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The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has launched a new tool that gives operators direct visibility of their compliance performance.

For the first time, operators will be able to access intercept and non-compliance data relating to their fleet, supporting more proactive, informed safety and compliance management.

Available through NHVR Go, the new Intercept Outcomes Tool allows accredited operators to view details of NHVR-conducted intercepts and outcomes involving vehicles linked to their account, regardless of the interception outcome.

It provides information including vehicle registration number, VIN or chassis number, and where available, the vehicle make and model.

Operators can also view date and time of intercepts, state location and offence category if an offence is detected.

All information is de-identified to protect driver privacy, with NHVR-issued compliance data updated every 24 hours to ensure operators are working with accurate, current information.

This use is voluntary and free of charge and will not replace paper-based notices or record keeping requirements.

Access is available to National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme accredited operators as part of a staged rollout. There will be broader industry access later in 2026.

NHVR Chief Operations Officer Paul Salvati said the new Intercept Outcomes Tool was a first for the regulator and marked a significant step forward in supporting industry-led compliance.

“Working in the heavy vehicle industry can be a challenging and demanding task, meaning timely, relevant information is critical,” he said.

“By sharing data collected during intercepts, operators can identify trends and patterns of non-compliance across their operations earlier – and importantly, take action.

“We want to empower industry through the sharing of information to self-manage their compliance performance, while providing timely visibility of enforcement actions that may otherwise be delayed or not known to operators.

Salvati said it is a service designed to support industry, with access to this information supporting safer, more productive business practices and supports freight operators to meet their primary duty obligations under the Heavy Vehicle National Law.

The post NHVR releases tool showing full details of intercepts and outcomes appeared first on Big Rigs.

With a legacy spanning over 75 years, John L. Pierce (JLP) Transport has made quite an impact within the Australian transport industry.

The company was founded in 1949 by John Lambert Pierce with just a single truck and an ambitious vision to set the standard in road transport. It has since progressed into a large-scale interstate operation serving a wide range of Australian fuel suppliers with a fleet of 120 trailer combinations and three depots across New South Wales and Queensland.

JLP Transport is now a name that is trusted by a wide range of blue-chip clients in the petroleum, energy and industrial sectors who all share one common commitment – to achieve the highest standards when it comes to safety, compliance and operational reliability.

“JLP has been involved in transport for generations,” says JLP National Fleet Manager, Evan Jones. “The Pierce family is very committed to the transport industry.As a family-orientated business, they are very conscious of what they do and how to do it safely.”

JLP’s competitive advantage is underpinned by the strength of its in-house capabilities and a track record of performance over many years. An uncompromising approach to safety and compliance has led to various fleet maintenance and workshop training programs that are well-recognised to this day.

Throughout its 77 years of existence, JLP Transport has developed a deep understanding of the mechanics of tanker fleet operations and maintenance practices. The fleet has also developed a proven design and specification for its vehicles by partnering with key suppliers.

Custom 26m B-triples, for example, are employed to maximise payloads and retain flexible access. Unique ‘tight entry’ semi-trailers, on the other hand, are utilised for urban environments and sites with constrained access.

JLP Transport’s most recent trailer order added three Hockney & Co aluminium tri-axle tankers to the latter. The delivery was a revolutionary achievement, with the units being the first Hockney & Co aluminium barrel tankers built in super single configurations.

“We saw the need to purchase another three tankers in the middle of last year,” Evan explains. “We decided to introduce another three tankers into the fleet as additional resources due to the recent growth of the business.

“We bought a Holmwood Highgate tanker back in 2019 which has been fault-free to date. We knew they could build a quality tank based on what we had seen, so they got the nod for these three additions.”

The process was completed with ultimate transparency from start to finish, with JLP Transport being directly involved in the entire production of the tankers. First, Evan was able to visit Holmwood Highgate’s factory in Melbourne, Victoria, to look at some new tankers that had just arrived. Then, after finalising his order, he received the opportunity to travel to Thailand with Wayne Sloane from Holmwood Highgate and Alex Beckov from Hockney & Co to inspect JLP’s tankers as they were being manufactured.

“I was able to view the tankers coming down the production line and get a really close look at them,” he recalls. “I saw the build quality and fabrication of the tanks prior to them being painted, which was invaluable.

“I was also able to make modifications to the tankers while they were on the factory line. I suggested a few changes to Hockney and Holmwood, and by the time we returned the following day, they had been made. It was very seamless because they were both interested in what we thought of the tankers and how they would fit into our fleet.”

The end result was three remarkable tankers tailored to JLP Transport’s exact requirements.

“Holmwood Highgate and Hockney & Co did a terrific job,” Evan says. “We are very happy with the end product.”

Since arriving in Sydney, the three tri-axle tankers have been put to work transporting bulk liquids for JLP Transport’s major customers. Evan says they have already made a great impression at the business.

“The drivers are very happy with these trailers,” he says. “They’re only new into the fleet, but the feedback has been very positive.”

Ease of use has been a big advantage. The ‘tight-entry’ tankers are considerably shorter than a typical semi, making them very easy to manoeuvre, especially in tight areas.

“A lot of the service stations we go into are very tight and tricky to navigate,” Evan explains. “But we’ve found that these units are really good at getting around them.”

The tankers feature Hendrickson suspension, Liquip compartment equipment and Camozzi control boxes – features that are all common within the JLP fleet.

With an impressive tare weight of just over six tonnes, the units maintain solid payload figures for the fleet. They’re also backed by Holmwood Highgate’s warranty which gives JLP Transport further confidence in the product beyond the extreme quality it already possesses.

“The tanker structure and build are of very high quality,” Evan says.

Furthermore, the Hockney & Co tankers are supported by Holmwood Highgate’s renowned aftersales service which Evan describes as “too good”.

“Wayne Sloane from Holmwood has been absolutely terrific,” Evan says. “He’s had a close relationship with JLP ever since the ‘80s when he sold general trailers to us. He has continued to see us over the years, and he’s never walked in the door expecting to make a sale. That level of service shows just how much Holmwood cares about us.

“We also have regular phone calls with Brendan Pontes in Melbourne about how the tankers are performing, and I’ve had plenty of discussions with Alex following our visit to Thailand. It’s these factors which give us a lot of confidence in Holmwood Highgate and Hockney & Co.”

Fast fact

In the 1950s, John Lambert Pierce collaborated with Dulux to develop a custom high visibility colour which was known as ‘The Pierce Green’ shade. This was applied on all of JLP Transport’s trucks to improve on-road safety, particularly at dawn and dusk, long before high visibility signage became the norm.

The post JLP Transport deploys milestone Hockney & Co tankers appeared first on Trailer Magazine.

A leading operator has warned the federal government’s fuel relief measures will do little to ease the immediate pain gripping the transport sector.

Ross Transport boss True Ross-Sawrey said the changes were “a step forward” but fell well short of what operators need right now with cash flow pressures, weak fuel levy recovery and rising costs continuing to bite.

“It’s obviously a step forward. It’s better than nothing, yes, but my personal opinion is it’s still not going to provide much relief to the now,” Ross-Sawrey said.

“I think more still needs to be done.”

She said reductions in the fuel tax at the bowser for the next three months will have an immediate and welcome impact.

But the scrapping of the road user charge (RUC) of 32.4 cpl for the same period won’t be felt until most operators file their first business activity statements (BAS) in mid-May.

“We still have to make it through another 30 days or 45 days before we’ll get that [FTC],” Ross-Sawrey said.

She added that conversations around fuel levies are becoming harder as customers themselves struggle, with payment terms stretching out and cash flow tightening across the supply chain. Ross-Sawrey said a lot of customers have gone as far as asking to have the levies removed altogether.

“A lot of have also already moved their payment terms, a lot from 30 to 45 days, which is understandable, everyone is struggling, but it’s just really unhelpful.”

The scale of the cost blowout is stark. Ross-Sawrey revealed her business, which runs about 55 trucks, absorbed an additional $550,000 in fuel costs over March.

“We’re looking at about $30,000 a day, give or take,” she said.

Ross-Sawrey said Ross Transport’s average fuel levy through March was hovering around 20 per cent and moved to 33 per cent as of March 30.

But that still means that Ross Transport is absorbing most of the increased diesel costs, particularly with the bigger customers who set the fuel levy for them.

All through March, one major customer’s levy was fixed at just 0.68 per cent and it wouldn’t budge, said Ross-Sawrey.

“They refused to move it until April 1 so roughly $400,000 of our income is on a 0.68 per cent fuel levy for March.”

While grateful for some relief at the bowser for the next three months, Ross-Sawrey is adamant that more aggressive intervention is needed, including backdating the road user charge relief and broader financial support.

“I still think that they needed to put a pause on people’s loans, they did do that through Covid,” she said.

“I think we’re facing the inevitable, that disaster relief payments are going to have to come.”

Small Blue Mountains operator David Bailey said the federal government’s latest fuel relief measures may buy him time, but not enough to fix the underlying crisis gripping the industry.

Bailey, who runs the two-truck operation Bailey Brothers Haulage, described the announcement of a fuel excise reduction as offering only limited short-term relief.

“It will give us a little bit of breathing room, not much, but it will be helpful,” said Bailey, who wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers pleading for help in the days prior to the three-month reprieve.

“It doesn’t put so much of a strain on cash flow.”

However, he made it clear the timing of the relief does little to address immediate pressures, particularly existing fuel bills.

He revealed the extent of the financial strain, explaining he has been forced to wind back long-standing business practices to preserve cash.

“I’ve always tried to operate where all my vehicles have got 12 months rego. At this point in time, I’ve had to reduce it back down to three.

“That’s how much it’s affected the cash reserves that we had.”

Bailey said the announcement may have delayed the worst, but only marginally.

“It might give us a month; it’s brought us a little bit of time,” he said.

A major concern remains whether customers will accept rising fuel levies, with Bailey warning many are already pushing back.

The post Relief falls short as diesel costs soar for trucking industry appeared first on Big Rigs.

Early works have begun for the construction of Rockhampton’s third river crossing as a part of the $1.98 billion Rockhampton Ring Road project.

The new 435-metre-long bridge will be built across Queensland’s Fitzroy River, between Pink Lily and Parkhurst, about 4.5km upstream of the Fitzroy River Barrage.

To safely construct the new four-lane bridge, a temporary bridge will be built upstream of the new crossing alignment, as a work platform. It will be anchored with 40 steel piles and 20 piers, with a deck made from precast concrete components.

Previously used for Hobart’s New Bridgewater Bridge, the steel components were delivered via 120 loads from Gladstone Port to Rockhampton in late 2025.

Construction of a compacted gravel pad and access track on the Pink Lily side of the river is nearing completion. Once piling on the land-based bridge approaches is complete, the sequential construction of the 270-metre-long and 12.5-metre-wide pile-driven temporary bridge will begin.

A 250-metre section of the river between Pink Lily and Parkhurst, 4.5 kilometres upriver of the Fitzroy River Barrage, will be designated a temporarily exclusion zone to all river traffic. Vessels will be prohibited from anchoring, berthing, mooring, operating or conducting any activity in this area.

Yellow buoys with flashing lights and signage at boat ramps will mark the zone. No vessels will be allowed through during the full exclusion period. The bridge will sit less than two metres above the waterline.

Transport and Main Roads Regional Director (Central Queensland) Dave Grosse said the Rockhampton Ring Road was an important infrastructure investment for the Central Queensland region.

“The commencement of early works for the new crossing of the Fitzroy River is a significant step toward delivering a project that will transform how people and goods move through Central Queensland,” Grosse said.

“The temporary bridge demonstrates how the project is utilising sustainable solutions and existing resources to deliver critical infrastructure. It’s a great example of repurposing assets to construct the third river crossing over the Fitzroy River.

“We understand the temporary exclusion zone in the Fitzroy River, between Pink Lily and Parkhurst may cause some inconvenience for river users, but safety is a top priority for the public, the joint venture contractor and the Queensland Government.”

Access for emergency response will be provided at all times.

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This May, Truck Week will shine a light on the people, technology and businesses that keep Australia supplied.

That includes you.

It’s an opportunity to recognise the role you play –  alongside hundreds of thousands of others across the country – in supporting communities and keeping the national economy moving.

It’s also an opportunity to tell that story a little more clearly.

When the industry is understood in terms of the freight task it performs – enabling the industries that make up the major pillars of Australia’s economy – the conversation changes.

The discussion isn’t only about transport.

Across Australia, trucks are on the move every day – heading for farms, factories, construction sites, ports, warehouses and regional communities.

And it doesn’t start or finish on the road. This is an industry that stretches across depots, warehouses, workshops and factories – with tens of thousands more people behind the scenes loading, maintaining, planning and supporting the freight task every day.

For those of you behind the wheel, it’s simply the job. Another load. Another run. Another day keeping the freight task moving.

No fuss. Just getting it done.

But take a step back for a moment and look at the bigger picture.

The scale of what you’re part of, day in, day out, is extraordinary.

The road freight industry is usually measured in terms of the services it sells, the direct economic activity generated moving freight across Australia each year.

Yet that figure only tells a small part of the story.

Because while the Australian road freight industry generates billions every year, the freight task it performs underpins industries worth trillions.

Together these sectors represent the lion’s share of Australia’s $2.5-trillion economy; and every one of them depends on trucks moving goods every day.

We’re not telling you anything you don’t already know. Almost everything in Australia moves by truck at some point in its journey.

It’s a system that operates so reliably that most Australians barely notice it.

But step back and look at it as a whole.

Every day, hundreds of thousands of heavy vehicle movements take place across Australia, delivering the goods that keep businesses operating and communities supplied.

Those movements are happening simultaneously across every state and territory, every day of the year.

In many ways the freight system functions like the bloodstream of the economy, constantly circulating the goods that keep businesses operating and communities supplied.

When that system flows smoothly, the economy works.

And that system runs because of the people behind the wheel, the operators planning the freight task, and the businesses that keep the industry moving.

That doesn’t mean asking for special treatment.

The road freight industry operates large vehicles on public roads and depends on a strong social licence in order to do so.

Safety, community impact and environmental responsibility will always be central to the industry’s role in Australian life.

But recognition matters.

Because what this industry does, every day, without much fuss, keeps the country supplied.

It’s a task that connects all of those systems, keeping the goods moving and making modern life possible.

It’s something the industry has always known.

Perhaps it’s time the rest of the country recognised it too.

And that’s exactly what Truck Week from May 11-18 is all about.

With Truck Week 2026 just around the corner, there are plenty of ways to get involved. You might be running something at your depot, catching up with others in the industry, or simply taking the time to recognise the people around you.

If you’re looking for something to be part of, check out what’s happening near you. There are events taking place right across the country, and more being added all the time.

Truck Week 2026 runs from May 11-18. Find out more at truckweek.com.au.

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