Intercomp Company (Australia) - In 2018, Australia’s National Heavy Vehicle Regulator Law was amended to provide that every party in the heavy vehicle transport supply chain has a duty to ensure the safety of their transport activities. The Chain of Responsibility (CoR) law holds organizations that utilize or contract commercial vehicles responsible for the breaches of road transport law. When an organization hires a transportation company, the vehicle owner and client share responsibility for any violation that occurs. Fleet Plant Hire, a Melbourne-based civil plant hire logistics company, needed to find an efficient way to ensure vehicles leaving excavation worksites comply with axle weight restrictions.

"Among our competitors, we are currently the only company offering on-site weight monitoring of our vehicles, safeguarding our clients from potential citation fees. Intercomp’s LS630-WIM™ Portable Weigh-In-Motion system was the most attractive option due to the quick deployment time, increased efficiency while weighing vehicles and flexibility to set up weighing locations where full-length systems cannot fit." – Garry Higgs, Fleet Plant Hire Business Development.

Fleet Plant Hire provides excavating and material removal services for a variety of projects. The company needed a weighing solution due to involvement in the Metro Tunnel project to expand rail access for Melbourne and its surrounding communities. Since mid-2018, Fleet Plant Hire ordered several LS630-WIM™ systems to ensure road haulage vehicles loaded with excavated material leaving Metro Tunnel sites are within legal weight limits. In order for Fleet Plant Hire to be part of the project, government planners stipulated Fleet Plant Hire must follow all relevant heavy vehicle regulations, including the new CoR rules.

Among the most important features of the Intercomp system was its portability, efficient throughput and small footprint when deployed. Employees working the scales can quickly re-deploy the system allowing scales to be available exactly where and when needed. The space requirements of an alternative system made placement at a jobsite impossible, but could also delay truck traffic due to the system’s inability to weigh dynamically. An off-site location was the only solution to the space issue, but that would require un-weighed trucks to travel on public roads and expose those involved in the project to possible commercial vehicle citations.

Fleet Plant Hire further benefited from weight compliance by ensuring all vehicles were close to their respective GVM. This also results in fewer vehicles needed to fulfill the obligations to relocate excavated material. The company found further benefit from differentiation because they were able to offer clients protection from fines and citations not offered by competitors. Fleet Plant Hire believe they are currently the only company of their type in the region that offers clients decreased exposure to fines from heavy vehicle violations by the use of portable WIM scale systems.