The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has intercepted over 2500 heavy vehicles during a month-long cross-border blitz at major ports.

Operation Quay was conducted by the NHVR, working alongside police, from July 21 to August 17, at key port locations within NHVR’s jurisdiction including at Port Botany, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Bell Bay.

The blitz was focused on freight movements around Australia’s busiest ports, with mechanical and mass non-compliance found to be the biggest areas of concern.

According to NHVR Chief Operations Officer Paul Salvati, the blitz was a crucial effort in ensuring heavy vehicles entering and exiting port precincts were operating safely and meeting all obligations under the Heavy Vehicle National Law.

“Over the course of the month-long operation, our Safety and Compliance Officers (SCOs) inspected 2566 heavy vehicles, issuing 905 notices as a result,” Salvati said.

“Unfortunately, this is 905 times where some form of non-compliance was found during an intercept – each representing a preventable issue, and a potential risk to the safety of the driver and the wider community.

“SCOs found that heavy vehicle non-compliance was the highest in Victoria, closely followed by South Australia and New South Wales.”

Salvati said there were hundreds of defect notices issued for mechanical non-compliance throughout the operation, mainly for faulty lights, reflectors or brakes – 43 of which were major breaches, and 662 that were minor.

There were also 65 breaches relating to mass non-compliance, with 18 of these categorised as either severe or substantial violations.

“Non-compliance with mass limits has the potential to result in the damage of critical infrastructure and compromise a vehicle’s braking ability, meaning these breaches could have ended in disaster had our SCOs not intervened,” said Salvati.

“We know heavy vehicles transporting freight in shipping containers are more likely to be involved in safety incidents in comparison to vehicles carrying general freight, and these findings underline the ongoing need for vigilance within the industry to protect all road users.”

The NHVR plans to continue working alongside police to ensure safety is not compromised.

“Ports are high pressure environments where safety simply cannot take a back seat – the consequences can be severe, and the last thing we want to see are more families, friends and loved ones impacted by road trauma,” Salvati added.

“We worked in close partnership with police during Operation Quay to inform and educate industry on how to meet their safety obligations, but also to enforce the law where required.

“The majority of drivers and operators do the right thing, and we thank them for their commitment to safety, but for those who aren’t, we’ll continue to take action – because no load is worth a life.”