HAULING FUEL in the Northern Territory is all about quantity and distance. So when John Fraser and his wife Leonie were assigned to providing the haulage needs for IOR Petroleum, they decided on the Volvo brand.
Based in Katherine, John and Leonie operate a 2013 Volvo FH16 10×4 Globetrotter as well as an FH16 8×4 Globetrotter XXL prime mover. Both have big grunt — 700hp (522kW) to be exact.
John drives the 10×4 and has opted for the 5-axle body truck to give him the same capacity as a quad without the limitations and registration costs that a quad incurs.
“When delivering out in the bush, the trailers can be swapped around,” John explains. “With this combination when you’re unhooking, you’re always leaving tankers on their dollies, eliminating the chance of dropping loaded trailers on their legs.
“Any trailer can go in any position; it gives you the ultimate in flexibility.”
Owner//Driver caught up with John in his Katherine yard before they were setting out to Darwin to load. John wasn’t in any big hurry, however. It was the middle of the day and there wasn’t any rush to be in the northern capital.
“I’ll wait until 5pm or 6pm and go up in the cool of the evening,” he says.
“I load when it’s not quite so busy and then return home at night when it’s nice and cool. It’s easier on me, the truck and the tyres.”
Operating road trains in the ‘top end’ can take a toll on rubber. John runs new tyres and keeps a large stock, around 60 tyres and 45 rims. It’s a large inventory but driving a road train with 78 tyres, it’s not excessive.
“Whenever it looks necessary, the tyres are changed over. Preventative maintenance is essential with tyres,” John says.
“We don’t let them get to the stage where they can get you into trouble.”
John’s Volvo grosses 164 tonnes and he’s very happy with its performance.
“It’s a big effort; tri-axle dollies are a big effort to pull. But the Volvo has real horsepower and the torque is certainly there.
“A body truck and three trailers is old school technology, but it works well for us. You can stick it up on 92 to 93km/h and it will do it.”
BIG SPREAD
It’s John’s job to look after all the tanks in Katherine, Darwin, Daly Waters, Renner Springs, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs and Kununurra, in addition to service stations and cattle stations in the Territory and Western Australia.
John says he would have preferred the 5 inches (12.7cm) longer XXL cab, but it’s a case of getting as much weight over the front axle as possible.
“I needed to get the weight forward. The 5 to 6 inches does make a difference inside the cab. It’s a very big cab.
“It certainly has the height, but I tend to sleep lying down,” John laughs.
“Who needs a block of flats when I only need a bedroom?”
One particular peculiarity on the 10×4 Volvo is the large number of tool boxes. As John explains, that’s where he stores the fittings and couplings for all the tanks and safety equipment.
“I don’t like rattles or anything rattling, so I don’t put the tools in the truck lockers.”
Another distinguishing feature is the signwriting, which was done with reflecting tape.
“By having the reflective signwriting, it gets me into mine sites without the need for too much reflecting yellow,” John says.
Despite running an extremely professional operation, John is a relative newcomer to driving trucks. He started in the livestock business but after 30 years decided to get into transporting fuel.
John had always been working in and around trucks, fitting trays and occasionally getting behind the wheel, so he jumped when the opportunity came to buy his first fuel haulage truck, a specially imported 130-tonne-rated Sterling.
Originally from the Queensland town of Winton, he moved to the Territory to start his own agency business around 12 years ago.
“I got out of the agency business when the export of cattle became too hard. I decided to get into trucks full time and began with IOR six years ago with one truck and a trailer,” John recalls.
As IOR grew, so did John’s workload. A second trailer and then a third. A B-double joined the fleet next and he later bought his first Volvo, a 600hp (447kW) FH16.
Leonie runs the office in Katherine, which is on an old Road Trains of Australia (RTA) yard where the IOR distribution tanks are situated.
Tucked away in the depot among the tyres and looking slightly out of place is an LTL Ford day cab.
“I’ve always had a soft spot for the LTLs, so I bought this from down south and am going to bling it up,” John laughs.
“At first it was going to be the yard truck but it will become a bling truck.”
John is fairly sure the LTL is a ‘Kentucky’ as it has the red diamond interior and is about the right vintage.John is quick to point out it was his suggestion for IOR to raise its profile with an advertising campaign in Owner//Driver.“I thought you can’t get to everywhere and IOR is getting more response from those ads than anywhere else,” John says.“That’s all good for me and they are great to work for, and it is very good work. It’s a big win for us.” ■