Pilbara Heavy Haulage Girls get new Volvo

Heather Jones, CEO of Pilbara Heavy Haulage Girls, received the latest truck in her convoy of Volvo Group Australia vehicles, a Volvo FH16 at the recent Brisbane Truck Show.

The new truck, wrapped in bright Pilbara pink, was personally handed over by Volvo Trucks Australia Vice President of Sales Tony O’Connell on Friday.

Volvo Group Australia partnered with Pilbara Heavy Haulage Girls in 2016 to support their driver training program in Western Australia, as they look to increase the involvement of women within the trucking industry.

“The relationship with Volvo Group Australia means the world to me because without their support and sponsorship we wouldn’t be able to do what we do.”

Heather isn’t the only one delighted about the relationship, with Tony O’Connell citing how important it is to help out those striving to better the community.

“We are so passionate about helping Pilbara Heavy Haulage Girls because they do such good work in our industry,” said O’Connell.

The partnership with Volvo has helped Pilbara Heavy Haulage Girls grow not only their training program, but also their output as an active haulage company.

“We were using older trucks, 10 to 12 years old. If something happened to those trucks it would have been the end of our business,” remembers Heather.

“These new trucks have the latest technology to train our new drivers so they’re trained to the latest equipment.”

The new FH16 will be put to work in Pilbara Heavy Haulage as a long-haul transport vehicle as well as to train aspiring drivers. And while Heather is passionate about getting more women into the industry and promoting safety on the road, training over 60 drivers in the last three years, it is not the only motivation behind what she does in Western Australia.

“One of our latest drivers came to us as a domestic violence victim, but we didn’t know that. When she came, she was quite a quiet, crushed soul, but when she left she was a really happy person. She was empowered because her life had been changed,” recalled Heather. The driver now tows triple road-trains in Queensland and, according to Heather, is living a new life.

“We’re not just training people, we’re not just teaching them road safety and driver education, we’re actually changing peoples’ lives as well and that is something we never thought – we’re giving them a future.”

Volvo Group Australia says it is passionate about driving change in the transport industry, which is the reason for the partnership with Heather and her team. Volvo Trucks Australia is eager to promote new entrants into the industry, and believe the partnership will grow in the future to increase the level of driver knowledge and safety on the road.