Nestled out in the middle of Victoria’s picturesque Gippsland region, ANC Forestry is a logging and transport business that operates across all of Victoria, up to New South Wales and even in Tasmania, embracing the future of forestry haulage.
Its headquarters are just a short five-minute drive out of the main drag of Morwell, and houses its comfy office space, a sizeable workshop where mechanics work away on the trucks and equipment and a yard filled with resting vehicles and timber as far as the eye can see.
Run by managing director Daryl Hutton, ANC has been in action for 16 years, having grown from a fleet of just five trucks to now 35 along with 60 staff.
It first started in harvesting wood in steep country with cable logging on contracts before moving onto more hauling work, as opposed to harvesting.
“Native logging has been closed down in Victoria, so we’ve had to diversify into carting for other people and products,” Daryl explains.
“We’ve also diversified to rock trucks. We’ve got four rock trucks and trailers, and walking floors. We’re starting now on our next processes on building other configurations that can cart different product as well.
“We try to innovate and keep being proactive moving forward.”
Those big logging and hauling jobs call for powerful vehicles, which ANC is in no shortage of.
Walking through the workshop and the yard, it’s hard not to marvel at the sheer size and scale of the Kenworth-heavy fleet – especially when they’re loaded as high as they are.
“I’ve only brought new Kenworths for the last 15 odd years,” Daryl says.
“We’ve acquired Volvos and other trucks by acquiring other fleets, but I haven’t bought them new. Kenworth is the truck of choice for logging. It’s tough and robust.
“They have become very expensive. The rates in forestry haven’t increased to keep up with that. Things have to change.”
As challenges in the forestry game continue to arise, ANC has had to continue to diversify its business.
The rock trucks are one part of it, giving the business options in the types of jobs it can take on.
“We’re in difficult times of transitioning out of native forestry into other haulage opportunities. We’re going to be fine, and we’ll make it, but we’ve got to truck smarter,” Daryl says.
Transport is competitive, and so to keep up with prices as to where things need to be, you can’t just pass the costs on, you have to keeping moving on.
“Bigger and newer trucks are lighter, you can cart more wood. Log trucks are as expensive as anything else at $750,000 for a new unit to go on the road. We just keep persevering.”
Daryl leans heavily on his prior experience in logging haulage in New Zealand, where he worked for 15 years before making the move over to Australia.
There are different issues which arise across the ditch compared to here, he says. Kiwi operators having to worry more about their road tax, which has to be paid upfront.
They’re also generally unable to be as efficient as logging businesses here, which are able to carry greater payloads, and do so more safely.
“In New Zealand it’s about axles,” Daryl says.
“Their truck and dog or truck and trailer equivalents of a twin steer or five axle dog trailer still only carts 58 ton, whereas we’re at 67.5.
“Our axle loadings are greater, so the trucks are more than capable of carrying it. New Zealand’s log hauling fleet is 90 per cent truck and dog.
“Their terrain is pretty tough and their main roads are tough. Very windy and so many opportunities for a driver to get it wrong.”
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