the standard IS5000 with all pro-

tections and sensors functioning correctly (e.g. reverse polarity or voltage sensing).

For applications requiring the 350A HD connector (e.g. transport fleets) or CAT plug (e.g. industrial equipment), additional adapter leads are available. Each are 1.3 metres long. This was done to allow the unit to sit on the ground and start just about any piece of equipment (total cable length from unit to end of HD or CAT plug is 2.8 metres).

For users who need all three connectors, the ISHDKIT is available. This all-in-one unit

Lighting control at your fingertips

contains both the 350A HD and CAT plug adapters in a durable carry bag, which can also accommodate the clamps. With all these additions the jump starter itself has been proven to provide just as much power at the ‘clamps’, meaning it will start just about any engine.

Projecta’s Intelli-Start industrial jump starter IS5000HD also comes with a market leading two-year warranty.

For more information, please visit the website at intelli-start.com.

LAUNCHED

months ago, the Ultima Connect+ Controller gives owners of Narva’s Ultima LED Light Bar range the opportunity to have greater control, at their fingertips.

NARVA is Australian owned and is a leader in the development, manufacture and supply of automotive lighting and electrical components for the automotive, ma rine and transport industries.

De veloped by Narva as

its Ultima LED Light Bar line-up, the controller offers users the ability to further maximise the performance of their light bars, by ad justing the beam shape and intensity to suit the envi ronment and driving con ditions.

Thi s further lighting ad justment is provided via th ree preset, customisable driving modes. For highway driving, the beam can be set for max

imum distance with less spread to avoid road sign flare.

When being used on four wheel drive tracks, the beam distance can be reduced with a focus on maximum spread.

Wh ile for more open dirt roads, all the light can be set to its maximum output.

Ultima Connect+ Controller also allows drivers to a lter brightness (main and aux controls), provides a boost mode that delivers 15 per cent more power for 30 seconds, and with its LIN Bus technology, acts as a single point of control for all Ultima Connect+ enabled products.

The controller’s generously sized buttons make it easy to use on bumpy tracks, while multiple mounting options and single wire installation provide easy fit-

The Ultima Connect+ Controller is the perfect companion to the Ultima LED Light Bar range, wh ich includes 8 and 24 inch models that can be combined to also provide 40 and 48 inch bar configurations. With Ultima, owners can also select from both hybrid and flood beam light bar options depending on their preference. Together, Narva offers buyers customisation options like never before. Narva’s Ultima Connect+ Controller, Ultima LED Light Bars and associated accessories are available nationwide from leading automotive, four-wheel drive and transportation outlets.

For more information, please visit the Narva website at narva.com.au or find them on Facebook

Superior construction and performance; now with intelligent control.

Unlock your Ultima light bar’s full potential with a revolutionary new Ultima Connect+ Controller.*

Featuring 3 customisable driving modes, boost mode, and the ability to connect multiple lights, Connect+ gives you total beam control.

Ultima High Performance Light Bars are the first in Narva’s innovative Ultima Connect+ range.

BRAWN: Ultima Light Bars

• Market-leading beam performance

• 2 beam pattern options available

• Unprecedented 10-year warranty

BRAINS: Connect+ Controller

• Adjustable brightness

• Boost mode – 15% more power for 30 seconds

• Single unit to control all Connect+ enabled products

*Sold separately

Quality bullbars, built tough

BASED in Toowoomba, Queensland, Staunch Bullbars designs and manufactures a wide range of bullbars for various truck makes and models.

Australian owned and Australian made, its standard and customised bullbars are produced using the highest quality aluminium. In addition, the business also offers in-house polishing, powder coating and bullbar repairs.

Staunch Bullbars was started in 2021 by two friends who’ve known each other for years – Nick Jenner and Steve Berwick, both combining their years of experience.

While Nick has spent many years in the bullbar industry, Steve had owned his n mechanical workshop.

– so we took the leap and off we went,” said Nick.

In only three short years, the duo have seen their business come quite a long way.

“W hen we first started out, we were in a tiny little shed and had just three welders. We moved to our current site just over a year ago, at 509 South Street, Toowoomba. We’re now in quite a large establishment and have eight welders here,” he added.

“In moving to this site, we also now have an in-house polisher and a fitting bay to fit the bullbars.”

As Nick revealed the design of the company’s bullbars have changed and evolved with time. “We’ve made changes to the overall design and layout of our products, which has made things more efficient in our build process, made the bullbars stronger

and made them look better too.”

Staunch Bullbars has acquired many loyal customers, including major names like Brown and Hurley, Daimler Trucks and Western Truck Group, to name a few, along with many owner operators and fleets big and small too.

It produces a wide range of bullbars for truck brands that include Kenworth, Western Star, Volvo, Fuso, Mack, Hino and Scania.

While Staunch Bullbars has a standard range of bullbars and bumpers available, Nick says its custom offering has become highly sought after. “A lot of what we do is customised – we’ll build what our customers want, whereas a lot of other businesses won’t.

“At Staunch Bullbars, we offer full customisation. We’ve had a few really interesting designs, with how they want the tubes or the pipes, and that sort of thing. We can do whatever our customers want, so long as it fits within Australian Design Rule (ADR) compliance.”

While most of its bullbars are fitted onsite at its Toowoomba workshop, Staunch Bullbars also offers a mobile service too. For those based further away, Staunch Bullbars can also ship its

products anywhere in Australia. “We get quite a lot of orders from Melbourne and Adelaide, and have also had a few from Perth,” Nick added.

quality. For customised bullbars, customers can expect a turnaround time of about 9-12 weeks. With a focus on person to

DON’T GET CAUGHT OUT WITH A FLAT BATTERY

No-cost qualification for experienced workers

TAFE Queensland is providing experienced workers in the diesel fitting and mining mechanical sectors the opportunity to gain a formal qualification and trade certificate at no cost, thanks to Registered Trade Skills Pathway (RTSP) funding supplied by the Queensland Department of Employment, Small Business, and Training.

IT CAN MEAN A BIG DIFFERENCE IN THE JOB OPPORTUNITIES AND EARNING CAPABILITY FOR WORKERS.”

DAVID JENKINSON

RTSP funding enables eligible industry members to gain a Certificate III in Engineering – Fixed and Mobile Plant Mechanic (MEM31419) and trade certificate through Recognition of Prior Learning (R PL) at no cost, with training required to be completed by June 30, 2025.

Workers may be eligible for this funding if they have sufficient experience or prior

training in related areas, with fitters working on low loaders, earthmoving equipment, and trucks and trailers likely to be eligible.

TAFE Queensland – SkillsTech business manager of heavy commercial industries David Jenkinson said the program would benefit many workers who have experience and skills in their industry but no qualification to show for it.

“Having a formal qualification and trade certificate is really important for working in our industry, and it can mean a big difference in the job opportunities and earning capability for workers,” Jenkinson said.

“Using this program to gain a qualification means that TAFE Queensland will assess your skills and experience, along with any prior training, and accredit you a portion of your qualification before training you in any skills gaps to ensure you achieve all requirements of the training package.

“The people who can gain the most from this program are workers in the industry

with years of experience but no formal qualification, and people who completed qualifications a long time ago and

skills on offer,” he said. To be eligible for this funding, participants must be existing workers in the relevant

Australian citizen/permanent resident or hold a refugee or humanitarian visa, d permanently reside in

For more information about RPL or to enquire about this opportunity, visit tafeqld.edu.au/rpl or

Penske awards its top technicians

PENSKE Australia and New Zealand has presented Jason Gavin and Frederich Pfuhl the 2024 Penske Guild Master Technician awards for on-highway and off-highway, respectively.

Penske Guild members from around Australia and New Zealand competed in qualification rounds prior to the final, vying for the title of Master Technician.

Including general procedural tasks and advanced diagnostics scenarios, the 12 finalists competed against each other and the stopwatch.

Based in Penske’s Perth branch, Jason has expertise across the full range of Western Star, MAN, and Detroit product portfolios, particularly Western Star, having worked with the brand for 14 years.

“The on-highway battle was fierce. Demonstrating his competitive spirit and commitment to excellence, Jason is a worthy winner,” said Russell Koch, training manager – northern region, Penske Australia and New Zealand.

“In his acceptance speech, Jason humbly credited his win to the supportive culture and the training investment made in him by the organisation.”

Having joined Penske in 2017, Frederich is a field service technician based in Auckland. In addition to his wide-ranging field experience, he has completed multiple mtu 2000

series and 4000 series mechanical, electrical, and automation training courses, leading him to work across all off-highway markets, particularly energy solutions and marine.

“Among a very experienced field of technicians, Frederich is a very worthy winner of the off-highway Master Technician award, showcasing his vast expertise,” said Daniel Raine, technical training manager, Penske Australia and New Zealand.

“All competitors did a fantastic job on the day, and it’s a testament to the depth of capability we have at Penske to support our mtu customers across various industries, including mining, energy solutions, marine, rail, defence, construction and industrial, and oil and gas.”

The Master Technician competition is in its ninth year, having commenced in 2016 with former winners on hand to congratulate their

fellow champions.

“Over the years, the calibre of participants has gone from strength to strength,” said Leigh Henderson, chief operating officer and Penske Guild chair at Penske Australia and New Zealand.

“While being crowned a Master Technician is prestigious, customers benefit most from our Penske Guild program.

“Covering the breadth of operations, Penske Guild represents a tangible standard of excellence that ultimately delivers high quality and prompt solutions for customers.”

This year’s Master Technicians Jason and Frederich will enjoy trips overseas to the US and Germany to visit RollsRoyce Power Systems’ mtu plant and the Detroit plant, respectively.

To learn more about career opportunities with Penske, visit penske.com.au/career-oppor tunities.

Gorski expands into Queensland market

AS Gorski Engineering tips closer and closer to its 50th year of business the excite ment in the air is palpable.

Since 1975 the Mel bourne-based manufacturer has sent tens of thousands of tipper trucks and trailers out into the transport wild.

It’s distinctive red, black, and yellow branding can found on trailers, mud guards, hats, hoodies and stubby coolers — a brand built strong through decades spent in the pursuit of excel lence in product and custom er service.

With Gorski Engineering trailers rolling out across the country the business has set its sights on the expansion of its footprint to bring Gorski’s exceptional service and skills closer to the clients it serves in each state.

The first step on the next 50 years of the Gorski Engi neering story will take place ctober 1 at 10/6 Quinns

him as the key contact for dealerships and customers in

also have a full range of spare parts and inventory as well

as one of all of our readyto-go trailers in stock in Queensland as well,” he says.

“In this industry, time is money, and if our customers are off the road, they’re not making money. It’s about getting people, working, and getting them on the road and making sure that they’re operating at maximum capacity.”

WE’VE BEEN IN PRODUCTION FOR 50 YEARS IN MELBOURNE, AND IT IS TIME TO OPEN THE NEXT PHASE OF THE COMPANY. BY 2028, WE WILL BE LOOKING AT BEING AT LEAST IN ANOTHER STATE AFTER QUEENSLAND.”

PAUL BAKER

Paul says the expansion also represents a big investment by the 100 per cent mily-owned business and reflects its owners’ determination to continue to build he strong foundations of

As for why Queensland, Gorski Engineering see plenty of opportunity there.

e are seeing a big demand for Queensland. It a growing market and with the Olympics coming up in

2032, there’s going to be a lot of infrastructure happening within that region,” Paul says.

“The market is heading that way too, with a few of our Victorian customers making the trek up north.”

When asked about current market trends, Paul says the Hardox® truck and four-axle quad dog set up has seen a resurgence lately, and the forthcoming grain season had seen a ramping up on interest in aluminium grain tippers.

While the decision is yet to be made on which state after Queensland – one thing is clear, Gorski Engineering is determined to provide its customers with the best service and support it possibly can and willing to invest in its own future to make that possible.

Over 40 years of heritage

THE Truck Art Business Group is a quiet achiever within the Australian Heavy Vehicle services industry, providing a variety of support services.

As a quiet achiever, many entities across the industry are unaware of the heritage, size of the business or scope of services provided by the business group.

With a conservative start as a heavy vehicle spray painting business over 40 years ago, founder and owner Terry Gibbs has built the business into what it is today.

Starting out in Wagga Wagga, over several years,

the business moved towards heavy vehicle smash repairs, and the manufacture and supply of heavy vehicle sleeper cabs for prime movers.

With a clear focus on supporting the heavy vehicle industry, Terry saw an opportunity to assist in driver fatigue management through introducing a variety of heavy vehicle cab cooling solutions.

Initially providing the Viesa air conditioner systems as the Australian agent, this aspect of the business grew rapidly, providing opportunity for the introduction of several complimentary units, including

pressor air conditioners.

As interstate customers were now seeking the services provided by Truck Art, Terry expanded the business interstate.

Truck Art Melbourne in North Altona and Truck Art Adelaide in Mawson Lakes were opened, and today still specialise in providing and fitting sleeper cab air conditioners.

Still seeking opportunities within the heavy vehicle industry, in 2010, Terry bought Dickinson Trailers in Wagga Wagga and later changed the name to Truck Art Trailers.

ing vehicles for bulk stock haulage, Truck Art Trailers focuses on quality custom built livestock trailers and crates, providing the customer with a broad scope of custom features within their livestock trailers.

As a market leader in the custom-built trailer industry and still seeking opportunities to minimise costs and driver fatigue across the industry, Truck Art Trailers recently increased its services to include the VIGIA automatic tyre inflation and tyre management systems for heavy vehicles.

Truck Art Wagga has also

broadened its service base considerably through providing sand blast services, vehicle accessory fit-ups, dovetail manufacture and fitting, and 24/7 heavy vehicle towing services.

In 2018 Truck Art Wagga became a proud Premium Repairer for National Transport Insurance (NTI) and continues to offer efficient, high quality heavy vehicle repairs under the NTI system.

More recently, in 2021, Truck Art took the opportunity to purchase an air conditioning and tyre inflation systems importing business.

Distribution business was born and the process of moving the distribution business to Wagga Wagga began. Today Truck Art Distributors is the final piece in the current Truck Art Business Group, providing product distribution services for a host of products including air conditioning and tyre inflation systems to all states of Australia. Today, the Truck Art Business Group employs 90 staff Australia wide, with five sites strategically placed in three states to ensure ongoing provision of critical service to the Australian heavy vehicle

Trailer upgrade for Avijohn Contracting

Avijohn Contracting recently upgraded its fleet to include a new Trout River Live Bottom trailer, which is complementing their asphalt operations.

profiling work, ripping up roads and material recycling.”

Avijohn has invested in plant and equipment designed to meet the specific requirements of asphalt paving work. Its management and crew are trained and experienced in providing high-quality outcomes for its customers. Ongoing crew training and the grading of equipment and plant are essential parts of Avijohn’s operational philosophy nsure its high standards are

excellent acquisition.

“It’s been brilliant and very reliable,” he said. “Normally, I would expect trailers, asphalt, and profiling equipment to have minor issues with them. It tends to occur when there are so many moving parts to some equipment. There’s an expectation for some small teething issues, but we have experienced very few.”

Benefits of Trout River trailers

family-owned company that has been in business for over 34 years. It began as a civil contracting company in the Sydney metropolitan area, predominantly constructing car parks, driveways, playing fields and similar projects.

pertise in asphalt paving.

Michael Kennedy is the operations manager at Avijohn Consulting, and it was his parents that started the business all those years ago.

“These days, we mostly do asphalt work for local government and private contractors,” aid. “We also do a lot of

Upgrading equipment

Avijohn has a significant fleet and recently purchased a Trout River trailer from their local MaxiTRANS dealer in Campbelltown. The trailer is a specialised live-bottom unit, which offers operators an enhanced solution for bulk transport applications.

The capability to empty its content using an interior conveyor belt system offers operators a safer and more versatile alternative to conventional tipping, unloading in environments with low structures and overhead obstacles, while also practically eliminating the chance of the trailer tipping over. The tri-axle semi-trailer is perfect for what Kennedy and Avijohn handle.

Kennedy has found the Trout River Live Bottom Trailer an

Live-bottom trailers are unique because they have a conveyor belt at the bottom of the trailer tub. The belt is designed to push the material out of the back of the trailer at a controlled pace so the trailer does not have to be raised to deposit the materials.

“One of the best parts of the Trout River Live Bottom trailer is that the conveyor belt is reversible,” Kennedy said. “That’s great if we don’t need all the material in the trailer. For example, if it’s the last load of the day, it is very helpful to be able to reverse the belt backwards.”

A unique feature of the trailer is the inclusion of weight scales for both the truck and the trailer. Making sure the maximum weight is not exceeded is vital for maintaining the machines and keeping them on the road.

“What is also good is the lower sides to the trailer,” Kennedy said. “That makes loading and profiling much easier and more accessible. It also increases the speed of loading and unloading the trailer.”

It’s worth noting that live bottom trailers tend to be more stable, which minimises the risk of the trailer tipping over during the unloading process.

“It is just as important to us that our employees’ safety and workplace relations are always considered and maintained.

“We foster an environment focused on ensuring that all work is carried out harmoniously without interruption caused by industrial relations issues. A healthy, happy workplace assists us in achieving outstanding results for our company and customers.”

Customer service

What is often not discussed is the influence of high-quality customer and after-sales service from a seller.

“With MaxiTRANS we’ve found that their team is fantastic at following up,” Kennedy said. “We have not had any major issues with the trailer, and with the one minor issue, the team had it fixed within about four hours. We had it back on the road that night.” When it comes to equipment from MaxiTRANS, Kennedy believes Avijohn made the right choice.

“The team at MaxiTRANS has been professional and more than helpful. We are looking to purchase some more trailers in the next financial year, and there is a good chance we will choose some of their trailers.”

Keep trucks looking their best

chrome has invested over $1 million in research and development over the years to perfect its revolutionary process. Because of this, Superchrome can now offer its customers a world first seven-year chrome warranty.

Superchrome also upgraded its production facilities in 2021 for a third time, and this, combined with operating two production shifts, ensures Superchrome continues to meet the increasing demand for its chrome wheels.

Superchrome makes its wheels easy to purchase by providing them to customers by direct shipment to all locations in Australia.

The wheels are also provided to truck dealerships on an exchange basis. That is, a chrome set of wheels is sent to the dealerships for the new truck and the new polished

truck and are returned to Superchrome as an exchange, therefore the chroming process is the only additional cost

New Superchrome wheels can also be sent to trailer manufacturers or trailer manufacturers can send their new polished wheels to Superchrome to be returned af ter chroming.

Superchrome says that it continues to demonstrate a profound commitment to an industry that is also a livelihood by ensuring all orders are delivered on time.

See how much you could save by making a switch from polished to chromed alloy wheels by checking out our Lifetime Savings Calculator. Head to superchrome.com.au/life-sav ings-calculator and see how much you could save

chroming steel wheels and 23 years of chroming alloy wheels for the truck, trailer and bus markets.

Superchrome knows wheels and knows them well, taking the pain out of keeping your truck looking shiny.

With standard wheels, it

By comparison, chrome wheels can be cleaned in as little as 40 seconds, literally saving operators hours. What’s more, they are resistant to stone chips, gravel and dirt scratch marks and are designed to hold up in the harshest environments.

chrome wheels for their new purchases.

The reason for Superchrome’s surge in demand, is growing awareness of the sorts of benefits they offer for trucks and trailers. These benefits include presentation, image, and long-term labour

An additional bonus of having Superchrome wheels is the increased amount of leisure and family time for the drivers and operators who are responsible for the presentation of their trucks.

Continually building on its product offering, Super-

NTI launches Trailer Repairer Network

vider NTI launched its new and dedicated Trailer Repair er Network in July 2024, enhancing the support and service offering it provides to its customers.

at NTI, explained, “For cus tomers requiring trailer repairs, we wanted to provide the same level of service and experience they receive when

2004, setting unprecedented standards for heavy vehicle repairs.

Over the past 20 years, this network has expanded across

the Local Repairer Network, which now numbers 40 repair shops nationally, strategically located in transport hubs and regional centres across Australia.

Building on that, in 2022, NTI entered into a strategic partnership with the AMA Group to establish the Light Vehicle Repair Network, providing customers with access to over 85 repair shops nationally.

Now with the launch of the Trailer Repairer Network, NTI extends its offering even further. Just a few months since being launched, the Trailer Repairer Network has already grown to 34 trailer repairers. That includes numerous NTI premium repairers that have trailer repair facilities, along with trailer OEMs.

larly reviewed and updated th input from the NTI Premium Repairer Network to ensure customers’ vehicles are back on the road faster while maintaining high standards.

NTI’s repairer network offering has continued to grow and evolve over time. With the increase in insured rigid trucks, the company identified a gap in smaller truck repairs with low severity damage and, in 2020, launched

-

“Whether it’s our local, premium or light vehicle repairer network, NTI has high standards that repairers need to meet. We’ve set those same high standards for the trailer network,” revealed Adam.

“NTI has worked with trailer OEMs and other trailer repairers right across the nation to understand the requirements. In order to become part of our Trailer Repairer Network, they need to have the staff, equipment, processes and facilities to make sure they meet all of our high standards.

“Firstly, this ensures they can repair the trailer safely;

and secondly, they can repair it quickly, getting our customers back on the road.”

Currently, there are repairers within NTI’s Trailer Repairer Network located in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania – with a high concentration on the east coast.

As Adam explained, “We’ve started on the east coast to get the ball rolling. Now that we’ve ticked all the boxes and have all of these trailer OEMS in the east, we are looking to replicate that in other states.

“We are looking particularly at South Australia and Western Australia – and are speaking with a number of trailer manufacturers in those states. We’re targeting trailer OEMs that have the ability to repair as well.

“NTI is currently in talks with several major trailer manufacturers to get them on board. We’re currently going through all the checks. We have the same high standards for our Trailer Repairer Network as we have for our other repairer networks.

“By the end of the year, our intent is to extent our Trailer Repairer Network right across Australia.”

For more information on the Trailer Repairer Network, please visit nti. com.au/claims/nti-authorised-repair-network/trailer-repairer.

IN today’s trucking industry, where equipment costs are rising, operating expenses are climbing, and driver shortages are becoming a growing concern, optimising every aspect of fleet management is crucial. One of the critical areas that significantly impact both efficiency and driver well-being is the time and effort spent on managing onboard mass (OBM) systems.

Air-Weigh, a state-of-theart scaling system offered by E-Max, presents a revolutionary solution that enhances fleet operations by simplifying one aspect of a driver’s workload.

The problem with wireless OBM systems

Wireless OBM systems of-

ten rely on Bluetooth pairing with each individual scale in the combination, which can be time-consuming and require constant driver input. This manual input increases the risk of errors, such as pairing the wrong trailer or in the wrong order, wasting valuable time and delaying deliveries. The constant need for driver involvement in managing these systems adds to their workload, contributing to stress and inefficiency.

A refreshingly superior alternative

By comparison, E-Max, a leader in on-board weighing systems for over two decades, offers a refreshingly superior alternative with its intelligent state-of-the-art system, Air-

Weigh. This system connects to the vehicle’s ignition and utilises the existing seven-pin electrical suzi coils to transmit data and automatically assign trailers. This eliminates the need for Bluetooth pairing, extra cables, and manual configurations, significantly reducing the time and effort required from drivers.

“Our system is designed and manufactured in the USA and is ISO 9001:2015 certified,” said Ben Harris, E-Max head of sales and operations. “This ensures that Air-Weigh enables truck operators to accurately measure their load, eliminating any guesswork from loading. This precision helps reduce overweight fines and maximise each trip’s efficiency while also ensuring compliance.”

Streamlining operations and easing driver workload

The plug-and-play feature of Air-Weigh demonstrates the system’s true simplicity in action, enabling seamless transitions and efficient fleet management. By requiring no manual input from drivers, Air-Weigh helps streamline processes, resulting in smoother operations.

Extended driver efficiency is achieved by reduced loading times, allowing drivers to

Enhancing fleet efficiency Environmental benefits of Dura-Bright

IN today’s rapidly evolving trucking industry, sustainability is more than just a buzzword – it’s a responsibility. As environmental concerns grow, so does the demand for eco-friendly solutions that reduce carbon footprints and enhance operational efficiency. One such innovation is the Alcoa Dura-Bright wheel, a revolutionary product designed with patented technology to meet the rigorous demands of modern truck fleet operations. For Australian truck fleet owners, adopting Dura-Bright wheels offers a range of environmental benefits that align with both ecological and economic goals.

Water conservation:

A key environmental advantage

Water scarcity is a pressing issue in many parts of Aus tralia, making water con servation an essential con sideration for all industries.

Alcoa Dura-Bright wheels are engineered to reduce water usage significantly. Traditional wheels require extensive cleaning, often in volving copious amounts of water. In contrast, Dura-Bright wheels utilise a patented surface treatment that dras tically cuts down on water needed for maintenance. On average, cleaning and polishing traditional wheels takes about 25 minutes per wheel. With Dura-Bright

wheels, this time is slashed to just 2 minutes. This remarkable reduction translates to thousands of litres of water saved over a fleet’s lifespan. For truck fleet owners, this means a substantial decrease in water usage, contributing to broader environmental conservation efforts.

Labour savings: Enhancing operational efficiency

In addition to water savings, Dura-Bright wheels’ reduced cleaning time offers significant labour savings. Time is money, and every minute spent on wheel maintenance is a minute taken away from

productive operations. Du ra-Bright wheels save thou sands of hours of labour annually by cutting down the cleaning time from 25 minutes to a mere 2 minutes per wheel.

This efficiency not only boosts the bottom line by re ducing labour costs but also diminishes the environmen tal impact associated with labour-intensive cleaning processes. Fewer hours spent on maintenance means low er energy consumption and reduced wear and tear on cleaning equipment, further underscoring the environ mental benefits of adopting Dura-Bright wheels.

focus on driving rather than load management. This shift not only enhances road safety but also decreases vehicle liability, resulting in happier, more productive drivers.

As Ben explained, “The simplicity and precision of our system not only saves time but also reduces the cognitive load on drivers. This is crucial in an industry where every minute counts. By minimising the time drivers spend on non-driving tasks, we help them focus on what they do best – driving safely and efficiently.”

Comprehensive support for fleet operators

Supporting customers nationwide, E-Max offers comprehensive after-sales support with a skilled team capable of training and educating fleets to implement the product effectively, whether it’s five combinations or 500. This ensures that fleets of all sizes can benefit from the efficiency and simplicity of AirWeigh. Additionally, E-Max provides individual support via phone for those on the road, ensuring that help is always available when needed.

The bottom line

In an industry where every minute counts and the pres-

sure on drivers continues to grow, solutions like Air-Weigh are more important than ever. As equipment becomes more expensive, operating costs rise, and drivers become fewer, the minutes wasted on manually connecting trailers and ensuring correct loads can significantly cut into the fleet’s bottom line. Air-Weigh offers a practical and efficient solution that improves operational efficiency and eases the workload on drivers, ultimately enhancing productivity across the board. By investing in intelligent systems like Air-Weigh, fleet operators can ensure that their drivers are not burdened with unnecessary tasks, allowing them to stay focused and efficient on the road. This not only benefits the drivers but also improves the overall performance and profitability of

the fleet. In a challenging and competitive industry, adopting such innovations is key to staying ahead and ensuring long-term success. On-board scales like AirWeigh add increased vehicle profitability by maximising every load, extending driver efficiency by allowing them to focus on driving, and enhancing road safety by ensuring accurate load management. They eliminate repeated scale events, unproductive time and kilometres spent reworking loads, under-loading, load guesswork, and overweight fines. This results in a more streamlined, productive, and profitable operation, with drivers who are happier and more focused on the road.

For more information, please call 1300 850 575 or visit air-weigh.com.au.

Reduced use of harsh chemicals

Traditional wheel cleaning often involves harsh chemicals to remove dirt and grime. While effective, these chemicals pose significant environmental hazards. They can contaminate water supplies, harm wildlife, and contribute to soil degradation. Alcoa Dura-Bright wheels, however, require only mild detergents for cleaning. The ability to use mild detergents reduces the reliance on environmentally damaging chemicals. This safeguards local ecosystems and ensures compliance with increasingly stringent environmental regulations. For truck fleet owners, this means a cleaner,

greener operation with fewer regulatory hurdles.

Long-term durability and sustainability

The durability of Alcoa Dura-Bright wheels further enhances their environmental credentials. These wheels are designed to withstand the harsh conditions of Australian roads, resist corrosion, and maintain their appearance over the long term. This longevity reduces the need for frequent replacements, thereby minimising waste, and resource consumption.

Investing in durable products like Dura-Bright wheels aligns with sustainability principles. It ensures that resources are utilised efficiently,

and waste generation is minimised. For truck fleet owners, this means a lower total cost of ownership and a reduced environmental footprint.

For Australian truck fleet owners, the environmental benefits of Alcoa Dura-Bright wheels are clear. By significantly reducing water usage, cutting down on cleaning time, eliminating the need for harsh chemicals, and offering long-term durability, these wheels represent a smart investment in sustainability. Adopting Dura-Bright wheels is a proactive step towards greener fleet management, demonstrating a commitment to environmental stewardship while also reaping economic rewards.

In an industry where efficiency and sustainability are increasingly intertwined, Alcoa Dura-Bright wheels provide a practical solution that addresses both concerns. By making the switch, truck fleet owners can drive their operations towards a more sustainable future, contributing positively to the environment wh ile enhancing operational effectiveness.

Contact us at the Howmet Wheel system at 1800 955 191. You can also drop us an email at alcoawheels. [email protected] or visit alcoawheels.com.au. Also, don’t forget to follow Alcoa on Facebook at alc oawheelsaustralia for all the latest updates.

Truck and trailer restoration was a labour of love for son

It took Andrew Dorling seven years to restore his dad’s Commer, trailer and cattle crate – but he says it was worth every minute.

BY KAYLA WALSH

INTERSTATE truckie Andrew Dorling is the first to admit he’s a perfectionist – and when it came to restoring his dad Mick’s 1963 Commer, he wasn’t cutting any corners.

It’s been 30 years since Mick bought the truck, and Andrew has spent the past seven of those fixing it up as a replica of a rig his father drove as a young man.

The finished Commer finally made its big debut at the Lardner Park Heritage Truck & Vehicle Display in Victoria earlier this year – and many members of the crowd agreed that it stole the show.

“I had a lot of people coming up to me, telling me I should be proud of what I had done,” he says.

“Some people said it was better than if you’d paid a professional to restore it.”

While Andrew was pleased to get some recognition after all his hard work, it wasn’t really about what other people thought. It was about his mum and dad.

“My mum got really crook, and in the hospital before she passed away, dad promised her that he would get the Commer going before it was too late for him,” he says.

“Then about seven years ago, dad was in a real bad accident. He ended up in hospital in a coma.

“That’s when I decided that if we were going to fulfil his promise, I needed to get on board and get the project underway.”

The Commer was in a pretty bad way when Mick picked it up in South Australia many moons ago, so he had later acquired another Commer locally with a cab and chassis in better condition. Eventually, another cab came up that was even more promising, so he picked that up too.

Andrew had his work cut out for him, replicating the

to drive around metropolitan Melbourne, Gippsland and Dandenong back in the day – and he was determined to keep it as authentic as possible.

The job started with Andrew and his dad pulling the truck apart and sending the chassis rails away to be sandblasted before being painted.

“While we were waiting on that to be done, we got to work on the trailer,” he says.

“It was a bit worse for wear, so I got the grinder and started cutting the trailer up.

“I put new beams in the trailer, a complete new front and back, new suspension and new wheels and tyres.”

Andrew then had someone come to his shed to sandblast the trailer, before he painted it himself and added new lights and timber flooring.

He decided that if the truck and trailer combination was going to be a really accurate replica of his dad’s old rig, he needed to build a cattle crate. This he made from scratch, taking care to make it look authentic.

“I bought some rough-sawn timber for the sides,” he explains.

“Then I bought a thicknesser and ran all the timber

Next up were the decks of the crate.

“Dad wanted to just put plywood in it to make it easy, but I said we needed to keep it to how it used to be in the day.

“Decks were all tongue and groove back then so I made all the decks that way. I then painted them and put sheep mesh on them.”

The trailer and cart completed, he refocused his efforts on the cab, which had to be sandblasted and have a lot of rust removed before it was ready to paint.

He wasn’t confident enough to paint it himself, so he sent it away to be done professionally, along with the signwriting.

Mick’s original Commer had “Mick’s Big Rig” written on the front, but for the replica Andrew decided to go with “Mick’s Pride” instead.

He also put his mum’s name – Eileen – on the left-hand door, and his dad’s name on the right-hand door.

“Mum’s not here and one day dad won’t be here anymore so I wanted to pay tribute to them,” he adds.

Mick, who used to own his own mechanical workshop, rebuilt the truck’s motor - a

had to make any parts that couldn’t be bought,” Andrew says.

“I made the mufflers, the exhaust system, the gearbox crossmember, the brake lines...

“I wanted to keep everything period correct, so I made the air lines out of steel instead of nylon.”

A family friend did a complete re-wire on the truck, and Andrew and Mick got the seats reupholstered, refurbished the gauges and the dashboard, got new cables made for the accelerator, and built a bullbar based off old photos of the truck.

To Andrew’s delight, the type of mirrors that were on Commers in the 60s were still available, and the lights are also the exact same style as Mick’s old truck had.

It was finally time for the finishing touches - and the clock was ticking as Andrew had promised his dad he would have the truck ready for the Lardner Park Heritage Truck & Vehicle Display in February.

Mick was also sadly diag nosed with cancer during the process of the restoration, which added more pressure for Andrew, who didn’t want

to let him down.

“The cancer is not going to go away, he’s doing chemo which is slowing it down,” he says.

“After he had his accident, I took over the labour on the Commer but he was still the brains of it all.

“I did all that labour to give back to him, to do something for him after all he’s done for me.”

Thankfully Andrew just about made it over the line with the truck, getting it roadworthy and registered just two days before Lardner Park.

“On the morning of the show, dad looked really crook,” he says.

“I was getting the truck ready - shining the inside of the tyres as well as the outside, and all the threads and everything to get it as presentable as possible.

“I was just underneath the truck, polishing it, and I looked up and saw dad.

“All of a sudden, he had a big smile on his face and a bit of power back in his body.

“And I thought to myself, it was worth it all just to see that.”

Kerden Haulage joins fleets switching to TRAIL-LINK

FAMILY owned and operated, TRAIL-LINK has been serving the Australian transport industry for over 20 years.

TRAIL-LINK manufactures and distributes high quality air, electrical and EBS connector coils, and a full range of supplementary parts and complementary pieces.

Some of the nation’s larger safety conscious and high performing fleets – among the likes of Linfox and TGE (formerly Toll) – adopted TRAIL-LINK’s offering very early on. However, the last five years has been a time of exponential growth for the company, with significant uptake by other notable national fleets.

While some fleets switched to TRAIL-LINK products through purchasing a new Mercedes-Benz truck or Vawdrey trailer with coils already supplied, others have sought out or been approached to try the brand.

Michele Cabrera is TRAIL-

LINK’s newest and most successful NSW sales manager. She’s taken no time at all to ensure the best fleets in the area are using the best connections available.

One of the latest and happiest customers who have converted to the TRAIL-LINK solution is Damien Radburn at Kerden Haulage – son of Kerry and Dennis Radburn,

who established the company in 1992. Starting out with just one truck, Kerden Haulage now operates a fleet of 57 prime movers and over 130 trailers. Its head office is lo

cated in Nowra, NSW; with depots in Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne.

Kerden Haulage’s primary operations are centred around express freight, particularly transporting air freight from airports, along with medical supplies. That’s in addition to transporting building materials and oversize freight too.

Michele recently visited Damien at the Nowra site to pitch the TRAIL-LINK concept.

On paper, it all made sense.

Damien quickly understood the features and benefits of TRAIL-LINK, so opted to give it a go, to try and tackle an issue he was facing with his fleet.

Damien undertook a trial period and that’s what sold him on the TRAIL-LINK products, which he’s now been using for almost 12 months, implementing them across the fleet.

As promised, the product delivered, with no failures on the road, no plug pull-off and no leaking air lines

“Reliability has been the biggest thing for us,” said

Damien. “TRAIL-LINK products have resulted in a reduction of breakdowns and call-outs for little things like electrical coils or hoses being tangled.”

As most truckies will know, the cost of a breakdown can be exorbitant. When you add up the cost of call-out fees, overtime and truck downtime, it quickly adds up.

Not only do TRAIL-LINK coils look the part, they perform exceptionally well too, and help prevent unnecessary and costly on-the-road failures.

As Damien explained, “A call-out in the middle of the night can cost anywhere from $1500-$2000 plus parts, especially if a truck breaks down 300 kilometres from the nearest site. It can make a truck run 4-5 hours late too, so it’s not great for customers either.”

In addition to their operational benefits, TRAILLINK’s products look great too.

“They look very neat and tidy, as the coils don’t tangle up with each other. They’re also made from a high quality product so they won’t fade over time like some of the cheaper products out there,” Damien added.

Keen for other drivers and fleets to experience the benefits of high quality coils, Kerden Haulage is now a reseller of the TRAIL-LINK range through the parts division of the business, South Coast Spares and Repairs – located in South Nowra, NSW. So pleased by the products offered by TRAIL-LINK, Damien has also elected to have a B-double fitted out with a new set of curtains to promote the TRAIL-LINK range. It’s due to hit the road in October, and will travel between Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. For more information on TRAIL-LINK products, visit trail-link.com.au or call 03 9886 9004.

Here’s when driving multiple trailers becomes a pleasure

IT’S not until you do a few thousand kilometres of driving throughout our big, beautiful country, waiting your turn to pass trailers, hauling doubles and triples that you see up close the difference a well-balanced rig makes.

You can see the drivers that are going to arrive home, or at the depot, exhausted from fighting to keep their rigs between the lines.

With unbalanced rigs, the back trailer is pretty much doing its own thing; swinging into the other lane, bouncing and jumping, and you remember that there are nearly 40 wheels here that you want singing along together, and not fighting each other. Imagine the lost rubber, fuel, worn driveline components and well – huge money lost, not to mention driver effort, and lack of satisfaction for these poor drivers.

When SRV Road Freight Services wanted to win the haulage contract for a global drink manufacturer, they needed to demonstrate how they were contributing to a smaller carbon footprint and Atlas Balance Rings was one of the key factors.

In the early days, Errol Cosgrove – owner at SRV – proved to himself that the wheel balance accessories could pay for themselves within the first set of tyres. Now, 130 rigs are fit-

ted, and the cost benefits are numerous, with tyres achieving just over 240,000 kilometres per rig.

We spoke with workshop manager Matt recently, and he said some meticulous drivers will refuse to drive a rig that isn’t balanced throughout. From a problem-solving perspective, he said that the Atlas Balance Rings are the first thing they try. They solve the majority of driveability issues, rather than wasting unnecessary time and money diagnosing the issue. If it was up to Matt, every rig would come off the factory floor with Atlas Balance Rings already fitted. With over 9500 trucks, buses and trailers fitted here in Australia, in New Zealand and South Africa, Atlas is confident in offering drivers and operators a 365-day money-back guarantee. You will recognise the following fleet owners who first tested with the balance rings, and then fitted out their entire fleets.

Collins of Adelaide started with one rig and has now fitted out 125 prime movers, getting an average of 220,000 kilometres per tyre. Blenners Transport in far north Queensland started with three test rigs and when they started getting over 200,000 kilometres on steers, they fitted out another 30 rigs this month. DRT Logistics from

Werribee South in Victoria started fitting just the steers and have now fitted out over 40 of their rigs on the steers, drives and trailers, getting nearly 50 per cent extra tyre

over 40 of their rigs, eight of them this month.

Detour Logistics fitted out 46 Volvo and Scania rigs along with every MaxiCube trailer now fitted on the fac-

which first tested three Volvo quads. They now have 12 fitted out and are working through their 450-strong truck fleet. When they went from 70,000 kilometres per

tyre costs? Atlas Balance Rings are designed to cut your running costs and improve your vehicle’s performance. Enjoy a smoother ride, better fuel efficiency, and

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Truck parking in prime Qld location

LOCATED in the Brisbane suburb of Coopers Plains, within a busy transport hub, Gateway Property Services has 9000 square metres of vacant land available for truck, trailer and container parking and storage.

Ea sily accessible, it’s situated at 236 Musgrave Road, Coopers Plains.

“The site it very well located, approximately 10 kilometres from the Brisbane CBD,” said Bruce Grady, managing director at Gateway Property Services and the Bruce Grady Group. “The land is level cleared and drained, and located just off the main distribution road.”

Bruce says he decided to make the land available to transport operators following demand for the space. “There was a big truck centre adjacent to the land, so we’ve had trucks parking there before, we’ve had people in there man-

ufacturing trailers and all sorts of things – so there was a lot of interest from transport operators,” he explained.

“You can’t park a truck on the street in Brisbane, so drivers are always look ing for somewhere they can pa rk. We even have inter state drivers who will stop here and park up for the night.

“I’ve accommodated transport operators as they’ve asked. There was one operator with 10 trucks here at one stage, so there’s definitely demand for it.

“And it’s not a long term lease, it’s all short term leas es and we offer low rates too.”

The site also has security, outdoor lighting and 24hour access.

For more information or to discuss the competitive rates on offer, please call Bruce Grady on 0408 595 554.

Fixing access is the key for our growing freight task

INDUSTRY ADVOCATE

WARREN CLARK

NatRoad CEO

HEAVY vehicle access permits

might not sound like an everyday concern for most Australians, however failure to prioritise access reform comes with significant risks to our supply chain, economy and the wider community.

Debates on issues impacting our industry such as road sa fety, industry standards, the driver shortage, productivity, rising costs and the need to reduce emissions are often conducted without consideration of an important element of context.

The elephant in the room has been the increasing size of the freight task, which will make all these challenges much harder to solve.

In NSW, the government expects the amount of road freight will increase by 57

per cent above 2020 levels by 2040. The interstate road task is expected to increase by 84 per cent by 2040.

As growth in freight is linked to growth in the economy and the size of the population, this challenge will be faced by all states and territories.

We face the prospect of interstate freight on our highways being projected to almost double in the next 20 years. The need to move freight as efficiently as possible and with the least number of vehicle trips will become a clear and pressing task for industry and governments.

The re ality is we don’t have enough drivers to move today’s freight task, let alone the sig nificant growth in freight expected by 2040. Industry can’t solve this buried under red tape, high costs and a permit system designed for a bygone era.

At t he NatRoad Connect 24 event in Coffs Harbour, Transport Minister Jo Haylen launched a refreshed NSW Heavy Vehicle Access Policy, recognising road freight as an essential industry.

While it might seem an obscure public service document to some, the roadmap is a critical tool to drive reforms. It’s recognition from the government that optimising the use of road infrastructure to enable access for high productivity vehicles will ultimately deliver better outcomes for the whole community.

Reducing access red tape on operators allows freight to be moved as efficiently as possible, with better outcomes for the road network, for safety, productivity and the environment.

The new NSW Heavy Vehicle Access Policy will drive reforms to improve end-to-end networks, encourage innovation in vehicle design, prioritise and streamline access approvals, as well as progress-related reforms (such as del ivering better rest areas).

Governments and their agencies are also working towards the development of a Nat ional Automated Access System.

Inspired by the Tasmanian Heavy Vehicle Access Management System (HVAMS)

model, the idea is to automate access decisions and cut away red tape.

However, we must also remember the real merit of the Ta smanian system is a change in thinking away from permits to network-based access. It isn’t just a matter of putting a layer of automation over the top of the broken permit system.

The Kanofski recommendations, intended to put heavy vehicle law reform back on track, envisaged the number of permits under a National Automated Access System should be slashed by 90 per cent within five years. Also critical to making this goal achievable is ensuring more is done to improve access by notice.

NatRoad has strongly advocated for governments to prioritise delivery of the National Automated Access System with enough funding to get the job done.

We were pleased to see the Australian Government support the development of Tasmania’s HVAMS model. Now we need a national de-

livery plan with committed fu nding to ensure the new system becomes a reality.

Getting back-end access systems fit for the 21st century al so means we can talk about ending red tape and the highcost burdens on operators.

One startling example is Victoria’s approach to charging up to tens of thousands of dollars for bridge as sessments. This is a clear handbrake on improving ef-

ficiency and lowering emissions.

In 2024, it is just not defensible to say to operators th at emissions need to come down, and then impose eye watering costs on proposals to do it.

Fixing access is the reform that unlocks a wide range of benefits and positions our industry to better meet the challenge of a growing freight task.

Mayor floats idea for a new Burdekin Bridge on the Bruce

ANY truck driver who has been held up when the Burdekin Bridge closes due to maintenance work will tell you of the inconvenience it causes to their schedule.

It spans the mighty Burdekin River between Home Hill and Ayr along the Bruce Highway.

When regular maintenance work is required several times a year, it is closed overnight.

Spy was held up there once and it was a long wait until morning.

So, the discussion surrounding the prospects of a second bridge being built would be welcomed.

Transport and Main Roads has revealed that the Burdekin could be in line for a new bridge after the district

mayor raised the issue.

A TMR spokesperson said the Australian and Queensland governments had pledged $23.92 million and $5.98 million respectively toward the Burdekin Deviation planning and corridor preservation project.

“This project, which is expected to commence by the end of 2024, will explore and refresh the existing planning to identify a suitable and preferred option for a deviation that meets current standards,” the TMR spokesperson said. It will also explore proposals for crossing of the Burdekin River, including the option of constructing a new bridge that is fit for purpose and will service north Queensland well into the future.”

There has been closures after accidents and in the latest in June, a truck burst into flames on the bridge closing access for more than three hours.

Territory police move on vans

Reports meandering their way to Spy from numerous truck drivers is that police in the Northern Territory are cracking down on vans which park at rest areas in spaces set aside for trucks.

“Vans have their own rest areas especially for them but some still park in others which are allocated for trucks only. I hear police are mov ing them on when they see them and if they don’t abide by that directive they cop a fine if they stay there. Which

is good for us,” a New South Wales driver told me.

On the subject of NT rest areas it seems they are more frequent than in some Aussie States.

An owner operator who does a regular run from over the Queensland border into the NT and then onto Darwin said they were good.

“I would estimate that there is one rest area on average every 90 minutes to two hours travelling time,” he said.

Speed camera good and bad luck

Two well-known Tasmanian small operators have had vastly different experiences regarding those dreaded speed cameras in the Apple Isle.

One admitted he was over

mail and the lad had no other option than to pay up.

He mentioned the fine to a colleague who said he has also been speeding when driving past the same camera.

But the date was a week after his mate and he had not received any breach notice in the letter box.

It never came and they pondered about why one had been breached and not the other.

The only reason they could come up with is that perhaps the cameras are taken from the casings and moved around.

Concrete highway stretches

In the past week, two drivers have mentioned to Spy that short sections of highways in

The first one I heard of is a short section along the Pacific Highway.

“It is about 11.5km long and was laid down in 1976 and is still holding up well. Hardly needs any maintenance and all they seem to do is paint it,” he said.

Another driver said there was a shorter section of concrete between Forbes and Marsden.

“It is great,” he said. Of course, long concrete roads are not financially viable.

Steak a winner at Casino

Many truckies love a big juicy steak and in past months Spy has been told that a lot who travel through Casino in New South Wales have a place they love to enjoy one.

ter than the normal bitumen

It is the Clydesdale Barn Steakhouse situated along Johnston Street at Casino which is located at the junction of the Bruxner Highway and the Summerland Way. Casino is strategically located 726km north of Sydney and 228km south of Brisbane. When there recently Spy snapped a picture of a truck parked outside and the driver had been there tucking into a meal.

I spoke to Brad from the Steak Barn who said they do get quiet a few truck drivers who drop in.

“Their favouite meals would be T-Bone, sirloin and rump steak served with vegies, salad

and chips,” he said. There is parking around the back and some at the front.

Liberty Roadhouse

Richmond

Numerous truck drivers who travel the Flinders Highway between Townsville and Mount Isa have been glowing in their praise of the Liberty Roadhouse at Richmond.

It is located 500km from the coast and 400km from Mount Isa and drivers tell Spy the service and food are good

and it is a convenient place to stop. One of the drivers who recommended it is veteran outback operator Mick Pattel.

“It is a good place and I go there and so do many other drivers,” he said.

Driver hot and cold at Georgetowns

It has been a case of hot and cold climates for a driver who has been working at two Australian towns named Georgetown in far apart

states. For some time, he delivered goods from Launceston to George Town in Tasmania where he got used to very cold conditions.

He enjoyed the job but then was offered a position up in Far North Queensland which saw him delivering to many remote communities including one called Georgetown.

As he soon discovered temperatures there get into the high thirties which is a culture shock compared to Tassie.

The Apple Isle town is at the mouth of the Tamar River whilst the Georgetown Queensland is along the Gulf Developmental Road, and is 380km from Cairns and 301km from Normanton.

What this is testimony to is that truck drivers travel to many places around this vast country and get to visit areas they would never see.

Of course, the downside is the time spent away from family.

Dirranbandi Hotel popular

A five-minute walk from a truck parking area is the Dirranbandi Hotel which is popular with drivers, including many from interstate.

The small town of Dirranbandi is located in the Balonne Shire of Queensland on the border with New South Wales and has a population of about 800.

Lots of truckies doing interstate runs stop there as the parking bay, which has

tween three and 10.

Spy has been told by several truckies that a new grain storage facility and cattle yards has rejuvenated Maxy, as it is known, providing jobs.

One of the permanent residents who has lived there most of his life is the character known as Mad Dog Madigan who has a collection of old vehicles including trucks on his property.

Beside the highway about 100 metres from Maxy is a rest area which is used by drivers which service the Townsville to Mount Isa run.

recently been cleaned up, has showers and toilets.

A Perth based driver passed through there on the way to Mackay in North Queensland and was impressed with the pub.

“I just parked my Volvo at the parking bay area and walked there and had a cold soft drink and a pork chop and vegetable meal. It was delicious and the staff were very friendly,” he said.

Ghost town resurgence

The outback hamlet of Maxwelton in Queensland which for decades has been a virtual ghost town is in the midst of a resurgence.

Situated just off the Flinders Highway about 50km past Richmond it had once been a small thriving town with a pub, school, post office and good general store.

Hundreds of people lived there but it declined and for years had a population of be-

Staff shortage forced closure

Truckies who patronise a popular café in Townsville were disappointed to see that there

was a closed sign on the door. For years the Cuisine on Bowen has been a stop off for drivers who would park nearby and pick up a coffee or snack.

The reason was not because of a lack of business but a staff shortage. One of the workers there who had been the mainstay of the café was going back home to South Korea for several weeks. The establishment could not get a suitable replacement, and the casual workers hadn’t been trained to service the many customers. Spy was told that the café could not get young Australians willing to start so early. Some good news, however, to this story as we were going to print - it was due to reopen the following week.

Husband and wife duo make good team

and service,” he said. He rates the highway between Brisbane and Roma as needing attention.

In his spare time, Darren restores old vehicles and his pride and joy is a 1948 International ute.

The couple have eight children who are aged between 17 and 37, which also keeps them busy.

up area near Townsville he was with his wife Lisa who is a major asset.

“Lisa has a truck driver’s licence and is also a paramedic,” Darren said.

of scrap metal to take back to Brisbane.

Aged 54, Darren has been a driver for more than three decades and works for Active Contracting.

it,” he said.

Darren likes stopping at the Caltex Bowen Roadhouse which is 200km south of Townsville.

“There is good parking, food

Dynamic Dave, truckie ‘extraordinaire’ Australia tops list

JUST after I started yarning to Dave Grubb, he answered a phone call and I knew from his introduction that he was a genuine character.

“This is Dynamic Dave the truck driver extraordinaire,” he said to the caller.

Dave works for Geoff Rich ard Transport and was driv ing a Kenworth.

“I have come up with gen eral and have a backload of produce to pick up at Bowen,” he said.

Based at Walcha in NSW, I have never seen a truck ie smile and laugh so much during a chin wag.

“I like humour in my life,” he said as he raised his arms in the air.

Outside work Dave restores old bikes and has three in cluding a Ducati and a Ya maha.

He likes stopping at the BP Cluden for many reasons.

“The facilities are clean, the food good and it has happy staff,” he said.

BEFORE arriving in Austra lia from Italy eight years ago Ziggy Belina said he had driven trucks in most European countries.

The 30-year-old Ziggy works for Wodonga based Dawson Haulage and was tending to a trailer on his Kenworth T659 when I saw him parked up in Townsville on September 9.

“I have carried up general from Brisbane and have a load of pipes to take back,” he said.

Married with two children, I asked Ziggy how driving here compared to Europe.

“It is much better here and I

enjoy it and the boss is great,” he said.

Ziggy likes stopping at the Golden Nugget Roadhouse at Gympie.

“It serves good food especially steak and the staff are efficient,” he said.

The friendly driver said he found many roads in Queensland challenging to get along especially in central Queensland.

Originally from Naples, Ziggy enjoys soccer and looks forward to sending a copy of his Big Rigs appearance back to Italy.

Celebrating excellence at freight awards

THE nation’s top talent in freight and logistics gathered once again at the 34th Australian Freight Industry Awards (AFIAs) on Saturday, September 7, at Melbourne’s Palladium Room at Crown, celebrating excellence across our vital industry.

This year’s AFIAs were especially significant, not just because of the calibre of the finalists and winners, but because they marked another year of resilience, innovation, and progress for freight and logistics in Australia.

Supported by our major sponsors, TWUSUPER and Viva Energy Australia, the evening was a true celebration of the people and businesses that make our industry strong.

The Victorian Transport Association (VTA) extends its sincere thanks to these valued sponsors for their commitment to making this leading industry event possible. Their continued support underscores the importance of recognising excellence within

our sector and ensuring that we highlight the achievements of the individuals and organisations who are setting new benchmarks in freight and logistics.

The response to the call for submissions this year was nothing short of outstanding. Reflecting the tremendous work being done across the industry, judges had the difficult task of evaluating a record-breaking number of applications across a range of categories.

The sheer volume and quality of entries are a testament to the dedication and passion

of the people who keep our supply chains running, even in the face of significant challenges.

The winners of the 34th Australian Freight Industry Awards were:

Lindsay Fox AC, Personality of the Year Award – Sponsored by CMV Truck & Bus Namrita Anchan of Linfox Australia, Women’s Leadership Award – Sponsored by Viva Energy Australia

Sean Draffin of Xtreme Freight, Emerging Leader Award – Sponsored by Daimler Truck Australia Pacific Qube Bulk, Green Star

Award – Sponsored by National Transport Insurance Secon Freight Logistics, Application of Technology Award – Sponsored by Transport Certification Australia Freight Cyber, Best Practice Safety Award – Sponsored by Gallagher

Alex Fraser Recycling, Investment in People Award –Sponsored by Logical Staffing Solutions

Australian Paper Recovery, Waste & Recycling Business of the Year Award – Sponsored by RSM Group

It was an honour to present these awards in front of

so many transport industry operators and distinguished guests.

Each winner represents the best of what our industry has to offer—whether it’s through leadership, innovation, sustainability, or safety. These individuals and companies are not just setting the standard for their peers; they are paving the way for the future of freight and logistics in Australia.

The AFIAs are much more than just an awards night— they are a chance for our industry to come together, to reflect on our collective achievements, and to celebrate those who continue to push for greatness.

After what has been another challenging year, it was fantastic to take a moment to acknowledge the exceptional work of our colleagues and partners. In an industry that is constantly evolving, it is important to stop and recognise the efforts of those who are leading the charge in embracing innovation and navigating the challenges we face.

From the adoption of new technologies to improvements in safety and sustainability, this year’s winners demonstrate the diverse ways in which our industry is progressing.

They remind us that no matter the obstacles—whether

it’s rising costs, supply chain disruptions, or regulatory changes—our industry continues to adapt, innovate, and thrive.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the AFIA Committee for their hard work in bringing this event together and ensuring its success.

Organising an event of this scale is no small feat, and the committee’s dedication to ensuring that we celebrate our industry’s achievements in a meaningful way is greatly appreciated.

Finally, I want to extend my sincere congratulations to every winner and finalist, and to all those who lodged an entry and shared their stories.

Your contributions to the freight and logistics sector are invaluable, and your commitment to excellence is inspiring. It’s this dedication that keeps our country moving, and that’s something worth celebrating.

As we look ahead, we are excited about the future of the Australian Freight Industry Awards and the opportunities to continue recognising the outstanding achievements within our sector.

The AFIAs will return in 2025, and we look forward to building on the success of this outstanding event for many years to come.

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Third generation truckie says he’s now living out the dream

FOR Melbourne-based truck driver James Strapp, 29, there was always something about trucks and road trains that intrigued him.

That’s probably not surprising either, considering both his father and grandfather

JAMES STRAPP

truck,” added James.

“But Dad unfortunately got sick and passed away when I was 15. So for me, trucking was always a pipe dream.”

At first James took a different path and spent several years working in civil construction. “I knew that wasn’t for me though. In the back of my mind, I thought trucks were something I could fall back on because I had always wanted to do it.”

“I was there for about 12 months. We used to do deliveries to National Logistics, and that’s how I met them and got this job.”

James has been with National Logistics ever since, spending just over six months in the rigid, then moving onto a semi and expanding into interstate work for about 12 months, before spending another 12 months doing B-double work. Earlier this year, he progressed into triple road trains. And for James, this is exactly where he wants to be.

pick-ups on the way home. The company also does storage and distribution.”

National Logistics and its sister company BJL’s Transport are owned by husband and wife Luke and Beverley Andrews, with depots in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The company specialises in general freight, operating everything from rigids up to road trains.

“When I was younger, my old man was a truck driver, he worked for K&S Freighters and they would do ‘bring your child to work’ days, so I got to go with him on the changeovers a few times a year,” explained James.

“I would have been about eight when I started going out in the truck with Dad.

I remember falling asleep and him waking me up. I’d chuck a tantrum because I didn’t want to get out of the

His father Brad Strapp did Victoria, along with Tarcutta changeovers.

It wasn’t until 2019, that James decided to take that first step, at the age of 24. “I pulled the trigger and went for my heavy rigid (HR) licence,” he said.

James secured work driving a 14-pallet rigid with Queensland Freighters.

From behind the wheel of a 2022 model Kenworth T610 SAR, James’ main runs are into Brisbane, but he also travels into Sydney and Adelaide too – carting general freight and pulling anything from B-doubles and A-doubles through to B-triples.

“The runs swap and change. We deliver anything that fits onto a pallet. It’s all depot to depot work, and then we do

For James, it’s been a perfect fit. “They covered all of my training, which I did through Armstrong’s. It was a progressive thing, like an apprenticeship. I began in the triples about six months ago,” he said, adding that his boss has been instrumental in helping him to achieve his dream of getting into the bigger rigs.

“My boss Luke is very hands-on. He started out as a driver and still gets in the truck to do runs here and there. He’s like one of us.

“Luke taught me everything I know, alongside some of

1. Contact Big Rigs to place a print ad in the careers section, with over 22,000+ copies printed and distributed nationally

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the other experienced drivers here. When I was starting out, I’d always be on the phone with them and they’d give me pointers if I ever got stuck. Luke always ensures we know what we’re doing before let-

myself. It’s been very surreal. I was so fascinated by how long they were and the fact that you’re in control of such a big piece of equipment.”

Though James admits it was a steep learning curve. “It wasn’t so much the length, it was more the weight and being able to safely operate the road trains down big downhill stretches and also going uphill as well.

“The triples go up to 90 tonne, so they’re quite heavy. You need to learn to respect that weight.”

When asked what he enjoys most about the work, James’ passion shines through. “I just love it – the sound of the trucks, the flexibility of the work,” he said.

from home for long stretches can be challenging, but his partner Ashleigh Hewatt has always been supportive, pushing him to achieve his dreams.

“Being away so much is tough on us, but we make it work. It’s helped pay for our house, so it’s done great things for us. And we met at the company too.”

When asked about his future plans, James said he’s in it for the long haul. “I’m not going anywhere for a while. The company is a great bunch of people to work for and I have them to thank for everything they’ve done for me. They’ve put their faith in me and gotten me to where I am today – and they’ve put their trust

Trucking the old school way

BY KAYLA WALSH

A Queensland truckie with three decades of experience on the road has set up a Facebook group to help new drivers learn the ropes.

John Bellam from Pittsworth is sharing everything from videos on how to unhook trailers to advice on getting a start in the industry.

His Facebook group, “Learn the old school way”, is only a week old but has already received a great response.

John, who is currently a driver with MFT Haulage, told Big Rigs: “I decided to set up the group because I would see a fair few young people asking questions about how to get into trucking.

“My dad was from the old school and he taught me from a young age about the indus-

“I thought I could help the next generation and pass on some of that knowledge.”

John said modern truck driver training programs can leave a lot to be desired, and he recommends starting from the bottom and working your

“I got my first job washing trucks when I was 18, and then I got a job in a timber yard driving a little body truck around town.

“I had plenty of experience before I moved up to driving semis interstate.

“These days because of the driver shortage, if you have a

licence and any experience, you’ll probably be put on –but I don’t think that’s the best way to do it.”

John thinks some of the camaraderie of trucking is being lost, with truckies sometimes reluctant to give guidance to newbies.

“There are a lot of truckies out there who don’t want to pass on their knowledge,” he said

“Or they take pictures of mistakes people have made and make fun of their misfortune on Facebook instead of helping them.

My dad always said, never be a know-it-all in this game.

No-one’s perfect, and I’m still

One of the main lessons John wants to share with younger drivers is to take your time.

“I see drivers going at top speed through roadhouses to the fuel bowsers, but I always got taught to slow down and put it in first gear,” he said.

“You might be panicking that you’re going to run out of hours in your log book, but it’s not worth risking safety trying to rush.

“If you run out of hours, just pull up at a parking bay and wait until your log book comes good again.”

Easter Group, located in Wacol, provides time sensitive road transporting solutions to many companies throughout Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria. We are a family owned business, operating since 1976. We currently have the following positions available: OPERATIONS ALLOCATORS (Brisbane based only)

You will be required to work on a rotating roster including Days-Nights-Weekends Previous Operations experience preferred.

MC LOCAL, LINEHAUL & 2-UP DRIVERS WANTED

(Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide Based)

Come and work for us as we are committed to:

• Training and further education • Your safety

• Maintaining an impressive Fleet

On offer are permanent full time and roster positions including paid leave entitlements and public holidays. Drivers will need to be available to be scheduled for work falling across the 7 days of the week.

The successful Applicant will:

• Hold a current MC licence (minimum two years) • Have knowledge of the HVNL and Load Restraint • Be professional • Be reliable

To apply for the Operations/Driver positions please contact Operations Manager or by emailing your resume to

WORKSHOP MECHANICS

& TYRE

FITTERS WANTED

(Brisbane based only)

To apply for Mechanic positions please forward your resume to Workshop Manager via email to [email protected]

VALUE AND RELIABILITY

MERITOR RED CAMSHAFTS

• High carbon steel and heat treated splines for longer life

• Deburred, oiled and marked for easy identification and replacement

• Meritor approved with a one year unlimited km warranty