Iveco Trakkers bring efficiency to Aussie company

Two new, heavy duty Iveco 6x6 Trakkers are providing the muscle to go with clever, state-of-the-art vacuum excavation bodies for leading industrial services company, Aussie Hydrovac Services.

This brawn and brains approach is delivering Aussie Hydrovac and its clients – especially those in remote locations – many efficiencies, allowing the company to deliver faster and more cost-effective services.

Based in Brisbane but often travelling hundreds of kilometres inland to areas such as Roma and Longreach servicing mining and capital works clients, the Trakkers have become a favourite for Aussie Hydrovac and its drivers according to General Manager, Adam Morris.

"The units have been working around the Surat Basin region, conditions are rough there – we’re dropping in and out of creek beds, gullies and some fairly rough easements," said Morris.

"Prior to commissioning the Trakkers, we were trying to access these sites with road-going vehicles and they would often get damaged because of lack of clearance, particularly at the front and rear. So to give the vehicles access we’d need to grade roads and this would obviously increase costs."

Once on site the vehicles are used to carefully unearth underground assets, including pipes and cabling that would be too risky to uncover with conventional earthmoving equipment.

The special bodies have the ability to jet and clear drainage lines with high pressure water and also undertake 'non-destructive digging'. The technique involves targeting the area with high pressure water and vacuuming the residue to safely unearth the pipes and cabling.

The current bodies are of Aussie Hydrovac’s own design, developed in-house to suit Australian conditions using Adam's 16-plus years of industry knowledge.

"The bodies work really well.  Such is the demand for our services that in the last two years we’ve gone from having four trucks on the road to 22, and now that we’ve come across the Iveco Trakkers I can only see operations getting bigger."

Adam said that despite being dubbed Hulk 1 and Hulk 2 courtesy of their large size and road presence, that the vehicles were surprisingly civilised to drive on-road.

"The Trakkers are just absolute gems and the drivers love them, comparing their on-road manners to standard trucks of similar size – for a 6x6 with high ground clearance that’s a real compliment," Adam said.

"With the 450 horsepower engine and the ZF automated manual transmission, by all accounts the vehicles are easy to drive and very comfortable; these are important consideration when you’re driving up to 1000 kilometres per day."

With the Trakkers performing faultlessly since entering service several months ago, plans are well underway to introduce additional trucks as well as Iveco Astras to the fleet mix.

"The Astras are an interesting proposition and the 8x8 configuration will be better for weight distribution with the bodies we’re using," Adam said.

"The specification looks right so I’d say it’s just a matter of time – we could be adding a further 10 Iveco vehicles to the fleet in the short to medium term."