Wickham Freight Lines improves fleet safety

Wickham Freight Lines is a transport company based in Warwick, Queensland, which maintains a fleet of over 200 prime movers and 500-plus semi-trailers.

Safety and customer satisfaction are two paramount aspects of Wickham Freight Lines’ operations, and the business, for that reason, has been making substantial investments to improve both.

Wickham Freight Lines National Workshop Manager, Steve Lord, says installing JOST’s Loc-Light system on over 30 prime movers and standardising it on all new equipment has transformed the fleet’s safety.

“We’re not seeing any dropped trailers with Loc-Light,” he says. “The amount of dropped trailers has gone down significantly since we started fitting the product to our prime movers. As a result, we’ve also cut down our repair costs considerably.”

JOST’s innovative Loc-Light system is a fifth wheel sensor which ensures secure and reliable trailer couplings. Featuring a dual sensor monitoring setup and LED illumination, the system is integrated with a ‘Go’/‘No-Go’ indicator light (green/red) near the fifth wheel handle.

When the handle and kingpin are properly locked, the light turns green which signals that the trailer has been coupled correctly. However, if the handle or kingpin is not locked correctly, the light flashes red and begins beeping.

Additionally, the LED illumination automatically activates and shines directly into the fifth wheel’s throat, providing a clear view of the lockbar for pre-trip inspections.

“Loc-Light makes it very easy for us to tell whether the trailer is properly connected to the prime mover or not,” Steve says. “You can’t miss it. You just walk past it and if it’s green, it’s right. If it’s not, it will be red and there will be a buzzer going off.

“It’s an absolutely brilliant idea. The added security is the biggest thing for us because it takes all of the guesswork out of the job, and the advantage is you’re not dropping trailers in places like a customer’s depot. With Loc-Light, we know that if we have to uncouple a trailer in a customer’s premises, we can do it safely and leave without a problem.”

According to Steve, Wickham Freight Lines will now work towards rolling Loc-Light out on all of its prime movers and trailers. Worn out fifth wheels will gradually be replaced with new ones featuring the system, and all new equipment will arrive with it fitted as standard.

“Loc-Light will become a standard feature across the whole fleet,” he says. “From now on, everything new from our manufacturers will come with Loc-Light on it.

“We’ve been looking at the issue of trailers dropping for a couple of years and this has helped us stop that trend. If you’re in the industry, you know how important it is to not have trailers fall off prime movers. Anything to help that is beneficial.”