The latest truck delivered to Rockhampton-based Rocky’s Own Transport makes it 5,000. The Kenworth T 409 was handed over to the Central Queensland transport operator, fitted with the 5,000th Cummins ISXe5 sold in the South Pacific.
“The ISXe5 represents Cummins’ most successful ever introduction of a new heavy-duty truck engine in the South Pacific,” said Mike Fowler, Director of Automotive Business for Cummins South Pacific. “This is due in large part to the extensive field testing of the ISXe5 in Australia before its release. We began testing 15 engines early in 2012 in single trailer, B-double and road train applications, clocking up millions of kilometres before the release in 2013.”
Fowler pointed out Australia has been a global proving ground for Cummins truck engines since 2012, the benefits of which are seen in the success of the ISXe5, which Cummins claim to be the biggest selling engine in Australia’s heavy-duty market. The ISXe5 represented a changeover to SCR technology being used to meet the ADR 80/03 (Euro 5) gas emission limits.
Rocky’s Own was involved in the ISXe5 field test program, running two engines, which are still in service today, each having clocked up close to 700,000 km at the end of November, 2015. Much of their work has been into some of the hottest areas of the country, as far afield as the Pilbara mining region in Western Australia.
32 ISXe5 engines are now running in the Rocky’s Own fleet, which now consists of more than 130 prime movers and 220 trailers. The company’s beginnings in 1985 were modest, a couple of trucks and a table and chair set up in a small timber yard in Rockhampton.
Dangerous goods and general freight are the core of its freight task today, and the fleet sees close to 100 Cummins-powered Kenworths operating across Australia. The company started swinging over to Cummins power for its linehaul fleet in 2006 and by 2013 had put its 100th ISX engine into service.
“I always hear if we’re having any product dramas… I’m not getting any phone calls about the ISXe5,” said Rod Carige, Rocky’s Own Operations Manager. “Fuel economy is very good too.”