It hasn’t been long in our market, but we didn’t have to look hard to find candidates for our first Series 5 Volvo FH Top Truck. The overall fit out of Bulk Lines’ new FH16 700 made it a standout choice.

In the early 1990s, Bulk Lines had not yet emerged as its own entity from within the Freight Lines inter-island transport business. In 1992 Strait Shipping was formed, and expanded with Freight Lines a year later. At about the same time, the relationship with Volvo accelerated, and its owners – the Barker family – introduced some of New Zealand’s first FH Volvos to the fleet.

As time passed the business changed, but Volvos have remained a fleet mainstay. To continue the legacy, Bulk Lines has commissioned one of the first of the latest Series 5 FH16s.

The FH16 700 and Patchell Stainless 3SM B-train tanker set are the pride of driver Bruce McGillivray. Bruce came off a two-and-a-half-year-old FH16 600 and is chuffed with his new charge.

“The difference between the 600 and the 700 is amazing. At 58 tonnes, I’m a gear up on the Kaimais. I find the new 700’s cab is a lot more solid. The old 600 had more roll through the bends (which wasn’t a bad thing, you know the road is there), but both are really sure-footed trucks.”

Bruce started working for the Barker family in May 2002, and at Christmas 2019, he decided it was time to hang up the keys. How did he land back in the driver’s seat?

“I had been off for about six or seven weeks deciding what to do next. Pete Barker and I kept in touch, and one day, I rang him out of the blue. He was out in the paddock spraying weeds, I was sitting at home having a beer, and he said we’d better meet up. He had this new run coming on. So I walked into the office and was told I was the new tanker driver, and I didn’t even know what the job entailed,” Bruce says with a laugh.

The run was carting food-grade tallow from Taranaki up to Tauranga and Napier. And that’s where the Volvo’s big horsepower, and particularly the Patchell tankers, come in.

“One of the reasons we built them was for more capacity and to take advantage of the HPMV rules,” says Jon Kyle, Bulk Lines CEO. The tanks are single-compartment units with four baffles in the front 24,000-litre unit and three in the rear 21,000-litre one. The total capacity is 45,000 litres.

The most noticeable feature of the trailer units is the 11mm full insulation covers. “I can load at 65°C to 70°C, and it’ll only cool by about 5°C by the time I discharge at the Mount. You’d only have about six hours without the covers before you’d start panicking,” says Bruce.

To prevent the tallow freezing in the tanks’ exposed drain pipe during winter, Patchell added a double-tap system, meaning no product enters the pipe when it shouldn’t. Yes, there’s only one pipe per trailer, which is mounted to a central pivot point by a food-grade turntable seal. Bruce simply needs to unlatch it and position it on whichever side of the truck he’s offloading.

Stainless airline wash pipes running up each unit further improve useability. They allow Bruce to connect air and water hoses at each end so he can wash the tanks from the top without having to drag hoses over the covers. While he’s up there, pneumatic air rails with lights mean he can work safely and efficiently day and night.

“Patchell made it real simple. Nothing was a problem for them,” says Bruce.

“It’s the first of these tankers Patchell has done for us, and Wayne Gardner and his team did a fantastic job. We’re really happy with their product and can’t speak highly enough about the quality,” says Jon. Likewise, Bulk Lines’ long-time relationship with Volvo central North Island account manager Todd Martin: “Todd does an excellent job for us. We’re really happy dealing with him and with the Volvo product.”

The FH16 700 is suitably subtle, not overly adorned with unnecessary bling. The factory stainless work on the exhaust cover on the right side of the chassis is matched with an optional shroud around the DEF tank on the left side. Here, a stainless Roadrunner toolbox adds a bit of practicality, while Patchell also added a nifty box between the guards on the left of the lead trailer. Green Rhino plastic mudguards with stainless inserts add some styling continuity along the full length of the B-train. Rounding it off is a set of Alcoa Dura-Brights with Volvo chrome wheel nuts and centres on the truck.

The truck was factory-painted, and Truck Signs in Mount Maunganui applied the Bulk Lines livery and a touch of class with some neat pinstriping and the unique Viking depiction at the side of the cab.

“Truck Signs gave the 600 that little touch. It looked good, so I asked them to carry it over to the 700. I didn’t want to lose it,” says Bruce.