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Supersized tankers fuel farms and mines
In remote areas of northern Australia, mining and farming communities could not survive without regular deliveries of transport fuel. Vast distances and tough conditions mean vehicles delivering fuel must be exceptionally robust. Shell uses tankers three times the normal size.
The town of Mount Isa sprawls along Australia's Barkly Highway in the middle of one of the country's two major mining regions. It is around 900 kilometres from Townsville, on the east coast of Queensland, and the same disctance from the better-known Alice Springs.
Many mining multinationals with large-scale operations in the region need huge quantities of fuel to keep operating. Farms, too, can be hundreds of kilometres apart so farmers depend on small planes and helicopters to run their business.
Delivering fuel in this part of the world, however, is a major challenge.
Temperatures reach up to 500C in the shade and for much of the year the landscape is desert. Occasional heavy rainstorms, though, bring flash floods that can wash away sections of the road with little warning.
Fuelling the economy
To transport very large quantities of diesel and petrol in these extremes, Shell uses tankers three times the length of ordinary tankers. Known as "triples", they weigh up to 120 tonnes and are about 50 metres in length. Fully loaded and at high speed they take nearly 100 metres to brake to a halt. A triple can carry up to 85,000 litres of petrol in total, necessary to meet the heavy demand. Similar trucks are used in several other parts of the world, where distances travelled are also vast.
The tankers refuel at a Shell depot in Mount Isa, where supplies of diesel, petrol and aviation fuel arrive by rail and road from Townsville. They serve local mines that contribute significantly to the Australian economy. In total mining accounts for around 8% of the country's gross domestic product. Australia has the world's largest reserves of nickel, uranium and zinc, and is the biggest exporter of coal.
Like fellow drivers, trucker Michael Webster (pictured left) is proud to be at the wheel of one of these giants of the road. Given the heat, he is also glad of his cab's portable air conditioning. He has been driving out of Mount Isa for nine years and has seen demand grow.
"Over time, I have seen clients even up as far as the Northern Territories switch from buying by the barrel to buying from the truck," he says. "Every couple of months I make the trip out - it takes four days there and four days back. We are a lifeline for our customers."
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