Don Watson Transport has entrusted the sale of its fleet of truck and trailers to new auction partner Manheim Industrial Australia. Following the announcement of its closure in June, Don Watson’s 130 heavy-duty trucks, 170 trailers and 10 rigids will be up for auction. All decals will be removed and the trucks will be repainted […]
Don Watson fleet up for auction appeared first on PowerTorque.
Truck manufacturer Pure Hydrogen has delivered a Taurus hydrogen fuel cell prime mover to Victorian regional urban water corporation Barwon Water. The prime mover was handed over at Barwon Water’s Geelong facility last week as a part of a 2024 sales agreement. SUBSCRIBE to the PowerTorque newsletter Barwon Water says the truck will play a […]
Pure Hydrogen delivers latest prime mover appeared first on PowerTorque.
A beautiful sunset pic snapped at the Brisbane port.
We’ll choose a pic to appear in our Facebook cover slot, and will publish some of the best pics in our upcoming print edition of Big Rigs where you now also have a chance to win a $500 Shell Coles Express Gift Card.
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The post #PicOfTheDay – Brenton Edwards appeared first on Big Rigs.
After a driver entered a heavy vehicle safety inspection site due to concerns with the truck, it was found to have a loose pitman arm on the steering box.
The truck was inspected by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s (NHVR) Safety and Compliance Officers.
“This type of defect can create loose or unresponsive steering, that can cause a vehicle to wander, drift or in severe cases lose control,” the NHVR said.
An NHVR spokesperson said, “A defect notice was issued to allow the driver to return to the depot, however the heavy vehicle could not move beyond that point until the defect was rectified.
“NHVR Safety and Compliance officers did not issue an infringement notice to the driver or company.”
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With the end of financial year on Monday, the National Heavy Vehicle Regular (NHVR) is reminding drivers and operators that fine and fee prices will increase the next day.
NHVR access permit fees will increase by $3 and the cost of a National Driver Work Diary will increase by $1 from July 1, up from $30 to $31.
Fees will also increase for National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme modules, Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) penalties and fines, in line with the consumer price index, said the regulator.
There is no charge for a Performance-Based Standards scheme application. There is a $88 charge for a PBS vehicle access permit application.
A full HVNL schedule of infringement penalties and demerit points for the new financial year can be found here.
Here is a breakdown of what else is going up from Tuesday.
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The post Regulator reminds truckies of fee and fine increases appeared first on Big Rigs.
A flashy green Kenworth driven by Shane Mitchell, 38, may look good, but it’s been over some of the roughest and toughest roads in Australia.
Based at Wodonga, just over the NSW border in Victoria, Shane was hooking up a trailer when Big Rigs saw him at random in Far North Queensland.
“The truck may be as pretty as a picture but some of the rough roads it has been over include the Tanami Track in the NT and the Peninsula Development Road in far north Queensland,” he said.
Shane had delivered pipes from Brisbane to Townsville and was ready to take scrap down south.
He’s been a driver for 18 years, including the past decade spent with Dawson’s Haulage out of Wodonga.
“This is the best company I have worked for and I wouldn’t want to be with anyone else. They treat me very well,” Shane said.
On his travel, Shane says his favourite roadhouses are at Daly Waters and Stuart Wells – both in the Northern Territory.
Outside work, Shane’s hobbies include watching air shows and travelling overseas.
“I have been to the US and New Zealand many times,” he said.
Regarding sport, Shane follows the New Zealand All Blacks in rugby union and the Newcastle Knights in the NRL.
Having also travelled extensively around Australia I asked Shane where were his preferences. “I love anywhere in the Northern Territory,” he said.
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The post Long-time truckie tackles the toughest terrain appeared first on Big Rigs.
The 2025 Women in Industry Awards have recognised and celebrated some of the most inspiring and accomplished women working across Australia’s manufacturing, mining, engineering, transport, energy, and construction sectors. Presented at a gala evening on Thursday 19 June at The Carousel in Melbourne, the awards brought together industry leaders, innovators, and advocates to honour the […]
2025 Women in Industry winners revealed appeared first on PowerTorque.
Speaking to the Australian trucking media in Darwin recently, Hino Australia President and CEO Richard Emery suggested that Hino’s success with the 300 Series could lead to a hybrid 700 Series.
“Diesel powertrains in trucks will remain the pre-eminent solution in the Australian trucking industry beyond 2030,” he said.
“We believe Hybrid Electric will remain the only high volume, lower-emission truck in Australia over the next decade.”
Pushed on whether we would see larger trucks like the 700 Series using the Hino hybrid powertrain, Emery said he’d love to see it.
However, he said it came down to resources in Japan: “Once again, we’re having to prioritise what’s important to us in terms of engineering resources in Japan. Obviously, we want 300 (Euro 6) done quickly, 500 (Euro 6) done quickly. The truth is, there is a priority list.”
But it seems likely that a hybrid 700 Series is not far down that list.
“Yes, it’s what we want to do,” Emery said. “We have customers who are interested in 700 Series Hybrid, but conventional diesel in Euro 6 form is a priority for us at the moment.”
Speaking at the same event, Hino’s Daniel Petrovski, Department Manager – Product Strategy, delved even further into the Hino trucks of the future.
“For bigger, heavier vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles would be the way of the future for that area because of the energy density of hydrogen fuel versus battery electric, and that energy density is something like 100 times more in a kilo of hydrogen than in a kilo of batteries. It’s a simple calculation. Payload is king with operators,” Petrovski said.
“BEV has a place in those short-haul operations where payload is not as critical. And hybrid electric can play right across that range.
“Diesel will be here for a long time, 2030 and beyond, (in) 2050 we’ll still have diesel trucks. Will they be assisted by hybrid? In most cases, yes. They’ll have some type of electrification; that’s our road map out to 2050.”
Petrovski said BEV makes sense in Japan where most of the 300 Series Dutro electric vans are doing around 50 kilometres per day.
“In fact, our parent company HML can’t get enough Dutros to satisfy the market,” he said.
“It also makes sense in Japan where they have a great electrical infrastructure. They have nuclear, and that’s a green solution for the BEVs, whereas we’re pumping coal electricity into our BEVs so there’s no environmental benefit in this market versus Japan.”
Obviously, if operators could get a prime mover with a hybrid powertrain like that in the 300 Series, there could be a big fuel saving.
Independent comparison tests have shown that in the 300 Series, fuel savings of better than 20 per cent are achievable with hybrid over standard diesel.
And who knows, with the merger of Daimler and Hino coming into effect on April 1 next year, we could see some of the big Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner trucks sporting hybrid powertrains.
It will be interesting to watch.
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Like a lot of blokes his age, retired truckie and military firefighter, Ray Boyle never gave any thought to the sobering fact that one-in-six Aussie men are diagnosed with prostate cancer.
But that all changed in a split second a couple of years back when a routine medical check-up dug a little deeper into possible causes for his elevated blood pressure.
After a CT scan, Ray got the harrowing news no one wants to hear.
“The doctor looked at the screen and said, ‘See that there?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘That’s not good.’ You could have shot me on the spot.”
After undergoing a biopsy and weighing his treatment options, Ray opted for cyber radiation — a high-intensity, five-session approach.
“They put like gold nuggets in your prostate that they need to target… and zap you,” he said. “Touch wood, I had my test the other day, and my bloods are nearly back to how they should be.”
Ray, who had a second more recent health scare when a giant kidney stone flared while holidaying in Japan, is now determined to turn his setbacks into something positive.
“I thought, what can I do this year? I need to get some excitement in my life,” said Ray, who is now 67.
On June 30 he sets off from his home in Encounter Bay in South Australia on his brand-new motorbike, a CFMoto 450MT for a 3500km, week-long ride across ‘the paddock’ to Perth, a journey he’s done dozens of times before in a truck cab.
Along the way he plans to stop off at Kadina, a Kimba Lions Club gathering where he is a guest speaker, and various truckies’ roadhouses, rattling the fundraising tin for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and sharing his story in the hope it will inspire others to follow his lead and get themselves checked.
Ray, who has had his MC licence for near on 50 years, has a long history as a truck driver around his stints in the military, including as an owner-driver for Edwards, carting the McDonald’s fries from Tullamarine to Blacktown in his ’79 Kenworth cabover.
He also drove for Refrigerated Roadways, Roadmaster Haulage for Denis Robertson, Bulls hauling from Adelaide to Darwin and for Langs over to Perth.
Ray reckons the long miles in the cab without proper sleep have finally caught up with him.
“You think you can go for days – but it just destroys you.
“I don’t think truckies are as bad as what they used to be with their health, but my message is, ‘If in doubt, get to the doctor’s’.
“King Charles and Joe Biden have a doctor in their back pocket and they both got prostate cancer, so what’s the chance of you and I also getting it?”
Ray also wants to send the message that testing today isn’t as invasive as it once used to be.
A simple blood test called a PSA (Prostate-specific antigen test) is all that’s needed as a starting point.
“If it’s up, then they’ll fly into you and start looking after you.”
To help Ray’s fundraising cause, you can visit his dedicated page at fundraise.pcfa.org.au/fundraisers/rayboyle, or visit the Prostate Cancer of Australia’s home page and search ‘Ray Boyle’.
“Every dollar I raise will be a game-changer for Aussie men and their families, providing vital funding for prostate cancer research, awareness and support.”
Ray’s has been overwhelmed by the support so far, which includes a helping hand from Sharon Middleton, co-owner of Adelaide-based Whiteline Transport and President of the South Australian Road Transport Association.
Ray said Sharon has generously offered to freight his motorbike back from Perth to Adelaide, free of charge.
“It’s great to see that there are lots of good people still in the road freight transport industry,” Ray said.
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The post Truckie’s big two-wheel ride to help save lives appeared first on Big Rigs.
The Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association (ALRTA) has outlined an ambitious agenda for the coming year, focusing on three major areas critical to the sustainability and progression of the rural transport sector – driver training, animal welfare and Performance-Based Standards (PBS).
This direction follows the success of the ALRTA’s and Livestock, Bulk and Rural Carriers Association’s (LBRCA) joint National Rural Carriers Conference held in Canberra in April which celebrated outstanding contributions from across the industry.
The conference itself highlighted excellence with a number of prestigious awards. Isaac Davis of Tasmania and Kyle Nicholas of South Australia were jointly awarded the Australian Trucking Association’s (ATA) Rising Star Award, recognising the next generation of transport professionals. Craig Congram of Finley, New South Wales, was honoured as the Kenworth Icon of the Road, while the Bruce McIver Award was presented posthumously in honour of Jack Mitchell from Western Australia for his lifetime of dedication to rural transport.
Pauline Kearney was recognised as the Rural Transport Woman of the Year and Joe Sepos was granted life membership of the LBRCA for his longstanding commitment to the industry.
Amidst the celebrations, the ALRTA announced its strategic focus areas for the year ahead:
1. Driver training
According to the ALRTA, rural and regional transport operators continue to face severe challenges in recruiting and retaining skilled drivers. The shortage is compounded by limited access to high-quality training in rural areas.
In response, the ALRTA is moving to establish a dedicated Rural Driver Training Academy.
“The proposed academy will support operators by delivering specialised training with a strong focus on livestock handling, bulk grain operations and heavy vehicle compliance,” says ALRTA Executive Director, Anthony Boyle. “The aim is to provide targeted education that meets the unique demands of rural freight transport while fostering career pathways and lifting industry standards.”
2. Animal welfare
With support from the ALRTA, the LBRCA is spearheading the development of a national animal welfare program. Designed to deliver end-to-end traceability and best-practice handling from paddock to plate, the initiative brings together input from farmers, animal rights groups, feedlots, saleyards, processors and government agencies.
“Animal welfare in livestock transport is not just an operational priority – it’s a public expectation,” says LBRCA President, Wade Lewis. “Increasing scrutiny from the community, industry stakeholders and regulators is driving the need for enhanced accountability across the supply chain.”
According to Lewis, this collaborative effort will cement Australia’s reputation for world-class standards in livestock transport while building trust and transparency within the broader community.
3. Performance-Based Standards and access reform
While PBS vehicles offer enormous benefits in terms of safety, productivity and environmental performance, inconsistent access regulations across state borders remain a significant hurdle.
According to the ALRTA, operators are often faced with a patchwork of policies which undermine the efficiency and viability of PBS investments. That being said, the association has convened a specialist committee to address the growing concerns around PBS access and national uniformity.
With a particular focus on the eastern transport corridor, the ALRTA will use robust data to advocate for improved cooperation among road managers and consistent treatment of high-productivity vehicle configurations. The goal, ALRTA President, Gerard Johnson, says, is to unlock safer and more efficient freight movement across jurisdictions.
“The ALRTA remains committed to supporting rural and regional transporters through practical solutions, industry leadership and constructive engagement with all levels of government and the broader supply chain,” he says.
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