TRAVELLING northbound on the Princes Highway up through New South Wales has become easier, with the official opening of the Shell Bomaderry service station in North Nowra.
Open 24 hours, and with no limit on how long a truck can stop, the fuelling point has been built with much consideration given to trucks, a feature which has not been lost on local firms.
Placed on the northern side of the large roundabout on the edge of town, the service station is placed well for a truckie looking to make that final run into Sydney.
This site will become even more important in 2022, when the planned Albion Park bypass will make this site the last northbound stop directly on the Princes Highway before reaching Sydney.
As well as being strategically placed for commercial vehicles, it’s also been cleverly designed for their use. With a wide driveway, and standalone canopy just for trucks, the site features mobile work platforms for checking/topping up fluid, and for washing windscreens. The pumps themselves offer Adblue or super high flow diesel pumps, to allow trucks to get back on the road more quickly.
One of the local trucking companies already making good use of the site is National Transport & Distribution.
With 15 prime movers, 34 trailer combos and six rigids running between three depots, there is plenty of need for oil and lubricants.
Kyle Harrison, one of the owners of NT & D, brought along his Kenworth T610SAR to the launch day. Kyle’s trailer features full Shell signage up the tautliner curtains, as testament to his belief in the Shell product.
“The truck access into this place is unreal; it’s been a long time coming,” he said. “It’s somewhere to get off the road, somewhere for the boys to grab a drink. And the coffee is awesome.”
Another local trucking firm which is making use of the site is Kerden’s Bulk Haulage.
Damien Radburn, from Kerden’s, pointed out to us: “It’s good we finally have something northbound, and the fact it is Shell helps out a lot. We converted our entire fleet over to Shell lubricants three months ago, and we are happy with the outcome. As well as all that, our drivers really like the loyalty card system, where the driver gets something in return for fueling up on the site.”
Grant Schulz, a local independent running in the upcoming state election and a keen advocate for rest areas for truckies, was another fan.
He told us rest areas should definitely be a part of any new road infrastructure project. As well as this, we should be retrospectively putting in more rest stops.
“From east to west, north to south, we should be looking at setting up more rest areas, like the one at the top of Mount Ousley. Not necessarily only retail-related truckstops, we just need more places that a driver can stop and rest up.”
Zac Nader, one of the service station proprietors, added: “We aim to be competitive here, we have the best price in town. Ease of access, plus our loyalty program which gives you $15 store credit with every $1000 spent in store.
“We don’t have a time restriction on parking, and the site is looking to expand with food outlets and a Bridgestone Tyre Centre in the DA process.”
With a large truck friendly layout, parking spaces to rest up, and convenient location, the general consensus was that the new North Nowra Shell has been a long time coming.
Extracted from Big Rigs
