The Intelligent Access Program (IAP) has assisted a Broken Hill transport operation to achieve a significant increase in productivity. Basin Sands Logistics (BSL) – part of the Consolidated Group of companies owned by Steve and Margaret Radford – transports mineral sands mined by Bemax Resources from a mine near Wentworth, New South Wales, to a processing facility near Broken Hill.
Until recently, BSL was doing this job using double road trains at a gross vehicle mass of 81 tonnes at Concessional Mass Limits.
Under the NSW Government’s Road Train Modernisation Program, BSL is now utilising AB-Triples at Higher Mass Limits (HML) with the IAP to operate at a permitted gross vehicle mass of 113 tonnes. BSL currently has eight AB-Triples enrolled in the IAP.
The IAP is a voluntary program which provides heavy vehicles with improved access to Australia’s road network in return for monitoring of compliance with specific access conditions by vehicle telematics solutions. The program is administered by Transport Certification Australia Limited (TCA).
According to TCA Chief Executive Officer Mr Chris Koniditsiotis, the IAP can be summed up quite simply.
"The IAP is all about ensuring the right vehicle is on the right road at the right time.
"By utilising the IAP, road authorities can provide transport operators with enhanced heavy vehicle access to the road network, including the introduction of higher productivity vehicles – such as AB-Triples – safely and appropriately," Mr Koniditsiotis said.
The Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) worked with BSL in negotiating local road access arrangements with Broken Hill City Council and Wentworth Shire.
Significantly, according to the RTA, it was only through the assurances obtained through the use of the IAP that Broken Hill City Council agreed to grant access for the operation of this vehicle on local roads servicing the Broken Hill plant.
The first AB-Triples may be just the beginning for the BSL fleet, with Steve Radford indicating that more trucks may be enrolled in the IAP under the Road Train Modernisation Program in the near future, and that he is looking into other vehicle configurations that BSL may be able to use.
Mr Koniditsiotis said the BSL example demonstrated the exciting potential of the IAP.
"The BSL case study is a great example of a transport operator developing a vision of how the IAP could benefit their particular operation and then actively working with the necessary parties to make that vision a reality.
"Ultimately, as I have said from the first day I was associated with it, the IAP is about win-win outcomes and the benefits outweighing the costs to the transport operator," Mr Koniditsiotis said. "I’m sure the BSL example will be just the first of many case studies demonstrating the benefits the IAP can deliver to transport operators." Under the IAP, participating heavy vehicles are monitored using telematics services with an in-vehicle unit (IVU). The IVU is supplied and operated by an IAP Service Provider, certified by TCA. Only IAP Service Providers, identified by the IAP Certification Symbol, can supply IAP services. Sigtec Pty Ltd and The Transtech Driven Partnership are the currently available IAP Service Providers.
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