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Feb 18, 2016

LONG HAUL FREIGHT EFFICIENCY * New Zealand: Regulations

* Auckland - Motives and logic behind bigger truck deal in question


-- New Zealand First is challenging the proposal to use larger trucks on Kiwi roads, says New Zealand First Leader and Member of Parliament for Northland Rt Hon Winston Peters" ... New Zealand First recognises the essential role that trucks play in transporting goods around the country. We are not about to put trucks off the road," says Mr Peters... "We are deeply concerned that the trucking industry appears to be effectively controlling the government's transport policy, and the losers are the New Zealand public... "The government’s studies also show that long haul freight by boat or train is twice as efficient as road transport, yet the government is actively helping the trucking industry carry more freight on public roads." 
(Photo credit Booths Transport: With a total of 10 axles and 36 wheels this giant of the road is the first of several similar vehicles to be owned and operated by Palmerston North based transport operator, Booths Transport Ltd.) -- Auckland, N.Z. - Voxy - 17 February, 2016

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Jan 28, 2016

Australia & New Zealand * ROAD RAGE it's part of truckers daily life ** Honoured two trucking members *** Trucker & Writer

* Victoria - Truckies' daily life on the road

-- This comes after a suspected road rage attack on Melbourne's Western Ring Road this morning were it's alleged a motorist tried to run over a truck driver after the truck had "sideswiped" the car... Commenting on the Big Rigs Facebook page truckies have said they have to deal with road rage on a daily basis... Tyronne Tunza Bony said nearly every time he gets in his truck for a run up the Bruce he'll "get flipped off and abused". The reason: "coz I've somehow hindered/inconvenienced somebody out there"... Glenn Womersley said the biggest problem in Melbourne was the numbers of speed cameras. "So many speed cameras unmarked like any other state, cars hit the brakes at every overpass and sit five kms under the limit in the trucks blind spot. Car drivers are sheep down there they just follow the cars in front very often I'm doing 70 in a 100 zone with just two cars in front it's dangerous and frustrating then they start tapping the brakes ppl simply don't care if 60 tonnes hits them and it's always the truck at fault," he said... But they're fighting back, one truckie suggested a dash cam was the best defence...
(Photo: Road rage is just a fact of life for truckies) -- Melbourne, VIC, Australia - Big Rigs - 28th Jan 2016


 ** ACT - Two trucking industry legends awarded Australia Day honours

-- The Australian Trucking Association (ATA) has today congratulated Ian Cootes on his appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2016 Australia Day Honours list... Ian Cootes founded Cootes Haulage in 1965 as a single tanker operation, which grew to employ around 800 people by the time he sold the business in 2001... He served as a member of a number of industry bodies during this time, and worked to improve safety and efficiency standards for dangerous goods transport as the Director of the Australian Road Research Board... The ATA also congratulates Mr Thomas Fawcett, who received a Medal of the Order of Australia for his service to the livestock transport industry... Mr Fawcett has been the Managing Director of the Fawcett Cattle Company in the Northern Territory since 1963, and has been an active member of the Northern Territory Road Transport Association for many years... He has also served as a member of the Coomalie Community Government Council... 
Canberra, ACT, Australia - Big Rigs - 28 Jan 2016


*** Horowhenua / New Zealand - Truck driver Mike Aldridge has published a book of short stories that are steeped with Kiwi humour

-- After a lifetime on the roads Levin truck driver Mike Aldridge had a few tales to tell, so a book seemed a natural step... A "Blimmin' Disaster", it's a collection of 16 humorous short stories, was published late last year... Aldridge has worked long-haul in some "really flash trucks", worked with city firms and country firms, and spent ten years training and upskilling drivers. About half of the stories were written from his experiences on the job and the rest from general life experience... The collection includes tales of a hapless criminal, a 'dear John' story from the point of view of a serviceman in Vietnam (Mike's favourite), and a story about how to deal with school bullies... Aldridge said he joined a Levin writing club and began writing to help him deal creatively with some of the stresses of training truck drivers... Aldridge currently works for agricultural specialists Davis Contracting, based in Koputaroa, and said he enjoys the variety of different vehicles he gets to drive... 
Levin, Horowhenua, NZ - The Dominion POst, by Karoline Tuckey - 27 Jan 2016

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Jan 27, 2016

TRUCKERS' SHORTAGE * New Zealand: Hundreds of trucks sitting unused

* More longhaul truckies needed on the road


-- There is a desperate shortage of long-haul truck drivers and the situation is only going to get worse, transport groups say. no caption. National Road Carriers - the association which represents the industry - said the average age was about 55, and drivers were not getting any younger... Statistics New Zealand figures showed the number of drivers increased only from 24,490 to 26,380 in the past decade... National Road Carriers chief executive David Aitken said hundreds of trucks were sitting unused in freight yards because of the shortage... He said the problem was not pay - the average wage for people with class five truck licences was about $30/hour - but rather a lack of people progressing through the licensing system... Robert Reid, the general secretary of First Union, which represents drivers, said younger people on lower licences often could not afford the appropriate training. He said one solution would be for the government to subsidise that training... Mr Aitken said, the problem is about to get worse with the amount of freight predicted to grow up to 75 per cent in the next 20 to 30 years. And that the number of people getting their class 5 licences is not keeping up with increase in freight... National Road Carriers was working with the industry to devise a plan to make truck driving a more attractive job... 
(Photo: 123rf.com) -- Auckland, NZ - Radio NZ - 26 January 2016

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Dec 17, 2015

TRUCKING SAFETY * New Zealand: Truck drivers should have to do something in return for getting an easier life

* Trucking changes should come with safety caveat, says AA

-- The government wants to increase the size of trucks on the roads... The proposals include raising the gross weight on eight-axle vehicles from 44 to 45 tonnes, and making it easier for trucks with more axles to carry up to 50 tonnes of weight... Car transporters will be allowed to increase from 36 to 38 tonnes all up. Trucks will also be allowed to be slightly higher and wider... The aim is to boost efficiency in the trucking sector... If truck drivers want to benefit from improved efficiencies they should be forced to improve the safety of their vehicles as a condition, the Automobile Association (AA) says... 
(Photo: Tree trunks on a logging truck on 29 August 2013 in Kaitaia, Northland)  --  Wellington, NZ - Radio New Zealand - 10 December 2015

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Jul 4, 2013

TRUCKING INDUSTRY * Australia & New Zealand

* Australia - Regulation crimps trucking productivity gains 

(Photo: Rob Homer - Critics of trucking industry regulation suggest new regulations have eaten away the benefits delivered by improvements over the past two decades to technology and innovation) 
Canberra,ACT,Australia -Financial Review, by Andrew Birmingham -2 Jul 2013: -- While the trucking industry has embraced many imposed changes such as cleaner but more expensive fuel, new government proposals around mass-distance-location pricing threaten to create new charges reaching half a billion dollars for the sector ...  According to a discussion paper published by the Australian Trucking Association in the run-up to the election: “Trucks would be fitted with regulatory GPS devices and trucking operators would receive invoices based on the distance their trucks travelled, the roads they used and some sort of assessment of their mass” ... The ATA has called on both sides of politics to abandon the policy unless a business case can be proven. Instead, Stuart St Clair, chief executive officer of the Australian Trucking Association argues, the industry and the economy would be better served if the government abandoned the mass-distance-location pricing model along the high registration fees it charges the trucking sector and instead switched its emphasis to increasing fuel charges... Although technology and innovation had delivered significant productivity gains for the trucking industry over the past two decades, new regulations have basically eaten away any benefits those innovations provided, he said...


* New Zealand - Trucks mobilise on tax

Auckland,NZ -The Land, by Penelope Kilby -29 Jun, 2013: -- The trucking industry is campaigning against measures to extend the carbon tax...  The trucking industry is campaigning against measures to extend the carbon tax... The discussion of the carbon tax’s effect on the heavy vehicle industry has resurfaced, and industry heavyweights are weighing in. The Australian Trucking Associations’s Chairman, David Simon, said the association was focusing on the carbon tax and its effect on the transport industry... He said the Labor government planned to extend its carbon tax to fuel used by the trucking industry, and that trucking operators would pay almost seven cents a litre extra in fuel tax from July 1, 2014... “The Labor government’s plan to extend its carbon tax to truck fuel would cause more small trucking businesses to close,” Mr Simon said. "This would cost the industry more than half a billion dollars in the first year. Most trucking businesses do not have the market power to increase their freight rates to cover the cost of the tax and operate on very tight margins as it is” ... Mr Simon called on the Labor government to drop its plan to extend the carbon tax to truck fuel...

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May 8, 2013

* Australia - Draconian new penalties for overheight trucks stuck tunnels

* NSW - Slaps new penalties on errant trucks

(Photo: Big trucks on windy, steep roads) 
Sydney,NSW,Australia -The Australian, by MARK COULTAN -May 01, 2013: -- Heavy vehicles that ignore warning signs and enter tunnels or cross under bridges that are too low for their loads face draconian new penalties; , the NSW government has announced... A frustrated Roads Minister, Duncan Gay, said that from the end of June trucks would face loss of their registration for up to three months... At the entrance of many Sydney tunnels there are already warning barriers and signs about height restrictions. There have been a series of incidents in which overheight trucks were stuck in tunnels, causing major traffic jams in the road network... The penalties will also apply on roads where there are restrictions on the length of vehicles, such as Galston Gorge, northwest of Sydney, where long vehicles have wedged around hairpin bends...


* Australia - Truck industry prepares for lawsuit over Range debacle 

(Photo: Dave Noonan - Transport operators are considering a class action law suit over revenue loss caused by road works on the Toowoomba Range) 
Brisbane,QLD,Australia -The Chronicle, by Chris Calcino -3 May 2013: -- Transport companies that use the Toowoomba Range are working towards filing a joint class action against the Department of Transport and Main Roads. The lawsuit, an attempt to recoup income losses caused by delays and blockages, is still in its infant stages. Transport Workers Union regional organiser, Brendan Bogle, said the industry could not survive a year of haemorrhaged revenue... Mr Bogle called for round-table discussions about making the Toowoomba Range exclusively accessible by the transport industry until a better solution could be found...

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Apr 27, 2009

TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * Australia - Lindsay Australia to grow despite recession

Brisbane,QNLD,AUST -QBR, by Michael House -28 April 2009: -- Queensland trucking, logistics and supply chain operator Lindsay Australia has announced it expects a massive rise in profits of over 50 percent at the end of the financial year... The company has projected a full year consolidated after tax profit of between $3.6 million and $4.1 million, thumbing its nose at the global financial crisis... Despite sections of the industry experiencing a credit shortage and a fall in growth, Lindsay expects to build upon its $2 million profit announced for the same period last year... Lindsay Chief Financial Officer Graham Johnston says while it is difficult to forecast such a prediction given the global financial crisis, it is based on the businesses trends over the last nine months...


* Government cuts speed limit on highway

Brisbane,QNLD,AUST -ATN -28 April 2009: -- The Queensland Government will reduce the speed limit on a key road freight route in an effort to slash the number of accidents... As part of a number of safety initiatives being undertaken by the Department of Main Roads, the speed limit on the Mount Lindesay Highway will be revised from 100km/h to 90km/h... The 10km/h drop follows an analysis of the highway, which determined a drop in speed would cut the likelihood of accidents...(Picture from 4.bp.blogspot.com)

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Jun 26, 2008

TRUCKING INDUSTRY * Australia & New Zealand

* Australia - Suffering under high costs

Sydney,VIC,AUST -Supply Chain Review -June 26, 2008: -- Trucking operators and owner-drivers are in danger of being forced out of business as running costs rise and customers refuse to pay levies, the Victorian Transport Association (VTA) warns... VTA Chief Executive Phil Lovel says many in the industry are struggling to maintain costs between the period of purchasing fuel and waiting for the levies to be paid... He says delays are impacting heavily on the financial viability of small to medium companies to the point where prime contractors are being forced to provide funds just to keep drivers afloat... This, he adds, is exacerbated by companies refusing to compensate operators and owner-drivers for rate increases. Although the Australian Trucking Association (ATA) argues trucking companies can stay viable by simply adjusting their fuel levies, Lovel says it is not as easy as it sounds as not all clients accept greater charges...


* New Zealand - Express carrier Hills bought by state-owned NZ Post

Auckland,NZ -Supply Chain Review -June 18, 2008: -- The government-owned New Zealand Post is expanding its Australian express business with the acquisition of Sydney-based carrier Hills Transport... SupplyChain Review understands a deal to absorb Hills as a wholly-owned subsidiary will be announced within days. The deal is expected to go through on July 7...

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