Operating out of Forrestdale, Western Australia, is GLW Freight Management – a private-owned freight entity specialising in individualised and professional logistics solutions on both a local and national scale.
With more than 40 years of experience across transport, logistics and management and an extensive fleet of over 100 semi-trailers and more than 40 prime movers, the business operates with a core commitment to service and long-term relationships in mind.
“GLW is owned by Graeme and Linda Woodall,” says GLW Freight Management General Manager, Peter Walker. “That’s where the name came from.
“We were predominantly operating in WA up until five years ago. We picked up a haulage contract in South Australia for off-road side tippers which led to another contract in SA and then recently in the Northern Territory.”
GLW Freight Management now boasts extensive experience in the resources sector. It currently provides bulk haulage to mining companies operating within remote WA, SA and the NT with an extreme commitment to safety, flexibility, reliability and environmental issues.
The aforementioned NT haulage operation sees GLW Freight Management transporting iron ore out of the Peko Mine in Tennant Creek to a nearby rail siding six times every 12 hours via a 54-kilometre round trip.
Powering this freight task are three Performance-Based Standards (PBS) super quad side tippers from Bruce Rock Engineering (BRE) – the first tri-drive quad side tipper combinations in the NT according to Peter.
“We’ve achieved a 17 per cent gain in load efficiency with these trailers,” he says. “We’re getting a 130-tonne payload which puts us at a 187-tonne Gross Combination Mass (GCM).
“Labour costs are high across the industry and fuel is even higher, so a 17 per cent gain is a big benefit because it barely affects fuel usage and it doesn’t outweigh the payload.”
GLW Freight Management’s new super quad combinations are made up of four tri-axle tippers which collectively measure in at just under 53.5 metres a piece. Their freight task is one that is effortlessly executed thanks to the overall quality of the BRE bodies and Hendrickson INTRAAX airbag suspension systems.
“They’re performing really well,” Peter says. “The super quads are light and reliable, and they handle brilliantly. They’re perfectly straight and we’re getting excellent tyre wear.
“We’ve only been operating these units since November, but we’re expecting to get a good life out of them. I’ve been using BRE trailers for five years and I haven’t had any problems whatsoever.”
Ploughing through the other side of Australia are six new BRE ultra quad combinations in GLW Freight Management’s SA operations. Measuring in just shy of 60 metres with payloads of 140 tonnes and GCMs of 200 tonnes, they too marked a first by being the first BRE ultra quad side tippers fitted with airbag suspension (BPW Transpec), Peter says.
The six ultra quads have a shared responsibility of transporting iron ore from the Buzzard Mine in Coober Pedy to the Wirrida Rail Siding via a 224-kilometre round trip along the Stuart Highway and down a private haul road. According to Peter, these combinations have also delivered significant benefits to the fleet.
“The stability of these trailers is awesome,” he says. “It just blows your mind how good they are.
“The key factor is how well they track. Our drivers are going out of their way to tell us how well they perform, and that tells us everything we need to know.”
There is a total of 19 BRE side tipper combinations currently in operation at GLW Freight Management. While the business does utilise several end tippers in WA in addition to that figure, Peter says the side tipper variants have proven to be critical to the business’ iron ore haulage.
“I don’t think there’s a better option than BRE in the side tipper game,” he says. “We’re very happy with the product. We haven’t had any downtime and we don’t experience any problems with it.”
Equally integral to the company is the service and support it receives from BRE.
“We’re ordering large numbers of trailers at a time, and in this environment, we need to be able to procure them as quickly as we can,” Peter explains. “BRE has the capacity to do that. They can get one-and-a-half combinations out every week, and we can get more than 100 trailers in the span of a few months.
“BRE are also really easy to deal with. Damion treats us with the same respect we give to him. If we order something, he will make it work because he knows us and our business.
“So, it goes both ways. BRE looks after us and we look after them.”
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