As a family-owned business, Australian Fuel Hauliers (AFH) was originally involved with LPG gas and then branched out to deliver bulk commodities such as aggregate, sand, soil, potting mixes and landscaping products across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia. Running the family business is Managing Director, Neil Davey, and his son Neil Jnr, who were originally involved with just tippers and have since branched out to gas tankers as well.
Neil recently reached out to Bulk Transport Equipment (BTE) for a pair of new trailers – a drop deck five-axle dog trailer and a straight five-axle trailer, following a history built on trust and reliability.
“I’ve been dealing with the same guys from several years back, so I know and trust them,” he says. “After having our old six axle roll over last year, I wanted a drop deck. But, because of Covid and short supply at the time, I ended up getting just a conventional five-axle from BTE which we’re very happy with.”
Last June, Neil decided to acquire the new Kenworth T909 with the integrated bunk and had already decided on a drop deck trailer because of its lower chassis height when tipping. He explains that the feature was perfect for his operations, and the lower centre of gravity meant it was a lot less likely to roll over like its predecessor.
“With products like mulch or sawdust, you’ve got the increased productivity with extra volume because the drop deck allows you to have bigger volume without having any higher bins,” he says. “If you’ve got higher bins, you have higher wind resistance which means more fuel.”
While Neil has shopped around with other manufacturers for possible additions to his fleet, he says his previous fixe-axle trailer from BTE with one million kilometres was what set his mind this time around.
“The Mack truck that we sold had done almost one million kilometres and the chassis was still perfect,” he says. “It had a couple of little cracks to be welded, but after a million kilometres, it says a lot for their manufacturing and their engineering.”
Along with its productivity and safety, the fact that BTE were willing to work with Neil on what he wanted also contributed to the purchase decision.
“Lead time had a lot to do with it as well,” he says. “Due to Covid, it took around 14 months to get the truck and the trailer. In terms of lead time in getting it built, we were quoted significantly longer lead times by other manufacturers. Another good thing for us is that they’re in Dandenong and we’re based in Cranbourne.”
It’s been all positive for Neil so far, and he says he couldn’t say enough about BTE’s service.
“So far, I couldn’t complain, I couldn’t say enough about them,” he says. “We took our trucks to a truck show on the weekend. We weren’t paid to, but we put them on the stand because I’m happy to promote their product. Our next truck is already in the pipeline, we will be ordering a tri drive with a five-axle behind it from BTE.”
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