Porthaul, a carrier of various commodities based in Portland, Victoria, made its first move in the transport industry by opening its doors on 1 November 1990.
The business first started off carting bulk agricultural products such as grain, fertiliser and limestone, yet Australia’s ever-increasing demand for goods coupled with the business’ craving for more saw new paths reveal themselves to the business.
“It started with my father, Brian Williamson, who was a subcontractor in those early days,” says Porthaul General Manager, Edward Williamson. “There was another company at the time called Bulkhaul which was going to close its doors, and he went to their customers and asked them if they would support him if he kept going. They said they would, and it’s basically grown from there.”
In the time that has followed, Porthaul has evolved even further to specialise in a larger range of freight types such as wood chips, fuel, refrigerated goods, general freight and containers. Yet for the business, one thing still remains the same – and that is its reliance on Freighter Group for its trailer needs.
Porthaul has entrusted Freighter Group for all of its trailing needs for over 10 years, and as a result has accumulated over a dozen Performance-Based Standards (PBS) combinations ranging from skels to log trailers and Tautliners.
“We’ve been working with Freighter Group for many years now,” Edward says. “We’ve always had a good relationship with them, and it’s definitely been a relationship that has had many different applications. They have always looked after us and have helped us get the product that we need.”
In its latest trailer delivery from Freighter Group, Porthaul has deployed a new PBS Lusty EMS A-double road train combination which consists of two chassis tippers and a rigid drawbar dolly.
With a Gross Combination Mass (GCM) of 85.5 tonnes and a 55-tonne payload, the Lusty EMS A-double combination has been configured to comply with the Victorian High Productivity Freight Vehicle (HPFV) reference design and includes a plethora of features suited to Porthaul’s particular application.
Meanwhile, the inclusion of a rigid drawbar dolly further enhances the combination’s on-road performance and stability.
The unit is primarily being used to transport grain to the Port of Portland for export, which sees it travel through the business’ hometown and the Wimmera region to arrive at its final destination. Around this, it also delivers fertiliser to various farmers which occasionally sees it end up in southern New South Wales.
According to Edward, the Lusty EMS road train has been showing extremely positive signs through its on-road performance.
“Driver reports are all very good,” he says. “The higher productivity and safety of the vehicle is obviously the big contributor to that. It rides well and has a good weight distribution, and the drivers haven’t had any issues with it which is good.”
The Lusty EMS bodies also feature a tapered hoistwell which results in a lower centre of gravity and allows for more cubic capacity if needed. This, as well as the overall design of the model, is what stands out to Edward.
“Having the drop deck allows for that lower centre of gravity and cubic capacity if needed,” he says. “It gives us an opportunity to vary the products that the trailers are able to cart.”
Freighter Group, Edward says, was chosen once again for this application due to its “proven track record of producing high-quality trailers”. For him, the aftersales service experienced following each purchase is the icing on the cake.
“All of our Freighter trailers have been excellent,” he says. “We’ve had our Freighter PBS wood chip road trains for 10 years now, and we haven’t had too many issues at all. They’ve all stood the test of time.”
“Freighter Group has always built a good product, and now that the network is starting to open up in terms of PBS vehicles and road trains it was time that we moved towards the bulk tippers.”
This venture into tippers from Freighter Group, Edward explains, has been well worth it, as the A-double’s deployment has resulted in increased profitability and productivity business-wide.
“It’s definitely much more cost-effective, because we’re increasing the amount of product we can cart with the one prime mover,” he says. “That’s the main aspect of it. The features that come with these trailers are always good, but it’s definitely the higher capacity that has benefitted us most. It’s effectively one-and-a-half trucks on the road.”
This new Lusty EMS PBS road train combination has also been given a massive role in Porthaul’s new business venture.
“We’ve just built a 4,500-square-metre grain storage facility in Portland,” Edward says. “It’s being used to store grain for export down here, so coming into Portland carting the extra capacity with the A-double is definitely an advantage for us because we can do it with less trucks and with bigger weights.
“It’s a significant amount of grain that needs to come down here, so having the new trailers with that extra capacity definitely takes the pressure off.”
Based on what he’s seen so far, Edward is very confident in the Lusty EMS combination’s ability to lead this operation. And because of that, he believes it’s also likely that similar trailers will follow suit as business ramps up.
“I don’t think we’ll have any issues with the trailers themselves,” he says. “They’re a reliable build and a great product.
“It’s exciting to finally have an A-double tipper in the fleet, and I’m looking forward to increasing them in the future. We’ve had Freighter Group PBS vehicles for over 10 years now, and this is just another one that we’ve relied on them to develop for us and to get us going. It’s certainly delivered.”
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