A truck driver who’s been stranded in the Outback for more than two days while waiting on fuel has called for the government to get its act together amid the oil crisis.
Robert Cook has been stuck 100km from Bordertown, a remote community near the border of South Australia and Victoria, since 9pm on Tuesday.
‘I’m sitting at a service station just waiting for a fuel truck to arrive, which hopefully will be tonight,’ Mr Cook told Daily Mail. ‘This is the second time it’s happened to me this week.’
The flow of oil globally has been slowed this month after Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route, following joint US-Israeli attacks on the country.
In a video, Mr Cook showed he spent the last 500km looking in vain for a service station with enough fuel to fill his truck before he frustratingly had to pull in at his current stop.
Mr Cook is the owner of Helco Group, a heavy haulage and long-distance trucking company, but issues in the truck industry over the last six months have seen him pick up jobs on Loadshift, a freelance trucking service.
He was driving a shipment from Perth to Melbourne across the Australian Outback for Loadshift when he began suffering the delays caused by the ongoing fuel shortage.
The first time he was stranded was in Ceduna, a remote town on South Australia’s coast about 1,830km east of Perth.
Robert Cook (above) has spent 2.5 days waiting for fuel deliveries while trucking from Perth to Melbourne
Mr Cook recalled seeing seven other trucks waiting for fuel at his first delay and four (above) at the second
He and several other truck drivers were stuck at a service station for 12 hours while waiting for a fuel delivery.
‘There were seven of us truckies in Ceduna and there’s four of us in Bordertown,’ Mr Cook said.
‘Then there’s the guys that are coming in, seeing there’s no fuel and driving onto the next place.
‘For me, I had to stop because I only had a quarter of a tank left so I didn’t want to risk it. Now I’m sitting here until I can fill up again and continue my journey.’
He added the service stations were both full of ‘big trucks’ carrying everything from oil to cattle, machinery and cars.
Data released by NSW and Victorian governments on Wednesday revealed more than 500 service stations had run out of at least one type of fuel, in those two states alone.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen on Tuesday had confirmed at least 600 service stations across Australia had run dry.
Mr Cook said the continuous fuel delays had cost him on this trip alone more than two-and-a-half days travel time.
Mr Cook, and several other truck drivers, were forced to wait at rural service stations for fuel deliveries
‘I’m trying to look at the positives – hopefully this is a learning curve for everybody,’ he said.
‘I think a lot of people will be more resilient if they take lessons from this.
‘We need to stop being so carefree and thinking everything’s always going to be at our fingertips,’ he said of the fuel shortage.
Loadshift’s Operations Coordinator, Alex Randall, said his company has spent weeks warning the government about the exact issue Mr Cook is now facing.
‘Drivers are out there keeping the country moving and they’re being left high and dry, literally. There’s no system telling them which servos have fuel and which don’t. They’re driving blind,’ Mr Randall said.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen has repeatedly said there is not a fuel shortage in Australia, despite the flow of oil to Asian refineries that supply it ‘slowing’.
Adding insult to injury, truck drivers are paying double on their trips.
Since the Albanese Government scrapped the truck fuel excise exemption in 2022, truck drivers have had to pay tax on fuel.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen has recently appointed a fuel tsar to oversee the supply of fuel
Mr Cook’s trip from Perth to Melbourne has doubled in the last month alone from around $5,000 to $10,000.
‘This is why we’re calling for the diesel excise to be suspended immediately,’ Mr Randall said.
‘The government is collecting more than 50 cents a litre in excise on a resource drivers can’t even find.
‘Rob’s sitting on the side of the road in outback SA right now because a servo ran dry. He’s not the first and he won’t be the last.’
On top of that, poor planning means trucks are burning fuel while returning home from jobs without loads.
‘A third of trucks on Australian roads are running empty at any given time. We’re rationing fuel, releasing emergency reserves, lowering standards – and meanwhile trucks are burning diesel with nothing on the back,’ Mr Randall said.
‘Every empty return leg is wasted fuel that Rob and drivers like him desperately need right now.’
‘That’s why Loadshift exists. Rob uses our platform to build continuous loops across the country so his truck is always carrying a paying load. Brisbane to Darwin to Broome to Perth and back. No empty kilometres.
‘When diesel is ten grand a trip, you can’t afford to waste a single litre.’
Daily Mail has contacted the Department of Energy for comment.
