Major Melbourne-based transport company Wettenhalls has celebrated more than100 years of operation by taking delivery of its 100th Scania truck as part of an order for 15 being delivered early this year.
Founded in 1925 in Colac servicing the dairy industry, Wettenhalls has since grown into a national transport business operating a fleet of approximately 200 trucks and associated trailers.
Wettenhalls said it was driven to select Scania trucks over the past decade as a result of a shifting to a safer, more sustainable and lower total operating economy transport model.
Wettenhalls says that today the operational focus of its fleet’s is firmly on reducing fuel consumption, improving sustainability, and maintaining the highest standards of road safety.
Wettenhalls still services the food and dairy industry, providing bulk dry, chilled and frozen logistics solutions.
The company says that it delivers dedicated logistics solutions across the construction, bulk waste, recycling, retail, and import/export sectors.
Head of fleet for Wettenhalls, Marcus Prato is charge of buying trucks and trailers for the company’s operations in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, and he also supports the company’s workshops in Altona, Geelong and Colac.
The 100th Wettenhalls Scania is a V8 590 hp prime mover, which will be used for A-double and B-double inter- and intrastate work, hauling a general freight, refrigerated goods, as well as construction and specialised logistics.
Wettenhalls has been buying Scania trucks for more than a decade, and the batch of 15 being delivered in the first quarter this year marks a mix of six-cylinder 13-litre Super models and the ever-present V8s.
“We’re buying Scania because they’re a good truck,” Prato explained.
“If you look at a Scania today, it ticks the boxes for many reasons, it’s safety, it’s Euro 6, it’s driver comfort, it’s fuel consumption, it’s after sales locations that are suitable for our business, and our relationship with Scania is fantastic,” he said.
“Historically we have run a mixed fleet, but these days it is gravitating towards Scania.\
“Just under half of our fleet is Scania now, and our first Scania was fleet number 515, an R 560 V8, sold to us by Scania Victoria’s Jarrod Heggarty in around 2015, and we have been dealing with Scania’s national fleet sales manager, Phillip Mayfield, for about seven years,” Prato said.
Wettenhalls utilises the Scania fleet monitoring programme to keep a close eye on a wide range of performance parameters, from fuel consumption to driving style.
“Jordan Ieraci, Scania’s national fleet services manager, and Phil Mayfgield are very good at bringing our attention anomalies or ideas where we can make improvements,” Prato said.
The company said that the value of the monitoring is that unexpected performance is immediately identified and can be rectified, and the Scania Fleet Monitoring program is also complemented by Wettenhalls adding in other third-party monitoring software as well as five cameras mounted in the cab, to keep their drivers safe.
“We like to benchmark fuel performance to see where savings can be made, and we are always discussing possible software upgrades so that our drivers can maintain good fuel performance,” Prato said.
“Not all of our Scanias are on the Repair and Maintenance programme, but a lot are, and we utilise the Scania Driver Trainers,” he pointed out.
“Feedback from the familiarisation and finessing advice has been great, particularly now when we’re taking the new trucks with the all-digital dashboard,” he said.
“Scania’s “Drivers Guide” app is also a fantastic tool our drivers can download, which gives them instant access to the driver’s manual, switch and symbol libraries and many other key vehicle features that are tailored to the specific vehicle they drive,” he said.
“The three new V8s we have just acquired also come with blind spot sensors and they work really well through busy traffic on both driver and passenger sides.”
Scania said that the Wettenhalls business requires a lot of flexibility from the equipment and the drivers.
Drivers may be running general freight down to Western Victoria one day or be mired in start-
stop deliveries in built up areas the next, so setting a fuel burn benchmark has been tricky.
“What we can do is to benchmark different makes of trucks on similar routes, though,” Prato said.
“We’re seeing good fuel from the new Scania Super 13-litre engines, and that 2800 Nm of torque is better than the rival brands we’re running on those sorts of jobs, and the drivers really like them, because of the driveability,” he said.
The latest Scania V8 590 hp trucks will be pulling new Lucar Cargo Van refrigerated pantechs, carting up to 85-tonnes gross, comprising a mix of frozen goods and perishableshe new G 560 Supers will be running as singles or doubles.
“Utilisation will be high, so the key to operational efficiency is optimising the fleet where you can and these trucks will be no different, so we are looking forward to high uptime, safe and efficient running,” said Prato.
“The specialised divisions are growing particularly well, and there’s associated requirements for environmental, social, and governance measurement, Euro 6 emissions compliance, and high levels of safety features.
“These sorts of things are on just about every ‘request for quotation’ documents these days, so we’re happy about that because well over two thirds of our fleet is already Euro 6 and pretty much all our Scanias are Euro 6.”
Scania’s Phillip Mayfield said that Wettenhalls has seen significant benefits since switching its buying preference to Scania.
“The fuel burn has impressed the customer’s team from the start, and our ability to monitor driver and vehicle performance through our fleet monitoring service puts Prato in the driving seat when it comes to demonstrable savings in operating costs,” Mayfield said.
“With a great focus on cost reduction in fleet operation currently exercising every fleet manager’s mind, Scania has a proven track record here, particularly with our 13-litre six-cylinder Super engine range,” he said.
“In Australia we have over-delivered on our 8 per cent fuel saving promise since launch here in 2022,” he said.
“The Wettenhalls’ experience with Scania as a supplier that has their best interests at heart is visible day-after-day via the fleet management portal and the fuel burn savings, but just as importantly it is our ability to offer Euro 6 across our product range and our full palette of active and passive Advanced Driver Assistance Safety systems that gives Prato and his team confidence that they are providing the best possible working environment for their drivers.”
