Special gold Trident represents company's 46 year link to the bulldog brand
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Left to right: Mack VP sales Gary Bone, quarry manager Danny Karreman, Karreman Quarries MD Dick Karreman, and Volvo Group Australia president Martin Merrick
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Nearly half a century of high regard for Mack trucks has seen the Queensland fleet of Karreman Quarries celebrate its 500th addition of the make – a gold 100 year Mack Trident.
The Mount Cotton-based company provides road base for projects across South East Queensland, a calling that traditionally tests vehicle durability.
“We bought our first Mack in 1974, we were sand mining on North Stradbroke Island,” Karreman Quarries managing director Dick Karreman says.
“We did and we never looked back.”
Dick and his brother Maarten Karreman began business in 1970, leasing equipment, transporting produce and sand mining. The brothers started operating out of the Mount Cotton site in 1976.
A pragmatic approach to getting things done has served the Karreman family well over the journey, and local innovation and manufacturing has had a major influence on vehicle purchasing decisions.
“Fundamentally, the fact that they are built here Australia is part and parcel of our decision to buy Mack,” Dick Karreman says.
“We build new crushing plants, and we build them ourselves.
“We source the steel here, we source the engineering here, those basic principles, that support our own, the fact that it can be built in Queensland.
“That’s fundamentally the Mack story and our relationship with the brand.
“They’re assembled here and that’s why we bought them.”
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The Trident truck and dog combination has long been crucial to the Karreman fleet, while Performance-Based Standards (PBS) has boosted fuel efficiency and productivity.
“Everything we run is PBS, we’re getting 57.5 tonnes gross, and we are getting 40 tonne payloads,” Karreman says.
“That’s unheard of, when you compare it to a B-double and other combinations, that’s the best payload you are going to get out of a vehicle
“PBS is the best way to go economically, for value and productivity.”
Not that it’s all Mack, though there is a fondness for the Volvo stable.
Karreman has also just added three Volvo L260H wheel loaders to the fleet.
“They brought this one out and I said, you’ve now got it right,” Karreman says.
“Now the vision is right, the balance is spot on then the fuel economy on top of that, we ordered three!”
Fuel economy is a big-ticket item for any fleet and the company reports a modernisation dividend from reducing consumption by previous loaders from 60 litres an hour to 16 litres an hour.
“Fuel economy is fundamental at the end of the day,” Karreman says.
“Hence the Mack trucks, you get your 2.1 and 2.2 kilometres to the litre. And now you’ve got it spot on with the loader.”
The Hercules dog trailer behind the 100 year Trident also pays tribute to Dick’s brother, Maarten who passed away recently.
“This truck is a serious milestone for me personally,” Karreman explains. “We never set out to go buy 500 Macks, I’m surprised I’ve lived long enough to see it!”