“We have taken delivery of 10 new 560 R SUPER and four 460 G SUPER prime movers for our Victorian operations,” says Michael Sommers, National Fleet Manager for SCT Logistics.

“These trucks have replaced 14 older PGR-series Scanias including some V8-powered vehicles, and the fuel efficiency and torque performance improvement has been impressive. We are receiving weekly fleet reports through the Scania management system, which is handy for keeping a close eye on how the vehicles are performing.

“The 460 hp prime movers are pulling single trailers, usually PUD refrigerated units around Melbourne, typically carrying frozen and chilled food for supermarkets as well as general freight, while the 560 Rs will be running as 68.5-tonne B-double Tautliner transports under mass management from our rail depots to customers, as well as in reverse,” Michael says.

“We had quite a good run with the PGR trucks, but the technology has moved on and so after seven years it is time to bring on replacements. We had a new SUPER prime mover on loan for a week and we were quite impressed with it. The drivers loved it.

“As with the previous Scanias, we have taken the 14 new vehicles on a full repair and maintenance contract, and we have purchased the vehicles through Scania’s in-house financing arm,” he says.

“Scania is very proactive with the fleet management side of things, for example scheduling servicing, which we have undertaken at their Laverton branch. We value the repair and servicing contracts because if anything needs to be rectified, Scania will arrange it and complete the work. The contract requires us just to make one monthly payment, so we can –budget effectively with full cost visibility over the term, and we don’t need our own workshop, so we see it as a win-win for us,” Michael says.

“We don’t cover huge distances in these trucks – the G-series will do about 30,000 km a year and the R-series about twice that. However, we don’t keep ‘spare’ trucks on the fleet so uptime, reliability and efficient servicing is very important to us.

“We have a fairly stable group of staff and agency drivers and we like to keep them paired to individual trucks. Comfort is a key feature that reduces fatigue and promotes safety, especially when drivers are waiting to load or unload, so we specified Scania’s factory-fitted auxiliary coolers. Because these are battery-powered the truck doesn’t need to idle the engine and burn fuel unnecessarily in order to keep the cab cool or warm,” Michael says.

“Safety is a key focus for us, and for our customers, so the Scanias fulfil these requirements with their many advanced safety systems, as well as fully transparent servicing via the fleet management system.”

“With the global push for renewable fuel sources, we are after the lowest emission impact vehicles around, and with alternate fuel supplied vehicles such as electric and hydrogen still a little way off for larger vehicles, we aim to strive for as close to zero emissions as possible,” Michael says.

Scania National Fleet Sales Manager Phillip Mayfield said he was pleased to be renewing the SCT fleet of trucks.

“We have already seen significant double-digit savings in fuel consumption since the new SUPER trucks commenced with SCT. The new engine technology in the Scania SUPER is living up to its promise and delivering lower operating costs as well as lower emissions. Plus, we can see appreciable driver benefits from the auxiliary cab heating and cooling system, powered by batteries rather than by diesel.

“While the previous fleet of trucks did not cover huge distances, they did spend seven years in congested traffic in and around Melbourne, and they came through in really good shape. In fact, the trucks were so well looked after, SCT retained 11 of the trucks after the end of their lease period for use in other areas of their business, and would have taken the remaining trucks had they not already have been sold on,” Phillip says.

“With these 14 new Scania SUPER trucks, SCT is finding out just how efficient and effective the new generation Scania powertrain and driveline really is, and how well suited they are to Australian operations.”