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McDonalds bull FreiEht
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Graham McDonald learned the road haulage game in his native New Zealand. When he came to Australia 13 years ago, the stocky Kiwi had to adopt a whole new vocabulary and lifestyle: "I learned you had to call everyone 'mate'. I'm so used to doing it now, it annoys people I've known for a long time. They say to me: 'Why are you calling me mate? You know what my name is!" The other thing he had to learn was a taste for Aussie beer_
So why cross the Tasman Sea? "I got a bit discontented," he says with a smile. If contentment is a smart fleet turning over ASi5m with an above-average return, then he must be contented now. Brisbane-based McDonalds Bulk Freight operates 45 immaculately liveried trucks on dedicated runs between Cairns in the North of Queensland down to Melbourne in Victoria-3,400krn each way—primarily trunking building products for large manufacturers. To our untutored eyes, McDonald has surprisingly little warehousing beyond a small trans-shipment area at Brisbane. Isn't there any money in it?
"There probably is," he reckons, "but the whole thing in Australia is 'just in time', and few people want to hold any stock. We believe it's better to stick to what we know. It's difficult to major on two things at a time and be good at both."
Like all Aussie operators,
McDonald is battling spiralling diesel prices, and the rate.cutting that's followed close behind. "Fuel's a major problem," he admits. "There are still a few players in the market who against all odds can run their trucks 'cheaper' than anyone else. The policy we've adopted will be to put prices up or we don't do it."
And in a ground-breaking move, MBF is taking on a new contract in which it will act as a guinea pig for its customer, which will jointly track fuel costs and adjust the rate automatically. "It removes the need for a renegotiation," says McDonald, who likens it to an exchange-rate mechanism. It also means MBF spends less time going over rates. "It's got to be the way to go," he insists.
tuns its own 111a111lenance operation in Brisbane, tackling most things apart from engine work: "They've now become a bit more complicated," says McDonald.
But he welcomes the current generation of electronic motors: "It's the best thing that ever hap.
pened. It stops drivers from playing with anything and we get a huge volume of information we can download every trip." McDonald and his maintenance manager get exception reports, and if a truck's running well it's left alone apart from regular servicing.
He has no trouble embracing
limiters, either; "We've slom our trucks down, and SE improvements in fuel con sun tion and cut tyre wear by up 30% by running at lookm/1 that and letting the drivers kn that we know what's going o
The quality of preparation t goes into the fleet is obvic
Above: when we step out into the blazing
Immaculate Brisbane sun to photograph one PowerStars of the company's PowerStar trac
run on longtors. "You'll need a hat." warns
haul contract McDonald. He's right. Within
work beating five minutes our tender Porn mie
US rivals, heads are sizzling nicely'. Once upon a time North American trucks ruled the roost in the MBF fleet, but Europeaninfluenced products such as I veco's PowerStar have changed all that.
The wheel's turned," McDonald acknowledges. "Kenworth has to raise its standard to reach I veco's. When we got our first lvecos the Kenworth people were in our office and said: 'We'd never do that,' They didn't want to change. They're 'slightly' inflexible!
"Iveco's front suspension is just excellent," he adds. "The ride and comfort is amazing."
So far there haven't been too many problems with the PowerSthrs, but he does say: "The sleeper needs a separate window. If you leave the roof hatch open there's no net, so the mozzies can get in." The night before CM's visit one of the PowerS tars had a Signature engine go on it, although it seems that problems with the new Cummins 15-litre lump are not unique to the PowerS tar.
As Australians get to grips with the new Goods and Services Tax or GST—their equivalent to VAT—McDonald warns that operators must keep on top of the paperwork and cashflow.
Having already encountered GST in New Zealand, he says: "From myexperience it's a good thing ing for transport— and for the country too. But one of the biggest mistakes operators made in New Zealand was not furnishing their returns quickly enough. You've really got to do it monthly.
It will knock out the small hauliers who don't manage it. Finance companies already have some of them on credit watch."
For the moment, MBF is unlikely to grow much bigger. "Because we're smaller we have the ability to handle awkward stuff," says McDonald, "That attracts people. We're much faster acting, and manufacturers need the flexibility of the smaller operator. We can do it hands-on."
However, he's under no illusion about the challenges facing his company, "If we are to survive in the future we have to become
smarter." he admits.