Qube’s Outer Harbour transport manager Matt Newman has a crew of 17 drivers on the afternoon shift in Adelaide, moving containers from the yard to the Flinders Container Terminal for export.
It’s not a long run – only about 200 metres – but it’s not easy work either, with 16 or 17 trips per driver and about 100 containers in total being moved in eight hours.
Still, it’s nothing too out of the ordinary – apart from the fact that 40 per cent of Matt’s team are women, quite a bit higher than the national average of 2 per cent.
To recruit these drivers, Matt has teamed up with Women in Trucking Australia, with WiTA’s CEO and Qube driver Lyndal Denny stepping up to help supply suitable candidates.
“I think engaging with WiTA to recruit drivers has been the best thing I ever did,” he told Big Rigs.
“It’s a hard industry, and kids aren’t coming out of school wanting to enter it.
“Sometimes drivers will come and work with us for two weeks and it’s not what they want to do, and they’ll leave.
“Drivers aren’t exactly a dime a dozen, so working with WiTA has turned out really well for us.”
Lyndal runs the Foot in the Door program, a collaboration between WiTA and the NHVR which helps women get a start in the transport industry or advance their careers with further training and support.
“Lyndal brings the candidates to me, we interview them, and we go from there,” said Matt. “Lyndal’s the one who sits with the driver for nearly two weeks, training them up, so she deserves a lot of credit.”
Lyndal said that not everyone who is interested in the Foot in the Door program makes it through.
“They go through a rigorous assessment,” she said.
“Sometimes they are not quite ready, so we talk to them about that and they can try again at a later stage when they meet certain criteria.
“They need to have the right attitude to pursue truck driving as a career.”
Matt is very happy with the standard of drivers Lyndal has supplied to Qube.
“The PM shift have got a pretty big job,” he said. “We’re relying on them to move 90 per cent of our exports to Flinders.
“When they are moving 100 containers in eight hours I can’t complain – they are a great team.”
He shared an example of one driver in particular, 49-year-old Gail Ritchie, who has come a long way since she started with the company.
“She came to us as a HC driver with no experience,” he said. “Now she’s pulling triples every night of the week.”
Gail was also very complimentary of Matt when she spoke to Big Rigs recently.
“Matty Newman at Qube is wonderful – he’s given me a great opportunity,” she said.
“He’s a very fair boss and he actually listens. He’s been the make or break for me in getting into this industry.
“I told Matty I was interested in doing the lead run to Port Pirie, so he sent me out as a passenger.
“Then I had my own trailer set and I was off doing that myself.”
Although Lyndal is vocal about her goal of achieving gender parity in the transport industry by 2050, Matt has a simpler approach.
“I just need bums on seats and trucks moving, mate,” he said.
“You’re only as good as your staff, and I’ve got great staff.”
At this, Lyndal chimed in: “With the freight task increasing as it is, there are issues with the number of deaths on the roads.
“We need professional drivers who have been trained correctly, and I truly believe that female heavy vehicle drivers are the answer to that.
“A lot of these girls are coming from farms and rural areas, they are happy to get down and dirty and muck about with diesel.
“They are quite resilient even before coming into the industry and employers need to recognise that women don’t need any special favours, we just need that respect and training, and for the workplace to be fair and equal.”
As a token of appreciation for his work, Matt was awarded the first ever Diversity and Inclusion Award at WiTA’s Toots Awards in July.
“I was quite happy and proud to get that award,” he said. “And I never say I’m proud of myself!”
Lyndal added that male allies like Matt are key to boosting female driver numbers and making women feel welcome in the industry.
“We can’t do what we’re doing without the boys,” she said.
“That’s the bottom line.”