Farms & Farm Machinery #401

Harvesters
Victoria’s Grain Harvest Management Scheme
saw improvements in compliance with mass
limits when transporting grain
Well stocked
Grain trucks were more compliant with mass limits in Victoria during the last harvest
season despite a significant increase in total yield, according to a new report
Breaches fell 1.6 per
cent to 16.9 per cent
of all deliveries in
2020–21
A scheme to help grain truck drivers load their
vehicles more accurately saved more than 8,000
trips over a substantially stronger harvest season.
The 2020-21 Harvest Period Report into Victoria’s
Grain Harvest Management Scheme (GHMS),
released in July by the National Heavy Vehicle
Regulator (NHVR), showed strong improvements in
compliance.
The GHMS was designed in response to industry
calls that protested the difficulty many have with
heavy vehicle mass limits when loading grain for
transport.
Uncertainties around the changing density and
mass of grains and other crops when being transported
can create difficulties during the process of
loading trucks with grain before they are sent to a
grain receiver.
First launched four years ago, the GHMS allows
scheme-registered vehicles an extra mass allowance
of up to 5 per cent above the statutory general
mass limit for vehicles when delivering grain to a
participating grain receiver.
According to VicRoads, the scheme allows for an
efficient grain harvest while helping to eliminate
overloading on road systems.
The report, which is based on data provided to
the NHVR by participating grain receivers Emerald
Grain, Viterra, CHS Broadbent, GrainFlow, Ridley
Agriproducts, GrainCorp and Teys, says a total of
7,048 vehicles delivered grain to these facilities
during the last harvest season.
Interest in the scheme has grown year on year,
with a 32.6 per cent rise in participating vehicles
in 2020–21, with 399 vehicles participating in
the scheme and 18,522 deliveries made by those
vehicles.
While the GHMS vehicles only represented 5.6 per
cent of all vehicles used to deliver grain, the report
says vehicles registered under the scheme made
more trips to grain facilities, transporting 9.8 per
cent of all grain delivered.
Covering the period from 1 October 2020 to 21
May 2021, the most recent GHMS report shows
that, despite an increase of 25 per cent in Victoria’s
total harvest size to 5.2 million tonnes, the number
of mass limit breaches were the lowest recorded
under the scheme to date.
According to the report, the number of total
breaches fell 1.6 per cent to 16.9 per cent of all deliveries
in 2020–21; an improvement on the previous
year, when 18.44 per cent of all deliveries were in
breach.
Most breaches of the legal weight limits were by
under one tonne, with the report saying extreme
mass breaches (of over three tonnes) had reduced
to 2.5 per cent in 2020–21, compared to 3.3 per cent
the year before.
For vehicles registered under the GHMS, the rate
of non-compliance had dropped significantly, to
9.35 per cent of all vehicles in 2020–21 – compared
to 25.16 per cent in 2019-20.
Of the total deliveries made in Victoria in 2020–21,
57.36 per cent were made in a vehicle loaded within
95 per cent of its allowable mass limit – a figure
that actually drops to 54.46 per cent among GHMS
participants.
Nonetheless, with the GHMS weight allowance,
alongside concessional mass limits, higher mass
limits, performance-based standards and other
concession types, a total of 8,524 trips were saved in
2020–21 – an improvement on the 6,661 trips saved
the previous year.
Applications open in September for companies
wishing to participate in the scheme for the coming
harvest season, but parties wishing to join the
scheme must own a vehicle manufactured on or
after January 1, 2002, and be delivering grain to a
participating receiver.
ON THE ROAD
According to the report, the most common vehicle
type reported delivering grain to receiver facilities
were prime mover and semi-trailer combinations
with six axles, followed by B-double vehicles.
The average year of manufacture for the fleet
completing the grain transport task has increased
from 1982 to 1995 since the introduction of the
Scheme four years ago, with the median year of
manufacture now sitting at 2003.
The number of vehicles that are over 40 years old
delivering grain has also dropped significantly in
the last four seasons, the report says.
The findings come as the NHVR launches a new
campaign to encourage road users to give agricultural
vehicles extra space on the road ahead of this
year’s planting and harvest season.
NHVR chief executive Sal Petroccitto said the
recent increase in Australians moving to regional
communities in the past year meant more traffic
for agricultural vehicle drivers to safely navigate
during the up-coming harvest.
“We know up to four out of five crashes involving
a heavy vehicle are caused by light vehicle drivers,
so it’s important motorists understand how to
safely share the road with heavy vehicles,” says
Petroccitto.
“Tractors, grain harvesters and air seeders all
have limited turning ability, visibility of other vehicles,
speed range and space on our roads.
“If you’re travelling near an agricultural vehicle,
please be patient, reduce your speed, maintain a
safe following distance of two seconds or more, and
only overtake if it is safe to do so.
The NHVR has launched a new website with information
about sharing the road safely with heavy
vehicles – www.weneedspace.com.au – which had
a video and information package encouraging
drivers not to overtake turning trucks at the time of
going to press.
“If an oversized ag vehicle is approaching you
from the opposite direction, you may need to pull
over safely to let them pass,” says Petroccitto.
“It’s these simple tips that will help reduce risk for
all road users and ensure everyone arrives safely at
their destination – whether it’s to the silo, stockyard
or home.”
54 Farms & Farm Machinery