Alan Yates, National Fleet
Manager for Cootes Transport Group, a division of International
Energy Services (IES), reveals details on the ongoing trialing
of specially built trailers fitted with Hendrickson Intraax
Suspension.
As one of the largest gas and fuel transporters in the country,
IES/Cootes have around 320 trucks on fleet, handling everything
from aviation fuel and unleaded petrol through to diesel and
bitumen products. The IES trucks transport 12 major products
around the country from depots in WA, Vic, NSW and Queensland.
Co-ordinating the needs of the fleet is Alan Yates, IES/Cootes
National Fleet Manager.
Alan Yates is no stranger to the automotive trucking industry,
having started as an owner driver back in 1976. In 1983, Alan
took up a job with what was then called IR Cootes and continued
to drive for them until the late 80s, when he traded in the road
for an office job and his transport industry education really
started.
During his years at IR Cootes, Alan completed a raft of safety
courses, from bitumen handling and dangerous goods transport
through to First Aid. Alan also went on to complete, along with
other studies, a business management course which really kicked
off his career. After a stint in NSW as state manager for IR
Cootes, Alan was asked to move back to Melbourne in 1998 to take
up the role of Operations Manager which followed through to his
current position of National Fleet Manager.
The purpose behind all this history is not to blow wind where
it’s not wanted but rather to present a picture of the man
behind the deal that went on with Hendrickson spec’d trailers.
This is one shrewd truckie turned office jockey with a vast
knowledge of driving, maintaining and purchasing the right
products for the Cootes (IES) Company.
As National Fleet Manager Alan is responsible, amongst other
things, for sourcing the trailers that keep the fuel flowing
around the country. This is not a cheap exercise and when the
bottom line is to make a profit, having reliable, safe and
affordable trucks and trailers on the road is a must. This is
where Alan’s experience in all facets of the trucking industry,
especially fuels, makes him the perfect candidate to coordinate
the trial of Hendrickson’s Intraax suspension on the fleet’s
trailers.
New trailers
with Hendrickson Intraax
The tie up between Hendrickson and IES/Cootes started back in
1995, when Cootes purchased two trailers with Intraax drum
suspensions for use with LPG tankers. These trailers have had a
long life and are not being included in the trialling process.
The main purpose of this trial is to see how reliable and
serviceable the Hendrickson equipped trailers are, and how they
perform in the long term after several thousand km’s of
serviceable life.
Trialling officially began in 2006 when Alan purchased 31
trailers fitted with Hendrickson disc brake Intraax suspension
systems. These trailers are being used to transport fuel product
(except LPG) and make up the bulk of the trial fleet. Recently
Alan ordered another 14 trailers with Intraax suspension to add
to the trial fleet. These new additions differ from previous as
they are now been specified with drum brakes.
The Hendrickson Intraax suspension is a fully integrated axle,
brake and air suspension package with either disc or drum
brakes, depending on what is required by the specifier. While
the disc brake systems are comparable weight wise to other disc
brake systems on the market, the Hendrickson drum brake
suspensions are substantially lighter than competitors by around
300kgs per trailer which is one of their biggest selling points.
The Intraax package also comes with a choice of 19.5” rims or
22.5” rims to suit a variety of applications according to a
trucking company’s needs.
This significant weight saving is one of the major reasons Alan
opted for drum brake trailers for his second batch of trial
vehicles. There are some interesting facts regarding weight
versus delivery coming up, however back to the trial outline.
IES are now a year into the trialling period with the main
testing points relating to how the trailers perform on disc
brakes, how they are going to stack up for reliability and just
as importantly how they stack up for serviceability and spare
parts availability around the country. Spare parts are an issue
that cropped up a few times during Alan’s interview. He and
Hendrickson are discussing options at this point and we’ll see
how things go in the future.
So far the trial has uncovered a couple of interesting points.
One is the choice of 19.5” tyres against 22.5” tyres. Whilst the
tyre and wheel package is lighter on the smaller tyres, the
increased tyre wear and the fact that they can’t be re-capped as
easily means they aren’t nearly as cost effective despite the
weight advantage according to Alan’s figures. Consequently, Alan
has ordered the new trailers with Centrifuse® drums, alloy hubs
and the larger 22.5” rims with 275/70 tyres. This package brings
extra weight of around 100-150kgs over a 19.5” axle system,
however with the larger brake drums and tyres Alan feels the
stopping ability of the trucks is better overall and the
serviceability of the recapping is also better as far as ongoing
running costs are concerned.
This emphasis on saving weight, service and maintenance costs
becomes understandable as Alan gave us some rough figures on
what the differences boil down to in monetary terms.
Hendrickson Helps Save Dollars
Alan’s first step in determining the best trailer for the
fleet’s needs is to work out the best possible buy price and
factor in other variables from there. In the early days, carting
fuel was not based on a per litre delivery. Nowadays it is and
this is where Hendrickson have come through with a lighter
trailer so that more load can be carried.
Previous suppliers of disc brake suspension systems have been
almost matching kilo for kilo with the Hendrickson products so
the best trailer would come down to a price factor based on what
has proven itself in the past. Where Alan sees a huge advantage
with the Hendrickson products now is with the saving of around
300kg per drum braked trailer. This weight saving is a direct
result of the light weight Intraax design plus the Centrifuse®
drum sand aluminum hubs which are obviously much lighter overall
than iron hubs.
Here’s some of the basic math that helped Alan make his
decision. The drum braked trailers come in approximately $1800
to $1900 lower price per unit, depending on the configuration,
than the disc braked trailers. This price is based on a tri-axle
unit. This means that the initial purchase of the 14 new drum
brake fitted trailers offered IES a minimum initial saving of
around $25,000.
On an average day in the life of a Melbourne Metro truck, five
loads would be delivered per day and each of these on the drum
braked units would have an extra 300 plus kgs of fuel on board.
This equates to around 15.6 extra tanker loads of fuel per
truck, per year carted free. In the first year of operation of
the new drum braked units Alan will therefore potentially
increase revenue by over $100,000 for IES ($25k as an
extraordinary saving), which is an awesome gain just in the
first year.
Couple this profit with a generous warranty period which will
help if problems occur and the teaming between Hendrickson and
Cootes/IES could well expand in the future with more trailers
being added to the IES fleet. The advantages to both companies
are obvious and in addition valuable data on product being
tested and real time maintenance and serviceability costs is
obtained.
Maintenance
and Serviceability
Cootes is arguably one of the best and safest trucking companies
in Australia with a proven safety record that speaks for itself.
One of the behaviours Alan relies on to maintain this high
standard is reliability due to timely and correct maintenance.
On average the Cootes trucks clock up around 250,000km per year
roughly 9,000km per month on a metro truck and approximately 25
to 28,000km per month on county/interstate truck runs. This
means that the trucks hit their service intervals regularly and
sometimes very quickly. Maintenance, especially on the Metro
trucks working flat out everyday compared with the country
runners, is very high.
Cootes have a major mechanical facility at every base around the
country. These workshops handle absolutely everything on the
truck from basic repairs to major overhauls, including getting
the LPG tankers re-approved to regulation standard. Cootes have
even gone so far as to have all their workshops using the same
lubricants, greases and the like so that if a Melbourne truck
hits Brisbane when it’s service cycle is due it can be serviced
just as if it was home.
This is one reason why Cootes is on top of the industry, they
know what to do, how to avoid major failures and reduce
unnecessary down time. A truck sitting around the yard doesn’t
earn any income and as most trucking companies know it actually
costs a lot to have one idle for longer than necessary.
Alan discussed at some length the pros and cons of the braking
efficiency on the disc brake trailers. These braking systems are
very good and because of this the drivers tend to push the
braking to the limit. As a result all the disc brake trailers
have suffered from cracked discs, overheating, seized calipers
and advanced pad wear, leading to higher than expected operating
costs. This is another reason for moving back to the drum braked
trailers.
These issues are something Cootes are keeping track of, however,
according to Alan, they have had a few teething problems and
while they will be addressed by Cootes, Alan has been more than
happy with the technical endeavors of Hendrickson in dealing
with these problems as they arise.
Alan also went on to say that over the past five years all the
trailers they have purchased have been disc brake models. The
choice to go back to drums is based on lowering these operating
costs with the extra fuel they carry being an additional bonus.
Any reduction of maintenance costs over a year and accumulating
over the life of a trailer, which can be anything from 12 years
upwards, will significantly affect the company productivity.
This is a trial in progress with an answer that will only be
gained over time. Alan did go on to state that if the
Hendrickson trailers proved to be serviceable with a good
reliability record, then the Intraax equipped trailers on the
fleet could well be expand in the future.
For more information on IES or Cootes Transport check out the
websites at www.ienergyservices.com or www.cootes.com.au
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