How Aussie CTI Keeps the Long Logger Moving

Deep in Queensland’s coastal pine plantations, where soft sandy tracks, heavy payloads and relentless production demands collide, the world-first Elphinstone Long Logger Road Train is rewriting the rules of timber haulage. But moving more than 130 tonnes of truck, trailer and timber through the forests surrounding Tuan requires more than horsepower alone it requires getting that power to the ground.

That is where Aussie CTI comes into its own.

The first thing you notice about the Tuan Forest is not the trucks. It is the trees.

They stand in regimented rows across the gently rolling country, tall, straight and remarkably orderly. It is forestry with the appearance of a military parade, although considerably quieter and with fewer people shouting.

 Stretching across Queensland’s Fraser Coast between Maryborough and Gympie, the Tuan and Toolara plantation forests form one of the state’s largest and most important timber-growing regions. Tuan’s plantations were first established in 1948, followed by Toolara in 1950, creating an extensive working forest that has supplied Queensland’s timber industry for generations.

Today, the plantation resource is managed by HQPlantations as part of a carefully planned and continually renewed production cycle. These forests are not simply harvested and forgotten. Harvesting, site preparation and replanting are coordinated so that each cleared area becomes the foundation for the next crop of timber.

 HQPlantations says at least one new tree is planted for every tree harvested, with the wider estate managed so annual harvesting remains within the forest’s sustainable growth capacity.

The dominant timber grown through Tuan and Toolara is Southern Pine, an improved hybrid of Slash Pine and Caribbean Pine. The hybrid combines the straightness, wood density and tolerance of wetter ground associated with Slash Pine with the rapid growth, fine branching and evenly textured timber of Caribbean Pine. These characteristics produce the tall, straight and relatively uniform logs valued by sawmills and timber processors.

Typically, Southern Pine is grown for approximately 25 to 30 years before final harvest. Once delivered to the mill, the logs are processed into structural framing, flooring, decking, engineered wood products, mouldings, landscaping timber and other materials used in homes and construction projects across Australia.

 Consistent log dimensions improve processing efficiency, increase timber recovery and help extract greater value from every tree grown.

Just down the road is Hyne Timber’s Tuan Mill. Situated approximately 25 kilometres from Maryborough, it is Queensland’s largest timber mill and processes around 70 truckloads of sustainably grown logs each day. Its influence extends well beyond the mill gates, supporting harvesting, transport, maintenance, engineering and numerous regional businesses.

Long before any of that timber reaches a hardware store, building site or suburban renovation project, someone has to get it out of the forest.

That is where the challenge begins.

A freight task measured in truck movements

The forestry roads around Tuan bear little resemblance to highways.

Built through coastal country, their condition can change remarkably quickly. One kilometre can be a firm, dry haul road offering good support beneath the tyres. The next can be loose sandy loam where traction disappears and horsepower begins making extravagant promises it cannot keep.

Rain changes the equation again. Water can soften the surface, expose weak sections and turn small depressions into places where momentum goes to die.

For the 50-metre, 66-wheel Long Logger Road Train designed to operate at approximately 132 tonnes gross combination mass, every journey challenges traction management, momentum and the road’s load bearing ability.

The combination was developed to carry approximately 92.65 tonnes of timber in a single movement.

That figure is central to the entire transport solution because the Long Logger story is not simply about constructing a bigger truck. Australia has never suffered from a shortage of people willing to make trucks longer, heavier or more complicated. The real achievement is using that size intelligently.

It is about completing a large and continuous freight task with fewer prime movers, fewer drivers, fewer total truck kilometres and lower overall fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.

Before Elphinstone’s original Long Logger system entered the Tuan operation in 2008, Graeme Elphinstone estimated that approximately 45 conventional trucks and drivers would have been required to perform the same freight task.

The Long Logger B-Double fleet reduced the task to 12 combinations operating across day and night shifts. The next evolution is the Long Logger Road Train, moving the operation towards seven highly productive combinations.

Instead of asking how many additional trucks are needed, the Long Logger asks a much more useful question: how much timber can be moved with each driver, each litre of diesel and each vehicle movement?

The combination uses skeletal lead trailers, stinger-steered jinkers, specialised bolsters, on-vehicle weighing and independent trailer power packs. When running empty, the folding system carries the jinkers on the lead trailers.

It is sophisticated engineering with a simple purpose: move more timber safely and efficiently.

Yet the productivity advantage depends on the combination continuing to move. Ninety-two tonnes of payload is not especially valuable if it is sitting in the sand while the drive tyres attempt to throw a Queensland road towards the rear mudguards.

Matching the tyre to the terrain

Helping the Long Logger convert engine power into forward motion is an Aussie CTI central tyre inflation system fitted to the prime mover.

It’s a simple but vital system! From the driver’s seat, tyre pressures can be adjusted to suit the conditions beneath the wheels. Aussie CTI systems can be configured with high, medium and low presets for driver convenience, while also allowing pressures to be fine-tuned for a particular vehicle, load or operating environment.

Central tyre inflation works on a straightforward principle: match the tyre’s footprint to the terrain and the load it is carrying.

At highway pressure, a tyre supports its load through a comparatively short and firm contact patch. That is ideal on a hard, stable road where low rolling resistance, steering response and heat management are important.

Soft sand presents an entirely different problem.

A firm tyre with a relatively short footprint can break through the upper layer of the road. Once it begins sinking, the tyre must continually climb out of the depression it is creating in front of itself. Energy that should be moving the truck forward is instead being used to deform the surface.

The driver presses the throttle, the engine produces more torque, the tyres dig harder, the road develops a trench.

Everyone is working enthusiastically, but nobody is making much progress.

Reducing tyre pressure allows the casing to flex, lengthening the tyre’s contact footprint. The vehicle’s weight is spread over a larger area, reducing the pressure being applied to each section of the road surface and lowering the tyre’s tendency to sink.

In simple terms, the tyre begins to float rather than dig.

The word “float” may sound optimistic when applied to a combination weighing more than 130 tonnes, but the principle is sound. Nobody expects the Long Logger to skim across the forest like a hovercraft. The objective is to keep the tyres travelling over the supporting surface rather than breaking through it.

For Long Logger driver Scott Aylett, Aussie CTI is not an accessory reserved for emergencies. It is a working tool he uses as conditions change throughout the day.

“Most of the time around the forest roads I run it on the medium setting at around 60 PSI,” Scott explains. “But when we get into the softer country or we need extra traction climbing out of a section, I’ll drop them down to around 30 PSI.”

The important part is that the adjustment can be made from inside the cab.

If changing pressure required Scott to stop, climb out and manually adjust multiple tyres, it would seldom happen at precisely the moment it was needed. Drivers would understandably be inclined to leave the pressures alone until the truck was already struggling. However, with Aussie CTI, Scott can respond to the terrain as he approaches it.

When the road firms up, pressure can be increased. When the surface deteriorates, he can select a lower setting before momentum is lost. The aim is to prepare the tyre footprint before the combination begins to struggle.

That changes tyre pressure from a fixed workshop setting into an active vehicle control. It becomes another tool available to the driver, alongside throttle position, transmission selection, momentum and route knowledge.

Working smarter, not harder

There is a temptation in heavy transport to treat momentum loss as a request for more throttle.

Sometimes that works. But more often, it converts diesel into noise, heat and wheel spin.

Television’s loudest advocates of “more power” have demonstrated this principle repeatedly. The throttle is opened, the engine roars, dirt flies in several directions and the vehicle settles more firmly into the exact place from which it was supposed to escape.

With more than 130 tonnes in motion, aggressive throttle application can place considerable stress through the tyres and driveline. If the tyres cannot transmit the available torque, adding power does not solve the traction problem. It simply makes them spin faster.

A spinning tyre generates heat and accelerates tread wear. It also disturbs the road surface, creating depressions that retain water and become more difficult for every vehicle that follows.

Deep ruts are rarely born fully formed. They usually begin as small areas of wheel slip that are repeatedly enlarged until somebody arrives with a grader and a maintenance invoice.

By allowing Scott to lower the drive-tyre pressure and enlarge the contact footprint, Aussie CTI helps the tyres generate grip with less slip.

The truck maintains momentum using a more measured throttle application, reducing the need to charge into a soft section and hope horsepower can settle the argument.

This is not about making the vehicle unstoppable. Every transport operation has physical limits, and no tyre pressure setting can overcome the laws of traction.

It is about giving the driver a larger operating window and a better chance of getting through changing conditions smoothly.

Protecting the road beneath the truck

Forest roads are a critical part of the timber production system, but they are not used solely by logging vehicles.

They provide access for service vehicles, maintenance crews, firefighting equipment, contractors and members of the general public. Their condition affects both the productivity of the forest operation and the safety and comfort of everyone travelling through the area.

Technology that helps heavy vehicles move more smoothly across the surface can slow road degradation and extend the intervals between grading and repairs.

That has the potential to produce a useful secondary benefit for HQPlantations by reducing the punishment absorbed by the road network and helping control maintenance costs.

The saving does not come from one truck making one successful climb. It accumulates across thousands of loaded movements.

When drive tyres maintain grip rather than spin, the road surface is disturbed less aggressively. Better road conditions also reduce shock loading through the truck and trailers.

A smoother surface means fewer severe impacts transmitted through the suspension, chassis, bolsters and coupling systems. It creates a more predictable driving environment and can reduce wear through the tyres, suspension and driveline.

Across a large plantation road network, those benefits can translate into lower maintenance costs, fewer operational disruptions and safer, more consistent access for all road users.

There is also a broader lesson here.

Road maintenance is often treated as a separate cost from vehicle operation, as though the truck and the road occupy different financial universes. In reality, they are part of the same production system. A vehicle that damages the road creates costs elsewhere in the operation, while a badly maintained road returns the favour by damaging the vehicle.

Helping the truck travel over the surface rather than through it benefits both sides of the equation.

A system of systems

The Long Logger Road Train demonstrates something often overlooked in discussions about transport equipment: genuine productivity is rarely created by one spectacular component working alone.

It is created by systems that complement each other. The Elphinstone trailers increase the volume of timber carried in each movement. The specialised bolsters and auto-tensioning winches support and restrain the long stems. The on-vehicle weighing system helps the operator maximise payload without relying on guesswork. The stinger-steered jinkers make the combination’s length practical through forest roads, intersections and loading areas.

 Independent trailer power packs allow those systems to function without relying entirely on the prime mover. The prime mover supplies the power and Aussie CTI helps connect that power to the road.

Remove any one of those elements and the combination becomes less effective. The Road Train is therefore not simply a large collection of axles and steel. It is a carefully integrated transport system in which payload, steering, weighing, folding, traction and driver control all contribute to the final result.

 Aussie CTI may not be the largest or most visually dramatic component on the combination. It does not make the trailers fold, steer the jinkers or weigh the logs.

What it does is allow all that engineering to remain productive when the road beneath the drive tyres turns soft.

That makes it far more important than its physical size might suggest.

Making every movement count

The economics behind the Long Logger Road Train are compelling.

Based on the operating comparison developed for the project, the 12-truck Long Logger B-double fleet would collectively travel around 1.44 million kilometres each year to complete the timber haulage task. By carrying significantly more timber in each movement, a seven-truck Road Train fleet could move the same volume while travelling approximately 840,000 kilometres annually.

That is around 600,000 fewer truck kilometres each year.

Even allowing for the heavier Road Train combinations to consume more fuel per kilometre, the projected saving is approximately 264,000 litres of diesel annually, preventing more than 700 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

The Long Logger Road Train may prove to be one of the most important Australian transport innovations of 2026. Its extraordinary payload, folding jinkers and stinger-steered trailers will naturally attract most of the attention, but none of that productivity matters unless the combination can keep moving.

That is where Aussie CTI earns its place in the system. By allowing the driver to adjust the tyre footprint before traction is lost, it helps the heavily laden combination remain controlled and productive as conditions change. It does not create the Long Logger’s payload advantage, but it ensures that advantage is realised.

Out in the forest, engineering success is not measured by how impressive a truck looks while standing still. It is measured when the road turns soft, the grade begins to climb and more than 130 tonnes of truck, trailer and timber must keep moving.

The Long Logger carries more timber with every journey. Aussie CTI helps make sure those journeys’ don’t stop.

Download the special print run-on edition of Australian Trucking Quarterly featuring the full Aussie CTI Long Logger story.

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