Table of contents for Issue 336 in Owner Driver

FREIGHT TRANSPORT will be the big winner following the announcement that the Coffs Harbour bypass has been given the official green light by the federal government after the federal environment minister Sussan Ley assessed and then approved the project under the EPBC Act. It will move the northern New South Wales city’s biggest evesr infrastructure project a step closer to construction. Deputy prime minister and minister for infrastructure, transport and regional development Michael McCormack says the 14-kilometre bypass, which received official planning approval, is one of the 15 major projects that the federal government committed to fast-tracking in June 2020. “The bypass is going to take more than 12,000 vehicles a day out of the centre of Coffs Harbour, reduce travel times by as much as 12 minutes by bypassing…

Australia’s infrastructure projects are pushing ahead at a great pace; the latest news on the economy is good and reports are all positive across the earthmoving industry. Australia’s borders have reopened and life is starting to return to normal. Expo management has been busy working with the team at the Sydney Dragway to ensure the 2021 National Diesel Dirt & Turf Expo will be the best yet. With the upgrade of the Sydney Dragway, it is rapidly becoming the action epicentre of Sydney, as evidenced by the relocation by both the Speedway and the popular Summernats to this premier site. Exhibitors will be amazed to see the transformation of Sydney Dragway, which includes expansive new areas of hard stand, advanced parking facilities, excellent security and traffic flow arrangements and everything…

It’s more than a year since Hino announced a plan to launch its new 500-series GT 1528 4x4 model in the first half of 2020. Like its single-drive 500-series siblings, Hino emphasised that the new off-roader would be equipped with a wide range of beneficial features. Ironically, Hino’s plan was announced at the August 2019 Australasian Fire and Emergency Services Authorities Council (AFAC) exhibition. Within a month, the Australian fire season ignited with catastrophic impact. Years of drought, furnace-like winds and searing temperatures would, however, conspire to ravage much of Australia before the new Hino could lend a hand. In the interim, the superseded GT 1322 model and the vastly upgraded 300-series 4x4 light truck would do their parts with fire and emergency services operations to eventually douse the flames…

VOLVO TRUCKS NORTH AMERICA (VTNA) will start building battery electric vehicle (BEV) prime movers this year in the form of the Volvo VNR Electric model. The Class 8 trucks, the heaviest class in the US, are now commercially available in North America and aimed primarily at local and regional distribution tasks They are available as a 4x2 heavy rigid, 6x2 and 6x4 configurations. According to VTNA, the 264kWh lithium-ion batteries – charging at up to 80 per cent within 70 minutes through a 150kW charge rate with a CCS1 or CCS2 connection – have an operating range of up to 240km based on the truck’s configuration. Power is put at 340kW (455hp), with 5,492Nm (4,051ft-lb) peak output torque, with a two-speed automated I-Shift transmission and a top speed of 105km/h.…

US-BASED Velocity Vehicle Group (VVG) is poised to become Australia’s newest truck dealers through a deal signed with Eagers Automotive. Eager reveals in a stock market advisory that, in a deal said to be worth A$108 million, it has signed an agreement to divest its 15 Daimler Trucks dealerships and the Stillwell Trucks premises in Sydney’s Milperra. “The divestment of our Daimler truck operations represents another key step in the ongoing simplification of our automotive retail business,” Eagers CEO and MD Martin Ward says of the move. “VVG will be a great home for the Daimler truck business and offers an exciting future.” Daimler Truck and Bus president and CEO Daniel Whitehead thanks Eagers for its partnership during a time of growth for Daimler commercial vehicles. “We have achieved a…

COLES AND the Transport Workers Union (TWU) have signed a charter on standards in road transport and the gig economy focusing on safety, driver education and mental health. Describing it as “ground-breaking”, the union says the charter commits Coles and the TWU to work collaboratively on ensuring high standards on safety and fairness throughout the supply chain as a way to ensure positive health and safety outcomes. This includes a formal consultation process between the pair to ensure an ongoing emphasis on safety and to establish mechanisms through which safety issues can be identified and addressed. They will also work together on safe and fair outcomes for workers in the rapidly-growing gig economy. It is noted that Coles and the TWU have been working towards the charter since 2018, when…

The 2020 Valvoline Truck of the Year Award marks the culmination of the third year of the highly-popular Truck of the Month feature in Owner//Driver. The team here at Owner//Driver has chosen the 12 finalists, but the responsibility of selecting the winner is now turned over to you – our valued readers. Among the nominees are some amazing trucks – so we don’t envy the job ahead of you! Read on to find out how to vote, and what you can win for your efforts! HOW IT WORKS To be eligible, trucks must have appeared as a Truck of the Month in Owner//Driver magazine over the past 12 months. The outright winner will be decided by popular vote – with the winner featured in the March 2021 issue of Owner//Driver…

IN THOSE MILDER, less vexatious days before virus, vitriol and violence conspired to make America weird again, there was a trip in mid-2019 to Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) headquarters in Portland, Oregon. The main objective, obviously enough, was to see how much work Freightliner had done in preparing its Cascadia conventional for the Australian market prior to the truck’s launch here a few months later. Thankfully, like most trips to DTNA in Portland, 2019 also included a presentation at the full-scale wind tunnel – described by one wit as the ‘tunnel of shove’ – just across the road from head office. This is a truly impressive built-for-purpose facility designed entirely to determine the most efficient and practical aerodynamic shape for shoving through the air a full-size, road-going truck and…

DAIMLER advises that Fuso’s all-electric eCanter local light truck has been driven “around the clock” on Victorian roads as part of a six-month test ahead of its launch here early this year. For the local test program, three drivers have been taking turns during each 24-hour period, running the eCanter on designated loops before returning and charging the truck for the next driver. It has been run empty as well at its maximum gross vehicle mass (GVM) of 7.5 tonnes in all-weather types. This is in addition to a global testing program and the real-world experience of operators in the US, Europe and Japan since the eCanter’s introduction in 2017. Daimler Truck and Bus Australia Pacific president and CEO Daniel Whitehead says the eCanter was developed using Daimler’s R&D resources…

THE NEW MAN TGX has been voted the International Truck of the Year 2021 (ITOY), notching up one of the most prestigious awards in the commercial vehicle market. The jury of 24 mostly European trade journalists recognised the TGX for its driving comfort, working and living conditions, safety, fuel efficiency, connectivity, innovative services, and operator control and display philosophy. In a virtual ceremony, MAN Truck & Bus CEO Andreas Tostmann accepted the award from ITOY president Gianenrico Griffini. “The title ‘International Truck of the Year’ is tremendous recognition for the outstanding work put in by our team at MAN,” Tostmann says. “For more than five years now, the team has been working with a single objective in mind: to develop the best truck for drivers and our customers and to…

A restored 1946 Ford Jail Bar truck donated by National Transport Insurance (NTI) has been auctioned off with the support of the Australian Trucking Association, resulting in a cheque for $200,000 being presented to Motor Neurone Disease (MND) researchers. More than $87,000 was raised at auction while NTI added another $113,000 to support researchers as they to continue exploring ways to treat the disease. It brings the total NTI has raised for MND research to almost $534,000 in four years. The cheque was handed over at MND and Me’s Christmas event in Brisbane where medical experts pitched their research ideas in a ‘Shark Tank’ style presentation. NTI’s donation will fund two research grants for Dr Shu Ngo and Dr Adam Walker at The University of Queensland. Dr Ngo was also…

TRANSPORT for New South Wales (TfNSW) has given an insight into the scale of the truck-and-dog compliance task following recent concerning data of the sector’s rate. It has also sought to clarify a spike in fatal crashes involving trucks with no load. With Sydney at the centre of an unprecedented infrastructure build there has never been more truck-and-dog combinations on its roads. This has led to something of a compliance crisis, with commentary that comes with the release of TfNSW’s NSW heavy truck fatal crashes statistics revealing that, while the Sydney truck-and-dog compliance rate was up four per cent in the past year, this put it at only 61 per cent, or less than two-thirds. This was against a state-wide truck-and-dog rate of 64 per cent, lowered marginally by the…

A GROUND-BREAKING Virtual Reality (VR) experience premiered in November as part of a Truck Wise program to build greater awareness among the 16 to 18 years old age group about interactions between trucks and cars on the road. The VR experience completes the final stage for Truck Wise pilot program, which was recently shortlisted in the Australian Freight Industry Awards in the ‘Application of Technology’ award category. The Truck Wise program, funded by the federal government through the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, is led by the City of Greater Bendigo in collaboration with Deakin University, Bendigo Tech School and the Transport Accident Commission. The aim is to prepare new and young drivers for everyday encounters with trucks on the roads and to help build empathy. Greater Bendigo City Council deputy…

“There’s no harm in having a crack.” What better way to start off a huge 2021 than with a huge story? Quite literally, it doesn’t get much bigger than this. I’m not just talking about the size of the awesome trucks I got to shoot for this story or the size of the awesome load I got to see moved; I’m also talking about the huge lessons I learnt about myself during this story. I know right, I’m diverting your attention from some of the coolest Kenworths in Australia, including a rebuilt 2013 C509 workhorse, so I can waffle about my own self-reflection. I very rarely get to turn a story around and make it about me, so give me a little leeway here. Not that I need to ask,…

THE GOVERNMENT’S Industrial Relations Omnibus Bill, introduced on December 9, is supported by sectors of the road transport industry, especially as it relates to reform of casual employment. The National Road Transport Association (NatRoad) CEO Warren Clark says problems associated with engaging employees on what were intended to be casual arrangements, but which have been subsequently categorised as permanent employment by courts, have caused confusion in the road transport industry. “Clearly, if an employee is engaged under a modern award as a casual and is paid the casual loading, then they must be engaged and paid as a casual in accordance with the award and they shouldn’t be able to ‘double dip’. “The Bill will bring about sensible and worthwhile change,” Clark says. “Certainty about employment arrangements is vital. Businesses…

How did you see the New Year in? Has there ever been one we’ve looked forward to more? Yet, it’s like none we have ever celebrated. Did you make a New Year’s resolution? How about “in 2021 I am not going to miss the Brisbane Truck Show”? For all the good intentions about giving up junk food, exercising more, spending more time with your partner/kids/mum/dog, this one is fully within your powers to pull together. We could talk about how good it’s going to be to catch up with colleagues, customers and mates in the flesh, but let’s look at this purely from a professional perspective. This is the biggest business-to-business event that will have taken place in Australia in 18 months. It is the rebirth of major indoor events.…

A LITTLE OVER A YEAR AGO, Michael May was the head of Daimler Australia’s Mercedes-Benz truck and bus operations. A brand on the boil, kicking goals and much like the shrewd, mild-mannered May, secure in success. From the outside looking in, it appeared a productive, comfortable, satisfying existence continuing to evolve on the back of a modern, efficient and increasingly popular line of trucks far removed from problems of earlier generations. And as director of Mercedes-Benz Truck & Bus, supported by capable people above and below on the corporate ladder, May’s engineering background and steady hand had played a major role in ensuring the new Benz models were tested and tailored to Australia’s unique demands. Sure, there was no resting on laurels but nonetheless, after the hard groundwork it was…