ATA auction goes off!

Operators dig deep at Trucking Australia 2017 to bolster ATA war chest

The Australian Trucking Association held its annual auction at the opening of the recent Trucking Australia 2017 conference in Darwin, with many operators pledging sizeable sums for the numerous goods and services on offer.

With proceedings once again overseen by expert auctioneer Tony Hyman and coaxed along with his inimitable good humour, bidding was at times fierce as attendees dug deep to help fund the ATA's advocacy work for the year ahead.

While a number of lots were determined purely by silent auction, including Kenworth merchandise, Darwin harbour cruises and a voucher to dive with a giant crocodile at the nearby Crocosaurus Cove reptile exhibit (!), all eyes were on the big-ticket items destined to raise the bulk of the funds, including a new Volvo FH prime mover along with the Volvo prime mover that has seen duty as the ATA's Safety Truck.

Brisbane-based Ken Easter took out the new Volvo, including $2000 of BP fuel and NTI insurance, with a bid of $278,500, while he also picked up a new bullbar package from King Bars for a cool $11,000. The new Volvo and the second-hand Safety Truck Volvo were introduced to the audience by Teresia Fors (pictured), Volvo Group Australia's Vice President of Marketing & Communications.

Some $210,000 secured the Safety Truck Volvo (also pictured) for Jason Ryan, while the CIMC flat-deck curtainsider went to another happy bidder for $82,500.

Les Blennerhassett of Queensland's Blenner's Transport grabbed a B-double tyre set from Bridgestone for $17,500, while Grant Turner claimed the Thermo King S-600 fridge unit, previously used on the ATA's Safety Truck, for a cool $40,000.

Wickham Freight Lines won Thermo King's custom-painted SLXi-400 30 fridge unit for $49,000, but only after Thermo King's Peter Lawrence had recited his latest poem – an annual tradition that, as far as we know, contributes to the only bank of truck-refrigeration-based poetry in the world…

This year's custom Thermo King was decked out with a brilliant outback sunset theme, a fitting tribute given the location of this year's Trucking Australia conference.

Rounding out the big-ticket items was Stephen Marley's winning bid of $900 for the Cummins bar fridge and Jim Pearson's bid of $4000 to secure his company's name on the ATA's Map of Australia Honour Board.

With the ongoing support of companies like Volvo Group Australia, Thermo King, BP, CIMC and more, and of course that of the winning bidders, the ATA will now be able to continue its vital work for the year ahead, as it focuses on ensuring the Australian truck industry is well represented before the decision makers who formulate and regulate their policies that affect the road freight industry.

ATA auction goes off!

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