“With a Gold Bulldog, everything is in-house.”

De Bruyn Transport are a family business that keeps Tasmania moving. With their recent purchase of five Mack Granites they had a specific job in mind.

The 110-strong de Bruyn fleet handles a wide range of transport tasks right across Tasmania, including live fish transport, mine logistics to just about every mine in the state, and general freight coming by ship from the mainland.

The company recently bought five new Mack Granites with the all-Mack Gold Bulldog powertrain. The new Granites are all set up as pneumatic tankers, hauling stockfeed, cement and lime, and they travel the length and breadth of Tasmania though some pretty rugged terrain.

De Bruyn Transport

Tare weight and more tare weight

As Managing Director John de Bruyn explains, with tankers, the big issue is tare weight.

“Our loads are measured and paid for by the kilo,” says John, “so every bit counts. We have to set our tankers up to get the maximum gross mass on the vehicle.”

The Mack Granite suits this job perfectly because it’s a bit lighter than similar trucks but still tough enough for the task.

“Normally with a bonneted truck it’s hard to get the turntable in the correct position,” says John, “with the Front Underrun Protection System in place you can get 6.5 tonne on the steer axle, but to do that you need to move the turntable right forward. Some trucks don’t cope with that too well, but we can do this with the Granite and be confident that truck will handle the roads we have down here.”

Sticking with one supplier

Over the last few years, de Bruyn’s have been gradually replacing the trucks in their fleets with Macks, Volvos and UDs.

“Everything we’ve bought in the last few years has been one of those three brands through Websters. Each of the brands offers trucks that have a specific role to play in our fleet, but we do a lot of our own servicing, so commonality across the trucks is important.

“Obviously there are differences, but there are lots of similarities between Macks and Volvos now, and from a parts and service perspective—and purely for familiarity—it’s a lot easier to have all our trucks from the same group. It also means we can deal with the same people and get a consistent level of support.”

Keeping it simple

John has also made sure that his new Macks came equipped with the all-Mack Gold Bulldog powertrain.

“Having my trucks all-Mack means I only have to deal with one supplier. With other trucks if you have an issue with the engine you have to talk to the engine manufacturer. I don’t have time for that. We’ve got a really good relationship with a dealer that has a strong support network all over the state. I always say it’s not the problem you remember, but how it was fixed, and Mack always deliver.”

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