Cummins Asia Pacific Magazine - Issue 1 2023

ure
Higher productivity vehicles
such as this 38-pallet
B-double are finding their way
into the Blenners fleet.
Les Blennerhassett…
looking at next
generation power
options.
Blenners fleet moves up to 300,000 cartons
of bananas a week out of north Queensland.
This year, around 20 new Kenworths
with Cummins X15 power will be put into
service – a far cry from the days when Les
and Judy wondered if they could afford to
put one new truck on the road a year!
“We have a very good relationship with
Cummins,” he says. “We get good support
from Cummins nationwide and we pay
a lot of attention to our own preventive
maintenance and trend analysis.”
While future power sources are a focus
at Blenners, higher productivity vehicles,
operating under PBS guidelines, are in the
spotlight too, with the number of 38-pallet
B-doubles in the fleet steadily increasing,
with close to 20 in service at the time
of writing.
Replacing 34-pallet B-doubles, the new
bigger capacity units feature a quad-axle
lead trailer and operate at 73 tonnes
over a length of 28.1 metres, with 16
pallet spaces in the lead trailer and 22 in
the second.
Three PBS A-doubles, operating at a
gross weight of 91 tonnes over a length
of 30 metres, are also proving their
value, running from far north Queensland
to Derrimut in Melbourne. Three more
A-doubles will be put into service in 2023
on this freight route.
Blennerhassett’s involvement in the
banana industry hasn’t accrued just
through his trucking business. Before he
and Judy ventured into trucking in 1988,
their roots were in farming – bananas and
sugarcane. “The reason we bought a truck
in 1988 – a Kenworth T650 – was to cart
our own bananas to market,” he recalls.
Understanding farmers’ needs
The business has grown on the back
of customer service – understanding
the needs of farmers and providing the
flexibility that has encouraged a strong
relationship with Blenners Transport as a
family company. “As our customers have
grown, we’ve grown with them,”
he explains.
Blenners’ continuation as a family
company long term also seems assured
with Les and Judy’s two sons involved in
the business, Roger as Brisbane manager
and Ben as Tully manager.
We get good support
from Cummins
nationwide and we
pay a lot of attention
to our own preventive
maintenance and
trend analysis.
The company operates eight depots
in Queensland – Cairns, Mareeba,
Tully, Innisfail, Townsville, Mackay,
Rockhampton and Brisbane – and
offers storage and warehouse services
for freezer, chiller and dry freight at its
Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns facilities.
Construction of a new $12 million facility
in Cairns is about to begin while a new
Rockhampton depot will follow in 2024.
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