Grainhart boosts payload with A-doubles

Date: 12.10.2012

Bulk transporter achieves significant payload increase using A-doubles approved under the Performance Based Standards (PBS) scheme

October 12, 2012

A Queensland-based bulk transporter has achieved a significant payload increase using A-doubles approved under the Performance Based Standards (PBS) scheme.

Hauling containerised grain for export, Grainhart Transport operates four A-doubles between Oakey and the Port of Brisbane.

The Queensland Government in 2010 approved the route for PBS-compliant vehicles, allowing operators to use trucks up to 30 metres in length.

Grainhart Managing Director Peter Hart says the company had a customised trailer made to maximise payload and efficiency.

"The design has delivered an increased payload in containers of almost 20 percent to 57 tonnes gross vehicle mass (GVM), and by a massive 48.6 percent in our open trailers," he says.

Grainhart also runs a B-double under the Higher Mass Limits (HML) program, allowing the company to move 47 tonnes of grain with each load.

Grainhart had to enrol in the Intelligent Access Program (IAP), which tracks vehicle movements, to comply with HML and PBS requirements. The operator also installed on-board mass monitoring (OBM) in its A-doubles.

"We were blown away by the OBM system, which allows us to ensure gross and axle group limits are not breached while also ensuring that we can get the ideal load distribution to the maximum allowable payload under approved access conditions," Hart says.

"The live OBM system has down away with all the headaches associated with conservatively underloading or inadvertently overloading, because we know exactly what weight our vehicles are carrying at any given time."

Hart says the A-doubles are speed limited to 90km/h as a condition of access. The combinations run three loads a day from Oakey to the Port of Brisbane, with each vehicle travelling 960km daily.