Last year CEVA Logistics opened its first temperature controlled facility at Kemp’s Creek, near where the new Western Sydney Airport will soon be operational.
The 34,000m² site will handle an array of temperature-sensitive goods starting with pharmaceuticals and chocolate.
Part of a long-term strategic vision to acquire real estate in key business areas, Kemp’s Creek is just one facility in the expanding property portfolio of a business that operates over 200 sites nationally.
According to Michael Harich, CEVA Contract Logistics Vice President, Pacific, the site has joined existing premises in Minchinbury, Erskine Park and Orchard Hills as the company actively increases its footprint in one of the nation’s major growth corridors.
“CEVA has been very active, adding more than 50,000m² in new facilities annually in recent years,” he says.
“That’s all been part of a long-term real estate strategy whereby we’ve invested in new sites, closed down some old facilities and upgraded existing facilities.”
The full scope of the investment in Western Sydney will be made apparent with the subsequent completion of two new warehouses in Erskine Park in early 2025.
Logistics being a task inherently reliant on situational awareness, proximity to key transportation routes, namely, in the case of Kemp’s Creek the M4 and M7 motorways, is of crucial importance when planning years in advance.
“Kemp’s Creek helps expand the portfolio of customers that have traditionally been automotive and industrialised goods,” says Michael.
“Our logistics cluster in the Western Sydney will better serve our customers in the region while providing our vehicles the best access to what is now a considerable distribution network.”
As a specialist in fast-moving consumer goods logistics, CEVA commands a fully resourced network that enables it to service the entirety of the continent.
With a fleet of over 500 vehicles at its disposal in Australia, CEVA Logistics relies on a significant subcontractor network to actively handle the regional destinations while the company-owned fleet of some 30 prime movers operate chiefly on established freight routes between major cities.
“In the last five years CEVA has made significant investments in linehaul vehicles, predominantly made up of Scania R 540s and the Mercedes-Benz Actros 2653,” says Ezzat Haddara, CEVA Ground Transport Vice President.
The Scania prime movers are mostly used for point-to-point direct runs while the Mercedes-Benz Actros units are allocated for linehaul changeover in which the prime mover is double shifted at a localised level between movements.
Both the Actros and Scania prime movers can produce over 530 horsepower.
These trucks are hauling B-doubles and, if the application suits, B-triples, mostly moving automotive spare parts, tyres or cable drums, cable reels — equipment of an industrial nature.
The Mercedes-Benz vehicles, as Ezzat notes, rarely stop.
“We need a powerful unit and a reliable unit for that kind of requirement,” he says. “With the double shifting, that time off the road is absolutely minimal.”
Maximising use of the asset is one method to deliver increased efficiencies. Having a Euro 6 powertrain spec is another. That’s now a minimum requirement at CEVA.
“Having the latest spec is also standard for our subcontractor fleet,” says Ezzat. “In this round of purchases, we were focused on safety and performance, servicing and operating systems.”
The most recent fleet replenishment involved the integration of 29 new prime movers.
CEVA also complemented this order with a major investment in trailing equipment adding 21 B-double sets. These are 4 metres longer than a standard B-double increasing the capacity from 36 pallets to 42.
“Seeking permits from respective authorities for necessary routes has taken just as much effort as designing these new trailers,” says Ezzat.
“All have been locally made, promoting local manufacture. CEVA maintains strong relationships with local manufacturing. We take pride in that especially in an era when manufacturing in Australia has almost come to a stop. To still rely on local manufacturing is important.”
Given its size, CEVA doesn’t rely on only one trailer builder. While these latest trailer sets were supplied by Vawdrey, the fleet regularly enlists help from Freighter Group and Barker Trailers as well.
CEVA will look to standardise trailers where possible.
“We always like to see what’s new happening in trailer innovation and we trade ideas back and forth with these parties,” notes Ezzat.
“There’s usually a version 2.1 involving something we have required that’s different in comparison to the previous one.”
Productivity gains are demonstrable. Ezzat says the 42-pallet units have improved capacity by close to 20 per cent. “In theory, over time, we cull one truck off the road,” he says.
“That 20 per cent extra capacity means for every five trips you save yourself a trip. That’s definitely a key. When it comes to fuel burn and heavy C0₂ emissions the biggest saver of the environment is removing a truck off the road.”
The Melbourne-Sydney overnight service starts at 5am. It’s the same for Adelaide. Brisbane is a two-day service.
CEVA runs linehaul between Melbourne and Townsville with a connection in Brisbane. A three-day service runs Brisbane to Adelaide.
For immediate or express DFOD (delivery fee on delivery) there are trucks that sprint one way. The PBS B-doubles and B-triples, dependent on volume and timing, are allocated for the Sydney to Perth and Melbourne to Perth legs. Sydney to Perth runs via Mildura and Adelaide.
The east-west corridor is usually complemented by rail. Regional intrastate services work on another model entirely.
CEVA partners with carriers who dominate certain areas across Australia to limit over dependence on the fleet. The property footprint will see subcontractors pick up at CEVA depots for consolidation and final mile distribution. CEVA’s fleet will also drop into their depots.
“Australia has a massive geography and in order to deliver to every postcode within Australia, we’ve adopted one of the most efficient models where it suits,” says Ezzat.
“Once the distance becomes pronounced, we will rely on our onforwarding regional fleet.” He adds, “It doesn’t make sense for us to have part loads all in the one bucket.”
Assessments of each asset and the job assigned it confirm for Ezzat whether the fleet has the right truck in the right area.
“Having different powered vehicles on different lanes is a consideration of ours,” he says.
“We’ve got sections that are not the easiest of terrain. We go off bitumen onto dirt roads to access some of these out of the way destinations. Our subcontractor fleet needs to be agile with the ability to change with technology specifically.”
In capital cities, it can be easier to get subcontractors on board with the newest technologies and process standards. But for those subcontractors in the network working in remote areas it can be more challenging according to Ezzat.
“For us, it’s about making sure standards in local areas are the same as those in regional areas,” he says. “With 250 subcontractors, most of whom have up to three trucks, it must be taken into consideration.”
Trucks in the linehaul fleet are capped at 98 km/hr based on an odometer that is realistically set two or three km/hr lower by OEMs. In zones where the speed limit is 100 km/hr, CEVA drivers are rarely exceeding 96 km/hr.
Factors of time are an essential concern in the industry; even more so for transporting automotive parts.
“When you’re governed by speed limits and rest breaks from a safety and compliance perspective the only variable left is have you got a machine that is not going to break down,” says Ezzat.
“We have seen significant fuel savings using the Euro 6 spec.”
The Scania R 540 is its first 13-litre truck in Australia generating maximum torque of 2700Nm between 1000 and 1300rpm.
Lighter than the V8 16-litre and just as powerful, the Sania R 540 responds faster thanks to modified intake and exhaust manifolds that increase the available pulse energy a new ball-bearing, fixed-geometry turbocharger offers.
CEVA’s fleet management hinges on a five-year cycle, where in theory, and on average, 200,000km per year equates to 1 million kilometres over the five years.
“That’s the target. The changeover of that truck means less downtime,” says Ezzat.
“What I’ve seen in the past prime movers at ten, 12 and 15 years they all cost. A five-year milestone threshold is where we want to be.”
Along with installing MyFleet telematics to consolidate all vehicle data on one platform, CEVA has invested heavily in the Guardian driver monitoring technology by Seeing Machines. It even runs its own dedicated team 24 hours a day as an extension of the linehaul fleet.
“Our team connects with drivers in the middle of the night to ensure they’re doing well and that everything is going OK,” says Ezzat.
That’s an enhancement which keeps our drivers a little bit safer. It has definitely become a critical initiative for us.” Initially, the plan was to outsource the fatigue monitoring team when Guardian was introduced across the fleet.
Outsourcing, however, would also reduce CEVA’s accountability, something they intuited would be problematic.
“Having the team operated by ourselves makes it our problem, our issue, our management system, our fleet and our responsibility,” says Ezzat.
“Whereas giving it away to the likes of Seeing Machines you can become distant, and everything becomes their problem. Having our own team reiterates accountability. Their system is a great system, but we prefer that accountability sits with us.”
The team is split between Melbourne and Sydney. Drivers receive compulsory welfare checks every night, without fail, in the middle of the shift.
To ensure competitiveness, company depots must be well connected to key freight corridors connecting metro areas, ports and airports.
These assets leave behind a footprint and the requirement to minimise it means sustainability remains a primary focus. All sites are equipped with LED lights. Solar panels help to reduce the carbon footprint; batteries are storing energy that is not immediately consumed.
“Storing energy for the night when the grid hits peak usage significantly lowers our costs and helps with initiatives like converting our whole fleet of forklifts to lithium-ION batteries,” says Michael.
“In Queensland, CEVA is exploring an EV charging project with a customer in the B2C and B2B space so that there will be charging points for commercial vehicles while they are being loaded.”
CEVA retains a large portfolio of global customers including those in telecommunications. With one mobile phone customer, CEVA helps it to plan retail stock.
The onus in the partnership becomes about speed and activation of phones. Internal tools with real-time displays, contrasting other company sites, have been developed to optimise freight movements.
Naturally, there is an ongoing requirement for these in the last mile, especially for smaller trucks.
“We are growing, expanding, and tapping into new areas,” says Michael. “It’s all part of the continuous improvement initiatives.”
CEVA in Australia is leading an AI initiative for the global organisation by trialling a forecasting tool. It was introduced just prior to last year’s recent peak period across its Pacific business cluster. In an area of operations that is typically reactive, the tool helped plan labour and fleet movements.
“The AI system performed to service levels during peak season, working up to Boxing Day as part of an evaluation run across multiple sites,” says Michael.
“It has allowed CEVA to forecast more accurately. Historic data can be inaccurate. We have since done a deep dive on the technology and we are looking to use it to enhance the business.”
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