The regional Victorian hauler says the two new Cascadias are reliable and efficient
A trucking fleet hauling in and out of a key Australian food bowl has bought two new Freightliner Cascadias.
Kreskas Bros has added to its fleet by purchasing the two new Cascadias to use in its day-to-day operations.
Demand is one of the reasons that Kreskas Bros Transport is the largest road carrier of shipping containers between the Port of Melbourne and regional Victoria.
Kreskas Bros has a mixed fleet of trucks that includes traditional cab-overs, Mercedes-Benz Actros and some recently arrived Freightliner Cascadias.
Its first experience with the Cascadia came about when the late John McCarroll, an industry icon and longtime friend of the Kreskas Bros team, took on a central role in the Australian test program for the new Freightliner.
‘Johnno’ drove a Cascadia test unit B-Double five days a week for 18 months and stored it overnight and the Kreskas Bros yard.
A Cascadia 126 in Kreskas Bros colours joined the fleet just months after the Cascadia was officially launched in Australia in late 2019 and soon impressed the team running as an A-Double between Shepparton and Melbourne.
One of the first things that stood out was the comfort of the advanced bonneted truck that has a spacious 48-inch sleeper cap and the latest ergonomic interior design.
RELATED ARTICLE: Second Freightliner Cascadia joins Lane Transport
“Anyone who drives it will tell you how comfortable they are to drive,” says Kreskas Brothers Transport fleet manager Kevin Mutton.
“Keeping our drivers comfortable is very important to us, they spend a lot of time in the truck, so that is a really big positive.”
Another thing to standout early was the excellent fuel consumption.
“It’s clear that this is a very efficient truck,” Mutton says.
“After 290,000km we can say the Cascadia is clearly the most fuel-efficient truck in our fleet.”
Kreskas Bros Transport also values the safety features that come standard on the Cascadia, including a radar and camera-based Advanced Emergency Braking System (AEBS) that can automatically detect, and fully brake for, moving pedestrians in addition to vehicles.
Also standard is a radar-based adaptive cruise control system and a lane departure warning system in addition to Electronic Stability Program and a driver airbag.
The Kreskas Bros Cascadias are under Daimler Truck service contracts, which ensure they are maintained at a Daimler Truck dealership by factory-trained technicians using genuine parts.