Following the Brisbane Truck Show which concluded yesterday, owner of the new Volvo FH16 700 horsepower truck, Andre Keune, will pick up the vehicle from the Volvo Trucks stand and begin the 4500km journey to his home base in Perth.
His company Keune Transport is based in Perth and delivers all over Western Australia to places such as Port Hedland, Broome, and communities in the Pilbara, with trucks travelling to the mines twice a week.
“The journey to the mines is about 1600 kilometres each way,” says Andre, “and my drivers do that in 15-hour shifts in just under three days. They load ammonium nitrate from a fertilizer factory at Kwinana, south of Perth, which takes about four hours all up and then they’re off.”
Other trucks in the fleet haul triple freezer trailers up to Broome, a 4600 kilometre round trip.
Each of these trucks complete six trips per month to Broome and are crewed by two-up driver teams.
“They’re all long-distance trips and we’re hauling pretty big loads,” says Andre.
When the new Volvo FH16 700 arrives in Perth, it will be used to tow a quad rated at 168 tonnes GCM.
Andre has been in the trucking business for 44 years and is now nearing retirement.
“The (FH16) 700 will be my last of more than fifty Volvos,” he says, “and I’ll baby it across to Perth like I’ve done with all the others. I’ve never really considered it before, but one end of Australia to the other, that’s almost 4500 kilometres, the truck’s half run in by the time we get home.”
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