When British truck drivers think of Australian logistics, what do you reckon comes to mind? Road trains thundering through the Outback, kicking up red dust as they haul freight across endless highways.
We’ve got Outback Truckers to thank for that image, just like you might picture us Brits sipping tea and eating fish and chips in the rain.
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But as I found out on a recent trip Down Under, while those 50m monsters are certainly iconic, they’re only part of the story. What really surprised me was just how urbanised Australia is.
Over 80 per cent of the population lives along the east coast, and most of the freight runs between cities like Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
I was lucky enough to hit the road for a 1,600km run from Brisbane to Melbourne. First up was a Volvo FH Aero 500 with I-Save. At the halfway mark in Sydney, we swapped it for something with more muscle: the FH16 780.
Then over on the west coast, I rode shotgun in a Cropline FH16 780 from Perth to Newman — 1,200km hauling 100 tonnes of ammonium nitrate in a 36.5m road train.
From that time behind the wheel, and in the passenger seat, I’ve come away with a fresh perspective on how trucking is done in Australia. And in many ways, I reckon you’ve got it right.
Back home, we’re currently obsessed with zero-tailpipe-emission trucking – electrification, hydrogen, you name it – even though most hauliers aren’t exactly crying out for electric trucks. Meanwhile, Australia’s approach to cutting carbon is far more practical: high-productivity vehicles.
Take the B-double. In the UK, with a few exceptions, trailers are limited to 13.6m, and the maximum GVW is 44 tonnes on six axles. That’s it.
Your approach makes far more sense – move more freight with fewer trucks. Much of Europe is starting to catch on, with 25.25m combinations allowed in several countries. But the UK still won’t budge.
And yet, as I discovered while navigating roundabouts in Coffs Harbour, the B-double follows beautifully. The outfit tracks perfectly through corners. If it works in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, there’s no reason it couldn’t work in the UK. Well, apart from our truck parks, most of which are already bursting at the seams.
Then there’s drivers’ hours. In the UK, we’re limited to a maximum of nine hours driving a day, extendable to 10 hours no more than twice a week, and a weekly maximum of 56 hours driving.
Over any two consecutive weeks, driving must not exceed 90 hours in total. After 4.5 hours of driving, we must take a minimum 45-minute break. It’s all very structured, and enforced via digital tachographs.
In Australia, things seem a bit more flexible, at least on the east coast, where you can legally drive for 12 hours a day, or 14 with an extended work diary. That struck me as pretty sensible, especially given the long distances involved.
But on the west coast, I found that things are different. The driver I travelled with, Brinley Lewis, could legally do 17-hour days, 12 days in a row. That feels excessive, but there’s hardly any traffic out there, and the driving is far less intense. What I did find confusing is how the rules vary across the country.
You probably won’t all agree with me on this, but I reckon Australian car drivers are better around trucks than in the UK. From what I saw, there’s more awareness, and more patience. They give you space when you need it, they don’t sit in your blind spot forever, and they seem to get what you’re trying to do.
That sort of attitude makes a huge difference, especially when you’re running at 60 tonnes and 26m. It’s not perfect, of course, but overall I’d take Aussie car drivers over British ones any day.
