®

May 2021

G1 Logistics
Triple Frontier
MAY 2021 $11.00
ISSN 1838-2320
Industry Innovation
04
Fleet: Thrifty Rentals Fleet: Ron Finemore Transport
Feature: National Operating Standard Feature: Hyzon Motors
Showcase: Wild’s Livestock Transport Test Drive: Scania R 540
Personality: Brad May Delivery: Hyundai iLoad
9 771838 232000

T H E P E O P L E & P R O D U C T S T H AT M A K E T R A N S P O RT M OV E
AUSTRALIA’S GUIDE TO UTES, VANS, LIGHT TRUCKS & PEOPLE MOVERS

Delivery Magazine inside: Pages 73-84.

MAGAZINE
 Ready to upsize?
If you have an appetite for bigger payloads, our Ready-to-Work trucks can swallow
over a tonne more than typical utes. And most models are driveable on a car licence.
Plus, with our takeaway deal, the versatile Traypack starts at just $46,690 drive away*.
Our menu also includes the Tradepack, Vanpack, Servicepack, Tipper, and the Freightpack.
So find out more at isuzu.com.au or visit your nearest Isuzu Truck Dealer now and fill up.

T H E RE A DY- TO - W O R K R A N G E . B RO U G H T TO YO U BY I S U Z U .

#1 Traypack #2 Tipper #3 Tradepack #4 Vanpack

*Takeaway Truck Promotion is only available on new selected Ready-to-Work Traypack trucks sold between 1 April 2021 – 30 June 2021 (Promotion Period). This offer is not available in conjunction with
any other offer. Fleet and government purchasers are not eligible. Takeaway truck deals are available only on new Ready-to-Work trucks – MY18 Traypacks. Featured drive away price $46,690 includes
GST, 12 months registration, government, statutory charges and dealer delivery costs and is only offered on NLR 45-150 SWB AMT Traypack. Offer available while stocks last. Drive away offer excludes
any parts and accessories. Visit isuzu.com.au for full terms and conditions. †Subject to the purchaser’s own tax and financial advice. FSA/ISZ12890
 N L R T R AY P A C K S W B A M T

From $46,690 Drive away*

#5 Servicepack #6 Freightpack

MEET THE TEAM
Australia’s leading truck magazine, Prime Mover, continues to invest more
in its products and showcases a deep pool of editorial talent with a unique
mix of experience and knowledge.
John Murphy | CEO
John has been the nation’s foremost authority
in commercial road transport media for
almost two decades and is the driving force
behind Prime Creative Media becoming
Australia’s biggest specialist B2B publishing
and events company. Committed to servicing
the transport and logistics industry, John
continues to work tirelessly to represent it in a
positive light and is widely considered a true
champion for the growth of the Australian
trucking and manufacturing industry.
William Craske | Editor
In his 15-year career as a journalist, William
has reported knowledgeably on sports,
entertainment and agriculture. He has held
senior positions in marketing and publicity
across theatrical and home entertainment,
and also has experience in B2B content
creation and social media strategy for the
logistics sector.
Peter Shields | Senior Feature Writer
A seasoned transport industry professional,
Peter has spent more than a decade in the
media industry. Starting out as a heavy
vehicle mechanic, he managed a fuel tanker
fleet and held a range of senior marketing
and management positions in the oil and
chemicals industry before becoming a
nationally acclaimed transport journalist.
Paul Matthei | Senior Journalist
Starting out at the coalface, Paul completed
a heavy vehicle and plant mechanic
apprenticeship before transitioning into
professional heavy vehicle driving where
he became proficient operating semis and
B-doubles. Some 17 years ago he made a giant
leap into transport journalism and has been
an ongoing contributor for several commercial
road transport publications.
Ashley Blachford | Business
Development Manager
Handling placements for Prime Mover
magazine, Ashley has a unique perspective on
the world of truck building both domestically
and internationally. Focused on delivering
the best results for advertisers, Ashley works
closely with the editorial team to ensure the
best integration of brand messaging across
both print and digital platforms.
www.primemovermag.com.au
®
May 2021
G1 Logistics
Triple Frontier
MAY 2021 $11.00
ISSN 1838-2320
Industry Innovation
04
Fleet: Thrifty Rentals Fleet: Ron Finemore Transport
Feature: National Operating Standard Feature: Hyzon Motors
9 771838 232000
Showcase: Wild’s Livestock Transport
Personality: Brad May
Test Drive: Scania R 540
Delivery: Hyundai iLoad
T H E P E O P L E & P R O D U C T S T H AT M A K E T R A N S P O RT M OV E
AUSTRALIA’S GUIDE TO UTES, VANS, LIGHT TRUCKS & PEOPLE MOVERS
Delivery Magazine inside: Pages 73-84.
MAGAZINE
ceo John Murphy
john.murphy@primecreative.com.au
editor
William Craske
william.craske@primecreative.com.au
managing editor, Luke Applebee
transport group luke.applebee@primecreative.com.au
senior feature Peter Shields
writer peter.shields@primecreative.com.au
business Ash Blachford
development
ash.blachford@primecreative.com.au
manager 0403 485 140
art director Blake Storey
blake.storey@primecreative.com.au
design Kerry Pert, Madeline McCarty
journalist Paul Matthei
paul.matthei@primecreative.com.au
design production Michelle Weston
manager michelle.weston@primecreative.com.au
client success Justine Nardone
manager justine.nardone@primecreative.com.au
head office 11-15 Buckhurst Street
South Melbourne VIC 3205
P: 03 9690 8766
F: 03 9682 0044
enquiries@primecreative.com.au
subscriptions
03 9690 8766 subscriptions@primecreative.com.au
Prime Mover magazine is available by subscription from the publisher.
The right of refusal is reserved by the publisher.
Annual rates: AUS $110.00 (inc GST).
For overseas subscriptions, airmail postage should be added to the subscription rate.
articles
All articles submitted for publication become the property of the publisher.
The Editor reserves the right to adjust any article to conform with the
magazine format.
copyright
PRIME MOVER magazine is owned and published by Prime Creative Media.
All material in PRIME MOVER magazine is copyright and no part may be reproduced
or copied in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic or mechanical including
information and retrieval systems) without written permission of the publisher.
The Editor welcomes contributions but reserves the right to accept or reject
any material.
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information
Prime Creative Media will not accept responsibility for errors or omissions
or for any consequences arising from reliance on information published.
The opinions expressed in PRIME MOVER magazine are not necessarily the opinions of,
or endorsed by the publisher unless otherwise stated.
 ALL-NEW HINO 700 SERIES
ARRIVING SOON.

THE EXPANDED RANGE IS SAFER AND CLEANER THAN EVER.

With an expanded model range to suit more applications, the all-new Hino 700 Series is set to redefine what you can
expect from a heavy-duty truck. It boasts the most comprehensive active safety package via Hino SmartSafe. Featuring
Pre-Collision System with Autonomous Emergency Braking, Vehicle Stability Control, LED Headlamps, and Daytime
XAVIER_HINO37908.7_PM

Running Lamps, plus a suite of other standard safety features. The all-new Hino 700 Series meets Euro 6 exhaust emission
standards, which makes it the cleanest Hino heavy-duty truck ever. And with a choice of either a true automatic or an
automated manual transmission, it makes driving easier and more enjoyable. Be the first to see the next generation Hino
700 Series. It’s safer, cleaner, and built for the future. Visit hino.com.au.
CONTENTS Prime Mover May 2021

42

38

30

24
60

COVER
STORY
“This newest product is the best product that Scania
have ever had. For fuel efficiency, power to weight
ratio, performance, reliability and safety and also
when it comes to downtime — we don’t tend to be
seeing any with this new model.”
52 LIQUID ASSETS
Prime Feature Stories
FLEET FOCUS commercial vehicles, including heavy duty trucks, buses,
24 Triple Frontier and coaches, Hyzon Motors, after going public as part of an
The challenge of launching new high productivity vehicles estimated $AUD3.5 billion merger earlier this year, is in the
for G1 Logistics on a permit that demanded the highest process of rapidly expanding and it’s got its sights firmly set
in safety and productivity standards has been solved by on Australia.
partnering with Scania.
TEST DRIVE
30 Serious Hardware 60 The Green Mile
Donaldson Haulage is an important link for the building Scania’s new 540hp engine shows that 13 litres can deliver
supplies sector. The full warranty it receives on parts and similar performance to many larger engines and this latest
repairs for its Mack commercial vehicles remains essential to specification engine offers even more performance combined
operations. with impressive fuel economy.

34 All the Right Moves

Why go to the trouble and expense of buying when you can
Regular Run
rent? It’s a proposition fast appealing to a changing consumer 08 From the Editor
market and one Thrifty seeks to master in its endeavours to 10 Prime Mover News
become the best rental company in Australia.
68 Personality
TRUCK & TECH
70 Prime Movers & Shakers
42 Walk on the Wild Side 73 Delivery
A 1994 Kenworth K100E 8x4 double-deck livestock body 86 Australian Road Transport Suppliers’
truck owned by Wild’s Livestock Transport has travelled Association
over 3.5 million kilometres and is still proudly sporting 88 National Heavy Vehicle Regulator
its original Meritor tandem drive unit that has never been 90 Healthy Heads in Trucks & Sheds
rebuilt. Prime Mover speaks with Ian Wild to find out more
91 Australian Logistics Council
about this legendary longevity.
92 Trucking Industry Council
48 Full Steam Ahead 93 Victorian Transport Association
A supplier of zero-emissions hydrogen fuel cell powered 94 Peter Shields’ Number Crunch
 FROM THE EDITOR
William Craske
Editor
A glance back at the last Brisbane Truck
Show is instructive for a host of reasons
not in the least on how different the
recognisable present world is from the
one which now exists in memory only.
The 2019 event, if one recalls, took
place on the eve of the federal election,
which would return incumbent Prime
Minister Scott Morrison in an upset
result — depending on how much
trust one puts in the polls and media
pundits. Like the TEUs making their
way up the world’s busiest shipping
channels, trust, around the world, is
in high demand by our institutions,
politicians and media at the moment,
yet sorely finds itself at historic low
levels of supply. Border lockdowns,
mask mandates, social distancing and
hotel quarantining have during this
crisis tested the planning and resources
of companies involved in key industry
events like the truck show and those
also who attend them. Uncertainty
does not inspire confidence. Financial
markets, however, do. How serious
would a vastly contracted private
industry of depleted small businesses
take the public sector which in turn has
8 m ay 2 0 21
Speed-the-Plow
gotten even bigger, based on futures
only counter-intuitive to one of them?
In 2019 as the respective campaigns
of the leaders of the two major parties
neared their end the latest cycle of
economic crisis precipitated by the
Lehman Brothers collapse nine years
earlier, was already brewing on the
horizon. With governments stretched
beyond measure to protect banks,
mitigate recession and inflating
increasing amounts of currency into
financial markets, state interventionist
policies delivered unprecedented rate
suppression which continues even as
global debt stands at $284 trillion,
roughly 355 per cent of global GDP.
That’s trillion with a T. As governments
print money at a rate of knots that
would make the Weimar Republic
blush, the recent grounding of an
Evergreen-owned container barge in
the Suez Canal won’t, despite some
feeble attempts by journalists, be
blamed for the incoming fallout felt in
global markets. Even scapegoats are at a
premium.
Where conditions and room in
the budget allowed, governments
stopped the freefall of global growth
with extraordinary monetary and
fiscal support to the tune of $11.5
trillion globally, to extend lifelines
to businesses and people. If that last
sentence sounds like gaslighting it’s
because it paraphrases the International
Monetary Fund (IMF). In the ‘IMF
Annual Report 2020 - A Year Like No
Other’, it asserts swift action helped
fight the pandemic and limit the
damage to people’s lives and the global
economy. “These exceptional times
required equally exceptional, quick
action,” the report concludes. “The IMF
has worked to help protect people, help
protect the economy, and help countries
prepare for the recovery.”
You know who else was prepared?
A total of 2,365 billionaires. Under
these ‘exceptional circumstances’
asset prices have rallied over the past
year to increase their total wealth to
$USD12.39 trillion. A 54 per cent
increase over the span of a year.
“Entrepreneurs,” as economist Joseph
Schumpeter puts it, “dream up products
that they think advertisers can persuade
us to want.”
That might be an engine compressor,
adjustable vertical shock absorbers or
indeed a pandemic.
The concern for privately owned
businesses and independent operators,
many of whom would have normally
attended a trade fair like the Brisbane
Truck Show in previous years, is
reducing one’s business to a node
under edict of governments backed
by partners both abroad and locally.
The demagoguery used by corporate
media in equating these very credible
concerns with conspiracy theories or
the oft-heard tinfoil hat pejorative, are
tiresome. Alexis de Tocqueville who,
lamenting the result of unquestioned
soft despotism two hundred years
ago, rightly suggested that it “hinders,
compromises, enervates, dazes, and
finally reduces each nation to being
nothing more than a herd of timid
and industrious animals of which the
government is the shepherd.”
Yet here we find ourselves.
eCANTER A U S T R A L I A’ S F I R S T
PRODUCTION ELECTRIC TRUCK

The Fuso eCanter marks a new era in transport.

For a 100% electric, zero noise and zero emissions solution

for your business, visit FUSO.COM.AU for more information.
 PRIME NEWS
> Tesla joins industry in questioning Australian truck dimensions
Calls made by Tesla for Australia to ease
its vehicle-size limits has reignited the
debate around truck regulations with
fears they will prohibit uptake of imported
low-emission commercial vehicles. A
submission made by Tesla late last year
to the National Transport Commission
revealed that the first generation electric
heavy truck the Tesla Semi was too wide
by 34 millimetres for Australian roads
under current laws.
Under Australian laws a commercial
vehicle cannot, without special
exemption, be wider than a 2.5 metres.
In the US commercial vehicles like
Class 8 trucks are permitted to be 2.6
metres long whereas in Europe the cap
is 2.55 metres. Tesla have called on the
NTC to amend the laws so that its long
anticipated electric truck can be made
available here by as soon as 2022.
Given the size of the Australian market
compared to North America and Europe,
it is highly unlikely Tesla will modify its
design.
Now the Australian Trucking Association
(ATA) has joined a growing chorus of
industry bodies — Austroads and the
Truck Industry Council among them
— in asking that revisions be made to
the current regulations so that width
dimensions on heavy vehicles increase to
the European standard.
Local manufacturers have in the past
objected citing safety concerns in regard
to the impact increased truck sizes might
have on other road-users and existing
infrastructure.
As it stands the Tesla Semi isn’t legally fit
for local roads although it was pushing
for what it called “urgent changes” to
Australian vehicle design rules.
“The Commission will be aware that given
Australia’s small size in comparison to
global markets, inconsistencies like this
between Australian regulations and larger
markets will delay or preclude vehicles
coming to local markets,” said Sam
McLean Tesla Public Policy Manager
Australia and New Zealand.
The comments made by battery electric
automotive company led by Elon Musk,
10 m ay 2 0 21
which have since been made public, have
prompted the NTC and “governments
of all levels to prepare for rapid
decarbonisation.”
The ATA believes the decision will only
delay the introduction of zero-emission
trucks in the country.
“Electric and hydrogen trucks developed
overseas will need to be redesigned
for the Australian market to meet our
dimension rules. This will slow the rollout
of zero emission trucks in Australia,” said
ATA CEO Andrew McKellar.
McKellar said an increase in vehicle
mass was also needed to encourage the
purchase of newer, greener vehicles.
“Euro VI, battery electric and hydrogen
trucks are heavier, which reduces the
amount of freight they can carry and their
commercial viability,” he said. “There
needs to be an extra 500 kg axle mass
allowance for single steer trucks and an
extra 1000 kg for twin steer trucks.”
Zero emission trucks were, according to
McKeller, a reality and needed the right
policy settings to increase their uptake in
Australia.
“We are getting to the stage now where
international vehicle manufacturers are
bringing electric vehicles to the market.
To support this, government must
ensure vehicle standards regulations
are flexible enough to allow that to
happen,” he said.
In a report released in 2019, Austroads
said there was evidence to support
a boost in heavy vehicle width from
the current benchmark of 2500mm to
2550mm, excluding attachments such
as mirrors and exhaust aftertreatment
systems.
“New Zealand has allowed heavy
freight vehicles to operate at 2550mm
without restriction since 2017 and there
has been no reported or anecdotal
evidence that the wider vehicles are
more likely to be involved in a crash,”
Austroads said at the time.
In fact, Austroads first made the
recommendation back in 1992.
Australia is one of six countries in the
world where maximum vehicle width is
restricted to 2.5m.
At present nearly 80 percent of new
heavy duty trucks sold in Australia
each year are imported directly or
derived from truck designs from
markets where the maximum vehicle
width is 2.55m or greater.
Truck Industry Council CEO Tony
McMullan, writing in Prime Mover
in 2019, urged the Department of
Infrastructure Regional Development
and Cities to make recommendations
to the Transport and Infrastructure
Council, within COAG, for an alignment
with European regulations of 2.55m
maximum width.
“Our current Australian Design Rules
actually allow additional maximum width
for load restraint on a truck, tie downs,
curtainsider buckles, chains, etc. These
can be up to 2.55m in width,” he noted.
“This has posed no known or quantifiable
safety risk, yet our law makers continue
to push back on allowing trucks to be this
width overall, costing industry millions of
dollars each year and slowing the uptake
of trucks with advanced safety and
environmental features.”
The others are Japan, South Korea,
Lebanon, Morocco and Argentina.
Tesla Semi.
 SPICER SELECT

SEE US AT THE
BRISBANE TRUCK SHOW

TRUSTE D QUALITY AFTE RMARKET

DRIVETRAI N PRODUCTS
For more information contact Dana on 1300 00 DANA or visit us at www.Dana.com.au
Strength • Power • Endurance
 PRIME NEWS
> PACCAR celebrates 50th anniversary in Australia
Half a century of Australian commercial
vehicle manufacturing was recently
celebrated at PACCAR Australia.
A delegation of heavy hitters from
Canberra were in attendance to
mark the occasion in which the first
Australian Kenworth truck rolled off the
production line at Bayswater, Victoria.
The date was 2 March 1971. More
than 70,000 trucks have been built
ever since. As part of the celebrations,
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, Assistant
Treasurer Michael Sukkar, Assistant
Minister for Road Safety and Freight
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg
at the PACCAR factory.
> SG Fleet acquistion to create $2.5B company
The Australian and New Zealand
businesses of LeasePlan are set to
be acquired by SG Fleet, the fleet
management and leasing specialist
has announced. The acquisition, with
a combined 250,000 vehicles under
management, will create a $2.5 billion
company with a highly compelling fleet
management and leasing offering across
Australia and New Zealand. LeasePlan
is considered highly complementary to
SG Fleet in terms of business activities,
customer profile, product quality and
service culture.
12 m ay 2 0 21
Transport Scott Buchholz, and
Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime
Minister Kevin Hogan toured the
facility before celebrating with staff the
role PACCAR has played in both the
trucking and manufacturing industries
during the last 50 years.
Dealer principals, industry partners, and
suppliers were also present to reflect
on a defining moment for the Australian
road transport industry.
PACCAR Australia Managing Director,
Andrew Hadjikakou, paid tribute to the
foresight of those that first brought
“This transformational transaction
creates the ability to add scale across
operations, funding and procurement
activities,” said Robbie Blau, SG Fleet
CEO. “Greater scale will also allow us to
step up our innovation efforts and create
additional value for our customers.”
SG Fleet has also signed an
international alliance agreement with
LeasePlan’s current owner, LeasePlan
Corporation, which after completion
will see the two companies provide
customer referrals and know-how to
each other in markets where they do not
Kenworth to this country, and those
responsible for establishing the
Bayswater plant.
“We are extremely proud of this
achievement and honoured that the
Treasurer and his colleagues have
joined us to show their support for
our industry and for PACCAR,” said
Hadjikakou. “Today, the workforce
behind each truck is measured in the
thousands. An extended family of
exceptional employees, dealers and
suppliers that span the nation.
“Not everything has changed though.
Each Kenworth is still specifically
application engineered for its intended
task and the desire to build the world’s
best trucks still inspires and unites us.”
By fostering a culture of innovation and
investing heavily in next generation
technologies, Kenworth has risen
to every challenge over the 50-year
journey. From the removal of import
tariffs, soaring fuel costs, economic
downturns, global recessions,
dimensional changes, emission
reductions, and most recently, a
pandemic demanding changes to the
production line to protect the workforce
and maintain supply of trucks to the
essential transport industry.
“2020 showed how important
Australian manufacturing is to this
country,” said Hadjikakou.
compete with each other.
“The agreement with LeasePlan
Corporation will allow us to ensure a
smooth transition for customers and
also gives us the opportunity build a
relationship with a major global player,”
Blau added.
SG Fleet aims to complete the
transaction in the third quarter of this
year, subject to regulatory approvals.
The acquisition provides closure to
SG Fleet’s plan to take over LeasePlan
after its initial overtures were scuttled
back in 2017.
All-time
tough gets
all-day
comfort.

Mack’s hard-working Trident just got even better. All-

new interiors in this powerful rig make it easier and more
comfortable for drivers to operate. So drivers can get more
done and finish the day as strong as they started.

Step inside and see new levels of comfort.

MackTrucks.com.au/Trucks/Trident
 PRIME NEWS
> Brown and Hurley Yatala rides post-COVID surge in orders
Following the COVID-induced slowdown
of last year, it’s full steam ahead for
Kenworth and DAF dealer Brown and
Hurley’s Gold Coast dealership in 2021.
At present, the most challenging aspect
of the post-COVID boom is sourcing
enough new and used trucks to keep up
with the burgeoning customer demand
according to the company’s Dealer
Principal, Bruce Barnes.
“Sales at the moment are extremely
buoyant because most of our customers’
businesses are going gangbusters,” said
Barnes. “Everyone is scrambling to make
up for the supply shortages caused by
COVID – there simply aren’t enough new
cars, caravans and boats for the people
who want to buy them.”
Barnes said the company’s orderbook
took a hit after COVID struck early last
year but that this year’s month-on-month
figures are more than making up for last
year’s shortfall.
“I really can’t see a ceiling on it at present
– it’s been a huge turnaround for us,” he
said, adding, “this year we have more
than quadruple the number of trucks on
order compared with the same time in
2020.”
Barnes mentioned that the upswing has
been consistent across all areas of the
business including service, spare parts
and used truck sales.
“Our service department has been
running flat chat and we have taken
on extra inventory in the spare parts
The team at Brown
and Hurley Yatala.
14 m ay 2 0 21
department to ensure we are able to
deliver the right parts at the right time –
which is yesterday,” he joked. “Our used
truck sales department has also been as
busy as – we simply can’t get enough
good quality stock.”
Another area of the business that’s
booming is the newly formed trailer sales
arm selling quality brands including
Schmitz Cargobull, Pumpa and Krueger.
Barnes alluded to the quality of the trucks
and trailers that Brown and Hurley sells,
along with the Government’s instant
asset write-off scheme, as being other
significant factors in the ongoing success
of the business.
“Good quality machinery at present can
often be sold second-hand for nearly
the same money as new gear because
people can’t afford the waiting time to
buy new,” he said.
According to Barnes, the global shortage
of components has contributed to the
increased lead time for new trucks
because there just aren’t enough parts to
complete the number of trucks required.
“PACCAR production in Melbourne had
been scheduled to ramp up to 19 trucks
per day but they had to hold it at 16 due
to supply constraints,” he said. “The
recent expansion of the factory enabled
a daily build number of up to 20 trucks in
one shift.”
Barnes makes no bones about his belief
that the products that Brown and Hurley
sells and the customer service it provides
are second to none. His ambition to
join the company was realised in 2004,
following a lengthy stint at a dealership of
a competing brand where he started as
an apprentice diesel mechanic in the late
1980s.
“I spent several years on the workshop
floor doing my trade as a mechanic and
then branched off to specialise in diesel
pumps and fuel injection systems.
“I then moved up through the spare parts
division from working in the warehouse
to serving the mechanics and into the
phone room and serving customers. I
later became a spare parts rep out on the
road,” said Barnes.
Barnes started selling trucks in the late
‘90s, harbouring the ambition to one
day work for what he describes as “the
best truck dealership in the country –
Brown and Hurley. I introduced myself
at Brown and Hurley Darra and was
given the opportunity to meet the
bosses Jim Hurley and Rob Brown
[respective sons of the two founders].”
Barnes started as a salesman with
Brown and Hurley Darra in late 2004
and moved to the Yatala branch when
it opened in 2008.
“I was happy to be selling quality
Australian-engineered products at a
quality dealership and have thoroughly
enjoyed the journey that’s brought
me to my current position as Dealer
Principal at Brown and Hurley Yatala,”
he said.
MERITOR® MT-160 SERIES

MERITOR® MT-160 SERIES

BUILT TO LAST.
In Australian applications only the toughest survive. Our axles not only
survive, but also thrive from the Hume Highway to the the Tanami Track.
Year after year, delivering the performance and the goods with legendary
durability, reduced maintenance and operating costs to keep you moving.

meritor.com
sales.sunshine@meritor.com
 PRIME NEWS
> Fuso’s all-electric eCanter launches in Australia
Fuso eCanter launches ahead of the
2021 Brisbane Truck Show.
The launch last month of the first
Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM)
all-electric truck available in Australia
heralds a new age of electric mobility
in Australian cities. Fuso’s eCanter,
developed with the global engineering
might of Daimler, has arrived with class-
leading safety and will be supported
by select Fuso eMobility dealers. Six
liquid-cooled lithium ion batteries
mounted in the eCanter frame store
82.8kW/h of electricity (with 66kW/h of
usable power) and feed a permanent
magnet synchronous motor. Power
output is rated at 135kW and 390Nm of
torque can be delivered the moment the
accelerator pedal is pressed. Fuso will
consult with customers and advise them
on the optimal charging infrastructure
for their specific needs.
The eCanter became the world’s first
small series electric production truck in
2017 and has been subject to a rigorous
testing regime around the world since
including a six-month Australian test
running with a maximum load. Global
customers have already covered more
than three million kilometres of real
world driving. Daimler Truck and Bus
President and CEO, Daniel Whitehead,
16 m ay 2 0 21
said the launch of the eCanter in
Australia is a momentous occasion.
“Fuso is launching a truck that emits
zero local emissions and operates
almost silently,” he said. “This is a
significant milestone for Australian
transport and represents a big step
towards carbon neutral transportation in
this country, which benefits everyone.”
Newly appointed Fuso Truck and Bus
Australia Director, Alex Müller, shared
similar sentiments.
“The eCanter is perfect for emission-
sensitive areas in our big cities, where
many pedestrians and residents stand
to benefit, but it is not just a concept
truck or environmental tribute,” he said.
“It is a serious truck with a payload of
more than four tonnes and it gets the
job done day and night.”
Müller said the eCanter is proving that
all-electric local transportation makes
sense and not just for the community
and for the environment, but also for
business.
“We are excited to be pioneers in this
field and to prove that electric trucks
are practical in the correct application
right now,” he said. “The eCanter is a
vital proposition for any company that is
serious about reducing emissions.”
Built in Portugal, the eCanter is
equipped with active safety features
such as the Advanced Emergency
Braking System and the Lane Departure
Warning System, which are increasingly
important for leading companies and
government bodies with a firm focus
on health and safety. Customers of the
eCanter, according to Müller, can rest
assured the truck is fitted with advanced
pedestrian-sensing camera emergency
braking technology, just like the regular
Canter 4×2 range.
“By their very nature, electric trucks
operate in high-density urban areas,
so active safety systems are more
important than ever,” he said. “Our
customers do not have to choose
between safety and electric mobility,
they can have both.”
The eCanter has a range of more than
100km when fully loaded, and can be
recharged to 80 per cent capacity in an
hour using a 50kW rapid charger or fully
charged in 90 minutes.
Daimler has banked on this convenience
making it a perfect solution for set loops
in big cities, where the truck’s zero local
emissions and near-silent operation will
be most appreciated.
The eCanter is part of Daimler Trucks’
commitment to help its customers
reduce emissions in Australia with its
Fuso, Freightliner and Mercedes-Benz
brands.
Fuso currently features diesel engines
that meet or undercut the stringent Euro
6 emissions standard in medium duty
Fighter and heavy duty Shogun as well
as the Rosa light bus.
A limited number of eCanters will be
available for customers in Australia
during the initial stages of the
introduction. Production availability is
expected to increase in time according
to Daimler.
While the regular Australian diesel
Canters are produced in Fuso’s
Kawasaki plant in Japan, Australian
eCanters are made at the Tramagal
factory in Portugal.
> TNT consolidated into new FedEx Express Australia
FedEx Express will combine TNT
freight services into one company
known as FedEx Express Australia. A
subsidiary of FedEx Corp, one of the
world’s largest express transportation
companies, FedEx Express is looking
to enable greater global access and
increased domestic reach for its
service provider,” he said.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
make up 61 per cent of all exporters
in the country. Langley anticipates
consolidation of the two transport
brands will continue to provide
increased access for SMEs while
supporting them reach out to new
FedEx or TNT accounts. The Australian
integration is part of a wider global
process of integration between the two
companies after FedEx acquired the
Dutch-owned TNT Express in 2016.
An Isuzu being loaded at a FedEx
customer facility.

Australian customers through the international markets.

move. Expanded service offerings and
strong connectivity to meet domestic
and international needs are foremost
among the customer benefits resultant
from the combined entity according
to Peter Langley, FedEx Express
Australasia Vice President said today.
“I see this transformation as a new
chapter in the story for both FedEx
and TNT brands,” Langley said in a
statement.
“TNT has always had a strong
presence domestically in Australia and
FedEx is well known as an international
“Even with the challenges of Covid-19,
the number of exporters continues to
increase and is up 7 per cent year-on-
year, driven by an 11 per cent growth
in small exporters,” he said.
“We’re now in a better position than
ever to support Australian SMEs in
their business recovery efforts as we
move forward post the pandemic
disruption.”
Currently, the product and service
portfolios for FedEx and TNT will
remain unchanged. There will also
be no change to customers’ existing

CHAIN OF RESPONSIBILITY LEGISLATION GOT YOU WORRIED?

RELAX!
With TWS and Axtec there is no longer any reason or
excuse for your vehicles to be overloaded

ONBOARD AXLE
LOAD INDICATOR
DISPLAYS AXLE
AND GROSS WEIGHTS
SIMPLE COLOUR-
CODED DISPLAY
Visual and audible Side and rear Single touch-screen
warnings alert drivers cameras displays all functions -
to load errors less driver distraction

WITH AXTEC ONBOARD

You can: • Reduce environmental impact
• Load vehicle to capacity every time • Receive real-time notifications via GPS / telematics
• Avoid fines and threats to Operating License system
• Avoid excessive wear and tear to associated with • Connect cameras to improve safety to pedestrians
overloads and cyclists
ph: 02 9623 1800
e: chris.coleman@twsaust.com.au
www.twsaust.com.au
 PRIME NEWS
> New global partnership announced by major truck rivals
News of an international agreement
between Isuzu Motors Limited, Hino
Motors and Toyota Motor Corporation
has been welcomed by Isuzu’s Australian
arm. The announcement to establish a
global partnership in commercial vehicles
is predicated on the intention of the
three parties to combine Toyota’s CASE
technologies with the commercial vehicle
foundations cultivated by Isuzu and Hino.
The venture will see joint development
of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and
fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs),
autonomous driving technologies,
including but not limited to electronic
platforms for light duty commercial
vehicles.
Isuzu Australia Limited Director and Chief
Operating Officer, Andrew Harbison
> Mercedes-Benz Actros impresses again at new home
A Melbourne-based fleet and long
established buyer of North American
trucks has taken delivery of four new
Mercedes-Benz Actros 2653s. These
are the second lot of Actros commercial
vehicles introduced into F Vitale and
Sons Transport following four units
it purchased from Daimler Trucks
Somerton mid last year. The freight
carrier, which is now 40 trucks strong,
had, up until 2020, been dominated
by North American-style trucks until
General Manager Frank Vitale decided
to purchase the first four 2653 Actros
13-litre commercial vehicles last year.
F Vitale and Sons’ new
Mercedes-Benz Actros 2653.
18 m ay 2 0 21
applauded the latest strategic technology
alliance by Isuzu’s parent company in
Japan.
“With the building of a connected
technology platform another key
objective of the collaboration, we see
a clear path for Isuzu in this critical
response to the challenges facing the
commercial vehicle industry and our
customers,” he said.
The announcement noted that while
there was healthy market competition
between Isuzu and Hino, each company
also shared a passion for better logistics
solutions and improved living and
societal conditions for all.
“Through collaboration, the companies
are aiming to reduce the final product
cost, providing broader access to these
So impressed was he by the fuel
economy and servicing support he
doubled down recently with another four
trucks.
“Those first four trucks, which have
done 120,000km each, are getting
around 2.4km per litre running as
B-doubles between Melbourne and
Sydney,” said Vitale. “That represents a
significant saving.”
Ease of operation highlighted by a
12-speed automated transmission and
ergonomic cabin design with a range of
comfort features, has proven beneficial
for Vitale’s drivers. F Vitale and Sons
uses fatigue-monitoring cameras that
alert the driver and the operations
team of any fatigue events in order to
reduce risk in all its trucks. This system
often registered fatigue warnings in the
American-style trucks, but not one has
been detected in the Actros models
operated by the same drivers on the
same routes.
F Vitale and Sons Transport also
delivers for the family’s bespoke plaster
component manufacturing business.
“We had not expected this when we
ordered the Actros, but given our
focus on safety at F Vitale and Sons,
new technologies to more customers,”
said Harbison. “We’ve long advocated
for strong competition in order to deliver
the best outcomes for the road transport
industry, and this announcement points
to exciting developments and technology
solutions for our customers in the future,”
he continued.“In the meantime, and as
emphasised by Isuzu Motors President
and Representative Director Masanori
Katayama and Hino Motors President
and CEO Yoshio Shimo, the two
companies will remain fierce competitors
in truck sales.
“We look forward to years of healthy
Australian truck market rivalry with our
competitors Hino, and indeed all local
industry OEMs, it only means a better
industry.”
it is invaluable,” Vitale said. “It is clear
evidence that the Actros is way ahead in
terms of reducing fatigue.”
His drivers, some of whom were
hesitant to start with given the smaller
displacement of the Actros, now agree.
“None of them want to get out of the
‘Benzes, even the guys who were
initially reluctant understand how much
less taxing they are to drive,” he said.
The standard safety features of the
Actros, including the radar-based
Advanced Emergency Braking System
called Active Brake Assist and adaptive
cruise control, provide peace of mind for
the business.
“Safety is number one in our business,
so an integrated safety solution like the
system in the Actros is a big plus for
us,” he said.
As the transport business covers a wide
range of local, intrastate and interstate
freight tasks, free Best Basic servicing
for five years or 500,000km standard
on road-going Actros models below
110,000kg GCM is also an attractive
proposition.
“The free servicing offer and servicing
intervals are excellent as is the warranty
support,” Vitale said.
the new benchmark in
six-cylinder performance
With a massive 2700Nm of torque the benchmark for 13-litre six-cylinder engine
performance has just been reset. With a standard rating of 75,000kg, and generating
maximum torque at low revs, it’s well equipped to take on the most demanding task
with a minimum of fuss.
Throw in Scania’s renowned fuel efficiency and advanced safety features, including
side curtain airbags, and luxury interior and you’ve got a package fit for the only
business that matters. YOURS.

For more information on the all-conquering 540hp simply contact your nearest Scania branch/dealer.

VICTORIA NEW SOUTH WALES QUEENSLAND SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Scania Campbellfield Scania Prestons Scania Richlands Scania Wingfield
Tel: (03) 9217 3300 Tel: (02) 9825 7900 Tel: (07) 3712 8500 Tel: (08) 8406 0200
Scania Dandenong Midcoast Trucks Scania Pinkenba
Tel: (03) 9217 3600 Coffs Harbour Tel: (07) 3712 7900 WESTERN
Scania Laverton Tel: (02) 6652 7218 AUSTRALIA
Tel: (03) 9369 8666 Scania Kewdale
Tel: (08) 9360 8500
 GLOB AL NEWS
> Volvo partners with US self-driving company
Volvo Autonomous Solutions has
partnered with Aurora to jointly develop
globally leading autonomous transport
solutions at scale. The initial focus of
the long-term partnership is to develop
and deploy an autonomous transport
solution for hub-to-hub applications
for North America.
Under the agreement both companies will
jointly develop on-highway autonomous
trucks. Automation, according to Volvo
Group, is aimed at creating tangible
benefits for both customers and
society in terms of productivity, safety,
sustainability and energy efficiency.
Integration of the Aurora Driver into
> Renault Trucks appeals to young demographic with video game test drive
French manufacturer Renault Trucks has
presented its updated long haul trucks in
the Euro Truck Simulator 2 video game
as part of a virtual driving experience. The
new, innovative and interactive experience
allowed fans to take a seat in the cab of
the Renault Trucks T and T High 2021
and go for a drive in a truck driving
simulation video game.
In the video game the new ergonomics
of the driver’s cab can be tested and the
20 m ay 2 0 21
Integration of the Aurora Driver
into Volvo’s on-highway trucks
will take precedence as part of
the deal.
Volvo’s on-highway trucks is a major
priority of the partnership and it includes
the development of industry-leading
Transport as a Service solutions. These
solutions are anticipated to build on
Volvo’s products and track record within
safety and Aurora’s deep expertise in the
development of self-driving systems.
“Creating a viable autonomous on-
highway offering requires close
partnerships with both customers and
tech partners to develop the needed
capabilities,” says Nils Jaeger, President
of Volvo Autonomous Solutions. “This
exciting partnership brings our goal of
transport as a service an important step
comfort of the truck appreciated, in urban
areas, on regional roads or on motorways.
The Euro Truck Simulator 2 PC game
is enjoyed by more than nine million
players worldwide.
The exterior design, driving position and
cab layout will all be upgraded on the
Renault T trucks.
A high level of safety for drivers and
road users has also been central
to the development of the Renault Trucks
closer and will accelerate our commercial
offer for hub-to-hub applications in North
America. Aurora is already a leading force
in autonomous systems, and its integrated
self-driving stack, software, hardware and
data services platform combine to offer a
clear path towards efficient and safe on-
highway solutions in the medium term.”
Aurora Co-founder and Chief Product
Officer, Sterling Anderson acknowledged
that since its first project collaboration
with Volvo in 2018, Aurora had developed
a deep respect for Volvo, its engineering
process, and its commitment to safety.
“With the groundwork now laid through
the establishment of Volvo Autonomous
Solutions and the creation of Aurora’s
industry-leading sensor suite, we’re
excited to join forces to develop self-
driving solutions with Volvo’s impressive
network of customers,” he said.
Previously announced Volvo Group
collaborations with partners such as
Nvidia and others continue in parallel with
the collaboration with Aurora.
COVID-related supply chain disruptions
including the recent container ship
blockade in the Suez Canal had impacted
Volvo’s supply of semiconductors which
it announced would adversely affect
its production of commercial vehicles
in the second quarter this year. This
would set in motion stop days across its
global truck manufacturing operations.
Disturbances are also expected
to impact the commercial vehicle
manufacturer’s other business areas.
T, C and K ranges.
Vehicle productivity has also been
improved, with ever lower fuel
consumption and CO2 emissions and
increased vehicle availability, due notably
to the related Predictive maintenance
contracts according to Renault Trucks.
The simulation has been regarded
by some as an innovative concept in
which the ageing transport industry can
appeal to younger people.
JOST Sensor Coupling

Skid plate sensor

Kingpin sensor within locking jaw

Safety latch sensor

Safety Solution with Remote Display

• JSK 37C 3 point sensor fifth wheel with dash display
• Integrated dash dislay available (truck specific)
• Road-Train rated 190kN
• Extended handle for easy operation
• Optional LubeTronic technology

www.jostaustralia.com.au
 INVESTMENT MINDSET
SUPERANNUATION MINDSET
Frank Sandy
Frank Sandy, CEO of TWUSUPER has
been with the fund since 2005. His
previous roles have involved managing
both finance and human resources.
Frank is a CPA and has a Degree in
Business Studies in accounting as well as
a wealth of experience in finance and
superannuation.
22 m ay 2 0 21
A FUTURE FAST-
FORWARDED
Accelerated changes to consumer behaviours and remote
business practices offer a glimpse into the near future in
which changes are being proposed to superannuation
legislation.
O
ver the past 15 months or
so, we have all witnessed
what happens when
borders, businesses and
whole segments lockdown. As transport
and logistics operators, you have been at
the pointy end of dealing with a new set
of pressures and priorities. Some of our
experiences may have been very different
to yours, such as managing through
turbulent financial markets, government
early release schemes, while servicing
some 100,000 members.
Going into the pandemic, TWUSUPER
was perhaps better equipped compared
to some super funds, in that we were
holding higher levels of liquid assets
such as cash. But nothing could prepare
us for the length of time as well as
some of the unexpected outcomes of
the pandemic.
I am conscious of the enormous impacts
on some sectors such as aviation,
hospitality, and tourism — including to
some of our clients and their people who
suffered enormous harm.
One theme that I have noticed is the
way the future has been brought forward
in a number of respects, specifically
in the wide uptake of teleconference
technologies, but also in business
practices and the way people work.
A quote attributed to science-fiction
writer William Gibson – “The
future is already here. It’s just not
evenly distributed yet” – sums up
how technologies that already exist
sometimes require a catalyst for wide
acceptance and adoption to take place.
The pandemic has certainly been that
catalyst of change. It is difficult to
imagine the business routes between
Sydney and Melbourne being at the same
high pre-COVID levels, now that many
meetings can be conducted remotely.
This is not to say that human interaction
isn’t important, and people won’t
travel for business. I think we have all
learnt that we are social animals and
meeting in person is vital to building
relationships.
It will really be a case of balancing the
costs, convenience and benefits of in-
person compared to remote zoom-type
meetings.
Such has been the length of lockdowns
and restrictions to travel, that some
of the habits we have formed will
become ‘baked-in’ with perhaps some
modification over time. Already, some
of the companies we are talking to are
discussing reducing floor space or hybrid
working models, although this is very
much business dependent, noting the
opposite trend in segments of transport
and logistics dealing with demand.
At TWUSUPER, we have a lot of meetings
internally and with key suppliers and
partners, and it’s been a challenge —
there has been a level of technology
fatigue and it has been difficult
managing more distant relationships.
World leading organisational
psychologist Adam Grant, from Wharton
business school, says research shows
during the pandemic that primary
business relationships have become
much closer on average, however

secondary, or less regular contact
relationships may have deteriorated, and
that could include suppliers and clients.
Another big shift that you would be aware
of is the way people have moved to online
purchasing. As a trend that has been
occurring for some years it has ramped up
enormously. Australia Post reported year-
on-year increases of 57 per cent for 2020,
compared to the previous year.
The United Nations conducted a survey
of 3,700 people in nine emerging and
developed countries that showed the shift
to online purchasing during COVID-19
has, according to the UNCTAD, “forever
changed online shopping behaviour”.
According to UNCTAD Secretary-General
Mukhisa Kituyi the COVID-19 pandemic
has accelerated the shift towards a more
digital world.
“The changes we make now will have
lasting effects as the world economy
begins to recover,” he said.
Despite these trends, humans will still
The remote office environment is not
the only domain in business that will
experience acclerated changes.
SPONSORED BY SPONSORED BY
want to interact, go on holidays, dine at
restaurants and visit shopping centres for
social reasons, so it’s possibly a balancing
act to see where online shopping hits
a plateau. Its currently still only about
16 per cent of the total retail spend
but outperforming the pre-pandemic
predictions of 12-13 per cent according to
an eCommerce report by Australia Post.
One of the biggest positives to come
out of this period, is something I have
mentioned before in Prime Mover, but
worth repeating. It is that your industry
has finally been recognised by Australians
for its vital role in keeping Australians
fed, healthy and entertained — and in no
small way, people in transport kept the
economy working.
Looking forward, at TWUSUPER we
are also preparing for changes to your
industry as well as a myriad of potential
legislative and policy changes to
superannuation. Some of these since
flagged in the Government’s ‘Your Super,
Your Choice’ Bill such as ‘stapling’ of
super so that when a person changes
jobs, so does their super, were intended
to reduce account numbers and fees,
but could have serious unintended
consequences.
We believe there is a risk of people being
permanently attached to poor performing
funds, and those without adequate or any
insurance for the risky transport industry.
It’s worth mentioning that TWUSUPER
insurance covers risky occupations.
There is also a risk that the burden of
finding previous super accounts for new
employees may be a time-consuming
process for businesses.
If needed I will cover these issues in a
later article depending on where the
legislation lands.
For now, I am looking forward to a
return to some normality but am also
realistic enough to know that the times,
as the song forewarned, they are a
changing.
p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u 23
 COVER STORY

TRIPLE
FRONTIER

The challenge of launching new high productivity vehicles for G1 Logistics on a permit that
demanded the highest in safety and productivity standards has been solved by partnering
with Scania.
24 m ay 2 0 21
G1 Logistics Fleet Manager
Angelo Rodi.

p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u 25
 COVER STORY
I
t’s no secret that having quality
commercial vehicles goes a long way to
attracting quality drivers and if a fleet
is already fortunate enough to employ
some of them, then a top of the range
truck won’t hinder the prospects of keeping
them longer term. In an ultra-competitive
market plagued by an unremitting driver
shortage having the best person behind
the wheel of a heavy vehicle, especially one
charged with moving precious freight while
navigating the vagaries that come with
sharing the highway with other road users,
is a requisite for fleet managers and freight
carriers alike. Not all rare commodities on
the road are carried in the trailer.
Against a backdrop of an escalating
freight task compounded even further
by global supply chain disruptions, G1
Logistics, the road freight wing of GTS
Freight Management in Mildura, where it
is based, has introduced two new Scanias
into its fleet of over 150 prime movers.
Both Euro 6 emission rated V8s have been
purchased to anchor a major contract for
the business under special permit first
granted by Transport for NSW at the height
of the 2020 COVID-19 scare in Australia.
The first of these, a Scania R 580, arrived
in April last year, back when there were
more unknowns than knowns regarding
how industry was going to be affected.
Looking back at the higher productivity
26 m ay 2 0 21
vehicles launched last year one must
bear in mind the context of which their
operation on the Hume Highway was
sanctioned. The permit for specialised
B-triples now in action for G1 Logistics was
granted to ensure products arrived faster
to depleted supermarkets. At the time
the supply chain for the sector was being
stretched by uncertainties caused, roughly
speaking, from the desperate behaviours of
consumers stockpiling essential goods.
With the oncoming COVID crisis soon
came opportunity. To see larger loads
transported northbound across Sheahan
Bridge near Gundagai, the permits
enabled direct trips into a key Woolworths
Distribution Centre in Western Sydney.
For G1 Logistics, approval for running
a B-triple would give them 50 pallets
capacity on the floor of each trailer, eight
more each than a Super-B combination
and 14 more each than a customary
B-double. Mass loading on this route
increased from 68.5 tonnes to 79 tonnes,
an estimated 22 per cent gain in payload.
So that it would comply to the conditions
of the permit the company, needed to tick
every box available related to safety when
it came to committing to a truck. Scania,
not surprisingly, soon emerged as the
front runner.
“Today’s Scania has pretty much got
everything any other truck can offer in the
safety category,” says Damien Matthews,
G1 Logistics Managing Director. “At the
time of negotiation there was a lot of back
and forth between Transport for NSW
and myself. It was intrinsic to supplying
those high safety standards as we sought
approval on the vehicles.”
Another New Generation Scania, an R 650,
was added five months later to work in
tandem on the 1400-kilometre long haul
circuit cycling between Adelaide, Mildura,
where driver changeovers occur, and
Sydney. Both Scanias are pulling identical
B-triples built and designed by Vawdrey
with a similar freight profile — mostly
ambient — under the same permit.
“It makes for an interesting comparison,”
says Damien. “Not often do you get that.
As a fleet owner, not driving either vehicle,
the R 580 is more than adequate for
what we’re doing. Then again an owner-
driver might, under different operating
conditions, consider going with the
R 650.”
In the current application speed is capped
at 90 km/h. With the distinct spec of its
Vawdrey trailers, designed to maximise the
aperture in the trailers for extra internal
height, an axle ratio of 3:05:1 on the steer
and drive is ideal while using a customary
low-profile trailer tyre.
“We’re seeing 1.6 km/litre with a B-triple
which is as good as anything in our fleet,”
Damien says.
That fuel burn figure isn’t necessarily
something they have arrived at after 12
months of refinement. It’s been consistent
over the year to date.
“There’s been a few signs the lesser
horsepower 580 is getting a whisker better
in fuel economy although it is negligible
when you crunch all the numbers,”
explains Damien. “That said, the more
powerful horsepower of the R 650 is seeing
it do only marginally better in trip time.”
Due to the punishing rate of travel, the R
650 is now well over 150,000 kilometres
while the moderately older R 580,
since inception, now displays 240,000
kilometres on the odometer.
Aerodynamically improved bodywork
on the R series cab helps lower running
costs. The unofficial third auxiliary braking
system represented by the Scania retarder
when paired with Scania Opticruise
provides appreciable support for the
preservation of the engine brakes given
the many rolling hills the trucks encounter
between Wagga and Sydney and when on
approach to Adelaide.
“After running for nearly half a million
kilometres the Scanias have never put
a foot wrong in regard to safety,” says
Damien. “We’ve got full visibility through
cameras going forward, cameras going
rear, with the Guardian ‘Seeing Eye’ fatigue
management system on the driver. At any
stage we can see what’s going on with the
vehicle. How it tracks and how the last
trailer handles going around, for instance,
roundabouts and things like that. To date
there’s simply no issues.”
G1 Logistics Fleet Manager Angelo Rodi
was not, prior to these R Series V8s,
unfamiliar with the brand. A pair of older
Scanias have been in their system for
a while.
“This newest product is the best product
that Scania have ever had,” he says. “For
fuel efficiency, power to weight ratio,
performance, reliability and safety and
also when it comes to downtime — we
don’t tend to be seeing any with this
new model.”
Both Scanias, according to Angelo, have
been specified around additional safety
features like its acclaimed AEB system,
Lane Departure Warning and Adaptive
Cruise Control that have also been
packaged with the platform. Angelo, who
has been with the business since 2004,
started out originally as a mechanic before
graduating to Fleet Manager and now
oversees 200 specialist linehaul drivers.
The Scanias, with their extra comforts and
low noise working environment, have
helped to improve working conditions
appreciably for his drivers.
“The feedback that we get receive from the
drivers on the trip times is unanimous even
though they’re only limited at 90 km/h,
they’re actually very consistent in the hills,”
says Angelo. “They’re often commenting
on how good they are.”
Not only are they consistent but the
driver feedback, according to Damien, is
also positive in terms of how the trucks
minimise fatigue and how comfortable
they are to drive.
“Despite the extra power they get out of
them they are not overly loaded,” he says.
Scania R 580 in B-triple application.
“The drivers don’t feel like they’re working
really hard. Actually, they are very good for
that application.”
With the driver shortage he sees continuing
to exist in the market it’s an ongoing
consideration as how to attract top talent
and to ensure they are happy once they
join the team.
“Across the industry it’s a battle and a
challenge for every logistics company.
But when you get your newer more
comfortable trucks like the Scanias the
feedback I get from drivers is that they
enjoy driving them. Well, that’s got to
be a huge positive to start with,” he says.
“We’re all trying to get more drivers and to
contain the ones that we already have. We
want to get less turnover. We want to keep
our current drivers happy and to attract a
better quality of driver also.”
On permanent freight runs such as this
one, Damien and Angelo advocate a “set
and forget” policy for the drivers they have
assigned each truck.
Absent of traffic and swarming road
users, G1 Logistics also dispatches triple
roadtrains on the flat run from Adelaide to
Perth behind bonneted American trucks.
“We can run the bigger vehicles in what
in essence, for the main part, is outback
conditions,” says Angelo. “Once there’s
more density in the environment and
the vehicles are likely to encounter more
traffic, which means more people, meaning
you can’t run the big ones.”
Managing COVID with a huge team of
drivers presented innumerable challenges
last year.
Being wedged in the northwest corner
of the state brings certain advantages for
accessing key freight passages but also
means drivers are crossing borders every
day, multiple times. It was daunting in
terms of compliance, requiring shrewd
management to stay on top of driver
movements amid a flux of restrictions at
borders uninterrupted all too infrequently.
Damien reached a point where it was
necessary to bolster his administration.
Even still, the efficiencies afforded by the
digital processing of information from
dozens of trucks in transit proved arduous.
“Making sure all the documentation on
all the borders was correct to make sure
p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u 27
 COVER STORY

Aerial view of the new Vawdrey built

B-triple combination departing Mildura.

they could get through all the border will renegotiate with Transport for NSW value of the Scanias can be measured in the
crossings was a nightmare,” Damien and Damien has ambitions for getting proof of concept it has afforded operations
recalls. “Our compliance team were very the B-triples approved for a height of on this approved route with all of its many
diligent in ensuring our drivers had up- 4.6 metres. pre-conditions.
to-date documentation. This was a very “At the moment we’ve got a few restraints “A big part of the supermarket supply
challenging task given how relentless that we’re working around. One big chain is the need to keep shelves at
the work was in such a fast-changing problem for everybody, including us, is capacity. Without the special circumstances
environment.” the Gundagai Bridge is only approved for of last year I don’t think we would have
Across the entire GTS Freight Management 79 tonnes,” he says. In an ideal situation got the permit,” Damien says. “Without
organisation the foremost priority in Damien would like to go up to 85 tonnes doubt COVID was a drawcard for enabling
management was to keep everyone safe. but he acknowledges this would warrant these high productivity vehicles. There’s a
That included the work force as well as fast-tracked improvements being made to lot of proof in the pudding that it should
customers. outdated regional infrastructure. become normal instead of a special permit.
“The focus for nearly 12 months was to With over 400,000 kilometres of operation As a freight carrier we want it to become
try and prevent anyone getting COVID in a real-world environment the combined the new normal.”
positive,” says Damien. “We’re really proud
that we got through the whole COVID
period with not one positive case within
our directly employed group. My team
have been outstanding this past year and
I’m honoured by how they have overcome
the many mounting challenges that beset
our industry and pleased of what they
have achieved.”
Of the more recent high productivity
vehicle permit the Scania Euro 6 V8s are
likely to defy betterment any time soon.
The permit is up for renewal at the end
of the year when the company will have
a new 40,000 sqm site under works in
Adelaide complete with hardstands and
provision to change trailers for roadtrains. Scania cockpit with Guardian ‘Seeing
Eye’ technology fitted to dash.
Beyond that GTS Freight Management

28 m ay 2 0 21
Deliver more with
advanced telematics
The world’s best rated commercial telematics
platform is up to Australia’s freight task.
40,000 +
Global customers

2 Million +
Connected vehicles

40 Billion +
Daily records

Fleet optimisation Productivity Safety

+ Improve fuel economy
+ Decrease idling
+ Reduce speeding
+ Monitor engine data
+ Plan maintenance
+ Real-time fleet management
+ Exception rules
+ Trips & activity reporting
+ NFC Driver ID
+ Easy dispatching
+ Risk & safety reports
+ In-vehicle coaching
+ Accident notifications
+ Collision reconstruction
+ Driving in reverse

Compliance Expandability Sustainability

+ Vehicle safety inspections
+ Seatbelt use reporting
+ Manage driver infractions
+ Corporate sustainability
programs
+ Open-source platform
+ Marketplace of Add-ons
& Add-ins
+ SDK & APIs
+ IOX expansion on every device
+ Reduce fuel consumption
+ Track CO2 emissions
+ EV performance monitoring
and reporting
+ GO device recycling program

Learn more at Geotab.com/au/truck

© 2021 Geotab Inc. All Rights Reserved.
 FLEET FOCUS

SERIO
HARDWA
Donaldson Haulage is
an important link for the
building supplies sector. The
full warranty it receives on
parts and repairs for its Mack
commercial vehicles remains
essential to operations.

Mack Super-Liner returns to base as

flood waters rise in the background.

30 m ay 2 0 21
US
RE I
n conjunction with historically low
interest rates, one of the few benefits
of the COVID pandemic to the
larger Australian community has
been the boom in housing construction
and renovation. The demand for
building supplies has been fuelled by
the significant increase in activity in the
renovation sector as homeowners make
good use of the periods of time when
they have been restricted to their own
suburban areas, to tackle those little,
and often larger, jobs around the home.
Modern retailing is dependent upon
the ‘just-in-time’ model of inventory
management and this concept is no
different in the building supply business
as retailers strive to minimise the
amount of stock they have on hand.
This trend is now standard procedure
regardless of the outlet being a mega-
barn operation or local ‘Mum and
Dad’ corner hardware store. To achieve
such a degree of stock control and to
remain competitive the retailers and
trade suppliers in turn rely upon their
wholesale suppliers to keep sufficient
replacement stock on hand and for an
efficient transport and logistics provider
to deliver the various products in a
timely manner to meet the demands of
the various end customers.
One such operator is Donaldson
Haulage based at Woodberry which
is a semi-rural location just outside
of Newcastle and only minutes away
from a number of the major highways
servicing the NSW east coast. Andrew
Donaldson and his team have built just
such a transport operation by delivering
building products within NSW with
150-200 tonnes of James Hardie
building products delivered every day to
retail and trade outlets such as Bunnings
Warehouse, Hudson Timber, Mitre10,
Home Hardware and Eaton’s Hardware.
The Donaldson trucks will also take
timber from Newcastle down to Sydney
and Canberra and occasionally pick up
a load timber from a major mill located
AUD PK rigid, used for high volume
deliveries, with unusual drop sun visor.
p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u 31
 FLEET FOCUS
Andrew Donaldson, Managing Director.
near Tumut. Deliveries can also extend
to as far away as the NSW mid-north
coast and there are regular trips around
the Lower Hunter region.
The regular delivery task includes
servicing 28 stores on the NSW Central
Coast. A UD PK rigid truck does up
to ten drops each day and the recent
growth in this sector of the business has
justified the decision to have a twin-steer
UD Quon currently built. At present UD
services the smaller sites where access for
even a single trailer can prove difficult.
It is for this reason the rest of the trucks
are semis rather than B-doubles.
“Originally I had a B-double but had to
unload and reload onto a smaller truck
for distribution,” says Andrew. “So we
dispensed with the ‘A’ trailer and saved
on registration charges. Now everyone
runs singles and has the flexibility to get
in and out of wherever they need.”
In recent years Andrew has developed
a changed business model which sees
him currently owning just one semi
and one rigid. The rest of his fleet of
prime movers and semi-trailers has been
32 m ay 2 0 21
sold off mainly to their drivers who
enthusiastically operate on a contract
basis with the trucks remaining in the
distinctive Donaldson Haulage livery.
“It’s been a win-win,” says Andrew.
“I haven’t got to be concerned about
drivers not showing up for work and the
drivers get a better lifestyle and can be
masters of their own destinies without
the stress of worrying about where their
work will come from. Every afternoon
I make a phone call to each driver and
give them their work for the next day.”
Andrew is nevertheless very comfortable
with his business name appearing on
his contractors’ trucks. “And if they do
something wrong it’s my number on the
back of it,” he says, smiling.
Andrew sees a challenge to this style
of operation where certain operators,
often new to the industry, are offering to
undercut freight prices.
“There’s no such thing as cheap freight.
To do that they’ve got to cut corners,
including delaying deliveries to better
suit themselves,” he says. “Customers
don’t want to keep a lot of inventory
on their shelves so they need quick
turnaround on deliveries. A key part of
our service is we do same day-next day.”
A major client is Hyne Timber which is
one of the largest sawn timber suppliers
in Australia and Donaldson Haulage
performs their pine timber distribution,
a task recently made more effective with
Hyne Timber opening a major new
depot in nearby Cameron Park.
Andrew has grown the business through
hard work and, knowing he is secure in
his relationship with the James Hardie
organisation, brought about by another
transport company which provided it
with an entrée to the timber building
products industry.
“That was ten years ago and was the best
thing I ever did. I learned a lot about
logistics from the other companies I had
worked with and I was able to put it all
together around factors such as truck
efficiency, fuel economy, and drivers’
abilities. I would go out with a new driver
and explain what, where, when and how
to operate and I offered an incentive for
whoever achieved best fuel economy,”
Andrew says.
Eventually all of the company drivers
were in new trucks which helped with
the ultimate transition of them becoming
owners and contractors.
In addition to the six trucks operating in
Donaldson Haulage colours, Andrew has
a couple of additional contractors whose
main work is delivering beer. They may
also do two to three days per week with
Andrew. One is based in Gloucester and
the other is conveniently located right
next door to the immaculate Donaldson
depot at Woodberry.
The destructive bushfires of the 2019-
20 summer wiped out a lot of forestry
plantations around NSW towns such as
Tumbarumba. The sad fact is it will take
at least a decade for those plantations
to recover, so large quantities of timber
suitable for building purposes are
being imported. This presents further
opportunities for Donaldson Haulage
to become the link between the docks
and the wholesale timber suppliers’
depots as well as from the depots to
the retailers. Where feasible, the timber
is taken direct to the customers, in
addition to distribution centres such as
the new facility operated by Ron Crouch
Transport at Orchard Hills in Sydney’s
west to which Andrew’s son Kane
delivers a full load every day at 5.00am
with the Mack Super-Liner. Andrew and
Kane try to keep that particular truck
relatively local and it usually covers
only around 80,000 kilometres per year
and has received numerous truck show
awards including one from the NSW
Roads and Maritime Service.
Donaldson Haulage trucks are renowned
for their perennially immaculate
presentation and even the UD is no
exception. Rather than going down the
common route of polished alloy wheels,
Andrew has had the original steel wheels
painted in gloss black two-pack paint
highlighted by red striping, with chrome
hubcaps and wheel nuts. The UD is also
distinctive due to its ‘drop’ sun visor, an
unusual feature on a Japanese truck.
“The first truck I bought was a Mack V8
which I did up while working as a fuel
tanker driver,” says Andrew. “I used to
tinker with it a lot and when I connected
it to a 45-foot alloy floor flat top trailer I
went ‘out on my own’ carrying a variety
of freight including cotton.”
If it weren’t for that truck, Andrew
reckons he’d still be working for
someone else. He’s stuck Macks
ever since.
“All of the guys who have bought my
trucks use the local Mack service centre,”
he says. “I found the hard way there is a
lack of mechanical knowledge at other
repairers. By sticking with Mack service
and the trained technicians we get full
warranty on the genuine parts and the
repairs, which gives peace of mind.”
Andrew still enjoys getting behind the
wheel himself occasionally and feels that
the best part of being in the business is
meeting people and developing strong
business relationships with clients.
One of the Mack Super-Liner semis
that help deliver over 150 tonnes of
James Hardie product daily.
p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u 33
 FLEET FOCUS

ALL THE RIGHT

Why go to the trouble and expense of buying, when you can rent? It’s a proposition
fast appealing to a changing consumer market and one Thrifty seeks to master in its
endeavours to become the best rental company in Australia.

34 m ay 2 0 21
MOVES
Murari Rijal, Thrifty
Caringbah Finance Director.
T
he capital investment and
operating costs of commercial
vehicles are a major factor in
the sustained growth of the
rental vehicle industry, as regular and
casual users take advantage of the ‘as
needed’ proposition rather than going
through the process of purchasing
an expensive vehicle which they may
only require the occasional use of. In
recent years Thrifty has emerged as a
genuine competitor in the burgeoning
commercial vehicle rental market.
Fully owned by the NRMA (National
Roads and Motorist’s Association) and
operated by a number of franchisees,
Thrifty’s vision is to be the best vehicle
rental company in Australia and not
necessarily the largest. The organisation
aims to achieve this by offering its
customers the best service, the best rates
and the best experience. The NRMA’s
ownership of Thrifty provides a degree
of confidence to customers knowing
they are dealing with one of Australia’s
most trusted and reliable brands.
Murari Rijal operates a Thrifty franchise
from a base in the Sydney suburb
of Caringbah which now extends
to include 28 branches throughout
New South Wales. Originally from
Kathmandu in Nepal, Murari may
describe himself as a ‘corporate tax
accountant’ yet he brings to the business
a diverse background including working
for the BBC as a financial reporter,
owning and managing a retail bakery
franchise and as a niche importer of fine
crystal homewares.
As with any business, the attention to
customer requirements and effective
cost management are two key elements
in determining whether the operation
becomes a success or a failure.
“If you compromise the quality of the
customer service then you compromise
p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u 35
 FLEET FOCUS
the long term success of the business.”
Murari says. “You have to put your feet
in the customers’ shoes to the point of
performing a cost analysis from their
point of view.”
That attitude, which permeates through
the staff at all levels, has seen the total
fleet size of passenger and commercial
vehicles grow from 1,300 in 2013
to 3,500 of which almost 1,000 are
classified now as commercial vehicles.
Based on customer feedback, Murari
One of 100 new Hino units Thrifty has
purchased already in 2021.
36 m ay 2 0 21
“I go to Hino because
I want a fully automatic
fleet,”
Murari Rijal
Caringbah Thrifty Franchise Operater
finds that Caringbah customers’
requirements are, for example, different
from those in the Hunter region and
it is crucial business-wise to find what
is important to each. Thrifty truck
rental customers can be diverse but are
usually local businesses and couriers.
Increasingly, the customer profile has
included people who want to move
“home” themselves rather than going
to the expense of engaging professional
removalists to relocate their furniture
and household effects.
A lot of growth in the business has come
from Sydney’s newer suburbs where
families are frequently moving into
freshly constructed houses after moving
out from residential areas closer to the
city. Following their move to the outer
suburbs up to a third will relocate again
within a few years, providing repeat
opportunities for truck rentals.
The potential of this opportunity for
Hino commercial vehicles are
preferred for their automatic
torque converter transmissions.
more sustained business has led to
Murari establishing branches closer to
these emergent residential areas.
“It’s important to have a branch nearby
to return the vehicles to,” he says. “After
moving they’ll be tired after a hard day
and may have family to consider, so they
don’t want to be getting an Uber back
home after returning the truck across to
the other side of the city.”
Hino is the brand of choice for the
business. During the first half of 2021,
more than 100 new Hinos have been
ordered, even though the majority
are replacements they represent a
significant increase in the size of the
overall fleet. The relationship with
top-level management at Hino is good
for both parties and provides benefits
for the customer who are the people
who actually drive the vehicles with
Thrifty serving as the bridge between
manufacturer and the customer.
“I go to Hino because I want a fully
automatic fleet,” says Murari in reference
to Hino’s offering of fully automatic
torque convertor transmissions. “Most
other rental operators keep trucks for
five or six years but I only want to keep
them for two and half, with a maximum
of three years.”
At the conclusion of their relatively
 short period of being a rental vehicle,
the trucks are sold through a small
“It’s a long-term strategy and we’ve been doing it
for the past three years and its working for us and
number of select dealers and represent
an excellent value proposition for the
businesses which subsequently purchase the customer.”
them. Most vehicles are still covered Murari Rijal
by the balance of the Hino factory Caringbah Thrifty Franchise Operater

warranty which is transferrable to the

new owners. The system also leads to the
potential of future transactions.
“We on-sell many trucks to ‘mum and
dad’ businesses because they are less
than three years old and are cheaper
than buying brand new. As their own
business expands, they come to us to
hire trucks again, with the likelihood
they will ultimately buy an additional
ex-Thrifty truck. It’s a long-term strategy
and we’ve been doing it for the past
three years and its working for us and
the customer.”
The passenger vehicles in the fleet are
kept for a maximum of nine months
and may have between 6,000 and
20,000 kilometres showing on their
odometers. Trucks have usually covered
80 to 90,000 kilometres at the time of
their disposal. The occasional example
may have been subjected to a lot of
hires involving interstate trips showing
100,000 kms which leads it to be taken
out of service and sold regardless of
its age.
Murari is also able to provide long term
rental leases with the likes of courier
companies who appreciate the benefits
such as better safety features and fuel
economy of new vehicles without the
expense of having to purchase them.
“We used to do it over five years but
found after three years the operating
costs were getting out of where we
wanted them to be,” he says. “These days
there are a lot of technological change
and everyone wants new trucks.”
Considering the frequency of purchasing
new vehicles, Government stamp
duty can become a big expense and
on a $50,000 truck stamp duty can
be as much as $1,800 which Murari
considers may be one of the reasons
some competitors choose to retain an
older fleet.
“People ask: why do you buy brand new
cars and trucks? Because that’s what I
do,” he says. “I’m looking at the long-
term benefit.”

Darren Wales, CEO

Let us take a load off

your business.
Heavy Vehicle Accident Repairs. Australia Wide.
At AMA Heavy Vehicle Accident Repairs we do one thing -
and we do it well.
The superior craftsmanship from our experienced teamof repair
professionals across Australia ensures your truck or bus is in
the best hands.
Our combined knowledge and ongoing investment in equipment,
technology and people means we defeat the challenges of today,
and into the future, for all types of heavy vehicles and trailers.
And because we have strong and binding relationships
with all major insurers we are able to quickly assess,
quote and complete your repairs to ensure you are
back on the road as soon as possible.
Be safe on our roads, but if you need a BRISBANE
repair contact us:

Phone: 1300-223-072 PERTH

NEWCASTLE
Email: info@amagroupsolutions.com.au ADELAIDE SYDNEY
Web: www.amaheavyvehicle.com.au
MELBOURNE

HEAVY MOTOR DIVISION

 TRUCK & TECH

A new Isuzu FXR 4x2 is assigned

specialised jobs delivering to mine sites.

LICENCE TO

CARRY Over the last 23 years CKC Haulage has built a solid reputation as a premium general
freight transporter in Queensland. A newly acquired Isuzu FXR is helping the company
expand its top-shelf service to customers.

38 m ay 2 0 21

I
t’s generally agreed that one of the
pre-eminent keys to any successful
venture is having the right tools
for the task. In the case of CKC
Haulage, Managing Director Kevin
Cooper acknowledges the vital role
a group of smaller trucks play for his
business in collecting the freight which
is then consolidated onto B-doubles and
roadtrains for the longer journeys.
Similarly, Kev says, when an item
weighing six to eight tonnes needs to
be transported over a long distance to
a mine site, a suitably specified smaller
truck such as the company’s new Isuzu
FXR can be assigned the task.
For CKC Haulage, a number of Isuzus,
of varying vintages and guises, has been
performing these tasks admirably over
the years. So it seemed only natural that
the company would turn to Isuzu for its
latest acquisition.
With depots in Brisbane, Townsville and
Mackay, CKC Haulage prides itself on
being a one-stop-shop for customers
moving general freight from Brisbane
to Far North Queensland and out to the
mines in central Queensland.
The company transports just about
anything from cartons, pallets, timber
and steel to roofing, machinery, IBC
tanks, floor coverings, tiles, pavers and
shipping containers. It is also licenced to
transport dangerous goods.
CKC Haulage has 18 items of trailing
equipment including two dollies that
enable roadtrain operation on the
inland highway during busy times. The
remainder are B-double compatible
including curtainsided A trailers and
flat-top B trailers. There is also a full
curtainsided B-double with mezzanine
decks. There are six linehaul prime
movers comprising five Macks and a
Western Star, while the fleet of seven
smaller trucks includes two 6x2 and
three 4x2 Isuzus including the new FXR.
According to Kevin, Isuzu trucks have
been a part of the operation since its
inception. In fact, the first Isuzu five
tonner the company bought second
hand is still earning its keep at the
Mackay depot today.
“I couldn’t tell you what model it is, but
it is more than 25 years old. We bought
it from a glass replacement company
and put a tray body on it,” says Kev.
“That was our first pickup truck in
Brisbane. We’ve had such a terrific run
from it that it seemed foolish not to
CKC Haulage runs a small fleet of
reliable Isuzus of varying vintages.
keep buying Isuzus in later years. Isuzu
is the pick of the Japanese trucks in
my opinion. In terms of reliability and
longevity you just can’t beat them.”
Given he uses the new FXR to regularly
travel on gravel roads to mine sites,
Kev had originally wanted a 4x2
eight tonner.
“This truck does a lot of dirt road
running and coming back empty would
tear the tyres off a tandem rear axle
truck,” Kev says. “That’s why I wanted a
single drive unit.”
The FXR 1000 is fitted with a 12-pallet
tray body and according to Kev is ideal
for transporting 6.5 tonne generators to
the mines.
He mentions that hauling this amount
of weight is a doddle for the FXR,
thanks in part to highly respectable
gross vehicle and gross combination
mass limits of 16,500 and 36,000kg
respectively. It’s also well-endowed in
the grunt department, with the 9.8-litre
six sporting respective power and torque
outputs of 345hp (257kW) and 1,049lb/
ft (1,422Nm).
The transmission is a ZF nine-speed
synchromesh unit with a repeat H shift
pattern and a super-low crawler ratio of
p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u 39
 TRUCK & TECH
9.48:1. At the other extreme, ninth gear
is a 0.75:1 overdrive.
This feeds into a Meritor drive axle with
a ratio of 4.55:1 and a 10,400kg capacity,
supported by multi-leaf main and helper
spring packs. An important standard
inclusion that’s handy when negotiating
muddy mine sites is the driver-controlled
diff lock. The steer axle is also Meritor
and boasts a 6.6-tonne capacity with
suspension by way of taper leaf springs.
Another useful feature of the Isuzu FXR,
according to Kev, is the 22.5 inch wheels
which take the same 11R22.5 drive tyres
as the prime movers.
Further features that make life more
comfortable for drivers of the FXR
are the coil sprung cab suspension
and Isri 6860 air suspended seat with
integrated seatbelt.
There’s also cruise control and anti-lock
braking, front and rear stabiliser bars, a
driver’s airbag and seatbelt pretensioners.
While Kev concedes it’s only early
days, he is, nevertheless, very pleased
with the operational performance of
the FXR so far and says his drivers love
driving it, too.
“I particularly like the fact that it doesn’t
need Adblue and doesn’t have a diesel
particulate filter (DPF) that needs to be
burned at regular intervals,” he says. “I
think that is a real selling point of these
larger Isuzus.”
As for accessories, Kev says he had a
number of extras fitted for protection of
the drivers and truck during operation
over long distances to mines in the
unforgiving Queensland outback.
Carrying scrap metal means flat
tops are more common in the fleet.
40 m ay 2 0 21
“A lot of people don’t want to touch scrap, but
we’ve been doing it for 20-odd years without too
much drama,”
Kevin Cooper
CKC Haulage Managing Director
“We fitted the usual bullbar, stoneguard
and sunvisor as well as rotating beacon
lights attached to roof-mounted racks,”
he says.
The company employs 15 drivers
altogether, with three local drivers who
share the longer distance driving of the
FXR to the mine sites. Kev says he has a
good crew of drivers with most willing to
go the extra mile when required.
CKC Haulage was founded by Kev
about 23 years ago when he bought a
semi-tipper truck and started working
for Aztec which was owned by Boral at
the time.
“That work died off, so I swapped to
pulling fridge vans for a while, but
because I’d been around general freight
for most of my life, I thought bugger it,
I’ll give that a go,” Kev says.
That was effectively the genesis of the
current business and according to Kev,
growth came organically with bits and
pieces here and there until the company
just got bigger.
Interestingly, most of the company’s
linehaul work today involves
backloading scrap metal from North
Queensland, which Kev says ensures the
efficiency of the operation.
“A lot of people don’t want to touch
scrap, but we’ve been doing it for 20-odd
years without too much drama,” he
says – adding that it’s the reason why the
company operates mostly flat-tops with
gates as second trailers on its B-doubles
and roadtrains.
Kev cites consistent and honest
communication with clients as key to the
success of CKC Haulage, and it’s for this
reason that he doesn’t want to grow too
big and lose the personalised service that
the company offers.
“If we can’t send a truck for some reason,
we ring the client and let them know
as soon as we can,” he says. “There’s
nothing worse in their eyes than a
truck not turning up when they’re
expecting it.”
He concurs that dependability and
consistency in customer service go hand-
in-hand with utilising equipment that
can be relied upon to deliver the goods
day in and day out.
With the majority of CKC Haulage’s
medium-duty truck fleet – proudly
headed by its new flagship FXR –
comprised of the ever-reliable Isuzu
brand, the company has this aspect of its
operations well and truly sorted.
ZF. For parts Visit us
isbane

you can trust.

at the Br ow
Truck Sh ay
hM
13th–16t 8
Foyer 07

Innovative solution. OE quality. German technology.

With a comprehensive range of products for commercial vehicles, our reliable product brands ZF, LEMFÖRDER,
SACHS, TRW and WABCO represent the best quality and dependable service. Visit zf.com

Brake components Cabin dampers and Clutch components Transmission oils

shock absorbers and components

Brake callipers Brake discs

DMF Disc Cover Releaser Lay shaft ZF Ecofluid

Dryer
Cartridges Brake pads

Planet carrier
newSmartBoard

Pressure filter
and inserts
TEBS-E iEBS

ZF Ecosplit

ZF AS Tronic Transmission and

axle parts
Steering and suspension ZF TraXon
components
Electric driveline Drive axle Truck & Trailer
Telematics
 TRUCK & TECH

ON

WILD
A 1994 Kenworth K100E
8x4 double-deck livestock
body truck owned by Wild’s
Livestock Transport has
travelled over 3.5 million
kilometres and is still proudly
sporting its original Meritor
tandem drive unit that has
never been rebuilt. Prime
Mover speaks with Ian Wild
to find out more about this
legendary longevity.

I
t’s a supremely satisfied Ian
Wild, owner of Wild’s Livestock
Transport, who says he couldn’t
have asked for a better run from the
Meritor 46-160 tandem drive axles in
his current Kenworth.
Yet there was an ongoing niggle with oil
leakage past the front differential carrier
gasket – a problem which was ultimately
solved for Ian by Meritor using a new
generation gasket the company has
developed specifically to address the issue.
According to Ian, Meritor has been
exceedingly helpful with solving not only
this problem, but also an issue he had with
leaking diff axle hub seals on an earlier
Kenworth 8x4 he bought new in 1988.
“That truck was also a K100E with a
Detroit Diesel 8V92 and a 15-speed
overdrive Roadranger transmission
along with the same Meritor 46-160
diffs,” Ian explains. “My association with
Meritor came about due to the truck’s
persistently leaking rear wheel seals – we
Kenworth K100E with Meritor
46-160 differentials.
did 16 seals in 18 months!”
During a conversation with Mal
Grumont from Meritor, Ian was steered
in the direction of an alternate hub seal
manufacturer that just so happened to be
looking for a suitable truck owner with
which to test its newly developed drive axle
hub seal.
“Mal put me onto the alternative seal
manufacturer and they told me, ‘you’re
just the bloke we need – we have this new
seal for you to trial’,” Ian says. “It worked a
treat – we replaced the seals on both drive
axles and didn’t have any more leaks from
that time forward.”
Ian explains that the new seal design
features an integral wear sleeve similar
to the original Speedi-Sleeve introduced
by bearing and seal company SKF in the
‘70s. The stainless-steel wear sleeve is an
interference fit on the axle spindle and
when installed acts as a super-hard surface
for the seal lip to run on, meaning the lip
doesn’t wear a groove in the spindle over
time — a phenomenon that creates the
propensity for leakage.
Ian worked his former Kenworth for six
years and then replaced it with his current
K100E in 1994. This truck originally had a
Detroit Diesel 12.7-litre Series 60 engine

42 m ay 2 0 21
THE
SIDE
rated at 430hp. However, Ian replaced it
with a 500hp version of the same engine
some years back. It is coupled with an
18-speed overdrive Roadranger gearbox.
He explains that the ‘new’ truck was fitted
with the superior drive axle hub seals
which, as in the previous truck, have
performed faultlessly ever since.
However, another issue developed with
the gasket that seals between the front
differential carrier and the axle housing.
Ian notes that this issue didn’t occur
with his previous Kenworth, saying he
believes this is due to the higher torque
output of the Series 60 engine compared
to the 8V92.
His theory is that the more pronounced
torque reaction creates a degree of flex
between the diff carrier and housing that
eventually causes a breakdown in the
sealing integrity of the gasket.
It’s a notion that’s validated by Ian’s son
Lincoln Wild, who is a qualified diesel
mechanic and has now joined the family’s
livestock transport business.
“The front diff is always subjected to more
torque than the rear diff in a tandem
drive and that was the diff that was
consistently leaking in our truck – the rear
diff was fine,” Lincoln explains. “We tried
everything from collets over the studs to
limit torsional movement and sealing it
with gasket cement but nothing we did
provided a permanent solution.”
The Wilds’ fortune on this matter changed,
however, following a conversation Ian had
with Meritor’s Territory Manager – Truck,
Renzo Barone, at the Livestock and Rural
Transporters Association Queensland
conference at Tangalooma some years ago.
“Renzo told me they had developed a new
type of gasket for the diff heads and that
he would get a couple for me and have
them installed,” Ian says. “To his credit,
he organised for the replacement gaskets
p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u 43
 TRUCK & TECH
to be sent to (Kenworth dealer) Brown and
Hurley at Darra and Meritor paid for them
to be fitted. That was five years ago and it
hasn’t leaked a drop of oil since.”
Ian says he didn’t expect Meritor to pay for
fitting the gaskets, but that Renzo insisted,
saying the company had faith in the
improved gasket and wanted to look after
its valued customers.
“I could never fault Meritor on their service
or the quality of their products,” Ian says.
“From my experience it shows that the
company is willing to go the extra mile to
sort out any issues, regardless of the age
of the vehicle or how many kilometres it’s
travelled.”
Speaking fondly about his now 27-year-
old Kenworth, Ian says the fact it’s still
going strong after travelling more than
3.5 million kilometres is testament to the
quality of the Kenworth product and the
components such as the Meritor drive
axles that go into them. He also mentions
that the original Detroit Diesel Series 60
engine did 2.4 million kilometres before
it was replaced with the 500hp version —
another amazing feat in itself.
“At the same time as the engine repower,
we replaced the radiator, charge air
cooler, clutch and refurbished the
gearbox, but we didn’t need to touch
the diffs apart from the reseal at three
million kilometres,” Ian says.
He adds that this is all the more
remarkable due to the nature of the work it
does often hauling heavy loads of livestock
over rugged farm roads and paddocks and,
44 m ay 2 0 21
Aside from resealing the diffs at 3
million kms the Meritor axles have
not been touched.
the fact that he hasn’t been the only driver
over its lifetime.
“It’s had quite a few drivers over the years
– some of them came to work to make
me money and others came seemingly
to break the gear so they didn’t have to
work,” he says. “But you have to accept
that people come from all walks of life.
It shows that it is not all about the driver
ability, the product must have an inherent
robustness that enables it to survive under
tough conditions.”
Never one to have gotten accustomed to
breaking down on the side of the road,
Ian maintains an axiomatic view of
the process.
“If you have a quality product you can
do a quality job,” he says. “Preventive
maintenance is always better than reactive
maintenance any day of the week.”
The ultimate reliability of the Meritor
drive axles on his two Kenworths has
meant that he has not needed to call upon
the company for any remediation work,
other than the aforementioned gasket
replacement.
“Apart from that, we’ve only replaced two
pinion seals and the seal on the jack-shaft
in our current Kenworth over the 27 years
we’ve owned it,” Ian says.
As the conversation turns to the somewhat
unusual configuration, at least in livestock
haulage circles, of the 8x4 double-deck
body truck and three-axle double-deck
dog combination, Ian says it is ideal for
his operation which largely encompasses
southeast Queensland and northern New
South Wales as far down as Casino. This
often involves loading in locations where
manoeuvring a B-double or semi would be
rather difficult, if not impossible.
“We used to run semis, but when we
bought another livestock haulage business
which ran a double-deck body truck and
dog combination we saw the benefit of it
and have kept going that way,” he explains.
“Doing what we do here on the Sunshine
Coast you’re not always able to get a semi
or B-double in and, in fact, some places we
need to unhook the dog and load the truck
first then tranship the cattle to the dog and
reload the truck.”
He adds that the picturesque scenery with
a backdrop of extremes from the Glass
House Mountains to open plain country
makes it an enjoyable region to work in,
although the ruggedness of some of the
tracks leading into farms requires skill and
experience on the part of the driver, along
with robust and reliable equipment such as
the Kenworth truck and Meritor axles.
He also prefers mechanical rather than
air suspension for this role and says
the Kenworth’s Six-Rod rear suspension
does an admirable job of keeping the rig
stable in demanding conditions such as
uneven and rutted bush tracks and creek
crossings. He also says the truck rides well
for an 8-wheeler cab-over, adding that the
set-back steer axles supported by 13-leaf
load sharing springs mean the driver is not
sitting directly above the front wheels.
In wrapping up, Ian reiterates how grateful
he is for the longevity and reliability of the
Meritor axles and the fact that
Renzo Barone at Meritor went out of his
way to help solve the only issue he’s had
with the product, despite it being out of
warranty by the proverbial country mile.
“It was great to be able to talk to the
manufacturer about the problem
and to not only find out there was a
solution but to have Meritor provide
that solution free of charge. That was
way above and beyond what I expected,”
Ian says. “If not for that assistance, we
would have gone on re-sealing the diff
two or three times a year — wasting
an incredible amount of time and
resources, all without a satisfactory
long-term outcome.”
GET CONNECTED NEW
IN-CAB CAMERAS
Telematics for all assets.

Intermodal Containers and Tanks

Gain complete visibility and control of ISO tanks, road tankers and chassis
with global 4G LTE, industry-leading hardware, wired and wireless sensors.

Cold Chain Telematics

Get two-way monitoring and control of reefer trailers, reefer containers and
other assets involved in the cold chain—whether on land, rail or sea.
 
Trailer Telematics
Trailer tracking solutions with EBS trailer weight monitoring optimises
utilisation, avoids overloaded trailers, mitigates theft, reduces fuel costs
and minimises downtime.

Truck Telematics
Combine in-cab devices, cameras, hardware and powerful back-end reporting
to improve compliance, driver performance, critical event capture, fleet safety,
operational efficiency and workforce productivity.

In-Cab Cameras NEW

Capture critical events on video with a virtual witness for improved fleet
safety and visual proof against false claims.

Learn more at www.orbcomm.com or

call us for a demo at +61 451 629 253

CONNECTING THE WORLD’S ASSETS

 TRUCK & TECH
D ATA
Fleet management specialist Teletrac Navman discusses why fleets need to harness data now –
and offers some insights on how to do it.
A
fleet generates a lot of data.
This information, however,
is only valuable if it can
be used effectively. That
means bringing it together, analysing
it, figuring out what is significant and
using those insights to make predictions.
According to MicroStrategy research,
94 per cent of businesses say data and
analytics are important to their growth
and digital transformation, with more
than half experiencing more effective
decision-making, and better financial
46 m ay 2 0 21
DR
performance.
Thanks to the volume of data being
collected from sensors, satellite tracking
Electronic Work Diaries (EWDs) and
IoT devices, larger fleets may struggle
to find the data that’s most relevant to
them. Luckily, AI and ML-enabled fleet
management solutions instantly sort
through big data to find those needles in
the haystack.
Data such as road and traffic conditions,
weather and environmental hazards can
be combined with footage of a drivers’
journeys from multi-camera solutions
and leveraged to predict incoming risks,
allowing office employees to guide
drivers through dangerous conditions
as they unfold. Staff can offer drivers
turn-by-turn routes based on permits,
customer and load requirements to
ensure compliance.
Smart fleet management solutions also
improve customer service by highlighting
instances of unnecessary fuel use and
monitoring past routes. By optimising
routes, operators are not just saving
IVEN
money on fuel, they’re able to stay
compliant, provide speedy customer
service, and in turn, complete more jobs.
An ML-enabled fleet management system
is designed to learn from your habits
over time – what data you view most,
how long it takes to complete jobs on
average, work and rest time for fatigue
management, and more. Eventually, the
system will automatically detect unusual
changes to driver and vehicle behaviours
based on past data, bringing things like
speeding violations to the attention of
management as they arise.
These smart systems feature advanced
dashboards, offering a visual display of
data collected that allows an operator
to easily identify anomalies and drill
deeper for insights. Search filters can be
added to find out more about what is
happening, why they’re occurring and
view possible solutions.
To keep staff safe, it is imperative to
have a well-maintained fleet. Of course
staying on top of dozens or hundreds of
vehicles can be difficult to manage. Even
a small electrical fault can create a serious
safety issue.
With an AI-powered system, engine
management and vehicle performance
data is integrated in real-time and sent
straight to the monitoring dashboard,
alerting key decision-makers of any
potential issues. This will provide plenty
of time to diagnose the problem and
rectify the fault before it becomes a major
headache according to Teletrac Navman.
The collected data creates a
comprehensive view of the entire fleet
for back office staff. They can monitor
the performance and condition of each
vehicle, its performance and current
condition without the need to physically
inspect the asset.
The future of Australia’s transport
industry is a data-driven one. Fleets that
are able to turn big data into actionable
insights will see increased productivity,
reduced downtime and decreased admin
costs, all the while keeping ahead of the
competition.
p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u 47
 TRUCK & TECH
STEAM
FULL
A supplier of zero-emissions hydrogen fuel cell powered commercial vehicles, including heavy
duty trucks, buses, and coaches, Hyzon Motors, after going public as part of an estimated
$AUD3.5 billion merger earlier this year, is in the process of rapidly expanding and it’s got its
sights firmly set on Australia.
A
s renewable fission continues
to gather pace where zero
emission technologies in
the global supply chain are
concerned, in recent years a crowded
field of newcomers and startups has
emerged offering alternative electro-
mobility solutions to fossil fuel reliance,
perhaps none more active, especially
in 2021, than Hyzon Motors. The New
York-based company is riding what
seems like a continuous wave of notable
announcements in the transport media
since it first came to the attention of many
in early 2020. New commercial transport
technologies in the age of Elon Musk are
having no trouble attracting entrepreneurs
chasing lucrative seed money from cashed-
up equity groups by making bold claims
about battery range and aerodynamic
future engineering concepts at million
dollar promotional events to temporarily
tame the 24-hour news cycle. Hyzon is
not one of these. For the past 17 years, the
company has steadily built upon extensive
hydrogen technology development for
fuel cell systems at Horizon, its parent
company, with an eye towards accelerating
the energy transition through the
manufacturing and supply of hydrogen
fuel cell-powered commercial vehicles
across the North American, European,
and Australasian regions. To date, Hyzon’s
hydrogen fuel cell systems have powered
around 500 commercial vehicles globally.
It also retains strong ties to science at
the highest points of its decision-making
chain. Its Australian CEO Craig Knight,
a co-founder of the company along with
George Gu and Gary Robb, is a chemist
by trade. The connections with Australia
48 m ay 2 0 21
John Feenan, Hyzon Motors
Australia Operations Director.
extend beyond the boss. Last year it
established an office in North Sydney
for local operations. A small core team
is headed up by Operations Director
John Feenan, who is no stranger to the
renewables industry. He worked for 20
years in the gas and oil sector including
a decade at Woodside where he was a
commercial manager on the Northwest
Shelf LNG Project before moving into
mining for a few years. At the end of 2019,
looking to return to renewables, he was
keen to work in hydrogen, a solution he
considered the best placed to replace liquid
hydrocarbons such as diesel and petrol.
“That drew me to looking at the hydrogen
sector both as a mobility solution and also
as an energy storage solution,” he recalls.
“That prompted me to contact Hyzon
and connect with Craig. So it’s been less
than 12 months but I’ve been very busy
ever since.”
Since he joined in July last year, the
company has announced a slew of
partnerships both overseas and locally.
AHEAD
One of the more publicised is the
agreement announced with Viva Energy,
who are progressing an energy hub in
Victoria, which would support alternative
energy sources, such as hydrogen. It’s
especially important as Hyzon’s immediate
focus is laying down the infrastructure
required in Australia before they can scale
up to encourage confidence in the demand
and supply of green hydrogen solutions.
“Viva have taken a view that out of
their knowledge of transport fuels and
hydrogen gas in the refining process that
they have the capability to produce, store
and distribute and refuel for heavy duty
vehicles which is what we can provide,”
says John. “From there we can really start
to work in with fleet operators in providing
them with solutions to transform their
fleets from current diesel usage to zero
emission hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.”
Although John doesn’t expect to see
hydrogen in service station forecourts
immediately, a plan is in place to build
to that from an initial hub and spoke
model. In the short term the focus of
the relationship with Viva Energy will
be around their Geelong refinery. Once
proof-of-concept is achieved in that area,
and providing demand entails, Hyzon will
look to expand with vehicle fleet operators
while ensuring the hydrogen supply chain
is in place.
“There’s a couple of steps to progress but
the long term goal is to work together
with Viva Energy to see hydrogen become
readily available,” says John.
Ever since signing the first of its agreements
with Hiringa Energy in August, 2020,
Hyzon has subsequently agreed to build
and supply the New Zealand energy
company with zero emission heavy
goods vehicles as part of an ambitious
plan to have 1500 units operating in
that country by 2026. An initial batch
of 20 prime movers with a carrying
capacity of 55 tonnes, in accordance with
national regulations, have been ordered
from Hyzon’s Groningen plant in the
Netherlands of which the first four are
anticipated for delivery later this year.
As Hiringa is already in the process
of developing hydrogen refuelling
infrastructure for New Zealand there’s an
innate confidence in accommodating fuel
availability, according to John, given the
fleet of heavy goods vehicles Hyzon will
supply are expected to work with a host of
different operators.
“The capacity is there to start looking
at some heavy duty haulage with fleet
operators,” says John. “We expect the
same vehicle to have a gross carry mass in
the order of 70 tonnes on the type of flat
pathway associated with Western Australia,
by way of a local example.”
Up until that time comes, Hyzon can make
do with the hydrogen fuel cell powered
coaches it has, at present, operating for
Fortescue Metals at its Christmas Creek
mine in the Pilbara. Built in China, these
vehicles are demonstrating the potential to
decarbonise fleets, particularly in remote
areas where diesel is often transported
thousands of kilometres so it can be burnt
on site. In an area as vast and unforgiving
as the Pilbara this is no small challenge.
For Hyzon, having the ability to produce
hydrogen on site has the potential to lead
to a total cost of ownership equivalent to
or better than diesel according to John.
“They’ll be doing it through solar
photovoltaics which means they are
effectively producing and refuelling in
their own location and controlling that
infrastructure,” he says. “That then gives
operators confidence that they can start to
transition to zero emissions and there’s a
compelling economic argument associated
with that as well. It’s certainly a first for
Fortescue who have always been a leader
in the mining space for innovation and
pushing towards decarbonisation as you
can see which will be an example of what
emerges with other operators across the
country. We would expect, in due course,
something similar for heavy vehicle fleet
operators and logistics vehicles.”
The ten hydrogen fuel cell coaches being
evaluated by Fortescue are considered
demonstration vehicles as part of a staged
evolution program. Insofar as this kind of
arrangement will be attractive in remote
locations where diesel has long been
transported immense distances by trucks,
the hub and spoke model in due course,
with proof of its benefits, should lead
eventually to point-to-point availability
of hydrogen once the vehicles, built to
the specifications of the fleets, eventually
come online. In terms of numbers, Hyzon
expects that more demonstration fleets will
appear in the next 12 to 24 months.
“Beyond that then we can start adding
zeroes when we start to see a change out
of existing fleets to zero emission vehicles
and that would be a natural progression as
vehicles get to their end of lease or end of
term usage and they start to cycle through,”
says John. “Then we’ll start to see orders for
larger numbers of vehicles going forward.”
For now a major focus for Hyzon is to
cross the threshold with key operators
in building confidence that the vehicles
and technology is available. Operators
in turn, would build confidence in their
management of the fuel cell vehicles and
in their supply networks of fuel.
“Once we bring all those elements
together it will help operators have the
confidence to commit further with their
fleets,” John says. Globally the business
expects to have jointly branded Hyzon
vehicles across three continents soon. The
company already has partnerships with
DAF in Europe and Freightliner and Ford
in the United States. The Hyzon vehicle
production model is asset light according
to John, which is to say there’s no plans to
build trucks from the ground up.
“We will partner with OEMs who are
best in class with their cab chassis
combinations that delivers an integrated
solution that we can take to market with
our hydrogen powertrain, which is the
hydrogen gas storage and the fuel cell
technology that goes with that,” he says.
“In due course we will look to localise our
solutions so when you get into the more
Hyzon hydrogen fuel cell heavy
goods vehicle concept.
p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u 49
 TRUCK & TECH
specialist vehicles such as garbage trucks
and cement mixers then we are really
going to need to work with the local body
builders here in Australia to find the right
chassis combination that will fit with their
compactors or their agitators and then
work from that basis.”
As a startup, Hyzon has frontloaded its
proof-of-concept with a superior design
to ensure it can lay out the electric
architecture of the vehicle with the motors,
the battery, the fuel cell and the storage
— all with a view to encompassing the
legal weight distribution and factors of
axle loading.
“It’s an evolving landscape for us,” says
John. “All of those things we take into
account before we sign off to say we can
deliver that product to a customer.”
Of late, a flurry of activity around Australia
would appear to have repudiated its status
as a developing hydrogen market. It also
begs the question of which country might
be considered advanced? More recently
the Queensland Government, itself
embattled by the challenges of renewing
an economy, let alone a renewable one,
established what it calls a Hydrogen Task
Force. Sumitomo Corporation, a Japanese
multinational, also has formalised
a partnership with Gladstone Ports
Corporation, Gladstone Regional Council,
CQUniversity Australia and Australian Gas
Infrastructure Group to develop what is
being touted as Australia’s first hydrogen
ecosystem in Central Queensland. Toyota
just last month announced a new $7.4
million Hydrogen Centre at Altona in
Melbourne’s west in partnership with gas
firm BOC.
50 m ay 2 0 21
Hyzon fuel cell stack under
the truck hood.
Hyzon Motors already has a
memorandum of understanding with
Pure Hydrogen Corporation, a division of
ASX-listed Real Energy, to work together
on the provision of building a network
of refuelling stations for hydrogen in
Australia. Naturally John and his core
team, which is growing, are closely
following these developments.
“I think we’ve spoken to potentially every
hydrogen production facility or hub that
is in Australia,” he says. “We know a lot of
the potential projects coming online and
we’re working closely to develop solutions
for marketing in those areas. What we’re
seeing is different hub developments for
hydrogen mobility solutions and around
that we create what we call a hydrogen
ecosystem.”
At this juncture in hydrogen’s
infrastructural evolution, Hyzon awaits
for a better picture to materialize in which
to ascertain demand, identify the players
operating in the field and how best it
might work with them to fulfil its promise
of providing superior mobility solutions.
As that tipping point is likely to cover a
spectrum of potential vehicle types, Hyzon
will look at localising a solution should
the demand warrant it. For the moment,
however, the back to base model, at
least in theory, would include delivery
vehicles with hydrogen storage tanks
being available instead of fixed refuelling
infrastructure. Never did far away charge so
close to echo Peruvian poet César Vallejo.
Initiatives are already underway for
hydrogen refuelling projects on the major
highways of both the east and west coasts
of Australia. Linehaul freight movements
like those connecting Melbourne, Sydney,
Brisbane and often as far north as Cairns,
offer a blueprint for strategic markers
when it comes to demand and distance.
The majority of commercial vehicles
Hyzon is currently developing target a
600-kilometre range meaning major fleet
operators can have confidence their drivers
can refuel as they travel between the
major freight destinations. To this effect
point-to-point refuelling remains the end
game. And in the meantime, increasing the
financial strength of Hyzon is key.
It was certainly given a huge boost in
February following the announcement
of Hyzon’s plans to go public through
a merger with Decarbonization Plus
Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ:
DCRB) under a deal worth around $3.5
billion. With that has come experience
working with DCRB at an executive level
according to John.
“What it does is underwrite the expansion
plans of the company with confidence,”
he says. That includes Hyzon’s Rochester
facility which will now have fuel cell
stack production capabilities and vehicle
integration in addition to the construction
of a membrane electrode assembly plant
in the Chicago area. Between the facilities
it is developing in the US and the factories
it has in Europe and China, John expects
Hyzon will have capacity to meet demand
for 12,000 heavy duty vehicles per annum
with a capacity available to increase that
to over 20,000 vehicles, possibly as early
as 2025. This ambitious upscaling will
include Hyzon’s third generation fuel cell
stack. The technology, which is currently
going through a verification process,
will enable a Hyzon hydrogen vehicle to
increase its current single stack capacity of
150kW to 370kW in just one stack, around
500 horsepower in the old scale, making
it the highest-powered density available in
the market later this year.
“What that means is we’ll be able to
provide that higher powered density
and with volume you’ll start to see
the improving cost structures,” John
says. “Economies of scales come with
volume which is something we can make
available for our customers when the
demand builds.”
Easily Retrofit to the
Popular HOLLAND
FW351E & FW331
Fifth Wheel

FLASHING HIGH INTENSITY

RED WARNING WHITE LED
LED LIGHTS LIGHTS FOR
FOR FAILED SUCCESSFUL
COUPLING COUPLING
ATTEMPT ATTEMPT

The HOLLAND
ELI-te™
Fifth Wheel
Coupling
Assistant
helps drivers
GET IT RIGHT!

FAILED COUPLING – In the case of a failed coupling SUCCESSFUL COUPLING – A successful couple triggers high-
attempt, bright red flashing LED lights assist the driver intensity white LED lights, strategically aimed at the kingpin
to quickly recognize a potentially costly mistake. and lock for enhanced visibility during the inspection
process, especially in poor weather and low-light conditions.

Robust electrical components: sealed one-piece harness, long-life LED lights, durable inductive sensors,
and steel encased logic module ensure reliable operation in the toughest conditions.

SAF-HOLLAND (Aust.) Pty. Ltd

ABN: 79004371215 | Sales: 1300 131 613
Email: sales@safholland.com.au
www.safholland.com.au
 TRUCK & TECH

LIQUID
ASSETS

Since partnering with ORBCOMM on its telematics solutions, Ron Finemore Transport has
found driver performance scoring, vehicle utilisation, maintenance planning and the ability to
access and integrate data from all parts of its business a major gamechanger.

W
ith its striking red colour
scheme and widespread
presence on east coast
highways, Ron Finemore
Transport is one of the best known
family-owned transport businesses in
the industry. The business runs strategic
logistics hubs in cities including Wodonga,
Wagga, Orange and Goulburn to service
their customers in Brisbane, Sydney,
Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide
efficiently and effectively every day across
a fleet of 260 prime movers and more than
500 trailers.
Principally moving food and retail
products from manufacturers to
52 m ay 2 0 21
distribution centres and from distribution
centres to stores, Ron Finemore Transport
also transports petroleum-based products
from refineries and storage facilities to
service stations and fuel depots.
To ensure it does so safely and reliability,
seven days a week, Ron Finemore
Transport partners with technology and
internet of things provider ORBCOMM
to help it maintain what is a stellar
record in fleet safety, customer service
and fuel economy and use of data. The
partnership arose from goals the company
was looking to achieve around accessing
data from the fleet so that it could be used
to enhance operational efficiencies such
as fuel cost reductions through optimal
driving styles and to use driver scores to
measure and ensure safety while reducing
the financial burden of refrigerated load
claims. Data disclosed from the right
telematics platform could also provide the
fleet with key metrics within its substantial
operations.
A full end-to-end solution of robust
hardware, and intuitive and in-depth
software was needed to manage its 700
plus assets — along with some time to act
on bringing in some changes.
The level of data available through the
ORBCOMM system and the difference
it could make to the fleet made a strong
first impression on Darren Wood, Ron
Finemore Transport General Manager of
Technology and Innovation.
“The driver performance tool was second
to none at the time and we still believe it’s
the best in the market,” he says. “Vehicle
performance scoring has provided and
continues to provide valuable insight into
the type of equipment we should purchase
for different contracts in our business.”
As a long-term customer, Ron Finemore
Transport sees ORBCOMM touching
nearly every corner of the business.
According to Darren everything the
business does is focused on providing
insight into driver performance and
driving style, fleet performance and
efficiency to ultimately mine data from
the system. System-generated reports are
also leaned on heavily to understand key
business metrics given the volume, speed
and accuracy of data flowing through the
system; all of it vital for the company’s
successful operations.
“You can’t win the game if you don’t know
the score. We always refer to that sort of
analogy when we talk about any part of
the business,” says Darren. “If you don’t
measure it, you can’t improve it.”
Driver behaviour means different things
to different companies. For a driver-first
business like Ron Finemore Transport,
safety is the number one concern.
Monitoring performance scores helps
to contribute to the safety of the fleet by
identifying and helping to correct at-risk
driving behaviours. Having an up-to-date
weekly scoreboard for each driver builds a
continuous improvement environment.
By monitoring driving in the truck, the
system produces a score for each driver
and each trip. ORBCOMM’s system
monitors drivers in 26 categories like
harsh braking, harsh acceleration,
speeding and use of cruise control.
Better fuel burn, to cite one benefit, is
a natural outcome of monitoring and
coaching drivers through performance
scoring. Ron Finemore Transport
focuses on the management of fuel
cost by reviewing and acting on driver
performance scorecard information.
“The key thing for us is management of
fuel economy. It’s still the largest cost in
our business by far, after wages. Anything
we can do to improve the driver fuel
efficiency is where we focus our attention,”
he says. “All the other benefits that come
from that are natural. So, if you can
improve a driver’s focus on touching the
brake, or looking ahead, anticipating
what’s next and using cruise control,
then naturally you get a fuel benefit and
improved safety.”
The data derived from driver performance
scorecards can open an ongoing dialogue
with drivers according to Wood.
“The KPIs from a driver performance
perspective are fuel burn, anticipation and
brake applications,” he says. “These three
things combined, when interpreted in
the right way, give our driver trainers the
opportunity to have sensible discussions
with drivers about their driving style and
opportunities to improve.”
Fuel burn data is also used to inform
equipment specification. As part of its
continuing objective of streamlining
operations, Ron Finemore Transport has
put a strong focus on understanding its
fuel burn per vehicle to inform its truck
specifications. Initially, the company
compared like-for-like trucks in Australia
and Europe and found the fuel efficiency
significantly differed.
By using the fuel burn data in tandem
with other system data, Ron Finemore
Darren Wood.
Transport attempted to reconcile the
difference between the costs of running its
Australian truck fleet of chiefly Volvos and
Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles and
those used in Europe.
A high-utilisation fleet like Ron Finemore
Transport’s must maximise its uptime
to deliver a safe and reliable service for
customers. ORBCOMM maintenance
management assists in eliminating over-
or under-scheduled maintenance. Vehicle
uptime is managed with programs that
monitor real-time logs, diagnostic data,
alerts, and fault codes.
“I think it’s fair to say there were lots
of spreadsheets before,” Darren says.
“Now that we keep maintenance up
to date in the ORBCOMM system, we
schedule reports to our operations
teams on a daily and weekly basis. We’re
getting information; we’re servicing our
equipment on time and we’ve cut out
a whole heap of waste associated with
spreadsheets.”
Vehicle performance scoring, which can
help determine the right asset for the task,
is another area Ron Finemore Transport
has looked to gain key insights from
the ORBCOMM technology. According
to Darren it has delivered a far better
understanding of their fleet.
“It has provided and continues to
provide valuable insight into what type
p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u 53
 TRUCK & TECH
A Volvo FM about to disembark with
temperature monitored refrigerated
goods in Wodonga.
of equipment we should purchase for
different contracts within our business,”
he says.
Ron Finemore Transport mixes data,
previously inaccessible to it, from
ORBCOMM’s solutions with other
data it draws from its transportation
management system to evaluate how the
different vehicles operate and how best
to get the maximum performance out of
them. As many of its products need to be
kept at specific temperatures throughout
the journeys, the company relies on
temperature tracking and reporting
provided by ORBCOMM. To date it has
substantially reduced the cost of claims
according to Darren.
“We had claims in excess of half a million
dollars per year. We believed we hadn’t
done anything wrong, but because we
didn’t have the evidence to support it, we
ended up paying,” he says. “The year after
we implemented BT 300s into the business
and started tracking the temperatures in
54 m ay 2 0 21
real-time, we had minimised our overall
claims cost.”
It’s proven itself, what’s more, a significant
tool for discovering other avenues to
growth within the business.
“In the Australian market at that time,
we were one of the only companies in
the country tracking temperatures in real
time. It gave us an advantage over our
competitors,” says Darren. “It allowed us
to build our refrigeration business from
where it was back then to what it is today.
What we do, we do extremely well, and
we can validate our cargo temperatures
instantly, which is great peace of mind for
our customers.”
The volume and depth of data available
through ORBCOMM’s systems makes for
a great fit with a business that invests so
heavily in its interrogation and usage. In
addition to weekly reporting taken from
the fleet management system, workshop
modules also capture service intervals
and the operations team awaits scheduled
reports it receives on a daily basis. As well
as historical reporting, Wood says Ron
Finemore Transport relies on real-time
systems management.
“As much as possible we try to report
in real time in all of our systems. We
therefore rely on data coming out of
our API into our data warehouse. We
interrogate that data using robots and
other tools to determine departure and
arrival times,” Darren says. “Our fallback
position is always reporting out of
ORBCOMM in the instance where we need
to validate information. This provides real-
time status updates for every shipment
in our business. We now use that data to
marry against the trip information in the
TMS, to determine arrival and departure
times at each of our stops. Then we use
robotic process automation to update
our TMS using ORBCOMM data. Getting
that data in real time for us is critical and
feeds through then to many of our other
systems.
 ISUZU SERVICE AGREEMENTS

Zero-stress servicing.
Brought to you by Isuzu.
No business wants big, unexpected bills. But with an Isuzu service agreement, you can flatten your truck servicing
costs into a predictable monthly payment (or upfront fee with Isuzu Essentials). You’ll also be part of one of
Australia’s biggest dealer networks, so you can book a service at locations around the country. With the new
Chain of Responsibility laws, proper servicing will protect your business. Lastly, service agreements come with
Isuzu Care, Australia’s most comprehensive truck customer care programme. To find out more, see your nearest
Dealer or visit isuzu.com.au/care-support/service-agreements.

Ask your local Isuzu dealer about

which service agreement is right for you.

Isuzu Isuzu Isuzu Isuzu

Essentials Essentials Total Heritage
Plus
FSA/ISZ12886
 TRUCK & TECH

UPPING
THE ANTE
A respected track record of speed and efficiency in delivering
operational integration and change can also be applied to a
succession of recent acquisitions at the AMA Group.

T
he advent of Advanced Driver
Assistance Systems (ADAS)
has brought road transport
into an exciting new era of
productivity and safety. With it the heavy
motor repair industry also enters a new
phase in which high tech equipment,
training and investment is now needed
to repair and re-calibrate a commercial
vehicle, featuring the latest in driveline,
steering, wheel and collision prevention
technology, after an accident.
At the forefront of this sector in the
market is automotive aftercare and
accessories specialist AMA Group, which
understands as a leading business, the
investment required in order to return
vehicles to original manufacturer’s
specifications — something independent
operators may find very difficult.
Prevailing electronic systems, many of
which were foreign to the best repair
and maintenance technicians less than
a decade ago, now form a critical role
in automated transmissions, driveshaft
cooling pumps, rain sensors and vehicle
stability controls.
“We’re in a new world and unless you
can invest in the technology to be able
to repair an ADAS vehicle you will be at
the back of the race,” says Darren Wales
AMA Heavy Motor Division CEO.
Following the merger of his successful

Darren Wales, AMA Heavy

Motor Division CEO.

56 m ay 2 0 21
 Wales Truck Repair & Wales Bus Repair
businesses with AMA Group in 2019,
Wales has overseen, in little more than a
two-year span, the company add another
nine major heavy motor facilities to its
growing stable.
That arm of AMA Group, known as the
Heavy Motor Division, now includes
Newcastle’s National Truck Repairs and
National Central, the latest acquisition
expanding an impressive heavy
vehicle repairs and services footprint
across Australia.
It now joins Parins Truck Repairs (Perth),
All Transport Smash (SA), Western
Truck Repairs (Vic), Recar Truck Repairs
(Brisbane, Townsville, Clayton), Wales
Truck Repairs (NSW) and Wales Bus
Repairs (NSW).
The national clients, among others, have
relished the opportunity to finally have a
dedicated, truly national repair network
according to Darren.
“The response from the industry at large
has been overwhelming,” he says.
ADVANCED
PERFORMANCE &
LEADING TECHNOLOGY.
DISC PADS
• Improved surface technology
• Quieter braking performance
• Dependable and reliable performance
• Comprehensive range across most
applications
Bendix Brake Advice Centre 1800 819 666
Choose your perfect braking solution online at www.bendix.com.au
Bendix is a trademark of Garrett Advancing Motion
“Myself and the AMA team are laser-
focused on providing our clients, both
transport operators and insurers alike,
with exceptional service and competitive
pricing structures,” he says.
AMA Group’s insurance partners
have been particularly supportive
of the company’s recent growth and
trajectory. The benefits of dealing with
an ASX-listed public company, with its
transparency, economies of scale and
regulatory governance, is there for all to
see according to Darren.
Having superior craftsmanship from an
experienced team of repair professionals
certainly helps stake a reputation in an
industry where quality and reliability not
only matter, they are everything.
Streamlined parts purchasing on
a national basis with the ability to
work closely with original equipment
manufacturers in gaining valuable repair
processes and techniques is vital.
“We have a great relationship with our
OEMs a ‘one-stop-shop’ for truck, bus
BRAKE SHOES
• Reduced wear rates
• Easy to install with no fuss
• Resistance to high operating temperatures
• Comprehensive range across most
applications
and coach repairs,” says Darren.
“Like other great businesses relationships
can make or break a company. Two-way
communication, understanding and
problem-solving ultimately determines
the quality of a partnership, and that’s
a priority in any engagement with our
customers, and potential customers.”
Despite the exciting new developments
at AMA Group, Darren values the
people he works with which remains his
number one priority.
“We have a great team around us with
a passion for the heavy motor industry
and repair industry. I can’t speak
highly enough of the dedication and
commitment that our team have shown,
not only in our business, but across the
AMA support team,” he says. “I have
been in the industry for over 30 years
and I think that I have learnt more in the
past 12 months from our people than I
have in many years.”
He adds, “I’m extremely proud of
our team.”
BRAKE LININGS
• Protects other brake components from wear
• Reduced replacement cycles
• Cleaner technology
• Comprehensive range across most
applications
 TRUCK & TECH
BEST IN SHOW
ZF Services Australia will showcase the latest products for the commercial vehicle industry
from ZF and its family of brands at the 2021 Brisbane Truck Show.
T
his year’s Brisbane Truck
Show is set to attract
the industry’s biggest
concentration of decision-
makers, key stakeholders, influencers,
operators and executives. It’s a major
opportunity for original equipment
manufacturers to showcase their latest
commercial vehicle solutions and ZF
Services Australia will be among them,
showcasing its lineup of cutting-edge
products. ZF considers itself the world’s
leading integrated systems provider
for commercial vehicle technology.
Globally, the business brings over 100
years’ experience to the automotive
industry and through a dynamic
product portfolio, acquisitions and
ongoing commercial partnerships it
is positioned to capitalise on future
demand for autonomous, efficient
connected commercial vehicles to
ensure it creates long-term value and
security for its customers for whom it
is regarded as a reputable and reliable
partner through the entire life cycle of
its products.
In Brisbane, ZF’s TraXon, the world’s
58 m ay 2 0 21
first modular transmission, will
take centre stage. Light, strong and
intelligent, TraXon mates a basic
high-tech automatic transmission
with various setting-off and shift
modules. Through its use of operational
efficiencies, TraXon offers uninterrupted
fuel savings and a refined driving
experience with GPS-based connectivity.
It was further enhanced in 2018 with
the addition of an optional predictive
maintenance function that continually
monitors the vehicle operation and is
operational on some of the most highly
regarded commercial vehicles such as
the latest Euro 6 DAF CFs, MAN TGX
models and Hino 700 Series.
TraXon, according to Gary Bain, ZF
Services Australia Head of OE and OES,
is arguably one of the most technically
advanced truck transmissions in
the world.
“This technology offers fleet operators
the capability of monitoring the
condition of components such as
transmission oil or clutch discs, via
the Cloud,” he says. “This enables
maintenance to be planned proactively,
A ZF TraXon test vehicle
in full flight.
which in turn could shorten vehicle
downtimes and avoid stranded vehicles.
This has the potential to also reduce
costs and extend the transmission’s
service life at the same time.”
The latest products from WABCO, the
newest addition to the ZF family, will
be also part of the Brisbane display.
This includes WABCO’s latest Trailer
Electronic Braking Systems (TEBS)
along with a range of accessory systems
packaged under the Intelligent Trailer
Program (ITP) banner. WABCO’s TEBS
and ITP system not only increase trailer
safety and stability, but also, reportedly,
offer rich data and connectivity
solutions that improve a fleet’s
operations and efficiency.
The acquisition of WABCO was a
strategic decision by ZF as part of its
Next Generation Mobility strategy
to develop and deliver technology
solutions that make cars and
commercial vehicles see, think and
act in order to reduce emissions and
increase road safety.
Another focus for ZF this year will be
its aftermarket component lines, with
 displays focusing on its product brands,
LEMFÖRDER, SACHS and TRW.
LEMFÖRDER chassis and steering
components can be used as direct
replacements, or to up-spec trucks
to increase payloads, reduce
fuel consumption and optimise
driver dynamics.
SACHS shock absorbers are
manufactured to original equipment
specifications and fit a wide range of
trucks and commercial vehicles, plus
trailers, and there’s even a range of
units to suspend the driver’s cab. Also ZF’s TraXon, the world’s first modular
showcased will be the TRW range of transmission, will take centre stage
on the ZF Services Australia stand.
steering and suspension components.
ZF’s remanufacturing capabilities processes utilised in their original “ZF Services Australia is proud to
will also be highlighted, with ZF manufacture. be showcasing the very latest from
Services Australia offering the market In its remanufacturing process, ZF ZF and its family of brands this year
a range of ‘remanufactured’ truck uses between 50 and 90 per cent at Brisbane,” says Gary, “as well as
transmissions – all finished to ‘as new’ less material than the production demonstrating our dedication and
original equipment standards. ‘Reborn’ of equivalent new units, which in ongoing commitment to the local
components such as transmissions, turn provides a benefit in reduced commercial vehicle industry.”
axles and clutches are restored using manufacturing energy consumption and Visit ZF Services Australia at stand
the same manufacturing production Co2 emissions of around 90 per cent. number 078.

TN360

Stay one step

ahead with
guided driver
routes for
instant impact
Get notified when a driver goes
off-route
Redirects driver safely to the
correct path
Turn-by-turn driver guidance
Instant access to trip analytics
Journeys sent direct to
vehicles for drivers to complete

1300 111 477

TeletracNavman.com.au
 TEST DRIVE
THE GRE
Scania’s new 540hp engine
shows that 13 litres can
deliver similar performance
to many larger engines
S
cania’s 13 litre 500hp R and G cab
models have been very successful
since their Australian launch and
the addition of this latest 540hp
specification engine offers even more
performance combined with impressive
fuel economy.
The long stroke engine delivers 540hp
(397kW) at 1800rpm which is an
additional 40hp and 150Nm over the
previous maximum output 13 litre Scania
engine. Significantly this six cylinder
engine provides the same maximum
60 m ay 2 0 21
torque characteristics of 2700Nm as the
520hp version of the 16 litre Scania V8.
The 13 litre’s maximum torque output is
available between 1000 and 1300rpm.
In applications where front axle loadings
are critical the in-line six cylinder engine
saves around 300kg over the front axle
compared with the 520hp version of the
Scania V8.
This latest Euro 6 engine has a fixed
geometry turbocharger fitted with a waste
gate and has ball bearings supporting its
shaft and uses its own spin-on oil filter
to extend component life. Different inlet
and exhaust manifolds and a revised turbo
housing enable a faster engine response
due to the turbo’s improved utilisation of
the pulse energy inherent in the engine to
achieve quicker spool-up times. Internally,
the pistons, rings and cylinder bores are
treated with friction reducing coatings
to minimise drag and free up power and
maximise fuel efficiency.
To achieve its Euro 6 emission rating the
Scania uses a Supplementary Catalytic
Reduction system in conjunction with
a Diesel Particulate Filter. We haven’t
performed an exhaust gas analysis but a
quick peek at the inside of the exhaust
outlet reveals an almost surgical cleanliness
despite this being a truck which has
already covered almost 36,000 kilometres.
The transmission is the 12-speed overdrive
Opticruise equipped with an additional
two crawler gears. The ratio of the rear
axles is 3.42:1 which encourages the
transmission control software to maintain
higher gears as much as practicable in
EN MILE
order to deliver maximised fuel efficiency.
On the northbound leg of our journey out
of Sydney we are not concerned with fuel
burn, instead we are intent on putting the
Scania through its paces which involves
a driving style not necessarily conducive
to fuel efficiency such as ‘driving on the
throttle’ instead of maximising the time
spent using the truck’s intelligent cruise
control. However, on the return leg we
consciously toggle the cruise buttons on
the lower left of the steering wheel to
enable the truck to do what it does best at
minimising fuel consumption.
The Sydney to Newcastle and return route
involves a number of hills with some long
grades as well as some challenging shorter
grades on each side of the Hawkesbury
River, and again on each side of its
tributary Mooney Mooney creek. On the
return leg we are baulked by a couple of
fools with a mutual death wish riding
pillion on a tiny capacity ‘postie’ bike
taking up the left hand lane on the climb
up from the Mooney Mooney Creek bridge
towards Calga. Heavy traffic holds us in
the left lane losing valuable momentum
until we can safely overtake. The negative
effect on fuel efficiency by the interrupted
momentum which required the Opticruise
to drop a number of gears, was thankfully
countered later in the trip as we roll
through the recently opened Northconnex
tunnel which avoids the hills, traffic lights
and multiple speed zones which afflicted
the notorious Pennant Hills Road link
between the M2 Motorway and the Pacific
Motorway.
Entering the nine kilometre long south
bound tunnel at 80 km/h the Scania is
actually able to maintain that speed in
eco-roll mode until the last few hundred
metres where the tunnel rises to re-join the
surface, the resulting fuel saving becoming
a generous offset against the toll charge.
The improvement in overall fuel
consumption, brought about by
the combination of the driveline
enhancements, is claimed by Scania to be
up to 2.5 per cent. The weighbridge ticket
for our test B-double combination shows
we are grossing 58.46 tonnes and at the
end of the 356.5 kilometre round trip it
takes 174.5 litres of diesel to top off the
tanks. A few moments with a calculator
computes the fuel consumption to be 2.1
km/l at an average speed of 71 km/h, with
Scania 13 litre R 540 B-double
negotiates a yard.
p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u 61
 TEST DRIVE
that result confirmed by the electronics on
the dash.
The 540’s revised cooling package
incorporates a ‘smart’ coolant pump
which contributes to fuel savings due to
its reduced engagement during low load
cycles. Similarly, the power steering pump
also undergoes reduced engagement when
demand is low, providing an additional
incremental contribution to fuel efficiency
by reducing the amount of power required
to drive it.
The test vehicle features the spacious and
well-appointed Scania R cab and the 540
spec engine is also available in the mid-size
G cabs and as a special order for Scania S
cabs.
In line with the rest of Scania’s New Truck
Generation vehicles, the R 540 has a high
level of active and passive safety systems
fitted as standard equipment including side
curtain roll-over protection airbags. The
list of standard safety features is impressive
and includes driver and passenger seat-belt
pre-tensioners, driver’s airbag, Adaptive
Cruise Control, Advanced Emergency
Braking and Lane Departure Warning.
In recognition that getting down a hill is as
important as climbing it, the Scania has a
number of braking features which operate
seamlessly with the Opticruise’s functions
including Eco-roll which calculates which
62 m ay 2 0 21
The Scania Retarder converts kinetic
energy to heat, which is dissipated
through the cooling system.
is the most fuel efficient: whether to roll
down hills with the driveline disconnected
and the engine idling, or to use engine
braking with the fuel supply switched off.
The exhaust/engine brake provides 242kW
(325hp) of holdback at 2,400 rpm and
is complemented by the Scania R 3500
Retarder in controlling downhill speed.
Initiated by the driver simply selecting
the chosen speed and tapping the brake
pedal, the combined effects of the Scania
Retarder, the Opticruise transmission,
the exhaust brake and the conventional
disc brake system all working seamlessly
in conjunction with the Adaptive Cruise
Control, enable the vehicle to maintain
a stable speed regardless of the downhill
grade.
Should even more braking power be
necessary, Scania Opticruise changes down
to increase engine speed with a resulting
increase in exhaust brake power. The brake
blending feature maximises the amount of
retarder braking and therefore minimises
wear on the wheel brakes.
The Retarder itself operates silently and
even the activation of the engine/exhaust
brakes makes very little difference to the
already low noise levels inside and outside
the cab. Manual activation of the non-
wheel brake systems is achieved using the
control stalk mounted on the right hand
side of the steering column. This multi-
function stalk also provides the driver’s
control of the Opticruise transmission.
By pressurising fluid, the Retarder
converts kinetic energy to heat, which is
dissipated through the cooling system.
The transmission has its own oil cooler
to counter any heat soak coming from
the attached retarder mechanism. The
operation of the computer controlled
viscous hub engine fan serves to keep the
entire driveline package within the correct
temperature parameters in addition to
its own modest contribution of reducing
engine speed by providing additional
engine load. The Scania’s hill hold braking
function now holds truck and prevents
roll-back until the accelerator is pressed,
not just the three seconds after brake pedal
is release on previous models.
The 540 has been in the global Scania
line-up for some time so arrives here as a
proven package with the reliability of any
‘new’ components already established. In
Europe the 540 combined with the Scania
S Series cab has excelled in two prestigious
comparison tests taking place in Germany
during October 2020. The European Truck
Challenge and the 1,000 Puntke Test
(1,000 Point Test) address cab-related
qualities such as the driver environment,
sleeping comfort and noise levels, as well
as other aspects such as road handling,
gear shifting and serviceability. The trucks
are also driven more than 300 km on
different types of public roads, while
fitted with calibrated fuel-measurement
equipment to accurately confirm the true
fuel consumption.
Horsepower ratings can be fudged as
easily as changing the numerals of the
shiny badges on the side or front of the
cab. But you can’t fool torque. The 13
litre Scania engine (actually 12.7 litres
displacement) can be rated down as low
as 370hp. Driving this 540hp version we
have to remind ourselves that it’s ‘just’ a
13 litre as we don’t get passed by any other
loaded trucks during the trip despite the
grades we tackle. The power and torque
expected from a larger engine combined
with the fuel requirements of a 13 litre
makes a sensible equation for both drivers
and owners.
 ®

Ap ril
20 21
®

20 21
Ma rch

K&
truSucpkeSsty Fuller T
Craneh Fid ra
e Age nsport
Nick’s
eli r Spac
Hig
APRIL
2021
ISSN $11.00
1838-23
20
03
Industry
Fleet:
Lege
9 771 Feature: nd Logistics
838 232000 MAN
Showca Choice
se: Ren Program Innovatio
THE Persona tal, me n
00 PEOP lity: Sam Leasing & Fleet:
Finance Met
2021 $11. Industry nd Logistics LE & Suda
Technolo ro Skips
MARCH -232 0 e
Programm nce P
E RODUCTS
gy: Borg
ISSN 1838 02 Fleet: Lege Choice Test Driv
MAN
Feature: : Rental, Leas
ing & Fina M OV
Delivery T H AT
e:
Delivery Kenworth
Showcase Sam Suda S P O RT Maga MAK : Stod T41
dart Gro 0SAR
ity: TRAN zine ins E TR up
Personal AKE ide: Pa ANSP
AT M ges 62 O RT
S TH -77. M OV
232000
DUCT
AUSTRALIA’

E
S GUIDE
TO

38
UTES,

PRO
VANS,
LIGHT

9 7718
TRUCKS
& PEOPLE

LE &
MOVERS

PEOP
MA
GA
ZIN
E

THE

PRIME MOVER and TRAILER

are Australia’s most-read monthly news
resources for the commercial road transport
industry covering all facets of our industry
from bitumen to boardroom.

Subscribe today to get access to award

winning reporting and thought-provoking
insight - 22 times a year - from the most
acclaimed journalists in the country.

SPECIAL OFFER
Subscribe online today to receive both magazines for the price of just one!
Save over 50% and never miss another story from our fast-paced industry.

www.primemovermag.com.au/offer
 INDUSTRY
WINDS
OF
The push by the Australian Logistics Council for a National Operating Standard across the
heavy vehicle sector has gathered momentum ahead of outcomes anticipated midyear from
the Heavy Vehicle National Law review.
A
lthough the debate around
having a National Operating
Standard is not new to the
road transport industry, the
Australian Logistics Council (ALC) for
whom the initiative has remained an
important crusade since it proposed
mandatory telematics for heavy vehicles
in 2011, has renewed its energies in
promoting what it regards as an important
next step towards improving safety around
Australia’s critical supply chains. Next
month, with the Federal Government’s
deadline for consultation looming,
it expects to gain some traction with
federal ministers by aligning the National
Operating Standard with the ongoing
Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL)
review. Alignment with the HVNL review
helps undergird the importance of having
suitable audit standards so that the
auditors themselves can be regulated by
national law. That way, at least in theory,
greater consistency can be afforded to the
sector to reduce audit duplication.
Announcements pertaining to the
National Operating Standard this year
haven’t always been met by industry with
open arms although, to its credit, the ALC
has, through ongoing communication
and regular updates, done its part to
allay some of the fear and confusion
resultant, sometimes with good cause and
sometimes without, when government
looks to expand its increasing powers over
the private sector no matter the supposed
objective. Any concentration of power,
even in the guise of safety, the form it most
64 m ay 2 0 21
often takes when governments insist on
increasing their reach, will be cautioned
by members of private industry especially
from those who are most vulnerable to
those new powers wielded by recently
bolstered bureaucracies.
According to Rachel Smith, ALC Policy and
Advocacy Director, one of the common
misconceptions in relation to the operating
standard is that it would be used as a
compliance measure. That simply, she says,
is not the case.
“We’re really intending this to be a risk
management tool and more about setting
the standard for the sector rather than
an operating licence,” Rachel says. “An
operating standard is not a prequalification
which is essentially what a licence is. It’s
actually a standard the industry would
have to hold themselves to account.”
The ALC understands from fatality figures
involving heavy vehicles that around 80
per cent of these incidents are attributable
in fault to a light vehicle or passenger
vehicle. Less is known, however, of the
remaining 20 per cent. Having access to
that data, Rachel believes, might hold
a key to unlocking evidence that could
reduce these types of serious accidents.
“That data needs to be interrogated even
further,” she says. “We’re not saying all the
reported fatalities where a heavy vehicle
is involved is the heavy vehicle driver’s
fault, but we are saying that within that
remaining proportion of 20 per cent that
we could reduce it by having a National
Operating Standard.”
In those rare occasions a heavy vehicle is
involved in a fatality, under the proposed
mandatory telematics the onboard
data would be available as part of any
subsequent investigation.
Mandatory telematics also brings with it
the concept of having a federal hub where
all data including intellectual property
pertaining to trip times, load bearing
and customers, is centralised. Naturally,
in an era of increasing cyberattacks, in
which a conglomerate such as Toll is still
vulnerable, any company that is smaller
and especially independent, have good
reason to be nervous. In the instance of
the National Operating Standard any data
shared with the government, according
to Rachel, would be deidentified unless
it was accessed for the purposes of
an investigation.
“If there was obvious movement outside
a bell curve situation or a line in a
consistent manner or an outlier then it
may, for argument’s sake, be interrogated
further,” she says. “But if you’re doing the
right thing and you’re within the standard
deviation of what’s expected of that
particular element, whether it’s speed or
fatigue then that wouldn’t be interrogated
further.”
Should an operator, for example,
deactivate their speed-limiter and it was
obvious in the data produced by the
vehicle and a near miss or hazard ensued
and was subsequently reported, at that
point the incident may be recorded. Only
unlawful behaviours would be subject
to further scrutiny. Otherwise, any data
shared with the government, such as the
information supplied in freight data hubs,
is for planning and legislative purposes,
not policing.
While ensuring each heavy vehicle
is installed with equipment meeting
international standards that records
driving hours and location for use in
investigations of alleged breaches of the
HVNL, data can also be used for applying
for access to routes which in turn helps
manage safety outcomes especially for
high productivity and Performance-Based
Standards approved vehicles.
The ALC suggests that a simple and
effective way to introduce it would
be through phased application over
differing periods, starting from the
day of legislation. Under the proposal
fatigue-regulated heavy vehicles would, in
accordance with the standards recognised
by the National Telematics Framework
require telemetric equipment 12 months
from the day legislation imposing the
requirement commences. Vehicles
between 8- and 12-tonnes gross vehicle
mass (GVM) would be grandfathered in
two years from the day the legislation
imposing the requirement commences;
and light commercial vehicles between
4.5- and 8- tonnes GVM would be granted
a three year grace period from the day
the legislation imposing the requirement
commences. Staggering the phasing
according to weight classes has been
preferred purely to manage the size of
such a task.
“You know when there is any kind of
significant change it’s best to approach
it like eating an elephant — one bite at
a time,” says Rachel. “Through a staged
application it makes it easier for the
industry to adopt the National Operating
Standard. Say that you have a larger fleet,
Rachel Smith, ALC Policy
& Advocacy Director..
but you haven’t got some of the tools and
systems in place it allows them to go for
the scalable approach.”
Despite the ALC having the National
Operating Standard set out as policy asks
of the Commonwealth Government at
the last two federal elections, the ongoing
and unenviable ambition of welding
together the disconnections in our
globally integrated national supply chain
are immense and, with advent of new
technologies, ongoing. Having a safety
management system (SMS) that meets
standards established in the HVNL is
crucial to this agenda.
At present many operators consider the
cost of enrolment in the heavy vehicle
accreditation scheme outweigh the
benefits of participating in the scheme. It
has prompted the ALC to encourage an
amendment to the HVNL to facilitate a
properly conducted audit of an operator’s
SMS by permitting, through proper
regulation, a standard that all SMS should
meet. That way its acceptance is covered by
all accreditation schemes as well as other
industry participants to reduce the number
of incidents an operator has to undertake.
“There’s a duplication of accreditation
and auditing schemes,” says Rachel. “By
having a national operating standard
the view is that it will bring the auditing
and accreditation schemes in line and
assist operators to comply with those
accreditation and auditing schemes
without having to provide different types
of evidence.”
It’s understandable, following nearly nine
months of intense activity sustained at
near Christmas peak, that road freight
operators might be hesitant to get
involved in something that requires,
at least at first glance, more after hours
paper work. But for respectable, lawful
operators, the National Operating Scheme
should not increase their administrative
burden according to Rachel, who sees it
bringing harmony across jurisdictions,
various auditing schemes and
accreditation schemes.
“If anything it should help you reduce
your administrative burden because
you’re doing all those things anyway,”
she says. “What we’re trying to achieve
longer term is that it will enhance the
safety and productivity outcomes for the
heavy vehicle operators and by that, if the
minimum standard that businesses meet
is set therefore it’s easy for everyone to
report on regardless of which accreditation
or auditing scheme they come under.
That’s what we’re aiming for — everyone is
singing off the same hymn sheet.”
An apparatus employed to iron out the
creases that remain where jurisdictional
differences leave authorities with
inconsistencies to police extends also
to the issue of what is known as vehicle
phoenixing. These are the occasions where
an operator who has a compliance record
p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u 65
 INDUSTRY

with authorities simply moves locations in an accident. From an administrative having more consistency across the sector
and commence re-operating. At present perspective, operators who perform their according to Rachel. She says the National
some jurisdictions don’t require the own bookkeeping like many of them do Operating Standard is intended to be
operator to provide a garaging address. inhouse, correctly cataloguing receipts scalable in accordance with the size of the
The ALC wants an address attached to and invoices will make it easier to find business in question.
a vehicle to create an audible trail. For evidence of solvency and compliance. “Meeting the requirement of having a
smaller operators who might have trucks Put another way, it gets industry to think telematics system doesn’t have to be
parked up on a private property such as about what the minimum standard it overly complex. It could be as basic as
a residential address, they would have should be achieving is according to Rachel. mobile phone,” she says. “It’s not meant
to update it should they expand their “It’s not meant to be overly onerous,” to hamstring the industry by any means
facilities and use a commercial depot to she says. “If smaller operators have a it’s just meant to have a common set of
house the growing fleet. budget for their business for the year and standards that that sector agrees to operate
“From a community safety perspective we it had a maintenance line that would with.”
believe this should be limited as much as be sufficient.” The ALC has received many calls from
possible and that’s where the garaging of A larger business, less willing to hand over operators wanting to talk about the
vehicles comes in,” she says. “However, its budget for the year, would only require standard. Most of the comments have
what we are after is the actual place at a letter from their accountant. been supportive once they understand that
which the heavy vehicle is ordinarily Operationalisation of the standard is high they are already managing many of these
garaged and operates. If it happens that on the current agenda although the ALC protocols and processes daily.
the person has moved interstate and is reluctant to accomplish this separate “I think that’s a really key message. If
acquires an infringement, two offences from industry. It remains in their interest you’re a lawful and an above-board
would apply — failing to advise the to be as transparent as possible with their operator none of this should be foreign
regulator under the National Operating members and industry partners. After the to you,” she says. “As more people adopt
Scheme and a registration offence.” midyear deadline, one of its first priorities these technologies, the quicker the
Another contentious area of the National will look to incorporate more industry technology advances as well because it
Operating Standard is the proposed representatives into its safety committee. makes it more cost effective for the whole
operator capital requirement in which a ALC members, in large part, are for sector then.”
registered operator would need to have
appropriate capital on hand to ensure
efficient operation and maintenance of
their heavy vehicles. This proposal has its
detractors, namely suspicious independent
operators like owner-drivers and mum
and pop transport businesses. Fears it
would create yet another barrier to entry
for new operators and reduce the ability of
small fleets to compete with the national
carriers, is unfounded according to Rachel
who points out a minimum requirement
for a transport business to prove it is
solvent can be as simple as a letter of
referral from an accountant.
“Proving capital within a small business
can be as easy as a letter provided by an
accountant once a year,” she says. “The
view is that as long as you can prove that
you are solvent that’s enough. Once again
because it’s a National Operating Standard
it’s not a prequalification.”
Preventative action through maintenance,
as lawfully required, can demonstrate
an operator is compliant and dispel any The ALC is again pushing for
mandatory telematics across the
charges of negligence should fault be commercial transport sector.
attributable to one of the parties involved

66 m ay 2 0 21
THE KNOW HOW TO
KEEP YOU MOVING
It takes more than parts to keep Australia’s trucks and fleets moving. With years of industry
experience, access to technology and the right application data, we can help your business with:
• Vendor rationalization programs • Inventory standardization recommendations
• Range consolidation activities • Strategic sourcing programs
• OE Alternative supply options • Fleet profiling and packaging opportunities

Visit napaparts.com.au for your nearest location

 PERSONALITY
DAY
M AY
Brad May is the Director of Sales and Marketing at PACCAR Australia and looks back at 50
years of local manufacture.
L
ike any major manufacturing
business with 50 years of
history, PACCAR Australia has
overcome many obstacles during
its existence. Last year was no different
for an institution that must withstand
challenges.
PM: The past year has produced many
obstacles, yet Kenworth continues to
be the leader of the Heavy Duty truck
68 m ay 2 0 21
market in Australia. Just how much of a
challenge has it been?
BM: It was a tale of two different things.
On the television we’d be shown a
world that’s full of doom and gloom,
yet to almost everyone’s surprise it was
virtually the complete opposite in the
business world. We had customers
talking about record years and a lot of
sectors such as mining picked up during
2020. In the transport industry, I don’t
Brad May, PACCAR Australia
Director Sales & Marketing.
think I’ve found a person yet who said,
apart from the inconvenience of dealing
with COVID, that it was a bad year for
business, particularly if the business
involves picking up freight and carting
it from A to B and getting paid. We were
certainly seeing good activity from a sales
sense early in the year and that didn’t let
up all year long.
PM: Was having the factory in
Melbourne during the lockdowns much
of an issue?
BM: It was certainly of great concern with
the snap lockdowns we faced in Victoria,
but we were grateful that the government
had the foresight to designate truck
manufacturing as an essential industry
along with the sometimes, taken for
granted, transport industry which
it supports. At very short notice a
tremendous amount of effort went
into taking a factory which employed
up to 500 people and had worked very
effectively in a particular way, to start
imposing things like social distancing.
That meant reorganising shop floor
layouts and adopting different processes
in the plant. We addressed things from
what was it like to work with a face
mask on to what was it like to enforce
compliance around those things without
people losing their motivation and their
ability to perform their jobs. It also
involved working out what to do when
things do happen to go wrong as well as
benchmarking against our brothers and
sisters in Europe and the US.
PM: Was it a surprise that at the same
time the orders kept coming in?
BM: To this day I can’t really make full
sense of that and I’m not sure anyone can.
It appears we as a nation are consuming
faster than ever before and that’s just hand
in hand with freight and there has been a
positive impact over the last year.
PM: In Australia PACCAR and Kenworth
have a history of stability in factors
such as management and dealers. What
makes Kenworth so stable?
BM: Well, there’s a question. It might
sound clichéd or corny, but it’s just
a good company. I can only answer
this from a personal point of view
but PACCAR as a global company is
very demanding and results are an
expectation. But it does things right by
treating people well. My own personal
history gives me more ‘buy in’ from
the point of view of being in a family
involved in trucks. There are plenty of
people who have worked here for a long
time who have no such background that
probably feel the same way. From the
outside we appear a large organisation
with a big factory and lots of trucks,
but internally it’s very much a company
which promotes and encourages its
people. What I mean by that is you get a
chance to influence outcomes if you’re
prepared to work hard. I can remember
feeling this in my early days, getting a
chance to know that I was making a
contribution and a difference. You get
to walk out on that production line and
say I designed that or I helped to achieve
that. I can see my efforts being rewarded
with an outcome.
PM: Where do you think that culture
began?
BM: I think we were only given that
opportunity because someone decided
to build a factory 50 years ago and give it
that crucial engineering autonomy. There
are a lot of engineers in our place and as a
young engineer not long into your career
it’s great to be see that you’re making
May speaking at an industry event.
a difference by not being locked into a
complicated fabric of projects where you
can’t tell what you did. That’s certainly
not the case at PACCAR and Kenworth.
I’ve never felt any different — either now
or back then. Some people might say
well that’s because you’re high up on the
corporate ladder, but I remember feeling
that in my early days as well, so I think
that’s a big part of it.
PM: How long have you been at
PACCAR?
BM: Close to 29 years. I joined the
company as a graduate engineer. My
father owned trucks, my brother Steve
worked here in the company and we
grew up close by. It’s been an amazing
company to work for. How lucky am I
that they started this factory? Imagine
trying to write a business case to build
trucks now.
PM: Are there still opportunities for
people starting their careers?
BM: Because we do things like design
and manufacture, sell parts, and have
dealerships, there is a remarkable breadth
of career opportunities available if people
are willing to extend themselves. Again,
personally I feel that I have been provided
the opportunities for four or five careers
within the one company and I think
that’s another really amazing thing.
PM: What’s over the horizon?
BM: We still have to turn up every year and
provide the benefits to the shareholders as
every other division of PACCAR does. We’re
pretty proud of the fact we manage to do
that and still manage to gain the investment
to go forward. Making a $40 million
investment into a facility to expand our
capacity to build automotive products in
Australia has shown a pretty strong intent to
be here for a lot longer to come. I think we
are lucky we are in trucks and we get to add
value in a way that car companies never got
the chance to do. The market here is unique
enough with its rules and regulations to
provide opportunities for relatively low
volume local manufacturers like us to
develop and market products which provide
value to customers. This has made it a
viable business for 50 years. If anything,
we see that Australia is getting further and
further differentiated with PBS and the
never-ending quest for more productivity by
using different configurations and I really
don’t see that is changing. Our future is
bright and we’ve got good support from our
corporates to keep on doing what we do.
p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u 69
 PRIME MOVERS & SHAKERS
EQUALITY
WITHOUT EXCEPTION
Jacquelene Brotherton’s varied and multifaceted career in the commercial transport industry
is a living embodiment of the equality of opportunity often preached about as conceptual
diversity in the corporate sphere. Her story is one of compassion, integrity and rare praxis.
A
fter more than 50 years in
road transport, Jacquelene
Brotherton continues to
provide support for many of
its people and sectors, drawing upon her
own considerable experiences in order to
formulate appropriate advice. Jacquelene
has always championed advancing
women’s involvement in various aspects
of the transport industry, yet to describe
her as a feminist would be inaccurate as
she has consistently taken a more inclusive
approach to gender equality in the
workplace and consequentially joined the
Board of the Australian Gender Equality
70 m ay 2 0 21
Commission in late 2020.
“Men can suffer inequality, too,”
Jacquelene says. “We cannot demonise
men. In any industry women deserve to
feel safe and be able to walk into a facility
where there are locks on doors of the toilet
or the shower and adequate lighting. I’ve
been to a saleyard facility where there was
no door on the shower at all and that’s
unacceptable for a men’s facility as well.”
Growing up in the western regions of
Queensland and New South Wales, it
always seemed inevitable that Jacquelene
would gravitate to the livestock transport
sector and she fulfilled various roles
with several companies including Bruce
Dickenson Transport, Lewington’s
Transport, and Fraser’s
Livestock Transport.
In 2007, Jacquelene
became Transport
Manager of Oxford Cold
Storage, remaining in
a similar role when the
company became part of the
US-based Lineage Logistics
organisation in mid-2020. The
roles she undertakes includes Chain of
Responsibility compliance, stakeholder
engagement, client relationship
management, and corporate social
responsibility.
“I asked to get into operations and my
boss at the time was more than happy to
give me a crack at it,” she says. “To be in
operations you need to be people oriented
and adaptable, and you need to earn the
other employees’ respect and also to give it
back in return.”
For women and men considering a move
into the sphere of transport operations
Jacquelene has some sage advice.
“When in an operational role it’s better to
ask drivers to perform tasks, rather than tell
them to,” she says. “Don’t play favourites.
There is nothing in an operational role
that will turn people against you faster
than if you play favourites. Also, have your
own boundaries and don’t try to be one of
the ‘boys’.”
Jacquelene’s advice to younger people
wishing to enter the industry, especially
females, is to learn anything you can from
anyone they can: truck drivers, forklift
operators, managers.
“There is nothing I can stress more than to
find a mentor. It doesn’t matter if they are
male or female, mentors are at the heart
of what can happen and if possible have
more than one,” she says. “Also, [to have]
a sponsor who will speak up for you when
roles are coming up or when you want to
move into a new role. And if you get a role
that you can’t handle don’t leave because
you don’t like it. Find somebody to talk it
through with.”
Jacquelene follows her own mantra
of ‘network, network, network’ and is
involved with many industry associations
both in Australia and in the United States
where she is a member of the Women in
Trucking (USA) Content Advisory Council.
Jacquelene regards her US involvements as
very worthwhile.
“It’s been really good to do this. Going
over there opens your eyes to other
opportunities and there are lot of good
people who want to network. I’ve been
able to work on some really important
projects,” she says.
The international activities are all in
Jacquelene’s own time and at her own
expense, yet despite her formidable
commitments she still finds the time for
outside interests even if they happen to be
polar opposites such as collecting fine art
and following the Richmond Tigers and
the Dallas Cowboys football teams.
Among other positions she holds,
Jacquelene is a Life Member of the
Livestock, Bulk and Rural Carriers
Association (NSW); Chair of Transport
Women Australia Limited; Member of
the Women in Trucking (US) Content
Advisory Council; she is also a member of
Women in Supply Chain; Women in Cold
Chain (US).
An achievement she is especially proud
of is the Women Driving Transport
Careers programme, which she initiated
as a joint venture with Wodonga TAFE
and Volvo Group Australia, to encourage
more females to obtain their heavy
vehicle licences.
The industry repeatedly recognises
Jacquelene’s contributions and she has
received multiple awards including in 2018
the Women in Industry – Excellence in
Road Transport Award, and the inaugural
Australian Freight Industry Award - Female
Leadership in Transport.
She encourages people from outside of the
industry to examine what they may already
have to offer to a role in transport.
“It’s important to recognise the transferable
skills you may have such as household
budgeting relating to corporate budgeting.
People may have the skills but not
realise they can be applicable to industry
positions,” she says. “If you are running a
family or running a household think of the
skills, knowledge and experience that you
have in your everyday life that match the
criteria of transport jobs.”
The infamous ‘glass ceiling’ barrier to
female advancement may not be inherent
in the operations side of transport, but
Jacquelene is cognisant it definitely
exists in other sections of the industry.
She also has some advice for anyone
encountering it.
“The glass ceiling exists due to a few things:
yourself, because you don’t ask and you
don’t make your voices known. Always
make your thoughts known and don’t be
afraid of anything. Curiously, the other
main factor is other women. Because a lot
of women, not all of them, will not help
other women.
“I think the most important job in
the world is to raise a child. But if you
want to have a career as well then the
situation forced upon us by COVID has
probably provided the best opportunity
ever for people to combine family with
work and prove you can have both,”
says Jacquelene. “They are not mutually
exclusive. Many people probably will
never work full time in the office again if
they don’t want to, and now is the time to
take advantage of that.”
p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u 71
IN-CAB
TECHNOLOGY
ADVERTISE IN OUR JULY 2021
PRODUCT SHOWCASE.
The use of real-time feedback from In-cab BOOKING DEADLINE
truck technologies is helping drivers to correct
behaviors, mitigating against distracted driving 21 MAY 2021
and reducing risks of damage to freight, vehicles
while keeping insurance premiums manageable.
®

Tools for coaching and scoring drivers are now May 2021

prevalent among advanced operators that

promote safety, productivity and efficiencies
across the entire fleet. Dashcams and other live-
capture technology can also exonerate drivers
when they are not in the wrong during incidents.
Whether it is collision mitigation technology or
the lastest innovations in fatigue-management
and audible alerts, Prime Mover is showcasing the G1 Logistics
Triple Frontier
tools of the future in trucking and that future is
MAY 2021 $11.00

now.
ISSN 1838-2320
Industry Innovation
04
Fleet: Thrifty Rentals Fleet: Ron Finemore Transport
Feature: National Operating Standard Feature: Hyzon Motors
Showcase: Wild’s Livestock Transport Test Drive: Scania R 540
Personality: Brad May Delivery: Hyundai iLoad
9 771838 232000

T H E P E O P L E & P R O D U C T S T H AT M A K E T R A N S P O RT M OV E
AUSTRALIA’S GUIDE TO UTES, VANS, LIGHT TRUCKS & PEOPLE MOVERS

Delivery Magazine inside: Pages 73-84.

MAGAZINE

TO BOOK IN PRIME MOVER CONTACT ASHLEY BLACHFORD NOW

ASHLEY.BLACHFORD@PRIMECREATIVE.COM.AU | 0425 699 819
AUSTRALIA’S GUIDE TO UTES, VANS, LIGHT TRUCKS & PEOPLE MOVERS

www.deliverymagazine.com.au
ISSUE 97 MAY 2021

HYUNDAI iLOAD

LOADS OF
CAPACITY
PLUS: MAZDA BT-50 • MERCEDES-BENZ ESPRINTER
 CONTENTS MAY
21
Welcome to Delivery…
The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries
(FCAI), in conjunction with the AAA and AIP has
developed a roadmap addressing among other
considerations the introduction of a realistic,
achievable and market-relevant C02 emissions
standard. Given 43 per cent of Australian new car
buyers now prefer SUVs and utes, the FCAI is
advocating two separate CO2 targets by 2030.
SUVs and LCVs would get their own separate to
passenger cars. Moving forward there would be
separate targets for different vehicle categories
to bring the standard in line with international

78
practice. The FCAI contends an investment of $1
billion is required for the four Australian refineries
to develop world-standard fuel (95 RON, 10 parts-
per-million Sulphur and 35 per-cent aromatics
for petrol) to achieve Euro 6 emissions standards
across the sector.
But until this is achieved, Australian new car
DELIVERY NEWS buyers, according to the FCAI will not be able
76 LATEST FROM THE INDUSTRY to purchase vehicles with the latest engine and
exhaust technology, what’s more, as many are
currently “welded to historic 91 RON fuel.”
FINAL MILE Engines in new cars sold in Australia will be those
78 LOADS OF CAPACITY powering similar vehicles sold in third world
Now available as a three-seater van or a six-seater crew van, the Hyundai iLoad has solid countries with similar fuel standards and, due to
the declining numbers of cars produced for these
technical credentials and is easy and economical to operate.
markets, engines will increasingly become more
expensive. Total Australian new car sales each
ON SITE year are less than 2.0 per-cent of the global total,
meaning it would be economically impossible
80 THUNDER DOWN UNDER
for any brand to develop engines specifically for
With an entirely new platform no longer shared with its Ford Ranger long-time adversary,
our market and fuel. The Toyota Corolla Hybrid
Mazda is going all out to match it with the best in the ‘beast’ dual cab ute class with its new and Mazda 3 2.0-litre petrol now sold in Australia
exclusive-to-Australia BT-50 Thunder. have de-tuned engines to operate within the
underwhelming current fuel standards currently
at work here. That roadmap takes into account
FUTURE TENSE
the local petroleum refining industry’s timeline
82 EV IS FOR EVOLUTION for achieving the required standards - 10 PPM
With the electric vehicle (EV) market continuing to evolve at an electrifying pace, Mercedes- of Sulphur in particular - by 2027 and allows
Benz is preparing to start production of its next- generation eSprinter light commercial seamless integration into new model cycles of
international vehicle manufacturers.
vehicles in the USA in the second half of 2023, joining a growing raft of automakers seeking
In light of automotive companies regurarly
to capitalise on the global greening of eCommerce. spend close to $1 billion on the research and
development of a new model the FCAI believes
it’s a reasonable ask for the Australian refineries
84 TAKING THE HY ROAD to do the same. The FCAI C02 Voluntary CO2
In a move to overcome one of the biggest roadblocks to the uptake of hydrogen fuel
Emissions Standard calculates industry and brand
cell electric vehicles (HFCEV) – lack of refuelling infrastructure – gas and engineering CO2 targets on a sales-weighted average mass
company BOC has partnered with Toyota to produce a Hydrogen Fuelling Centre at Altona in per unit basis against sales recorded in VFACTS,
Melbourne’s west. the industry data source.

74 m ay 2 0 21
 M
PROUD PARTNER
E X H I B I T I O N S PAC E E
NOW ON SALE
Department
of Transport L
B
S U P P O R T I N G S P ONS OR S
O
U
R
N
E

C
O
N
V
E
N
T
I
O
N

&

E
H
X

EXHIBITORS H
I
CAN CLAIM

50%
B
U P TO I
T
I
O
O F T H E I R E V E N T- R E L AT E D N
EXPENSES THROUGH THE

GOVERNMENT C

GRANT E
N
M E G AT R A N S . C O M . A U T
R

CO N F E RE N C E SP O N SO R S ASSOCI ATI ON PARTNER S ACCREDITATION PARTNER

E
 NEWS
ZERO AND LOW EMISSION VEHICLES NEED ENCOURAGEMENT
RATHER THAN NEW CHARGES: FCAI
Proposed legislation to introduce a new
road charging framework for zero and
low emissions vehicles by the Victorian
Government could hinder the uptake
of these vehicles on Victorian roads
according to the Federal Chamber
of Automotive Industries. Fearing the
legislation was premature, FCAI Chief
Executive Tony Weber said in an issued
statement that an efficient road user
charging framework associated with
comprehensive tax reform would have
the potential to benefit governments and
motorists, but was an issue that must be
considered for the future.
“It does not make sense to apply the
charge to zero emission vehicles right
now as these technologies are still in their
infancy and account for a relatively small
portion of vehicle sales across Australia,”
Weber said. “Right now, governments
should be encouraging the uptake of
these technologies with positive policy
initiatives particularly around emissions
TOYOTA OPENS NEW HIGH-TECH TRAINING CENTRE
A new two-level, 5,000sqm facility
has been opened by Toyota Motor
Corporation Australia (TMCA) in Sydney.
The high-tech training complex located
in suburban Moorebank is the third
significant premises Toyota has unveiled
in NSW over the last two years.
It completes TMCA’s move from its
previous national sales and marketing
Inside Toyota’s new high tech
training facility in Sydney.
76 m ay 2 0 21
targets, infrastructure development and
appropriate incentives for fleets and
private consumers rather than introducing
charges that potentially reduce the
incentive for these customers to buy
these vehicles.”
A nationally consistent approach to future
road user charging frameworks, according
to Weber, should be introduced to provide
clarity and consistency across the country
rather than the potential for different
approaches across each State.
“There is no doubt that Governments
must consider future revenue streams to
ensure continuing investment in road and
transport infrastructure. The automotive
sector is wanting to be a part of those
discussions to support positive outcomes
driven by efficiency and effectiveness for
all stakeholders,” he said.
At current volumes, however, the funds
raised through the proposed legislation
were certain to be minimal according
to Weber.
headquarters at Woolooware Bay in
Sydney’s south. As part of the relocation,
TMCA had commissioned its newest
and largest parts distribution centre in
Sydney’s west in late 2018 before moving
its NSW headquarters to Sydney Olympic
Park in late 2019.
The new training centre features an 18-
bay service workshop, diagnostics bays
“Until zero and low emission vehicles
become more mature technologies,
governments should be avoiding the
temptation to subject them to new
taxes and charges that impact on their
acceptance from consumers,” he said.
“Advanced economies across the world
are finding ways to encourage and
incentivise the introduction of these
vehicles rather than introducing charges
that are barriers to their market growth.”
FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber.
with hoists, and multiple classrooms
including five with vehicle access, now
has a footprint that is almost 70-per-cent
larger than the company’s previous single-
level teaching facility.
Opening the training centre, TMCA
President and CEO Matthew Callachor
said the development of the three new
premises confirmed the commitment
of Toyota and Lexus to their customers
and to the broader community in NSW
and Australia.
“All these new premises build on
our proud history of more than half a
century of vehicle sales and service to
our valued customers, in addition to
being a significant employer and an
active member of the community,” he
said. “Provision of world-class training
– whether for technicians with the latest
diagnostic tools or for other dealership
staff honing their management skills – is
all about improving the overall customer
experience.”
GB AUTO GROUP LANDS $367M EXCLUSIVE DISTRIBUTION DEAL
FOR ELECTRIC CONVERSION KITS
Orange-based GB Auto has signed an
agreement with VivoPower making it
the Australian exclusive distributor of its
subsidiary Tembo. This includes the rights
to distribute the Tembo electric Toyota
Land Cruiser, electric Toyota Hilux, and
Tembo electric vehicle conversion kits.
VivoPower International announced
the seven-year deal, reported to be the
most valuable for electric vehicles in the
Australasian region to date, involving the
company and its 51 per cent subsidiary,
earlier in the year. Having successfully
deployed pilot vehicles into the mines
of some of the world’s largest mining
companies, VivoPower believes that GB
Auto is now poised to significantly expand
its operations in Australia.
GB Auto is expected to purchase at least
2,000 Tembo electric conversion kits in
the first four years of the agreement.
Combined with the value of the converted
Toyota vehicles, orders will be worth
an estimated $367 million in revenues
over the four-year period, with the first
ISUZU UTE SUPPLIES VEHICLES FOR SURF LIFE SAVING AUSTRALIA
Isuzu Ute Australia has pledged its
support to Surf Life Saving Australia by
providing vehicles for daily surf rescue
patrol and support vehicles.
For 114 years, Surf Life Saving Australia
(SLSA) has been patrolling local beaches
and protecting millions of beach-goers
across the country — reportedly saving
over 600,000 lives since its establishment.
Isuzu Ute Australia will supply D-Max utes
and MU-X SUVs which will serve as part
of SLSA operations to protect Australian
beaches.
“We are proud to jump on board and
support the amazing work the SLSA is
doing,” said Isuzu Ute Australia Managing
Director, Hiroyasu Sato. “The essence of
SLSA is ingrained in local communities
and in protecting people across Australian
beaches through patrols, training
programs and education.
“For Isuzu Ute Australia, there could be
no better way of giving back than by
deliveries scheduled for mid-2021
(subject to COVID lockdowns).
VivoPower and GB Auto’s collaboration
will focus primarily on the next-generation
72 kilowatt-hour battery kit for Toyota’s
Landcruiser and Hilux models, as well as
the application of other Tembo products
in the mining industry.
The construction, defence, and utility
applications of the Tembo vehicles and
conversion kits will also be explored while
the new agreement grants GB Auto first-
refusal rights to the distribution of other
Tembo products in Australia.
The collaboration also positions
VivoPower as GB Auto’s partner of
choice for the financing, construction,
and maintenance of Tembo products
and related sustainable energy solutions
(“SES”), including charging infrastructure,
battery storage, and micro-grids.
VivoPower will own all vehicle operating
data and grant GB Auto non-exclusive
access to support the sale and
maintenance of Tembo products.
supporting SLSA and the brave men and
women who keep our beaches safe,”
he said.
Featuring a 5-star ANCAP Safety rating
across the full range, the Isuzu D-Max and
MU-X will serve surf lifesavers as beach
patrol vehicles and while travelling the
country delivering important training and
education to members.
SLSA President, John Baker, who holds
an Emergency Services Medal (ESM),
said it was the Isuzu D-Max and MU-X’s
reputation for reliability, durability, off-road
capability and towing that made them the
pragmatic choice for SLSA.
“Knowing that our lifesaving equipment
needs to be durable to endure the
challenging beach conditions and
dependable when called upon by our surf
lifesavers, SLSA has turned to Isuzu Ute
Australia for its surf rescue patrol and
support vehicles across the country,”
said Baker.
“We are already witnessing strong
demand for these vehicles and this
agreement bolsters our ability to play
a prominent role in the overall drive
to improve the sustainability of our
economy,” said Graeme Bensley, CEO
and Founder of GB Auto. “We are
excited to partner with VivoPower as its
Tembo electric vehicles are ideally suited
to the needs of our customers in the
mining sector.”
The deal will provide a springboard
VivoPower’s SES offering targeted at
mining, commercial fleet, government
and industrial customers according to
Kevin Chin, Executive Chairman and CEO
of VivoPower.
“GB Auto, given its well-established
reputation and fantastic customer base
– including some of the world’s leading
mining houses – is an excellent partner.
We are of the view that this will be a very
successful commercial partnership that
has the potential to benefit a broad range
of industries,” he said in a statement.
Surf Life Saving Australia has
turned to Isuzu to supply it with
new vehicles.
“The support of these vehicles and our
partners like Isuzu Ute Australia makes
our mission of patrolling and protecting
our beaches that much easier, allowing
us to focus our attention on the safety of
beach-goers,” he said.
d el i ver ym aga z ine . c o m . a u 77
 FINAL MILE
LOADS OF
CAPACITY
The Hyundai iLoad has solid technical credentials and is easy and
economical to operate.
T
he Hyundai iLoad was
regarded as a disrupter in the
courier and tradie landscapes
when it was launched in
Australia in 2008. Now available as a
three-seater van or a six-seater crew van,
the iLoad line-up has been extended to
include an eight-seater people mover
version known as the iMax. Since the
iLoad’s introduction the overall design
hasn’t varied much other than some
restyled front panels and a new grille in
2019 which contribute to maintaining
78 m ay 2 0 21
the iLoad’s contemporary styling. An
advantage of this type of vehicle is they
don’t really appear dated regardless of
their age. The iLoad is offered with the
single wheelbase of 3200mm which
is sensible for the ‘one-size-fits-all’
practicality of not having multiple sized
vans in the range.
Petrol engines are no longer available in
the iLoad and the 2.5 litre four-cylinder
diesel engine has two ratings, dependent
upon the transmission fitted. The
six-speed manual engine has a waste
A gas strut assisted lift-up
tail gate is standard.
gated turbo and develops 100kW and
has a maximum torque of 343Nm. Our
test iLoad is the optional five-speed
automatic version and its variable
geometry turbo (VGT) engine punches a
lively 125kW with a maximum of 441Nm
of torque.
The cabin interior is separated from the
cargo compartment by a steel mesh
barrier which can be easily removed to
accommodate longer items such as PVC
pipes or lengths of timber. Not having a
solid bulkhead in this position doesn’t
necessarily mean excessive noise
intruding into the front of the van but it
does mean the air conditioning has to be
up to the task of cooling and heating the
entire interior. The cargo area has a vinyl
mat covering the floor which features
ten sturdy tiedown points. Unfortunately,
these anchors and their mounting bolts
are not recessed into the floor and can
present an impediment to sliding cargo
items in and out.
The iLoad has dual sliding doors as
standard and the vehicle we have as
a test unit has the optional barn doors
at the rear rather than the standard The dash features a 7.0 inch touchscreen
gas strut assisted lift-up tail gate. The audio system with MP3, Bluetooth, Apple
barn doors can be opened wider than CarPlay and Android Auto capabilities.

their 90 degrees by simply removing a

single locking pin on each door. The pin
is secured to the hinge mechanism by
a short lanyard to prevent them being
misplaced. The cargo area is 2375mm
long and 1620mm wide with a usable
height of 1340mm providing a volume
of 4.4 cubic metres. Floor space also
provides sufficient room for two pallets
and an Australian pallet will not foul the
interior wheel arches.
The auto is restricted to a 1500kg braked
towing capacity while the manual version,
despite its lower power and torque, is
rated at 2,000kgs.
The steering column has adjustments for
the angle of its height as well as provision
to change the telescopic reach which
combine with the driver seat’s height
and fore and aft adjustments to provide
a comfortable position for most drivers.
The iLoad is a ‘semi-bonneted’ design
similar to many such light commercial
vehicles. Vision is excellent.
Solid grab handles mounted to the ‘A’
pillars make entry and egress easy
without having to use the steering wheel
rim for support. The centre seat leg room
is a little compromised by the intrusion of
the engine/transmission cover. However,
not carrying a third passenger permits
the folding forward of the centre seat
back to provide a stable work table. The
interior is practical with what should
prove hard wearing coverings on the
quite comfortable outer seats.
The driver and kerb side passenger have
front and side airbag protection, while
occupants of the centre seat depend
upon a lap seatbelt for protection. Other
standard safety items include ABS
and EBD braking systems as well as
Electronic Stability Control and a Traction
Control System.
The iLoad rides on practical 16 inch
diameter steel wheels which shouldn’t
show up any ‘kerb rash’ common with
alloy wheels on vehicles operating in tight
environments. The iLoad’s rear wheel
drive configuration allows for tight front
wheel cuts and a nimble 11.2 metre
turning circle.
The iLoad’s halogen headlights have an
automatic low-light sensing capability
which is a benefit not just at dusk but
also when entering dark environments
such as multi-level car parks. The
iLoad is comparatively low in overall
The auto is restricted to a 1500kg
braked towing capacity.
height compared with some others in its
category and at 1935mm (not counting
the shark fin radio antenna) access to
height restricted areas such as those in
covered carparks isn’t compromised.
The centre of the dash features a 7.0 inch
touchscreen audio system with MP3,
Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and Android
Auto capabilities. A set of controls for the
audio’s basic functions is located on the
steering wheel along with those for the
cruise control as well as for a wirelessly
connected smartphone. Charging
sockets for USB and 12-volt 120 Watt
plugs similar to cigarette lighters are
positioned low and at the centre of the
dash. The screen displays sharp images
from the reversing camera.
Confidence in the purchase-decision is
boosted by the iLoad’s five-year warranty
and has no limit on kilometres travelled.

d el i ver ym aga z ine . c o m . a u 79

 ON SITE
THUND
With an entirely new platform no longer shared with its Ford
Ranger long time adversary, Mazda is going all out to match
it with the best in the ‘beast’ dual cab ute class with its new
exclusive-to-Australia BT-50 Thunder.
M
azda has a model-
sharing history with
Ford that stretches
back four decades.
Passenger cars such as the Mazda
323 and 626 in the ‘80s were also sold
by Ford in this country as the Laser
and Telstar.
Similarly, popular Mazda light
commercials including utes and vans
of the era were also rebadged as
Ford and subtly restyled for model
differentiation purposes.
In 2011 the tables were turned when Ford
released the boldly styled all-new Ranger
and it was then Mazda’s turn to introduce
the BT-50 which, despite shared
underpinnings, on the surface bore little
resemblance to its Ford sibling.
The new Mazda BT-50 has been
given a noticeably more muscular
appearance.
80 m ay 2 0 21
And therein lay the problem for Mazda.
While the Ford Ranger featured square
and rugged truck-like lines, Mazda went
for a softer, swoopy look with a front-end
styling resembling that of its passenger
models and a rear end treatment –
including angled taillight extensions
frenched into the tailgate – that was
widely perceived as decidedly less
masculine than the Ranger’s conventional
upright lights.
The sales figures told the story and Ford’s
new Ranger soon soared up the charts
to rival the barnstorming Toyota HiLux,
while the BT-50’s success, in comparison,
could be best described as modest.
After living in its stablemate’s shadow
for the last decade, Mazda’s new BT-50
finally looks to have the goods to go
head-to-head with it, particularly with
the new Thunder version that’s aimed
squarely at the new ‘bad boys’ on the
block – Ranger Wildtrak X and HiLux
Rugged X.
In a significant change, the new BT-50 no
longer shares the Ranger’s architecture
and is, in fact, based on the latest
Isuzu D-Max platform. Vitally, it has
shrugged off the conservative look of its
predecessor and should therefore have a
much better tilt at sales success.
Nowhere is this more evident than in
the flagship Thunder variant which
ER
was developed by Mazda Australia’s
innovative in-house engineering team,
resulting in a uniquely Australian offering.
“We have been extremely pleased
with how well the new BT-50 has
been received by our dealer partners,
customers and media since its mid-2020
launch,” says Vinesh Bhindi, Managing
Director at Mazda Australia. “The range-
topping, uniquely-Australian BT-50
Thunder makes a strong statement with
a bold and assertive aesthetic, while
retaining the high level of specification
and safety attributes expected of the new
BT-50 model.”
Having gone on sale last month, the BT-
50 Thunder has an introductory national
driveaway price of $65,990 for the Dual
Cab 4x4 manual and $68,990 for the Dual
Cab 4x4 automatic.
Thunder’s standard specification is based
on the well-equipped BT-50 GT Dual
Cab 4x4, ensuring a comprehensive list
of safety and connectivity features and
impressive off-road capability.
This is furthered by the bold exterior
treatment that includes a single hoop
steel nudge bar carrying a Lightforce
dual-row LED lightbar. The rugged all-
steel front bumper features tapered sides
that provide a dramatically enhanced
approach angle directly to the front
wheels, maximising rock crawling ability.
A neat touch is the BT-50 insignia laser
cut into the centre panel.
The aggressive stance continues to the
BT-50 Thunder’s side profile, with striking
18-inch black alloy wheels, wide wheel
arch flares and side steps that threaten to
steal the show.
Moving to the tub reveals a premium
black sports bar and an advanced
electric roller tonneau cover, with
Thunder decals flanking both sides and
the tailgate.
Mazda claims the additional equipment
DOWN
UNDER
The profile is enhanced by 18-inch
black alloy wheels, wide wheel arch
flares and side steps.
adds over $13,000 in total value.
Powering Thunder is the same
turbocharged 3.0-litre, four-cylinder
Isuzu diesel engine found across the
BT-50 range and also in the Isuzu D-Max
and MU-X.
This unit generates 140kW peak power
along with 450Nm of torque, the latter
providing solid pulling power from 1,600
to 2,600rpm.
Combined-cycle fuel economy is listed
at 7.7L/100km for the six-speed manual
transmission and 8.0L/100km for the six-
speed automatic.
The dual-range 4x4 system is augmented
by a driver-controlled locking rear
differential for further improved traction.
In addition to the bespoke specifications
listed above, Thunder shares the long
and comprehensive list of safety and
convenience features with the BT-50 GT.
All Mazda BT-50 exterior colours – Ice
White, True Black Mica, Ingot Silver
Metallic, Concrete Grey Mica, Gun Blue
Mica, Rock Grey Mica and Red Volcano
Mica – are available for BT-50 Thunder at
no additional cost.
The vehicle is covered by
a comprehensive five-year,
unlimited kilometre warranty, with
complimentary roadside assist for the
warranty’s duration.
Servicing intervals are set at 12 months
or 15,000km, whichever comes first.
Dual cab ute sales have exploded
over the last decade or so, effectively
capitalising on the demise of the
traditional family sedan and wagon set
that dominated the market over the
previous half century or more.
It has gained its broad market appeal
due to being many things to many
people – a shopping and picking-
up-the-kids car, a workhorse and a
weekend getaway vehicle all rolled
into one.
The new Mazda BT-50 Thunder and
its contemporaries cater for a growing
subset of buyers in the dual cab market,
those who might have formerly bought a
HSV Commodore or FPV Falcon.
In addition to the bountiful dual cab
benefits, Thunder also has the ‘look at
me’ street cred to match.
d el i ver ym aga z ine . c o m . a u 81
 FUTURE TENSE

Mercedes-Benz eSprinter van during a

recent evaluation in the Arctic Circle.

EV IS FOR
EVOLUTION
With the electric vehicle (EV) market continuing to evolve at an
electrifying pace, Mercedes-Benz is preparing to start production of
its next- generation eSprinter light commercial vehicles in the USA
in the second half of 2023, joining a growing raft of automakers
seeking to capitalise on the global greening of eCommerce.

T
he Biden Administration
has vowed, as part of a $2
trillion infrastructure bill, to
transition the entire national
government vehicle fleet to EV. Although
funding the bill with corporate tax hikes
is conservatively estimated to take at
least 15 years, under the proposal the
bill promises to have at least 500,000 of
the charging devices required installed
across the US by 2030. In addition, the
Biden administration recently rolled
out a $174 billion plan to spur the
development and adoption of EVs,
including money to retool factories and
boost domestic supply of materials,
tax incentives for EV buyers, along
with grant and incentive programs for
charging infrastructure.
These significant pro-EV developments
have not been lost on the commercial-
van division of Daimler AG, which is
preparing to start production of the
next-generation eSprinter at its North
Charleston (South Carolina) plant
alongside a combustion-engine version
of the vehicle.
The company claims it is spending
about 350 million euros (US$415.5
million) to convert three plants – one
in South Carolina and two in Germany
at Düsseldorf and Ludwigsfelde – to
make the new vehicle. Amazon.com
Inc. helped spark demand for electric
commercial vehicles in 2019 when
it ordered 100,000 vans from Rivian
Automotive Inc. Amazon, which is a
Rivian shareholder, also bought 1,800
eSprinter vans from Mercedes last year
for use in European markets.
Electric delivery vans are expected to sell
at a rate of about 190,000 a year globally
by 2030, according to a forecast from
Guidehouse Insights, which also predicts
electric commercial vehicles of all kinds,
including work vehicles and garbage
trucks, will be sold at a rate of 600,000
per year by the end of this decade.
The Mercedes eSprinter announcement
came a day before President Joe Biden
unveiled an expansion of government
spending, which included infrastructure
investments to combat climate change
and support electrification. The eSprinter
is based on a modular platform that can
be used for a larger variety of body types
than the current model, the company
claimed in a statement. Yet the German
automaker is expected to have plenty of
competition in the electric van market.
Ford, the largest commercial vehicle
maker in the US, said it will start
selling its E-Transit van later this

82 m ay 2 0 21
 year. Meanwhile, General Motors has
indicated it will launch a new unit with the
somewhat dubious name of BrightDrop,
with plans to sell an EV600 van that can
reportedly travel 250 miles (402km) on a
single charge.
There are also plenty of cash-rich
startups, thanks to the boom in
blank-cheque companies, looking
to compete in the same market. UK
upstart Arrival plans to open a second
plant in the US to make delivery vans Single cab chassis concept
for UPS Inc., while Electric Last Mile of the eSprinter..

Solutions has confirmed plans to

build plug-in vans in a former Hummer
factory in Indiana. And Lordstown
Motors Corporation has announced a
battery-powered van for 2022.
The current generation of the eSprinter
is already being built in Düsseldorf
together with conventionally driven
Sprinter models.
The principle of manufacturing
both drivetrain variants will also
be implemented at the plants in
Charleston and Ludwigsfelde.
“We will benefit from our experience
which we have already built up very
successfully in the production of electric
and conventionally driven vans on a
line at our plant in Düsseldorf,” says
Mercedes-Benz Vans Head of Production
Dr Ingo Ettischer. “In the future, we
will be able to quickly meet the ever-
increasing demand for electrically driven
vans and, thanks to our intelligent and
flexible production, be able to respond
very precisely to the requirements of the
different markets and make optimum use
of our capacities.”
In addition to the currently available
panel van, the next generation of the
eSprinter will also be produced as a
cab/chassis variant and will thus serve
as a versatile platform for, among other
things, ambulances, motorhomes and
refrigerated goods transporters.

RENAULT

TRAFIC
it’s my business
it’s my van

“I love the van so much we’re getting another one”

“We’ve just taken delivery of our Renault Trafic. We enjoy doing class leading electrical work out of a class leading vehicle
and the fantastic fit out inside means we’ve got all our tools and equipment to do our job efficiently. It’s built for business,
fuel efficient, easy to drive and versatile, I mean what’s there not to love. I love the van so much we’re getting another one.”
Joey, Verve Electrical d el i ver ym aga z ine . c o m . a u 83
 FUTURE TENSE

TAKING THE
HY-ROAD
In a move to overcome one of the biggest roadblocks to the uptake
of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (HFCEV) – lack of refuelling
infrastructure – gas and engineering company BOC has partnered
with Toyota to produce a Hydrogen Fuelling Centre at Altona in
Melbourne’s west.

T
he hydrogen filling station
installed by BOC at a reported
cost of $7.4 million will
dispense green hydrogen
produced through electrolysis powered
by on-site solar and battery storage. It
is said to be capable of filling a Toyota
Mirai hydrogen fuel cell electric car in
approximately three minutes and can
also be used to dispense hydrogen for
buses and forklifts. BOC South Pacific
Managing Director John Evans says
the completion of the Toyota Hydrogen
Centre was a significant milestone that
would advance hydrogen mobility in
Victoria and support Toyota’s ambition for
zero emissions from its sites by 2050.
“BOC is proud to be sharing our global
technical expertise and delivering world-
leading hydrogen filling technologies that
support Toyota in demonstrating zero
emissions hydrogen that will play an
important role in decarbonising transport
in Australia,” says John. Hydrogen
mobility infrastructure is already well-
established globally with Linde having
installed more than 180 hydrogen filling
stations worldwide. These are responsible
for over 1.5 million successful car filling
events. A hydrogen filling station such
as this one will help build community
confidence and understanding of this
emerging technology.
According to Evans, Toyota will educate
the public about how hydrogen can play
a significant role in transport and the
broader energy supply chain.
“BOC is committed to working with
industry and government to build
hydrogen mobility demand particularly
in metropolitan locations, which will help
stimulate more investment in hydrogen
production and refuelling stations across
Australia,” he says.
Toyota Australia President and CEO
Matthew Callachor said the Toyota
Hydrogen Centre was built to showcase
the benefits of hydrogen fuel cell
technology as part of its commitment to
developing sustainable technologies for
future mobility and energy needs.
“Globally, Toyota is committed to
achieving zero CO2 emissions from its
vehicles and plants under the Toyota
Environmental Challenge 2050 and
the commissioning of our hydrogen
refilling facility at Altona is an important
step towards achieving that goal,” he
Site of the new Hydrogen
Fuelling Centre at in Altona.
says. “By demonstrating the viability of
renewably-produced hydrogen as an
automotive and energy source through
this project, Toyota and its partners in
government and business are pioneering
a cleaner, more sustainable future that
will encourage the further acceptance of
this technology.”
Callachor, on behalf of Toyota,
acknowledged the assistance
government partners have provided in
bringing the project to fruition including
the business partners who will lease the
20 Mirai sedans brought into the country
to prove hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles
will headline moves towards what it calls
a sustainable and greener future.
BOC and Toyota are founding members
of the Australian Hydrogen Council,
and are also currently partnering to
facilitate a fleet trial of Toyota HFCEVs
in Western Australia.

84 m ay 2 0 21
U LT I M A L . E . D M K 2
HIGH POWERED DRIVING LIGHTS

30%
BRIGHTER *

With upgraded L.E.D technology, the MK2 range

of Ultima L.E.D High Powered Driving Lights
produce a mind-blowing 30% more light with a
20% longer beam than the first generation.

Plus an improved Colour Rendering Index and

5,700K colour temperature creates less glare
and gives you a clearer view of the road.

Ultima L.E.D 180 MK2 & 215 MK2.

30% brighter. 100% bolder!

30% BOLD
MORE LIGHT OUTPUT* BLACK EDITION AVAILABLE

For more information visit

ultima .com.au
Distributed by Brown & Watson International Pty. Ltd. www.narva.com.au National Toll Free: 1800
d el i ver ym aga z ine113
. c o m 443
.au 85

*30% more light than the equivalent sized first generation Ultima High Powered Driving Light.
 INSIGHT | VICTORIAN TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION
INSTITUTE
The next ten years
3 Productivity improvements
PETER HART
I
will be brave and try to predict
the trends that will shape the road
transport industry over the next ten
years. The effect of the COVID-19
pandemic on our industry is unclear.
I will focus on what I see as long-term
trends. Here are my thoughts:
4 Greenhouse gas emission levels
1 Road safety improvements will be
driven by smart technologies. The
application of smart technologies to
trucks and trailers is an unstoppable
trend. The human and commercial
costs of road trauma has and
will continue to grow. Operators
who can reduce transport risk by
adopting smart technologies will
have an advantage.
2 European manufactured trucks are
in the ascendancy. This trend is
clear. It arises because European
regulators are forcing adoption
of safety technologies into
heavy transport. The European-
manufactured vehicles offered
for sale in Australia have a clear
safe-technology advantage that
the industry likes. This trend
will continue because of future
regulatory push in Europe to
improve safety and reduce
greenhouse gas emissions.
Enlightened government regulation
is affecting the Australian
marketplace – the government is
overseas!
86 deay
m c e 2021
mbe r 2018
continue to be driven by
configuration innovation. The
Performance-Based Standards
scheme (PBS) has provided
regulators with confidence that
longer combinations can be
safely operated in Australia. Super
B-doubles and A-train doubles are
now seen around the docks and on
highways in major cities. This trend
will continue. Regulators realise that
long combinations are delivering
productivity and safety benefits
for the community. Expect to see
more long combination trucks
further afield. Industry demand for
better road access for long trucks
will continue to be a point of
contention with government.
will become a dominating
consideration. It is inevitable that
the community will expect the road
transport sector to reduce its CO2
emissions significantly over the next
ten years. This will supercharge the
trend to high productivity vehicles
and multi-modal freight movement
because of low emissions per tonne-
km. Attempts to introduce low
greenhouse emission fuels such as
CNG into long-distance Australian
road transport have been a dismal
failure. Diesel is almost the perfect
fuel except for its emissions. Maybe
hydrogen will become an important
fuel in a decade or so, but the
reliability of fuel cells is yet to be
proven in Australia. The obvious
path for Australian road transport
is to put battery powered electric
drives onto trailers. This will take
the load of the truck without having
to rely solely on battery storage,
which will be range limiting. It is
also a sensible thing to do on long
combination vehicles because the
traction and retardation can be
distributed. The result will be a
diesel-electric hybrid. I expect this
to be a significant trend over the
next ten years. Government will
probably give concessions to electric
trailers to encourage uptake.
5 The truck cabin is a mobile
workplace. Reliance on telematics
for inventory control, trip planning,
incident reporting, vehicle
condition and compliance will
continue to develop. Significant
business efficiencies and risk
reduction are on offer. Australia
is the world leader in third party
monitoring of accredited fleet
performance. Operators who fully
integrate telematics into business
operations will have business
and accreditation advantages.
Controlling complexity by using
well developed integrated business
systems will be a key success factor.
6 Accredited fleets will have an
advantage. Government will offer
further benefits to accredited fleets.
This will occur as the community is
demanding further improvements in
transport safety, reduced congestion,
and emissions. Government’s ability
to enforce improvements in these
areas is limited because of resource
and staff shortages. Greenhouse
emission reporting will be added
to accreditation requirements.
Government will choose to offer
concessions to operators who agree
to abide by agreements and can
prove they do. This trend is well
established. It will become more
important. Fleets of all sizes will
need to use telematics and fleet
planning tools to streamline their
operations.
7 Driver shortages remain severe. The
severe shortage of drivers is a risk
to the efficient and safe operation
of the road transport industry. A
career structure is urgently needed
for drivers. ‘A Master driver’

The future at warp speed.
accreditation is needed. Every fleet
should have a Chief driver who
is a ‘Master driver’. This position
should oversee the performance
and wellbeing of the other drivers.
The Chief driver needs to be paid
accordingly. Ongoing training is
needed to develop experienced
drivers to the Master level. Women
drivers have proven to be preferred
as they treat other road users and
the equipment well. To increase the
proportion of women drivers into
the industry the working conditions
and respect offered to women will
need to improve. Prominent fleets
should work towards appointing
a woman as Chief driver. It is
likely that a greater proportion of
drivers over the next ten years will
be immigrants. Many will not well
understand written English. The
industry has a significant challenge
to find and train the next generation
of drivers. A career development
and wellbeing path for drivers is
urgently needed.
8 There is also a severe shortage of
truck mechanics. A career path for
mechanics to ‘Advanced Technician’
level is urgently needed. As trucks
get more complex through safety
and efficiency technologies, the role
of computer diagnosis will become
critical. The modern truck will
be a mobile node in the ‘internet
of things’. That is, workshops
will rely upon remote computer
diagnosis. This situation will
favour equipment suppliers who
can integrate their gear into truck.
In return the suppliers will report
on truck condition and efficiency
to the operators. Advanced
Technicians, who know how to
use diagnostic tools and who can
instruct mechanics how to repair
complex systems, will be needed.
While the mechanical servicing of
trucks and trailers will continue to
be important, the electrical servicing
will grow in importance. In total,
the maintenance task will grow
because the equipment will become
more complex. It is hard to name
another industry that is as complex
as road transport!
9 Local delivery services will grow
further. The trend for consumers
to purchase items online and
expect immediate delivery will
continue to grow. There will be
more local deliveries and delivery
time pressures will only increase.
To be efficient different logistics
suppliers will start to share work.
That is, smart parcel control systems
will emerge that allow competing
logistics suppliers to co-operate
and share some local delivery work.
The ACCC will probably get upset
that competitors are co-operating;
ARTSA TECHNIC AL COLUMN
Powered by news
COMMERCIAL ROAD TRANSPORT
but resource efficiency, congestion
reduction and emissions reduction
will become more important
considerations. The same trends
will affect long-distance road
transport. Technology and co-
operation between competing
operators will become important
adaptations to a changing world
where environmental and human
limitations become dominating
concerns.
10 The economic viability of the road
transport industry needs to improve.
This industry is hardworking and it
is efficient. The renumeration levels
are low for the effort expended.
Consequently, many people in
this industry have a poor work-life
balance. The industry struggles to
attract adequate numbers of new
workers who have high skill levels
because the industry is so lean and
has not developed career paths.
Government will probably try to
introduce road-user charges and is
likely to pull back the diesel fuel
rebate. Many operators will feel
increasing financial pressure. Further
industry rationalisation is likely.
The most efficient operators with
modern equipment, decent working
conditions and advanced business
control systems will prosper. Many
others will go out of business.
The road transport industry is
important to Australia’s economic
and social well-being. It needs to
be more aggressive in telling the
community and its governments about
its performance and its problems. The
industry must develop career paths for
its workforce.
This is my last Prime Mover article. It is
number 111. I have enjoyed writing the
monthly article for ARTSA-i over the
past ten years. The time has come to
move on. I wish you well!
Dr Peter Hart,
ARTSA
p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u 87
 INSIGHT | VICTORIAN TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION

Heavy vehicle inspections

can save lives
information that the NHVR obtained
in the 2016 National Roadworthiness
Baseline Survey, which came from 7,130
vehicle inspections conducted in every
Australian state and territory with the
exception of Western Australia.
Five years after that inaugural survey,
SAL PETROCCITTO the NHVR is undertaking a second
Roadworthiness Survey (NRS) to assess
inspected by the NHVR and our partner
agencies in every state and territory
in the nation. The NRS will allow us
to assess the mechanical condition of
Australia’s heavy vehicle fleet and help
shape future initiatives to improve the
safety and productivity of the industry.
These are important goals – not just for
the NHVR, but for the whole transport

A
the condition of Australia’s heavy industry, the broader supply chain and
new report from the National vehicle fleet. Over the next 12 weeks, the Australian public. I appreciate the
Heavy Vehicle Regulator around 8,000 heavy vehicles will be survey may cause some disruption for
and Australia’s largest
trucking insurance company
has confirmed a link between major
safety incidents and how well heavy
vehicles are maintained by owners. The
NTARC Major Accident Investigation
Report was produced by National
Transport Insurance (NTI) using the
results from the NHVR’s 2016 National
Roadworthiness Baseline Survey.
By comparing vehicle inspection
data and insurance claims, the study
confirmed that operators who effectively
maintain their vehicles are less likely to
be involved in an incident. The report
found there was a 29 per cent increase in
the frequency and a 22 per cent increase
in the cost of claims for transport
companies with poorly maintained
couplings.
For wheel and tyre defects, the frequency
of claims was 32 per cent higher than
the baseline while the costs were 26 per
cent higher. The findings weren’t a great
surprise to the NHVR. Our frontline
staff have always known that if they see
a truck with a bald tyre, they should
investigate further, whether that means
checking the load restraint or driver’s
work diary. However, until now there’s
been little expert research to prove the
link between vehicle maintenance and
major incidents.
The NTARC Major Accident Investigation
Report proves the value of the
88 deay
m c e 2021
mbe r 2018

Each vehicle will undergo a detailed visual
inspection and some mechanical testing by
authorised officers using inspection trailers and
brake-testing equipment. We promise that once a
vehicle has been inspected, it will not be inspected
again in this NRS.
the drivers and operators whose vehicles
are stopped, so the officers will carry
out inspections as efficiently as possible.
Each vehicle will undergo a detailed
visual inspection and some mechanical
testing by authorised officers using
Until now little expert research has proven
NATIONAL HEAVY VEHICLE REGULATOR | INSIGHT
inspection trailers and brake-testing
equipment. We promise that once a
vehicle has been inspected, it will not be
inspected again in this NRS. The NHVR
is aware of supply chain demands and
that drivers work to tight schedules, so
the link between vehicle maintenance
and major incidents.
Powered by news
COMMERCIAL ROAD TRANSPORT
I thank all businesses and individuals
who will be impacted by the survey for
their co-operation with our officers.
Random vehicle inspections are
inconvenient, but any exercise that helps
to improve our understanding of road
safety could save lives. The results in
the 2021 NRS will allow us to assess the
impact of safety initiatives implemented
since 2016 and identify the areas that
need more focus. And we won’t be
keeping the information to ourselves.
The results will be publicly released
and made available to jurisdictions
and industry bodies with an interest
in heavy vehicle safety. We know we
can’t improve heavy vehicle safety by
ourselves. Once again, I thank you in
advance for your cooperation on this
important safety initiative.
Sal Petroccitto,
CEO, NHVR
DAILY CHECKLIST KEEP
VEHICLES SAFE
The NHVR is urging heavy vehicle
operators to use a Daily Safety
Checklist as a regular part of their
pre-trip routine. The checklist is a
series of simple steps that every driver
should undertake daily that align
with the National Heavy Vehicle
Inspection Manual. A daily visual
inspection should only take a few
minutes and gives drivers peace of
mind ahead of their journey.
Each checklist should include
checking brakes, couplings, wheels,
tyres and hubs, structure and body
condition, lights and reflectors,
mirrors, windscreens and windows,
and the engine, driveline and exhaust.
Lists can be expanded and tailored to
suit an operator’s business.
For more information on Daily Safety
Checklists visit www.nhvr.gov.au/
dailycheck
p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u 89
 INSIGHT | HEALTHY HEADS IN TRUCKS & SHEDS
SUE DAVIES
L
ast year began with the historic
bushfires that swept the eastern
seaboard and Kangaroo Island,
tragically affecting rural locations
and the air quality in our metropolitan
cities; and was followed immediately by
the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected
every aspect of our lives.
For Australia Post, these events
significantly impacted our services,
required necessary changes to our
ways of working, and created a sense
of uncertainty and upheaval for our
people, resulting in a greater demand for
mental health support, information and
guidance than ever before. Encouraging
open discussion around maintaining
mental health and wellbeing was
important to help us meet this significant
increase in demand for psychological
safety support.
At the same time, with more people at
home the pandemic generated record
volumes of parcels through our delivery
network, driving significant change in the
business. We quickly adopted a strong,
enterprise-wide focus to equip our people
with coping strategies during a time of
heightened uncertainty.
Our delivery employees received support
via increased signage to promote action
against risk, toolbox talks, webinars
covering psychological safety and
financial wellbeing, regular reminders
about the access to our Employee
Assistance Program (EAP) services, as
90 m ay 2021
2020 challenged us in
ways we could never
have imagined
well as access to an interactive HealthyMe
online portal that encourages proactive
mental wellbeing management.
For our managers and people leaders, we
provided access to educational resources
and programs such as mental health
awareness training, psychosocial risk
management webinars, psychological
safety guides and leadership mentoring
programs. These resources were
important tools that helped our
managers to confidently identify at-risk
employees and promote good mental
health habits.
Increasing leadership support is an
important step towards reducing barriers,
so people feel increasingly comfortable
to speak to someone. We have a long
history of acknowledging RU OK Day
with leadership and we typically use this
to keep the conversation of mental health
going throughout the year, with social
events and talks designed to bring people
together to talk about mental wellbeing
and share their lived experience.
During COVID-19, while in-person
events were restricted, we engaged the
voices of our frontline employees from
around the country via video, to share
the different ways to start a conversation,
provide support to colleagues, encourage
action and check-in later. This proved
to be an engaging way to motivate our
people to connect with and look out
for others and move towards creating a
culture of care.
It was a culture that was vitally important
as we entered a record-breaking
Christmas and our busiest ever peak
period. To provide additional support,
we actioned on-the-ground support for
our delivery employees by bringing our
EAP into delivery facilities throughout
October to December, making onsite
psychologists available for one on one
‘walk and talks’ with staff.
Our EAP also has a structured program
of regular wellbeing check-ins for
any employee identified as requiring
additional support and the program
is available to every member of our
extended workforce of more than 75,000
people and their immediate family
members.
Testament to the importance of our role
in communities across the countries,
in June 2020, we were thrilled to form
a three-year national partnership with
Beyond Blue to help Australians stay
mentally well and build stronger, more
connected communities. As with our
internal efforts, the partnership seeks to
make mental health and wellbeing part
of everyday conversations and connect
people to the support and information
available through Beyond Blue. This
partnership plays an important role
in influencing positive mental health
outcomes, across our workforce and
the communities in which they work,
by supporting discussions and making
it easier to connect with each other in
meaningful ways.
As one of Australia’s largest employers,
Australia Post recognises the important
role we can play in influencing positive
mental health outcomes for both our
employees and the wider community.
Whether it’s the postie having a
conversation with a local resident, or
one of our Post Office staff helping a
customer in a time of need, we continue
to deliver and serve Australians like never
before.
Sue Davies,
Executive General Manager, People
& Culture, Australia Post

KIRK CONINGHAM
E
lectric and hydrogen vehicles are
the future of Australia’s supply
chain economy. However, the
fledging product technology is
currently climbing the apex of what must
be considered Australia’s Mt Everest of
legislative hurdles to get a foothold in the
Australian freight and logistics market.
Australia is a single national economy. Yet
so much of the regulatory framework that
impacts on businesses is designed and
enforced at a State or local level. For those
operating businesses in the freight logistics
sector, this means daily confrontation with
a hodgepodge of legislative and regulatory
hurdles that variously confound and
complicate the process of transporting
freight safely and efficiently.
States have rushed to the finish line
determined not to be left behind to
establish their own state specific sets of
road user pricing. The result is that they are
strangling an infant commercial market with
excessive unit cost increases before it has
even managed to establish its first breaths.
Victoria has announced the introduction
of a 2.5 cent per kilometre levy on electric
vehicles, following an earlier decision made
by South Australia. The ACT appears to be
mooting an ‘opt in’ distance charge whilst
the NSW Government appears uncertain.
It is disappointing that a simple and
nationally consistent Federal fuel excise
regime is at risk of ultimately being replaced
with another complex set of charges
administered at the state and territory level.
ALC believes that a road pricing process
should fairly capture all the relevant cost
AUSTRALIAN LOGISTICS COUNCIL | INSIGHT
National consistency for
electric vehicles and road
pricing in Australia
components of roads so that, as far as is
practicable, pricing does not distort the
choice of transport mode used by consignors
and/or consignees in the transport of freight;
and while road infrastructure development
undertaken to advance either general
congestion issues, light vehicle user or
community amenity is not cross subsidised
by heavy vehicle operators.
Australian governments currently have on
foot a process called Heavy Vehicle Road
Reform. The intention is to change the
manner in the road user charge for road
access levied on heavy vehicles to one
calculating charges using a forward-looking
cost base as used to calculate prices for
other utilities.
In a submission made in response to a 2020
discussion paper prepared as part of the
reform ALC said: One of the key benefits
of HVRR is the opportunity to align more
closely road and rail pricing and create
a more level playing field and hopefully
help get more freight on rail – an aim of a
number of jurisdictions. Whilst this reform
is only about the supply side, the proposed
methodology for roads will facilitate a
more similar approach to rail. This is a
useful outcome, even if this will not be fully
achieved until the demand side of HVRR is
progressed.
ALC is firmly of the view that taxation
mechanisms for road use should be
uniform throughout the country. It is also
imperative that all road users, irrespective
of whether they are operating light or
heavy vehicles, electrically or traditionally
powered, pay the road user charges
necessary to permit the construction and
maintenance of the roads Australia needs
now and in the future. We can no longer
rely on the fuel excise to do this.
The growth of fuel cell electric vehicles, as
the CSIRO noted in its National Hydrogen
Roadmap can be hampered when Federal,
State and Local government entities have
Powered by news
COMMERCIAL ROAD TRANSPORT
their own portfolio of priorities: “and
time spent by technology proponents in
acquiring multiple approvals can constrain
development and increase costs. An inter/
intragovernmental authority with the power
to make decisions within a reasonable
time frame will therefore be important in
facilitating industry growth. This could
provide a ‘one-stop-shop’ for gathering all
the required licences for a specific hydrogen
project. The Roadmap also noted that a
lack of infrastructure is a barrier to support
increased use of fuel cell electric vehicles.
This raises two issues. Firstly, it is important
the infrastructure is there to allow the
efficient transport of hydrogen that is not
completely reliant on movement by road.
The second issue relates to planning.
Whilst it is unlikely Australia’s federal
system would permit a single consent
authority to develop a hydrogen approval
authority as suggested above, jurisdictional
planning instruments must ensure:
(a) a spread of charging and refuelling
stations in urban areas;
(b) ‘back to base’ charging and fuelling
infrastructure is not impeded; and
(c) infrastructure for the movement and
storage of hydrogen is permitted.
The Australian Government has recently
published Draft National Urban Freight
Planning Principles that are intended to be
included in the planning documentation
generated by States and Territories. They
are one of the important outputs from
the National Freight and Supply Chain
Strategy — a process championed by ALC.
Uptake of alternatively powered vehicles
is the future of Australia’s commercial and
consumer economies. Consistent taxation
mechanisms for road access is key to
supporting Australia to remain competitive
in the global market.
Kirk Coningham
CEO, ALC
p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u 91
 INSIGHT | TRUCK
VICTORIAN
INDUSTRY
TRANSPORT
COUNCIL
ASSOCIATION
Powered by news
COMMERCIAL ROAD TRANSPORT
TONY MCMULLAN
PETER ANDERSON
I
n the year 2000 Europe introduced
the Euro III regulation for trucks
and busses. The Australian
Government introduced the same
regulation, ADR80/00 in January 2003.
In 2005 Euro IV was introduced in
Europe and Australia implemented
this standard in 2008, ADR80/02.
Europe moved to Euro V in 2008 and
we implemented the Euro V standard
(ADR80/03) in 2011. You can see a
pattern here, European deployment,
followed by the introduction of the
same emission standard in Australia
approximately three years later, once the
engine technology has been “bedded
down” in the country of origin. And
here in Australia our Government
allows equivalent alternative emission
standards from Japan and the USA,
where applicable, giving truck and
engine manufacturers the option of
meeting the Australian exhaust emission
requirements using technology from
their homeland markets. When Europe
introduced Euro VI for heavy vehicles
in 2013, one would have expected that
Australia would move to this exhaust
regulation in about 2016, unlocking
the health benefits of this cleaner
emission standard for all Australians.
Not so, in fact in 2021 we are still
potentially another seven years away
from Euro VI and equivalent alternative
emission regulation in Australia, if the
recommendations in latest Regulation
Impact Statement (RIS), released by the
92 m ay 2021
A step in the right direction —
hopefully
Federal Government, are implemented.
That would be a staggering fifteen years
after the implementation of this clean air
standard in Europe!
It cannot be said that this protracted
timeline is due to a lack of government
awareness of this issue. Back in
October 2015, then Minister for Urban
Infrastructure and Cities, Paul Fletcher,
headed the review of Australia’s vehicle
emission standards, this led to the
release of the original draft Euro VI
RIS in December 2016. Submissions
from industry and other stakeholders,
including States and Territories were
sought and received in early 2017. Then
seemingly little or no action until a new
draft RIS was released in October 2020.
During that time the Truck Industry
Council (TIC) has repeatedly requested
that the conversation be restarted. TIC
members have not let our government’s
inaction prevent the introduction of
Euro VI trucks in Australia, with one
member introducing these cleaner
engined trucks back in late 2014.
Other members followed and last year,
thirty per cent of all new trucks sold in
Australia were Euro VI, or equivalents
from Japan and the USA.
In the lengthy delay between the first
and second draft RIS, the European
regulation has been amended, moving
from Step C to Step D. The tailpipe
emissions are exactly the same for
all Steps of the Euro VI regulation (A
to D), the variations only effect the
testing methods and the On-Board
Diagnostic systems that are required.
The Department has recommended the
introduction of Step D in the October
2020 RIS, while they recommended
Step C in the December 2016 RIS.
The main difference between Steps C
and D is the way in which the “life”
of the emission system is tested. Step
C requires thousands of hours of
laboratory dynameter testing to prove
the aftertreatment system life, whilst
Step D requires annual in-service testing
over a period of up to seven years.
The in-service testing is not required
in either Japan, or the USA, nor has it
been shown to have any fundamental
health or environmental benefits that
TIC is aware of. To ensure that truck
manufactures adequately test the truck,
Step D requires the vehicle to be tested
at the GVM, or GCM, whichever is
greater. Unfortunately, the Department
has not considered the ramification of
introducing Step D, over Step C, for
Australia. Due to our uniquely high
GCMs on rigid trucks, such as tipper
and dogs and on prime movers used
for B-Doubles and roadtrains, the
European in-service test results are not
valid due to Europe’s low GCMs. TIC
has estimated that the adoption of Step
D will add almost $900 million to the
cost of certifying Euro VI trucks for the
Australian market, needlessly adding
thousands of dollars to the price of a
new truck, all for no apparent benefit.
The Truck Industry Council and
our members fully support the
implementation of Euro VI and the
equivalent alternate standards from
Japan and the USA, in fact TICs
submissions to both the 2016 and 2020
RIS have called for the early adoption
of these emission regulations, phased
in from January 2024 to January 2025,
some three and a half years sooner than
our government’s proposal. However, the
Euro VI regulation that must be adopted
in Australia is Step C, and not Step D.
This will ensure that Australia can benefit
from the health and environmental
benefits of the world’s best emission
regulations, while not financially
penalising Australian truck operators for
our unique heavy vehicle combinations.
Tony McMullan
CEO, Truck Industry Council

PETER ANDERSON
T
he VTA was pleased to host
over 180 members and
transport industry participants
at its recent State Conference,
where a variety of speakers addressed
delegates on the topic of What’s in Front
of the Transport Industry.
In my opening address I was keen to
emphasise the importance of supply
chain sovereignty for Australia to
maintain its high standards of living,
as the nation emerges from the COVID
pandemic and vaccinations are rolled
out across the country.
As an island nation and democracy that
relies on imports for sustaining our
quality of life, Australia relies on the
certainty from supply chains. We enjoy
the status of having the 5th highest
ranking in living standards in the world.
But what can we do better? How do we
maintain and improve upon what has
been created?
Supply chains, logistics and transport
systems are vital for a country such as
Australia because they link markets,
community and people.
COVID has challenged us to question
whether current supply chains are
flexible enough and whether they are
able to carry an increase in capacity or
are just too expensive to operate any
other way. Some people may think we
have been slow to develop these supply
chains, that they are not productive
enough or do not meet the needs of
the market.
VICTORIAN TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION | INSIGHT
Supply chain sovereignty
essential for maintaining
living standards
There is no doubt that the COVID-19
pandemic in Australia has highlighted
the importance of these supply chains.
This was personified by the fact that
freight transport did not stop, could not
stop and was able to gain recognition,
exemption and acknowledgment of
making sure that we were all supplied
with the goods that we need to maintain
our current standards of living.
We must continually question whether
Australia as a nation is doing enough
to secure its supply chains so as not
to risk eroding standards of living,
inhibiting growth or diminishing
resilience, using fuel energy security and
trade as examples. If we do not source
and refine our own fuel and depend
solely on international suppliers how
vulnerable is our standard of living if
this supply is interrupted. Or if China
represents approximately 18-20 per cent
of all imported goods that you will find
in homes today, how would we resource
these goods if there was an interruption
with supply from China?
As another example, in the road
transport industry the only recognised
qualification for a heavy vehicle is a
licence. Under the current system you
do not need to be trained to gain a
licence. The industry does not look at
the licence as a qualification and will
not employ those individuals who have
just gained a heavy vehicle licence. The
industry wants all heavy vehicle drivers
to be trained before they are given a
licence.
The National Road Transport
Commission produced a study with
recommendations on the issue in 1995.
Powered by news
COMMERCIAL ROAD TRANSPORT
Nothing changed. The COAG Transport
Industry Council requested a report on
the issue in 2013, with the final report
delivered in 2018. Nothing changed. A
new report has been requested and is
due for delivery in 2022.
The road transport industry is still
struggling with drivers who are not
trained before they get behind the
wheel of a heavy vehicle. It takes
courage to build an appetite for reform,
which is what we need from our
political and regulatory leaders.
While uncertainty has been part
and parcel of the COVID journey
for everyone, it’s been amplified for
transport operators and workers, who
have worked through restrictions,
lockdowns, and border closures
magnificently to service their customers
and the Australian community.
The irony of COVID is that it’s probably
done more to help consumers build
awareness and appreciate supply
chains than any other event in recent
history. When you’re confronted with
supermarket shelves that have been
emptied of toilet paper, canned goods,
pasta, fresh meat and poultry, and
you’re forced to order online because
you’ve been restricted from travelling
more than five kilometres from home
for months on end, you start to think
and question how goods get to market.
Our domestic supply chain foresights
and reactions must look to understand
what needs to be done and take
advantage of the resources at hand.
Peter Anderson
CEO, VTA
p r i m em over m a g . c o m . a u 93
 PETER SHIELDS’ NUMBER CRUNCH

Money Jungle
supported by changes in the wider public’s buying habits, as
well as the diversion of spending discretionary funds on home
improvement and household goods instead of leisure travel.
The commencement of the next wave of major government
and private enterprise infrastructure projects will also require
additional road transport vehicles. The combination of
historically low finance costs and unprecedented government
incentives via the taxation system is likely to make this at least
a near-record year in terms of commercial vehicle unit sales, if
not an all-time record in itself.

% Change
Mar-21 YTD
YOY

ISUZU 820 2034 18.7%

HINO 551 1326 33.1%

FUSO 378 925 39.7%

KENWORTH 222 497 24.9%

The Australian Government and most financial observers have
been consistent in their claims that the economy is recovering from MERCEDES-BENZ 141 387 41.2%
the fiscal effects of the pandemic far better than expected and this VOLVO 115 325 -17.5%
is strongly supported by the new truck and van sales results put
IVECO 149 293 2.4%
together by the Truck Industry Council for the month of March.
The total number of new trucks (cab chassis and prime movers) SCANIA 107 218 2.3%

sold during March was 2,868 units, 558 more than in the previous FIAT 55 128 1.6%
month of February (+24.1 per cent) and 679 more than in March
UD TRUCKS 42 125 14.7%
2020 (+31.0 per cent). The total for the first quarter of 2021
reached 6,870 units, a massive 1,147 more than for the same MACK 62 119 -21.7%

quarter in 2020 (+20.0 per cent). DAF 49 95 -4.0%

In the Heavy Duty category there were 1,035 new units sold in
FREIGHTLINER 34 90 87.5%
March, an increase of 183 compared to March last year (+21.5 per
cent) and the first quarter total of 2,220 was 217 more than for the WESTERN STAR 32 63 46.5%

same period in 2020 (+9.8 per cent). MAN 25 61 -45.5%

The Medium Duty category reported sales of 602 trucks for March,
HYUNDAI 24 60 122.2%
76 up on the previous year (+12.6 per cent) and overcame this
RENAULT 18 42 16.7%
year’s slow start for the sector to achieve 1,436 for the first quarter,
26 units more than at the end of last March (+1.8 per cent). FORD 21 36 500.0%
March was a big month in the Light Duty category with DENNIS EAGLE 16 27 200.0%
1,231 trucks sold, 420 more than during the same month in
VOLKSWAGEN 6 10 11.1%
2020 (+51.8 per cent). During 2021’s first quarter 2,971 Light
Duty trucks were sold, 904 more than during the same three INTERNATIONAL 1 9 -10.0%

months last year (+43.7 per cent). CAB CHASSIS/PRIME 2868 6870 20.0%

The Heavy Van sales result for March of 690 units was down
FORD VANS 177 414 66.9%
75 units on February’s figure of 765 (-9.8 per cent) yet was 274
more than in March 2020 (+65.8 per cent). This, and the strong M-B VANS 178 409 -19.5%

performances during the first two months of this year’s first quarter VOLKSWAGEN VANS 144 281 72.4%
kept the accrued total in positive territory at 1,455 vans, 273 more
RENAULT VANS 115 154 18.5%
than at the end of the 2020 March quarter (+23.1 per cent).
The scaling back of widespread government monetary support FIAT VANS 46 113 66.2%

in the form of schemes such as JobKeeper didn’t have the drastic IVECO VANS 30 84 29.2%
effect upon the wider economy as predicted in some areas, and
VANS 690 1455 23.1%
unemployment statistics have also shown some encouraging
TOTAL 3558 8325 20.6%
results. Demand for large and small commercial vehicles has been
94 m ay 2 0 21
Behind the people who
keep Australia moving
Everything we do, every day, relies on the people who literally keep Australia moving. From the fresh
food in our supermarkets, to the petrol in our cars, from the school bus, to the train you catch to
work, even your holiday travel. None of it would happen without transport workers.
And behind them is TWUSUPER, the industry super fund for the people who look after you.

1800 222 071

twusuper.com.au

SUPERRATINGS SUPERRATINGS
GOLD 2019 GOLD 2019
MYCHOICE SUPER PENSION

TWU Nominees Pty Ltd, ABN 67 002 835 412, AFSL 239163, is the trustee of TWUSUPER ABN 77 343 563 307 and the issuer of interests in it. 55621
WHEN THE GOING
GETS TOUGH,
TRUCKIES KEEP
EVERYONE GOING.
Transport operators across Australia rely on Shell Rimula oils to
protect their equipment operating in Australia’s tough conditions.

Contact us on 1300 134 205 or visit Shell.com.au/Rimula

to find out more about Shell Rimula and the range of transport
lubricants to ensure your fleet keeps going when the
going gets tough.