Paccar Australia chief Mike Dozier hands over milestone K200 to RTS in Wagga
Riverina-basedRodney’s Transport Service (RTS) has taken possession of its 200th Kenworth.
Paccar Australia’s senior management officially handed over the fittingly-named K200 to RTS Managing Director Peter Rodney at the company’s headquarters in Wagga Wagga in southern NSW.
The prime mover was one of seven new cab-over K200s delivered to the firm.
It was the second big milestone in recent times for the two companies. Last year RTS bought Kenworth’s 50,000th Australian-manufactured heavy-duty truck .
“This is an important event for Rodney’s Transport Service and for everyone at Paccar,” says Paccar Australia’s Managing Director, Mike Dozier.
“There aren’t many operators in Australia who reach this milestone, purchasing 200 Kenworths.
“In fact there aren’t many operators who will ever own 200 trucks in their business life. RTS joins a rare club of high-achieving transport companies. It’s most gratifying to have played a part in the company’s growth over the years and its ongoing success.”
Peter Rodney says he didn’t think the company would achieve such a milestone.
“Our continuing success is a team effort by all of the employees at Rodney’s,” he says.
“It’s also the result of a close and long-standing relationship with Paccar Australia, its dealers and the consistent performance of the Kenworth product.”
The K200 is Australia’s best-selling heavy-duty truck model. RTS’ seven new cab-overs join 27 other K200s in its interstate general freight division.
The milestone K200 is configured as a 34-pallet B-double tautliner with a payload of 40 tonnes. It will cart a variety of goods from batteries and paper to various agricultural products and make interstate deliveries to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, clocking up around 7,000 kilometres a week.
The truck is powered by a 550hp (404kW) Cummins 15-litre ISXe5 engine, using SCR (selective catalytic reduction) emissions control.
It has an 18-speed Eaton Fuller Roadranger manual gearbox; front and rear Meritor axles; Kenworth Airglide 460 suspension; two 750-litre fuel tanks and a 200-litre AdBlue tank.
The truck is fitted with Kenworth’s “Level 1” suite of Electronic Brake Safety Systems (EBSS) modules. This includes ABS, ATC (automatic traction control which prevents wheel spin under acceleration) and DTC (drag torque control which prevents the driving wheel from compression locking on slippery surfaces).
Rodney’s started operation near Wagga in 1992 with just three trucks. It now has two big depots able to store up to 100,000 pallets and 20,000 tonnes of grain.
The company operates more than 100 Kenworth prime movers, including a large number of T909s, T609s, T409SARs, T359s and K200s.
The trucks haul everything from general and container freight to industrial products, scrap metals and waste throughout the eastern states and South Australia. RTS also carts livestock and a variety of agricultural products including fertilizer, lime, gypsum and grain.
The company buys its Kenworths from Paccar dealer Twin City Truck Centre in Wodonga, which also maintains the fleet.
RTS has three more Kenworths on order — two T909s for transporting livestock and a T609 for hauling bulk grain.