The long road to the north

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Bob Riley, Big Rigs  /  August 1, 2017

Ricky Blinco's trucks have been a common sight running through Outback Queensland and into the Territory for what seems like, well, forever.

Based in the Darling Downs town of Oakey, the Blinco yard is a stop-off point for many independent operators heading north.

Ricky Blinco is an old-school operator making it in a modern world with a huge reserve of knowledge and experience that the suits in bigger fleets with their degrees in business management can only dream about.

Big Rigs caught up with Ricky mid-morning after the early rush of getting trucks on the road, loads organised and co-ordinating his fleet of road trains.

Time to wander over to the house that adjoins the yard to put on the kettle, fry up a few eggs and some bacon, and to sit and have a chat.

Turns out it's a 'morning ritual'.

The mobile phone rings. It's one of the drivers in one of the local trucks. He's in Brisbane chasing pick-ups for the next loads going north and there's a slight snag to work out.

As that issue is sorted another mobile rings. It's the tyre service saying they can't make it today.

"There's 40 tyres to change," Ricky said.

"But we've got a tyre machine so it's not all that bad," he says with a wide smile.

"I've got two phones. If the first one is busy the call diverts to the second one so I get time to take the call or there's a message left. It's the only way I keep up and not miss calls."

There's not a truck in the yard as they are all out earning their keep, but the calls keep coming, the problems are sorted, loads are the booked in, or delivery and drop-off times are confirmed.

Ricky has been in the transport game since he was born. His dad, Tom Blinco, ran trucks and at age 14 Ricky left school and joined in. He got his truck licence at 17 and has been driving ever since.

"I'm currently running eight trucks, all Kenworths, and usually run to Mt Isa and to Darwin," Ricky said.

"Ricky Blinco Transport is well-known for running to Mt Isa and Darwin. It's what we do."

There are five trucks on the long haul and they are either 600hp Cat or 600hp Cummins powered. All five are road train rated to 130 tonnes. To make it all work there's 38 trailers in the fleet plus there's 15 dollies too.

The Mt Isa truck heads out on Mondays with two loaded trailers and at Roma hooks up the third and heads west.

The third trailer has been dropped out there by one of the local trucks during the previous night so it's back in the yard and ready to head out on pick-ups and deliveries the next morning.

The Darwin trucks head out on Friday nights and will get into Darwin sometime on Tuesday. "We run everywhere on log book hours these days," Ricky said.

"It's easier on everyone and on the trucks. We've got one of the Kenworths out there with over two million kilometres on the clock, and a couple of others with well over a million or close to it. We are running anywhere between 200,000 and 250,000km a year on each of the long haul trucks."

Work is not limited just to Darwin either as Ricky cites loads into and out of the mines in north west Western Australia earlier in the year.

"Of three of the trucks coming back from Darwin this week one is heading into Rockhampton, another into Townsville and the third into Ipswich. If the loading's right, we'll take the work."

While the trucks are away there's still lots to do.

There's a mechanic on deck who comes in when there's work on repairs and maintenance and there's a boilermaker who has been busy in the workshop this year fabricating road train dollies.

"I'm not a big fan of airbags. Although a couple of the trucks have them, most of them run on six-rod and the trailers and dollies run on springs. I'm getting a better run from the six-rods and the spring set-ups, than I get from the airbags," Ricky said.

Compliance certification for the dollies is held in-house and is administered by Robyn Manktelow, Ricky's sister, who also manages the office.

"Lunch is always in the meal room when the trucks are in the yard and most of the drivers and staff are here. It's become a bit of a tradition," Ricky said.

It also says heaps for the respect and regard the boss holds for his staff too.

Ricky Blinco Transport is a small operation in some respects but it's big on the value the company holds for all its staff.

Many of the drivers have been with the company for close to a decade, several for well over a decade.

Some have left for a time but have come back for even longer stints the second time around.

One of Ricky's sons, Damon, work for him too, a real family affair on the long road to the north.

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