Andrew Lock, 59, has run the Adelaide based family business Lock Transport for two and a half years but has been a truckie for most of his working life.
I saw Andrew standing near his 2009 Freightliner Argosy parked at the Port Access Road pad. He had brought up pipes for delivery to Townsville.
“It is a good truck and the other one I have is a Kenworth K100,” he said.
An experienced driver, Andrew rates the Tanami Track as the worst highway he has travelled on and he is not on his lonesome there, with many other truckies also nominating it.
“It has about 60km of bitumen and the rest is dirt,” he said.
A favourite roadhouse he stops at is the new Mobil at Gillenbah in NSW which he said has good food and facilities.
When he gets time off work, Andrew loves riding his trusty Harley because of the “freedom he enjoys” and also likes football.
Rising fuel prices are a major concern for this small fleet operator.
“It adds a lot to our costs and you try and get the rate up to cover it,” he said.
Driving in tandem with Andrew was his son Shayne who was in the company’s Kenworth K100 – and he is definitely a chip off the old block.
A very young truckie at age 23, Shayne said he loved life on the road and would be a truckie for many years.
“I have been driving since I was 19 which was the day I got my licence,” he said.
When I saw Shayne he was parked 100m away from his dad’s rig and offered to drive it closer so I could snap a father and son picture.
“Dad has taught me a lot about the industry,” he said.
Shayne had also transported pipes to Townsville on the long journey from South Australia and they both were going back empty.
This young gun of the road transport industry likes stopping at the Little Topar Roadhouse and enjoys the freedom whilst driving long distances.
“This is my first time up here and the truck is reliable,” he said.
It was obvious that this happy and friendly driver was being groomed to take over the family business, although that could be many years away as his dad Andrew was very fit and enthusiastic.