THE BIG DEAL JW YULE MERCEDES-BENZ AROCS
46 TRUCKING August 2019 http://www.truckingmag.co.uk
Into the forest
We meet Jim on a late May morning, and
despite our best hopes it’s a grey and
uninviting day in the Grampians. At just
gone 0730 we arrive at Rosehill Timber
in Inglismaldie. Jim’s truck was empty,
having already done its first load of the
day. He was ready to roll again, so we are
soon on our way in the big green beast.
Jim effortlessly moves the big truck
out of the yard and on to the backroads
as we head to the forest at Fetteresso for
the next load. “My dad started in general
haulage in 1975, but soon progressed
into timber haulage, taking logs to the
sawmills,” says Jim.
The new Merc went on the road on
April 1, so while it’s technically a
19-plate, it sports the personalised
registration B8 JWY. It’s his second
Arocs 2553, which replaced a 2014
model that would have been five years
old in October.
Jim’s had a few extras added, such as
the alloy wheels which give him an
0.5-tonne payload. With the Dennison
tri-axle trailer – which has an on-board
Hiab Loglift crane – the tare weight is
19,560 kg, which enables a payload of a
shade under 24.5 tonnes.
Jim does the occasional night out,
hence the specification of a Big Space
the most demanding off-road terrain a
truck driver will ever encounter, but it’s a
surface where an Arocs is a better bet
than an Actros. As we skirt through the
tracks in the dense forest, a pine marten
scurries in front of us. You don’t get
sights like that at an RDC in Warrington!Loading logs
Having turned the truck round, Jim
positions it next to his pile of wood for
collection. Having parked, he puts on
his PPE and prepares the trailer for
loading before climbing into the cabin
on the crane. Unlike some cranes, Jim’s
has an enclosed cabin – a vital
requirement in an area where the
weather can be very unwelcoming.
The trailer has a set of moveable
hydraulic legs at the front, which are
lowered into position to keep the truck
stable as Jim starts loading. It takes
about 20 minutes to load the trailer- which Jim bought new in January
2017 – and he’s a professional at
handling the crane.
Jim rates the Merc. “It pulls well, and
Mercs have never given me any
problems.” He says the job is getting
more demanding from customers and
forests. “From 2021 no trucks without
Tag-axle arrangement is
better for traction in the
woods than a pusher axlesleeper cab with a flat floor. “Sometimes
I run out of hours and can’t get home, or
I’m simply working away, so having a
decent cab is a necessity,” he tells us.
Jim covers mostly the local forests
close to home, but occasionally has work
on the west coast of the country. “I go
where the jobs are,” he says. “I have a
long-term contract with the sawmill. The
Forestry Commission sells the wood to
the sawmill and we collect it. There are
six local sawmills I deliver to.”
The loads are paid for by weight.
While the trailer’s crane will weigh the
wood as its loaded, it gets a more
accurate figure if the wood is lifted
off the ground, rather than taken off
high stacks.
We reach the forest and lose the
tarmac for a typical dirt track. It’s not