Are water trucks slowing down your haul road cycle times?

Water truck slowdowns might seem minor at first glance, but they add up dramatically across your fleet. 

Think about a typical 15-truck operation. Each haul truck encounters water trucks 8-12 times per shift, with each interaction causing 45-90 seconds of delay. That’s 20-30 minutes of lost time per truck, per shift. Multiply that across your fleet, and you’re looking at 4-6 hours of total fleet delay every shift.

This significantly hurts production. A baseline cycle time of 22 minutes jumps to 28-32 minutes when you factor in water truck interactions. Over a shift, each truck in your fleet loses 2-3 complete cycles. And the disruption goes beyond just time loss. Water trucks create unpredictable bottlenecks, especially on ramps and at loading and dumping zones. When a water truck services these critical areas, queues of up to four trucks can form, triggering a cascade of delays.

These traffic flow disruptions hit hardest in high-congestion areas. Single-lane ramp sections see delays of 60-90 seconds when water trucks are present. Loading and dumping zones experience 2-3 minute delays during water application.

With haul trucks, every minute of delay hits your bottom line. Let’s look at a typical 1.6km haul on flat ground with 1.8 minutes combined loading and dumping time.

Tannant & Regensburg point out that on a well-maintained road with 4% rolling resistance, a loaded CAT 793C truck’s combined travel time is 4.7 minutes. However, when road conditions deteriorate to 10% rolling resistance, that same combined travel time nearly doubles to 9.5 minutes. This increases the total cycle time from 6.5 minutes to 11.3 minutes—a dramatic impact on productivity that can cost your operation millions in lost production annually.

But here’s the good news: there’s a better way. Forward-thinking operations like Eramet’s Grand Côte are getting water trucks off the road by implementing modern dust control strategies that use biocementation to strengthen the road. These long-lasting surface treatments can reduce water truck frequency by up to 90%.

What does this mean for you? Your operations teams don’t need to worry about strategic application timing, focused on night shifts and planned around peak production periods, to minimise interference with day shift hauling.

Operations that have made the switch report cycle time improvements across their haul road network. The results speak for themselves: cycle time improvements of 3-5 minutes and an additional 1-2 loads per truck per shift.

“We suggest that you start by measuring and analysing your current situation,” says Martin. “Begin by tracking the frequency and duration of water truck encounters across your haul network.”

Document cycle time variations related to these interactions and identify your most problematic bottlenecks. Then calculate the production impact in terms of loads per shift to build a compelling business case.

“Next, select 2-3 km of your highest-traffic haul roads for initial testing with road stabilisation treatments,” explains Martin. Choose stabilisers appropriate for your site conditions and establish clear baseline metrics. Set measurable success criteria that focus on cycle time improvements and production increases.

Martin recommends you consider cleaner options now widely available, like biological dust control, which uses a biocementation process. This proven treatment employs naturally occurring microorganisms to bind soil particles together, creating a more stable road surface. Beyond reducing water truck requirements, biocementation is clean for the environment, unlike older technologies like crude-oil-based bitumen emulsions, salts, or polymer-based products.

“When we run trials on site, we show operators how to apply the product and how to monitor performance,” says Martin. “Many are surprised when they go from applying water 15x per day, to then only spraying once every couple of days after they’ve applied Terrabind biological dust control.”

He suggests documenting all results carefully, including cycle times, dust levels, and operator feedback. Then, calculate your return on investment based on production increases versus implementation costs.

“During the trial phase, we train your operators on new procedures using existing water trucks and equipment already on site, and help you establish ongoing performance monitoring,” explains Martin.

Every minute saved in your haul cycle translates directly to improved production. By addressing the hidden impact of water truck dependencies, you can discover significant gains in operational efficiency. The question isn’t whether water trucks are slowing down your cycle times—it’s by how much, and what you’re going to do about it.

How is your site managing the balance between dust control and cycle time efficiency?