ATN #417
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FOR FLEET OWNERS & MANAGERS<br />
BTS21 NEWS<br />
3<br />
TRUCKS ON SHOW<br />
3<br />
TRAILER TRAIL<br />
3 ELECTRIC PUSH<br />
JUNE 2021 ISSUE 417 $8.50<br />
THE BIGGER SIX<br />
Scania gives its mid-bore B-double linehauler extra oomph and<br />
refinements for a more potent package<br />
HEALTHY HEADS: MENTAL HEALTH IN THE INDUSTRY IS GIVEN A MAJOR BOOST<br />
FINANCE & LEASING: BOTH ARE BOOMING THANKS TO RENEWED CONFIDENCE<br />
MUTUAL MILESTONES: STAYING POWER OF PACCAR AND BROWN & HURLEY
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QUALITY PARTS TECHNICAL EXPERTISE EXTENSIVE DEALER NETWORK<br />
Prices herein are recommended selling prices, inclusive of GST. Recommended selling prices are a guide only and<br />
there is no obligation for Dealers to comply with these recommendations. Freight charges may apply. All items have<br />
been included in good faith on the basis that goods will be available at the time of sale. Prices and promotions are<br />
available at participating Dealers from 1 to 30 June 2021 or while stocks last.<br />
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<strong>ATN</strong>-FP-5030542-CS-417
CIRCULATIONS<br />
AUDIT BOARD<br />
CIRCULATIONS<br />
AUDIT BOARD<br />
CONTENTS ISSUE<br />
NEWS<br />
8 Comprehensive news coverage from around the<br />
industry<br />
92 April and May show continuing boom in truck<br />
sales<br />
DIAGNOSTICS<br />
4 Five minutes to ruin it<br />
Company and individual reputations live and die<br />
on consistency, insight and empathy<br />
24 Ramp standards a safety boost<br />
New livestock loading/unloading standards will<br />
improve safety for workers, says Melissa Weller<br />
27 Prioritise action on impaired driving<br />
Reform petty intervention and focus on the real<br />
industry scourges, writes Warren Clark<br />
55 Safety campaign requires space by all<br />
Sal Petroccitto discusses NHVR’s new driver<br />
education campaign<br />
OPERATIONS & STRATEGY<br />
30 The first step<br />
With Healthy Heads in Trucks and Sheds<br />
releasing its roadmap for 2021–2024, the<br />
spotlight is on how industry can expand mental<br />
health awareness and access to services<br />
36 Plane sailing<br />
Hauling a jet fighter through Sydney’s streets<br />
and motorways is no mean feat, but for the top<br />
gun team at Clein Transport Solutions it was<br />
another day at the office<br />
FINANCE & LEASING<br />
40 Finding flexibility<br />
If it’s another asset option or cash for<br />
investment, fleet owners are taking the plunge<br />
42 Premium service<br />
PacLease Australia – Paccar’s truck leasing<br />
and rental division – is offering a full-service<br />
lease program for the new DAF CF530, giving<br />
customers premium service and flexible support<br />
44 Flexibility in the face of change<br />
This is turning out to be a signature year for<br />
Penske Truck Leasing, which is doing more<br />
business than ever, with even more trucks<br />
available in its rental fleet<br />
JUNE 2021<br />
417<br />
Follow us online at Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter #<strong>ATN</strong><br />
48<br />
46 For a smooth road ahead<br />
Don’t let financing delays prevent you from<br />
getting the best deals<br />
BRISBANE TRUCK SHOW<br />
48 Brisbane charges ahead<br />
The 2021 Brisbane Truck Show proved yet again<br />
why it is truly the trucking industry’s foremost<br />
event - attracting more than 30,000 attendees<br />
over four days<br />
56 Plugging into the main<br />
Though small in number, electric vehicles made<br />
a splash at the trucks showcase<br />
62 Along the trailer trail<br />
Australia is home to some of the best and<br />
toughest trailer manufacturers in the world. The<br />
<strong>ATN</strong> team follows the trailer trail at the Brisbane<br />
Truck Show<br />
68 Aftermarket extravaganza<br />
Parts and accessories stands were spread<br />
across three floors at the Brisbane Truck Show.<br />
Here’s a snapshot of some of the standouts<br />
TRUCKS<br />
78 Scania raises the stakes<br />
In this wide-ranging report, we start with a test<br />
drive from Sydney to Melbourne in a new R540<br />
B-double before a one-on-one talk with Scania<br />
Australia MD Mikael Jansson and a ride in the<br />
new seven-litre P-series<br />
88 Mutual milestones<br />
Paccar Australia has celebrated 50 years of<br />
truck manufacturing at its Bayswater (Vic)<br />
headquarters but, notching an even bigger<br />
milestone, it has now been 75 years since<br />
two Army mates formed Brown & Hurley<br />
36<br />
FOR TRANSPORT LOGISTICS MANAGERS<br />
EDITORIAL<br />
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Rob McKay 03 9567 4152<br />
Rob.McKay@aremedia.com.au<br />
Technical Editor<br />
Steve Brooks<br />
sbrooks.trucktalk@gmail.com<br />
Senior Journalist<br />
Mark Gojszyk 03 9567 4263<br />
Mark.Gojszyk@aremedia.com.au<br />
PRODUCTION<br />
Production Co-Ordinator Cat Fitzpatrick<br />
Art Director Bea Barthelson<br />
ADVERTISING<br />
Group Sales Manager – Industry<br />
Adrian Christian 0423 761 784<br />
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Group Sales Manager – Transport<br />
Peter Gatti 0437 895 600<br />
Peter.Gatti@aremedia.com.au<br />
VIC Sales<br />
Matt Alexander 0413 599 669<br />
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FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 3
FORWARD VISION<br />
Five minutes to ruin it<br />
Company and individual reputations live and die on consistency, insight and empathy<br />
ROB McKAY<br />
has been a<br />
journalist for<br />
more than three<br />
decades, with<br />
the last 25 years<br />
focused on<br />
national and<br />
international<br />
freight transport<br />
The headline is the second part of an aphorism<br />
from Warren Buffet, one of the world’s<br />
greatest investors.<br />
The Sage of Omaha’s full quote is: “It takes<br />
20 years to build a reputation and five minutes<br />
to ruin it.<br />
“If you think about that, you’ll do things<br />
differently.”<br />
To see how ruinous a loss of reputation can be,<br />
look no further than global miner Rio Tinto.<br />
It lost its CEO and a number of senior executives<br />
over destroying the cultural heritage of the nation<br />
and the world in the hope of gaining the sort of<br />
pittance it might spend annually on public relations.<br />
The upshot was that its carefully manicured<br />
profile as a responsible firm that cares for and<br />
consults with those impacted by its operations –<br />
the main shield, along with emissions control, in the<br />
defence of its social licence to operate – was shown<br />
to have become the sort of cynical charade the<br />
public associates with ‘green-washing’.<br />
Of course, it led directly to forensic examination of<br />
its environmental policies, which were also found to<br />
be used as a cover for the sort of ‘business as usual’<br />
that is increasingly unacceptable.<br />
The Juukan Gorge debacle and the company’s<br />
botched approach to handling it are, no doubt, a<br />
central lesson in business education, as students<br />
learn how not to handle a public crisis.<br />
Full transparency and honest<br />
explanation is the only logical<br />
starting point<br />
But it also highlights that responsibility for<br />
allowing such a disaster goes right to the top.<br />
This example is also about risk, as Buffett points<br />
out. Why risk reputations and jobs through a laser<br />
focus only on the bottom line at possible cost of<br />
much more than the baubles gained?<br />
As the old nursery rhyme about social control<br />
of destructive impulses says: “Don’t care was made<br />
to care.”<br />
Two developments in freight transport gave rise to<br />
these thoughts recently.<br />
There is a huge and varied enterprise under the<br />
Toll banner but anything under it will feel the heat if<br />
controversy arises elsewhere within it.<br />
Having senator Glenn Sterle in a position<br />
to highlight the sort of regressive hardball<br />
allegedly played against smaller operators and<br />
subcontractors at a Queensland Coles distribution<br />
centre, just when the transport and logistics giant is<br />
involved in good works, looks horrible.<br />
We might mention that <strong>ATN</strong> was approached at<br />
the Brisbane Truck Show with a complaint very<br />
similar indeed to one of those Sterle amplified early<br />
this month. Promised details failed to materialise,<br />
though did get a partial airing in another publication.<br />
So, the allegations are in the public domain and<br />
while there has been a limited response from Toll<br />
and Coles and nothing addressing <strong>ATN</strong>’s queries at<br />
time of writing, that is far from good enough.<br />
If the Parkinson DC issue is to avoid becoming<br />
trucking’s Juukan Gorge, hoping it goes away<br />
is doomed. After all, The Transport Workers’<br />
Union’s credibility is on the line, too, or what is<br />
the ‘charter on standards’ the union signed with<br />
Coles really worth?<br />
There may be devils in the details and other<br />
complications but full transparency and honest<br />
explanation is the only logical starting point.<br />
Meanwhile, in a country mostly populated by<br />
immigrants, starting at Generation 1 and working<br />
out from there, it is a given that recent arrivals have<br />
to strive harder than most.<br />
From the start of the Australian enterprise,<br />
overcoming entrenched positions and attitudes has<br />
been down to working harder than the rest. And,<br />
in that foreign country known as ‘the past’, it has<br />
worked. And the country gained from it.<br />
But in this country, now, hard work in and of itself<br />
in basic road freight, is not enough.<br />
That is why the prosecution of Punjab Roadtrains<br />
is bittersweet.<br />
Sweet, because we now have controls over how<br />
firms behave to help the country avoid the sorts of<br />
road carnage we saw with so much more regularity<br />
last century.<br />
Bitter, because, if the national regulator’s case is<br />
proven, working smarter was eschewed here for an<br />
unacceptable form of working harder.<br />
While it is inherently unfair that powerful<br />
enterprises got to where they are working without<br />
such constraints, that is a universal fact of history.<br />
Getting past them is not achieved through doing<br />
more of what they did, it is by doing things better or<br />
changing the game.<br />
Of course, it is always easier to do if the<br />
entrenched are also stuck in the past.<br />
4 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
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NEWS<br />
Dogs & Chains<br />
3 To the Brisbane Truck Show, where you never know what you’re going to see or hear. One of our<br />
snouts was surprised to be told by a bright young attendee that he’d never met Bruce Rock but hoped<br />
to find him there. That trailer fan had obviously come down in the last shower but it is, it seems,<br />
a more common misconception than is reasonable – being a Western Australian manufacturer<br />
notwithstanding. So, in the interest of education, here is a picture quiz. One is the sort of rock a guy<br />
called Bruce performs, one is the outcrop that informs the name of the company and its home town,<br />
and one is of the enterprise’s excellent products. Which is which?<br />
3 OK, carrying on this rather excellent game of Which is Which, now we’ve got a taste for it – one<br />
of these pictures is of a beautifully liveried Kenworth parked as if it was a ute, at the Hilton hotel<br />
entrance in Brisbane’s CBD. The other is beautifully liveried Kenworth, parked as if it was a ute, at the<br />
entrance to the Brisbane Convoy for Kids stand at the BTS. Think hard: which . . . is . . . which?<br />
3 That’s Emma Black<br />
barista-ing, if that’s a word,<br />
at the Meritor stand. She<br />
is employed by Zenith<br />
Hospitality who was<br />
contracted to BCEC for the<br />
Brisbane Truck Show and<br />
wins undying gratitude<br />
from the kennel and our<br />
unofficial and entirely<br />
uncomprehensive Best<br />
Coffee at an Exhibitor’s Stand<br />
gong. Meritor’s Veda Chhuen<br />
tells us: “Our stand builder,<br />
Display Wise, assisted us<br />
with organising this and<br />
I suppose we were lucky<br />
with the barista we were<br />
assigned. We did the same in<br />
2019, however the reception<br />
towards Emma’s coffee<br />
making was phenomenal<br />
this time around.” And so<br />
say all of us.<br />
3 Sometimes it is possible to succumb to some very minor despair. This is Troy Conley-<br />
Magnusson undertaking his Push for Kids charity effort in support of the services and care provided<br />
by Little Wings, Ronald McDonald House and Sydney Children’s Hospital. A mighty and absolutely<br />
brilliant tilt, worthy of Guinness World Record recognition. Of course, it was part and parcel of BTS21<br />
and its attendant surrounding attractions, But that seemed to escape the attention of some of the<br />
mainstream media’s reportage. Um, how?<br />
3 ‘Wave to a Truckie’ is becoming something of a worldwide phenomenon since emerging from<br />
Tippings Transport entirely off its own bat. Director Sally Tipping was tireless at the BTS, handing<br />
stickers around in the cause of forbearance and understanding. Even Queensland Police took the<br />
message on. As of early April, WTAT had a Facebook reach of 1.45 million, 15 per cent of which are in<br />
the US, Canada, the UK and NZ. We are in awe!<br />
6 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
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with your mobile service provider for call rates.<br />
<strong>ATN</strong>-FP-5030542-CS-417
NEWS<br />
Inside the Industry<br />
NHVR<br />
NATIONAL CARRIER CHARGED OVER<br />
BREACHES<br />
The National Heavy Vehicle<br />
Regulator (NHVR) has filed<br />
charges against a national<br />
transport company and its<br />
executive after a nine-month<br />
investigation into the<br />
company’s operations<br />
Melbourne-based Punjab Roadtrains<br />
Pty Ltd (ACN 153 275 971), trading<br />
as Auswide Transport Solutions, and<br />
associated company Southern Cross<br />
Freight Lines Pty Ltd (ACN 620 756<br />
998), had prohibition notices filed<br />
against them in November of last year.<br />
The NHVR notes it initiated the<br />
investigation following multiple<br />
vehicle collisions and Safe-T-Cam<br />
footage that allegedly identifies<br />
breaches relating to Punjab<br />
Roadtrains.<br />
Records for 15 drivers were analysed<br />
by NHVR investigators, revealing 225<br />
fatigue and work diary breaches by the<br />
company, it says.<br />
A further 54 breaches were detected<br />
including contraventions of the<br />
Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL)<br />
Act, fatigue regulations and basic<br />
fatigue management (BFM) rules, and<br />
included administrative errors within<br />
National Driver Work Diaries, critical<br />
breaches of excess work hours and<br />
insufficient rest breaks.<br />
"The NHVR will allege that there<br />
were significant failings within the<br />
company’s scheduling ability and<br />
processes," the regulator notes in a<br />
short statement.<br />
"It will also be alleged that the<br />
company failed to provide adequate<br />
training to staff, or to follow up<br />
and address incidents of ongoing<br />
fatigue breaches.<br />
"The subsequent risk to public<br />
safety was known to the company."<br />
After an initial hearing at Melbourne<br />
Magistrates’ Court on May 31, a<br />
committal mention is scheduled<br />
at the court on August 10.<br />
“The NHVR will allege that there were<br />
significant failings within the company’s<br />
scheduling ability and processes"<br />
charges QLD mining firm over fatality<br />
The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator<br />
(NHVR) has filed primary duty charges<br />
against the directors of a Queensland<br />
mining company operating as a prime<br />
contractor of drivers of heavy vehicle<br />
combinations.<br />
The NHVR initiated an investigation<br />
on the as yet unnamed firm following a<br />
fatality in May 2019, involving a heavy<br />
vehicle rolling on an incline.<br />
The regulator says it will allege that<br />
the directors of failed to exercise due<br />
diligence to ensure the company fulfilled<br />
its duty under section 26C of the Heavy<br />
Vehicle National Law (HVNL), with the<br />
matter listed for a first mention in the<br />
Biloela Magistrates’ Court on June 30.<br />
Meanwhile, the NHVR also reports it<br />
has accepted an enforceable undertaking<br />
(EU), from YF Waste Services, after the<br />
company failed to comply with mass<br />
weight requirements.<br />
On August 12, 2020, a heavy vehicle<br />
operated by YF Waste Services, trading<br />
as Skips365, was weighed at Chester Hill,<br />
detected with minor-risk gross overmass<br />
104.83 per cent overloaded and severe<br />
risk axle overmass 125.56 per cent<br />
overloaded, respectively.<br />
No death, injury or infrastructure<br />
damage was caused by these particular<br />
overloads.<br />
YF Waste proposed the EU for the<br />
HVNL breach in lieu of a prosecution by<br />
Transport for New South Wales.<br />
The EU consists of enhanced driver<br />
education and training, with an aim<br />
of leading to improved compliance in<br />
the future, including training and the<br />
sending of a directive to all employees<br />
of the enhancements and rectifications<br />
to be enacted.<br />
The EU has a minimum expenditure of<br />
$18,000.<br />
8 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
CONCRITE FINED FOR FUEL DRIVER DEATH<br />
Boral firm Concrite has been convicted<br />
and fined $450,000 after the death of a fuel<br />
delivery driver in 2017.<br />
The concrete production and supplies<br />
subsidiary pleaded guilty and accepted<br />
responsibility for the incident and its failings<br />
when, on September 20, 2017, Caltex tanker<br />
driver Peter Lees was fatally struck by a<br />
concrete mixer at Concrite’s Alexandria,<br />
NSW, site.<br />
The NSW District Court heard Lees<br />
was delivering fuel to the site when he<br />
stepped in front of a Concrite mixing truck<br />
that was attempting to drive past another<br />
Concrite vehicle.<br />
That driver unknowingly struck Lees and<br />
dragged him for about 20 metres. Lees died<br />
two days later from his injuries.<br />
It is noted that, while Boral oversees<br />
Concrite’s governance framework, the<br />
day-to-day operations of the site are<br />
managed by the latter.<br />
Thus Concrite was charged with, and<br />
pleaded guilty to, exposing workers to the<br />
risk of death or serious injury.<br />
The court heard Concrite applied work<br />
health and safety policies and procedures<br />
developed by Boral relevant to its own<br />
operations, including traffic management,<br />
but it did not have an adequate system<br />
for managing the risk of pedestrian and<br />
vehicle interaction or a means of protecting<br />
pedestrians from vehicle collisions.<br />
For example:<br />
• Concrite did not conduct a review of<br />
the safe operating procedure (SOP), or<br />
implement a system, whereby an effective<br />
site map with traffic management<br />
controls, or a procedure for the handover<br />
of delivery dockets, was available<br />
• There were no direct pedestrian routes<br />
to access the office or clearly marked<br />
walkways. Where there were walkways,<br />
the painted markings were either faded<br />
or not present. There was no signage<br />
directing people toward those walkways<br />
• The rear yard walkway running along the<br />
back fence was narrow and at the same<br />
level as the rest of the yard. Being at<br />
ground level, the area could also become<br />
slippery because of the trucks backing<br />
toward the walkway and hosing down<br />
immediately next to the path. Sometimes<br />
there were large items stored in the<br />
walkways that would impede the<br />
walking path<br />
• Concrite had a document titled ‘Site Map’,<br />
which demonstrated an entry/exit gate<br />
traffic flow in a clockwise direction. While<br />
the site map directed a route dependent<br />
on the type of vehicle entering, it did not<br />
specify designated pedestrian walking<br />
zones or exclusion zones.<br />
The court heard that a Boral safety<br />
alert for a pedestrian incident before<br />
the 2017 fatality saw Conrite review its<br />
traffic management risks but fail to<br />
properly implement the controls at its<br />
Alexandria site.<br />
After the incident, Concrite was issued<br />
a SafeWork NSW Improvement Notice<br />
requiring it to revise control measures<br />
implemented for traffic management.<br />
In convicting Concrite, Judge Strathdee<br />
says the fixes could, and should, have been<br />
implemented earlier, as the risk of a worker<br />
being struck by a vehicle at the site was<br />
highly foreseeable – and known to Concrite.<br />
"Notwithstanding this, the defendant<br />
failed to adequately implement its systems<br />
and take appropriate steps to safeguard<br />
against the risk.”<br />
The initial fine was $600,000, reduced<br />
by 25 per cent on the early plea, with a<br />
further $43,000 in prosecution costs to be<br />
paid by Concrite.<br />
TRUCK INJURY LANDS DANDY PREMIX CONCRETE WITH HUGE FINE<br />
Dandy Premix Concrete Pty Ltd has been<br />
convicted and fined $120,000 after a worker<br />
was run over by a truck at its Pakenham plant in<br />
2018, WorkSafe Victoria reports.<br />
The concrete manufacturer was sentenced<br />
in the Dandenong Magistrates' Court on May<br />
10 after being found guilty on April 15 of failing<br />
to provide a safe workplace by failing to take<br />
reasonably practicable steps to eliminate the<br />
risk of powered mobile machines colliding with<br />
pedestrians. The company was also ordered to<br />
pay costs of $13,850.<br />
The court heard that on July 20, 2018,<br />
workers were cleaning up spilled slurry as a<br />
truck was loading concrete, WorkSafe explains.<br />
Once the truck was full, it pulled out, passing<br />
the two workers.<br />
One of the workers tripped and fell under<br />
the truck's rear wheels and his left arm was<br />
run over.<br />
The worker suffered serious injuries,<br />
including amputation of his little finger<br />
and partial amputation of his ring and<br />
middle fingers.<br />
He has required multiple surgeries and<br />
ongoing rehabilitation.<br />
The court heard the company did not have<br />
a traffic management plan that identified<br />
hazards, including collisions between trucks<br />
and pedestrians while spilled slurry was being<br />
cleaned up, and that there were no risk control<br />
measures in place, such as exclusion zones<br />
or physical barriers to separate pedestrians<br />
from vehicles.<br />
"This worker is still living with the<br />
consequences of an incident that could have<br />
been avoided," WorkSafe executive director of<br />
health and safety Julie Nielsen says.<br />
"It is vital that employers have appropriate<br />
traffic management plans and risk control<br />
measures in place to keep vehicles and<br />
pedestrians at a safe distance."<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 9
NEWS<br />
Inside the Industry<br />
TOLL BUOYANT IN<br />
YEAR END RESULTS<br />
Toll Global Express came back to<br />
haunt Japan Post (JP) one last<br />
time as the parent company<br />
released its annual results ending<br />
March 31, 2021.<br />
JP concedes it gave up on<br />
Global Express as it continued to<br />
bleed financially, to the tune of<br />
$78 million last Japanese financial<br />
year, in the Toll portfolio that also<br />
includes Global Logistics and<br />
Global Forwarding.<br />
However, positively for JP, Toll<br />
Group’s bottom line sees revenue and<br />
earnings before interest and taxes<br />
(EBIT) rise to $9.84 billion and $46<br />
million, respectively.<br />
Operating income inched towards<br />
the $10 billion mark, increasing<br />
by A$1.28 billion (or 14.9 per cent<br />
year-on-year), "due mainly to<br />
continuing large-scale handling of<br />
Covid-19 prevention supplies by the<br />
Global Logistics Asia division through<br />
the fourth quarter of the fiscal year",<br />
JP explains.<br />
While operating and other<br />
expenses increased in conjunction<br />
with operating income, personnel<br />
expenses decreased, resulting in<br />
a return to profit, after a loss of<br />
A$117 million in the prior<br />
corresponding period.<br />
The profitable Global Logistics<br />
business saw EBIT of $168 million,<br />
jumping well above the A$94 million<br />
of FY20 but below the A$210 million<br />
recorded in FY19.<br />
Global Forwarding was also in the<br />
black by A$4 million, where it had<br />
previously been in deficit by A$30<br />
million and $8 million in the last two<br />
financial years.<br />
Corporate/Other shortfalls also<br />
declined, from $80 million in FY20<br />
and $56 million in FY19 to $48 million<br />
in FY21.<br />
Meanwhile, Global Express’s<br />
deficit of A$78 million adds to the<br />
A$100 million and A$18 million lost<br />
respectively in the previous two years,<br />
leaving its new owners Allegro and<br />
CEO Christine Holgate with plenty<br />
to do.<br />
Conceding it had been "persistently<br />
operating at a loss", JP discloses<br />
a "loss on the sale of Toll’s Global<br />
Express business" of Y67.4 billion,<br />
equating to about A$793 million,<br />
having previously put the sale price<br />
as A$7.8 million.<br />
Toll Group managing director<br />
Thomas Knudsen says that "the last<br />
12 months has truly been a year like<br />
no other; requiring resilience and<br />
agility at every turn in response to<br />
the fast-changing environment driven<br />
by Covid-19".<br />
"We had zero fatalities and improved<br />
on our overall safety outcomes,<br />
while keeping our people safe from<br />
the virus with strict controls across<br />
our global operations.<br />
Toll and Primary Connect ink NSW distribution deal<br />
Toll Global Logistics has secured a five-year<br />
contract renewal with Woolworths supply chain<br />
arm Primary Connect to deliver to more than 380<br />
supermarkets across New South Wales.<br />
As part of the agreement, Toll will invest more<br />
than $24 million on a new fleet of 100 prime<br />
movers and 25 rigids over the life of the contract.<br />
Toll will manage the distribution from Primary<br />
Connect’s Minchinbury, Yennora, Erskine Park and<br />
Wyong distribution centres, where almost 400<br />
drivers, including 260 full-time employees, will<br />
be engaged.<br />
Though specifics of the fleet aren’t disclosed, a<br />
statement notes all vehicles will be fitted with the<br />
latest "hi-tech safety systems", including facial<br />
recognition fatigue protection and telematics<br />
tracking solutions.<br />
"We are delighted that we can continue our<br />
strong relationship with Woolworths, who remain a<br />
key player in the Australian grocery marketplace,"<br />
Toll Global Logistics president Peter Stokes says.<br />
"This agreement highlights our capabilities in the<br />
grocery sector.<br />
"We have developed a fantastic partnership with<br />
Woolworths over 20 years in these distribution<br />
"Despite a very challenging<br />
operating environment, Toll made<br />
strong headway on the previous<br />
12 month's financial results with<br />
strong improvements in both revenue<br />
and earnings.<br />
"It’s clear that we’re on the right<br />
path for growth.<br />
"This result would not be<br />
possible without the dedication<br />
of our staff and the support of<br />
our customers and partners.<br />
I want to thank my colleagues<br />
at Toll for delivering such a<br />
great performance."<br />
Above:<br />
Toll Group MD<br />
Thomas Knudsen<br />
centres and are pleased that we are able to extend<br />
our relationship for another five years in NSW."<br />
Toll is the incumbent secondary transport service<br />
provider for the Woolworths operations and wins<br />
the new agreement in a competitive tender process.<br />
Meanwhile, Primary Connect has welcomed 180<br />
Big W supplier and carrier partners into its network.<br />
As part of the Big W Simpler Supply Chain<br />
Program, all Big W supplier and carrier partners<br />
using Big W Primary Freight were onboarded onto a<br />
single platform for all load planning using Transport<br />
Management System (TMS).<br />
TMS is the online booking system used by<br />
Primary Connect to coordinate transport activity<br />
across suppliers, carriers and receiving distribution<br />
centres.<br />
The Big W Primary Freight Transition project<br />
coincided with the launch of two new Big W<br />
distribution centres in Kewdale, WA and Hoppers<br />
Crossing, Victoria.<br />
The new Big W facilities are a joint partnership<br />
between Big W, Primary Connect and Linfox as the<br />
third party provider.<br />
Despatch to Big W stores from the new facilities<br />
began in April 2021.<br />
10 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
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RELIED<br />
ON SINCE<br />
1969
NEWS<br />
Inside the Industry<br />
METEORIC RISE UNDERSCORED<br />
IN ASX LISTING OF MLG OZ<br />
Starting off at the turn of the millennium as<br />
a small contractor for BHP, MLG Oz is now<br />
a mining services giant in Western Australia<br />
that turns over more than $200 million a year<br />
and is the newest player on the Australian<br />
Securities Exchange (ASX).<br />
The Kalgoorlie-based mining services<br />
company provides integrated services across<br />
gold, iron ore and other base-metal clients<br />
throughout WA and the Northern Territory,<br />
including crusher feed, road maintenance,<br />
rehabilitation work, vehicle maintenance,<br />
machine and labour hire, bulk haulage and<br />
end-to-end logistics solutions.<br />
The listed company has a market<br />
capitalisation of $145.7 million, with $70.7<br />
million invested through its initial public<br />
offering (IPO).<br />
MLG forecasts revenue of $241.6 million<br />
and pro-forma earnings before interest, taxes,<br />
depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of<br />
$41 million for the 2021 financial year.<br />
The listing brings into sharp relief the<br />
company’s sustained expansion since<br />
its foundation in 2001, when founder and<br />
managing director Murray Leahy started it as<br />
a small contractor providing silica mining and<br />
haulage services for BHP.<br />
It now operates across nearly 30 sites.<br />
"We are excited about becoming a listed<br />
company and the opportunities it creates<br />
to further grow the business," Leahy, who<br />
remains majority shareholder, tells the ASX.<br />
"We welcome all of our new shareholders<br />
and thank them for the level of interest<br />
and support.<br />
"This is an exciting time for the company<br />
and its shareholders. Our employees and<br />
clients have helped us grow this business<br />
successfully for over 20 years.<br />
"As the only shareholder until this point,<br />
I am pleased to have new shareholders<br />
join me in expanding the business and<br />
am excited about the opportunities in<br />
front of us."<br />
Industry demand for MLG’s services<br />
remains very high, correlating with high<br />
levels of planned mining production<br />
expansion, a company statement notes.<br />
Company-owned quarries are located<br />
near existing mining operations, which is<br />
said to facilitate the efficient supply of bulk<br />
construction materials comprising sand,<br />
aggregate and lime to clients.<br />
Its first ‘build, own and operate’ crushing<br />
operation at Christmas Creek continues to<br />
meet production targets and the company<br />
has further opportunities for expansion in<br />
this type of facility with new clients.<br />
"The additional capital raised through<br />
the IPO will initially be used to reduce the<br />
company’s debt and support the working<br />
capital needs associated with our ongoing<br />
growth," Leahy adds.<br />
"This will provide us with the capability<br />
to continue to obtain new equipment and<br />
expand our operations to support our clients<br />
and develop new client relationships.<br />
"We are a long-term relationship<br />
business which prides itself on delivery<br />
for our clients and having the capacity<br />
to support them will help position us well<br />
for the future."<br />
CLEANAWAY NATIONAL FLEET GAINS NEW SAFETY TECHNOLOGY<br />
A new collision avoidance system has been<br />
installed in most of Cleanaway’s heavy vehicles<br />
to improve road safety for all users, the waste<br />
specialist reveals.<br />
The Mobileye Advanced Driver Assist system<br />
has been fitted to more than 3,000 vehicles across<br />
the fleet, including waste trucks, tankers, prime<br />
movers and light vehicles such as utilities.<br />
The $5 million-plus national roll-out followed<br />
the successful trial of the system in the Victorian<br />
Solid Waste Services fleet during the first half of<br />
2019, according to Cleanaway’s head of health<br />
and safety and regulatory compliance, Rachel<br />
Irvine-Marshall.<br />
"With our teams operating heavy vehicles in<br />
many different environments, driver distraction<br />
is a critical health and safety risk," Irvine-<br />
Marshall says.<br />
"Studies show that about 90 per cent of<br />
accidents are caused by driver error and almost<br />
80 per cent of crashes involve driver inattention<br />
within three seconds before an event.<br />
"The results of our trial were compelling with<br />
a significant decrease in driver-at-fault incidents<br />
and a reduction in incident severity within the<br />
Victorian fleet.<br />
"We have now rolled out Mobileye to the great<br />
majority of the Cleanaway fleet nationally and are<br />
looking forward to further improving road safety<br />
and seeing positive results across our fleet."<br />
12 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
FREELANCER BUYS MARKETPLACE LOADSHIFT<br />
Freight-matching consolidation sees<br />
Freightlancer, a subsidiary of Freelancer.<br />
com, snap up heavy haulage transport<br />
marketplace Loadshift for $7.7 million.<br />
The deal throws into sharp relief the<br />
growing digital freight marketplace in<br />
Australia.<br />
Loadshift posted earnings before<br />
interest, taxes, depreciation and<br />
amortisation (EBITDA) of about<br />
$766,000 in FY2020, Freelancer tells the<br />
Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).<br />
Founded in March 2007 by Phil<br />
Callaghan, Loadshift "has grown to be<br />
Australia’s largest online heavy haulage<br />
freight marketplace with 68,837 freight<br />
requests (up 26.8 per cent) for 85.8<br />
million kilometres of freight requested<br />
in 2020, and over 73,000 loads posted in<br />
the last 12 months".<br />
It will align with Freightlancer.com,<br />
described as a global marketplace for<br />
freight, shipping and transport spanning<br />
from complex enterprise haulage to<br />
consumer metro deliveries, "powered by<br />
the world's largest human labour cloud<br />
of over 50 million freelancers in 247<br />
countries, regions and territories".<br />
Freelancer owns 53 per cent of<br />
Freightlancer, which now also receives<br />
$3.7 million investment from diversified<br />
industrials group Maas Group Holdings<br />
CEO and founder Wes Maas, equipment<br />
and labour services provider EMS<br />
Group CEO and founder Tom Cavanagh,<br />
and global tech venture fund Startive<br />
Ventures.<br />
Cavanagh becomes Freightlancer<br />
chief executive as part of the move.<br />
"After a 15-year journey as the<br />
director of Loadshift, this represents the<br />
ideal next step," Loadshift founder Phil<br />
Callaghan says.<br />
"The moment is right, the family<br />
timing is perfect and the opportunity<br />
to see Loadshift's successful model<br />
brought to the global stage by<br />
Freelancer irresistible.<br />
"From the beginning, I have been<br />
committed to utilising technology to<br />
create a connected community of both<br />
carriers and shippers.<br />
"When we started, there was little<br />
visibility of trucking capacity. We've<br />
brought that visibility to the freight<br />
community, changing the industry.<br />
"The team and I have loved forging<br />
connections that span the breadth of<br />
Australia from coast to coast, improving<br />
the businesses and experiences of our<br />
carriers and shippers.<br />
"We've interacted with this<br />
community constantly, learned what<br />
matters to them and seen day after day<br />
how Australia deeply depends on its<br />
truckers."<br />
Freelancer.com chief executive Matt<br />
Barrie says the company is excited to<br />
acquire Loadshift.<br />
"As a successful digital freight<br />
marketplace that has always looked<br />
after its carriers and community,<br />
Loadshift aligns with Freelancer's<br />
mission," he says.<br />
"The acquisition of Loadshift builds<br />
on Freightlancer's momentum and<br />
continues to deepen our global pool of<br />
liquidity for the freight logistics industry,<br />
around the world."<br />
Senko takes majority ownership of AirRoad<br />
AirRoad has come under the control<br />
of Japanese logistics company Senko<br />
Group Holdings for an undisclosed sum.<br />
After three decades of national road<br />
express, specialised transportation<br />
and supply chain services growth<br />
the Australia firm will join 11-year-old<br />
local subsidiary Senko Logistics<br />
Australia in a huge change of the<br />
latter’s domestic presence.<br />
"By partnering with AirRoad, Senko<br />
will expand its 3PL business, combining<br />
AirRoad’s high-quality distribution<br />
service and Senko’s warehousing and<br />
logistics capability," the companies say.<br />
"Existing AirRoad logistics customers<br />
will benefit from the larger organisation<br />
and through the provision of higher<br />
quality, efficient and effective logistics<br />
services with the added value of Senko’s<br />
global logistics networks.<br />
"Together, the businesses have<br />
exciting growth opportunities in new<br />
market sectors, for example in the<br />
cold-chain business, by establishing<br />
long distance chilled/frozen products<br />
transport as well as area delivery.<br />
Freelancer CEO<br />
Matt Barrie<br />
“There was little visibility of trucking capacity.<br />
We've brought that visibility to the freight<br />
community, changing the industry"<br />
"These developments will be<br />
underpinned by Senko’s innovative<br />
world-leading technology, which includes<br />
advanced robotics."<br />
It appears recent hefty local growth in<br />
parcels and the express market generally<br />
is part of the impetus for the move.<br />
"Importantly for the AirRoad and<br />
Senko partnership, AirRoad’s national<br />
distribution footprint and outstanding<br />
service performance with time-critical<br />
deliveries will continue to be highly<br />
valued in the growing Australian market,"<br />
the companies say.<br />
For current AirRoad clients, there will<br />
be benefits in working with Senko to<br />
strategically develop a more efficient<br />
warehouse and depot footprint in<br />
Australia.<br />
"The Senko partnership will also bring<br />
additional benefits in relation to logistics<br />
services due to Senko’s wealth of<br />
knowledge and capability in this field and<br />
the use of world-leading technology."<br />
Founded in 1916, Senko is a listed firm<br />
Japanese with a market capitalisation<br />
put at Yen125 billion (A$1.7 billion).<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 13
NEWS<br />
Inside the Industry<br />
PBS SAFETY GAINS FLAGGED<br />
A joint report from the National Heavy<br />
Vehicle Regulator (NHVR), Chartered<br />
Institute of Logistics and Transport<br />
Australia (CILTA) and the National Truck<br />
Accident Research Centre (NTARC) has<br />
revealed performance-based standards<br />
(PBS) vehicles are involved in 60 per cent<br />
fewer major crashes than conventional<br />
vehicles.<br />
This is a significant improvement over<br />
the results in a 2018 report, the Reforming<br />
the Performance-Based Standards Scheme<br />
policy paper, which found PBS vehicles<br />
were in 46 per cent fewer major crashes<br />
compared to the conventional fleet.<br />
PBS vehicles are forecast to save 143<br />
lives over 20 years, the NHVR says.<br />
The NHVR partnered with the CILTA<br />
and the NTARC to deliver the Review of<br />
Major Crash Rates for Australian Higher<br />
Productivity Vehicles: 2015–2019 report,<br />
which looks at the reduced crash rates,<br />
fewer kilometres driven and lives saved by<br />
using PBS vehicles.<br />
It shows PBS rigid trucks, with or<br />
without trailers, were involved in almost<br />
half the number of crashes per 100 million<br />
km compared to non-PBS vehicles and<br />
articulated combinations at less than a<br />
third.<br />
"Generally, the PBS fleets, whose<br />
configurations have been certified through<br />
the PBS scheme, have performed better in<br />
each truck category when compared to their<br />
conventional truck counterparts," the report<br />
concludes.<br />
"In some cases, significant improvements<br />
in major crash statistics have been<br />
observed for some configurations.<br />
"This is because some of the expected<br />
crashes have not occurred as ‘major<br />
crashes’, but instead have manifest<br />
themselves to a minor extent in increased<br />
frequencies in the ‘serious crash’ category<br />
when examined over the last five years."<br />
NHVR chief engineer Les Bruzsa sees<br />
PBS vehicles achieving safety gains beyond<br />
what was originally anticipated.<br />
"In the last five years, PBS vehicles were<br />
involved in 60 per cent fewer major crashes<br />
than conventional trucks" Bruzsa says.<br />
"PBS articulated combinations had the<br />
lowest rate of crashes per distance travelled<br />
with 5.4 crashes per 100 million kilometres<br />
travelled, compared to 17.6 crashes for their<br />
conventional counterparts — almost 70 per<br />
cent lower.<br />
"Not only are these vehicles equipped<br />
with the latest in braking and safety<br />
technologies to help prevent crashes, but<br />
they are also productive - delivering more<br />
goods with fewer vehicles in a safe manner.<br />
"Over the last five years, PBS vehicles<br />
travelled 1.6 billion fewer kilometres on<br />
Australian roads compared to conventional<br />
vehicles to transport the same freight task.<br />
"This huge reduction in distance travelled<br />
means improved safety benefits to our<br />
drivers, the community and reducing<br />
damage to our roads."<br />
The NHVR notes there has been<br />
significant acceleration in the uptake of<br />
the PBS scheme, with a compound annual<br />
growth rate close to 43 per cent.<br />
"There are now more than 12,000<br />
PBS-approved combinations operating<br />
across Australia," Bruzsa says.<br />
"Further growth will deliver greater safety<br />
and productivity benefits, supporting a<br />
strong and prosperous Australia, and the<br />
saving of more lives on our roads."<br />
Les Bruzsa<br />
NHVR SEES NEW SOUTH WALES ADDED TO REGULATORY FOLD<br />
The National Road Transport Association<br />
(NatRoad) congratulates the New South Wales<br />
government for putting a final piece of the jigsaw<br />
into place in the long process of reforming<br />
operations of the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator<br />
(NHVR).<br />
NatRoad CEO Warren Clark says that the<br />
recent passing by the NSW Parliament of the<br />
Heavy Vehicle Legislation Amendment (National<br />
Regulator) Bill 2021 came after a 10-year journey.<br />
"The Bill is the final step in the transfer of NSW’s<br />
heavy vehicle regulatory functions to the National<br />
Heavy Vehicle Regulator," Clark says.<br />
"The aim of the reform process was to improve<br />
safety, and reduce costs and regulatory burden<br />
for Australian transport companies by creating a<br />
national regulatory regime for heavy vehicle safety<br />
and productivity".<br />
Regional transport and roads minister Paul<br />
Toole introduced the Bill in March.<br />
"The principal objectives of the bill are to<br />
provide for the transfer of certain members of<br />
staff from Transport for NSW to the National<br />
Heavy Vehicle Regulator and to safeguard their<br />
employment conditions, as well as to enable the<br />
minister to direct by written order that specified<br />
assets, rights or liabilities of Transport for NSW<br />
be transferred to the National Heavy Vehicle<br />
Regulator," he says.<br />
The Bill passed the legislative council at the<br />
beginning of May and brings NSW into line with<br />
other states and territories, with the exceptions of<br />
Northern Territory and Western Australia.<br />
14 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
NEWS Inside the Industry and driver health," its communique states.<br />
TRUCKING REFORM PATHWAY AGREED<br />
The nation’s transport ministers have<br />
agreed to a pathway to reforms on how<br />
heavy vehicle charges are set and invested<br />
and the law that governs its operations.<br />
The latest Infrastructure and Transport<br />
Ministers’ Meeting (ITMM) sees the release<br />
of a plan – Pathway Ahead: Heavy Vehicle<br />
Road Reform – that provides steps to a new<br />
reality for the industry by 2024.<br />
The ITMM also flags the final Heavy<br />
Vehicle National Law (HVNL) to be before<br />
ministers by mid-2023.<br />
"The National Transport Commission<br />
(NTC) will deliver more detailed advice<br />
to ministers over the next 12 months<br />
on key areas of reform such as fatigue<br />
management, heavy vehicle access,<br />
increased use of higher productivity<br />
vehicles, assurance schemes, duties<br />
"Ministers discussed the significant<br />
reform opportunity presented by the review<br />
of the Heavy Vehicle National Law.<br />
"Ministers agreed that options developed<br />
should be ambitious to realise the potential<br />
productivity and safety benefits for industry<br />
and the economy more broadly."<br />
The ‘pathway’ document does come with<br />
a caveat.<br />
"As governments proceed along the<br />
pathway, they may decide at any time<br />
whether to continue on the pathway, and<br />
whether to ultimately participate in the<br />
reformed system," it states.<br />
Beyond that, it envisions four common<br />
tasks – Identify, Prepare, Setup and Apply<br />
for each in each year from 2021 to 2024.<br />
They sit on four ‘pillars’:<br />
• National Service Level Standards for roads<br />
• independent determination of what<br />
expenditure is recoverable through heavy<br />
vehicle charge<br />
• independent setting of heavy vehicle<br />
charges<br />
• hypothecation.<br />
Public consultation on the first pillar is<br />
on framework, this year, before negotiation<br />
of a set level of ambition for standards,<br />
establishment of ongoing governance<br />
arrangements for reviewing and updating<br />
standards, and continuation of data<br />
collection on service levels, in 2023.<br />
The second consultation, in 2023, will<br />
be on draft legislation, agreeing national<br />
expenditure review guidelines and the<br />
beginning of staffing investment review<br />
body/ies, which will then begin engaging<br />
with road agencies.<br />
The third consultation covers key settings<br />
for a forward-looking cost base and<br />
agreeing a transitional path for charges/<br />
revenue , while, in 2024, an independent<br />
price regulator will begin a charge-setting<br />
process in line with agreed transition<br />
arrangements.<br />
The fourth will relate to hypothecation<br />
arrangement details next year.<br />
Ministers have also endorsed a National<br />
Urban Freight Planning Principles document<br />
that "will be utilised by all jurisdictions, with<br />
progress reported on annually through the<br />
National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy",<br />
the communique says.<br />
Federal government unveils prototype freight data hub website<br />
The National Freight Data Hub prototype website<br />
is officially launched to a warm reception<br />
by high-profile transport and logistics (T&L)<br />
industry executives.<br />
To fully capitalise on the value of enhanced<br />
freight data, the Australian government<br />
announced $16.5 million in funding in the<br />
2021–22 Budget over four years to develop the<br />
hub further.<br />
Federal transport minister Michael<br />
McCormack insists the hub, which gains $16.5<br />
million over four years in the recent Budget, will<br />
be a trusted source of freight data for industry,<br />
government and others to improve the efficiency,<br />
safety and resilience of the freight sector.<br />
"The hub will highlight important information<br />
about traffic volumes, congestion, road condition<br />
and rest area usage, to improve road safety for the<br />
nation’s freight operators," McCormack adds.<br />
"This commitment will in turn support the<br />
day-to-day operations of the transport industry,<br />
provide enhanced freight data across all supply<br />
chains and enable a data driven approach for future<br />
strategic planning and investment.<br />
"Every Australian, everywhere, every day, relies<br />
on a truck driver, which is why we need high-quality,<br />
easily accessible data to make sure the movement<br />
of goods and services is as efficient as possible,<br />
especially as Australia’s freight task grows."<br />
Freight transport assistant minister Scott<br />
Buchholz observes that industry asked<br />
for a congestion metric to assist with their<br />
businesses and the government has delivered<br />
this, and more, with the prototype hub website.<br />
"The prototype website is an important<br />
first step that shows the Hub’s potential as a<br />
game-changer for the Australian freight and<br />
supply chain industry," Buchholz says.<br />
"The website showcases government and<br />
industry cooperation on a number of projects<br />
and allows users to search for data relevant to<br />
their business.”<br />
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NEWS Inside the Industry safety control measures are in place to protect<br />
NEWCASTLE SEES TRUCKING<br />
SAFETY INSPECTIONS<br />
Safety inspectors visited transport<br />
operators across Newcastle and the<br />
Hunter Region in May as part of a Safety<br />
Around Your Vehicle compliance project,<br />
SafeWork NSW announces.<br />
The aim was to promote safer working<br />
practices when loading, unloading and<br />
working around vehicles, with SafeWork<br />
inspectors speaking to operators on the<br />
requirement to have safe work systems<br />
for tasks around heavy vehicles.<br />
"Almost every week, we see workers<br />
getting injured, or worse, while working<br />
around vehicles, whether that’s in<br />
a transport depot, unloading on a<br />
construction site, loading at a distribution<br />
centre or making retail or home<br />
deliveries," SafeWork NSW executive<br />
director Tony Williams says.<br />
"Many of the incidents are not driving<br />
related, but happen as people work<br />
around the truck or vehicle.<br />
"These visits are not about driving<br />
habits, they’re about safe work practices<br />
around the vehicle.<br />
"The visits are about addressing safe<br />
loading and unloading practices, the<br />
importance of properly immobilising<br />
heavy vehicles and promoting the<br />
separation of people, product and plant<br />
at all workplaces.<br />
"We have been undertaking widespread<br />
transport industry consultation<br />
to identify the highest priority risks, and<br />
this is part of our response to those issues."<br />
In contextualising the project, SafeWork<br />
NSW points to a number of serious recent<br />
incidents, including a worker suffering serious<br />
leg injuries in April when the truck she was<br />
working on rolled away from her on a property<br />
near Oberon.<br />
In late 2020, a 50-year-old mechanic<br />
suffered fatal crush injuries in Tumut while<br />
working on the brake line of a tipper truck,<br />
and a 52-year-old tow truck driver was fatally<br />
crushed by a prime mover as it rolled off a tilt<br />
tray semi-trailer in Newcastle.<br />
The compliance visit follows on from the<br />
recent launch of SafeWork NSW’s Safety<br />
Around Your Vehicle Glove Box Guide,<br />
which ensures those working in the heavy<br />
vehicle industry have access to the most<br />
up-to-date safety information.<br />
"We are ensuring workers in the industry<br />
have access to the best safety information<br />
possible," Williams says.<br />
"This guide contains information on<br />
everything from conducting a vehicle<br />
pre-start check, to information on what to<br />
do to prevent an unintentional roll away, as<br />
well as advice on loading and unloading<br />
vehicles."<br />
The glove box guide is available at:<br />
www.safework.nsw.gov.au.<br />
SAFEWORK SA TO START LIVESTOCK SECTOR COMPLIANCE BLITZ<br />
A compliance campaign focusing on the<br />
risks associated with livestock handling<br />
and transport will start in South Australia in<br />
June, the state’s safety watchdog alerts.<br />
SafeWork SA defines livestock handling<br />
as including working with livestock<br />
in paddocks, laneways, yards, cattle<br />
transportation, feedlots, abattoirs,<br />
saleyards and activities relating to onfarm<br />
sales.<br />
Thus, inspectors will be auditing<br />
feedlots, saleyards, abattoirs and livestock<br />
exchange facilities to determine if adequate<br />
workers from injury, including training, manual<br />
handling techniques and the provision of<br />
appropriate plant and systems of work to<br />
separate workers from animals.<br />
SafeWork SA notes workers and other<br />
persons who conduct livestock handling are<br />
at risk of sustaining injuries such as bone<br />
fractures, bruising, dislocations, crush injuries,<br />
lacerations that, in some cases, may be fatal.<br />
It also cites data from Safe Work Australia<br />
that animals are involved in around 20 per cent<br />
of serious injuries in the agriculture sector.<br />
SafeWork SA acting executive director<br />
Glenn Farrell says the livestock transport<br />
industry is faced with high-risk activities and<br />
it is vital they are appropriately managed.<br />
"SafeWork SA has recently developed<br />
guidelines on livestock handling providing<br />
information on managing risks associated<br />
with handling livestock and safe design for<br />
loading ramps and yards.<br />
"I encourage anyone involved with<br />
livestock handling and transport to<br />
understand their responsibility and ways<br />
to make their workplace safe."<br />
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NEWS<br />
Inside the Industry<br />
Paul<br />
SCURRAH ADDRESSES<br />
FREIGHT CHALLENGES<br />
In one of his earliest interventions since<br />
taking on the roles of Pacific National (PN)<br />
MD and CEO, Paul Scurrah amplifies the<br />
sentiment that Inland Rail will be central<br />
to the country’s economic future.<br />
Speaking at the Australian Logistics<br />
Council/Australasian Railway Association<br />
Inland Rail Conference in Albury, Scurrah<br />
also touches on a number of national<br />
intermodal transport issues through the<br />
lens of rail freight.<br />
Like the deputy prime minister [Michael<br />
McCormack], I’m of the firm opinion it will<br />
form the future economic backbone of<br />
Australia," he says.<br />
Scurrah underlines PN’s expectation<br />
that its Acacia Ridge Terminal "will be the<br />
‘northern terminus’ of Inland Rail for the<br />
foreseeable future".<br />
Critics of the project nominate the<br />
lack of direct paths in to Melbourne and<br />
Brisbane container ports as a prime<br />
weakness in its design, pointing to<br />
the added cost in money and time<br />
of double handling and, with Acacia<br />
Ridge, what is seen as its constraints<br />
on growth.<br />
Scurrah sees it differently.<br />
"In the meantime, Pacific National<br />
welcomes the Australian and Queensland<br />
governments joint initiative to undertake<br />
detailed studies to identify and preserve a<br />
dedicated future rail freight connection to<br />
Port of Brisbane," he says.<br />
"Indeed, urban intermodals and rail<br />
port-shuttles are an incredibly effective way<br />
for governments to improve road safety<br />
and reduce traffic congestion and vehicle<br />
emissions.<br />
"They have the effect of acting as<br />
‘pressure valves’ along supply lines to help<br />
relieve tension and congestion in the overall<br />
transport network."<br />
In Melbourne, he spruiks Truganina, in<br />
Melbourne’s west, against the competing<br />
claim of Beveridge to the north.<br />
"PN estimates more than 60 per cent<br />
of interstate rail freight volumes flow<br />
southwest of Melbourne through to<br />
Adelaide and then Perth," Scurrah says.<br />
"Furthermore, the area west of the<br />
port at Truganina is a key location for<br />
major freight forwarders, shippers, and<br />
their customers.<br />
"Developing a major intermodal terminal<br />
more than 50 kilometres north of the<br />
port will result in perverse social and<br />
environmental outcomes, including more<br />
than 400 extra daily truck movements on<br />
Melbourne roads; notably on the Hume<br />
Highway.<br />
"And, once trucks are travelling north<br />
on the highway out of Melbourne, they<br />
will simply continue all the way through<br />
to Sydney.<br />
"This is a classic example of how<br />
governments need to be acutely<br />
aware of the dynamics of local, regional<br />
Scurrah<br />
and interstate freight movements and<br />
how they interact and impact on the<br />
broader transport and logistics network."<br />
On the route itself, he nominates key<br />
points to allow Inland Rail to be a success:<br />
• an alignment that allows a transit time<br />
between Melbourne and Brisbane of<br />
less than 24-hours – a trip which can<br />
currently take up to 36-hours. This<br />
would help rail "compete on a level<br />
playing field with road freight", especially<br />
given the truck-boosting Newell Highway<br />
upgrades.<br />
• a relatively straight track that can<br />
handle 25-tonne axle loads at 80km/h,<br />
with future proofing for 30 tonnes.<br />
Scurrah points out that twists and<br />
bends are not ideal when you are running<br />
freight trains almost two kilometres<br />
in length. "I congratulate ARTC for also<br />
future proofing the design to, one day,<br />
allow the operation of 3.6-kilometre<br />
freight trains like in North America,"<br />
he says.<br />
SCT plea for deeper view on transport task when spending big<br />
SCT Logistics welcomes the proposed<br />
multi-billion-dollar federal Budget<br />
commitment to a new freight precinct<br />
in Victoria, but stresses the need for<br />
this to be part of an integrated federal<br />
government infrastructure policy.<br />
One of Australia’s two largest rail<br />
freight providers, SCT is a long-term<br />
advocate for competitive neutrality<br />
between rail, road, and sea freight for<br />
some time.<br />
"This announcement is a positive,<br />
but the benefits will only flow with<br />
complementary private sector investment,"<br />
SCT MD Geoff Smith underlines.<br />
"With the national freight task increasing<br />
by $35 billion annually by 2030, significant<br />
investments of this nature will be required,<br />
but they cannot be deployed in isolation."<br />
Smith emphasises the need to integrate the<br />
three freight modes in the context of the $15<br />
billion Inland Rail project, which will see the<br />
Melbourne-Brisbane rail line upgraded and<br />
enhanced, representing the country’s largest<br />
single transport infrastructure project.<br />
It also needs to align with the Victorian<br />
government’s Port Rail Shuttle Network<br />
initiative, he notes.<br />
"A Victorian transport hub needs to be<br />
integrated with Inland Rail. Both projects<br />
require private sector investment from<br />
the likes of our company, and this will<br />
only be forthcoming if the Government is<br />
more proactive in the management of the<br />
relationship between road, rail and sea,"<br />
Smith says.<br />
20 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
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NEWS<br />
Inside the Industry<br />
CALLS FOR TRADE REGULATOR<br />
Above:<br />
Paul Zalai<br />
The Australian trade services<br />
sector is calling for the creation of a<br />
national trade regulator to oversee<br />
shipping and the container trade in<br />
an environment that has significantly<br />
changed in recent years.<br />
The call is contained in a<br />
submission to the Productivity<br />
Commission’s supply chain security<br />
inquiry, which paints a picture of<br />
consolidation in shipping lines and<br />
stronger alliances, with a consortia of<br />
shipping lines entering vessel sharing<br />
agreements, creating significant<br />
barriers for new entrants into this<br />
global market, "let alone successfully<br />
compete in a somewhat isolated<br />
Australian trade-lane".<br />
The situation is exacerbated by<br />
a huge surge in post-pandemic<br />
crisis demand, limited supply<br />
of shipping services, erratic<br />
positioning of container equipment<br />
and poor performance in many<br />
key international ports, resulting in<br />
significant spikes in freight rates,<br />
escalation of surcharges and an<br />
all-time low in reliability of services.<br />
Highlighting its submission, Paul<br />
Zalai, director Freight & Trade Alliance<br />
(FTA) and secretariat of the Australian<br />
Peak Shippers Association (APSA),<br />
notes that, in parallel to threats<br />
caused by geopolitical tensions,<br />
serious disruption to international<br />
supply chains is jeopardising access<br />
to markets for Australian trade.<br />
"A well-regulated economy helps<br />
Australia to prosper – in terms of<br />
international trade, this needs serious<br />
consideration as market forces are<br />
failing to provide basic protections<br />
to critical sectors of commerce with<br />
downstream devastating effects<br />
being felt by retailers, manufacturers,<br />
farmers and rural communities,"<br />
Zalai says.<br />
He sees engagement with local<br />
shipping line representatives as<br />
positive but is concerned that many<br />
are largely hamstrung by instructions<br />
from their headquarters overseas.<br />
"Australia is 100 per cent<br />
dependent on foreign-owned shipping<br />
lines to service our containerised<br />
trade, so we need to incentivise the<br />
profitability of our market – but this<br />
cannot be at any cost and this is<br />
where we need federal government<br />
intervention to safeguard the<br />
interests of Australian traders,"<br />
he says.<br />
FTA/APSA sees the Australian<br />
national trade regulator concept as<br />
operating along the lines of the US<br />
Federal Maritime Commission (FMC),<br />
to facilitate competitive international<br />
trade and to provide protections<br />
from the emergence of unreasonable<br />
pricing practices.<br />
Associated recommendations<br />
include the need for a formal<br />
shipping competition review,<br />
a call for minimum service<br />
levels and regulation of ‘terminal<br />
access charges’ and container<br />
detention practices.<br />
The submission also makes<br />
detailed reference to the need<br />
for waterfront industrial relations<br />
reform, implementation of<br />
biosecurity priorities and continued<br />
financial relief measures for the<br />
air cargo sector.<br />
"Australia has world-class<br />
manufacturers and producers who<br />
are supported by skilled customs<br />
brokers and freight forwarders<br />
ready to take advantage of the<br />
opportunities created by free<br />
trade agreements and those<br />
economies recovering from<br />
Covid-19," Zalai says.<br />
"These opportunities will not be<br />
fully realised while physical access<br />
to market and costs of trade are<br />
prohibitive."<br />
FREIGHT BROKERS GAIN ACCC CARRIER BARGAINING APPROVAL<br />
The Australian Competition and Consumer<br />
Commission (ACCC) has granted a group of freight<br />
brokers permission to collectively bargain with<br />
select carriers until at least December 2026.<br />
The competition watchdog did not object to an<br />
application lodged by KIS Transport Australia "to<br />
enable it to collectively bargain agreements on<br />
behalf of itself, five other freight brokers and future<br />
freight brokers that may become members of the<br />
group, with freight carriers".<br />
The ACCC also allows the notification to<br />
remain in force for six years as requested<br />
by KIS, instead of a default three-year period.<br />
The current members of the collective<br />
bargaining group are KIS Transport, Hydra<br />
Logistics Solutions Australia, Total Freight Logistic<br />
Services, Transfreight Solutions Australia Pty and<br />
KIS Corporate.<br />
The freight carriers that the group intends<br />
to collectively negotiate with include TNT, Toll<br />
Express, Couriers Please, Followmont Transport,<br />
Hi-Trans Express and Northline.<br />
"The ACCC considers the collective bargaining<br />
is likely to result in public benefits in the form<br />
of transaction cost savings and improved input<br />
into contracts by the members of the collective<br />
bargaining group, and there is likely to be minimal<br />
public detriment," the watchdog notes.<br />
"By lodging a notification with the ACCC, KIS<br />
and the other freight brokers gain legal protection<br />
to participate in collective bargaining that may<br />
otherwise risk breaching competition laws because<br />
it involves joint action by competitors.<br />
"Participation in collective bargaining<br />
will be voluntary for the freight brokers and<br />
freight carriers."<br />
22 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
SCAN ME<br />
<strong>ATN</strong>-FP-5211094-CS-417
INDUSTRY VOICE<br />
Ramp standards a safety boost<br />
Standards Australia has released the Australian standard for livestock loading/<br />
unloading ramps and forcing pens, which will improve safety for industry workers<br />
MELISSA<br />
WELLER is the<br />
Australian Trucking<br />
Association’s<br />
safety, health and<br />
wellbeing director<br />
Loading and unloading animals can be the most<br />
challenging part of the livestock handling task,<br />
and hazardous situations can place farming,<br />
agricultural and transport workers at risk.<br />
These high-risk situations can occur anywhere from<br />
farms, roadsides and saleyards, to feedlots, abattoirs and<br />
depots. That’s why strong practices that support driver<br />
health and wellbeing play a crucial role in making sure all<br />
workers remain safe.<br />
To support livestock handlers and keep workers safe,<br />
Standards Australia has released the Australian standard<br />
for livestock loading/unloading ramps and forcing pens.<br />
The standard is the first of its kind and provides the<br />
missing guidance about safe design and practices that<br />
livestock transporters and agricultural businesses need.<br />
This standard is a major step forward in fostering<br />
better and safer conditions for agricultural and transport<br />
workers and livestock and aligns closely with the animal<br />
welfare standards that exist within the TruckSafe<br />
accreditation scheme.<br />
TruckSafe members that are animal welfare accredited<br />
already meet high standards that ensure the suitability<br />
of vehicles, equipment and materials. Our animal welfare<br />
standards meet and exceed all requirements of the<br />
land transport standards and this new ramp standard<br />
reinforces what is best practice to ensure drivers, animal<br />
handlers and livestock are well protected from injury.<br />
TruckSafe director and transport manager of<br />
Shanahan’s Transport Peter Callanan says the release of<br />
the new standard is a crucial development.<br />
“The new standard will see shorter loading and<br />
unloading times, reduced risk of injury for handlers –<br />
especially those who work alone – and less stress on<br />
animals,” Callanan says.<br />
“The ramp standard compliments TruckSafe animal<br />
welfare standard for holding, loading and unloading,<br />
and a requirement that equipment be properly designed,<br />
constructed and maintained.”<br />
The new standard also supports handlers, who are<br />
often loading and unloading on their own, and fosters an<br />
environment where there is less stress placed on animals<br />
during the transport task.<br />
The new standard includes measures promoting liaison<br />
between parties within the livestock handling chain,<br />
resulting in safety expectations being reinforced.<br />
“Loading and unloading animals can be the most<br />
high-risk part of the livestock transport task,” TruckSafe<br />
director and Martins Stock Haulage group fleet and<br />
maintenance manager Graham Emery says.<br />
“In recent years we have seen transport industry<br />
safety improve tremendously and the focus remains<br />
on continuous safety improvements throughout<br />
the supply chain. Vehicles are subject to Australian<br />
standards, with regular internal and on-road inspections<br />
by regulatory authorities.<br />
“Operating under TruckSafe ensures driver practices<br />
and vehicle maintenance are of an extremely high<br />
standard, and this new ramp standard will help<br />
bring livestock ramps into line with modern safety<br />
expectations.”<br />
TruckSafe director and compliance manager fleet<br />
operations at Frasers Livestock Transport Athol Carter<br />
says now, more than ever, it is crucial for businesses and<br />
their staff to step back and assess their procedures.<br />
“Safety by design is now industry standard. In today’s<br />
world, safety is paramount. Adopting proper safety<br />
practices makes perfect sense for businesses and is<br />
money well spent,” Carter says.<br />
He also comments that continual improvement in<br />
safety will benefit all industry participants through<br />
reduced workers compensation premiums and even<br />
increased labour supply.<br />
“The new standard ensures the entire supply<br />
chain has a shared responsibility to consider not<br />
only animal welfare, but the safety of the person<br />
performing the task.”<br />
ATA MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS<br />
ATA DIRECT LINE<br />
Captions: Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<br />
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<br />
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<br />
(02) 6253 6900<br />
NSW ROAD FREIGHT NSW – Simon O’Hara .................................... Ph: (02) 9922 6507<br />
VIC VTA – Peter Anderson .................................................... Ph: (03) 9646 8590<br />
QLD QTA – Gary Mahon. ..................................................... Ph: (07) 3394 4388<br />
SA SARTA – Steve Shearer .................................................... Ph: (08) 8445 8177<br />
WA Western Roads Federation – Cam Dumesny .................................. Ph: (08) 9355 3022<br />
NT NTRTA – Louise Bilato ......................................................Ph: 0400 107 223<br />
NatRoad (incorporating the Aust Road Train Assoc) – Warren Clark .................. Ph: (02) 6295 3000<br />
Aust Livestock & Rural Transporters Association ............................. Ph: (02) 6247 5434<br />
Australian Furniture Removers Association – Executive director: Joe Lopino .........Ph: 1800 671 806<br />
Tasmanian Transport Association – Michelle Harwood. ........................... Ph: 0427 366 742<br />
24 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
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NEWS<br />
Executive appointments<br />
SEA<br />
HOLGATE TO LEAD TOLL GLOBAL<br />
EXPRESS<br />
New Toll Global Express owner Allegro Funds<br />
has scored a major coup, snapping up former<br />
Australia Post chief Christine Holgate to lead<br />
the new entity.<br />
Holgate will be tasked with heading a<br />
transformation strategy for the parcels<br />
and logistics organisation upon the private<br />
equity firm completing its acquisition from<br />
previous owner Japan Post (JP).<br />
“In recent times Global Express has faced<br />
challenges and there is lots of hard work<br />
ahead of us,” Holgate says.<br />
“However, the combination of new funding,<br />
a focused local leadership team, a strong<br />
FULTON SCANIA BRANCH<br />
MANAGER<br />
Brendan Fulton<br />
Brendan Fulton is the new branch<br />
manager for the Scania sales and<br />
service dealership in Dandenong,<br />
Victoria.<br />
The Greens Road dealership is one of<br />
three owned and operated by Scania in<br />
Victoria – and one of nine nationwide.<br />
Fulton brings vast automotive<br />
experience with Renault, Subaru, Nissan<br />
and Hyundai, and an earlier technical<br />
role at Isuzu.<br />
“I have plenty of recent<br />
customer-facing aftersales experience<br />
from the highly competitive passenger<br />
car business, as well as a solid<br />
background as a diesel technician,”<br />
Fulton says.<br />
Christine Holgate<br />
DP WORLD AUSTRALIA CHANGES<br />
Andrew Adam<br />
position in growing markets and the<br />
turnaround expertise of Allegro, will ensure<br />
the business is successful.”<br />
“I started my career in heavy vehicles<br />
with William Adams, and it is good to be<br />
back in the commercial vehicle industry,<br />
especially with a brand like Scania.”<br />
International stevedore DP World has revealed<br />
executive leadership changes in the Asia-Pacific<br />
(APAC) region.<br />
CEO and MD of Australia Glen Hilton has taken on<br />
an expanded role as CEO and MD of the DP World<br />
Asia-Pacific and Australasia and has vacated his<br />
earlier position.<br />
In addition, Hilton assumes the role of chairman of<br />
DP World Australia (DPWA).<br />
Andrew Adam has taken over as DP World Australia<br />
CEO after several years as chief operating officer (COO)<br />
of the business.<br />
Bill Gillespie<br />
ELECTRIC<br />
TAPS GILLESPIE<br />
SEA Electric’s new<br />
president – Asia Pacific<br />
is former Hino vice<br />
president of brand and<br />
franchise development<br />
Bill Gillespie.<br />
Gillespie brings to<br />
the business a wealth<br />
of automotive industry<br />
experience in the<br />
passenger vehicle market<br />
with Toyota, Kia and<br />
Nissan<br />
More recently, he<br />
moved into the truck<br />
industry with a stint at<br />
Hino Australia.<br />
“It is with great pleasure<br />
that we welcome Bill to<br />
the SEA Electric family,”<br />
SEA Electric founder<br />
and president Tony<br />
Fairweather says.<br />
“This is an exciting time<br />
for SEA Electric, especially<br />
in the Asia Pacific region,<br />
with Bill set to anchor<br />
the market development<br />
team, enabling the region<br />
to achieve its substantial<br />
growth forecast.<br />
“Glen Walker’s position<br />
will be renamed ‘vice<br />
president – Asia Pacific’,<br />
and he will continue<br />
his incredible work<br />
in providing high<br />
quality and efficiently<br />
produced electric vehicle<br />
products to the Asia<br />
Pacific region.”<br />
26 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
OPEN ROAD<br />
Prioritise action on impaired driving<br />
Reform petty intervention and focus on the real industry scourges<br />
WARREN CLARK<br />
is CEO of the<br />
National Toad<br />
Transport<br />
Association<br />
NatRoad supports a shift away from roadside<br />
enforcement of heavy vehicle laws but is calling<br />
for extra attention to be paid to enforcing drug<br />
and alcohol misuse.<br />
More frequent testing of light and heavy vehicle<br />
drivers for drug driving, in particular, is a vital road safety<br />
measure.<br />
These issues shouldn’t be forgotten as the reforms<br />
to the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) are being<br />
finalised and where a move to risk-based enforcement<br />
is likely.<br />
NatRoad emphasised in all of our submissions to<br />
the HVNL review that enforcement must be completely<br />
reformed.<br />
There must be warnings issued before fines are<br />
imposed for mere administrative offences, particularly<br />
those relating to fatigue records.<br />
Much greater use of self-clearing defect notices<br />
should be applied so that they are the norm where<br />
there is no imminent danger to the vehicle, the road<br />
or other road users.<br />
And resources that are currently applied to<br />
painstakingly checking fatigue diaries for pedantic issues<br />
should be diverted to cracking down on drug driving,<br />
which is becoming an increasing danger.<br />
Increases in absenteeism, decreases in quality of<br />
work, loss in productivity, and high turnover rates are all<br />
attributable to substance abuse.<br />
Many authorities, including the police, are taking<br />
the view that so long as it is reasonably practicable<br />
for a road transport business to have a drug and alcohol<br />
policy in place then a policy should be implemented<br />
and followed.<br />
That is a step that seeks to ensure the safety of<br />
road transport activities; a vital element of Chain of<br />
Responsibility law. NatRoad helps members put drug<br />
and alcohol policies in place and all members should<br />
have a policy.<br />
NatRoad firmly supports an increase in road-side<br />
enforcement of drug driving, and we are calling for the<br />
allocation of resources to support this.<br />
Government data shows that whilst those testing<br />
positive to a breath analysis for alcohol was 0.5 per cent<br />
of those sampled, the percentage testing positive to<br />
roadside drug tests was 12 per cent.<br />
This is an alarming statistic; testing light and heavy<br />
vehicle drivers for drug and alcohol use must be<br />
increased. Tougher penalties should apply to driving<br />
whilst there are illicit drugs present in the person’s<br />
system. This should be an immediate reform priority to<br />
improve road safety.<br />
Research conducted by the University of New South<br />
Wales shows that, as of January 2020, all Australian<br />
states and territories have Roadside Drug Testing (RDT)<br />
laws that include a non-impairment-based provision<br />
that enables police to require a driver to provide an oral<br />
saliva, blood or urine sample which is then tested for the<br />
presence of specific illicit drugs.<br />
While the individual laws vary, they all include a zerotolerance<br />
threshold, that is, any amount detected means<br />
an offence has been committed.<br />
While the first RDT laws tested only for cannabis and<br />
amphetamines, as of January 2020 seven states test for<br />
three drugs: cannabis, speed and ecstasy. NSW also tests<br />
for cocaine.<br />
Testing for all these substances should be increased<br />
and those who take drugs and drive given severe<br />
punishment.<br />
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FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 27
SPONSORED CONTENT<br />
Freighter<br />
FREIGHTER CELEBRATES 75 YEARS<br />
The year 2021 marks 75 years since the first Freighter products rolled onto<br />
Australian roads. Freighter’s history is clearly as long as it is rich, and that legacy<br />
is a key component of every trailer that rolls off the line today<br />
The origins of Freighter hark all<br />
the way back to before World<br />
War II, and its influence has been<br />
growing ever since.<br />
Truly national before any other<br />
manufacturer dreamed it was possible,<br />
the company didn’t limit itself to being<br />
the best in truck trailers. It also made<br />
boats, buoys, buses, forklifts, caravans,<br />
starting gates for racing tracks, wood<br />
heaters and even had a crack at building<br />
its own 4WD vehicle.<br />
It’s said that, during the 1970s, nine<br />
out of every 10 heavy-duty trailers on the<br />
road were Freighter. Its influence on the<br />
industry remains undeniable.<br />
Freighter was officially created in<br />
1945 with the first products rolling<br />
onto Australian roads in February 1946.<br />
However, its origins reach back even<br />
further, starting with Melbourne’s John<br />
McGrath. From scratching around to get<br />
by, McGrath became the biggest trailer<br />
manufacturer in the country.<br />
Post-war, new roads and new<br />
regulations were created to<br />
formalise the transport industry. The<br />
developments didn’t suit McGrath’s<br />
mode of operation or stage of life, so<br />
he sold his operation to Noel Peel.<br />
Renamed Freighters Ltd, its first<br />
AGM was held in late 1945. Peter<br />
White then purchased the business in<br />
late December 1982 and renamed it<br />
Freighter Australia Manufacturing.<br />
With White’s laser focus on costs<br />
and product innovation, as well as<br />
some inspired licensing arrangements<br />
(such as the relationship with<br />
Tautliners), by 1985, the new Freighter<br />
celebrated the manufacture of 600<br />
trailers in two years. By the early<br />
1990s, the business was on the<br />
up-and-up again.<br />
More geographic and product<br />
diversification followed and, by the late<br />
1990s, Freighter’s performance drew<br />
the attention of a respected industry<br />
performer, Jim Curtis. Curtis had<br />
created Maxi-CUBE, which had been<br />
ASX listed in 1994, and was looking for<br />
a big step forward to achieve his growth<br />
aims. In 1998, Freighter was acquired by<br />
Curtis’ business.<br />
Later that year, MaxiTRANS was<br />
established. Freighter’s standing was<br />
so well-established that its name was<br />
retained and Freighter products became<br />
a key component of the MaxiTRANS<br />
business. Today, Freighter is celebrating<br />
75 years as Australia’s longest standing<br />
trailer brand.<br />
While it has gone through significant<br />
changes through its journey, the brand<br />
continues to deliver on its promise of<br />
high quality, high performance trailing<br />
equipment with an unmatched network<br />
of national back up support.<br />
“Freighter’s long and successful<br />
history is owed to our loyal customers,”<br />
says Dean Jenkins, MaxiTRANS<br />
managing director and CEO.<br />
“Many of our customers are secondor<br />
third-generation Freighter loyalists. It<br />
is this ongoing support that has helped<br />
build the legacy that Freighter prides<br />
itself on and will continue to be a part of<br />
every locally manufactured high quality<br />
trailer that is produced.<br />
“75 years in operation is a significant<br />
milestone, not only for the Freighter<br />
brand, but for the wider transport<br />
industry too.<br />
“In celebration of this milestone,<br />
and for our customers wishing to be<br />
a part of this historic year, we have<br />
released a limited edition Freighter<br />
75th year Diamond Pack, available<br />
across the Freighter range throughout<br />
2021.”<br />
28 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
OPERATIONS + STRATEGY<br />
Healthy Heads in Trucks and Sheds<br />
THE FIRST STEP<br />
With Healthy Heads in<br />
Trucks and Sheds releasing<br />
its roadmap for 2021–2024,<br />
the spotlight is on how<br />
industry can expand mental<br />
health awareness and<br />
access to services as well<br />
as implement prevention<br />
measures and ongoing<br />
support for employees<br />
WORDS<br />
MARK GOJSZYK<br />
Amajor industry development<br />
took place away from<br />
the Brisbane Truck Show<br />
(BTS) spotlight, with mental health<br />
foundation Healthy Heads in Trucks<br />
and Sheds (HHTS) launching a<br />
membership drive to accompany<br />
the recent release of its industry<br />
roadmap.<br />
The National Mental Health and<br />
Wellbeing Roadmap 2021–2024<br />
outlines a three-year course of action<br />
to improve mental wellbeing within<br />
transport and logistics.<br />
HHTS CEO Naomi Frauenfelder<br />
and chair Paul Graham were joined<br />
by National Heavy Vehicle Regulator<br />
(NHVR) CEO Sal Petroccitto, who<br />
recently formalised an industry<br />
partnership with the foundation.<br />
Accompanying the launch was a<br />
video from HHTS psychology advisor<br />
Arthur Papagiannis of AP Psychology.<br />
Graham, the incoming Australia<br />
Post CEO from Woolworths logistics<br />
arm Primary Connect, is grateful for<br />
the prompt recognition of HHTS as<br />
industry’s eminent mental health<br />
foundation, with its inception all<br />
the more timely through the rise<br />
of Covid-19.<br />
“We are a young foundation, we<br />
only really formed in August of last<br />
year, in the heart of the pandemic,”<br />
Graham says.<br />
“I think we really came together<br />
as an industry, which, as a large and<br />
competitive industry, is not easy.<br />
“The thing about mental health is<br />
it does not single out anybody and,<br />
unfortunately, we’re on the lower rung<br />
of the ladder when it comes to mental<br />
health and wellbeing in our industry.”<br />
Graham recognises “the immense<br />
responsibility that the industry<br />
had in helping people eat and<br />
survive through Covid… but also<br />
the tremendous pressure that it<br />
placed on everybody in industry<br />
and how magnificently they<br />
responded to that pressure.<br />
“It did increase the mental health<br />
30 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
Opposite top:<br />
HHTS recently<br />
released its<br />
roadmap for<br />
2021–2024 to<br />
improve mental<br />
wellbeing within<br />
transport and<br />
logistics<br />
issues that we saw in industry –<br />
I think it really brought home the<br />
need for a foundation,” he says.<br />
The involvement of AP Psychology,<br />
which specialises in workplace<br />
psychological safety, speaks to<br />
the foundation’s need for specific<br />
expertise to inform its strategy,<br />
interventions and the design of the<br />
roadmap, Graham adds.<br />
“Obviously, while we understand<br />
our business, we don’t fully<br />
understand as a foundation the<br />
medical [requirements] or the<br />
complexity of mental health.<br />
“It’s not just one diagnosis –<br />
it’s a very complex space, and we<br />
want to be a foundation that has<br />
our strategy unearthed by good<br />
data and expertise.<br />
“That’s the key thing that we’ve<br />
really held up in the foundation –<br />
whatever we do, it has to have an<br />
evidence base behind it.”<br />
right through to warehousing and<br />
distribution.<br />
“Another big part we’ve identified<br />
is the high levels of isolation and<br />
disconnection… and we know those<br />
risk factors can play a big part<br />
in a person’s mental health and<br />
wellbeing.”<br />
Thus, the roadmap is made up of<br />
three key components: prevention,<br />
protection and support.<br />
“Prevention is about preventing<br />
harm to people and building the<br />
foundations within workplaces<br />
to support the mental health<br />
and wellbeing of individuals,”<br />
Papagiannis says.<br />
“The second component is<br />
protection – so, how do we protect<br />
our people and how do we create<br />
workplaces that support that?<br />
“The third component is support.<br />
“How do we actually support the<br />
recovery journey of people who either<br />
are diagnosed with mental health<br />
conditions or concerns and wellbeing<br />
Above L-R: ATA<br />
CEO Andrew<br />
McKellar, ATA<br />
chair David<br />
Smith, HHTS<br />
CEO Naomi<br />
Frauenfelder and<br />
Paccar Australia<br />
MD Andrew<br />
Hadjikakou at<br />
the roadmap<br />
launch<br />
Below: The<br />
high level of<br />
isolation and<br />
disconnection<br />
of truck drivers<br />
has a significant<br />
impact on<br />
mental health<br />
ROADMAP<br />
The roadmap framework aims<br />
to strike a balance between<br />
psychological research and the<br />
unique function and needs of<br />
industry, Papagiannis says in an<br />
explainer video.<br />
“We know the industry faces<br />
significant challenges, from workload<br />
to fatigue to critical incidents and<br />
trauma,” he says.<br />
“Obviously a lot of truckies are on<br />
the road and exposed to those risks,<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 31
Healthy Heads in Trucks & Sheds, together<br />
with OzHelp’s driver wellbeing program<br />
Health in Gear, will use the vehicle to deliver<br />
free ‘Truckie Tune Ups’<br />
challenges, right through to preventing those<br />
concerns or mental health conditions from<br />
happening?”<br />
The roadmap consists of seven key<br />
evidence-based areas that the industry<br />
needs to address:<br />
• build leadership capability<br />
• increase awareness<br />
• build a better workplace culture<br />
• smarter work design<br />
• build resilience & coping skills<br />
• promote early intervention<br />
• support recovery.<br />
“Leadership, capability and supporting<br />
awareness really goes across all three<br />
in prevention, protection, and support,”<br />
Papagiannis explains.<br />
“So, every step of the way, we’re looking<br />
at leadership and awareness across those<br />
three areas.<br />
“And then, through the preventative space,<br />
we’re looking at targeting workplace culture<br />
and creating a psychologically safe culture.<br />
“The other two key areas of focus are<br />
about building resilience and coping skills<br />
within people and upskilling both the<br />
workforce and leaders in early intervention.<br />
“So, how can we intervene sooner, put the<br />
right strategies in place and interventions to<br />
really help the people get to a better place<br />
and ultimately thrive?<br />
“And, finally, targeting the support<br />
recovery area. So, what are the systems,<br />
processes, interventions and the capabilities<br />
that are required in that space to support<br />
people when they are off work, potentially, or<br />
struggling with a challenge in life? And how<br />
can the workplace best support them?”<br />
Papagiannis emphasises that the focus<br />
areas form the basis of an integrated<br />
approach.<br />
“It’s not just one area we focus on,<br />
which is often what a lot of workplaces<br />
and industries do. They’ll focus on the<br />
awareness piece.<br />
“We’re really taking a systemic approach<br />
to all of this.”<br />
MEMBERSHIP<br />
Signing up as a HHTS member grants<br />
access to the foundation’s tools and<br />
resources, Frauenfelder says; notably,<br />
individuals and owner-drivers are able to<br />
sign up for free, while business membership<br />
cost depends on the size of the enterprise.<br />
The development of the roadmap is seen<br />
as a significant step forward for HHTS.<br />
“I’m thrilled to be taking this very first<br />
and very important step together here as<br />
an industry so you have a plan and way<br />
forward,” Frauenfelder says.<br />
“It’s not going to be easy, and it’s going to<br />
take time, but the time is now to start taking<br />
small tentative steps to help create an<br />
industry that we’re all proud to be part of.<br />
“Our membership program will help us<br />
to equip these businesses and individuals<br />
with the tools and resources they need to<br />
take action.<br />
“It allows us to assist them in supporting<br />
their journey in building work environments<br />
where people are healthy and thrive.<br />
“But, if we’re going to drive systemic<br />
change, it will take a whole industry<br />
approach, from leaders to managers,<br />
business owners and employees, to<br />
manufacturers and suppliers, unions,<br />
associations and regulators, to all come<br />
together to tackle the specific mental health<br />
challenges that confront our industry.”<br />
Included with a membership is the<br />
roadmap, operational guidelines and tools<br />
and resources, such as training tailored<br />
to the industry – with new developments<br />
provided as they become available.<br />
“These tools are designed to provide<br />
practical steps to successfully implement<br />
the roadmap, assisting you to understand<br />
how to put psychological safety in place<br />
within your workplace and address these<br />
risk factors,” Frauenfelder says.<br />
“This includes assessing your current<br />
state of workplace psychology and safety to<br />
identify needs in those areas, understanding<br />
the actions you can take to create a thriving<br />
workplace, and you’ll also gain access<br />
to our handbooks that will support your<br />
32 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
leadership team and employees.<br />
“The handbooks offer practical,<br />
easy-to-follow, easy-to-action,<br />
mental health and wellbeing tools<br />
and tips.<br />
“Outside of business membership,<br />
you can also get on board as an<br />
individual.<br />
“When you become an individual<br />
member, you’re tapping into<br />
something much bigger than just<br />
yourself. You become a part of a<br />
movement.”<br />
More recently, HHTS started a<br />
survey designed to benchmark<br />
where industry’s mental health<br />
and wellbeing.<br />
“This is the first step in terms of<br />
baselining where industry is at, and<br />
we will then work AP Psychology<br />
to establish the ways in which<br />
progress against the Roadmap can<br />
be measured.<br />
“In addition, we are undertaking<br />
a piece of work that will help us<br />
to develop a process whereby<br />
businesses can track and report on<br />
their own progress when it comes to<br />
psychological safety, as they work<br />
their way through the framework and<br />
maturity model.<br />
LOOKING AHEAD<br />
Papagiannis says there are exciting<br />
times ahead for industry but<br />
challenges also abound.<br />
He is under no illusion as to the<br />
scale of the task ahead and does not<br />
expect each workplace to possess<br />
advanced mental health capabilities<br />
by the three-year mark.<br />
“We know it’s the first step<br />
towards the industry really making<br />
a significant impact, to creating<br />
environments and workplaces where<br />
our people can feel healthy, safe, and<br />
ultimately thrive in everything that<br />
they do,” he says.<br />
“Over the course of the next three<br />
years, every workplace will be in a<br />
different stage of maturity.<br />
“Obviously for some, that may be<br />
building blocks and really kicking<br />
things off, to others being further<br />
along in that journey.<br />
“But we’re hoping with everything<br />
we’ve produced and put together,<br />
the industry will be well supported<br />
to progress on that maturity journey<br />
to hopefully make some significant<br />
impacts.<br />
“I’m hoping that in three years’<br />
time, if we’re back here having<br />
this conversation, the shift and<br />
change has been significant and<br />
considerable and really made a big<br />
impact on the lives of people.”<br />
Frauenfelder tells <strong>ATN</strong> the future<br />
plan for HHTS will be to “build upon<br />
the experience of implementing the<br />
three-year roadmap, evaluations we<br />
have undertaken, what has worked<br />
well, what can be improved, and<br />
most importantly, what industry is<br />
telling us it needs”.<br />
Graham notes that, while this<br />
is a complex area, conversation<br />
has to happen to erode the pervasive<br />
mental health stigma in society<br />
Top: This<br />
multi-purpose DAF<br />
LF260 was donated<br />
by Paccar Australia<br />
in partnership<br />
with the ATA and<br />
will function as<br />
an education and<br />
medical assessment<br />
hub for the industry<br />
Above: L-R: Deputy<br />
prime minister<br />
Michael McCormack,<br />
HHTS CEO Naomi<br />
Frauenfelder and<br />
HHTS chair Paul<br />
Graham at the<br />
roadmap launch<br />
Opposite top:<br />
Frauenfelder<br />
and NHVR CEO<br />
Sal Petroccitto<br />
signed an industry<br />
partnership<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 33
Above: The Healthy Heads roadmap aims to normalise discussions around<br />
mental health within the workplace<br />
INDUSTRY VEHICLE<br />
The goodwill continued to flow for HHTS at the BTS<br />
as it was unveiled as one of the first organisations to<br />
gain access a new industry vehicle donated by Paccar<br />
Australia in partnership with the Australian Trucking<br />
Association (ATA).<br />
A custom-built, multi-purpose DAF LF260 is available<br />
for use in support of industry initiatives that connect,<br />
educate, support and promote the trucking industry.<br />
It features a flexible work, meeting and media<br />
space, as well as audio-visual capabilities for external<br />
presentations.<br />
“This vehicle will service industry in many ways<br />
through high-impact engagement initiatives at on-site<br />
events, industry activations, conferences or at the<br />
roadside,” ATA chair David Smith says.<br />
“Harnessing its multi-purpose utility, the vehicle will<br />
have the capacity to deliver outdoor presentations, on-site<br />
health checks, host regional meetings, act as a media hub<br />
or serve as a support centre that responds to industry<br />
needs in times of crisis.”<br />
HHTS was front and centre of the announcement, with<br />
Frauenfelder outlining its plans for the vehicle.<br />
“Under this exciting partnership, Healthy Heads in<br />
Trucks & Sheds, together with OzHelp’s driver wellbeing<br />
program Health in Gear, will use the vehicle to deliver<br />
free ‘Truckie Tune Ups’ at the Brisbane Truck Show,<br />
ahead of a wider industry program that will roll out soon,”<br />
Frauenfelder said.<br />
“This industry asset is invaluable as it allows us to<br />
reach communities and businesses across the country to<br />
deliver support, resources and tools that promote better<br />
mental health and wellbeing outcomes.”<br />
The ‘Truckie Tune Up’ is a comprehensive health<br />
check that measures general physical and mental health,<br />
cholesterol, blood pressure, height, weight, sleep, exercise<br />
and diet.<br />
This health assessment is undertaken by a nurse and a<br />
trained support officer.<br />
“Our partnership with Healthy Heads in Trucks & Sheds<br />
and OzHelp’s Health in Gear program is just one of the<br />
many ways this vehicle can service our industry,” Paccar<br />
Australia MD, Andrew Hadjikakou, says.<br />
“We are thrilled to unveil this unique and innovative<br />
vehicle and look forward to seeing what can be achieved<br />
through its activities in years to come.”<br />
and, particularly, within industry.<br />
“We’ve got to talk about it as if it’s<br />
a head cold or a sore elbow,” he says.<br />
“We’re nowhere near there yet.<br />
“We’ve done a fantastic job in<br />
industry around safety in the last<br />
15 years but we’ve got an even<br />
bigger job [with] mental health and<br />
wellbeing and [we] can’t wait for 15<br />
years to do that.”<br />
As part of the membership launch,<br />
Graham expands on the next steps<br />
for HHTS.<br />
“The first step is education,<br />
training and awareness, creating<br />
good environments where people<br />
can get support and making sure<br />
that training is available whether<br />
you’re a single driver, owner-operator<br />
or the larger corporates.<br />
“The second thing is working with<br />
governments of all levels to create<br />
standards around both regulatory<br />
standards and standards around<br />
rest areas – all the things that are<br />
frustrating and create anxiety within<br />
our industry.<br />
“And the third thing is education to<br />
individuals about their own mental<br />
health and wellbeing and their<br />
physical health and wellbeing.<br />
“We know those are both related.<br />
Many of the roles within industry<br />
don’t set them up for [good] physical<br />
[health] and wellbeing.”<br />
Graham also notes HHTS is<br />
currently working with Lifeline<br />
Australia on a proposal to have a<br />
dedicated crisis support line for<br />
those in the road transport and<br />
logistics industry, which could<br />
involve former drivers.<br />
“This is in its formative stages but<br />
is ultimately part of the longer-term<br />
vision for the foundation.”<br />
REGULATOR RECOGNITION<br />
Importantly, HHTS has unanimous<br />
backing from the industry regulator.<br />
The National Heavy Vehicle<br />
Regulator (NHVR) CEO Sal Petroccitto<br />
recalls his own conversations with<br />
NHVR director Robin Stewart-Crompton<br />
about the foundation’s ambition.<br />
“This is a really exciting project for<br />
us,” Petroccitto says.<br />
“It was a no brainer for the<br />
regulator… so much so that the<br />
organisation has contributed<br />
$150,000 over three years to continue<br />
to support this initiative.<br />
“The last 18 months have probably<br />
demonstrated just how much<br />
resilience is in the industry, but I’ve<br />
seen some of the pressure building<br />
up and we need the avenues and<br />
we need the tools and we need<br />
the discussions to occur, and this<br />
initiative really does provide that.<br />
“It’s something that I think we all<br />
wholeheartedly need to embrace.”<br />
Petroccitto observes abundant<br />
activity in the mental health space<br />
but says bringing it all together under<br />
one banner was an important step,<br />
comparing it to the challenge of<br />
establishing an overarching national<br />
regulator in a fragmented industry.<br />
“Having an organisation and a<br />
focus that, to some degree, was<br />
across the whole sector – it’s not just<br />
about the driver, it’s not just about<br />
the operator, it’s about those that sit<br />
in the warehouse or might sit in the<br />
workshop, or even my office.<br />
“Mental health cuts across all<br />
industry.<br />
“It’s initiatives like this that I think<br />
we start to see that shift that we’ve<br />
been seeking, and I think there are<br />
going to be some challenges.<br />
“I’m speaking from experience in<br />
terms of trying to establish a national<br />
regulator cutting across multiple<br />
jurisdictional activity.<br />
“There are over 50,000 operators<br />
and around a million heavy vehicle<br />
combinations.<br />
“If we all work together, I know we<br />
will be successful.<br />
“I’m really also pleased that<br />
the organisation has made the<br />
decision to allow owner-drivers<br />
to join for free.”<br />
34 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
National Conference<br />
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August 19 - 21<br />
Why You’ll Want To Be There<br />
Reconnect on the Gold Coast at the NatRoad Conference with<br />
a gala dinner, social events, the opportunity to have your voice<br />
heard and create real change in the road freight industry.<br />
Great Speaker Line-Up<br />
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Bristow Legal<br />
Peter Rowsthorn<br />
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Sal Petroccitto<br />
CEO NHVR<br />
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1800 272 144<br />
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<strong>ATN</strong>-FP-5188391-CS-418
OPERATIONS + STRATEGY<br />
Clein Transport Solutions<br />
PLANE<br />
SAILING<br />
WORDS AND IMAGES WARREN AITKEN<br />
There are a couple of<br />
really good reasons why<br />
I don’t get out to do<br />
many oversize shoots these<br />
days. Number one, because<br />
photographing them requires a<br />
special sort of skill set.<br />
Moving objects, at night, in<br />
poorly lit areas, yeah it’s tough.<br />
When you do jag some good<br />
shots it’s worth it, but there’s<br />
always a lot of shots just not<br />
sharp enough, or a little too dark.<br />
It is a real challenge. That’s not<br />
the main reason though.<br />
The main reason is that you<br />
have to be up really, really early!<br />
Or sometimes really, really late.<br />
However, when you find out a<br />
classic fighter jet is going to<br />
be doing a low-level pass<br />
through the streets of Sydney,<br />
well you just can’t pass that up.<br />
Boy, am I glad I sacrificed<br />
my much-needed beauty sleep<br />
earlier this year and stayed up for<br />
this shoot though.<br />
Nearly 12 months of planning<br />
and preparation had gone into<br />
this and, finally, the Clein Group’s<br />
Kenworth K200 left Bankstown<br />
Airport with a huge piece of RAAF<br />
history in tow – a 1968 Dassault<br />
Mirage III Jet Fighter.<br />
Lucky for me, the first folk I ran<br />
into while we awaited the 9pm<br />
departure time for the Mirage<br />
were the delightful John and<br />
Anne Parker.<br />
John and Anne run Warbirds<br />
Online and are heavily invested in<br />
a lot of major airplane restoration<br />
projects. Along with the Hunter<br />
Fighter Collection board, they<br />
played an integral part in this<br />
major restoration and relocation<br />
project.<br />
Once the mighty Mirage is<br />
restored it will spend the next 10<br />
years on display at the soonto-be-opened<br />
Scone Warbird<br />
Attraction, obviously in Scone.<br />
When the museum is<br />
completed and opens at the end<br />
of 2021, there will be around 16<br />
historic planes on display, as well<br />
as joy rides, flight simulators and<br />
plenty of other attractions. It’s<br />
more than enough to entice me<br />
back for sure.<br />
John and Anne were able to fill<br />
me in on the aircraft. It’s a 1969<br />
Dassault Mirage III IIIO(F) and<br />
has spent its entire life based in<br />
Australia.<br />
Already I was learning stuff. I’d<br />
Opposite top:<br />
Justin Clein<br />
takes centre<br />
stage as he<br />
gathers in his<br />
team and the<br />
team of pilots to<br />
go over the plan<br />
one last time<br />
before the fly off<br />
Opposite below:<br />
One of the<br />
tightest squeezes<br />
in Sydney was<br />
the toll booths<br />
coming off the<br />
M2<br />
36 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
Hauling a jet fighter<br />
through Sydney’s<br />
streets and motorways<br />
is no mean feat but,<br />
for the top gun team<br />
at Clein Transport<br />
Solutions, it was just<br />
another day at the office<br />
always assumed that, as a French<br />
aircraft, the Mirage originated<br />
in France. However, John<br />
informed me, like many, this<br />
Mirage III was built in the<br />
Government Aircraft factory<br />
in Victoria back in 1969.<br />
The plane spent most of its<br />
time in the 76th Squadron and<br />
had the notoriety of being flown<br />
by the world’s oldest fighter pilot,<br />
squadron leader Phillip Frawley.<br />
Obviously, he wasn’t the<br />
world’s oldest when he flew this<br />
particular Mirage; that came<br />
in 2012 when he surpassed a<br />
60-year-old F-16 pilot.<br />
DELICATE RELOCATION<br />
The Mirage had spent the<br />
last decade at the Bankstown<br />
Museum, which has now closed,<br />
leading to John and Anne helping<br />
to arrange its restoration and<br />
relocation to Scone.<br />
Enter Clein Transport<br />
Solutions. Justin Clein and his<br />
heavy haulage team have built up<br />
quite a reputation when it comes<br />
to these types of delicate aircraft<br />
relocations. Hence, they were the<br />
first port of call for this shift.<br />
“It was 12 months in the<br />
making,” Clein informs me when I<br />
ask how long it takes to organise<br />
We spent a good three to four solid<br />
months with different councils<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 37
things, going on to explain that<br />
Covid played a massive hand in<br />
things as well. Clein Transport<br />
Solutions had been hired to not<br />
just move the Mirage to Scone<br />
but also an Aermacchi MB-326<br />
jet from the Amberley RAAF base<br />
in Queensland down to Scone<br />
as well.<br />
“When Covid hit they basically<br />
closed down the airbase to<br />
everyone.”<br />
So as the coronavirus<br />
pandemic did to everyone, it<br />
threw a spanner at the Hunter<br />
Fighter Collection’s plans as well.<br />
“We spent a good three to<br />
four solid months with different<br />
councils, TMR [Department<br />
of Transport and Main Roads]<br />
and stuff to get it approved,” he<br />
explains, adding that it was still<br />
getting worked on and finalised<br />
right up until the night before.<br />
Preparation for a move like this<br />
saw Clain and his team doing a<br />
couple of dry runs, measuring<br />
out all the areas where it would<br />
get a bit tight with the 8.5m-wide<br />
plane. Their plan was then<br />
backed up by a third party who<br />
did an independent evaluation.<br />
It’s worth noting that all the<br />
planning in the world can’t avoid<br />
last minute hiccups. Thankfully<br />
the only minor hiccup would have<br />
occurred during the navigating<br />
of Muswellbrook where a local<br />
company had installed new<br />
fencing and signs that would<br />
have been an issue, if it wasn’t for<br />
an oversize load the night before<br />
ripping it all down. Timing, hey?<br />
Obviously, the old Mirage<br />
wasn’t moving to the truck on<br />
its own accord, so, on the early<br />
hours of Friday morning, a crane<br />
was brought in and the eighttonne<br />
aircraft was lifted over the<br />
airfields fence and delicately<br />
placed on the custom-built setup<br />
on the back of the Clein Transport<br />
Solution’s Kenworth K200.<br />
The morning was spent<br />
strapping it down and making<br />
sure it was set to go when Clein’s<br />
The 330km journey took<br />
nearly eight hours<br />
Top left: A police<br />
escort helped ease<br />
the way<br />
Above: Negotiating<br />
the streets of Scone;<br />
its airport the last<br />
challenge for team<br />
Clein and one it<br />
handled with ease<br />
Opposite right:<br />
Sitting outside<br />
Bankstown airport,<br />
the Clein’s K200<br />
looks almost small<br />
compared to the big<br />
Mirage<br />
Right: The Clein<br />
Group team take a<br />
few minutes break<br />
to check everything<br />
is nice and secure<br />
before they tackle<br />
Sydney’s Pennant<br />
Hills Rd<br />
driver arrived ready to head out<br />
at 9pm.<br />
INTERSECTIONS CHECKED<br />
Word can spread pretty quickly<br />
among both oversize load fans<br />
and aircraft enthusiasts when<br />
38 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
there’s a special move on. So, when the<br />
truck pulled out onto Milperra Rd, there<br />
was already a small crowd watching.<br />
The stressful exercise of getting<br />
underway through Sydney’s narrower<br />
streets and onto the motorways<br />
required incredible finesse from not<br />
just the driver, Steve Sternberg, but<br />
also Clein and his chauffeur, Stephen<br />
Joyce, who were flat out checking every<br />
intersection and corner, jumping out<br />
and guiding the truck through, often<br />
with mere centimetres to spare.<br />
Once the boys hit Sydney’s<br />
motorways, it was fairly good running,<br />
with the police escorts ensuring there<br />
wasn’t your typical highway idiots<br />
trying to squeeze up the inside.<br />
The 330km journey took nearly<br />
eight hours, concluding with a<br />
concentrated effort through the back<br />
roads of Scone to get to the airport.<br />
It gave me another opportunity to<br />
watch the high level of skill as the<br />
team squeezed round corners and<br />
roundabouts that bear the scars of a<br />
few 4WDs that failed to negotiate them.<br />
The Clein team and the Mirage were<br />
greeted with a welcoming committee<br />
of around 400 people: a celebratory<br />
reception. They all watched as the<br />
Mirage was lifted off the truck and<br />
placed in its new home. It had been a<br />
year-long project, brought to an end by<br />
an eight-hour road trip.<br />
Well done to all those involved. I can’t<br />
wait for the Scone Warbird Experience<br />
to open in late 2021; I’ll be there for<br />
sure!<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 39
FINANCE & LEASING<br />
Truck leasing<br />
FINDING<br />
FLEXITIBILTY<br />
If it’s another asset option or cash for investment, fleet owners are taking the plunge<br />
Truck leasing and finance is looking<br />
better than ever, with a huge number<br />
of fleets having sailed through the<br />
pandemic and looking for opportunities<br />
to exploit.<br />
Sector players <strong>ATN</strong> spoke to see a<br />
number of reasons likely coalescing, but<br />
the figures, particularly from the major<br />
banks on lending, are stunning.<br />
Amongst contributing themes raised<br />
were: the end of hesitancy around new<br />
truck emissions rules; wear and tear finally<br />
forcing owners’ hands; and the need to add<br />
to fleets as new contracts arose.<br />
Then there are federal government<br />
incentives aimed at stimulus both<br />
economy-wide and, in particular instances<br />
most importantly, instant asset write-off.<br />
Occasional Covid scares aside, more heat<br />
in the economy means more demand for<br />
freight transport. And, on the leasing side, a<br />
maturing of attitudes amongst small- and<br />
medium-sized fleets is becoming manifest.<br />
PACLEASE<br />
Paccar as a whole has never been busier,<br />
according to PacLease Australia general<br />
manager Andrew Molnar. And that is flowing<br />
into its leasing and finance operations.<br />
“The more trucks we’re building and<br />
selling, the more we’re financing,” is<br />
Molnar’s equation.<br />
He sees a greater interest in leasing<br />
in particular.<br />
“There was a fair bit of uncertainty with<br />
customers and their contracts – if they had<br />
a truck to fulfil a contract, they were unsure<br />
about what was going to happen at the end<br />
of that,” he notes.<br />
“So, they might have got a 12-month<br />
extension or just an ongoing agreement,<br />
where they were unsure whether to reinvest<br />
in new gear or continue running what<br />
they had.”<br />
The emissions uncertainty was the cause<br />
of some long-term caution, given the<br />
mandating of the next level of emissions<br />
control that was expected through most<br />
of the last decade ended up failing to<br />
materialise.<br />
“I think people were holding off, thinking:<br />
‘I’ll wait for a pre-buy that we’ve seen in the<br />
past . . . we’ll reinvest before we see this<br />
change to Euro 6, or Euro 6-equivalent’.”<br />
The federal government’s investment<br />
allowance, given impetus by instant asset<br />
write-off, is a definite contributor but, for<br />
Molnar, that doesn’t explain the leasing<br />
demand he sees running 20 per cent higher<br />
than normal.<br />
He puts the change down to contractors<br />
to larger firms gaining a greater appreciation<br />
for the certainty on expenditure, including<br />
for maintenance.<br />
PENSKE TRUCK LEASING<br />
Penske Truck Leasing (PTL) also finds<br />
itself in a good place, according to general<br />
manager Adrian Beach.<br />
That is especially so for the “absolutely<br />
booming” daily rental offering that PTL led<br />
its entrance into the domestic market with<br />
seven years ago. And this has affected its<br />
business practices.<br />
“B-double prime movers are near 100<br />
per cent utilisation – unseasonably high,”<br />
Beach says of the present situation.<br />
That rate is usually reserved for the<br />
height of the busy season that crescendos<br />
up to Christmas , then slumps to about 60<br />
per cent in January, bar a couple of up-ticks<br />
around Australia Day and the like.<br />
With a traditionally slow calendar in the<br />
second and third quarters, the strategy<br />
had been to sell off any returned vehicles<br />
over five-years-old and go with a smaller<br />
rental fleet, while ordering new ones to be<br />
available in September or October.<br />
“This year, nothing came back. We<br />
dropped back to the 80s or 90s with the<br />
biggest fleet we’ve ever had,” Beach says of<br />
the percentages.<br />
All PTL’s equipment sales have been<br />
40 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
suspended in response and it has asked<br />
suppliers to pull all its orders forward.<br />
This month, PTL is taking delivery of five rental<br />
vehicles: two prime movers and three rigids.<br />
“We’re not usually taking new equipment<br />
in June but we’re grabbing everything that we<br />
can,” he says.<br />
“We’re looking at MAN and Western Star aged<br />
inventory – maybe they have something sitting<br />
around that could work for the rental fleet. But<br />
they don’t have a whole lot of inventory either.”<br />
Beach says customers tell PTL they already<br />
have new trucks on order that can’t arrive for six<br />
to 12 months, so are renting in the meantime.<br />
“So, that drives our utilisation up and makes<br />
it more difficult for us to buy new trucks too,”<br />
he adds.<br />
“Production slots are up and inventory is<br />
depleting.”<br />
Much is being said of supply chain issues<br />
affecting truck construction, especially<br />
related to the supply of crucial semiconductors<br />
that are now essential and everywhere on<br />
modern vehicles.<br />
Beach is aware of the issue but says it has<br />
only cropped up last month in conversations<br />
he has had with suppliers, and not at all with<br />
regards to European manufacturers.<br />
He counts PTL fortunate to have ordered 50<br />
MANs last October and expects those to arrive<br />
on time. Those ordered subsequently are likely to<br />
arrive in the second quarter of next year.<br />
Beach also sees an attitudinal change<br />
to leasing. Whereas, two to three years ago, PTL<br />
had about a dozen full-service lease trucks, it<br />
sits at about 50 now.<br />
“We have more quotes on the table than we<br />
ever have and we’ve signed more new lease<br />
customers since October last year than we have<br />
in the previous five years,” he explains.<br />
Interestingly, he discerns a certain amount<br />
of experimentation from new customers<br />
interested in transitioning from US to European<br />
makes but wanting a better grip on running<br />
costs and resale values.<br />
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA<br />
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is bullish<br />
on the economy’s performance and how it has<br />
translated into demand for finance for plant and<br />
equipment purchases.<br />
Australian businesses continue to kick back<br />
into gear, with new asset finance figures from the<br />
CBA revealing a 36 per cent increase in business<br />
car financing compared with the same time<br />
last year.<br />
CBA’s latest asset financing figures, broken<br />
down by vehicle type, have seen an increase over<br />
the past year that it breaks down this way:<br />
• heavy trucks – 50 per cent<br />
• light commercials – 187 per cent<br />
• utes and vans – 85 per cent<br />
• new motor vehicles including passenger and<br />
SUVs – 36 per cent.<br />
The CBA notes that its financing data aligns to<br />
recently released VFACTS industry trends, which<br />
show vehicle registrations for business use have<br />
increased 24 per cent since January 2021, and<br />
48 per cent from April to May 2021.<br />
“Despite existing challenges around supply,<br />
both the CBA financing data and industry trends<br />
point to continued positive signs from the<br />
automotive industry,” CBA’s executive general<br />
manager, business lending, Clare Morgan, says.<br />
“This seems to be especially the case when<br />
it comes to business registrations of light<br />
commercials, utes and vans.”<br />
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK<br />
Data released by National Australia Bank<br />
(NAB) shows businesses across Australia are<br />
purchasing new equipment and vehicles in<br />
record numbers as companies embrace the<br />
strongest market conditions seen in years.<br />
Overall, NAB’s agricultural equipment<br />
finance sales are up 134 per cent year-on-year<br />
(YOY) in 2020, demonstrating real strength<br />
across regional Australia, while industries<br />
like manufacturing have also increased<br />
130 per cent YOY.<br />
NAB executive regional and agribusiness<br />
Julie Rynski, says customers were taking<br />
advantage of strong business conditions<br />
and confidence while the government’s instant<br />
asset write-off scheme had been key to<br />
stimulating investment.<br />
“When businesses start purchasing<br />
equipment, it’s a real signal to us that farmers<br />
and regional businesses are in a phase of growth<br />
and expansion,” Rynski says.<br />
“With business confidence at an all-time high<br />
and businesses building on things they’ve learnt<br />
through the pandemic, I’m not surprised that<br />
equipment sales are so high.”<br />
Rynski says the bank did not expect current<br />
demand for equipment finance lending to ease<br />
any time soon.<br />
The YOY increases according to NAB’s<br />
figures are:<br />
Trucks/trailers/buses – 145.53 per cent<br />
• Truck: heavy over 3.5 tonnes (Cat E) – 138.83<br />
per cent<br />
• Truck: garbage compactor (Cat B) – 65.5 per<br />
cent<br />
• Trailer: over 4.5 tonnes (Cat E) – 157.9 per cent<br />
• Trailer: under 4.5 tonnes (Cat E) – 142.96 per<br />
cent<br />
• Bus: over 3.5 tonnes (Cat B) – 173.94 per cent<br />
• Bus: mini under 3.5 tonnes (Cat B) – 131.72<br />
per cent<br />
Agricultural equipment – up 132 per cent<br />
Cars/light commercials – up 132 per cent.<br />
From top: PacLease Australia general manager<br />
Andrew Molnar; Penske Truck Leasing general<br />
manager Adrian Beach; CBA executive general<br />
manager, business lending Clare Morgan<br />
Below: NAB executive regional and agribusiness<br />
Julie Rynski<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 41
FINANCE & LEASING<br />
PacLease Australia<br />
PREMIUM SERVICE<br />
PacLease Australia – Paccar’s truck leasing and rental division – is offering a<br />
full-service lease program for the new DAF CF530, giving customers premium<br />
service and flexible support<br />
In what was a year full of<br />
unexpected challenges,<br />
PacLease Australia continued<br />
its commitment to investment<br />
into the brand through the growth<br />
of its national footprint – opening<br />
its 18th and 19th locations with<br />
Twin City Trucks in Wodonga<br />
and Canberra.<br />
With a truly national rental,<br />
leasing and contract maintenance<br />
offering, PacLease Australia<br />
can ensure peace of mind for its<br />
customers, with tailored fleet<br />
solutions never far from reach.<br />
With a new year, 2021 brings<br />
a very new feeling to Paccar,<br />
which is celebrating the 50th<br />
anniversary of Australian-made<br />
Kenworth trucks. With the heart<br />
of the Paccar brand deeply<br />
engrained within its culture,<br />
desire to diversify its marketleading<br />
offerings and grow with<br />
the transport industry, PacLease<br />
has, in its own right, made a very<br />
promising start to 2021.<br />
PROGRAM LAUNCH<br />
The recent Brisbane Truck Show<br />
acted as the perfect opportunity<br />
for PacLease Australia general<br />
manager, Andrew Molnar, to<br />
launch the PacLease Australia<br />
DAF CF530 full-service lease<br />
program to the Australian market.<br />
Met with immediate<br />
success, the program offers<br />
a fixed monthly price of<br />
$3,950.00+GST with 120,000km<br />
annually included, along with<br />
PacLease’s premium service<br />
and maintenance coverage,<br />
which is managed by PacLease’s<br />
dedicated team. Offering a<br />
specifically tailored fleet<br />
management program, this<br />
ensures that your compliance<br />
requirements are met to the<br />
highest degree.<br />
The real twist – the offer is<br />
over a 48-month term, but allows<br />
customers to hand back units<br />
after 24 months. Molnar says that<br />
PacLease wants to share with the<br />
market what it already knows –<br />
what the meaning of DAF ‘Pure<br />
Excellence’ is really about. With<br />
this lease program, PacLease<br />
believes that the transport<br />
industry can enjoy the offering<br />
with minimal exposure.<br />
DAF CF530<br />
The all-new, locally-assembled,<br />
Euro 6 DAF CF530 boasts marketleading<br />
fuel economy as well<br />
as one of the most comfortable<br />
drives on the road. With safetyas-standard<br />
features, including<br />
advanced emergency brake<br />
assist, lane departure warning,<br />
blind spot notification, driver side<br />
airbag and adaptive cruise, the<br />
DAF CF530 is the perfect truck<br />
to satisfy your needs.<br />
PREMIUM SERVICE<br />
PacLease is a global commercial<br />
truck leasing company that<br />
provides customised full-service<br />
lease, rental and contract<br />
maintenance programs for<br />
Kenworth and DAF trucks.<br />
Designed to meet the specific<br />
needs of customers, the<br />
company’s service offering also<br />
The all-new, locally<br />
assembled, Euro 6 DAF<br />
CF530 boasts marketleading<br />
fuel economy<br />
includes vehicle upkeep, 24/7<br />
roadside assist and flexible lease<br />
structures.<br />
PacLease’s direct connection<br />
with Kenworth, DAF and Paccar,<br />
according to the company, means<br />
its customers receive premium<br />
equipment and services that<br />
have been thoroughly tested<br />
and assessed for suitability for<br />
the needs of each and every<br />
customer.<br />
Top: PacLease<br />
offers a wide<br />
range of Kenworth<br />
and DAF trucks to<br />
suit your needs<br />
Left: PacLease<br />
Australia general<br />
manager Andrew<br />
Molnar<br />
42 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
DAF CF full service lease<br />
available nation-wide.<br />
Enjoy peace of mind with your next DAF CF530 with a PacLease full<br />
service lease. PacLease can take care of every requirement, including<br />
vehicle specification to maintenance, and everything else in between.<br />
Your PacLease DAF CF full service lease includes:*<br />
• $3,950 + GST per month<br />
• 48 month term<br />
• Option to return at 24 months<br />
• Based on 120,000km per year<br />
*Terms and conditions: Excludes on road costs. Normal credit criteria applies.<br />
For more information visit paclease.com.au or phone 1800 455 155<br />
Melbourne | Sydney | Brisbane | Adelaide | Perth | Hobart | Darwin | Mt Gambier | Wodonga | Canberra<br />
<strong>ATN</strong>-FP-5211327-CS-417
FINANCE & LEASING<br />
Penske Truck Leasing<br />
FLEXIBILITY IN THE FACE OF CHANGE<br />
This is turning out to be a signature year for Penske Truck Leasing, which is doing more<br />
business than ever, with even more trucks available in its rental fleet<br />
At a time when supply of new trucks<br />
into the Australian market generally<br />
is seeing arrival times blowing out,<br />
Penske Truck Leasing will soon have its<br />
hands on another 50 new MANs, which will<br />
give impetus to the current Fully-Maintained<br />
Operating Lease Programme it is calling<br />
MAN Choice.<br />
Essentially, Penske Truck Leasing looked<br />
at its three favourite trucks:<br />
• MAN TGS 26.440 L cab for single trailer/<br />
metro/container applications<br />
• MAN TGS 26.540 L cab for local/<br />
interstate/B-double applications<br />
• MAN TGX 26.540 XLX cab for interstate/<br />
line-haul/B-double applications.<br />
Then, it worked through every conceivable<br />
combination of lease term, kilometre band,<br />
warranty and R&M package, to come up<br />
with the most intriguing deals.<br />
“In some cases, if the annual kilometres<br />
are 100,000 or less, we can stretch to<br />
a seven-year lease term and keep the<br />
payments ultra-low,” Penske Truck Leasing<br />
general manager, Adrian Beach, says.<br />
“But the deals that are attracting the<br />
most attention, and that we’re signing most<br />
frequently, involve a five-year lease term<br />
with the option to hand the truck back in<br />
and walk away after two.”<br />
And there are solid figures to back up<br />
the offering, given Penske Truck Leasing’s<br />
own experience.<br />
“We have had all of those trucks for a<br />
full life-cycle, so we’ve got a really good<br />
understanding of the maintenance costs<br />
and the resale value,” Beach adds.<br />
“So, we experimented with all the<br />
components of a lease calculation<br />
and came up with what we think are<br />
our best deals.<br />
“For example, our best deal on our alltime<br />
favourite truck, the MAN TGS 26.540<br />
L cab, is actually on a five-year term if<br />
the customer is going around 150,000<br />
kilometres per year.”<br />
Given that Penske Truck Leasing has<br />
such a good understanding of that truck’s<br />
maintenance costs and resale value, it sees<br />
the five-year term with two-year walk-away<br />
option as providing the sort of flexibility<br />
customers need, both in their operations<br />
and if, or when, their position changes.<br />
For instance, though the rental-spec<br />
They’re brilliant trucks and we have a<br />
solid team of highly dedicated people to<br />
help keep their freight moving<br />
Right: Penske<br />
Truck Rental<br />
has developed<br />
a range of<br />
lease options<br />
to give<br />
customers<br />
flexibility and<br />
peace of mind<br />
vehicle comes in plain white, customers can<br />
put their own livery on it.<br />
Meanwhile, a customer may only have<br />
a two-year contract to fulfil and feel that<br />
neither a full purchase nor a five- or sixyear<br />
lease can be justified.<br />
“We will give them the best monthly rate<br />
that we can and, at the end of two years,<br />
if they lose the contract, their business<br />
changes, or they don’t end up needing the<br />
truck, they can just hand it back and walk<br />
away,” Beach says.<br />
He adds that he can see many reasons<br />
for customers to consider a lease<br />
programme with Penske Truck Leasing.<br />
It might be that new customers have<br />
never had an MAN before or they have never<br />
entered a fully-maintained operating lease<br />
and want a safe way to test those waters.<br />
It may be that their contracts come in<br />
two-year intervals and they want peace of<br />
mind. If they don’t renew the contract, they<br />
can hand back the truck. If they renew the<br />
contract, they can keep the truck and carry<br />
on as before.<br />
It could be that they want to use<br />
their capital to manage the growth of<br />
their business outside the fleet – a new<br />
warehouse, depot, people, or technology<br />
upgrades – and it’s the alternative financing<br />
they are after.<br />
“With the exception of the expiring<br />
contract scenario, where the truck is no<br />
longer needed, I don’t expect many of these<br />
to come back to us after the two-year<br />
mark,” Beach says.<br />
“They’re brilliant trucks and we have a<br />
solid team of highly dedicated people to<br />
help keep their freight moving – and, in my<br />
opinion, that’s really what our customers<br />
are really paying for.<br />
“If a few do come back, we’ll either<br />
re-lease them to another customer or pop<br />
them into our rental fleet.<br />
“They’ll still be young and strong with<br />
a long life of low-cost productivity ahead<br />
of them.”<br />
But, continuing the theme of flexibility,<br />
if customers are seeking a type of truck<br />
beyond the traditional offering from Penske<br />
– Western Star and MAN – Penske Truck<br />
Leasing is happy to explore alternatives.<br />
44 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
<strong>ATN</strong>-FP-5211487-CS-417
FINANCE & LEASING<br />
Rig Finance<br />
FOR A SMOOTH ROAD AHEAD<br />
Don’t let financing delays prevent you from getting the best deals<br />
Having grown up with a<br />
rapidly expanding transport<br />
company in the back yard<br />
of his Willow Tree home, Luke<br />
Howard later came to understand<br />
his father’s struggle with time and<br />
cashflow constraints in making<br />
profitable business decisions.<br />
During his 22 years of transport<br />
company management, and now<br />
11 years of providing finance to<br />
the transport industry, Howard has<br />
learnt to implement simple financial<br />
strategies that allow the flexibility<br />
to purchase transport and logistic<br />
equipment whenever an opportunity<br />
presents itself.<br />
“In this industry, it is the people that<br />
buy right that do alright … costs down,<br />
profits up,” Howard states.<br />
Rig Finance was established to<br />
provide busy transport and warehouse<br />
operators with straightforward finance<br />
options that take the stress out of fleet<br />
purchases as well as improve their<br />
bottom line.<br />
Rig Finance offers an extensive<br />
range of financial products with<br />
brokers that understand the finance<br />
solutions required for companies at all<br />
stages of the business cycle … infancy,<br />
growth or maturity.<br />
“In the transport industry, a<br />
competitive advantage comes from<br />
the ability to negotiate the best<br />
purchase price with the confidence<br />
that you have the funds available<br />
for immediate transfer at the lowest<br />
current repayments on the market,”<br />
Howard says.<br />
“At Rig Finance, we ensure that<br />
the great savings made negotiating<br />
that bargain price purchase are<br />
not outstripped by the costs incurred<br />
when you then need to find finance fast.<br />
“Rig Finance has been built by<br />
transport people to provide a common<br />
sense approach to transport equipment<br />
procurement.<br />
“Today’s range of finance options<br />
put the transport operator back in the<br />
driving seat when choosing how they<br />
invest in their business.”<br />
KEEPING<br />
YOU ON<br />
THE MOVE<br />
Achieve a flexible finance strategy that<br />
takes the stress out of fleet purchases<br />
and improves your bottom line...<br />
luke@rigfinance.com.au | 07 33260905 | 0428 496694<br />
www.rigfinance.com.au | Ascot, Brisbane<br />
46 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
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BRISBANE TRUCK SHOW<br />
Trucks<br />
It was a powerful statement<br />
by Scott Buchholz, the federal<br />
government’s assistant minister<br />
for road safety and freight transport,<br />
which perhaps best summed up the<br />
timely and critical importance of the<br />
2021 Brisbane Truck Show.<br />
After being escorted around by<br />
Todd Hacking, chief executive of the<br />
Brisbane show’s organising body,<br />
Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia<br />
(HVIA), an obviously impressed<br />
Buchholz issued a press release<br />
describing the 2021 show as being<br />
part of “a heavy vehicle industry<br />
renaissance, following a significant<br />
increase in freight and logistics<br />
demand during the Covid-19<br />
pandemic”.<br />
Adding: “Workers in the [trucking]<br />
sector are Australia’s unsung heroes<br />
and the truck show not only put<br />
on display the latest and greatest<br />
in technology, it recognised the<br />
significant contribution of the<br />
workforce.”<br />
What’s more: “I want to thank<br />
all the freight operators, drivers,<br />
DC [distribution centre] workers,<br />
48 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
BRISBANE<br />
CHARGES<br />
AHEAD<br />
After facing assaults on its future over the past few<br />
years, and despite several major brands choosing<br />
not to support the show and the men and women<br />
who have kept Australia fed, fuelled and functional<br />
during the toughest time in modern history, the<br />
2021 Brisbane Truck Show proved yet again why<br />
it is truly the trucking industry’s foremost event -<br />
attracting just over 30,000 attendees over four days<br />
WORDS<br />
STEVE BROOKS<br />
manufacturing and maintenance<br />
crews who have met the challenge<br />
of increased local demand, keeping<br />
our supermarkets stocked and our<br />
economy running.<br />
“To the industry, and to Todd<br />
Hacking and his team, all of the<br />
sponsors and exhibitors and, of<br />
course, the visitors here over the<br />
course of the show, thank you for<br />
supporting this industry.”<br />
Perhaps he could have also<br />
made mention of a Queensland<br />
government intent on creating<br />
the platform for the show to go on<br />
in a safe and secure environment.<br />
Then again, kudos for a Labor<br />
state government probably wasn’t<br />
front and centre in the Coalition<br />
minister’s mind.<br />
Nonetheless, if ever there was<br />
a year for Brisbane-based truck<br />
brands in particular to revel in<br />
the excitement and potential of a<br />
loosening of the pandemic shackles,<br />
it was 2021. However, only the<br />
Penske Group’s Western Star and<br />
MAN brands, headquartered at<br />
Wacol on Brisbane’s outskirts, took<br />
the opportunity to attend.<br />
As a Penske spokesman pointed out,<br />
it’s now 40 years since Western Star<br />
made its Australian debut, where<br />
else but at the Brisbane Truck Show.<br />
Blatantly conspicuous by their<br />
absence, of course, were the big<br />
name truck brands from Melbourne,<br />
Sydney and Brisbane who chose<br />
not to support the show and, as<br />
Buchholz commented, recognise the<br />
significant contribution of the freight<br />
industry’s workforce.<br />
Those who did attend, however,<br />
were intent on giving back to the<br />
industry and perhaps none extolled<br />
that intention better than Freightliner<br />
chief Stephen Downes during an<br />
overview of the highly impressive,<br />
three-pronged Daimler Trucks<br />
exhibit of Freightliner, Fuso and<br />
Mercedes-Benz.<br />
The Brisbane Truck Show is a<br />
major platform, Downes exclaimed,<br />
and while it’s expensive to exhibit, it<br />
also represents an ideal opportunity<br />
“to give back to our industry, which<br />
gives so much to our country”.<br />
Yet, while Brisbane 2021 certainly<br />
won’t go down as the biggest show<br />
ever held in the northern capital –<br />
though more than 30,000 people<br />
filed through the doors – it’s sure<br />
to be remembered as an event<br />
that defied the odds and attracted<br />
substantial crowds to what is sure<br />
to be the only truck show in the<br />
world in 2021. Moreover, creating an<br />
event that truly added much-needed<br />
glitter to an industry audience that,<br />
like every part of Australian society<br />
over the past year and more, has<br />
known little else but gloom, difficulty<br />
and separation.<br />
Below: Livewire<br />
DAF. Assembled at<br />
Paccar’s Bayswater<br />
(Vic) factory, DAF<br />
CF model is now<br />
available with the<br />
sprightly MX-11<br />
engine as well as<br />
the MX-13<br />
Opposite bottom:<br />
Across the ages. In<br />
the background, the<br />
Legend SAR and<br />
up close, the latest<br />
in the line, the<br />
T410SAR<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 49
Above: Safety first.<br />
Freightliner Cascadia<br />
takes conventional<br />
truck safety to an<br />
unmatched standard<br />
while, on the inside,<br />
the digital dash<br />
option creates a new<br />
dimension in function<br />
and form<br />
From opposite top<br />
right: Family first. DAF<br />
and Kenworth shared<br />
the spotlight and<br />
the same livery for<br />
the first time. In the<br />
cab-over class, there’s<br />
big news brewing<br />
for both brands;<br />
Fuso’s new Shogun<br />
360 six-wheeler.<br />
Japanese toughness<br />
with Daimler smarts.<br />
A Euro 6 medium-duty<br />
Fighter was also<br />
released<br />
Opposite bottom: Star<br />
power: Top-of-thetree<br />
Mercedes-Benz<br />
2663 was joined by a<br />
rigid class now with a<br />
similarly high level of<br />
safety features. Benz<br />
will soon start testing<br />
a partially automated<br />
steering system in<br />
Australia<br />
Indeed, the resilience and<br />
determination of HVIA to maintain<br />
Brisbane’s established position<br />
as the Australian road freight<br />
industry’s premier event for the<br />
broader trucking community of<br />
drivers, operators, fleet businesses,<br />
truck, trailer and component<br />
manufacturers and suppliers, have<br />
been inspirational.<br />
It’s easy to forget, for instance,<br />
that after the 2019 show, there was<br />
a powerful move to push Brisbane<br />
into obsolescence with the Truck<br />
Industry Council’s (TIC) expensive<br />
and somewhat naïve attempt to<br />
make Melbourne the new Mecca for<br />
an Australian truck show.<br />
STUNNING DISPLAY!<br />
One of the main protagonists of<br />
the TIC venture was Melbournebased<br />
Paccar Australia but, to its<br />
inestimable credit, the company<br />
went to Brisbane ’21 with arguably<br />
the best presentation of show<br />
trucks ever seen at a truck show,<br />
anywhere in the world. And for<br />
good reason, with 2021 also<br />
marking 50 years of Paccar<br />
truck manufacturing in Australia.<br />
Vitally, Kenworth and DAF were<br />
for the first time presented as equal<br />
Paccar partners, each painted in<br />
the same spectacular show livery<br />
adorned by brilliantly air-brushed<br />
images of iconic Australian scenes.<br />
Words can’t do the display justice<br />
and show visitors were attracted to<br />
the Paccar stand in droves.<br />
As for new models, none were<br />
more appealing than the special<br />
edition Legend SAR, pulling people<br />
to Paccar like bees to a hive.<br />
Created to capture the almost<br />
euphoric esteem of the legendary<br />
Kenworth SAR, the ‘Legend’ version<br />
follows in the hugely successful<br />
wake of earlier Legend 950 and<br />
Legend 900 models and, like its<br />
predecessors, is almost guaranteed<br />
to be an economic master stroke<br />
for Paccar.<br />
While we initially, and wrongly,<br />
forecasted that the Legend SAR<br />
would go on sale for one day only<br />
at the truck show, the ‘one day’ for<br />
taking orders will actually be July 8.<br />
In the interim, it’s easy to envisage<br />
Paccar principals rubbing their<br />
hands together in expectation.<br />
Many pundits are predicting at<br />
least 300 orders and with a unit<br />
price said to be somewhere between<br />
$425,000 and more than $500,000<br />
– depending on the specification, of<br />
course – it seems no one has the<br />
ability to cash in on a classic better<br />
than Kenworth. Then again, if past<br />
performance is any guide, there’s<br />
no shortage of cashed-up buyers<br />
willing to take a trip down memory<br />
lane, even if it means stepping into<br />
a skinny cab with an incredibly<br />
tight squeeze between the seats for<br />
accessing the sleeper. The good ol’<br />
days, indeed!<br />
Taking the SAR mantle into<br />
the modern era, however, is the<br />
wide-cab T610SAR and its new<br />
sibling sharing the roomy 2.1<br />
metre-wide cab, the T410SAR.<br />
Making its first public appearance<br />
at the Brisbane Truck Show, the<br />
T410SAR is punched by Paccar’s<br />
MX-13 engine at up to 510hp<br />
(380kW) and, with its set-forward<br />
front axle design, provides another<br />
critical string to the Kenworth bow.<br />
On the DAF front, pride of place<br />
alongside its K200 cab-over kin<br />
was the flagship XF model but<br />
grabbing the eye of shrewd<br />
show-goers at the back of the<br />
display was a Bayswater-built CF<br />
punched by Paccar Australia’s<br />
relatively new MX-11 engine.<br />
Available in ratings from 370 to<br />
410hp (276 to 306kW) and 450hp<br />
(336kW), and offered in the 6x4 CF<br />
at a gross combination rating of 60<br />
tonnes, our few short stints in the<br />
MX-11 have shown the engine to<br />
be the spearhead of a remarkably<br />
lively and smoothly efficient DAF<br />
powertrain.<br />
The MX engines are, however,<br />
simply the tip of the iceberg in<br />
Paccar Australia’s ambitions for the<br />
DAF range. Indeed, big things are<br />
brewing both locally and overseas<br />
which, from next year and beyond,<br />
will have a major impact on Paccar’s<br />
cab-over class – DAF and Kenworth.<br />
Stay tuned, because there’s<br />
also a big story brewing on these<br />
developments.<br />
FOR SAFETY’S SAKE<br />
Just as it was two years ago,<br />
staring straight across the aisle<br />
at Paccar’s presentation was<br />
Daimler’s Freightliner Cascadia.<br />
Unlike 2019, though, when a right<br />
hand-drive Cascadia was still a<br />
work in progress, North America’s<br />
biggest selling truck is now pushing<br />
ahead with bold ambitions for the<br />
Australian market.<br />
And it is not without a very<br />
powerful and expedient tool in the<br />
chest. Safety!<br />
From the outset, Cascadia set<br />
50 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
a new and incredibly high benchmark for<br />
safety in conventional trucks with the<br />
standard inclusion of the Detroit Assurance<br />
5.0 suite of advanced safety functions.<br />
But, as the company announced in<br />
Brisbane, it is about to push the safety<br />
stakes to an even higher level with the<br />
introduction late this year of a head-protecting<br />
side airbag in addition to the<br />
existing steering wheel airbag. Right now,<br />
and for what will be probably quite some<br />
time to come, Cascadia is unrivalled in<br />
conventional truck safety.<br />
Typically, Daimler Trucks Australia boss<br />
Daniel Whitehead didn’t pull any punches<br />
in citing Cascadia’s credentials and,<br />
specifically, the need to protect drivers no<br />
matter what brand of truck they drive.<br />
“There is no good reason why<br />
conventional truck drivers in Australia<br />
should not be able to drive a truck fitted<br />
with the latest safety features,” he said in a<br />
prepared statement.<br />
“It doesn’t matter whether you are driving<br />
a truck with or without a bonnet, your safety<br />
is just as important.”<br />
As Freightliner’s announcement added,<br />
the head-protecting side airbag has been<br />
specially developed for the Australian<br />
market by RollTek and America’s IMMI,<br />
industry leaders in the design, testing and<br />
manufacturing of advanced safety systems.<br />
Meanwhile, a number of the Cascadias<br />
on display also featured a digital dashboard<br />
layout that will become optional later<br />
this year.<br />
Largely identical to the digital dash<br />
already available on Mercedes-Benz<br />
models, it’s a layout using a 312mm (12.3-<br />
inch)-wide screen as the main display<br />
directly in front of the driver for gauges,<br />
trip data and adaptive cruise control<br />
information and to the left, a 254mm<br />
(10-inch) touchscreen to access a range of<br />
ancillary functions.<br />
Familiarity and ease of operation with<br />
the digital dash come quickly, as we’ve<br />
found in previous drives of Mercedes-Benz<br />
trucks where the system is known as the<br />
multi-media cockpit.<br />
While Cascadia was unquestionably the<br />
star attraction for Daimler this year, the<br />
three-pointed star certainly wasn’t short<br />
of its own news, led by the announcement<br />
that Mercedes-Benz is set to launch an<br />
Australian validation program for an Actros<br />
that can help steer itself.<br />
Known as ‘Active Drive Assist’<br />
technology, a statement from<br />
Mercedes-Benz says the system enables a<br />
partially automated driving capability and is<br />
a first for the Australian market.<br />
Mercedes-Benz states: “The system<br />
helps to actively steer the truck and keep it<br />
in the centre of its lane, although the driver<br />
is still required to hold the steering wheel.”<br />
Also, says Benz: “It is one step ahead<br />
of some current systems [because] the<br />
Mercedes-Benz system actually helps steer<br />
the truck in the first place.” As the company<br />
insists: “Proactive rather than reactive.”<br />
Apparently, we’ll be given a drive of Active<br />
Drive Assist before too long but it wasn’t<br />
the only news from Mercedes-Benz.<br />
Until now, the Benz rigid range and<br />
specifically the Arocs 8x4 model, wasn’t<br />
available with the full suite of advanced<br />
safety functions used in prime mover<br />
models, due to what were explained as “application-related<br />
packaging restrictions”.<br />
Those engineering challenges have<br />
been overcome and the eight-wheeler<br />
now comes with the radar-based ‘Active<br />
Brake Assist’ package as well as existing<br />
safety features, such as electronic stability<br />
program, driver airbag and lane departure<br />
warning.<br />
Last, but definitely not least in Daimler’s<br />
truck triumvirate, is Fuso, easily the biggest<br />
selling brand in the group and using the<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 51
Above: Wide<br />
appeal: Iveco was<br />
intent on showing<br />
a Euro 6 product<br />
range that covers<br />
many bases,<br />
from the latest<br />
light-duty Daily<br />
to the revamped<br />
Highway flagship.<br />
Meanwhile, over<br />
at the Southbank<br />
Truck Festival was<br />
the unique ‘Road<br />
Ant’, an aggregate<br />
spreader based<br />
on an ACCO that<br />
can be driven<br />
independently from<br />
both ends of the<br />
vehicle<br />
Opposite top:<br />
Followmont<br />
Transport’s tribute<br />
to Col Baker. A<br />
Cummins man to<br />
the core and true<br />
stalwart of the<br />
trucking industry<br />
Opposite bottom:<br />
Electric power<br />
was high among<br />
the highlights in<br />
Brisbane with none<br />
bigger than the<br />
innovative Janus<br />
heavy-duty system<br />
of exchangeable<br />
batteries. The<br />
batteries power an<br />
electric motor from<br />
Dana Spicer<br />
Brisbane show to highlight the<br />
iconic Canter model’s 50-year<br />
milestone on the Australian market.<br />
It’s worth noting, too, that of the<br />
four Japanese truck suppliers in<br />
Australia, only Fuso attended the<br />
Brisbane show and, as one senior<br />
Daimler executive was quick to<br />
comment: “It’s their loss because we<br />
have plenty to show and plenty to<br />
talk about. It’s disappointing for the<br />
industry that the others aren’t here<br />
but, commercially, we don’t mind<br />
being the only Japanese brand on<br />
show. Not one bit.”<br />
Emphasising the evolution of the<br />
remarkably durable Canter range,<br />
the light-duty Fuso is also the<br />
platform for the recently launched<br />
eCanter electric truck and, at a truck<br />
show where electric power was high<br />
among the highlights, the eCanter<br />
was certainly a timely addition to<br />
Daimler’s displays.<br />
However, it was the launch of<br />
Fuso’s new Shogun 360 model,<br />
which perhaps had pragmatic truck<br />
operators most engaged.<br />
According to Fuso, the Shogun<br />
360 six-wheeler – available as a<br />
6x2 or 6x4 – was developed as<br />
a premium 14-pallet rigid model<br />
equipped with Daimler’s extensive<br />
standard safety features, Euro 6<br />
emissions compliance and a trim<br />
cab/chassis tare weight of 6,950kg.<br />
Power comes from Daimler’s<br />
responsive 7.7-litre six-cylinder<br />
engine dispensing 360hp (268kW)<br />
and 140Nm (1,030lb-ft) of torque<br />
through a 12-speed automated<br />
transmission that also provides<br />
the Eco-Roll fuel-saving feature<br />
and crawler modes for low-speed<br />
manoeuvring.<br />
Continuing Daimler’s high level<br />
of standard safety features, the 360<br />
comes with advanced emergency<br />
braking, lane departure warning,<br />
electronic stability program and<br />
Driver Attention Assist, which uses<br />
facial recognition technology to<br />
warn of fatigue.<br />
It is, by any measure, an<br />
impressive package in the<br />
six-wheeler rigid class and,<br />
according to Fuso Australia chief<br />
Alex Müller, sizeable orders have<br />
already been taken.<br />
BUSINESS MODELS<br />
Michael May, the former head of<br />
Mercedes-Benz truck operations<br />
in Australia and now managing<br />
director of Iveco Trucks Australia,<br />
went straight to the point when<br />
previewing the company’s Brisbane<br />
display.<br />
“Iveco is excited to be supporting<br />
the 2021 Brisbane Truck Show,” he<br />
said in an opening statement.<br />
“The display vehicles highlight the<br />
benefits Iveco enjoys as a European<br />
manufacturer with a local research<br />
and development and manufacturing<br />
capacity, which ensures all vehicles<br />
are tailored to Australia’s unique<br />
operating conditions.”<br />
Diversity was at the core of a<br />
four-model display ranging from the<br />
latest incarnation of the versatile<br />
and popular Daily light-duty<br />
line-up in its ‘Tradie-Made’<br />
ready-to-work configuration through<br />
to the well-mannered medium-duty<br />
Eurocargo, the never-say-die<br />
ACCO in a typical 8x4 configuration<br />
with a Superior Pak front-loading<br />
compactor body, and at the top of<br />
Iveco’s on-road range, a ‘Highway’<br />
heavy-duty model rated to 70<br />
tonnes.<br />
A quick look at the specifications<br />
of all Iveco’s show trucks confirmed<br />
an undeniably well-equipped range<br />
sporting advanced safety and Euro 6<br />
emissions as standard features.<br />
Away from the show, however,<br />
another Iveco was doing its bit<br />
to not only support the broader<br />
industry, but also confirm the<br />
breadth of the brand’s engineering<br />
52 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
and manufacturing capabilities.<br />
As a company statement<br />
explained: “In addition to its support<br />
of the Brisbane Truck Show, Iveco<br />
is also supporting the Southbank<br />
Truck Festival with display of a Q-FE<br />
‘Road Ant’,” described as being<br />
“a dual control, forward moving<br />
aggregate spreader based on an<br />
ACCO six-wheeler fitted with a Trout<br />
River, asphalt-compatible body and<br />
10-gate chip spreader.”<br />
Its creation stems from a recent<br />
VicRoads requirement, which<br />
mandates that from July 1, 2022,<br />
all aggregate spreaders working in<br />
sprayed sealing applications must<br />
be forward-moving.<br />
Consequently, the ‘Road Ant’ can<br />
be driven independently from both<br />
ends of the vehicle.<br />
Meanwhile, back at the show, the<br />
Penske pair of Western Star and<br />
MAN certainly weren’t without plenty<br />
of people keen for a close look at a<br />
couple of big bangers.<br />
Top of the list was Western Star’s<br />
4900FXC, destined for heavy-duty<br />
roadtrain roles with a 600hp<br />
(447kW) Cummins X15 powering<br />
into an Eaton 18-speed overdrive –<br />
manual, of course – and Dana rear<br />
axles running a 4.56:1 final drive<br />
ratio, mounted on Neway airbag<br />
suspension.<br />
Yet, perhaps one of the most<br />
underrated or overlooked features<br />
of Western Star these days is the<br />
Stratosphere sleeper. According to<br />
many people we’ve spoken to over<br />
the many years since Stratosphere<br />
first arrived here, it is the best bunk<br />
layout in the business and there’s<br />
little doubt the premium 82-inch<br />
(208cm) high-rise shed on the back<br />
of the 4900 show truck was a solid<br />
reminder to most.<br />
When it comes to muscle, though,<br />
MAN’s flagship TGX 640 carries the<br />
flag in the Penske portfolio. This is<br />
an impressively strong truck to drive<br />
but, unfortunately, durability issues<br />
TRIDENT TRIBUTE<br />
While neither Cummins nor Mack attended the 2021 Brisbane Truck Show, Followmont Transport’s display<br />
of a Cummins-powered Mack Trident was a magnanimous and highly fitting tribute to a true stalwart of the<br />
trucking industry, the late Col Baker.<br />
A Cummins man to the core and immensely proud Queenslander despite a move to Cummins HQ in<br />
Melbourne, Col passed away only days before the Brisbane show after a fiercely fought battle with cancer.<br />
He was just 52-years-old and is survived by his wife Jenny and three daughters.<br />
In what was something of a secret project between Cummins and the Brisbane-based transport company,<br />
Col worked closely with Followmont Transport principal Mark Tobin to slot an X15 engine under the Trident<br />
snout for an extensive trial, with the trust and respect between the two manifesting in Tobin’s heartfelt<br />
tribute to his Cummins mate.<br />
“Col Baker was the best example of living out the values of integrity, caring, teamwork and the pursuit of<br />
excellence,” says close friend and Cummins colleague, Mike Fowler.<br />
“The courage he demonstrated during his fight with cancer was nothing short of inspirational but in<br />
truth, it was just so typical of him.<br />
“Cummins and the wider trucking industry have lost someone very special.”<br />
Absolutely!<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 53
Top: Big bangers:<br />
The Penske pair of<br />
MAN and Western<br />
Star. Insiders say<br />
there are new<br />
models coming for<br />
both brands next<br />
year<br />
Above right:<br />
Cummins was<br />
missing in action<br />
but technology<br />
partner Eaton<br />
waved the flag for<br />
both brands. Expect<br />
some big news from<br />
the transmission<br />
specialist as it<br />
prepares to test<br />
a new Endurant<br />
family<br />
Below: Korean<br />
connection. With<br />
the absence of<br />
three of Australia’s<br />
four Japanese<br />
truck brands, there<br />
was ample interest<br />
in Hyundai’s<br />
new Pavise<br />
medium-duty<br />
models<br />
haven’t been kind to buyers and the<br />
brand alike.<br />
Still, while Penske insiders didn’t<br />
deny the brand’s “chequered past”,<br />
there’s confidence that a new MAN<br />
range, due in 2022, will help right<br />
the wrongs, perceived or otherwise.<br />
Critically, they also say Penske is<br />
committed to the brand’s future in<br />
Australia.<br />
Similarly, an entirely new Western<br />
Star range launched in the US last<br />
year is said to be heading our way<br />
in 2022.<br />
GAS AND ELECTRIC<br />
Down the power scale, South Korean<br />
brand Hyundai, exhibiting through<br />
its Brisbane-based East Coast<br />
Hyundai distributor, appeared<br />
to attract plenty of interest in its<br />
new medium-duty addition called<br />
the Pavise.<br />
Available in weight ratings from<br />
12 to 12.9, 15.5 and 17.6 tonnes, and<br />
wheelbase lengths of 4.3, 4.9 and<br />
5.7 metres, all Pavise models are<br />
powered by a turbocharged 5.9-litre<br />
Euro 5 six-cylinder diesel rated at<br />
276hp (206kW) in the top weight<br />
model and 246hp (183kW) in all<br />
others.<br />
Coupled to the engine in all<br />
models is the choice of a nine-speed<br />
ZF manual transmission or a 12-<br />
speed automated box, also from ZF.<br />
All models come with an extensive<br />
range of advanced safety features,<br />
including autonomous emergency<br />
braking, forward collision avoidance<br />
system and airbags for driver and<br />
passenger.<br />
Somewhat surprisingly, though,<br />
there was no Hyundai Xcient on<br />
show. Xcient is Hyundai’s flagship<br />
heavy-duty contender and, while<br />
Australian sales continue to be<br />
ghostly thin, it is the platform<br />
model for the South Korean maker’s<br />
well publicised plans to become a<br />
major player in the development of<br />
hydrogen-fuelled trucks.<br />
Several Chinese commercial<br />
vehicles were also on show in<br />
Brisbane, including the much<br />
maligned JAC brand now attempting<br />
a comeback with a light-duty<br />
electric truck.<br />
In fact, electric power was on<br />
show at every level, from the light<br />
EC11 Chinese van currently under<br />
evaluation, to the well-publicised<br />
SEA Electric venture, which has<br />
attracted former Hino executive Bill<br />
Gillespie to a top management role,<br />
and at the top of the weight scale,<br />
the undeniably innovative Janus<br />
electric heavy-duty truck.<br />
Following an earlier<br />
announcement that it will<br />
revolutionise heavy-duty road<br />
transport with its patented<br />
exchangeable battery system,<br />
Janus Electric showcased its<br />
prototype model based on a<br />
converted Kenworth T403.<br />
With its exchangeable battery<br />
packs, Janus principals insist its<br />
system removes the need for heavy<br />
electric vehicles to stand idle for<br />
up to 12 hours waiting for batteries<br />
to recharge.<br />
Instead, says Janus, battery<br />
packs can be swapped by forklift in<br />
a matter of minutes to dramatically<br />
enhance vehicle utilisation.<br />
Janus director Lex Forsyth says<br />
operator interest in the system<br />
is exceptionally strong and, with<br />
confidence running high, the<br />
company has worked with Kenworth<br />
to supply a T610 ‘glider’ for further<br />
testing and development.<br />
Typically, perhaps, the Janus<br />
system has already drawn an<br />
undercurrent of cynics, but this<br />
innovative Australian approach to<br />
electric truck viability appears to<br />
have significant potential.<br />
Two years from now at the next<br />
Brisbane Truck Show, we’ll know if<br />
the potential is being realised or not.<br />
Even more certain, those brands<br />
missing from this year’s event<br />
will be clamouring to come back<br />
in 2023.<br />
54 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
REGULATORY ROUND<br />
Safety campaign requires space by all<br />
Last month, NHVR launched an important community and driver education campaign with<br />
Coles and supply chain partners – We Need Space to Keep You Safe<br />
SAL PETROCCITTO<br />
is CEO of the<br />
National Heavy<br />
Vehicle Regulator<br />
Below:<br />
Toll driver Joe<br />
Lanza, NHVR CEO<br />
Sal Petroccitto,<br />
V8 Supercars<br />
driver and We<br />
Need Space<br />
ambassador Garth<br />
Tander and Linfox<br />
drivers Mick Ross<br />
and Racheal Topp.<br />
Iam particularly proud of the message and<br />
meaning behind this campaign, as it focuses<br />
on keeping heavy vehicle drivers safe while<br />
they perform the vital role of delivering essential<br />
freight across the country.<br />
Every one of the NHVR’s initiatives, projects<br />
and campaigns has the end goal of heavy<br />
vehicle drivers travelling safely and arriving<br />
safely.<br />
We Need Space is about educating light vehicle<br />
drivers and other road users on the importance of<br />
sharing the road safely with heavy vehicles.<br />
The red and yellow signs on the back of heavy<br />
vehicles remind road users not to overtake a<br />
turning vehicle and allow the space required for<br />
safe manoeuvring. This campaign will go a step<br />
further, with three key messages reminding light<br />
vehicle drivers of the importance of:<br />
• not overtaking a turning truck<br />
• keeping out of truck blind spots<br />
• overtaking trucks safely.<br />
Coles trailers, carried by supply chain partners<br />
Linfox and Toll, will display the simple We Need<br />
Space to Keep You Safe message along the east<br />
coast of Australia.<br />
The tagline is designed to be short in length but<br />
powerful in message.<br />
The NHVR has also produced a series of<br />
Community Service Announcements with the<br />
support of V8 Supercars Champion and We Need<br />
Space ambassador Garth Tander, as well as<br />
professional drivers from Linfox and Toll.<br />
It is also planned that a safety education<br />
campaign and resources will be rolled out<br />
through driver education programs and state<br />
and territory authority partners.<br />
The opportunity for positive impact and<br />
behavioural change is substantial.<br />
There are more than 40,000 heavy vehicle<br />
operators in our industry – and many more light<br />
vehicles travelling next to heavy vehicles.<br />
Coles transport operators travel approximately<br />
100 million kilometres each year, delivering<br />
goods via Distribution Centres to more than<br />
800 supermarkets across the country.<br />
While training and safety across our industry<br />
is constant, and owners and operators<br />
understand the need for space to keep road<br />
users safe, we all have our part to play in<br />
continuing to educate communities on<br />
providing space to heavy vehicles.<br />
I want to thank Coles, Linfox, Toll and Garth for<br />
their enthusiastic collaboration in promoting such<br />
a vital message.<br />
I also want to thank readers of this column<br />
in advance, for your support in helping to<br />
promote this campaign and its message<br />
throughout your networks.<br />
The more we work together and the more<br />
space we provide on our roads, the safer we<br />
all become.<br />
To learn more about the ‘We Need Space’<br />
campaign, head to www.weneedspace.com.au<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 55
BRISBANE TRUCK SHOW<br />
EVs<br />
PLUGGING<br />
INTO THE<br />
MAIN<br />
Electric vehicles (EVs) and their<br />
providers had something of a<br />
coming of age at this year’s<br />
Brisbane Truck Show (BTS).<br />
Having been consigned to<br />
less-frequented positions on the main<br />
ground floor exhibition space two years ago<br />
and, with barely a mention the show before<br />
that, pandemic disruptions meant providers<br />
were able to create more of a spectacle<br />
of their offering amongst the traditional<br />
powerhouses.<br />
The EV crowd was always willing to cast<br />
doubt and perceived risk aside to make its<br />
presence felt. The difference, this time, was<br />
Though small in<br />
number, electric<br />
vehicles made<br />
a splash at the<br />
trucks showcase<br />
WORDS<br />
ROB Mc KAY<br />
that decisions, some made far from Australia,<br />
let alone Brisbane, gave those players the<br />
opportunity to shine.<br />
SEA ELECTRIC<br />
Leading the EV charge at the show<br />
was burgeoning locally headquartered<br />
international player SEA Electric.<br />
Withdrawals gave it the chance punch<br />
above its weight in the display stakes,<br />
utilising space the big names are traditionally<br />
accustomed to.<br />
Vice president – Asia Pacific Glen Walker<br />
agrees that this was the intention.<br />
“We were always coming but what this<br />
gave us the opportunity to do is present our<br />
entire range of vehicles,” Walker said.<br />
“We were only going to have two vehicles<br />
on the smaller stand down the way.<br />
“What we’ve now got is the two variants<br />
of the C500 and the two variants of the<br />
C300 together on the same stand.<br />
“Call it our ‘coming out’.<br />
“We are a truck manufacturer who has a<br />
range of trucks that happen to be electric,<br />
happen to be zero emission, happen to be<br />
quiet, happy to be smooth, happy to be<br />
fume-free, good for OH&S [operational health<br />
and safety], happy to have a competitive total<br />
cost of ownership and, equally importantly,<br />
designed and manufactured here in Australia,<br />
[and] sold and serviced through a national<br />
dealer network.<br />
“It’s what truck manufacturers do.”<br />
Manufacturers are also fiercely competitive<br />
and SEA is in the sights of a dismissive<br />
Daimler. The sentiment is returned with the<br />
tart observation that “other manufacturers”<br />
are displaying “nothing new” at the show.<br />
Asked how SEA was able to build the<br />
support structure now numbering 15<br />
dealerships nationwide, Walker nominates<br />
two points.<br />
“Relationships and a story,” he said.<br />
“Many of those dealers, people within SEA<br />
Electric have dealt with them in a variety<br />
prior lives, so know many of them. We have<br />
used many of them in the early incarnation<br />
of our product development – buying diesel<br />
vehicles, removing power systems and<br />
electrifying them.<br />
“So, we already had established<br />
relationships and they believed the story<br />
and saw the potential. It took a while to get<br />
the dealer agreements and all those things<br />
together. But, if you’ve got a willing seller<br />
and a willing buyer, you’ll always come up<br />
with an acceptable solution.”<br />
SEA understands that operational<br />
56 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
ack-up for owners is crucial. SEA<br />
Electric vehicles now come with<br />
a national transport insurance<br />
on-road support package for the<br />
life of the warranty period and the<br />
dealer network is part of the mix<br />
in the way that other truckmakers<br />
operate.<br />
While he admitted there is still<br />
some training to go with getting<br />
skills to where SEA Electric would<br />
wish them to be, there are also<br />
gains allowed by IT, with propulsion<br />
functions able to be diagnosed<br />
remotely from the Melbourne HQ.<br />
“Over time, that same level of<br />
expertise will become available<br />
in the dealerships as well,”<br />
Walker said.<br />
The aim is to “normalise” the<br />
buying of an electric truck, both with<br />
the purchase through dealerships<br />
and the aftersales service, and the<br />
We already had established relationships and<br />
they believed the story and saw the potential<br />
company is looking to do the same<br />
on a much greater sale in the US.<br />
While acknowledging the<br />
development journey has not been<br />
without risk for those who took<br />
on the challenge of having SEA<br />
Electric trucks in their fleets, Walker<br />
is adamant that the vehicles on<br />
show were the best they could be<br />
at this stage as a result of that sort<br />
of support.<br />
On what developments may be<br />
on the way, he underlines that the<br />
light- and medium-duty sectors<br />
is where the company will keep its<br />
focus, at least for the time being.<br />
“It is true that SEA Electric<br />
will, one day, branch out into the<br />
prime mover market,” he said.<br />
“But the pure battery technology<br />
in the prime mover market, with<br />
the additional weight that’s<br />
required and the additional range<br />
that’s required and the fact that<br />
you’re substantially reducing<br />
the amount of space that’s<br />
available on the chassis – there<br />
are some challenges for a pure<br />
battery prime mover.<br />
“There’s a little bit more<br />
technological advancement that<br />
needs to be done, whether that’s<br />
hydrogen range extension or other<br />
forms of technology, before we’ve<br />
Above: It was<br />
electric’s time to<br />
shine at the Brisbane<br />
Truck Show<br />
Opposite bottom:<br />
Glen Walker<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 57
Robots handle shipping containers, I’m pretty<br />
sure they can handle 3.5 tonne [of battery]<br />
Above: From right,<br />
Lawrence Ambrose<br />
and Bevan Dooley,<br />
with Lex Forsyth and<br />
the Mark 2 battery<br />
behind<br />
Opposite top and<br />
below: After a<br />
lacklustre diesel<br />
effort a few years<br />
ago, JAC Motors<br />
is back with an EV<br />
offering; “We believe<br />
this is the future,<br />
in that small truck<br />
segment,” JAC<br />
Motors MD Jason<br />
Pecotic says.<br />
settled on what the best solution for<br />
prime movers is.”<br />
JANUS ELECTRIC<br />
Speaking of prime movers, the EV<br />
charge in that space belonged to just<br />
one firm – Janus Electric.<br />
Perhaps the craziest of the brave<br />
at the show, or just the cleverest,<br />
there was no doubting how<br />
intriguing its concept of fully charged<br />
replaceable batteries for converted<br />
conventional trucks was for visitors<br />
and the industry alike.<br />
But behind the squints and<br />
the smiles was undoubtedly an<br />
appreciation of a simple solution in a<br />
recognisable form, based as it is on<br />
converted prime movers – out with<br />
the grill and diesel engine, in with two<br />
doors and big battery unit.<br />
Like SEA Electric, Janus Electric<br />
aims to take the idea to the North<br />
America, eventually, judging that<br />
this market will take easily to the<br />
bonneted form. It could happen as<br />
early as next year.<br />
But that won’t preclude<br />
development of the cabover form,<br />
according to co-founder and director<br />
Bevan Dooley.<br />
The difference will be that the<br />
battery will be block-shaped rather<br />
than the squat, solid ‘T’ shape of<br />
initial design.<br />
More immediately, the company<br />
was proudly showing off what Dooley<br />
describes as a 600kWh-plus Mark<br />
2 battery, along with its converted<br />
Kenworth, at its stand, not far from<br />
Paccar’s.<br />
And the simplicity of the concept<br />
allows for battery developments<br />
including lithium, solid state<br />
technology and beyond to be<br />
introduced seamlessly.<br />
“When solid states come out, we’ll<br />
put ’em in the box – when silicon<br />
batteries come out, we’ll put ’em in<br />
the box,” he beamed.<br />
“The motor doesn’t care. It just<br />
sees 750 volts and says ‘give it<br />
to me’!<br />
“If you’ve got a vehicle where<br />
the battery is fixed, you’ve got a<br />
big problem. You have to rethink<br />
your truck.”<br />
Like the Mark 1 and Mark 2<br />
batteries, the cabover option will<br />
also use forklifts to replace batteries<br />
through the front but Dooley expects<br />
that to give way to robotic handling<br />
in due course.<br />
“People ask me, ‘can robots do<br />
that?’ Well, robots handle shipping<br />
containers, I’m pretty sure they can<br />
handle 3.5 tonne [of battery],” he<br />
said, before adding that robotics is<br />
not an area of expertise.<br />
“We’re already in talks with the<br />
right people . . . it’s gotta be done.”<br />
As far as battery charging and<br />
the savings are concerned, the idea<br />
is to buy bulk off-peak power, to<br />
avoid peak-time charging, at cost<br />
comparable to using diesel.<br />
This aims for profits to go to<br />
battery and replacement service<br />
owners and savings for fleets,<br />
many of which would not have<br />
the set-up to easily recharge their<br />
own trucks.<br />
“I own several industrial yards<br />
around the central coast [of NSW]<br />
and most industrial feeds are only<br />
100 amp feeds. That’s 60kW, which<br />
means you can charge one battery in<br />
10 hours. So, if you’ve got 100 trucks<br />
you’re taking care of one, the other<br />
99 are a problem.”<br />
Dooley’s and co-founder Lex<br />
Forsyth’s thinking from inception<br />
was to provide the Janus common<br />
platform and allow the other aspects<br />
to end up being provided by those<br />
seeing the opportunity, thereby<br />
allowing the service to roll out<br />
organically.<br />
Janus engineer Lawrence<br />
Ambrose explained that the company<br />
went to Melbourne to discuss the<br />
idea with SEA Electric, then solely a<br />
battery-electric propulsion provider,<br />
and left with its blessing to tackle the<br />
heavy EV space.<br />
He explained that the Mark 1<br />
battery uses lithium polymer (LiPo)<br />
cells, which are just now giving<br />
way to lithium nickel manganese<br />
cobalt oxides (NMC) technology<br />
and allowing a rise from 3.2 volt<br />
to 3.7 volt.<br />
“The energy density is a lot higher<br />
in NMC,” Ambrose said.<br />
“So, less wiring, less BMS [battery<br />
management system] [and a] 50 per<br />
cent increase in power density.”<br />
He notes that while what is in the<br />
box will keep up with developments,<br />
the box itself will be unchanged.<br />
Even with battery weight falling,<br />
Janus will likely keep the weight<br />
similar in future to gain more power<br />
and for other reasons<br />
“We’ve got approximately two<br />
tonne on an empty chassis on the<br />
front wheels; the road limit is 6.5.<br />
“Obviously, we’ve still got the<br />
weight of the chassis rail and the<br />
weight of the box itself.<br />
“By the time you count that, you’ve<br />
got 3.5 tonne of batteries [give or<br />
take a few kilograms].”<br />
Ambrose is keen to keep the<br />
weight similar to avoid changing<br />
58 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
aking characteristics, thereby forcing new<br />
brake testing.<br />
Meanwhile, Dooley is in no doubt Janus<br />
will have a presence at the next show,<br />
perhaps even having a Western Star join the<br />
Kenworth and a forklift demonstrating the<br />
interchange.<br />
JAC MOTORS<br />
The week before the show, JAC Motors MD<br />
Jason Pecotic was facing a very modest<br />
truck show indeed.<br />
Having worked to resurrect his JAC<br />
pursuit over the past few years, Pecotic<br />
was facing a spot by the foyer window<br />
with a dearth of metal on display.<br />
“We’ve had an interesting voyage,”<br />
he said.<br />
“We’ve gone from the foyer to the main<br />
stand here in a matter of 14 days.<br />
“And we’ve gone from no truck<br />
last Thursday to the Department of<br />
Infrastructure giving us approval on the<br />
Friday after an impassioned plea by myself.<br />
And then we had the truck delivered Friday<br />
at lunchtime.<br />
“We detailed it on the Saturday and we<br />
had it ready by bump-in on the Monday.”<br />
He pays tribute to organisers HVIA for<br />
recognising the value of having another<br />
electric truck in main space was a desirable<br />
outcome.<br />
“New energy, zero emissions being the<br />
future, they really wanted to make sure that<br />
we were showcased here,” Pecotic said.<br />
“We’ve got to thank the organisers.”<br />
He is on record as acknowledging the<br />
first coming of the Chinese-built JAC, in<br />
diesel form, into the country was with an<br />
inferior light-duty vehicle. But, refusing<br />
to be deterred, he followed the JAC’s EV<br />
development for five years before looking to<br />
bring that version to these shores.<br />
That determination has been bolstered<br />
by sales internationally, notably in Brazil for<br />
DHL’s Pepsico distribution task. And the<br />
vehicle itself is in full production rather than<br />
being in prototype form.<br />
Pecotic is refreshingly realistic about his<br />
latest tilt at the market but believes the EV’s<br />
time has come.<br />
“We are investing in this because we<br />
believe this is the future, in that small truck<br />
segment, for delivery,” he said.<br />
“We don’t answer every question, we have<br />
a specific market that we are chasing.”<br />
The N55EV model on display is Australian<br />
Design Rules-approved, he notes, and is to<br />
order 10 more by mid-year with an arrival<br />
time in the third quarter and full production<br />
is eyed for some time after that. In the<br />
meantime, a dealer network is the next big<br />
domestic task.<br />
By the time of the next show, when<br />
normal BTS service is likely to resume with<br />
increased competition for space, JAC will<br />
look to expand its presence.<br />
“We plan to be here, with a few more<br />
models, too,” Pecotic said.<br />
“There is a good future with a roll-out of<br />
JAC products [to come].<br />
“We hope to be enjoying that journey.”<br />
FUSO<br />
New names and new faces always garner<br />
interest. Who knows where the next<br />
vehicular household name will come from?<br />
But that is not to discount established<br />
giants, and they don’t come much bigger<br />
than Daimler.<br />
In a move that comes straight out<br />
of the “empire strikes back” playbook,<br />
this absolute heavyweight continues<br />
to cast an uncompromising eye over<br />
the emerging, but crucial, market of<br />
commercial EVs.<br />
Its weapon at this still-early stage is the<br />
Fuso eCanter. That remains on collision<br />
course with SEA Electric for the light-duty<br />
sector, where parcels delivery is the<br />
battleground and the need for thousands<br />
of units is foreseen.<br />
Daimler Truck and Bus Australia<br />
Pacific president and CEO Daniel Whitehead<br />
skipped no beats in reinforcing the line<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 59
The Fuso eCanter is a very serious proposition<br />
for all customers that are committed to reduce<br />
their carbon footprint in Australia<br />
that has SEA Electric’s challenge directly<br />
in its sights.<br />
“For the first time, an electric production<br />
truck straight off the factory line. Not a<br />
choice between electrification and safety,”<br />
Whitehead said.<br />
“This is a full Daimler product, with safety,<br />
with electrification – not a Frankenstein<br />
version of other people’s trucks.”<br />
Not much has remained secret<br />
about the eCanter since production first<br />
began 2017, though a closer look at<br />
the performance characteristics will<br />
doubtless occur in due course.<br />
“eCanter has been produced at our<br />
factory, been tested here locally and we<br />
are ready to explore future transportation<br />
with our customers and dealer partners<br />
here in Australia,” Fuso Truck and Bus<br />
Australia director Alex Müller, who at this<br />
stage is custodian of Daimler’s local electric<br />
ambitions, said.<br />
“Daimler and Fuso are committed<br />
to accelerate electrification and also<br />
zero-emission transportation in the<br />
commercial vehicle industry in Australia.<br />
“The Fuso eCanter is a very serious<br />
proposition for all customers that are<br />
committed to reduce their carbon footprint<br />
in Australia.<br />
“eCanter, of course, contains the full suite<br />
of active safety features, like our full Fuso<br />
truck and bus range here in Australia.”<br />
EV AUTOMOTIVE<br />
So far, so familiar. All the firms above have<br />
garnered headlines of some sort.<br />
Not so, EV Automotive (EV-A).<br />
That may be due, in part, to offering<br />
battery-propelled vans, rather than trucks.<br />
But in a certain way, there is a trucking link.<br />
For EV Automotive is the creation of the<br />
Epoca Group of Companies that has roots in<br />
Mt Isa going back more than 50 years.<br />
That is the privately owned and operated<br />
civil, structural and mechanical engineering<br />
operation and property firm founded by<br />
Gilberto Maggiolo and Tony Bosso, who<br />
were one-time stakeholders in ill-fated<br />
heavy truck fleet-owner McAleese.<br />
It was a trip to China in the mid-2010s in<br />
search of electrical machinery that led to a<br />
realisation of the potential of EV commercial<br />
vehicles, particularly vans.<br />
The next challenge was to find a<br />
manufacturer happy to turn its had to<br />
right-hand drive, given the global demand<br />
is swamped with the alternative, and willing<br />
to go to Australian Design Rules (ADR)<br />
standards.<br />
And Skywell Industries, predominantly an<br />
electric bus manufacturer that is branching<br />
out into large van production, was.<br />
Such are global tensions and the<br />
attitudes they engender that what was once<br />
barely worth a mention has morphed into a<br />
source of concern. But EV Automotive sees<br />
no gain in trying to hide the source of the<br />
vehicles – after all, in this connected age, it<br />
would be pointless.<br />
So, the Skywell E11 E-Cargo, its only<br />
60 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
SPONSORED CONTENT<br />
Isuzu<br />
UP-SKILLING AUSTRALIA<br />
Tech training top priority for Australia’s skills shortage<br />
As the nation recovers from<br />
a tough 2020, the pressure<br />
on road transport, trades,<br />
services and related construction<br />
industries continues. The sector is<br />
expected to grow by 5.5 per cent<br />
by 2023. With figures like these,<br />
the call for more skilled truck<br />
technicians to service the sector<br />
is readily apparent.<br />
Isuzu Australia Limited (IAL)<br />
national service manager, Brett<br />
Stewart, says that providing quality<br />
education and opportunities for this<br />
next generation of workers should<br />
be a top priority.<br />
“As a leading truck brand in<br />
the country, we are 100 per cent<br />
committed to growing the pipeline<br />
of technicians to support the<br />
automotive industry into the future,”<br />
he says.<br />
“Opportunities that inject passion<br />
and comradery into the technical<br />
skills sector are hugely important.<br />
We were delighted to sponsor the<br />
National Apprentice Challenge this<br />
year by supplying two GXD prime<br />
movers for the apprentices to work<br />
on during the competition.”<br />
The Heavy Vehicle Industry<br />
Australia (HVIA) National Apprentice<br />
Challenge, held at the Brisbane<br />
Truck Show, attracts some of the<br />
best and brightest mechanical<br />
apprentices from around Australia.<br />
This year’s all-Isuzu winning<br />
team – apprentices Samual Allan<br />
from Ballarat Isuzu and Luke<br />
Kneebone from Webster Trucks –<br />
had the benefit of a rigorous original<br />
equipment manufacturer training<br />
program behind them.<br />
“We could not be prouder of both<br />
Sam and Luke,” Stewart says.<br />
“As young apprentices, they’ve<br />
put their hands up to have a go and<br />
come out of their comfort zone.<br />
“I can only encourage other<br />
young apprentices in the truck<br />
world to take up industry<br />
opportunities like this and see<br />
where it takes you.”<br />
For more information, visit<br />
www.isuzu.com.au<br />
Above: Samual<br />
Allan and Luke<br />
Kneebone were<br />
this year’s winners<br />
of the National<br />
Apprenticeship<br />
Challenge<br />
vehicle, which was also destined<br />
for Thailand and Hong Kong, took<br />
its place this year on the main<br />
floor but not before EV-A brought<br />
in Tiger Spider to look after the<br />
homologation, certification,<br />
compliance and local testing.<br />
With an eight-year warranty, the<br />
batteries are 73.6kWh lithium ion<br />
units with CCS Type 2 charging and<br />
the vehicle claims a 70kW of power<br />
and 350Nm or torque off the mark,<br />
building to 100kW and 750Nm.<br />
Range is put at 200–300km,<br />
based on load.<br />
While the battery supplier has<br />
links with Tesla, EV-A is also taking<br />
a page out of that firm’s online<br />
sales model.<br />
On the servicing side, EV-A MD<br />
David Potter said the company<br />
was in the midst of exchanging<br />
contracts with a partner with 268<br />
outlets nationwide but he was<br />
unwilling to name it until ink<br />
hit paper.<br />
Given the dearth of moving parts,<br />
he puts servicing cost at $180 a<br />
year; the first three and 12 months<br />
being on EV-A.<br />
There are 1,340mm between<br />
the wheel arches, a cargo height of<br />
1,780mm, length of 3,370mm and<br />
rear double-door width is 1,555mm<br />
It is not that EV-A has emerged<br />
entirely without trace – it would have<br />
made its debut in 2019 had there<br />
been space.<br />
This time around, the disruption<br />
came to its aid.<br />
“We’ll try to keep it up as a biennial<br />
event. It’s not necessarily the ideal<br />
vehicle to showcase, because people<br />
are coming for the bigger trucks, but<br />
it’s logistics,” EV-A Oceania sales<br />
manager Peter Benardos said.<br />
“And all of the logistics people that<br />
will be coming to the show to have<br />
a look at trailers and everything else<br />
are going to stumble across us and<br />
go: ‘We could use that!’”<br />
Above: EV-A MD<br />
David Potter<br />
Opposite: The Fuso<br />
eCanter represents<br />
Daimler’s expansion<br />
into the EV space;<br />
Fuso Truck and Bus<br />
Australia director<br />
Alex Müller<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 61 33
BRISBANE TRUCK SHOW<br />
Trailers<br />
ALONG THE<br />
TRAILER TRAIL<br />
A truck show has to have trucks. But, trailers are just as important.<br />
Australia is home to some of the best and toughest trailer<br />
manufacturers in the world. The <strong>ATN</strong> team follows the trailer trail<br />
at the Brisbane Truck Show<br />
BYRNE’S BIG ON LIVESTOCK<br />
Byrne Trailers showcased a diverse line-up<br />
at the Brisbane Truck Show (BTS) but the<br />
standouts were undoubtedly the livestock<br />
trailers, standing tall as the only ones on show.<br />
and with good reason.<br />
The company, founded by Mick and Teri Byrne<br />
in Peak Hill, NSW, in 1974, has seen solid growth<br />
from its small beginnings, where it now claims<br />
to hold market leadership in the livestock sector.<br />
Extensive manufacturing facilities were<br />
established in Wagga Wagga in 1988,<br />
with expansion into Queensland in 1993<br />
via a manufacturing and service depot in<br />
Toowoomba.<br />
Byrne’s capabilities were represented at the<br />
show via a B-triple unit that can cart sheep,<br />
cattle and pigs alongside a B-double cattle-only<br />
unit belonging to Shanahan’s Livestock<br />
62 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
Transport. Though not outright new<br />
releases, Byrne explains it is seeing success<br />
in recent years with these units due to<br />
their clever stainless steel design, which<br />
delivers the “same strength and ductility<br />
as carbon steel but is 250 times more<br />
corrosion resistant”, and therefore “rusts<br />
250 times slower”.<br />
“It also makes the trailer a bit lighter<br />
and allows you to add a couple more<br />
animals on the trailer,” Byrne sales expert<br />
Sam Gwynne tells us.<br />
A tri-axle dolly, designed for the livestock<br />
task, accompanied its headline units.<br />
Elsewhere, Byrne had a couple of<br />
aluminium bulk trailers on display,<br />
containing the Keith Manufacturing<br />
Walking Floor conveying system, where<br />
slats move back and forth in the loading/<br />
unloading process.<br />
One of units is ideal for agriculture,<br />
while the other, heavier-duty, unit, has<br />
been designed for waste and building<br />
supplies industries.<br />
INNOVATIVE DRAKE<br />
BTS saw some of the latest Drake Group<br />
innovations across the Drake Trailers and<br />
O’Phee Trailers brands.<br />
The Drake Group show stand highlighted<br />
the fact it is still innovating, merging new<br />
technology with a century of combined<br />
O’Phee and Drake trailer-building<br />
know-how.<br />
You’d be hard pressed walking through<br />
the show and missing the Drake Group’s<br />
gargantuan Steerable Deck Widener.<br />
The latest widener from Drake features<br />
its own ‘Active Steer’, allowing for up to an<br />
additional 35 degrees of manoeuvrability –<br />
the difference between being able to fit<br />
or not!<br />
A standout feature on the latest<br />
Steerable Deck Widener, and one of<br />
the keys to achieving such significant<br />
manoeuvrability improvements, is that<br />
all axles on the trailer steer, not just the<br />
self-tracking on the rear axle.<br />
The system works via a mechanical<br />
link and is steered off the skid plate to the<br />
turntable, steering the trailer behind the<br />
prime mover.<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 63
Active Steer also allows the operator<br />
to steer the trailer independently using a<br />
remote control setup, allowing the trailer to<br />
be ‘crabbed’ to achieve more steering angle<br />
than you could with the prime mover.<br />
O’Phee Trailers are all about semitrailers<br />
and its BTS display was all about<br />
showcasing performance-based standards<br />
(PBS) Super Semi options. The O’Phee<br />
Super Semi range includes side loader, flat<br />
top, drop deck and skel trailers ranges.<br />
The two on display at the show were<br />
the slick flat top and container skel<br />
trailers, showing off the new axle group<br />
arrangement that allows up to 49.5 tonnes<br />
gross in PBS applications.<br />
GRAHAM LUSTY TRAILERS’ PBS<br />
OFFERING<br />
It may not be all that widely known but<br />
Graham Lusty Trailers (GLT), listed as Lusty<br />
TIP Trailers Pty Ltd by parent company<br />
Teaminvest Private, is a big deal for said<br />
parent, which assumed full ownership just<br />
a couple of years ago. After all, GLT “again<br />
delivered record operational and earnings<br />
improvements in the first half of the year”<br />
for TIP’s engineering division, TIP says.<br />
“GLT’s unique designs deserve a<br />
substantial premium in the transport<br />
market, and their never-ending quest for<br />
innovation gives us confidence that their<br />
reputation as the ‘Rolls Royce’ of bulk<br />
haulage will continue to be enhanced,”<br />
it continues.<br />
“Happily, the use of a GLT trailer adds<br />
so much to most haulage companies’<br />
bottom line that customers now choose to<br />
place orders up to six months in advance<br />
just to secure a booking in GLT’s busy<br />
Brisbane facility.”<br />
Such innovation was certainly on show,<br />
and taking pride of place was a 30-metre<br />
A-double combination with a tandem dolly<br />
setup for Riordan Grain Services.<br />
Built for Victorian PBS applications,<br />
the combination comprises two chassis<br />
tippers, six-foot-six (1.98m)-high sides with<br />
50-tonne hoists and manual rollover tarps.<br />
“The combination all up can tare a<br />
payload of 68 tonne, so you’re getting<br />
around a gross weight of 82 to 85 tonne,<br />
depending what you put on them,”<br />
purchasing officer Grant Platts says.<br />
“Another trailer here for Reardon is a<br />
chassis tipper with 6-foot (1.83m)-high<br />
sides – it has a blower application in it<br />
pumping grain up in the silos for when an<br />
auger isn’t available.<br />
“We’ve got quite a few of those and they<br />
seem to be a bit of a flavour combination.”<br />
Also featuring was a tri-axle dolly for<br />
30m A-double PBS combinations for New<br />
South Wales and Queensland – which can<br />
run in conjunction with B-doubles. Such a<br />
B-double unit was also on display, pulled by<br />
Magill Transport’s Kenworth prime mover.<br />
“It’s our most common sale – it gives<br />
you the versatility of carrying a different<br />
range of products in different applications,”<br />
Platts says.<br />
64 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
ROBUK’S AUTISM AWARENESS<br />
A fascinating narrative coming out of the<br />
BTS is the emergence of Hemmant-based<br />
Robuk Engineering – and its backstory,<br />
given its relation to GLT.<br />
As operations manager Josh Petersen<br />
tells us, BTS was meant to be the<br />
company’s big unveiling.<br />
Instead, the 11-month-old fledgling<br />
company is already snowed-under<br />
with orders.<br />
“It was supposed to be our, ‘hey, we’re<br />
here’ moment but our build schedule is out<br />
until April next year,” says Petersen.<br />
“If we had them in the backyard we could<br />
have sold eight sets this week.”<br />
Petersen describes the company as less<br />
than a year old, but with more than 90 years’<br />
experience building trailers.<br />
It’s the brainchild of James Yerbury,<br />
interestingly the former managing director<br />
of GLT, who, along with Petersen and others<br />
in the Robuk team, departed GLT following<br />
its takeover.<br />
Petersen is quite bullish on his firm’s<br />
trajectory, saying it drew from its experience<br />
making trailers at GLT and “made it better”.<br />
“We offer the full range of trailers –<br />
anything that carts grain: side tippers, end<br />
tippers, tip-overs, sliders, rollbacks, tri-axles,<br />
tandem dollies.<br />
“We can also do some pocket road trains,<br />
19-metre B-doubles.”<br />
To this point, the confidence is justified<br />
for the expanding Brisbane-based company.<br />
Same strength and<br />
ductility as carbon<br />
steel but is 250<br />
times more corrosion<br />
resistant<br />
“We started in a small little shed in<br />
Gympie and outgrew the shed,” Petersen<br />
says.<br />
“The trailers we were building were<br />
34-foot (10.36m) – we had to build a<br />
36-footer (10.97m) and it wouldn’t fit in the<br />
shed, so we had to come to Brisbane.<br />
“We were going to do one trailer a month<br />
and be sustainable with the small crew we<br />
had, but the demand was ridiculous as soon<br />
as anyone found out what we were doing.<br />
“They all wanted trailers from us and<br />
our production schedule is out nearly 12<br />
months.”<br />
On show were customer Duggan<br />
Bulk Haulage’s two identical dangerous<br />
goods-specified 32-foot (9.75m)<br />
lightweight aluminium tippers with<br />
six-foot-six sides, taring in at 6.6 tonnes,<br />
along with a tri-axle dolly.<br />
In a nice touch, Duggan’s livery puts<br />
autism awareness in the spotlight.<br />
“John Duggan is a big advocate for<br />
autism awareness,” Petersen says.<br />
“He said to me: ‘That is the only thing<br />
that matters about it, I couldn’t give a<br />
shit if they didn’t work.’<br />
“Obviously we care if they didn’t work, but<br />
yeah, we’re very proud to display it.”<br />
HAMMAR FLIES SWEDISH FLAG<br />
Hammar is the Swedish container transport<br />
specialist with a burgeoning Australian<br />
presence – in fact, it claims to produce<br />
over half of all new sideloaders to hit the<br />
road here.<br />
While its headquarters, manufacturing,<br />
development and testing are based<br />
in Olsfors, since Bengt-Olof Hammar<br />
designed his first sideloader in 1974<br />
his company has expanded to eight<br />
worldwide locations, including Australia,<br />
and has provided its products to more<br />
than 115 countries.<br />
As Australian general manager Grahame<br />
Heap tells us, bluntly: “You can’t be the best<br />
if you don’t focus on one thing.”<br />
Thus, Hammar’s Australian business was<br />
displaying one such thing – its latest PBS<br />
offering, the split-tri PBS, allowing 30-plus<br />
tonnes payload on the road.<br />
Heap notes the new concept’s axle<br />
groupings allow for a PBS combination with<br />
higher payloads, which will appeal to the<br />
wharf cartage sector.<br />
“This combination is already up and<br />
running in Queensland and is able to<br />
carry higher mass without impacting<br />
infrastructure,” the National Heavy<br />
Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) notes in its<br />
own BTS walkaround.<br />
The key to Hammar’s offering down<br />
under, Heap adds, is a high-grade steel<br />
brought in from Sweden, with frames<br />
manufactured there but assembled in<br />
Australia, and some chassis manufactured<br />
here too.<br />
“You can take a main product and tweak<br />
it to suit the country you are in,” he says on<br />
the local focus on quality.<br />
He also emphasises the brand’s<br />
dedicated local support network.<br />
“If something goes wrong for an operator<br />
we are never down for long.”<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 65
Below: Muscat<br />
Trailers CEO Troy<br />
Azzopardi<br />
It gives you the versatility of carrying a different<br />
range of products in different applications<br />
MAXITRANS’ BIG CELEBRATION<br />
MaxiTrans is a staunch BTS supporter,<br />
invested fully in the belief of its wider<br />
importance for the industry.<br />
Of course, the show coincided with<br />
celebration of the group’s Freighter<br />
brand notching up 75 years – just<br />
another indication of the extraordinary<br />
staying power of the nation’s peerless<br />
trailer-making sector.<br />
“Fortunately for us, we had a<br />
customer function where we saw in excess<br />
of 300 people attend and celebrate with<br />
us and former staff members. And we had<br />
customers from all across the country,<br />
which was fantastic, and a couple from<br />
New Zealand,” NSW sales manager Glen<br />
Sharman says of an event the company<br />
sees as an acute indication of customer<br />
regard for the make.<br />
With so many of its makes and models on<br />
display, he was loath to highlight particular<br />
items but felt a comparison of old and new<br />
was compelling.<br />
“If there was a highlight, it was showing<br />
the old strap trailer that we had up high,”<br />
Sharman says.<br />
“Show attendees had the opportunity to<br />
see what a trailer looked like in the 1950s,<br />
how it was and how it differed to now.<br />
“We had it on a current trailer, a current<br />
drop-deck, and that allowed people to walk<br />
underneath to see the quality of the finish<br />
and build of the Freighter products.”<br />
Otherwise, he did note a “safety mezz<br />
deck on a Freighter drop deck, new model<br />
suspension on the Boral Azmeb, and the<br />
new diesel-electric fridge on the MultiQuip<br />
Maxi-Cube”.<br />
Sharman is full of praise for show<br />
organiser Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia’s<br />
(HVIA’s) steely resolve to make the event<br />
a success, despite Covid spot-fires in the<br />
lead-up.<br />
“We had full confidence in the HVIA and<br />
followed suit,” he said.<br />
“We put the show on and supported them<br />
100 per cent and beyond. We had outside<br />
space as well as inside space. We asked for<br />
additional space [early on].<br />
“For us, it was about being there for the<br />
industry and for our customers.<br />
“We looked at contingency plans if there<br />
was a border closedown, as opposed to not<br />
going to the show.”<br />
That included surveying its dealer<br />
network and other options to source<br />
equipment.<br />
PRIME POSITION FOR MUSCAT<br />
No stranger to awards and recognition of<br />
high achievement, Muscat Trailers was keen<br />
to make the most of its BTS opportunity and<br />
spruik its offerings’ productivity and safety<br />
accomplishments.<br />
“Because business is now more focused<br />
on safety, we are focusing on non-tip<br />
solutions,” Muscat Trailers CEO Troy<br />
Azzopardi, bullish about his firm’s ability<br />
to punch above its weight, said.<br />
“This is a PBS quad that with the right<br />
prime mover can give the operator 32.5<br />
tonne payload.<br />
“We’ve worked in the non-tip market now<br />
for five years. We are a leader in non-tip<br />
solutions. Other manufacturers are sitting<br />
on the fence to see how the industry<br />
evolves. But I feel that’s not a plan.”<br />
Certainly, Azzopardi feels Muscat was in<br />
a rare and very forward position, both in the<br />
Show and more broadly.<br />
“When you look at the next 10 years,<br />
things will certainly evolve but we’re five<br />
years into it and about to release a second<br />
live floor.”<br />
The top half is manufactured in the<br />
US but Muscat has been working with<br />
the manufacturer to ‘Australian-ise’<br />
that section.<br />
“The next version of this will be better<br />
again and more suited for our roads and<br />
our conditions.”<br />
As a smaller manufacturer, the company<br />
was conservative in its presence but<br />
happy to gain a strategic position on<br />
main floor.<br />
While Azzopardi was critical of a few<br />
much larger firms with bigger budget<br />
withdrawing, it did allow operations like his<br />
to shine. And he was one of a number who<br />
welcomed federal support for exhibitions<br />
and exhibitors, despite the time entangles in<br />
attendant red tape.<br />
And while he believes the attendance<br />
was fair under the circumstances, he<br />
reckons organiser HVIA will “have its<br />
hands full” fitting everyone in during<br />
the next show.<br />
66 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
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BRISBANE TRUCK SHOW<br />
Parts and accessories<br />
AFTERMARKET<br />
EXTRAVAGANZA<br />
Parts and accessories<br />
stands were spread<br />
across three floors<br />
at the Brisbane<br />
Truck Show. Here’s a<br />
snapshot of some of<br />
the standouts<br />
Garrett Motion Australia<br />
GM Paul Carlsson<br />
GARRETT’S LIGHT DUTY<br />
CREDENTIALS<br />
Garrett Motion Australia GM Paul<br />
Carlsson highlights the many ways to<br />
gain from the BTS. The local arm of the<br />
global US firm that helps boost engine<br />
output through turbochargers, Garrett<br />
had a range of both heavy and light<br />
machinery options, including those<br />
for trucks.<br />
But, as Carlsson noted, fleet owners<br />
and their managers are also performance<br />
and leisure machine fans. Thus the<br />
Garrett stand accommodated both.<br />
Whereas Garrett used to do heavierduty<br />
truck turbos, it is now more focused<br />
on fitting lighter rigids, such as Isuzu, Hino<br />
and Fuso.<br />
“In most cases, you’ll get guys come up<br />
and say ‘I don’t have your turbocharger in<br />
my truck but, I’ve got a twin-turbo ski-boat<br />
that I want to do up’ – and that’s why we<br />
have the performance stuff here,” Carlsson<br />
said, noting that they might also have<br />
company utes or private performance<br />
cars as part of their lives.<br />
They can be “truck drivers, fleet owners,<br />
managers that are successful as far<br />
as their work-life goes” who may have<br />
little opportunity otherwise to see the<br />
performance range. This, interestingly, is<br />
where the most BTS enquiries are focused.<br />
Carlsson’s 2021 is chequered with similar<br />
events planned at least as far back as<br />
before November.<br />
He insisted there was little concern about<br />
the BTS going ahead.<br />
And the value of it and other such events<br />
is broad.<br />
”It’s a way of getting in front of the<br />
customers out there – the end-users,<br />
the installers – and talking to them –<br />
it works well,” he said, not to mention<br />
the opportunity for education and advice<br />
nights Garrett can provide to the likes of<br />
diesel mechanics.<br />
Carlsson estimated that perhaps half of<br />
turbo problems can be put down to device<br />
failure and the rest are entirely fixable,<br />
saving replacement cash.<br />
“It could be an oil drain line that’s blocked<br />
[meaning] that oil’s got to go somewhere so<br />
it goes through the seal,” he said.<br />
“Fix the drain line and the oil can drain<br />
away again and it’s not pressurising the<br />
internal part of the turbo charger and the<br />
oil stops.<br />
“Or, the opposite. They think it’s the<br />
turbocharger, [so] they replace the<br />
turbocharger and the leak’s still there.<br />
68 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
“It’s what I call ‘diagnostics by<br />
replacement’ – it’s very expensive.<br />
It’s not a good thing to do.”<br />
Carlsson insisted developments come<br />
constantly, reducing device size while<br />
increasing power, at a ratio of 15-20 per<br />
cent a time and informed by Formula 1<br />
turbo technology.<br />
And it wouldn’t be the 2020s without an<br />
electric aspect here too.<br />
“This year, we are launching with AMG<br />
the world’s first mass-produced e-turbo<br />
vehicle,” he says.<br />
“It’s like a normal turbo-charger but<br />
in the centre of it, instead of having the<br />
bearing where the oil and water goes<br />
into it for cooling, it has an electric motor<br />
as well.<br />
“Through the rpm range, from the 800rpm<br />
at idle to 1,500 to 2,000rpm, the electric<br />
motor does the work.<br />
“As soon as it’s going fast enough that<br />
the exhaust gas takes over, the normal<br />
turbocharger kicks in. And then, when it<br />
goes past that point, it then reverts the<br />
electric motor to an alternator and the<br />
power goes back into the battery.<br />
“So, what that gives you, via ECU control,<br />
is infinite power whenever you want.”<br />
The e-turbo move to from performance<br />
use to heavy vehicles is seen as only a<br />
matter of time.<br />
The e-turbo move to from performance<br />
use to heavy vehicles is seen as only<br />
a matter of time<br />
HELLA SHINES WITH DURALED RANGE<br />
Hella Australia’s stand lit up the surrounds<br />
with its array of heavy commercial lights,<br />
lamps and other electrical accessories.<br />
The company promotes a ‘fit and<br />
forget’ mantra for fleet owners with<br />
maintenance-free lighting solutions –<br />
particularly its DuraLED range of signal,<br />
marker, heavy duty and combination lamps<br />
that comes with a lifetime warranty.<br />
The company noted the DuraLED<br />
collection is tried and tested over two<br />
decades, hence its confidence in<br />
the range.<br />
Further offerings include its Grilamid<br />
lenses that provide UV and chemical<br />
resistance to avoid fading and embrittling,<br />
Jumbo-S Series signal lamps, Rallye 4000<br />
driving lamps, and wider catalogue of<br />
warning beacons, safety daylights, light<br />
bars and work lamps.<br />
Hella specialist Kevin Betty said an<br />
innovative product development involves<br />
forklift-mounted bar lights that shine a<br />
‘guided’ area around the vehicle, providing a<br />
safety zone for others to keep clear of.<br />
He also emphasised the importance of<br />
Australian Design Rule (ADR)-spec lights<br />
as non-compliant products that are not<br />
optimised for human eyes can contribute<br />
to an accident and lead to later legal<br />
headaches for the user.<br />
In an interesting sidebar, susie coils<br />
have been a recent point of conjecture in<br />
the industry and Hella sees its heavy-duty<br />
trailer connectors as future-relevant.<br />
“It’s a changing scene for manufacturers<br />
– the old common metal one is no longer<br />
allowed to be fitted at the manufacturing<br />
level. Six months away, this will be the<br />
standard – you’ll have no choice.”<br />
LOADMAN AIMS HIGH<br />
On-board weighing is growing in<br />
importance as road access arrangements<br />
increasingly require availability<br />
of mass data collected through Smart<br />
on-board mass (OBM) systems.<br />
In one example, by late 2021, Victoria’s<br />
higher-mass limits access system will<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 69
equire vehicles to be fitted with Smart<br />
OBM.<br />
Hence, scale system distributor<br />
Loadmass Australia was spotlighting<br />
its credentials at the BTS.<br />
It noted it was the first supplier to be<br />
Category-A type-approved by transport<br />
technology assurance organisation<br />
Transport Certification Australia (TCA),<br />
and, importantly now boasts two brands,<br />
Loadman and Airtec, type-approved for<br />
Category B higher mass applications.<br />
Those seeking higher mass limits<br />
access are offered scale systems digitally<br />
connected to Smart OBM systems, allowing<br />
not only the recording of the load, but<br />
other safety and regulatory information for<br />
compliance purposes, Loadmass notes.<br />
At the other end of the spectrum, the<br />
BTS saw a release of Loadmass’s light<br />
commercial range – its LMA Series 3030<br />
sensor, developed in Australia for utilities<br />
and vans.<br />
Loadmass director Ralph Rossteuscher<br />
explained that its air bag or spring systems<br />
can accommodate the full range of rigid<br />
trucks and commercial vehicles.<br />
“Air bag system measures movement<br />
in the air pressure in the air bags of the<br />
suspension, so, as the truck gets a load<br />
[placed] on it, the air bags compensate and<br />
pump up and we measure the pressure in<br />
the airline.<br />
“In the spring suspension one, we<br />
Blue Horizon will be coming the Australian<br />
market’s way soon, in 12Xe, 14Xe and 17Xe<br />
e-powertrains<br />
measure the movement in the suspension<br />
– it will display an overload situation when<br />
it happens.”<br />
Similarly, for heavier-duty applications,<br />
“we measure the air pressure in air lines<br />
through a transducer, which sends a signal<br />
back to a converter”.<br />
MERITOR LOOKS TO BLUE HORIZON<br />
Helpfully placed diagonally opposite<br />
SEA Electric’s space, it was by happy<br />
coincidence that axle provider Meritor’s<br />
flagging of its Blue Horizon EV option<br />
came as the show put on its most electric<br />
face yet.<br />
Meritor was able to explain to visitors<br />
curious and fascinated by the EV impact<br />
there that Blue Horizon would be coming<br />
the Australian market’s way soon, in 12Xe,<br />
14Xe and 17Xe e-powertrains capable of<br />
180kW and 250kW, 250kW, and up to 450kW<br />
ratings respectively.<br />
Some two decades in the planning, these<br />
are to be aimed at battery electric (BEVs),<br />
plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) hydrogen<br />
fuel cell hybrid and compressed natural gas<br />
hybrid electric vehicles.<br />
This time around, trailer and line-haul<br />
axles took centre stage, with aftermarket<br />
parts acting as a chorus led by its red<br />
drums.<br />
“This is a product we’ve had for a while<br />
but it’s a new version without a pump,”<br />
product and marketing manager Adam<br />
Carroll said.<br />
“It’s basically a high-efficiency version<br />
for linehaul work.The trailer axle is the main<br />
focus for us because we’ve not done that<br />
before. It’s available in North America but<br />
it’s not been available here.”<br />
The key to getting traction with it is<br />
fleet attraction.<br />
“What we’re looking for are partners, so<br />
fleets that are interested to trial. We have<br />
one fleet that has it on trial at the moment,”<br />
Carroll said.<br />
“We need the fleets to have it on trial,<br />
then we need the trailer-makers interested<br />
as well.”<br />
Carroll admitted that uncertainty was an<br />
issue his side had to deal with pre-show.<br />
“We ‘um’ed and ‘ah’ed quite a bit and<br />
also about the numbers and whether it<br />
was worth bringing everybody up here with<br />
70 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
lockdowns . . . but ultimately we decided to<br />
go to the show,” he said, adding that it was<br />
worth doing even if his mob was somewhat<br />
overstaffed, “because it’s a networking<br />
thing as well”.<br />
SUPERCHROME’S FINE FINISH<br />
Sydney-based Superchrome has been in<br />
the wheel chroming business for 25 years,<br />
with the last 20 of those years offering a<br />
chromed alloy wheel to the industry and<br />
owner-drivers alike.<br />
“We are the only ones in Australia who<br />
chrome alloy rims,” Superchrome general<br />
manager Greg Druitt said.<br />
“We have a special way we do the<br />
chroming and we offer a seven-year<br />
warranty.”<br />
The appeal of Superchrome’s seven-year<br />
warranty and the low maintenance aspect<br />
are some of the reasons why people are<br />
choosing to go with a chromed alloy over<br />
the standard wheel, according to Druitt.<br />
“The main complaint we hear all the time<br />
is people are sick of polishing,” Druitt said.<br />
“The work of polishing an alloy wheel<br />
for an hour and you can’t get between the<br />
nuts, etc. and, with our wheels, all you do is<br />
give them wash with a soapy brush and a<br />
pressure washer and away you go.”<br />
But it’s not just all for aesthetics with<br />
Druitt highlighting the protective nature of<br />
chrome on an alloy wheel.<br />
“One of the big advantages of chrome<br />
on an alloy wheel is that alloy is soft and<br />
chroming puts a hard coating on it. So,<br />
all the little stones that hit alloy wheels<br />
and leave marks that need to be polished<br />
out, and the continual need to polish alloy<br />
wheels to keep them looking good, make<br />
our chromed alloy a good choice.<br />
“We’ve always used Alcoa but now<br />
Armoury out of Taiwan have a very good<br />
wheel with good finish in chrome, so we<br />
have them at the Truck Show. We only do<br />
the two brands because we know these are<br />
really good quality, so that’s all we use,”<br />
Druitt said.<br />
The Brisbane Truck Show has also<br />
given Superchrome a chance to come and<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 71
years of maintaining trucks and trailers<br />
teamed with the availability of supply<br />
chain manufacturers left behind from<br />
Holden’s departure from the Adelaide<br />
manufacturing landscape.<br />
“I’m a transport operator and, in my<br />
journey, I guess we’ve had to put up with a<br />
lot of not-very-well-made parts,” Tru-Shu<br />
managing director Ken Pitt said.<br />
“The S-cam brake drum overall is quite<br />
good but it had some failings; the brake<br />
shoes would walk out the side of the drums,<br />
especially in rough conditions.<br />
“So, I had a good look at the system<br />
and we came up with a way to stop shoes<br />
coming out. We trialled it and it worked well<br />
so we started manufacturing.”<br />
But it wasn’t enough to just make a<br />
better shoe. From years of pulling braking<br />
systems apart for maintenance and repair,<br />
Pitt wanted to make it easier to repair and<br />
maintain as well as more effective.<br />
“When 10-stud rims started coming in,<br />
it seemed stupid to pull the hubs off just<br />
Quite often, they sell<br />
their truck, keep the<br />
wheels and put them<br />
on their next truck<br />
interact with its customers and meet<br />
people who may not have heard of the<br />
company before.<br />
“Our wheels are not cheap, but they last.<br />
We’ve got guys coming up to us here at the<br />
show with wheels that are 15-years-old<br />
and still going and, quite often, they sell<br />
their truck, keep the wheels and put them<br />
on their next truck,” Druitt said.<br />
As with many industries the global<br />
pandemic has affected Superchrome.<br />
“Originally, with Covid, things slowed<br />
things down, but in the last 10 months<br />
we’ve had all-time record months in<br />
sales and we currently going through our<br />
third upgrade to our production facility,”<br />
Druitt said.<br />
“It just keeps getting bigger and bigger<br />
because most guys when they buy a<br />
new truck they don’t go back to alloy<br />
wheels. You just can’t beat chrome<br />
for a great shine.”<br />
BETTER SHOE FROM TRU-SHU<br />
Adelaide-based company Tru-Shu say it<br />
has made a ‘better mouse trap’ with its<br />
innovative brake shoe and drum design for<br />
S-cam braking systems based on the firm’s<br />
to do brake maintenance, so we’ve made<br />
our brake shoe with an extra hole in it to<br />
put a cable or a zip-tie through to pull the<br />
return spring up and put a clip in to hold<br />
everything in place. Now, we don’t have<br />
to pull hubs off to replace brake shoes,”<br />
Pitt said.<br />
Along with the hole to access the return<br />
spring, the system relies on no backing<br />
plate, with a drum with various holes<br />
and slots to release braking gasses, dust<br />
and general debris, which can cause<br />
overheating and pose a potential fire<br />
risk in a traditional trailer braking system.<br />
“We’re not running backing plates, we<br />
aren’t trying to hide anything, we want to<br />
do our maintenance and we want to look in<br />
there,” Pitt said.<br />
“We’ve perforated the drum with<br />
different-sized holes to help clear the drum<br />
of rubbish and dust and things like that.<br />
“Our trailer axles we’re making actually<br />
use drive hubs, bearings and seals. We’ve<br />
made a collar to go over the drive hub, so<br />
we run two wheel seals because we want<br />
to run oil rather than grease as a lubricant<br />
because it does a better job. Now, we are<br />
starting to build our own suspension, which<br />
72 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
is based being easy to maintain, being very<br />
stable, so one thing is leading to another,”<br />
Pitt said.<br />
“We feel like we’ve got the drum brake<br />
working as good as it can. We’ve got it<br />
to a stage where the maintenance and<br />
performance and cost saving from having<br />
something work really well is there. We<br />
think we’ve helped out a fair bit.”<br />
Pitt’s company runs around 30 trucks<br />
and 45 trailers moving machinery around<br />
Australia and has trialled its<br />
braking system over 100,000km with<br />
good results so far.<br />
With plans to sell the shoes on a return<br />
basis and an eye toward engineering better<br />
suspension and axle components, Pitt is<br />
optimistic about the future of the company<br />
especially with the support of local<br />
manufacturers.<br />
DOUBLE THE RANGE WITH TYREMAX<br />
Independently owned and operated tyre<br />
wholesaler TyreMax had an impressive<br />
array on show, with a particular focus on its<br />
Maxxis and Continental commercial vehicle<br />
tyre ranges.<br />
First cabs off the rank were the Maxxis<br />
steer and all-position tyres, which TyreMax<br />
noted is the perfect mid-range offering<br />
for regional and long-haul highway<br />
applications.<br />
“We’ve developed a new steer tyre,<br />
which we have tested at length in Australia<br />
and have found better results than both<br />
the Michelin and Bridgestone,” according<br />
to TyreMax technical product specialist<br />
Neil Jonsson.<br />
“It was only a smallish test but it<br />
was a really promising result so we’re<br />
bringing that out in bulk from about<br />
June onwards and hoping for a good<br />
result and good sales.”<br />
Vital to Maxxis’ product development<br />
is its proving ground in Kunshan near<br />
Shanghai, one of only a select few<br />
privately-owned in China, notes TyreMax<br />
product manager Jeff Moorhead.<br />
The US$150 million rigorous testing<br />
operation, which took several years to<br />
plan and construct, opened in 2012 and<br />
is the basis for the company’s evolving<br />
tyre technology.<br />
Meanwhile, Continental’s research and<br />
development department has devised a<br />
range of Conti CrossTrac tyres, which “lead<br />
the way for a new generation of on- and<br />
off-road truck tyres”, the company said.<br />
The story of Continental’s heavy-duty<br />
range is characterised by a “dedication”<br />
to the Australian market, with Jonsson<br />
observing that, pre-Covid, engineers would<br />
regularly fly out from Germany to Australia<br />
to check test tyres and examine how they<br />
wear here, what influences that wear,<br />
and much more.<br />
“It’s a massive investment in a market<br />
that isn’t huge globally, but because<br />
it’s such a difficult market to make<br />
tyres for, their ideology is if you can<br />
make tyres for the difficult market …<br />
that can come together to build better<br />
tyres for the world.”<br />
Another recent development for<br />
Continental sees it team up with Pacific<br />
Telematics to offer a digital transport<br />
monitoring system.<br />
The new ContiPressureCheck system,<br />
launched at the show, uses sensors fitted<br />
inside each tyre to provide drivers with<br />
real-time information on the tyre status.<br />
The continuous, automatic tyre pressure<br />
monitoring system is designed to reduce<br />
overall operating costs and results in<br />
lower fuel consumption, reduced risk<br />
of tyre-related breakdowns and extended<br />
tyre life.<br />
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BRISBANE TRUCK SHOW<br />
Technology & Innovation Centre<br />
INNOVATIVE<br />
EXHIBITORS<br />
The Brisbane Truck Show’s Technology & Innovation Centre showcased<br />
the latest and greatest ways to digitally enhance many facets of one’s<br />
business – from fleet, job and repair management software to thermal<br />
imaging and remote controlling<br />
AVANTGARDE’S EASTERN EXCURSION<br />
It is a long way from Perth to Brisbane, so the<br />
appearance of FLIR Thermal Imaging provider<br />
Avantgarde Distribution at the show was<br />
welcome.<br />
Avantgarde’s Pete Hellemons gain more of<br />
a public profile four years ago when the safety<br />
technology was making a splash and he says the<br />
desire to be at the BTS has been around since<br />
then. The trouble being how to successfully find<br />
an opening.<br />
As with other exhibitors, this year saw that<br />
opportunity open up.<br />
“We’ve had this business going for nearly<br />
10 years now and we’ve been getting pretty big<br />
in the west but we wanted to diversify, so we<br />
thought ‘we’ve got to come over to Brisbane’.<br />
“Had wanted to come here for a couple of<br />
years but getting into the show has not been<br />
easy.”<br />
So, with some exhibitors forced to withdraw<br />
due to pandemic disruption, he was never going<br />
to let the opportunity slide.<br />
“We’re just hoping we get an invitation to<br />
come back in 2023 – that’s the plan.”<br />
Hellemons was buoyed at the opportunity to<br />
get in front of eastern-state faces, in the same<br />
way he did early on in WA, saying he gained<br />
serious interest even on the show’s last day.<br />
After all, there is at least as much need in the<br />
east to know, at night when the sun in low on the<br />
horizon, what might be about to damage crucial<br />
expensive trucks when seeing danger is difficult.<br />
The other opportunity the show provides is<br />
networking and Hellemon found that particularly<br />
valuable, providing “as much, if not more”<br />
interest than interaction with visitors.<br />
“We are keen to integrate our products,” he<br />
says<br />
“Telematics organisations here have shown<br />
a lot of interest in our products. Trucks already<br />
have a lot of cameras on them these days and<br />
they are recording that footage into their DVR<br />
unit, so it makes sense to have this as a bolt-on<br />
item and then marry that information.<br />
“So you’re putting that image on the<br />
dashboard for your operator to see but why not<br />
feed that into the recorder so that, if an event<br />
does happen, you can see what occurred and<br />
what the driver could see before it happened.”<br />
Above:Pete Hellemons (left) and his son Drew from<br />
Avantgarde Distribution<br />
SCANRECO’S<br />
REMOTE<br />
SOLUTION<br />
Hace Industries is the distributor of wireless<br />
industrial control products from Swedish<br />
firm Scanreco. In a nutshell, it’s like playing<br />
with remote controlled vehicles to the real<br />
world.<br />
From pocket remotes to whole<br />
consoles complete with joysticks and<br />
screens, Scanreco is able to reduce the<br />
risk of human involvement in hazardous<br />
applications.<br />
Its systems are suitable for materials<br />
handling, mining, agriculture, transport,<br />
and shipping equipment such as cranes,<br />
winches, concrete pumps, tilt slides,<br />
forklifts and others.<br />
Pertinent to trucking, Hace manager<br />
Niall Field points to Scanreco’s capability<br />
to remote control a truck – stop and start<br />
an engine, command steering and drive,<br />
activate brakes and lights, and more.<br />
74 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
TIGER<br />
SPIDER’S<br />
3D VIEW<br />
Tiger Spider is a<br />
transport engineering<br />
and software consultancy<br />
for heavy commercial<br />
and performance-based<br />
standards (PBS) vehicles.<br />
Managing director<br />
Marcus Coleman runs<br />
through its suite of services,<br />
including PBS design and<br />
approval work, testing,<br />
certification and compliance<br />
tasks for truck and trailer<br />
manufacturers, transport<br />
companies, road and traffic<br />
managers and engineers.<br />
Hevi Spec is the firm’s<br />
flagship product: software for<br />
truck and trailer design.<br />
It incorporates any<br />
vehicle combinations,<br />
taking into consideration<br />
weight distribution,<br />
payload optimisation, PBS<br />
assessment and more. It<br />
presents a 2D vision with 3D<br />
model in the backend.<br />
Another key product,<br />
Spider Path, provides ‘swept<br />
path’ diagrams of vehicles,<br />
meaning it can build any<br />
vehicle configuration and<br />
check if it fits over satellite<br />
image map – critical for<br />
access assessments.<br />
FUTURE FLEET’S<br />
ARTIFICIAL<br />
INTELLIGENCE<br />
Future Fleet is an Australian telematics provider<br />
specialising in internet of things (IoT), artificial<br />
intelligence (AI) powered, satellite and 4G/5G asset<br />
and fleet tracking solutions.<br />
General manager Richard Saad says the<br />
company’s three pillars are efficiency, compliance<br />
and safety.<br />
One of its highlights is Australia’s first IoT<br />
direct-to-orbit tracker developed in conjunction<br />
with satellite connectivity firm Myriota, a fellow<br />
Australian company.<br />
It also offers an AI-driven front-facing and<br />
road-facing camera that warns of distraction or<br />
fatigue, electronic work diaries (EWDs), solar and<br />
non-solar asset trackers.<br />
ONE STOP IBODYSHOP<br />
iBodyshop offers a one-stop maintenance suite for smash repairers and workshops.<br />
Director Stephen O’Brien notes that, unlike desktop packages that traditionally<br />
need two or three pieces of software for the whole task, iBodyshop’s system is<br />
cloud-based and integrated within one package, making it faster and smarter.<br />
This allows a repairer to write a quote, manage a job, lodge with insurance, do<br />
labels, time recording and accounting all in the one place, making the product<br />
popular with large truck and smash-repair groups.<br />
KEEPING<br />
TRACK<br />
WITH<br />
SENSIUM<br />
Sensium is a Brisbane-based<br />
vehicle telemetry and fleet tracking<br />
firm whose point of difference is its<br />
local focus.<br />
As CEO Jeremy McLean tells<br />
us, its designs and manufacture<br />
all its hardware – its platforms,<br />
developments, firmware,<br />
communications protocols,<br />
end-to-end, are all its own, and<br />
“very few others are doing that, so<br />
it’s unique”.<br />
Another selling point is that<br />
the product suits the majority of<br />
companies – it’s web-based, not<br />
over the top, and claims to provide<br />
the highest resolution and quality<br />
data in the industry.<br />
Starting with trades and moved<br />
into transport industry, registered<br />
as a provider for TCA schemes<br />
– for example, on show it was<br />
demonstrating how the system<br />
integrates with other products like<br />
Airtec on-board mass.<br />
VWORK ON SCHEDULE<br />
VWork is an electronic job scheduling and dispatch<br />
software package for any transport operation.<br />
It claims to reduce paperwork processes, increase<br />
responsiveness to customers through automated<br />
electronic notifications for proof of service or<br />
impending arrival of drivers, bill more accurately for<br />
time or distance travelled and reduces the need to<br />
chase drivers for paperwork.<br />
Business development manager Paul Blackwell says<br />
the software is easier to deploy as it’s up and running<br />
in matter of weeks and is adaptable to different types<br />
of operations – courier, linehaul, spare parts, etc. –<br />
and configured for individual business.<br />
Plus it’s free for 12-months – the longest trial<br />
period on the market, more than enough for an<br />
operator to become accustomed to the tech.<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 75
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BRAND OVERVIEW<br />
Scania Australia<br />
SCANIA RAISES<br />
THE STAKES<br />
Recent years have been the best in Scania’s 50-year history in Australia. Not<br />
spectacular, and not without a few foibles, but certainly better than ever before and<br />
certainly enough to cause market leaders to keep a concerned eye on the brand’s<br />
rising prominence from one end of the country to the other. Scania’s gains, of course,<br />
have come from the evolution of a significantly more appealing product range but so,<br />
too, have they come from more astute management. In this wide-ranging report, we<br />
start with a test drive from Sydney to Melbourne in a new R540 B-double before a<br />
one-on-one talk with Scania Australia’s quietly composed managing director, Mikael<br />
Jansson, on some of the factors behind the brand’s steady rise in recent years. Then,<br />
back in Sydney, we climb into the new baby of the bunch, the seven-litre P-series<br />
WORDS STEVE BROOKS<br />
78 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
TEST DRIVE<br />
R540 B-double<br />
Scania hasn’t wasted any time<br />
slipping the new 540hp (403kW)<br />
version of its 13-litre Euro 6<br />
engine into the market. And nor should<br />
it, given that since the local launch of<br />
its much lauded ‘New Truck Generation’<br />
(NTG) more than three years ago, the<br />
Swedish brand has been somewhat off<br />
the pace in the 13-litre power parade.<br />
Sure, the new range has many<br />
attributes: second to none in safety,<br />
exceptional build quality, respectable<br />
efficiency, and when it comes to big bore<br />
brawn, there’s nothing to match Scania’s<br />
venerable V8. But, as we asked several<br />
Scania operatives during the NTG’s<br />
Australian launch, ‘Seriously, why is the<br />
13-litre engine limited to 500hp (373kW)<br />
when the similarly-sized engines of its<br />
main rivals, namely Volvo’s D13 and<br />
Mercedes-Benz’s OM471, peak at 540<br />
and 530hp (395kW) respectively?’<br />
The official response was to simply<br />
cite the six-cylinder engine’s gritty<br />
torque output (2,550Nm/1,880lb ft)<br />
and its subsequently-stated ability to<br />
deliver an enviable mix of potent pulling<br />
power and frugal fuel economy at gross<br />
combination weights up to 75 tonnes.<br />
Besides, as Scania stalwarts were<br />
equally quick to comment, if you want<br />
more than 500hp, there’s always the<br />
16.4-litre V8 with outputs starting at<br />
520hp (388kW) and going all the way to<br />
730hp (544kW).<br />
Even so, a few Scania insiders quietly<br />
admitted to being equally perplexed<br />
by the six-cylinder engine’s 500hp<br />
limit, which, in our parochially powerconscious<br />
market, appeared to be<br />
handing its main rivals – which now<br />
include DAF’s Euro 6 MX-13 engine at<br />
530hp – something akin to a free hit.<br />
On the other hand, Scania’s more<br />
senior people were again quick to firmly<br />
refute any suggestion of being off the<br />
pace, claiming the 13-litre 500hp rating<br />
in both the full-size R cab and the<br />
lower profile G cab has been “among<br />
our most popular [and] widely praised<br />
for its performance, fuel efficiency and<br />
driveability”.<br />
Fair enough, but with the recent arrival<br />
of the 540hp rating, the company hasn’t<br />
been at all shy about pointing out the<br />
new setting’s ability to turn its “sixcylinder<br />
prime mover into a genuine long<br />
distance interstate B-double hauler”.<br />
Call me cynical, but doesn’t that<br />
SCANIA’S<br />
DOUBLE SHOT<br />
suggest the 500 rating wasn’t quite<br />
the genuine B-double linehauler its<br />
defenders declared? It would seem so.<br />
Whatever, there’s no doubt the 540’s<br />
additional horsepower, coupled with an<br />
extra 150Nm of torque – taking peak<br />
torque out to 2,700Nm, or 1,990lb ft –<br />
finally put the Swedish contender<br />
head-to-horsepower-head with any<br />
contender in the highly competitive<br />
12- to 13-litre class.<br />
The extra punch, however, hasn’t<br />
come without some critical updates to<br />
enhance performance and, predictably,<br />
fuel efficiency. In fact, the message from<br />
Scania is that, like its in-line siblings,<br />
the DC13 engine has been reworked in<br />
a number of key areas. These include<br />
the application of low-friction coatings<br />
on pistons, rings and bores, modified<br />
inlet and exhaust manifolds, increased<br />
compression rates and higher cylinder<br />
pressures from Scania’s durable XPI<br />
fuel injection system, and a new fixed<br />
geometry turbocharger.<br />
In addition are new variable coolant<br />
pumps, specifically designed to enhance<br />
efficiency when the engine is operating<br />
at low load cycles, and a variable<br />
steering pump that, combined with<br />
all the other updates, allows Scania<br />
to confidently claim an overall fuel<br />
consumption improvement of up to<br />
2.5 percent.<br />
All up, it’s simply a more potent<br />
package with 540hp on tap at 1,800rpm<br />
and top torque on stream from 1,000<br />
to 1,300rpm. And yes, while the V8 is<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 79
There’s plenty for a<br />
driver to like but there are<br />
also a few areas where<br />
the Scania isn’t quite the<br />
equal of others<br />
Top & opposite:<br />
Inside views<br />
of Scania’s<br />
R-series cab.<br />
It’s an entirely<br />
comfortable and<br />
well-appointed<br />
layout but<br />
familiarity with<br />
control functions<br />
takes time<br />
always an option for Scania’s<br />
500-plus proponents, it comes<br />
with a 300kg weight penalty over<br />
the steer axle compared to the<br />
six-cylinder’s 540 rating.<br />
So, to push the point just a<br />
fraction further, a 540 rating<br />
might have taken a lot longer<br />
than expected to get here but<br />
it certainly won’t take long for<br />
word to get around that Scania’s<br />
13-litre can now punch as hard<br />
as any in the high end of the<br />
mid-bore business.<br />
DOWN THE HUME<br />
Understandably, Scania has been<br />
keen to get bums on the seat<br />
of its latest linehaul specialist<br />
and the offer to take an R540<br />
B-double with almost 34,000km<br />
under its belt on a daylight run<br />
from Sydney to Melbourne quickly<br />
became as likeable as it was<br />
logical.<br />
Scania’s affable driver trainer,<br />
Dave Whyte, whose previous<br />
lives as an owner-driver and<br />
writer for several truck magazines<br />
have embedded a deeply<br />
ingrained regard for the Swedish<br />
truck, appeared more than<br />
happy to spend the day in<br />
the shotgun seat.<br />
Still, with a shrewd grin, he<br />
wasn’t bashful about proclaiming<br />
high hopes for performance and<br />
efficiency as the combination<br />
headed out of Scania’s<br />
Prestons dealership in Sydney’s<br />
south-west at a gross weight of<br />
58.5 tonnes.<br />
The outfit settled easily into<br />
stride down the freeway and<br />
while much more than a year<br />
had passed since last driving<br />
a Scania, it didn’t take long to<br />
be reacquainted with a slick<br />
powertrain and an impressive<br />
array of standard features.<br />
Typically, the engine uses<br />
selective catalytic reduction<br />
(SCR) and a diesel particulate<br />
filter (DPF) to achieve Euro 6<br />
emissions compliance, matched<br />
to Scania’s highly intuitive and<br />
stunningly smooth 14-speed<br />
overdrive Opticruise automated<br />
transmission. Feeding into a<br />
3.42:1 final drive ratio, 100km/h<br />
was notched around 1,400rpm.<br />
Fuel capacity in the standard<br />
R540 is 1,030 litres – 720 litres<br />
in the left tank, 310 in the right –<br />
and a 105-litre AdBlue tank, with<br />
steer and drive axles rolling on<br />
Continental 295/80R 22.5 tyres<br />
mounted on Alcoa DuraBright<br />
wheels.<br />
Scania states a tare weight<br />
with full tanks, but no bullbar or<br />
driver, at a tad under 9,800kg. By<br />
comparison, a V8 under the same<br />
cab would easily push tare over<br />
10 tonnes.<br />
Disc brakes all-round operate<br />
in concert with an advanced<br />
emergency braking system<br />
and Scania’s highly effective,<br />
multi-stage R3500 retarder and<br />
exhaust brake. In short, Scania<br />
braking is incredibly strong,<br />
smooth and, no doubt, as safe<br />
as they come.<br />
Standard safety systems are,<br />
of course, a major influence in<br />
all new trucks nowadays – still,<br />
some more than others – and<br />
while the R540’s list includes<br />
80 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
a driver airbag, electronic stability<br />
program, lane departure warning,<br />
adaptive cruise control, and auto hill<br />
hold (arguably the most practical<br />
innovation of all), Scania has gone one<br />
better than its European counterparts<br />
with what it calls ‘side curtain roll-over<br />
protection airbags’.<br />
On the inside, there’s plenty for a<br />
driver to like but there are also a few<br />
areas where the Scania isn’t quite the<br />
equal of others.<br />
The sleeper, for instance, is not as<br />
functional or practical as the top-ofthe-line<br />
Benz bunk and, with a wide<br />
array of control functions on the<br />
steering wheel, familiarity can take<br />
quite a while.<br />
In this estimation, operational ease<br />
could be improved by moving the small<br />
buttons for cruise control and downhill<br />
speed control from the bottom of the<br />
steering wheel to a higher position on<br />
the rim. Just a thought!<br />
Similarly, and like most of its<br />
continental rivals, it took a while to<br />
feel completely comfortable with the<br />
Scania’s soft and somewhat sensitive<br />
steering. But not too long. Indeed,<br />
by the time the truck approached<br />
the first significant climb at Skyline<br />
near Mittagong, comfort and on-road<br />
confidence were well established and it<br />
was easy to concentrate solely on the<br />
R540’s performance.<br />
With the transmission in auto mode<br />
and the engine showing a propensity<br />
for digging deep into the torque band<br />
before dropping a gear, the Skyline<br />
climb forced the truck back to eighth<br />
gear, with engine speed briefly reaching<br />
down to 1,450rpm. A good effort, and<br />
one which was largely repeated on the<br />
pull out of the nearby ‘dipper’.<br />
At the back of the brain though,<br />
there lurked the thought that hill<br />
climbing performance could probably<br />
be improved in manual mode, making<br />
shifts earlier and, where appropriate,<br />
taking two gears rather than one.<br />
And so it was that, on the approach<br />
to the long hard pull-over at Conroy’s<br />
Gap, manual mode was selected and<br />
the Scania ultimately steamed over the<br />
crest in ninth gear at 1,200rpm.<br />
This was a highly impressive pull,<br />
with earlier downshifts allowing the<br />
engine to keep up a full head of steam<br />
and hang onto a higher gear than<br />
perhaps would’ve been achieved<br />
with the shifter in auto mode.<br />
By this stage, confidence in the<br />
Scania’s performance and technology<br />
attributes, not least high regard for the<br />
downhill speed control function, was<br />
winning an increasingly positive opinion<br />
of the R540’s abilities.<br />
The quiet strength of the peak 13-<br />
litre rating and the inherent driver<br />
comfort were, in fact, making the trip<br />
pass surprisingly fast and, with plenty<br />
of daylight remaining, the truck was<br />
soon enough mingling in the congested<br />
afternoon traffic of Melbourne’s western<br />
ring road.<br />
The final destination was Scania’s<br />
Laverton dealership, but not before<br />
swinging into a nearby service station to<br />
top up the tanks and physically confirm<br />
the trip computer’s fuel reading of<br />
2km/litre, or 5.65 mpg for us older<br />
heads, for the 860km run. Either way, a<br />
respectable return by any measure,<br />
and enough to put the hint of a smile<br />
on Whyte’s dial.<br />
It was, in fact, an even more<br />
respectable return given that the<br />
truck was largely driven to assess<br />
performance standards rather than any<br />
feather-footed, technologically tooled<br />
attempt to maximise fuel economy.<br />
Proving the point, trip data revealed<br />
the R540 averaged a lively 86km/h, with<br />
an overall driving time under 10 hours.<br />
So, the end assessment is to simply<br />
vouch for Scania’s claim that it has<br />
turned its 13-litre “six-cylinder prime<br />
mover into a genuine long distance<br />
interstate B-double hauler”.<br />
Not before time, perhaps, but there’s<br />
no doubt Scania has now made the<br />
13-litre linehaul class even more<br />
competitive.<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 81
INTERVIEW<br />
Mikael Jansson<br />
THE RIGHT DIRECTION<br />
If ever two managing directors appeared<br />
to emerge from different sides of the<br />
corporate corridor, they are current<br />
Scania Australia chief Mikael Jansson and<br />
his retired predecessor, Roger McCarthy.<br />
McCarthy, the sharply-styled, articulate<br />
Englishman with a polished salesman’s<br />
flair for the limelight was, typically, always<br />
up for a chat on industry issues and Scania<br />
achievements. And a photo, of course.<br />
Jansson, on the other hand, is a mildmannered<br />
Swede with a strong Nordic<br />
accent and an apparent preference for<br />
quiet conversation rather than public<br />
appearance. In fact, now approaching four<br />
years in the top job at Scania Australia, it’s<br />
surprising to learn that this is Jansson’s<br />
first one-on-one interview.<br />
Yet, despite their decidedly different<br />
personas, they share a couple of critical<br />
similarities. Each is a passionately proud<br />
and loyal Scania stalwart with a determined<br />
competitive streak and, most significantly<br />
of all, each has achieved far more than any<br />
of his many predecessors.<br />
Indeed, Scania Australia is today stronger<br />
and more successful than ever before and<br />
certainly nothing like the struggling entity<br />
that, in the late ‘90s, came close to being<br />
withdrawn from the market according to<br />
a blunt admission long ago by the brand’s<br />
authoritarian, and often outspoken, former<br />
leader, Leif Ostling.<br />
Yet, while Sweden’s commitment to stay<br />
in Australia all those years ago had next to<br />
no impact on Scania’s position on the sales<br />
ladder, it apparently had a big influence on<br />
financial performance.<br />
According to a bullish Ostling,<br />
interviewed during a 2004 visit, Australian<br />
profitability had by then improved to be<br />
one of the best in the Scania world on “an<br />
investment to equity relationship”.<br />
Nonetheless, for the first decade of the<br />
new century, the Swedish maker simply<br />
could not climb off the lower rungs of the<br />
heavy-duty ladder, generally hovering<br />
around three or four per cent of the<br />
sector, despite callow guesstimates by a<br />
succession of imported leaders that a 10<br />
per cent slice was “entirely possible” within<br />
a few years.<br />
Consequently, and given the<br />
underwhelming and occasionally<br />
short-lived performances of numerous<br />
predecessors, McCarthy’s arrival in 2009<br />
was cynically seen as just another Scania<br />
chief happy to enjoy an idyllic sunny<br />
break from the great grey of the northern<br />
hemisphere.<br />
It was soon evident, though, this highly<br />
professional Pommie import was seriously<br />
intent on making a mark and, over the next<br />
seven years, cleverly implementing several<br />
initiatives in niche markets. Effectively<br />
making Euro 6 emissions a Scania<br />
82 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
specialty, the brand finally started to<br />
achieve steady growth.<br />
To date, he is Scania Australia’s<br />
longest serving managing director<br />
and, it’s fair to say, it was McCarthy<br />
who finally got the ball rolling for<br />
Scania.<br />
However, it’s equally apparent<br />
that, despite a somewhat diffident<br />
demeanour, Jansson hasn’t been at<br />
all shy about picking up the ball and<br />
running with it.<br />
At the close of 2017, just<br />
months after McCarthy’s departure<br />
for retirement and Jansson’s<br />
appointment, Scania, for the first<br />
time, cracked 1,000 heavy-duty sales<br />
in a year – 1,003 to be exact. But, at<br />
8.4 per cent, it was still notably short<br />
of the elusive 10 per cent share of<br />
the big boy class.<br />
However, the best was yet to<br />
come and it is a surprisingly buoyant<br />
Jansson who agrees that the last<br />
four or five years have been Scania’s<br />
most successful in the Australian<br />
market.<br />
Still, there have been a few<br />
unexpected setbacks. Certainly most<br />
worrying of all is Covid-19 but well<br />
before the pandemic struck with all<br />
its fears and frustrations, challenges<br />
were emerging that would rain on<br />
Scania Australia’s excitement after<br />
the early 2018 launch of its New<br />
Truck Generation (NTG).<br />
Hiding under the fanfare of the<br />
new model release were destructive<br />
supply shortfalls in Europe,<br />
especially on components for<br />
building Scania’s popular V8 engine,<br />
which led to the production line<br />
shutting down for several months.<br />
As Jansson commented, it was<br />
particularly disappointing “after the<br />
new series had received so much<br />
positive feedback from customers”.<br />
“The new product ran into supply<br />
problems very quickly, [creating] a<br />
major problem because we’re so<br />
dependent on the V8.”<br />
Consequently, 2018 was a year of<br />
struggle that took the gloss off the<br />
initial excitement of the NTG release,<br />
with Scania achieving a relatively<br />
lacklustre 891 sales and falling<br />
back to just 6.2 per cent in what<br />
was then a booming market for the<br />
heavy-duty sector.<br />
Still, according to Jansson,<br />
the market’s enthusiasm for the<br />
new model range and the gradual<br />
unblocking of V8 supply lines<br />
created ideal conditions for a major<br />
turnaround in 2019. Accordingly,<br />
Scania notched its best year ever<br />
with 1,140 deliveries and nine per<br />
cent of the heavy-duty class.<br />
Even so, demand for the new<br />
range continued to outstrip supply<br />
and it’s an adamant Jansson who<br />
insists 2019 would have been<br />
significantly better if supply had<br />
been able to match orders. Likewise,<br />
2020!<br />
CONSIDERING COVID<br />
In Scania Australia’s Campbellfield<br />
(Vic) boardroom a few months back,<br />
Jansson was quick to express relief<br />
that people were once again sitting<br />
at desks and circulating through<br />
the office.<br />
“We need to learn from the lessons<br />
of having more flexible working<br />
arrangements,” he comments.<br />
“But, really, this change was<br />
coming before Covid, with the<br />
younger generation looking for more<br />
flexible working arrangements.”<br />
In the next breath, though, he<br />
stresses the need for face-to-face<br />
interaction.<br />
“Sometimes, important decisions<br />
are taken during discussions at<br />
the coffee machine [and] that’s the<br />
interaction you miss when working<br />
from home.”<br />
The heavy segment was<br />
10,600 trucks last year but<br />
I think it will increase by<br />
at least 10 per cent and, if<br />
we get the supply we want,<br />
I’m confident we will get to<br />
1,200 sales<br />
It was a simple example but the<br />
message was clear.<br />
Quiet for a moment, Jansson<br />
continues: “I’m very proud how we<br />
handled Covid and how we had no<br />
infections at all.”<br />
Equally, employment was kept at<br />
full strength, there was no shutdown<br />
for Scania and the service network<br />
stayed open and firmly fixed on<br />
meeting customer needs.<br />
“We kept and protected our<br />
people, we kept supporting our<br />
customers, the retail operation<br />
was running at full speed, and the<br />
company was effectively managed<br />
despite so many people working<br />
from home,” he says.<br />
“It was important to keep our<br />
competence. We had no people on<br />
JobKeeper at all, no support from<br />
government. It makes me proud that<br />
we were able to do that.”<br />
Eager to push the point and, no<br />
doubt, espouse a higher ideal, he<br />
Above: A serious<br />
Mikael Jansson<br />
considers a<br />
question on<br />
Covid. “It was<br />
important to keep<br />
our competence<br />
and it makes me<br />
proud we were<br />
able to do that,”<br />
he says.<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 83
At the top executive level, Volvo<br />
has brought in a number of Scania<br />
people. Scania has not found the<br />
need to entice Volvo people into its<br />
executive realm<br />
adds: “We should get support from<br />
government when we really need it,<br />
not just because we can get it. For<br />
me, that’s about maintaining our<br />
social responsibility.”<br />
Yet, whereas some companies<br />
were stunningly quick to use Covid<br />
as an axe to cut people, it was a<br />
forthright Jansson who remarked:<br />
“We kept all staff.”<br />
Then, a few minutes later in<br />
response to a question about<br />
Scania’s rising prominence: “We now<br />
employ 500 people, so 25 per cent<br />
[100 people] more than when I came<br />
here, plus we’ve started Scania in<br />
New Zealand, where we employ<br />
150 people.”<br />
Nonetheless, Covid-19 wasn’t<br />
the only constraint in 2020. In fact:<br />
“I was a bit surprised that Covid was<br />
not impacting the market as most<br />
thought it would,” he comments.<br />
However: “Order intake for us<br />
last year was very strong [but] we<br />
lost market share because we had<br />
supply issues, so we ended just<br />
short of 900 trucks.”<br />
The official number was 880<br />
deliveries for 8.3 per cent of the<br />
market and fifth spot on the<br />
heavy-duty leader board.<br />
Meantime, while he insists the<br />
strong order intake is continuing in<br />
2021, so too are the supply issues,<br />
which are certainly not peculiar to<br />
Scania alone.<br />
As Jansson explains, the issues<br />
are two-fold: “One is the shortage<br />
of semi-conductors [essentially the<br />
micro components of the electronic<br />
control systems at the heart of<br />
almost every automotive product<br />
in the world today]. That is a global<br />
problem but how much it will impact<br />
us is somewhat unknown. It is a big<br />
challenge for everyone.”<br />
Critically, however, it’s a challenge<br />
accentuated by the high level of<br />
international demand for Scania’s<br />
NTG range.<br />
“So, it’s a fight to get capacity<br />
from production, but the ramp up<br />
to get higher volumes at the factory<br />
is impacted by suppliers in Europe<br />
who, in this Covid time, can’t ramp<br />
up at the pace we all want.”<br />
Consequently, it’s a sincere and<br />
gratefully candid Scania chief who<br />
says: “We will not get the supply this<br />
year that we want from Europe.” On<br />
the positive side, though, he firmly<br />
suggests it’s a short-term issue.<br />
Demand for the NTG range is<br />
not peculiar to Europe alone.<br />
“We have an order book now<br />
we have never seen before,” says<br />
a positive Jansson, predicting a<br />
strong market for heavy trucks<br />
this year and, potentially, another<br />
record for Scania.<br />
“The heavy segment was 10,600<br />
[trucks] last year but I think it will<br />
increase by at least 10 per cent and,<br />
if we get the supply we want, I’m<br />
confident we will get to 1,200 sales.”<br />
Thoughtful for a moment, he<br />
continues: “The supply issue may<br />
stop us from reaching that figure but,<br />
from what we know at this moment,<br />
we will deliver over 1,000 trucks<br />
this year. The order book is just<br />
so strong.”<br />
Asked if Scania’s rise comes at the<br />
targeting of any one competitor, a<br />
serious Jansson replies: “Mercedes-<br />
Benz and Volvo are the two main<br />
competitors normally [but] I don’t<br />
care. We are not focused on who<br />
we target.<br />
“It’s a tough market, especially<br />
with big fleets, where you can get a<br />
lot of volume, but it’s important for<br />
me to have a profitable business, so<br />
it’s not just about volume.”<br />
Yet, when subsequently asked<br />
if 10 per cent market share is still<br />
Scania’s target, an unequivocal<br />
Jansson says simply: “Yes!”<br />
At this point in the discussion, he<br />
confidently stated he was looking<br />
forward to the end of March when<br />
Scania’s strong performance for<br />
the first quarter of 2021 would be<br />
revealed.<br />
As the numbers soon<br />
demonstrated, his confidence was<br />
entirely justified, finishing the first<br />
quarter with 218 deliveries and<br />
notching 8.9 per cent of the market.<br />
Biggest news of all, though,<br />
was that Scania’s performance<br />
for the month of March alone was<br />
exceptionally strong, finishing third<br />
in the heavy rankings with 10.3 per<br />
cent and just five units behind the<br />
other Swede, Volvo.<br />
Talk of ‘the other Swede’ brought<br />
a wry smile to Jansson’s face and<br />
an unusually sharp snipe at his<br />
competitor’s corporate leadership<br />
in Sweden.<br />
“At the top executive level, Volvo<br />
has brought in a number of Scania<br />
people. Scania has not found the<br />
need to entice Volvo people into its<br />
executive realm,” he points out.<br />
Yet, asked why the two Swedish<br />
brands historically change<br />
Australian leadership so often,<br />
it’s a somewhat evasive Jansson<br />
who retorts: “I can only talk from a<br />
Scania perspective [but] there are<br />
still things to do here and I am very<br />
keen to continue that journey.<br />
“Stability,” he contends, “comes<br />
from a Scania way of working [but]<br />
you need to understand the local<br />
market, so it’s the people who are<br />
our asset and driving the changes.”<br />
Has Australia been a tough<br />
FOOTNOTE: Scania Soars in April<br />
Above: Mikael<br />
Jansson points<br />
out the staff<br />
growth in the<br />
company, with<br />
500 people now<br />
employed in<br />
Australia and<br />
150 in New<br />
Zealand<br />
If Scania was happy with its market share in the month of March, it must be ecstatic with April’s<br />
barnstorming performance.<br />
Scania’s take of the heavy-duty sector in April was a potent 14.1 per cent, second only to<br />
absolute market leader Kenworth and notably ahead of arch rivals Volvo and Mercedes-Benz.<br />
April’s numbers pushed Scania’s year-to-date slice of the sector to 10.4 per cent, putting it well<br />
within range of forging past Volvo and Benz in overall standings.<br />
Meanwhile, the 2021 heavy-duty market remains defiantly strong and if current momentum<br />
continues, the sector will deliver around 12,000 trucks this year.<br />
84 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
learning curve for Jansson? The answer<br />
is immediate: “No. This organisation was<br />
already working to Scania’s way of thinking<br />
but I quickly learned to like working with<br />
Australians. They are direct, but in a positive<br />
way. They tell you want they think and they<br />
understand that if things go wrong, it’s how<br />
you deal with problems that’s important. It’s<br />
a mentality I like.”<br />
At 62-years-of-age and still with plenty<br />
to achieve here, it’s a convincing Jansson<br />
who declares there are no plans to go<br />
anywhere else.<br />
MORE MUSCLE<br />
It’s no secret, of course, that Scania is,<br />
nowadays, a vital part of the ambitious<br />
Traton Group, effectively the global<br />
commercial vehicle conglomerate of<br />
automotive giant Volkswagen, which also<br />
includes MAN and most recently, Navistar<br />
(International) in the US.<br />
Asked what influence Traton may have<br />
on Scania in Australia, Jansson just shrugs<br />
and says that the conglomerate’s impact<br />
here is likely to be minimal, suggesting the<br />
main effects will be in global research and<br />
development programs on future product,<br />
and greater production efficiencies.<br />
On the possibility of a closer commercial<br />
relationship with MAN and its association<br />
with the Penske organisation here, he<br />
says there has simply been no contact or<br />
discussion and, moreover, expects none.<br />
“For me, MAN is just one of the<br />
competitors,” he states.<br />
Far more important, he asserts, is the<br />
continuing evolution of the NTG range, not<br />
least the recent introduction of a 540hp<br />
rating in Scania’s 13-litre line-up.<br />
While declining to comment on Scania’s<br />
reasons for limiting its top 13-litre rating<br />
to 500hp in the initial launch of the new<br />
models, he quickly contends: “We now<br />
have the horsepower more in line with the<br />
competition and that will be good for us.<br />
The 540 is filling a gap that is important.”<br />
There will, however, be no lack of power<br />
in a refreshed V8 range headed our way<br />
later this year, with Jansson confirming<br />
a top rating of 770hp (574kW) and a<br />
stump-ripping 3,700Nm (2,730lb ft) of<br />
torque, accompanied by 660, 590 and<br />
530hp (492, 440 and 395kW) settings.<br />
All four ratings will be Euro 6 models<br />
coupled to a significantly updated Opticruise<br />
automated transmission designed to work<br />
more efficiently with the big bore V8 and<br />
capable of producing fuel savings up to six<br />
per cent, according to Scania.<br />
Consequently, it’s an upbeat Jansson who<br />
cites a powerful future for Scania Australia,<br />
in more ways than one.<br />
“With increased volumes we also<br />
need to increase our retail network and<br />
that is creating a lot of new jobs,” he says,<br />
enthusiastically.<br />
“We have started to build a second<br />
workshop in western Sydney and a new<br />
national parts warehouse [in Melbourne]<br />
and a supporting warehouse in Perth.”<br />
Meanwhile, plans for coming years<br />
include more service centres in other cities<br />
and regions and, as is the Scania custom,<br />
most will be company-owned.<br />
“Our strategy is to have company-owned<br />
facilities in the main cities and non-captive<br />
in the regions, which means 90 per cent of<br />
all workshop operation is captive. That’s<br />
important for us,” he continues.<br />
“It’s a huge investment, of course, but<br />
you are in control of the service you’re<br />
giving the customers.”<br />
All up, the future for Scania has never<br />
looked brighter?<br />
“Yes, but if you stay still in this market,<br />
you will lose,” a definite Jansson concludes.<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 85
MODEL REPORT<br />
Scania P280<br />
NEW<br />
BJORN<br />
BABY<br />
In a shorthaul rigid truck market so<br />
thoroughly and fiercely dominated by<br />
Japanese models, it can be curious why<br />
local European brands bother to throw a<br />
slick and highly advanced contender into<br />
the mix when the likelihood of significant<br />
sales is perhaps as slim as the potential<br />
profit margin.<br />
Then again, why not? Any new model does,<br />
of course, add another string to the business’<br />
bow, and moreover, a high-tech ‘round-town<br />
toiler may even prove to be just the thing for<br />
some applications and individuals who might<br />
require significantly more than a relatively<br />
standard, off-the-shelf workhorse.<br />
Scania, it seems, is figuring on just such<br />
a scenario for its new and extremely well<br />
equipped seven-litre P-series truck, because<br />
there’s no doubt that, when it comes to<br />
top-shelf componentry in shorthaul and<br />
regional distribution roles, nothing comes<br />
close to the brand’s new baby.<br />
The specification of a P280 6x2<br />
demonstrator doing the promotional rounds,<br />
recently, was an excellent example of just<br />
how far Scania has gone in an obvious quest<br />
to needle its way into applications ruled by<br />
Japanese makers.<br />
It all starts with the new seven-litre –<br />
actually, 6.7-litre – engine that is, in fact,<br />
the culmination of another development<br />
project between Sweden’s Scania and North<br />
American engine giant Cummins.<br />
These two powerhouses are long-term<br />
partners who have worked closely on a<br />
number of major engine and component<br />
exercises over many years – not least<br />
the well-proven XPI high pressure fuel<br />
injection system – so it’s no coincidence<br />
that the smallest engine Scania has<br />
offered in decades shares exactly the<br />
same displacement and dimensions as its<br />
Cummins equivalent, the 6.7-litre ISB engine.<br />
Yet, Scania refutes any suggestion that<br />
its engine is simply a Cummins clone. All<br />
monitoring and control systems have, for<br />
instance, been developed by Scania, along<br />
with a fixed geometry turbocharger and a<br />
selective catalytic recirculation system for<br />
Euro 6 compliance.<br />
Accordingly, Scania says there are<br />
around 100 different parts in its version<br />
of the six-cylinder, 6.7-litre displacement<br />
that comes in 220, 250 and 280hp (164,<br />
186 and 209kW) variants, with peak torque<br />
of 1,200Nm (885lb ft) in the highest power<br />
rating.<br />
As Scania is equally quick to point out,<br />
though, the introduction of the engine<br />
known as the DC07 definitely does not<br />
mean the end of its current, and more<br />
powerful, five-cylinder nine-litre engine,<br />
which comes in Euro 5 and Euro 6 variants<br />
up to 360hp (268kW).<br />
“We will continue to offer our nine-litre<br />
in the P-series, which is ideally suited to<br />
heavier twin-steer and 6x4 applications,”<br />
says Scania Australia director of truck sales,<br />
Dean Dal Santo.<br />
However, what the addition of the<br />
seven-litre engine does mean is that it<br />
is able to contest much the same two-,<br />
three- and four-axle rigid configurations as<br />
its nine-litre brother but with a significant<br />
weight saving up to 360kg and a 95mm<br />
lower engine hump between the seats<br />
in the P-series cab.<br />
Additionally, Scania says the lower floor<br />
“allows the fitment of the same storage<br />
compartments as in [bigger] G-series cabs,<br />
plus there are new options for layouts with<br />
rear storage and bunks”.<br />
With the seven-litre only available<br />
under the P-series cab and with a gross<br />
combination limit of just 30 tonnes –<br />
meaning the engine’s potential for prime<br />
mover duties is purposefully negligible –<br />
Scania’s target market for this addition<br />
to its New Truck Generation (NTG) is<br />
obviously shorthaul and regional work in<br />
rigid configurations.<br />
The way Scania sees it, the smaller, lighter<br />
engine will enhance the brand’s appeal<br />
in those delivery applications where a<br />
rigid truck might start the day at a gross<br />
weight around 20 tonnes but soon be<br />
down to 12 tonnes or so as deliveries<br />
are made.<br />
Predictably, the engine is matched to<br />
a suitably tailored, direct-drive version<br />
of Scania’s sweet-shiftin’ Opticruise<br />
12-speed automated transmission, which,<br />
like its heavier-duty brethren, comes with<br />
two additional crawler gear ratios for<br />
slow manoeuvring as well as ‘economy’,<br />
‘standard’ and ‘power’ operating modes.<br />
With the box driving into a relatively quick<br />
3.08:1 rear axle ratio, it’s a driveline that<br />
can comfortably cruise along a freeway –<br />
with 100km/h reached at a twitch under<br />
1,550rpm – or calmly creep through<br />
metro mayhem.<br />
Indeed, when it comes to piloting a<br />
six-wheeler rigid through choked city and<br />
suburban traffic tempos, it doesn’t come<br />
much smoother or easier than Scania’s<br />
lightweight specialist.<br />
RIDIN’ ON AIR<br />
The demo truck’s 6x2 configuration came<br />
as no surprise. The single-drive three-axle<br />
configuration has been something of a<br />
Scania specialty for decades and it’s no<br />
exaggeration to suggest the Swedish maker<br />
has been arguably the biggest promoter of<br />
the 6x2 (and now 8x2) layout in both rigid<br />
and prime mover roles since the brand’s<br />
earliest days in Australia.<br />
Sure, some early mechanicallysprung<br />
versions didn’t quite light the<br />
fires of excitement when a truck became<br />
stranded on a gutter or the like, but the<br />
arrival of electronically-controlled airbag<br />
suspensions, which allowed axle height<br />
86 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
to be raised and lowered, has done much<br />
to nullify the initial negatives.<br />
Nowadays, airbag suspensions are<br />
the norm and in the P280, Scania has<br />
taken the evolution to its full extent with<br />
airbags on the steer axle as well as driven<br />
and non-driven rear axles. Typically,<br />
ride quality on everything from chopped<br />
secondary roads to slick highways was<br />
second-to-none.<br />
Yet, it’s worth mentioning that, while<br />
earlier airbag designs on steer axles didn’t<br />
always deliver inspiring handling, the road<br />
manners and steering of the P280 were<br />
exceptionally sound in all conditions,<br />
with none of the wallowing or dipping in<br />
corners that limited the acceptance of<br />
some previous airbag steer axles.<br />
Furthermore, the all-air Scania layout<br />
provides an individual axle weighing<br />
system, which displays on a digital<br />
readout in the cab.<br />
In the case of the demo truck, it was<br />
simply a case of scrolling the dash screen<br />
to the readout showing axle weights and<br />
instantly seeing that the front axle was<br />
loaded to 5.6 tonnes, the drive axle to 6.3<br />
tonnes and the tag axle to 7.3 tonnes, for an<br />
all-up gross weight of 19.2 tonnes for the<br />
day-long test drive.<br />
What’s more, it also revealed a load<br />
weight of 7.7 tonnes, which meant that tare<br />
weight of the 6x2 with a sturdy Austruck<br />
curtain-sided body and full fuel (320-litre)<br />
and AdBlue (47-litre) tanks was 11.5 tonnes.<br />
Nor was it surprising that the smallest<br />
Scania offers a long list of highly advanced<br />
standard safety systems. As the company<br />
states: “Like all Scania trucks sold in<br />
Australia, the seven-litre specification<br />
includes a steering wheel-mounted driver<br />
SRS airbag and dual side rollover curtain<br />
airbags as standard, along with advanced<br />
emergency braking, electronic traction<br />
control and lane departure warning<br />
systems. Brakes are by discs all round.”<br />
LED lights all-round, including daytime<br />
running lights, are a similarly standard<br />
feature as is the hugely beneficial auto<br />
Hill Hold feature.<br />
On the inside, and typifying the high<br />
level of build quality in Scania’s NTG range,<br />
the day cab demonstrator was a superb<br />
workplace for shorthaul and regional duties;<br />
immensely comfortable and well-appointed<br />
with even a small fridge between the seats,<br />
and all controls and switchgear in easy<br />
reach and, equally, easily understood.<br />
Likewise, it took little time behind the<br />
wheel to be fully at ease with the Scania’s<br />
road manners and appreciate the truck’s<br />
attributes in smoothly coping with the<br />
suburban slog. In other areas, though, the<br />
smallest Scania wasn’t quite as convincing.<br />
On a wickedly wet day and with almost<br />
29,000km on the clock at the start of our<br />
run from Scania’s Prestons dealership in<br />
Sydney’s south-western suburbs, the P280<br />
was run along the Hume before turning<br />
east and dropping down Mt Ousley for a<br />
short jaunt around Wollongong’s industrial<br />
backblocks.<br />
Then, headed up Ousley for a run into<br />
Sydney’s southern suburbs and a meander<br />
through peak hour metro madness on the<br />
way back to Scania’s dealership. All up,<br />
a 200km mix that probably typified the<br />
model’s likely workloads.<br />
Around town, the P280 is perfectly<br />
at ease. Smooth, quiet, agile and with<br />
enough response from the seven-litre<br />
engine to comfortably keep pace with<br />
erratic traffic flows.<br />
On undulating open roads, though, the<br />
small displacement engine’s lively throttle<br />
response is not matched by an inherent<br />
propensity for pulling power.<br />
Admittedly, peak performance figures of<br />
280hp (206kW) at 1,900rpm and 1,200Nm<br />
(885lb ft) of torque on tap from 1,050 to<br />
1,600rpm suggest a wide and reasonably<br />
tenacious fight but, as numerous climbs<br />
showed with the transmission in auto mode,<br />
the powertrain rarely utilises the full extent<br />
of the torque band. Instead, it was quick to<br />
drop a gear at 1,400 or 1,500rpm rather than<br />
dig deeper and utilise more of the available<br />
torque output.<br />
On more demanding climbs, manual<br />
mode at least allowed the full torque<br />
band to be utilised before making a single<br />
downshift or on sharper pinches, taking two<br />
gears to use more of the rev range.<br />
When it’s all boiled down, Scania’s<br />
seven-litre is simply a small displacement<br />
engine with a typically high level of throttle<br />
response but an equally typical lack of gritty<br />
pulling power.<br />
Likewise, exhaust brake performance<br />
wasn’t particularly inspiring. According to<br />
Scania’s figures, maximum exhaust braking<br />
effect is a modest 88kW at 2,500rpm, which<br />
is again indicative of a small bore engine.<br />
Overall though, there’s a great deal to<br />
like about Scania’s P280 6x2, not least fuel<br />
economy. At the end of a demanding day,<br />
the truck returned an entirely acceptable<br />
3.2km/litre, or 9.1 mpg.<br />
Just as Scania says, its new seven-litre<br />
rigid model is ideally suited to shorthaul<br />
delivery work or regional runs. However,<br />
if the regional runs have plenty of hills,<br />
it’d probably be worth stepping up to the<br />
nine-litre engine.<br />
Sometimes, you just can’t beat cubes.<br />
Above: All in the family.<br />
Scania’s P280 shares<br />
the same high standard<br />
of build quality and<br />
operational features as its<br />
bigger brothers. There’s<br />
a lot to like for shorthaul<br />
and regional work<br />
Left: Around town, the<br />
P280 was a delight and<br />
throttle response from<br />
the seven-litre engine<br />
is impressive. Out on<br />
the open road, though,<br />
undulating conditions<br />
highlight the modest<br />
displacement’s shortage<br />
of gritty determination<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 87
TRUCKS<br />
Paccar Australia<br />
MUTUAL<br />
MILESTONES<br />
Paccar Australia has celebrated<br />
50 years of truck manufacturing<br />
at its Bayswater (Vic)<br />
headquarters but, notching an<br />
even bigger milestone, it has<br />
now been 75 years since two<br />
Army mates formed a company<br />
called Brown & Hurley. Today, of<br />
course, the two companies are<br />
synonymous with success<br />
WORDS STEVE BROOKS<br />
The first half of 2021<br />
has certainly been a<br />
memorable time for<br />
Paccar Australia and its leading<br />
dealer group, Brown & Hurley.<br />
For Paccar, it’s now 50<br />
years since a K125 cab-over,<br />
affectionately known as the<br />
‘Grey Ghost’, became the first<br />
Kenworth truck to roll off the<br />
Bayswater (Vic) production line.<br />
For Brown & Hurley, this year<br />
notches 75 years since the<br />
fateful day, in 1946, when Alan<br />
Brown and Jack Hurley cobbled<br />
together their Army discharge<br />
pay to create a company bearing<br />
their surnames.<br />
It was, however, in 1964 that<br />
Paccar and Brown & Hurley<br />
forged the first bonds that<br />
would glue the companies so<br />
intrinsically together. After all,<br />
that was the year Brown & Hurley<br />
became Australia’s first Kenworth<br />
distributor and, soon after, sold<br />
its first Kenworth, a W923 model,<br />
to Doug Wyton of Toowoomba.<br />
Two years later, Paccar<br />
principals in the US announced<br />
that Kenworth trucks would be<br />
assembled in Australia from<br />
completely knocked-down kits<br />
but it wasn’t until 1969 that a<br />
big block of land at Bayswater,<br />
back then a largely rural suburb<br />
on Melbourne’s outer rim, was<br />
bought to build a factory to<br />
88 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
He’s sold more trucks on<br />
his own than some brands<br />
have sold altogether<br />
actually manufacture trucks in<br />
Australia. It was a boldly optimistic<br />
and exceedingly fortuitous decision.<br />
In half a century of truck making,<br />
Paccar Australia has produced more<br />
than 70,000 trucks and around 30<br />
per cent of them have been sold<br />
through the Brown & Hurley Group.<br />
The 70,000th truck was, in fact, a<br />
T659 specifically ordered by Brown<br />
& Hurley as a commemorative unit<br />
for its 75th anniversary.<br />
Celebrating its 50 years of truck<br />
manufacturing with a high-profile<br />
event at the Bayswater plant<br />
attended by federal treasurer<br />
Josh Frydenberg and a number of<br />
government ministers and industry<br />
leaders, Paccar Australia chief<br />
Andrew Hadjikakou emphasised<br />
the critical contribution of past<br />
and present employees in securing<br />
the company’s success over<br />
such a long, and sometimes<br />
demanding, period.<br />
“Today, the workforce behind each<br />
truck is measured in the thousands.<br />
An extended family of exceptional<br />
employees, dealers and suppliers<br />
that span the nation,” Hadjikakou<br />
enthused in a statement.<br />
“The desire to build the world’s<br />
best trucks still inspires and<br />
unites us.”<br />
Critically, the statement also<br />
cited Kenworth’s success despite<br />
“the removal of import tariffs,<br />
soaring fuel costs, economic<br />
downturns, global recessions,<br />
dimensional changes, emissions<br />
reductions and, most recently, a<br />
pandemic demanding changes to<br />
the production line to protect the<br />
workforce and maintain supply of<br />
trucks to the essential transport<br />
industry”.<br />
As Hadjikakou commented: “2020<br />
showed how important Australian<br />
manufacturing is to this country.”<br />
Likewise, a determined Hadjikakou<br />
didn’t miss any opportunity to<br />
make the same point as he led<br />
Frydenberg and his political allies<br />
on a tour of the Bayswater plant. By<br />
any measure, it was a polished and<br />
highly professional performance by<br />
the Paccar Australia chief.<br />
Equally, it wasn’t lost on a few<br />
guests that while all Australians<br />
have despaired at the widely<br />
publicised decimation of the<br />
country’s car making industry,<br />
the truck manufacturing sector<br />
has quietly continued to remain<br />
buoyant, productive and a significant<br />
employer, despite ongoing corporate<br />
pressure to remain economically<br />
viable in a demanding, low<br />
volume market.<br />
FAREWELL AND FUNNY BUSINESS<br />
Among several honoured guests<br />
at the 50th anniversary event were<br />
Manny Melkonian and the elder<br />
statesman of Brown & Hurley<br />
these days, Jim Hurley.<br />
It was a deserving tribute for<br />
Manny in particular, announcing his<br />
retirement after a truly stellar career<br />
with Paccar Australia spanning<br />
more than 50 years. Indeed, Manny<br />
was selling Kenworths before the<br />
Opposite top:<br />
Grey Ghost. Fifty<br />
years ago, the<br />
K125 cab-over<br />
was the first truck<br />
fully built on<br />
Paccar’s Bayswater<br />
production line<br />
Top: Andrew<br />
Hadjikakou gets the<br />
ear of a thoughtful<br />
Josh Frydenberg<br />
Above: Master<br />
salesman<br />
Manny (Manuel)<br />
Melkonian. Set<br />
to retire after<br />
more than 50<br />
years, the Paccar<br />
stalwart has sold<br />
more than 3,000<br />
trucks in a long and<br />
dedicated career<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 89
He’s sold<br />
more trucks<br />
on his own than<br />
some brands<br />
have sold<br />
altogether<br />
Above: Brown<br />
& Hurley roving<br />
ambassador, Jim<br />
(JJ) Hurley. The<br />
artwork on the 75th<br />
anniversary T659<br />
captures the early<br />
days of company<br />
founders Alan<br />
Brown and Jack<br />
Hurley<br />
Below: Half a<br />
century later,<br />
Brown & Hurley’s<br />
75th anniversary<br />
T659 becomes the<br />
70,000th truck<br />
to roll out of the<br />
Paccar Australia<br />
factory<br />
Bayswater plant produced its first<br />
truck.<br />
Something of a quiet achiever<br />
and now close to his 81st birthday,<br />
Manny is the quintessential master<br />
salesman whose loyalty, knowledge<br />
and contacts seem to know no<br />
bounds within the Paccar fold,<br />
and whose passion and<br />
commitment to the product and its<br />
customers have seen him accrue<br />
more than 3,000 sales. As one wit<br />
remarked: “He’s sold more trucks<br />
on his own than some brands have<br />
sold altogether.” True!<br />
On the other hand, Jim has<br />
been retired for a number of years<br />
and, with a business card which<br />
describes him simply as a ‘roving<br />
ambassador’ for the Brown & Hurley<br />
Group, he bears many of his father,<br />
Jack’s, traits, not least a dry wit and<br />
laconic sense of humour.<br />
The choice of a T659 model as<br />
the 70,000th truck was, as Jim put it:<br />
“Because it’s a real workhorse.” As<br />
for the truck’s notable absence from<br />
the event, held up by floods around<br />
Moree, an unfazed Jim said simply:<br />
“Well, it just goes to show, Nature<br />
has the final say.”<br />
But with so much history to draw<br />
upon, it was Jim’s delivery of an<br />
anecdote from the formative years<br />
of Alan and Jack that had many<br />
people captivated and laughing. A<br />
few, however, appeared exceedingly<br />
relieved that prime minister Scott<br />
Morrison – then being hammered<br />
far and wide for his poor handling of<br />
gender-related issues as well as a<br />
very seedy act of self-gratification<br />
by a parliamentary staff member<br />
– had belatedly flick-passed the<br />
Paccar event to Frydenberg.<br />
Just as well, because Jim’s story<br />
went something like this: in the very<br />
early days of the business, and as<br />
was their occasional want, Alan<br />
and Jack would adjourn to a local<br />
pub to discuss things, with Jack’s<br />
wife, Thelma, or Alan’s wife, Lil,<br />
invariably left to look after the office<br />
at the company’s Kyogle base in far<br />
northern NSW.<br />
One day, Jack was proudly telling<br />
a mutual acquaintance how he’d<br />
sold various pieces of equipment<br />
and how well he was going.<br />
Listening to Jack’s high opinion<br />
of his sales success, Alan soon<br />
reminded him that the business<br />
– with Jack doing the selling and<br />
Alan looking after service – was<br />
in fact a partnership in every way<br />
and everything they did, they were<br />
equally responsible for.<br />
Suitably chastened, Jack agreed.<br />
“Yep, you’re right mate. We share<br />
responsibility for everything.”<br />
A few days passed. Alan strolled<br />
past and Jack asked him into his<br />
office.<br />
“Mate, you know how you said we<br />
share responsibility for everything?”<br />
Jack asked.<br />
“Yeah,” Alan replied.<br />
“Well, we’ve just got the office girl<br />
pregnant.”<br />
While the assembled audience<br />
cracked with laughter, on stage it<br />
was a toss-up who squirmed the<br />
most, Frydenberg or Hadjikakou.<br />
As for how ‘Scotty from<br />
Marketing’ would’ve coped … well,<br />
we’ll never know, but it would’ve<br />
been priceless to watch.<br />
90 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
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NEWS<br />
Inside the Industry<br />
Mercedes-Benz<br />
SIZZLING TRUCK SALES TAKE A<br />
SLIGHT APRIL BREATHER<br />
SCANIA SHOWS YEAR SO FAR STILL RED HOT BUT TOTAL NUMBERS EASE OFF A TOUCH<br />
April commercial vehicle sales see the<br />
accelerator pressure lift a tiny bit but they<br />
remain in record territory for the month<br />
and year.<br />
March’s scorching total of 3,558 gives<br />
way to last month’s 3,215 but that is still<br />
ahead of the best April in the past five<br />
years, beating 2017’s 3,151, according<br />
to Tuck Industry Council (TIC) T-Mark<br />
statistics.<br />
Where this April falls short against<br />
2017 is in the year-to-date (YTD) figure,<br />
at 11,540 compared to 11,826.<br />
Of course, it remains to be seen how<br />
sustainable this year’s growth is, given<br />
March’s YTD comparison with March<br />
2017 – 8,325 against 7,158 – was so<br />
much further in front.<br />
Still, the market-leading Japanese<br />
brands are still making a lot of hay in<br />
this sunny market, despite a slight slip.<br />
Isuzu’s 788 is down 32 units on March,<br />
Hino’s 520 is 31 down, while Fuso fares a<br />
tad worse both in percentage and numbers,<br />
with 318 down 60.<br />
HEAVY DUTY<br />
The heavy brigade’s part in the latest boom<br />
has been fairly modest, the segment falling<br />
below four figures in April to 929 from<br />
March’s 1,035, putting it below 2018 and<br />
2019 totals of 1,156 and 1,006 respectively.<br />
The 3,366 YTD is also below those two<br />
years’ totals of 4,059 and 3,922 but there’s<br />
no shame in that.<br />
Segment leader Kenworth scores a nice<br />
round 200 units for 697 YTD, compared<br />
with 2018’s 250/801 and 2019’s 174/746.<br />
But Scania provides the surprise packet<br />
for the month, coming in second with 131<br />
units for its best April in five years and a<br />
long way from April 2017’s 41 units. At<br />
YTD, its 349 still lags in fifth place but it<br />
remains no mean feat.<br />
Fellow Swedish brand Volvo comes in<br />
third at 106/420, the month down from<br />
March’s 112, with a return to the glory days<br />
of April 2019’s 140/631 still awaited but<br />
its 420 YTD comfortably holding off the<br />
challengers.<br />
and Isuzu slip under<br />
three figures, down eight units to 98 and<br />
14 to 88 respectively.<br />
Most other makes slipped slightly bar<br />
Fuso, up two to 42, and International, up<br />
two to three.<br />
MEDIUM DUTY<br />
Month on month (MOM) is also a glide<br />
for the mid-range trucks in April, down<br />
to 564 from 602, but it still makes for<br />
the third-best April in the past five years,<br />
though just a single unit above April<br />
2017’s 563.<br />
However, 2,026 YTD is in more sold<br />
territory, against 2017’s 1,941. And that<br />
is on the right side of the 2,000 mark,<br />
given 2018 and 2019 were at 674/2,442<br />
and 595/2,245. Pretty good for this<br />
mercurial segment.<br />
Speaking of breathers, Hino’s tilt<br />
at Isuzu’s crown falters a tad, its 201<br />
down 21 MOM compared to the market<br />
leader up one unit to 227 – though<br />
still below 2017’s 235. This after<br />
Hino gave its great rival a fright the<br />
previous month, falling five units shy<br />
of winning it.<br />
Fuso fell four to 104 MOM, which is not<br />
bad, given it is the make's second best<br />
April in five years, behind 2018’s 106 and<br />
YTD just shy of that year, 371 against 381.<br />
LIGHT DUTY<br />
As noted before, the boiler room for truck<br />
figures is at the light end of the market and<br />
it is where records are being made.<br />
The segments April comes in at 1,113,<br />
down from March’s 1,231 but, at 4,804,<br />
YTD it is streets ahead of the next highest,<br />
2018’s 927/3,502.<br />
Again, a little slippage was the general<br />
rule, with second-place Hino bucking<br />
the trend this time, up four units to 268<br />
MOM with a YTD of 955. This compares<br />
favourably with last year’s 203/1,036,<br />
with both YTDs ahead of the next best,<br />
2018’s 773.<br />
Isuzu is down 19 to 473 but its YTD tops<br />
the next best in five year: 2019’s 1,295.<br />
Fuso lost 51 on last month to 172,<br />
second only to 2018’s 187, but its 731 YTD<br />
bests next best 2018’s 687.<br />
Iveco’s push this year into three figures,<br />
on a par with April 2019’s 107, dies on its<br />
run, seeing it drop back from 103 to 56 and<br />
well under the other five years.<br />
Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz jumps<br />
20 to 51, equal with Fiat, which lost four<br />
from March.<br />
92 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
HEAVY VEHICLES – MONTHLY SALES<br />
DAF DENNIS EAGLE<br />
42/4.5% 1/0.1%<br />
UD TRUCKS<br />
29/3.1%<br />
WESTERN STAR<br />
23/2.5%<br />
VOLVO<br />
106/11.4%<br />
FREIGHTLINER<br />
29/3.1%<br />
FUSO<br />
42/4.5%<br />
HINO<br />
51/5.5%<br />
INTERNATIONAL<br />
3/0.3%<br />
SCANIA<br />
131/14.1%<br />
APRIL<br />
MARKET<br />
SHARE<br />
ISUZU<br />
88/9.5%<br />
IVECO<br />
18/1.9%<br />
MERCEDES-BENZ<br />
98/10.5%<br />
MAN<br />
20/2.2% MACK<br />
48/5.2%<br />
KENWORTH<br />
200/21.5%<br />
MEDIUM VEHICLES – MONTHLY SALES<br />
UD TRUCKS<br />
11/2%<br />
MERCEDES-BENZ<br />
3/0.5%<br />
MAN<br />
3/0.5%<br />
IVECO<br />
4/0.7%<br />
VOLVO<br />
5/0.9%<br />
DAF<br />
1/0.2%<br />
FUSO<br />
104/18.4%<br />
ISUZU<br />
227/40.2%<br />
APRIL<br />
MARKET<br />
SHARE<br />
HYUNDAI<br />
5/0.9%<br />
HINO<br />
201/35.6%<br />
LIGHT VEHICLES – MONTHLY SALES<br />
RENAULT<br />
9/0.8%<br />
MERCEDES-BENZ<br />
51/4.6%<br />
IVECO<br />
56/5%<br />
VW<br />
3/0.3%<br />
FIAT<br />
51/4.6%<br />
FORD<br />
20/1.8%<br />
FUSO<br />
172/15.5%<br />
APRIL<br />
MARKET<br />
SHARE<br />
ISUZU<br />
473/42.5%<br />
HINO<br />
268/24.1%<br />
HYUNDAI<br />
10/0.9%<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 93
HEAVY VEHICLES – YEAR TO DATE<br />
UD TRUCKS<br />
129/3.8%<br />
DAF<br />
133/4%<br />
WESTERN STAR<br />
86/2.6%<br />
VOLVO<br />
420/12.5%<br />
HYUNDAI<br />
3/0%<br />
DENNIS EAGLE<br />
27/0.8%<br />
FREIGHTLINER<br />
119/3.5%<br />
FUSO<br />
141/4.2%<br />
HINO<br />
176/5.2%<br />
INTERNATIONAL<br />
12/0.4%<br />
SCANIA<br />
349/10.4%<br />
YEAR TO DATE<br />
MARKET<br />
SHARE<br />
ISUZU<br />
380/11.3%<br />
MERCEDES-BENZ<br />
358/10.6%<br />
KENWORTH<br />
697/20.7%<br />
IVECO<br />
104/3.1%<br />
MAN<br />
65/1.9%<br />
MACK<br />
167/5%<br />
MEDIUM VEHICLES – YEAR TO DATE<br />
UD TRUCKS<br />
36/1.8% VOLVO<br />
MERCEDES-BENZ 16/0.8%<br />
DAF<br />
11/0.5%<br />
5/0.2%<br />
MAN<br />
19/0.9%<br />
IVECO<br />
41/2%<br />
FUSO<br />
371/18.3%<br />
YEAR TO DATE<br />
MARKET<br />
SHARE<br />
ISUZU<br />
801/39.5%<br />
HYUNDAI<br />
10/0.5%<br />
HINO<br />
715/35.3%<br />
LIGHT VEHICLES – YEAR TO DATE<br />
IVECO<br />
226/5.5%<br />
RENAULT<br />
51/1.2%<br />
MERCEDES-BENZ<br />
170/4.2%<br />
VW<br />
13/0.3%<br />
FIAT<br />
179/4.4%<br />
FORD<br />
56/1.4%<br />
FUSO<br />
731/17.9%<br />
YEAR TO DATE<br />
MARKET<br />
SHARE<br />
ISUZU<br />
1641/40.2%<br />
HINO<br />
955/23.4%<br />
HYUNDAI<br />
62/1.5%<br />
94 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
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LIGHT DUTY TRUCK SALES<br />
HOLD WHIP HAND IN MAY<br />
WHITE-HOT SMALLER END OF THE MARKET BOOSTS TOTAL<br />
NEWS Inside the Industry March, putting it firmly back into second<br />
With investment growth for plant and<br />
machinery in rarefied air generally for<br />
the economy, it would beggar belief<br />
if commercial vehicle sales were not<br />
following suit.<br />
And so it is that Truck Industry Council<br />
(TIC) T-Mark figures for May reach 3,639<br />
units for a year-to-date (YTD) total of 15,179.<br />
That’s the top month so far this year,<br />
beating March’s 3,558. Those numbers<br />
are giving 2018’s top of the last boom<br />
May performance – 3,913/15,739 –<br />
a serious scare.<br />
And that is quite extraordinary, as this<br />
boom cycle has taken less than half the time<br />
of the Global Financial Crisis-impacted last.<br />
With 2019’s 3,556/14,817 starting to be left<br />
in this year’s dust, the comparisons with the<br />
last peak are perhaps more relevant.<br />
This seems reasonable, given the three<br />
Japanese market-leading makes are tracking<br />
closer to, or better, than 2018.<br />
Put it this way, Isuzu is at 861/3,683,<br />
against 2018’s 905/3,660.<br />
For Hino, it is 596/2,442 compared with<br />
491/2,091.<br />
While Fuso may be lagging that cracking<br />
pace with 369/1,611 against 409/1,614, it is<br />
still way beyond 2019’s 294/1,436.<br />
So far, so brilliant. But it is a far from<br />
balanced picture, with the light-duty segment<br />
doing all the heavy lifting.<br />
HEAVY-DUTY<br />
Sadly, it has to be something of a given<br />
that the heavy-duty segment ignores the<br />
light-duty example.<br />
Therefore, this year’s 1,050/4,416 trails<br />
2018’s 1,328/5,387 and 2019’s 1,212/5,134<br />
but is above both 2017 and, especially, this<br />
time last year.<br />
That said, the dynamics are interesting,<br />
with perennial placegetters shouldering<br />
the load.<br />
Segment leader Kenworth’s 181 for this<br />
May marks the second month of falls around<br />
the 20-unit mark, from 222 in March.<br />
Against that, Volvo has had a rebound<br />
after many months in the doldrums, its<br />
152 nearly 50 per cent up on April and<br />
Light-duty leader<br />
Isuzu’s truck sales in<br />
this segment, at 430<br />
in May, was higher<br />
than the previous two<br />
months combined<br />
place.<br />
Isuzu hits 132 after dipping to 88 in April.<br />
Scania, at 105, may have dropped back<br />
from April’s surprise 132 but keeps itself<br />
in the three-figure territory it will hope to<br />
become accustomed to.<br />
Mercedes-Benz will hope to as well<br />
but seems a little range-bound recently,<br />
bobbling either side of the 100 mark and<br />
fetching up last month at 99.<br />
Mid-table performances help, with<br />
Hino and Mack on 61, up from 51 and 48<br />
respectively in April, though that is a bit<br />
below March’s 65 and 62.<br />
UD, however, is making headway, with 44,<br />
up from 29 and 35 counting back.<br />
The same can’t be said of Freightliner,<br />
which slides from 34 to 23 in the past<br />
three months.<br />
On the vocational front, it might be noted<br />
Dennis Eagle hauls itself up to 21 units,<br />
from a solitary figure the month before<br />
and 15 in March.<br />
MEDIUM-DUTY<br />
The mid-size segment makes a fist of<br />
coming up with a mid-size performance<br />
in May but falls short.<br />
The 677/2,703 is better than 2020’s<br />
515/2,368 and 2017’s 637/2,578 but can’t<br />
compete with 2019’s 734/2,979 and 2018’s<br />
747/3,189.<br />
The gains on last year are almost entirely<br />
reflected by the establish market leaders,<br />
where tenacious Hino is making yet another<br />
assault on Isuzu’s top place.<br />
So, Isuzu’s last three months counting<br />
back are 249, 227 and 226, nudging out<br />
Hino’s 241, 201 and 222, with Fuso at 140,<br />
104 and 115.<br />
LIGHT-DUTY<br />
The heavy lifting was promised and here it<br />
is, with 1,166/5,250.<br />
It may not be equal to the powerhouse<br />
years of 2019, 2018 and 2017 on their<br />
respective Mays’ 999, 1,215 and 1,071 but<br />
the fast start to the year has the YTD figures<br />
ahead of 4,244, 4,717 and 4,218.<br />
Leader Isuzu’s 480/2,121 for this May<br />
tops 2019’s 358/1,576, 2018’s 446/1,741<br />
and 2017’s 422/1,717. Also, that 480 is<br />
more than its April and March figures<br />
combined.<br />
The same sort of thing goes for Hino,<br />
with 294/1,249 topping 217/984, 241/1,014<br />
and 222/804.<br />
Fuso’s 177/908 speaks to a different<br />
narrative, given 2018 was a highlight year.<br />
But it stacks up well against 149/739,<br />
269/956 and 207/860.<br />
96 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
HEAVY VEHICLES – MONTHLY SALES<br />
DAF<br />
45/4.3%<br />
DENNIS EAGLE<br />
21/2%<br />
UD TRUCKS<br />
44/4.2%<br />
SCANIA<br />
105/10%<br />
VOLVO<br />
152/14.5%<br />
WESTERN STAR<br />
34/3.2%<br />
MAY<br />
MARKET<br />
SHARE<br />
FREIGHTLINER<br />
23/2.2%<br />
FUSO<br />
51/4.9%<br />
ISUZU<br />
132/12.6%<br />
HINO<br />
61/5.8%<br />
HYUNDAI<br />
1/0.1%<br />
INTERNATIONAL<br />
3/0.3%<br />
MERCEDES-BENZ<br />
99/9.4%<br />
KENWORTH<br />
181/17.2%<br />
IVECO<br />
24/2.3%<br />
MAN<br />
13/1.2% MACK<br />
61/5.8%<br />
MEDIUM VEHICLES – MONTHLY SALES<br />
MAN<br />
IVECO 4/0.6%<br />
9/1.3%<br />
DENNIS EAGLE<br />
0/0%<br />
MERCEDES-BENZ<br />
7/1%<br />
UD TRUCKS<br />
15/2.2%<br />
VOLVO<br />
0/0%<br />
DAF<br />
5/0.7%<br />
FUSO<br />
140/20.7%<br />
ISUZU<br />
249/36.8%<br />
MAY<br />
MARKET<br />
SHARE<br />
HYUNDAI<br />
7/1%<br />
HINO<br />
241/35.6%<br />
LIGHT VEHICLES – MONTHLY SALES<br />
RENAULT<br />
13/1.1%<br />
MERCEDES-BENZ<br />
30/2.6%<br />
IVECO<br />
71/6.1%<br />
VW<br />
5/0.4%<br />
FIAT<br />
63/5.4%<br />
FORD<br />
21/1.8%<br />
FUSO<br />
177/15.2%<br />
MAY<br />
MARKET<br />
SHARE<br />
ISUZU<br />
480/41.2%<br />
HINO<br />
294/25.2%<br />
HYUNDAI<br />
12/1%<br />
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU June 2021 <strong>ATN</strong> 97
HEAVY VEHICLES – YEAR TO DATE<br />
UD TRUCKS<br />
173/3.9%<br />
SCANIA<br />
454/10.3%<br />
VOLVO<br />
572/13.0%<br />
WESTERN STAR<br />
120/2.7%<br />
DAF<br />
178/4.0%<br />
YEAR TO DATE<br />
MARKET<br />
SHARE<br />
DENNIS EAGLE<br />
48/1.1%<br />
FREIGHTLINER<br />
142/3.2%<br />
FUSO<br />
192/4.3%<br />
ISUZU<br />
512/11.6%<br />
HINO<br />
237/5.4%<br />
HYUNDAI<br />
4/0.1%<br />
INTERNATIONAL<br />
15/0.3%<br />
MERCEDES-BENZ<br />
457/10.3%<br />
KENWORTH<br />
878/19.9%<br />
IVECO<br />
128/2.9%<br />
MAN<br />
78/1.8%<br />
MACK<br />
228/5.2%<br />
MEDIUM VEHICLES – YEAR TO DATE<br />
IVECO<br />
50/1.8%<br />
UD TRUCKS VOLVO<br />
51/1.9% 16/0.6%<br />
MERCEDES-BENZ<br />
DAF<br />
18/0.7%<br />
10/0.4%<br />
MAN<br />
23/0.9%<br />
FUSO<br />
511/18.9%<br />
ISUZU<br />
1050/38.8%<br />
YEAR TO DATE<br />
MARKET<br />
SHARE<br />
HYUNDAI<br />
17/0.6%<br />
HINO<br />
956/35.4%<br />
LIGHT VEHICLES – YEAR TO DATE<br />
IVECO<br />
297/5.7%<br />
MERCEDES-BENZ<br />
200/3.8%<br />
RENAULT<br />
64/1.2%<br />
VW<br />
18/0.3%<br />
FIAT<br />
242/4.6%<br />
FORD<br />
77/1.5%<br />
FUSO<br />
908/17.3%<br />
YEAR TO DATE<br />
MARKET<br />
SHARE<br />
ISUZU<br />
2121/40.4%<br />
HINO<br />
1249/23.8%<br />
HYUNDAI<br />
74/1.4%<br />
98 <strong>ATN</strong> June 2021 FULLYLOADED.COM.AU
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