The more people who can empathise with the day-to-day trials and tribulations faced by truck drivers around the country, the better – especially if they’re helping call the shots at recognisable transport companies across the nation.
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JATEC Transport’s Caitlin Barlow has grown up around the transport industry, and within the JATEC system. After all, given the company’s name is an acronym of the initials of all her immediate family, she literally puts the ‘C’ in JATEC.-— it’s in her blood.
Like so many who elect to make this industry their life, Caitlin has grown up around trucks and other heavy vehicles. Her father, Troy, and mother, Jane, started the company back in 2003, and after two decades of transporting pallets in and around New South Wales, it has expanded north into Queensland to now also operate out of Brisbane.
Caitlin has progressed to the position of General Manager in the family business, and over the past year or so has embarked on a mission to gain a greater understanding of truck drivers, the issues and risks they face, and the day-to-day challenges that rear up at those taking on life on the road.
Now, about a year after earning her heavy rigid licence, she’s taken the next leap and acquired her heavy combination licence.
“Getting my heavy rigid licence was something that came across my desk through the Iron Women program, and I figured it was something I should do considering I run a transport business,” Barlow reflects.
“I wanted to have a better understanding of what the drivers go through, and then once I got my rigid licence it was almost addicting.
“I figured ‘I’ve done this one now’, so I made the decision to come back in 12 months’ time and get my heavy combination licence.
“The empowerment you feel when driving a prime mover with a fully loaded trailer on the back is just unreal, and now I’m able to relate to drivers more when they come in with issues because I have that better understanding of what it takes to drive one of these trucks.
“I definitely didn’t realise just how poor some of the driver behaviour is out on the road and there’s some crazy dangerous driving going on by some people using cars, so you have to be on high alert the whole time which I found really interesting.
“Now I also have that understanding of what you can and can’t see when you’re behind the wheel because you’re so high up, and reflecting on it I feel like that’s a really crucial thing for me to understand.”
It would have been easy for Caitlin to get her HC licence and just leave it at that – and easier still to never even start the process, but she is never someone who has done things by halves.
She’s a continuous collaborator with Transport Women Australia Limited, was named the 2023’s Emerging Leader by Road Freight NSW and is a key champion promoting both diversity in the industry and the opportunities that exist within it.
She is now one of the transport industry’s most powerful and vocal allies who is passionate about helping create wholesale change within the industry and painting it as a more attractive career prospect for those outside of it.
So, in celebration of not only earning her HC licence, but also for intensely championing outcomes for women in transport, she had one of JATEC’s Volvo prime movers wrapped in pink company livery – and not necessarily with the knowledge or prior approval of other key members of the business.
“I don’t even know if I asked dad actually, I think he only saw it once it got wrapped,” Caitlin laughs.
“It is something that has always been a long-term goal in my head, and the rest of the team at JATEC knew it was something I wanted to do.
“I called Fleetmark, who wrap the rest of our trucks, and told one of their general managers, Leanne, that I had this idea and asked if she could make it happen. It was an ultimate show of girl power.
“The process of getting my licence made me stop and think about the Iron Women program and all the ladies that are so
important to me, and I really wanted to showcase women in the industry.
“I thought wrapping one of our trucks pink was the least I could do.”
“International Women’s Day was about 10 days away, and it got done just in time – so that was another really cool part of getting the truck wrapped.
“When I drove it back to the yard it was definitely a head turner. Everyone was looking, and that made me even more proud to be driving a pink JATEC truck while wearing a pink JATEC shirt.”
Utilising pink trucks to promote diversity outcomes within the transport industry is becoming a mainstay on Australian roads, and JATEC’s pink Volvo is yet another addition to a continually strengthening sector.
Being part of JATEC Transport’s second generation, Caitlin knows all the passions and the pitfalls associated with growing up in the industry, and the challenges it presents young people who are looking to forge their own careers.
She says she hopes her experiences and the truck will be able to continue to inspire the next generation of transport professionals.
“It’s something I’m really passionate about. Nowadays you can’t take young kids out in the truck as much as I used to go out with my dad when I was little, so you have to really incite that passion for trucks early,” she says.
“Unfortunately, one of the hindrances in the transport industry is you can’t get your truck licence until you’re older, whereas kids can go into other trades when they’re 16 or 17.
“To get your heavy rigid or heavy combination licence, you have to line it up with getting your p plates, so you have to inspire kids when they’re young to keep going and get into transport, because we don’t want to lose them in their teenage years.
“We have a family day once a year to make sure we give the opportunity for JATEC staff to take the kids out in the trucks with them, and it’s always the little girls that are super impressed and want to go for a drive.
“This year we’ll have a blue truck and a pink truck, take everybody out with us and hopefully inspire some future truck drivers.
“It’s really cool to be able to drive through and hopefully inspire the next generations.”
Given Caitlin’s responsibilities behind the scenes at JATEC Transport, it’s unlikely she’ll be completing regular runs in the new pink truck.
She says she’s keen to get behind the wheel and get her hands dirty as much as she can, but the day-to-day operation of the vehicle has been put to the floor to see who wants to take it on.
“I’m definitely keen to go out and do some loads myself, but I might have to have someone come with me and help me throw the straps,” she says.
“I put it out to the team and asked if anyone in particular wants to drive the pink truck, and the driver that will ultimately be driving it most days is a guy called Abshir.
“Abshir has six kids, and most of them are girls. He said he wants to drive it to try and inspire his girls and show it’s an inclusive industry.
“There were plenty of people who put their hands up and were more than happy to drive the truck.
“There are still a lot of different assumptions in the industry, and there is still some negative stigma, but that is changing.
“Whenever you do come across a bit of a differing opinion you just have to explain where you’re coming from and your thoughts around it.
“Nine times out of ten, that will help foster the positive change we want to see.”
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