Features

When Qantas can’t fly it, these are the trucks that get the job done

JETS Transport Express has been a fully owned subsidiary of Qantas since 2008 and moves express freight from airport to airport, to distribution centres or to customers.

Depending on the type of freight, utilising JETS can be faster than domestic air freight.

“JETS is the road feeder network for air freight. What can’t be transported on the aircraft is fed through us,” says Peter Gilbert, JETS’ national compliance manager.

“Sometimes this is because the cargo might be dangerous goods, or it could be that the trucks can transport the cargo more quickly than waiting for the next freighter aircraft to collect and deliver it to that location.

“If a freighter aircraft arrives with cargo at the Qantas Melbourne Freight Terminal, and the freight’s destined to go to Sydney, it can be faster to put it onto road transport depending on the type of freight and aircraft schedules.”

JETS Transport Express runs 15 B-doubles, mainly overnight between east coast capital cities, and nine of the trailer sets are now powered by new Scania R 590 V8 prime movers, with six further units to be delivered within months.

Gilbert was responsible for driving the shift to Scania, replacing a fleet of older American and European prime movers.

“Like Qantas, Scania’s prime focus is safety, and offers premium active and passive safety features, cabin comfort that reduces driver fatigue, and the trucks have an impressive payload capacity. A further bonus is that these Scania V8 Euro 6 compliant engines are biofuel compatible.

“Emissions reduction is very important to us. We specified the biofuel compatibility to give us the option to go down that route in the future.

“Running on biodiesel, you’re reducing your CO2 by 85 per cent, which for trucks that do high kilometres every year, is something meaningful for us, particularly in an industry where otherwise it’s very hard to find those savings.”

JETS operations supervisor Richard Tanuvasa behind the wheel of a new Scania. Image: Scania Australia

Gilbert says driver safety and that of all road users is a primary focus for JETS.

“When we selected the R 590 V8 we also optioned up the cab interior with leather seats and a few extra trimmings. The cab is the driver’s workplace, their office on wheels,” Peter says.

“It’s important to us and to our drivers that they have good equipment. These Scanias have dual fridges, an extendable bunk, and heaps of storage.”

So far so good, in terms of feedback from drivers.

“Obviously it’s been a change for some because American trucks are completely different: switching from manual transmission Road Rangers to fully automated, it’s a little bit different. But overall though the feedback has been excellent.

“Although we don’t usually have drivers sleeping in the cabs, sometimes it may be necessary, so a comfortable, high-quality cab should also help us attract and retain good quality drivers.”

The first vehicles have already racked up about 40,000km and initial fuel efficiency has been good, adds Gilbert.

“Fuel burn was one of the key reasons for purchasing, and so far, we’re very happy with that. We are averaging approximately 2.5km per litre.”

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