NZ Truck & Driver February 2019

NZ TRUCK & DRIVER

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| February 2019

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Low & slow

The Official Magazine of the

Issue 220

E C A L P D R A H A IN

ISSN 1174-7935

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CONTENTS Issue 220 – February 2019 2

News

37 Transport Forum

The latest in the world of transport, including... autonomous Cascadias on the road in the US in July; TR Group expands driver training with purchase of DT Driver Training; Volvo Group sets aside $NZ1.5billion to fix emissions control problems

Latest news from the Road Transport Forum NZ, including…..new RTF chief executive Nick Leggett introduces himself; the importance of getting to know about blockchain; unified effort needed to improve railway level crossing truck safety

Longtime Rotorua logtruck operator Gibbo Dhanjee reckons that his Mack Titan off-highway logger’s work may well be even tougher than the renowned Aussie quad roadtrains. Given that it typically runs at 140 tonnes all-up at low speeds and low gears, it’s hard to argue. In its first 30,000kms it averaged just 21km/h!

75 National Road Carriers Association CEO David Aitken looks back at the year that was…

77 SWEP

44 Fleet Focus

22 Giti Tyres Big Test

COLUMNS

It’s a long-running name in road transport – well-known for its former passion for rare Marmon trucks, its gold-coloured trucks… and its also rare Dad and twin daughters driver lineup

FEATURES

Highlighting bold moves taken by companies and groups, aimed at delivering training and supporting driver cadets

80/ PPG Transport Imaging 81 Awards Recognising NZ’s best-looking truck fleets….including a giant pullout poster of this month’s finalist

60 Low & slow It’s a measure of how confident Volvo Trucks Australia is in its new ultra-low crawler gear I-Shift AMT that it’s prepared to let a bunch of journos get behind the wheel of an FH16 700 loaded to 203 tonnes. And drive it up and down a steep hill

81 Move Over Boys

89 Road Transport Association NZ Concerns over NZTA regulatory corrections

91 Truck Shop New products and services for the road transport industry

A petite teenager with a passion for truck driving is something of an industry pioneer

93 TRT Recently Registered New truck and trailer registrations for November/December and the 2018 year

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Wayne Munro 021 955 099 waynemunro@xtra.co.nz

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Truck & Driver | 1

NEWS

DT Driver Training’s e-learning platform serves over 140,000 users a month

TR expands driver training TR GROUP HAS ACQUIRED ONLINE driver training provider DT Driver Training – adding options to its commercial vehicle driver training offering.

The aim is “to provide a broader service to its heavy vehicle clients as well as strengthening the company’s focus on technology and learning,” says Neil Bretherton, general manager strategic development at TR Group.

DT Driver Training will “sit alongside” TR Group’s Master Drive Services brand, he adds.

“TR Group and Master Drive already provide practical and online driver training to

a wide range of clients. DT Driver Training will help us more effectively serve clients who have multiple different vehicle types, as well as provide efficiencies in how we create and deliver learning options,” says Bretherton.

DT Driver Training’s e-learning platform serves over 140,000 users a month. It is, says TR, the largest provider of learner licence theory training and has an impressive roster of corporate clients from government and industry.

The site also features courses from other driver training providers, something that TR

Group is keen to expand on, says Bretherton: “Our ultimate goal is to help reduce incidents on the road, by working with our customers to help them operate their vehicles as safely, efficiently and compliantly as possible.

“We want to take this opportunity to bring best-of-breed training programmes – not only from Master Drive but other providers, too.

We welcome inquiries from other training providers in related industries who would like to be part of ensuring that drivers of any vehicle can get top quality training, wherever they are in the country.” T&D

Volvo funds emissions fault fix THE VOLVO GROUP SAYS IT’S ALLOWING $NZ1.15billion to fix a problem with degrading emissions control systems in some of its truck models.

The parent company of the Volvo, Mack, Renault and UD truck brands announced last October that “an emissions control component used in certain markets and models may degrade more quickly than expected, affecting the vehicles’ emission performance negatively.”

Now it says that it made provision in the fourth quarter of last year for the seven billion Swedish kronor estimated cost of fixing the problem.

Its estimate, it says in a statement, is “based on several factors such as testing of vehicles, statistical analysis and dialogue with relevant authorities.

“The next step will be to define how to implement corrective actions concerning the component in vehicles affected by this issue. This will be done together with the relevant authorities.”

Adds Volvo: “The degradation of the component in question does not 2 | Truck & Driver

pose a product safety issue, nor does it negatively affect vehicle or engine performance in areas other than emissions control.

“The degradation is a result of a materials issue that occurs over time.”

All engines and vehicles equipped with the component met emissions limits when delivered, it adds.

The Group says that funding the fix impacted operating income in the fourth quarter of last year, while the negative cashflow effect will start this year “and gradually ramp up in the coming years.”

It’s reported that the degradation in the SCR engines’ aftertreatment systems could cause them to exceed nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions limits.

Volvo Group added that it “will continuously assess the size of the financial provision as the matter develops.”

European financial analysts reportedly see the cost of addressing the emissions fault as “uncomfortable but affordable” – Volvo still expected to pay shareholders an extra dividend thanks to a year of record profits and high order levels. T&D

NEWS

The new Cascadia comes with Level 2 autonomous driving functions

A step towards autonomous driving

By North American correspondent Steve Sturgess FREIGHTLINER’S NEW CASCADIA, ON SALE IN THE United States mid-year, will feature Level 2 autonomous operation, including assisted steering, all-speeds adaptive cruise control and brake assist.

The latest refinement in Daimler’s Detroit Assurance 5.0 active safety and driver assistance systems is pedestrian recognition, incorporating emergency braking for pedestrians as well as active cruise down to 0km/h.

The automated steering is like the system previewed by Mercedes-Benz at the IAA Commercial Vehicles Show in Germany late last year.

For North America, the Level 2 systems will be available in July as standard spec on the New Cascadia, via its Detroit Assurance 5.0.

The electronically-controlled steering automatically positions the truck in lane and will do so even when drivers lift their hands off the steering wheel. After 40 seconds though, the truck will sound an alarm if the driver’s hands remain off the wheel. After a minute the system deactivates, so the driver absolutely has the take control of the truck again.

The enhanced Cascadia gets a new electronic dash, with a 13.3-inch digital screen in front of the steering wheel and a 10-inch touch panel on the wing dash. With these two control panels and other controls moved to the steering wheel there’s a minimal number of switches on the dashboard.

The steering assistance system will centre the truck in its lane, but drivers can select a bias – nice for those who like to drive close to the right-side lane marker. If the truck starts to wander out of lane, the electronic-controlled steering gently brings it back. For overtaking or changing lanes, use of the indicators de-activates the lanekeeping system.

Daimler Trucks says that its expertise in automation is being leveraged with an investment of over $US500million – part of a global push to put

highly automated trucks (SAE Level 4) on the road within a decade.

The fusion of camera and radar technology in Detroit Assurance 5.0 detects moving pedestrians and cyclists in front of the truck and can deploy full braking in what Daimler claims is an industry first. It can also detect and mitigate a collision with full braking to avoid both moving and stationary vehicles and objects.

It happens in around three seconds – starting with an audible and visual alarm, then braking at 0.3 g for a second then a 1.0 g final stop if the driver does not respond. This is accompanied by the truck horn blaring and the four-way flashers illuminating. At the final stop, the brakes remain on until the driver touches the accelerator pedal to release them.

Another feature is Side Guard Assist, which detects objects (including pedestrians and cyclists), in the passenger-side blind spot for the tractor and a full-length 53-foot trailer – another industry first. It triggers audible and visual warnings – the latter on a small panel on the passenger-side A-pillar.

“The enhancements we’ve made to Detroit Assurance have the potential to make an immediate, measurable and positive impact on overall North American road safety,” says Kelly Gedert, director of product marketing for Freightliner and Detroit.

“In fact, fleets with trucks equipped with forward collision mitigation systems can experience a 60% to 80% reduction in rear-end crashes.”

Among the New Cascadia’s aerodynamic enhancements is a unique feature which sees the front and rear air suspension on a tractor unit dropping its ride height by one inch at speeds over 55mph (88.5km/h) – returning to the regular ride height again when its speed drops below 45mph (72km/h). T&D Truck & Driver | 3

NEWS

On top of the world! The CablePrice Whangarei team – comprising (from left) Craig Lucas, Daniel Halton, Braden Olsen, Tom Hicks and captain Scott Cann – celebrate their victory

Kiwi techs win Scania world title A TEA M OF KIWI TRUCK MECH ANICS H AS WON THE Scania Top Team World Final.

The five-strong All Torque All Noise team from CablePrice Whangarei took the honours – and the $NZ84,000 first prize purse – in the finale of a global contest in which 8000 service technicians and parts experts from 70 countries had taken part.

Craig Lucas, Daniel Halton, Braden Olsen, Tom Hicks and Scott Cann (captain) won the final, at Scania HQ in Sweden, from 11 other national teams.

They qualified for the live-streamed super-final, along with three other teams, by winning the semi-final the previous day – with an impressive 217 points from a possible 300.

The win is the second NZ victory in the Scania Top Team World Final ’s 10-year history – a CablePrice Christchurch team having won in 2015. Another team from the Whangarei branch was second in 2013.

The final, with teams from Argentina, Austria, Brazil, China, Finland, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, Taiwan, The Netherlands and United Arab Emirates as well as NZ, saw the Swiss team finish second and the Austrians third.

“This result is all the more impressive when thinking about the other teams competing at the world final, loaded with years of Scania experience,” says CablePrice technical trainer Russell Dixon.

“In true Kiwi style, when the pressure was applied, All Torque All Noise shifted up a gear,” he reckons.

CablePrice managing director and COO Pat Ward pays tribute to the the team’s “fantastic achievement.

“Service and parts play an integral role in ensuring that our

customers’ vehicles are back on the road in the quickest time possible.

For our customers, they have the added benefit of knowing they have some of the best service and parts people in the world maintaining their vehicles.” T&D

UD recall scarcely affects NZ trucks ONLY THREE KIWI-OWNED TRUCKS ARE AFFECTED by a UD Trucks Australasian safety recall.

The recall was announced late last year by UD Trucks Australia as a precautionary measure for 186 Quon RSS-AIR models produced between November 1 2016 and January 31 2018.

In certain operating conditions, the trucks’ front-rear and rear-rear shock absorbers “may bend or break,” said UD: “In certain conditions, this could cause interference with the tyre and cause it to burst, which may cause a risk of fire.”

UD Trucks NZ points out that, apart from some pre-production units, NZ’s supply of the new Quon models didn’t begin until after the period that the recalled vehicles were built in.

UD Trucks NZ says that the owners of the three trucks here have already been contacted directly to arrange the replacement of the shock absorbers. T&D Truck & Driver | 5

NEWS

The driverless Quon demonstrating its completely autonomous capabilities in Japan

Autonomous UD on show UD TRUCKS HAS STEPPED INTO THE WORLD OF driverless trucks with a demonstration of a heavy-duty Quon operating fully autonomously.

UD Trucks senior VP of technology Douglas Nakano says that the demo of the Quon’s Level 4 autonomous operation capabilities at its Japanese HQ, “is a major step toward practical application of this technology by 2020.”

The Quon autonomously negotiated a course that emulated the realworld conditions facing heavy-duty trucks in confined areas such as ports, factories, warehouses and construction sites, where L4 technology “will help improve efficiency, safety and productivity.”

The truck utilised automation technologies including GPS, radar, Lidar, onboard cameras and software – enabling high-precision starting, stopping,

the negotiation of a slalom course, the execution of U-turns and reversing.

UD Trucks is participating in the Japanese government’s highway platooning project, and says it will continue to improve the accuracy and safety of automation technologies including vehicle-to-vehicle communications and lanekeeping assistance – tapping into “the wealth of testing data” available to it through the wider Volvo Group.

The truckmaker says it aims to partner with companies across the logistics industry and beyond through a strategy of “building knowledge while testing.”

It aims to complete field tests and customer trials of its autonomous trucks by late this year – “with a view toward daily operation by 2020 and commercialisation of fully-electric trucks and autonomous trucks by 2030.” T&D

Genesis makes EV commitment NEW ZEALAND ELECTRICITY AND GAS SUPPLIER Genesis Energy has committed to converting half of its 82-truck heavy vehicle fleet to electric or hybrid power by 2025.

Genesis made the commitment – along with a pledge to convert all of its 86 light vehicles (smaller than 3500kg) by 2020 – in joining the global EV100 initiative late last year.

EV100 aims to make electric vehicles “the new normal” by 2030.

Genesis, which is NZ’s biggest energy supplier and has its own trucks for the likes of LPG deliveries, says that the transport sector in NZ accounts for 18% of carbon emissions.

And globally, it adds, transport is the fastest-growing contributor to climate change, with operators owning more than half of all registered vehicles.

Introducing electric fleet vehicles, it says, “offers an opportunity to curb greenhouse gas emissions, along with air and noise pollution, and increases the number of low-emissions vehicles in the NZ secondhand car marketplace.

The company had already converted almost half of its light vehicles 6 | Truck & Driver

to hybrid or fully electric vehicles before making the EV conversion commitment in December.

This year it will introduce EV charging stations at its Hamilton and Christchurch corporate offices to encourage staff and customers to charge their own cars onsite. It will also install three chargers at its Tuai, Tokaanu and Tekapo electricity generation sites.

Genesis CEO Marc England says the company recognises that climate change is a global challenge, requiring international collaboration – which motivated it to join the EV100 group.

“In NZ we have a unique carbon emissions profile where 85% of what we generate comes from renewable sources. That means our electric cars will be mostly powered by renewable energy too – an advantage we have over many other countries and one that really enables us to set an example.

“Our challenge is to continue to increase NZ’s renewable energy generation to adjust for demand from electric vehicles.”

Participating companies in EV100 include Unilever, IKEA Group, Heathrow Airport and Air NZ. T&D

THE VERSATILE

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NEWS

Truckmakers fight CO2 emissions proposals TRUCKMAKERS ARE SCATHING IN THEIR CRITICISM of the proposed timeframe for the introduction of CO2 emissions reductions for heavy trucks in Europe.

The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), which represents the EU’s seven major truck producers, says it is “particularly alarmed by the excessively aggressive CO2 reduction targets” proposed.

It’s also critical of a switch from a former EU plan to provide incentives for truckmakers who meet a set quota of sales of zero emissions or low emissions trucks….to now propose penalising them instead, if they fail to achieve the quotas.

ACEA says it supports CO2 emissions standards for heavy trucks – but is fighting for a “realistic” level and timetable for their introduction.

The current proposal is for a 15% reduction by 2025 and 30% by 2030.

This, says ACEA secretary general Erik Jonnaert, “will require the rapid and large-scale market uptake of alternatively-powered trucks.”

Adds Jonnaert: “Clearly, we’re talking about huge investments here. In

parallel, transport operators will also have to renew their truck fleets at a much faster pace.”

It will also necessitate, he says, “at least 6000 high-power charging points for electric trucks…along EU motorways by 2025/2030. In addition, another 20,000 regular charging points suitable for trucks are required.

“The shocking fact is that there is not one single public charging point for long-haul trucks available today!”

Similarly, around 1000 truck-specific hydrogen stations are needed by 2025/2030, “but less than 10 are available across the entire EU today – none of them suitable for long-haul trucks,” ACEA says.

And the location of truck-specific public CNG and LNG filling stations is “patchy” across Europe and only in low numbers.

“Policymakers must be aware of this alarming situation when agreeing future CO2 targets for trucks, as these are dependent on a massive rampup in sales of alternatively-powered trucks,” says Jonnaert. T&D

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NEWS

Isuzu offers Coretex telematics NEW ZEALAND’S BEST-SELLING TRUCK MAKE, Isuzu, has signed a deal with Coretex to supply a suite of telematics for its Kiwi trucks.

Isuzu NZ says that the agreement delivers “advanced technologies designed to support customers vehicle and fleet management needs.”

A scalable suite of functions now available via Coretex’s I-Path includes web and mobile phone or tablet app-based management, geo-fencing, operating alerts, vehicle reporting, driver scorecards and alerts, twoway messaging, navigation, pre-drive vehicle checks, electronic RUC management and incident recording cameras.

Isuzu Trucks NZ GM Colin Muir says that the partnership allows it to meet customers’ needs “for bespoke advanced technology solutions.

“We identified a key customer requirement and worked to bring a solution to market. Coretex provide exactly what we require in terms of deliverables, so we are rapt to be announcing this partnership.

“We believe this will be of huge benefit to our customers and is an additional reason why people should have a new Isuzu at the top of their consideration list when it comes time to purchase a new truck.”

Coretex’s suite of telematics functions fits its needs perfectly, says Isuzu NZ In another enhancement to its trucks, Isuzu NZ has introduced a new 6.2-inch media centre, offering options including Isuzu’s advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) – with lane departure warning, forward collision warning and safe following distance indication.

Other options include tyre pressure monitoring, an integrated steering wheel remote, reverse cameras and a wireless phone charging pocket.

Says Muir: “Isuzu NZ is immensely proud to be taking an industry leadership position on technology solutions in the truck market, which continues to elevate the most successful truck brand to a new benchmark.

“We believe many operators who buy premium marques will rethink their perspective on Isuzu, based on the value for money, proven durability and, now, in terms of our advanced vehicle and driver assistance technologies.” T&D

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NEWS

Airbus goes by truck AN AIRBUS A320 AIRLINER HAS made a momentous journey from Estonia to the south of Germany – by ship and by Actros!

The Airbus’ flying days ended with a heavy landing in the coastal city of Tallinn, the impact causing major damage.

Thus it was secured as a training tool for the elite KSK special forces unit of the German army – a group often called on in anti-terrorism operations.

The only difficulty was….its base is in the Black Forest, in southern Germany – at least 2100 kilometres and five countries away!

Hence Stuttgart-based heavy haulage specialist

PAULE was called in – sending one of its 630-horsepower Mercedes-Benz SLT heavy haulage tractor units to Estonia to load the fuselage of the Airbus and carefully (and slowly) take it to a truck ferry.

Even without its wings, engines and tailplane, the Airbus was a difficult load: Sixty metres long, weighing 90 tonnes and five metres wide.

The ferry carried the truck, transporter and its unusual load across the Baltic Sea to the northern German port of Lübeck.

And then the most spectacular part of the journey began – the PAULE team only able to

The Airbus begins its 900km road-trip the length of Germany – leaving the port at Lubeck behind the PAULE heavy-haulage Mercedes-Benz Actros

travel at night for the 900km journey, via Hamburg, Magdeburg, Nuremberg and Stuttgart…attracting big crowds of spectators along the way.

Twice along the route, the heavy-haulage convoy had to leave the motorway to avoid low bridges. The Actros SLT also had to reverse the long combination along a side road to get back onto the autobahn.

A second PAULE Actros SLT was needed to get the Airbus over a tight and steep forest road to the KSK base at Calw, where it will be used as a realistic training tool in exercises designed to protect airline passengers. T&D

Road safety must include new roads THE GOVERNMENT’S INVESTMENT IN ROAD SAFETY improvements is welcome….but falls well short of what’s required, says Road Transport Forum chief executive Nick Leggett.

It is, says Leggett, “disappointing that there is still no commitment for critical new state highways, which would drive productivity, reduce congestion and also improve safety.

“Sadly, this announcement looks like the one-pronged approach – and it won’t make the waka go faster.”

He terms the building of new highways as “critical: “For some key routes a modern four-lane highway is the only practical solution.”

The recently completed projects from the previous Government’s Roads of National Significance programme – including the Waikato Expressway and State Highway 1 north of Wellington – “have proven just how safe these modern four-lane highways are.”

“The RTF is very positive however about additional median barriers,

shoulder widening and greater use of rumble strips, which are useful improvements” – especially, he adds, on “long-neglected local roads.”

Leggett is positive too about the investment in improving “hundreds of dangerous level crossings around NZ, many of which require significant reengineering to make them safe for heavy vehicles.”

But the fact that the “significant” Tauranga to Katikati highway upgrade has still to be prioritised by the Government “will disappoint the freight industry and the local community,” he says.

“The road is one of the most dangerous in the country and is carrying everincreasing traffic volumes. While some safety improvements will be made to the existing road, the route desperately requires a four-lane highway with appropriately controlled access points and separation of opposing traffic.

“Other projects like Otaki to Levin, Christchurch to Ashburton and a new East-West Link (in Auckland) are also required to reduce traffic congestion, improve the free flow of freight and reduce the risk of serious accidents.” T&D Truck & Driver | 11

NEWS

The Elevate is “the future of vehicular mobility,” says design team member David Byron

Drive, walk….climb KOREAN MANUFACTURER HYUNDAI HAS UNVEILED “the Ultimate Mobility Vehicle” (UMV) – a concept light vehicle with robotic legs capable of walking, driving….even climbing over extreme terrain and obstacles.

The Elevate, unveiled at the CES 2019 consumer electronics show in the United States, was designed to meet the need for transport in the wake of a natural disaster.

Hyundai says it’s the first-ever vehicle with moveable legs – blending technologies found in electric vehicles and in robots to cope with obstacles and terrain “beyond the limitations of even the most capable offroad vehicle.”

The Elevate concept is based on a modular EV platform – capable of swapping different bodies to meet specific needs.

Hyundai says that the robotic legs have five degrees of freedom, plus wheel hub propulsion motors enabled by the latest in electric actuator technology.

This design is uniquely capable of both mammalian and reptilian walking gaits, allowing it to move in any direction.

In drive mode, the legs fold up and are stowed and power to the joints is cut. The use of an integrated passive suspension system maximises battery

efficiency, allowing the UMV to drive at highway speeds.

It can keep the body – and its passengers or cargo – level, even while climbing a 1.5 metre wall, stepping over a 1.5m gap or achieving a 4.5m track width.

The company says that the combination of wheeled motion with articulating legs “provides a new paradigm of mobility, by enabling faster walking speeds, unique dynamic driving postures and torsional control at the end of each leg.”

John Suh, vice president and head of CRADLE – Hyundai’s open innovation business – says that the technology in the Elevate means that potential applications go “well beyond emergency situations…. The possibilities are limitless.”

Hyundai has been working with US product innovation studio SundbergFerar on the concept for the past three years – the studio’s design manager, David Byron, describing it as having the ability to “redefine our perception of vehicular freedom….. This is the future of vehicular mobility.”

Suh says that Elevate is part of various Hyundai “last mile” technologies and solutions – “and it also has Last-100 Feet capability too.” T&D

Isuzu adds to service network ISUZU, NEW ZEALAND’S NO. 1 HEAV Y TRUCK supplier for 18 consecutive years, is continuing to work on expanding its nationwide service network.

Isuzu Trucks NZ general manager Colin Muir says that the company has “the lofty objective of increasing share and maintaining leadership…”

But, in addition, its “ultimate aim is that a customer and their truck should never be more than a one-hour drive from an Isuzu Service Centre – where they know they’ll be looked after, thanks to factory-trained staff, industry-leading diagnostic capability and genuine Isuzu parts.”

Towards that end, the company has appointed Taumarunui Auto Centre as an authorised Isuzu Service Centre, in conjunction with Shorland Isuzu 12 | Truck & Driver

in Rotorua.

The King Country business is owned by Stu and Leanne Golden, who have worked with Shorland Isuzu to earn accreditation from Isuzu NZ. Stu Golden says that the resulting opportunity for growth of the heavy diesel workshop is “huge” and he is “genuinely excited about prospects for the future and looks forward to welcoming customers and offering them peace-of-mind servicing support, knowing their truck will be looked after to the exacting standards of Isuzu NZ. “I intend to focus my time developing the truck side of the business while my son Michael, himself a master technician, will have the car side as his priority,” says Golden. T&D

NEWS

Driverless truck working A driverless T-pod is now carting freight within a big logistics centre in Sweden

THE SWEDISH T-POD AUTONOMOUS ELECTRIC TRUCK has started work…within a big logistics centre.

And German logistics giant DB Schenker and truck manufacturer Einride are confident that the first commercialisation of the driverless T-pod will soon lead to it carting freight on public roads…in what they say will be a world first.

The cabless 7.5 tonne six-wheeler is operating at a DB Schenker facility in Jönköping, central Sweden, almost continuously carting freight between two warehouses.

It can be supervised remotely by a human operator and thus is rated Level 4 Autonomous (rather than the absolutely autonomous Level 5) – but its Nvidia Drive platform includes a powerful graphic card which processes high resolution visual data from the sensors and radar in real time, so it can operate autonomously.

Doing away with a cab allows the T-pod to be smaller, with additional payload capacity and flexibility, with lower production and operating costs. It also optimises energy consumption, says Einride.

A fleet of T-pods, it says, could be co-ordinated by an intelligent computerised routing system, optimising delivery times, battery life and energy consumption – “making road freight transportation as efficient as

possible.”

The remote operator could supervise up to 10 vehicles at a time, it adds – taking over if necessary to help the T-pods negotiate difficult terrain or unusual situations.

DB Schenker CEO Jochen Thewes says that his company is “working at full speed on sustainable and innovative logistics. Autonomous driving will become increasingly important for this.

“Together with Einride, we want to bring the first autonomous, fully electric truck onto public roads in the near future and thus set new standards for tomorrow’s logistics.”

Einride CEO and founder Robert Falck adds: “Heavy road transport is responsible for a substantial part of global CO2 emissions. By substituting electricity for diesel, we reduce CO2 emissions by 90%.

“We are happy and grateful that DB Schenker has chosen to be part of this revolution, disrupting a huge global market.”

Einride and DB Schenker’s partnership agreement is to develop the pilot operation in Jönköping… with an option for additional pilots internationally.

Another Einride vehicle, the T-log, is designed to autonomously haul up to 16 tonnes of logs on forest roads. T&D

Former ZF exec returns to top role ZF SERVICES AUSTRALIA HAS appointed former key exec Darren Leyshon to head its IAM (Independent Automotive Aftermarket) Oceania business.

Leyshon has over 30 years of experience in the industry in Australia and New Zealand with leading global companies, including an 11year spell with ZF (until 2017) as its aftersales business manager.

Dominic Roth, head of ZF’s business unit IAM, Asia Pacific, says that Leyshon is “held in very high esteem within the industry, and his business acumen, extensive experience and the passion he has for his work, make him a

uniquely qualified candidate.

“As we enter what is an exciting period of growth for our business, we do so with our most experienced and credentialled team ever.”

As the head of IAM Oceania, Leyshon will be responsible for the sales and business development of ZF’s entire product range across all aftermarket categories, including the commercial vehicle markets in the region.

Leyshon says he’s “thrilled to be back working with the ZF team and taking responsibility for aligning the market with established brands ZF, Lemförder, SACHS and TRW through our trusted partners across the region.” T&D

ZF’s Darren Leyshon Truck & Driver | 13

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NEWS

Immigration help on driver shortage?

A GOVERNMENT PROPOSAL TO INTRODUCE SECTOR agreements as part of a range of immigration changes has the potential to be very positive for the road transport industry, says Road Transport Forum chief executive Nick Leggett.

“Ever since truck drivers were taken off the Immediate Skills Shortage list a number of years ago, transport operators have struggled to keep up with New Zealand’s ever-growing freight demand,” adds Leggett.

“It’s estimated that the NZ road transport industry is currently around 4000 drivers short of where we should be, based on today’s freight task.

“The road transport sector agreement, while not a complete panacea to

Proposed immigration changes could help put more drivers behind the wheels of trucks – easing an estimated 4000-driver shortfall

the industry’s workforce issues, has the potential to alleviate some of the most acute shortages for operators in certain parts of the country.”

Leggett says that although the industry has introduced a number of initiatives over the years to try to alleviate the current shortage – including the development of career resources and qualification pathways – “current immigration settings have not helped operators who require staff immediately.”

The RTF is encouraging everyone in the industry to provide it with feedback, “so that we can submit in support of the Government’s proposal.” T&D

Unfair late payment terms targeted A GOVERNMENT DISCUSSION document to consider additional protection for small businesses from “unfair” commercial practices has been welcomed by the Road Transport Forum.

Unilateral deferred payment (UDP) terms, which have seen some large companies extend payment times out to two or three months – and longer – are “a means of exploiting small suppliers and transporters as a cheap source of finance,” says the Forum.

“RTF has lobbied Government ministers ever since they took office last year to do something

to protect small business against the pernicious creep of UDP terms,” says chief executive Nick Leggett.

They have a major impact on many small New Zealand businesses – transport operators among them – Leggett points out: “Typically, small businesses are not flush with cash and it is therefore critical that they’re paid for their services within a reasonable timeframe.”

“It’s an insidious practice that needs to be stamped out and it’s good to see the Government recognising that through the release of this discussion document.”

The RTF, he says, will study various options carefully and will talk to members before making submissions to the Government: “We want to make sure that whatever option comes out of this process does not have an adverse impact on business.

“We’re wary of the frequent tendency that governments have of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut and do not want to see a swathe of unintended consequences when a simple solution, such as extending the provisions of the Fair Trading Act, would do the job,” says Leggett. T&D Truck & Driver | 15

NEWS

C

The DAF CF Electric does deliveries around a 50 kilometre radius, recharging at a Jumbo distribution centre. The company is investigating whether it can power the recharging station with solar power

M

DAF trials CF Electric DAF HAS ENTERED THE RACE TOWARDS heavy-duty e-trucks – delivering its first all-electric truck to a customer as part of a real-world test programme.

It has partnered with the VDL Groep to build the electric powertrain for a CF 4x2 tractor unit, which has a 170kWh battery pack and a 210kW electric motor that allow it to run at 37 tonnes all-up, for up to 100 kilometres.

DAF says that the possible payload and range mean that the CF Electric will be useful in distribution applications within urban areas. Its batteries can be quick-charged in 30 minutes or fully charged “in as little as 1.5 hours.”

Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo is trialling the e-truck, director Frits van Eerd saying that it is “the next step towards our goal of implementing a sustainable strategy for our vehicle fleet.

“Our business puts us right at the heart of the community and our ultimate goal is to be using electric vehicles to supply 45% of our shops. By 2020, we hope to have reduced CO2 emissions from Jumbo’s vehicle fleet by 50%, compared with 2008.”

DAF board member Harry Wolters says that “the transport sector is about to undergo a major transformation. Electric trucks look set to become the norm for deliveries in urban areas. Not today and not next year, but definitely within the foreseeable future.”

The DAF trial comes as a Business Insider Intelligence research report says that the global trucking industry must now “transform to meet the demands of the future.

“As a result, the trucking industry is in the early stages of a technological shift, with a particular focus on transitioning fleets from diesel to electric energy.”

The move to e-trucks is driven, it says, by government-mandated reductions in carbon emissions, the rising total cost of fleet ownership (TCO), and heightened investment in e-truck infrastructure.

It predicts that the e-truck market will expand at a 30% compound annual growth rate by 2026 – with short to medium-length trips using light to medium-duty trucks the most common e-truck applications, but with the groundwork now being laid for long-haul electric trucks as well. T&D

Please look out for vulnerable road users INTERNATIONAL ROAD SAFETY charity Brake is calling on New Zealand fleet operators to do more to protect vulnerable road users.

It wants fleet operators (of all kinds of vehicles) to include the protection of motorcyclists and cyclists in their policies and to raise awareness of vulnerable road users with their employees.

The call follows a Brake international survey that it says reveals that “four out of five fleet operators think their organisation needs to do more to raise awareness among their workforce 16 | Truck & Driver

of the dangers that cyclists and motorcyclists face.”

One in four of the respondents prioritise meeting delivery targets over road safety and more than a third (38%) believe that the fleet industry as a whole isn’t doing enough to look after cyclists and motorcyclists.

Only 36% think that current mandatory vehicle safety features do enough to protect the vulnerable. On the other hand, over half (52%) say they do include guidance about protecting cyclists and motorcyclists in their driver

education or awareness programmes.

Brake NZ director Caroline Perry says that “every death on our roads is a tragedy that impacts many lives. Raising awareness about the safety of those on two wheels, who face much higher risk of death and serious injury than those in cars, is absolutely vital.

“Protecting vulnerable road users and minimising the chance that their drivers will be involved in a crash are two important steps that fleet managers can take towards raising road safety standards.” T&D

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NEWS

Kiwis James Hotton (left) and Aaron Toumoua in action at the I-1 Grand Prix in Japan, under the watchful eyes of the judges

Kiwis 3rd in Isuzu comp NEW ZEALAND’S TEAM IN THE Isuzu World Technical Competition, the I-1 Grand Prix, has claimed third place in the global competition – continuing NZ’s top-five record.

There were teams from 32 countries competing in the contest and Isuzu Trucks NZ general manager Colin Muir says that the third place “speaks volumes about the skill, speed and expertise of our team – as well as coaching provided by Isuzu service support manager Dmitriy Velikanov.

“The achievements of our technicians should

provide our customers here in NZ with peace of mind, knowing that some of the very best mechanics in the world are working on their Isuzu trucks.”

The NZ team comprised Aaron Toumoua and James Hotton – both from Isuzu master truck dealer CablePrice, Wellington.

To qualify for the competition, contestants had to participate in NZ qualifying rounds – undertaking theory and practical sections. The two top-scoring finalists, who became NZ’s reps, then

underwent a period of intense training to ready them for the event.

“Accomplishments such as this contribute to our reputation and positively influence the perception of our brand in the local market,” says Muir.

“In turn, it strengthens our competitive advantage and, together with world-class Isuzu product, will help cement our position in the market as we strive to achieve 19 years of consecutive leadership as the country’s leading provider of new trucks.” T&D

Hino game-changer almost here HINO NEW ZEALAND SAYS THAT ITS REDESIGNED, next-generation 500 Series standard cab model, which will be launched this month, is a game-changer.

“The truck market has recently required not only loading capacity, roadability and durability, but also requires safety, driveability and comfortability,” says Hino Motors chief engineer Shigeru Nakada.

“In developing the new Hino we sought to produce a sophisticated, brand-new product that will outperform the current truck and its competitors.”

Hino NZ general manager Darren Salt says that the new model is “all about safety and performance. We know our customers need the latest technologies in order to compete in their field.”

In addition to launching the 500 Series, Hino NZ is offering its customers the chance to win free tickets to watch the All Blacks play the Springboks in Japan at this year’s Rugby World Cup. The match will be a part of a prize package – open to everyone who buys a Hino before June 30 – that also includes flights, accommodation,

tickets to another Rugby World Cup game, sightseeing and a tour of the Hino factory.

Salt says that it will give eight winners “the chance to see where our innovation comes from – as well as joining in with the nationwide rugby festivities.” T&D The new Hino 500 Series is set to be launched in NZ this month

Truck & Driver | 19

NEWS

TRT recognises top apprentice MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING, truck, trailer and crane parts, service and repair specialist Tidd Ross Todd (TRT) has recognised its No. 1 apprentice.

Matt Youngman was named TRT Apprentice of the Year 2018 at the annual Gallagher Rotary Awards Dinner in Hamilton.

The member of TRT’s mechanical service team earned his Automotive Heavy Engineering Road Transport apprenticeship in a record 18 months – an achievement “that the whole TRT team is proud of,” says the company.

He beat fellow finalists Chris Gillespie and (for

TRT Apprentice of the Year Matt Youngman (second from right), with (from left) Jamie Priemus, Bruce Carden, finalists Matthew Morgan and Chris Gillespie, and Robert Carden the second year) Matthew Morgan.

The awards, hosted by the combined Frankton and Te Rapa Rotary Clubs, saw a turnout from TRT that the family-owned company says recognised the importance of its talented team, with the COO Lawrence Baker, manufacturing director Bruce Carden, engineering director Robert Carden HR manager Jamie Priemus and Ashton Way, HR co-ordinator, among those attending.

Baker says that TRT’s active apprenticeship programme recognises “the responsibility as business owners and managers to not only create a skilled team for our future, but also for the

future of our trades in NZ – especially when we are experiencing shortages in talent and qualified tradespeople.”

Twelve TRT apprentices qualified for the awards and the company says there were “so many very deserving entries.” Selection of the finalists was based on criteria including results achieved, quality of workmanship and enthusiasm and commitment to their trade.

Youngman’s prize included a certificate, a $1000 Tool Shed voucher and a tool bag, while Morgan and Gillespie also received certificates, $100 vouchers and tool bags. T&D

New EROAD HR boss ROAD TR ANSPORT TECHNOLOGY SUPPLIER EROAD has appointed Mike Sweet its GM human resources – the recruitment aimed at tapping his international experience within the technology sector, from startups to scaled businesses.

EROAD says that Sweet has worked across its focus markets – the United States, Australia and New Zealand – “and has already been on the journey from early stage startup to successful organisation within the tech industry. He has a strong affinity for software and technology.”

Most recently Sweet was general manager HR for Spark and has been

a strategic HR adviser to some of NZ’s growing tech companies – this following widespread overseas experience in HR, after gaining a BA in Economics and a BCA in Commercial Law and Industrial Relations from Victoria University in Wellington.

EROAD CEO Steven Newman says that “finding the right talent and bringing EROADers along on the journey as we scale as an organisation is immensely important to us, and we look forward to Mike playing an important role in helping support the culture and development of our team.” T&D

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Teletrac Navman rated No. 1 DEDICATED MACHINE TO MACHINE (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) market researcher Berg Insight says that New Zealand-founded Teletrac Navman is the largest provider of telematics in Australasia.

Teletrac Navman has been successful globally and now operates in the United States, the United Kingdom and Mexico, as well as in Australia and NZ. An employer of over 100 people, the company has in the past year released two compliance technologies, RUC Manager (for automating road user charges and offroad rebates) and Sentinel (an electronic driver logbook application) – both with NZ Transport Agency approvals.

It has also become the preferred telematics partner of HW Richardson Group – one of NZ’s largest privately-owned companies and transport operators.

The Swedish-based Berg Insight says that Teletrac Navman is the only vendor with more than 100,000 active units, making it twice the size of its nearest competitors.

Its report shows that the Australasian fleet management market is growing – projected to hit nearly 1.7 million units within four years. It attributes this uptake to the increased diversity of drivers entering the workforce and developments in health and safety regulations, such as Chain of Responsibility and RUCs. Berg says Teletrac Navman leads the industry’s growth, having passed 135,000 vehicles and assets earlier this year, making it Australasia’s largest provider of fleet management solutions, with major clients including HWR and Fulton Hogan.

Teletrac Navman Asia Pacific boss Ian Daniel says its fleet management technologies help provide Australasian businesses “with the tools needed to turn their data into actionable insights.

“Their vehicles, drivers and equipment produce data every day that helps them remain compliant, expand their workplace health and safety procedures, cut down on costs and significantly improve efficiencies – and we want to make it as easy as possible for them to harness that potential.” T&D

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rock in a hard place Story Dave McLeod Photos Gerald Shacklock

Impressive as it looks, at 120 tonnes all-up, the Titan Timbers Mack behemoth is running light!

22 | Truck & Driver

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The last of 80 tonnes of pulp logs goes onto the Titan’s Mills-Tui trailers

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HIS STORY BEGINS AT A LARGE ROCK, LOCATED AT a quiet junction on a road that’s so off the grid it doesn’t even appear on Google maps.

Te Awa junction – fondly known as “The Rock” – is deep in the heart of the Kaingaroa Forest, somewhere southeast of Rotorua.

This spot, surrounded by trees (obviously), is a wellknown location for those who work within the region’s foresty industry and it serves well as the ideal meeting place for us to catch up with JJ Caulfield (alias the Dog Handler) and the Mack Titan 6x4 off-highway logger he drives.

The eerie morning silence is soon punctured by the sound of a big MP10 engine-braking and through the forest gloom we spot the towering orange Titan Timber Mack…and (eventually) its iconic gold bulldog proudly sitting up high on the square bonnet.

This is immediately followed by two Mills-Tui trailers carrying a mighty load of logs – five packets of ‘em, with an all-up weight of around 140 tonnes (giving it a payload of 100t or so).

A big Titan, loaded-up like this, is an impressive sight by any standards – and one that’s not often seen in New Zealand. As hard to find as the junction we’re at, you might say.

There’s no disputing the fact that – both for the people involved and the machinery they employ – forestry is a tough industry. And as we’re going to find out today, they don’t come much tougher than JJ and his big Mack.

Custombuilt for Titan Timber Company owner Gibbo Dhanjee, the Titan is perfectly suited to extreme duty – heavy loads and challenging conditions. So, in short…

ideal for the severe demands of a Kaingaroa Forest offhighway logger.

Its 600 horsepower/447kilowatts Mack MP10 heart produces 2065 lb ft/2800 Newton-metres of torque – driven through an Eaton Roadranger RTLO-22918B 18-speed manual box (which is offered as an alternative to the Mack mDrive automated manual on the 600hp MP10, but not on the optional 685hp/510kW, 2300 lb ft/3118Nm rated model).

The Titan Timber truck boasts an eyewatering GCM of 140,000kg. When it’s out of warranty, that’ll be upped to 160t.

Adding to the impressiveness is the piggyback/foldup arrangement for the first of the two tri-axle Mills-Tui offhighway trailers, linked by a two-axle dollie. The trailers are built to a 150t GCM rating and the combo stretches out to around 40 metres fully-extended.

It’s the only foldup Mack combination out here in Kaingaroa capable of toting five packets of logs…and it sure does cast a formidable shadow.

It appears even more formidable thanks to the Titan’s cab having been raised 50mm higher than a standard Titan (which makes it 100mm higher than a Super-Liner) – this to allow extra cooling airflow around the MP10.

And there’s the big Bridgestone R150-II 13R x 22.5 tyres it sits on.

Built for applications above 130t, the Titan has an extreme-duty 14mm full-frame, double-rail chassis, a 6350mm wheelbase and 2000mm after-frame, a heavyduty front axle (9.2t rated), Mack RT2610B hub reduction rear axles, 55” multi-leaf springs on the front (with HD shocks) and comes complete with an Outback Pack that Truck & Driver | 25

From left to right: Mighty Mack II is the latest in a line of Macks for the Kaingaroa operation....

Gibbo Dhanjee has been 40 years in log haulage....a spare wheel well, a storage locker and heavy-duty guards feature on the 6x4...JJ Caulfield has been in logtrucks since he was a baby

includes (among other things) more durable componentry around the radiator, fuel tanks, cab mounts and driveline coolers.

The Titans have reputedly been tested in temperatures up to 55-degrees C to prove their durability. This is clearly primarily for Outback Aussie roadtrain work – where they can run at 200t or more all-up….and in 40-degrees-plus temperatures – and yes, it does appear to be overkill when it comes to the Kiwi climate and our maximum weights.

Then again, Kaingaroa – with its network of private roads, where public highway weights don’t count – is a special case in the NZ setting. And the lack of wind sometimes encountered in the forest, the summer temps, extreme workload and relatively low speeds have seen regular trucks sometimes fail….mainly due to heat exhaustion.

Gibbo, in fact, reckons that the Kaingaroa off-highway work may well be even tougher than that done by higherweight Aussie roadtrains: “They often still run at 80k or more, where we might get to 60….if we’re lucky. We’re up steep and we’re down steep.”

And hauls from the far-flung edges of Kaingaroa to Kawerau can take three hours – at 140t…and often at low

The purposeful Titan – Mack’s toughest, with mods to make it even tougher – is an impressive sight at the Murupara railhead in Kaingaroa. At just under 140 tonnes it’s “the usual”

26 | Truck & Driver

speeds and gears. In its first 30,000kms, for instance, the truck has a lifetime average speed of just 21km/h. And average fuel use that’s hovering round 0.8kms or 0.9kms per litre!

After all, as Gibbo stresses, “even when we’re empty we’re at 40t – the same weight as a lot of highway trucks.”

Still, even in this demanding, almost un-Kiwi setting, the Mack Titan has remained a rare sight, as Murray Sowerby from Motor Truck Distributors (the Sime Darby division that distributes Macks in NZ) confirms.

“The Titan has been around since 2001 and has evolved over that period. The current model has been in build for the last eight years and of that model only six have been sold in NZ.” Wait….as a logger it’s rarer still: Of the six, says Sowerby, “only two have been sold for off-highway applications….both of them to Gibbo.”

A welder/engineer by trade, Dhanjee is a nigh-on 40-year veteran of the logging industry. Driving his first loads of logs to the ports in 1975, then becoming a contractor in 1986, Gibbo has owned and driven five big Macks over the past 25 years (from Super-Liners and CLs to, more recently, Titans).

To Gibbo, his Titan – a truck that works around the clock for six-plus days a week and carries such heavy loads in a difficult environment – is, necessarily, “one of the toughest trucks in the world.” And, with its unusual, high-capacity foldup trailer, it’s probably also “the only one” of its kind.

He attributes much of his Mack brand loyalty to the working relationship he’s had with longtime (now former) NZ GM Murray Sowerby: “I can’t say enough good things about him. I met him back in the late 1980s when he was in sales. He and his modifications man Mark Cooksley have been outstanding – bent over backwards for us.

“In the early days, when Macks were manufactured in NZ, we spent lots of time modifying things and these changes were ultimately adopted by Mack.”

In discussing the whys and wherefores of this particular Titan, he details the pluses: “It’s a quiet and comfortable truck. We learnt a lot from our first Titan and made modifications on the new one – most of it around cooling. You go very slowly in the forest and with heavy weights, often 8-9km/h for around half an hour, climbing through cuttings.

“Things get hot. So everything plastic, including the sensors, had to be moved away from the engine. We

added more heatshields, a bigger radiator with alloy brackets, a different header tank….and raised the cab.

“Then we lightened things. This is a big truck, 3m wide and over 4m tall, It’s 40t of steel, unladen – so we took away things like one of the exhausts. It doesn’t look as good, but this isn’t about the looks. Less is better out here.

“I added a ROPS (rollover protection system) cage and my own bumper. With the increased height, Mack don’t make one heavy duty enough to protect the truck, so I made my own.”

The 600 MP10 engine under the bonnet is a wellproven Volvo Group stalwart with an indisputable track record, and a PowerLeash engine brake that delivers up to 570hp/425kW of retardation.

But even the driveline gets a Gibbo tweak. It features Mack RT2610B (Volvo Group) hub reduction axles with diff locks and a 26,000kg rating, on Mack MIL-X super heavyduty inverted leaf suspension, and a heavy-duty RTLO22918B 18-speed Eaton Roadranger manual – a global go-to for this sort of work, with its 14.40:1 to 0.73:1 ratio range and a 2250 lb ft torque rating. Gibbo had the diff ratio changed, from 5.41 to 6.18, to lower overall speed.

So is there anything he now doesn’t like about this

Truck & Driver | 27

Left, from top: The MillsTui trailer set does its Transformers-style foldup – the front trailer’s bolsters folding down before it’s hoisted up onto the tractor unit

Below: JJ shows his lassoostyle chain-throwing as he prepares for unloading at Murupara

truck? As it happens there is one thing: “I tell you something that’s no good on it – the headlights. Where the Kenworth and the Western Star off-highway trucks have seven-inch LEDs, you can’t have them on the Titan.

We have to have our headlights on 24 hours in the forest – and they’re a dead-loss.” He has tried some aftermarket LEDs, but they interfered with the onboard telematics and had to be taken out.

That aside, as he adds: “I’ve been in the industry a long time and we’ve improved the truck along the way.

We’ve got it pretty right this time.”

And what about the pretty special Mills-Tui off-highway foldup trailer set? The Mills-Tui name has been appearing on log trailers for 40 years – and the new owners aim to make products that are as enduring as the name.

The Titan Timbers combination is purposebuilt for highproductivity off-highway cartage, but Gibbo wanted more – namely a five-packet, 10-bolster setup that he reckons is “probably the only one in the world. So getting it right took ages.”

Gibbo and Mills-Tui engineering manager Jeff Miller spent many hours figuring out how to achieve the desired package, which includes BPW wide-track off-highway axles rated at 13 tonnes, steel walking-beam suspension and Bridgestone L317 13R 22.5 tyres.

Before we finish talking, Gibbo’s quick to point out how, even after 40 years, he still enjoys this business: “RFH (Rotorua Forest Haulage) are great to work with – Glen Wallis manages their Timberland contract well and 28 | Truck & Driver

Hamish Worboys, their dispatch manager, just gets on with it. There’s no BS – we just do the job and it’s all every easy.”

Back to The Rock. Once the handshakes and introductions are out of the way, it’s time to get back to work. I scale the side of the towering cab and climb inside – a feat that’s not to be sniffed at, given that I’m a vertigo sufferer.

Considering the height of the Titan, I find entry to the day cab simple enough – with plenty of grabhandles and two large, boot-friendly grated steps. But JJ says that it is a noticeably bigger stretch up to the second step than that on the previous Titan Timber Mack: “It was a bit of a change at first,” says JJ – “took a bit of sussing out…but all good now. I take a bigger step up.”

The cab feels roomy enough, and yet cosy. There’s generous use of burgundy pleated ultra leather trim throughout, a pair of ISRI Big Boy premium air seats with integrated seatbelts, black woolly seat covers, electric windows and decent-sized footwells, complete with red ambient floor lighting.

JJ looks through a Bulldog 460mm soft-touch, rubbergrip steering wheel at the woodgrain dash behind, equipped with every dial and gauge imaginable. Between us are his packed lunch boxes (there’s no corner dairy or McDs out here) and two foot-level dash-integrated cupholders – large enough to hold any oversized American “Big Gulp.” What else would you expect on a truck this size?

“This is about survival! You just can’t afford to stop on a hill – you’d never start again!”

JJ comes across as a Mack fan through and through – an observation supported by the Mack tattoo he sports on his upper arm. It makes him ideally suited to tell all about this new truck.

Pulling away in low/low, then seamlessly moving up from gear to gear, he soon gets the log-laden Mack up to its cruising speed of 60km/h.

A 43-year-old solo father of three (with two of them living with him and a son in the Army) JJ comes from a large and quite renowned trucking family. Way back when (in the 1950s), his grandfather Sandy Caulfield hauled native logs around the Whakatane area in an old Bedford.

He relocated to Rotorua where JJ’s uncle, Gibbo, joined the business – driving a 320 R Model Mack. JJ began riding with his uncle when he was a baby and first got behind the wheel of a truck at 12…so it’s safe to say he’s grown up in the industry, quite literally.

Evidently, JJ was destined to be involved in the business, but the school of hard knocks saw him involved in a very serious road accident at the age of 18.

It left him in a coma for several months and has resulted in a couple of decades of convalescing. He still regularly sees a neuro physiotherapist.

So what makes this new Mack Titan so special?: “It’s beautiful to drive, it’s got a really good engine brake….a retarder and an engine brake. Volvo’s always had good retardation.”

And the Eaton 18-speed? “Our last truck had a Mack box. I find this one a bit better – shorter changes. Mack’s box is an excellent box but has a longer throw.”

Gibbo says he would have been happy to have the mDrive AMT, but Volvo Group Australia engineers didn’t recommend it for the Kaingaroa off-highway work – because it has no super-low crawler gear.

JJ has only been behind the wheel of this truck for a month but he looks like he’s got the hang of things: “It’s got a nice soft clutch, easy for the takeoffs. And the steering is excellent – pretty bang-on.”

We’re running on flat, straight tarmac at just under 60k and he certainly isn’t struggling with the wheel: “I’m in low 8th and at 1400 revs,” he points out (I had already told him I’d be asking!).

What does he think of the cab? “It’s got a good seat, doesn’t jump around a lot – but I guess that depends on how fast you go! Tarseal’s better obviously.”

So is this a big step up from the old Titan? “The old truck did a bit of time. It was good but it had done five years of 24 hours a day. Same Mack MP10 with 600hp.”

It did 600,00kms...in 19,000 hours. Gibbo says Mack reckons “that equated to around 1.6million kms on the 30 | Truck & Driver

highway.”

Taking in the instrumentation, JJ reckons “it’s got everything you need. Oil and temperature gauges for everything... It’s got the same buttons (as the previous Titan) – just in different positions.” Gibbo also had two extra gauges installed to monitor exhaust brake pressure and exhaust heat – just to be sure that the engine/ exhaust brake combo is going to be working just fine on the next descent.

I point out to JJ that he hasn’t changed gear much: “Nah, on this slight pull I stay in low 8, but may move down half a gear on the slow curve ahead.” As we round the curve he checks the rear vision mirrors: “We’ve got wider mirrors added so we’ve got to watch it, especially when doubles pass, going the other way. But it’s good, you can see the whole length of the unit.”

Here’s an obvious question: Is there anything he doesn’t like about the new truck? “Nah, I find everything good. But I’m a Mack fan – it’s all I really know. Started with a Mack CL 700 which was lifted and then an E9 Mack V8 – which they don’t make anymore, which is a pity. At one time all around Kawerau they were all, well 90%, double-unit Macks….CLs.” There is a wonderfully refreshing air of pragmatism about JJ, something that’s very evident in his comments.

For instance, ask him if he would have preferred the 685hp version of the MP10, he reckons: “Nah, I’m pretty comfortable with this. If you had a bigger engine it would just use more fuel!”

Quiz him about his use of engine braking over using the footbrakes most of the time: “Yeah, because I have to change them,” he laughs.

We start to haul the 140t up a big pull and JJ downshifts to 7th low, where the MP10 settles at 1900 revs and 40km/h, the Mack not skipping a beat. Over the brow, JJ chooses 5th high to descend what is a reasonably steep hill – prompting a split down to avoid the truck running away at all. JJ drives so that the MP10 is never taken above 2000rpm.

Gibbo points out that early downshifting on hillclimbs isn’t optional – “this is about survival! You just can’t afford to stop on a hill – you’d never start again!

“A lot of the time we grab two gears at a time – otherwise you can’t keep up with it. Going up a hill is like putting the brakes on.”

I take a pause in the chat and look out of the window.

Travelling endless Ks along these nondescript tree-lined roads may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but JJ sees this as much more than just a job – it’s a longterm career that’s provided a good living: “I’ve been in a truck since being a baby, so I might as well stick with it,” he says,

Above right & top left: Woodgrain (and ultra-leather elsewhere) adds a classy touch to the seriously workmanlike Mack

Lower left: The already high-riding Titan has been raised another 50mm for Gibbo, providing better airflow around the engine....but also making for a big stretch in climbing in and out

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The 685hp rating for the MP10 engine wasn’t available for this truck, because it’s only offered with the Mack mDrive AMT...and, since the automated manual transmission doesn’t have a super-low crawler gear, Mack recommended against using it for the off-highway logging work

beaming.

He started this day at the Murupara railhead at 3.30am, offloading the logs that the truck had picked up at the Kaingaroa Processing Plant (KPP) at the end of its previous shift.

We’ve met him with his second full load, en route from Straightline Road, near the Napier/Taupo Highway, back to the Murupara railhead…which we’re now arriving at.

As we head into the site, JJ steps the gears down to 2nd – essentially walking speed – before pointing the Bulldog’s nose dead-centre of the weighbridge and crawling the Mack onto the scales in low/low. The load is just 200kg shy of 100t – with 48.55t of logs on the front trailer and 51.25t on the rear one. Given that the combination’s tare weight is around 39.5t (the foldup trailer weighs 13.7t, the back one – including the dollie and drawbar – is 12.8t, and the tractor is around 13t), we’re over 139t all-up. JJ says that’s pretty standard.

Once he’s unchained the load – a process that looks more akin to a rodeo professional wielding a lasso – the trailers are quickly, efficiently offloaded. Having seen it freed of its heavy load, JJ slips the 18-speed into 2nd low and exits the log-handling area.

With over a 30-minute drive to the next load, it’s time for the Titan Timber Mack to perform its party trick – folding the lead trailer up onto the back of the tractor. At the flick of a switch, the hydraulics take over and the bolsters on the Mills-Tui trailer are folded down before the lead trailer is hoisted up and onto the Titan.

Seriously, it’s like a scene from Transformers!

Aside from the outstanding theatrical visual effect, this system is super-efficient. It limits wait times at skid-sites and logyards – as well, of course, as providing better traction during empty running.

NZ Truck & Driver publisher and test driver Trevor Woolston climbs aboard the now more compact Titan for the drive off to Kaingaroa’s northern boundary – to a skid-site where the Lealand Logging team is turning out around 740t of logs a day.

The Lealand crew has spent three months at this site, which is only about 15 minutes’ drive off the Kaingaroa tarmac – along what looks to a city dweller to be a makeshift trail.

Once there, JJ unloads the folded-up front trailer and then a big John Deere loader sets to work loading pulp logs onto the trailers. Soon JJ is chaining ‘em down and we head off – this time northeast to the Tasman Mill in Kawerau….in the rain. Read the Trevor Test on the following pages for his first-hand report on the drive.

The Tasman Mill is immense and appears to be highly automated. The Mack’s 80-odd tonnes of logs are unloaded within minutes of the truck’s arrival. Aside from the truck and loader drivers, the mill seems to be virtually bereft of humans.

I wonder to myself if this is the tail-end of the huge, technology-driven changes in logging that JJ was talking about earlier.

“I’ve seen a whole lot of changes. It’s so modern and mechanised nowadays: To fell a tree you’ve got a machine – a Waratah – that grabs the tree, fells it, delimbs it, cuts it…. It’s all technology these days. It’s really good.”

And Gibbo Dhanjee’s Mack Titan is a prime example of the evolution. It’s also a mammoth of a truck and quite frankly, in this tough forestry environment, it needs to be. The weather has been kind to us – with only a few brief downpours – and our time on rough tracks has been brief.

But still it’s been easy to see how ultimately capable the Titan is at operating in this environment…and handling extraordinary weights.

In a 12-hour working day, JJ and the Titan produce epic numbers – such as three hauls, 300 litres of fuel consumed to cover 200-odd kilometres…and 15 packets (and almost 300 tonnes) of logs delivered.

The challenging, off-the-grid, hidden world of log transport in the central North Island is tough….but the Mack Titan is quite simply the rock in a hard place. T&D Truck & Driver | 33

4:14 PM

Trevor Test

I

T’S OVER THREE YEARS SINCE MY LAST outing into the world of off-highway logging in the Kaingaroa Forest.

We catch up with Gibbo Dhanjee’s new Mack Titan and driver JJ Caulfield – the dayshift driver on the Titan Timber unit. We couldn’t be in better hands, given JJ’s years of experience.

Climbing up into this beast is no easy mission as I’m awaiting a knee rebuild and with only two steps between the ground and the cab floor, they’re spaced well apart.

There are good grabhandles to assist but the spacings are just too much – with what must be close to a 500mm climb from the top step into the cab.

The reward is that once inside you’re sitting up high and there is good vision from

up here. The cab is very well appointed, with nice burgundy trim ultra-leather throughout and a woodgrain dash. It certainly gives the feeling of luxury in this serious work truck. The driver and passenger both get an ISRI Premium Big Boy seat with integrated seatbelts.

The dash layout is very standard Mack, with all major gauges right in front of the driver – an engine diagnostic screen, tachometer, speedo, diffs, gearbox, engine temperature and air pressure. On the centre console is an array of the usual switches and on the steering column to the left is the indicator lever and on the right the cruise control lever – the latter almost redundant on the Titan Timber unit as it’s hard to imagine JJ getting to use it, running in this

Gibbo Dhanjee believes his Titan is one of the hardest-working trucks in the world. There’s a fair chance he’s right, given that it works 24 hours a day, six days a week – loaded half of the time...usually to 140 tonnes. And much of that is at low speeds, in low gears. Even unloaded it’s at 40 tonnes

34 | Truck & Driver

terrain at its typical gross weights.

We’re heading east, only about 10kms from the yard, for a load of mixed pulp logs from a skid-site run by the Lealand Logging crew.

With the lead trailer stacked up on the tractor unit, the ride is very comfortable, with a lot less of the empty truck bounce.

It gives me a good chance to get a feel for the truck and to get a heads-up from JJ on its

operation.

Once loaded we head off, bound for Kawerau with a gross weight of around 120 tonnes – thus a payload of just over 80t. It’s quite modest in the scheme of things around here, with loads regularly around the 140t mark.

Thankfully, despite the 120t, this truck is very driver friendly – with very good in-cab noise levels, a light clutch pedal and good gearshift feel. Any poor shifts are purely the fault of yours truly and not the truck as I get used to the heavy weights and making full-gear downshifts at around 1400rpm rather than the lugging down to 1100 that you do in highway operations.

There’s also the matter of adjusting to how quickly the high weight drags the truck’s speed back on any uphills….no matter how slight they look.

The 600hp/2065 lb ft rating was the only version of the MP10 engine available to Gibbo – because Mack felt that the lack of a low crawler gear made the mDrive AMT (the only transmission for the 685hp/2300 lb ft rating)

made it unsuitable for this job.

The resulting combination of the lower-power engine and the 18-speed Eaton Roadranger works fine in this job anyway.

It’s not about being fast out here: Slow and steady gets the job done more safely….and economically.

The high-mounted cab really adds to the driver’s vision and driving out from the skidsite on the single-lane bush track it makes positioning the truck on the narrow road very easy.

Once back on the seal it’s a series of climbs and descents all the way to Kawerau.

The ride is very good despite the heavyduty suspension. You can certainly feel the load on behind, but despite its heavy presence everything about the drive is very light and userfriendly, with excellent feel through the steering wheel and very little wander.

The pedals feel more like a car’s than a truck’s, with a very light clutch and low-mounted brake and throttle pedals. In fact, it takes a bit of getting used to the clutch – its very short travel only really needing toe operation rather than the whole foot.

As you start into each of the numerous climbs the weight of the unit immediately takes effect and the revs drop quickly, prompting you to grab gears early rather than late – keeping the MP10 right up in the 1400-2000rpm area.

Similarly, on the downhills the load’s opposite effect calls for careful gear selection – regularly dropping to third high and running the Mack PowerLeash engine brake on full power most of the time.

The PowerLeash works really well and, in fact, on the last run down to Kawerau I switch between its high and medium settings to avoid over-braking.

With my lack of knowledge of the roads we cover, JJ’s constant commentary is extremely useful, including early warnings of what lies ahead. There’s certainly no replacement for experience out here.

At the mill in Kawerau it’s time for me to give JJ his truck back. We only very occasionally get the chance to test one of these giants of the New Zealand transport industry – and every time we do I can’t help but be impressed by the guys who operate these trucks.

It’s a job that takes a certain kind of driver and a certain kind of truck – and JJ is certainly that kind of driver and the Mack Titan is certainly that kind of truck. Nothing less would survive out here. T&D

• SPECIFICATIONS • MACK TITAN 6x4 Engine: Mack MP10, Euro 5 SCR Capacity: 16 litres Maximum power: 510kW (600hp) @ 1500-1900rpm Maximum torque: 2800Nm (2065 lb ft) @ 1000-1500rpm Fuel Capacity: 700 litres Transmission: Eaton Fuller RTLO 22918B 18-speed Roadranger manual Ratios: Low L – 14.40

Low H – 12.29

1st low – 8.56

1st high – 7.30

2nd low – 6.05

2nd high – 5.16

3rd low – 4.38

3rd high – 3.74

4th low – 3.20

4th high – 2.73

5th low – 2.29

5th high – 1.95

6th low – 1.62

6th high – 1.38

7th low – 1.17

7th high – 1.00

8th low – 0.86

8th high – 0.73

Front axles: Mack FXL 18, rated at 9200kg Rear axles: Mack RT2610B hub reduction, with difflocks, combined rating of 26,000kg Auxiliary brake: Mack PowerLeash + engine brake Front suspension: Multi-leaf springs, with heavy duty shock absorbers Rear suspension: Mack MIL-X super-heavy-duty inverted leaf GVW: 31,800kg GCM: 140,000kg

Truck & Driver | 35

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THE DRIVING FORCE OF NEW ZEALAND TRUCKING

Left: Nick (centre) led Porirua’s bid to become a broadband “gigatown” Right: Nick, during his time as Mayor of Porirua, turning the first sod on the Transmission Gully link roads project – co-funded by Porirua City and NZTA. He’s pictured with former mayors Jenny Brash and John Burke

Let me introduce myself...

W

by Nick Leggett Chief Executive Road Transport Forum NZ

HEN KEN SHIRLEY WAS FIRST elected to Parliament in 1984, replacing former Prime Minister Bill Rowling in the Tasman seat, he said he couldn’t fill Rowling’s shoes….but he would try to follow in his footsteps.

The boot is now on my foot – so to speak – as I replace Ken as chief executive of the Road Transport Forum. Ken is synonymous with the RTF in the minds of many and so to immediately step into his shoes would be a very big task.

However, I do wish to follow in his footsteps – and, while I will be different to Ken in many ways, like him, I have a deep appreciation for the road transport industry and the critical role it plays in the New Zealand economy. This appreciation comes from a passion for infrastructure and transport borne out of my own political experiences.

Up until 2016, I was Mayor of Porirua City and a Porirua city councillor before that. I’m proudly born and bred in the city, but like most Kiwis I have some pretty decent Mainland roots and I have always appreciated the huge value that rural and provincial NZ brings to NZ. I’ve been an outspoken champion of roading development for a long time. Within the next couple of years Porirua will have the new Transmission Gully highway running through it,

a project that I was a staunch advocate for during my time in local politics. But it isn’t just the roads in my patch that I am interested in. I’ve always taken the view that there is no use in the four-lane highway outside my home being upgraded….if that stops five kilometres up the road.

All that achieves is to simply shift the congestion outside somebody else’s house. It doesn’t fix the problem, it just moves it. For me, the solution is in a regional and national roading network that builds our nation’s capacity to grow and enables our economy to function at its maximum potential.

A key part of my role at RTF will be to engage with politicians and government officials and represent you in the media. I’ve got experience in both aspects, but I need to be authentic and understand your business realities.

It is a real concern to me that the road transport sector is effectively being used to cross-subsidise economically inefficient alternative and competing modes of transport, like rail. Not only is this manifestly unfair to road transport operators, it doesn’t make our nation’s waka go faster.

Now that is not to say that there isn’t an important place in the NZ transport system for rail, coastal shipping and the various modes of public transport. But, as you’ve heard many times from Ken, these should exist and compete on the Truck & Driver | 37

THE DRIVING FORCE OF NEW ZEALAND TRUCKING

basis of “competitive advantage” only. It makes absolutely no sense to me to be robbing Peter to pay Paul when it comes to moving stuff around.

I also see my new role at RTF as telling the story of a proud industry doing vital work for the NZ economy and our communities. I want to ensure you are appropriately represented at both levels of government. I want RTF’s advocacy work to reduce your burden and allow you to continue to do what you do best, which is provide great services to NZers and continue to assist the growth and development of our economic fortunes.

It’s pleasing to note that so far, in my early engagements, compliance and regulatory transport officials accept that the road transport industry deserves and requires a coherent and consistent voice at the decisionmaking table.

To effectively represent you, I need to meet as many of you as possible, to understand your motivations, your businesses and your aspirations. I’m keen to engage with you, so please don’t hesitate to reach out and get in touch – and I am always open to feedback on any issue of interest to you.

I describe road transport as the “good

Aerial view of the Transmission Gully motorway project cholesterol” of our economy. It allows vital goods to move around our nation’s “bloodstream.” While I haven’t formed views on all the issues yet, it is fairly obvious to me that you are under-appreciated by many people, especially those who live in our major centres.

The ability to move goods around freely and easily helps maintain and enhance our collective quality of life and ensures Kiwis’ livelihoods are protected. My job is to vividly illustrate that story on your behalf and I am thoroughly looking forward to it. T&D

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THE DRIVING FORCE OF NEW ZEALAND TRUCKING

THE MOST IMPORTANT NAME YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF M

OST PEOPLE OUTSIDE THE TECH SECTOR have never heard of the name Satoshi Nakamoto. The reality however is that he could well become one of the most influential names of the 21st Century.

Nakamoto is credited as the inventor of cryptocurrency Bitcoin, which through its implementation is also the invention of the transaction ledger process called blockchain.

Interestingly, Satoshi Nakamoto is a completely fictitious person.

He is merely a pseudonym for an anonymous person or group that in 2009 developed Bitcoin.

While the value of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin has become extremely volatile in recent times, the blockchain process at their heart is threatening to completely change the way in which transactions happen worldwide – and that includes the movement of freight.

So, what is blockchain and how does it work? It is basically the technology that means that digital information can be distributed but not copied. It is a data record-keeping system that, instead of relying on a traditional central controlling authority, exists through hundreds or thousands of computers connected as a network, that must all agree on the validity of transactions within the system.

Data entered into the blockchain is therefore extremely difficult, if not impossible, to copy, steal or corrupt.

Whenever an entity makes a transaction, the network runs complex algorithms to determine if the transaction is valid. If it is, the network automatically adds it to the record of transactions – linking it to all the previous transactions in the “chain.” This chain of transaction blocks is known as the blockchain.

Still confused? Perhaps this very simple explanation from blockchain technology company Blockgeeks will help: “Picture a spreadsheet that is duplicated thousands of times, across a network of computers. Then imagine that this network is designed to regularly update this spreadsheet – and you have a basic understanding of the blockchain.”

So, if it is that simple, why is it so revolutionary and why are businesses all over the word starting to upskill to use blockchain?

Well, William Mougayar, who authored the book, The Business Blockchain, described its usefulness using this analogy: “Imagine two entities (eg banks) that need to update their own user account balances when there is a request to transfer money from one customer to another.

“They need to spend a tremendous (and costly) amount of time and effort for coordination, synchronisation, messaging and checking to ensure that each transaction happens exactly as it should. Typically, the money being transferred is held by the originator until it can be confirmed that it was received by the recipient.

“With the blockchain, a single ledger of transaction entries that

Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple are all cryptocurrencies that rely on the blockchain process. Photo: “Closeup Photo of Three Round Coins in Person’s Palm,” by John Jones, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 Truck & Driver | 39

THE DRIVING FORCE OF NEW ZEALAND TRUCKING

In January last year Maersk and IBM announced that they were working on a blockchain platform to better facilitate global trade

both parties have access to can simplify the coordination and validation efforts – because there is always a single version of records, not two disparate databases.”

So, is blockchain really that relevant to the freight and logistics sectors here in New Zealand?

The answer appears to be a resounding yes. Global logistics giant DHL released a report last year suggesting that blockchain technology could be the key to addressing the complexity and improving the speed of logistics supply chains in the future.

The report stated that, “blockchain technology can help alleviate many of the frictions in global trade logistics, including procurement, transportation management, track and trace, customs collaboration and trade finance.”

Blockchain use in a logistics supply chains means that individual products can be given a specific identification that allows them to be tracked and identified all the way from producer to consumer by all parties involved in that chain. Due to the network verification process this information is apparently incorruptible and is therefore described in DHL’s report as the “single source of truth.”

This inherent security in the blockchain process means that information is shared, is far more transparent and can be fully trusted to remain secure.

The DHL report argues that a more efficient global logistics 40 | Truck & Driver

environment is possible through widespread uptake of blockchain by allowing the technology to power leaner, more automated, and error-free processes. The benefits to our logistics sector and NZ as an export-reliant economy are obvious.

The technology has the ability to even remove the slow manual processes that continually hold freight up, including paper-based compliance imposed by government institutions such as NZ Customs or MPI. Regulators could be granted permission as a stakeholder to see into blockchains – allowing them to monitor and trace movements in real time, in full confidence that what they’re seeing is accurate and up-to-date.

This real-time enhanced track and trace information could have a positive impact on reducing waiting time for trucks at ports and other pickup points and could automatically and accurately apply fees for avoidable delays. Blockchain could also remove the need for issuing invoices and the inevitably-long wait for payment. Payments could be issued instantaneously at the moment freight is delivered to where it’s going – or even as it passes through different points along the supply chain.

So, while blockchain may not be common practice just yet, it is another example of the future disruptive technologies that – like automation and electric vehicles – are threatening to completely revolutionise the freight and logistics sectors.

You can thank Satoshi Nakamoto for that….whoever he is. T&D

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THE DRIVING FORCE OF NEW ZEALAND TRUCKING

Research highlights level crossing dangers

By Megan Drayton, TrackSAFE New Zealand manager

I

MPROVING SAFETY AT RAILWAY LEVEL CROSSINGS will only happen through a cohesive and joint effort by everyone from central and local Government, rail, roading and trucking organisations and Police, according to New Zealand’s heavy vehicle drivers.

This finding comes from research recently carried out on behalf of rail safety organisation TRACKSAFE NZ, in collaboration with KiwiRail, NZ Transport Agency and the Road Transport Forum.

The participants in the study said that for their part, drivers (especially newly-qualified drivers) should educate themselves and take time to plan and know their route and their vehicle. The simple steps of stopping, looking and listening as well as focusing on the task at hand were the key messages that the industry thinks are important.

However other agencies also have a role to play in improving safety at level crossings and drivers recommended a number of suggestions.

These included improving visibility, better signage, road infrastructure improvements and using technology such as apps to alert drivers to dangerous crossings.

The study is the first of its kind in NZ to specifically focus on the views of truck drivers operating on and around railway level crossings and it found that these drivers are acutely aware of the dangers associated with some level crossings.

The drivers involved in the research told us that they developed strategies to try to make crossing the tracks safer, including using spotters, taking alternative routes and stopping, looking and listening for trains. However, this can all be in vain if visibility is poor and drivers 42 | Truck & Driver

The research specifically focused on the issues drivers have while operating on and around railway level crossings

are forced to stop with their vehicle on the railway tracks.

More than 400 public level crossings in NZ – around 31% of all level crossings – have been identified as having a short stacking distance. This means a long vehicle will not be able to completely clear the level crossing when it is stopped at an adjacent road intersection.

Heavy vehicle drivers worry that this situation will only get worse as longer trucks become more prevalent on NZ roads and the number of trains increases.

Somewhat surprisingly, the research also found that heavy vehicle drivers generally believe that railway level crossings are safer than roads, although this depends on the type and location of the crossing, on driver experience and situational awareness.

On the contrary, heavy vehicle drivers do not think that NZ roads are generally that safe. This they put down as much to poor driving standards – speeding, dangerous overtaking, indecisiveness, texting – as they do the state of the road network itself.

The research found that heavy vehicle drivers believe most NZ motorists have no understanding or comprehension of the challenges of driving a heavy vehicle and why drivers take the actions they do. A greater understanding by motorists of the challenges of driving a heavy vehicle would be beneficial for improving safety on our roads generally as well as at railway level crossings.

Wellington-based research company UMR undertook the research, which included a quantitative survey of around 400 drivers to measure their knowledge and behaviours around level crossings. This was followed

THE DRIVING FORCE OF NEW ZEALAND TRUCKING

Road Transport Forum was established in 1997 to represent the combined interest of all members as a single organisation at a national level.

Members of Road Transport Forum’s regionally focussed member associations are automatically affiliated to the Forum.

Road Transport Forum NZ PO Box 1778, Wellington 04 472 3877 forum@rtf.nz www.rtfnz.co.nz Ken Shirley, Chief Executive 04 472 3877 021 570 877 ken@rtf.nz

TrackSAFE’s Megan Drayton discussing the reasons for the research project at the 2017 RTF Conference

by focus groups in Auckland, Christchurch and Palmerston North that further explored the perceptions, attitudes and knowledge of the drivers.

Collisions between trains and heavy vehicles are relatively infrequent in comparison with vehicle to vehicle accidents on the road, however these types of collisions have the potential for considerable loss of life and serious trauma.

These incidents are devastating for everyone affected.

Each and every collision has a traumatic impact not just on the victims and their friends and families, but also the wider community and the rail staff involved.

The research was finalised in December and is now being circulated widely throughout the industry for consideration.

It is hoped that the findings will help in the development of a new safety campaign around level crossings this year, as well as informing engineering improvements to better accommodate heavy vehicles at level crossings.

On behalf of TrackSAFE NZ, KiwiRail and the NZTA I really want to thank the drivers and transport companies who volunteered their time for this research. Your insights will make a significant contribution to the safety of NZ’s level crossings.

For more information about the research, contact Megan at TrackSAFE on (04) 498 2010 or tracksafe@ tracksafe.co.nz. T&D

National Road Carriers (NRC) PO Box 12-100, Penrose, Auckland 0800 686 777 09 622 2529 (Fax) enquiries@natroad.co.nz www.natroad.co.nz David Aitken, Chief Executive 09 636 2951 021 771 911 david.aitken@natroad.co.nz Paula Rogers, Executive Officer 09 636 2957 021 771 951 paula.rogers@natroad.co.nz Grant Turner, Executive Officer 09 636 2953 021 771 956 grant.turner@natroad.co.nz Jason Heather, Executive Officer 09 636 2950 021 771 946 Jason.heather@natroad.co.nz Tom Cloke, Executive Officer 0800 686 777 021 193 3555 tom.cloke@natroad.co.nz Road Transport Association of NZ (RTANZ) National Office, PO Box 7392, Christchurch 8240 0800 367 782 03 366 9853 (Fax) admin@rtanz.co.nz www.rtanz.co.nz Dennis Robertson, Chief Executive 03 366 9854 021 221 3955 drobertson@rtanz.co.nz

Hawke’s Bay/Wairarapa/Otaki to Wellington Sandy Walker 0800 367 782 (Option 5) 027 485 6038 swalker@rtanz.co.nz Northern West Coast/Nelson/ Marlborough/North Canterbury John Bond 0800 367 782 (Option 6) 027 444 8136 jbond@rtanz.co.nz Southern West Coast/Christchurch/MidCanterbury/South Canterbury Simon Carson 0800 367 782 (Option 7) 027 556 6099 scarson@rtanz.co.nz Otago/Southland Alan Cooper 0800 367 782 (Option 8) 027 315 5895 acooper@rtanz.co.nz NZ Trucking Association (NZTA) PO Box 16905, Hornby, Christchurch 8441 0800 338 338 03 349 0135 (Fax) info@nztruckingassn.co.nz www.nztruckingassn.co.nz David Boyce, Chief Executive 03 344 6257 021 754 137 dave.boyce@nztruckingassn.co.nz Carol McGeady, Executive Officer 03 349 8070 021 252 7252 carol.mcgeady@nztruckingassn.co.nz Women in Road Transport (WiRT) www.rtfnz.co.nz/womeninroadtransport wirtnz@gmail.com

Area Executives Auckland/North Waikato/Thames Valley Keith McGuire 0800 367 782 (Option 2) 027 445 5785 kmcguire@rtanz.co.nz Southern Waikato/Bay of Plenty/Taupo/ Poverty Bay Dave Cox 0800 367 782 (Option 2) 027 443 6022 dcox@rtanz.co.nz

Truck & Driver | 43

Story Hayley Leibowitz Photos Gerald Shacklock

44 | Truck & Driver

FLEET FOCUS

The five Lockleys involved in the family business (or circus, as they call it) – from left: Amy (currently on maternity leave from her driving role), John, Irene, Tracey and Anna

Truck & Driver | 45

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John’s Legend 900, only on the road late last year, is the new flagship of the now heavily-Kenworth fleet

I

T’S A LONG-RUNNING NAME IN ROAD TRANSPORT – an operation well-known for its onetime passion for rare Marmon trucks, for its gold-coloured trucks…and its alsorare Dad and twin daughters driver lineup.

In its current incarnation, Waihi-based John Lockley Transport is also readily-recognisable for its classic North American lineup – one Peterbilt and four Kenworths.

But for all that, John and Irene Lockley laughingly reckon it’s less a trucking company….more of a circus.

Their self-titled “Lockley’s Travelling Circus” nickname was born of one particular moment in the company’s 35year history – but it’s also a lovely insight into how things function in this hard-working, hard-case, tight-knit family unit.

The “circus” tag came about at Christmastime, three or four years ago, when John was changing the motor in daughter Amy’s Peterbilt. With no staff around, he got Irene to help him: “It was a proper circus, you know,” he sums up.

Irene interjects: “I was on the forklift. To put the forks up, you’ve gotta push the lever down – and I’d never driven the forklift before. And to put the forks down, you’ve got to push the lever up! I’m convinced it was designed by a male,” she laughs.

“John doesn’t tell you what to do: I’m expected to hop on the forklift and know exactly what I’m supposed to do – but he uses sign language for ‘put the forks up.’ So I pushed the lever up....but the forks went down!”

Eventually, despite all this, with a late-night finish “we got the motor in,” says John. Then, job done, “we drove out the gate, and at the end of the drive there’s a sign – a circus

sign.

“And she says: ‘You don’t have to come to that – you might as well come to Lockley’s yard. You’ll see the f***kin’ circus there!’ ” Second daughter Tracey pipes up: “They’re terrible. These two are really bad. It’s so embarrassing some days. You’ll get a rep come in and these two will be sitting at the table just going hammer and tongs at each other.”

Her Mum rejoins: “Some people keep coming back every week for the next show!”

Irene and John and three of their five daughters are part of this family business – and each of them bring the same Lockley trademark sense of humour to proceedings – at least, that’s what the laughter-filled interviews for this story convincingly indicate.

They also show a strength of mind and purpose that make it no surprise that this particular circus has been successfully running for so long.

It all began, John reckons, because he’s been “machinerymad all my life. My Dad was a farmer, but I started on machinery when I was 15. I’m just a nutcase. You’ve gotta be to be in this industry.”

He did try his hand at farming with his brother, but it wasn’t long before he bought a bulk groundspreading business. In 1983 he got his goods service licence (“they called it a vehicle authority licence then,” he recalls….“and me own secondhand gear.

“It just progressed from there: When they deregulated (the road transport industry, in 1983) I went into carting my own fertiliser AND spreading. From there I was carting metal Truck & Driver | 47

and bark in Waihi.

“In 1985 I went out on linehaul and (using finance and a trade-in) bought my first new truck in 1987 – a Ford Cargo…250 horsepower.” He laughs at the fact that the 6x4 and its trailer “could nearly cart more with six axles than what you can today.”

His next new truck was a higher-horsepower Navistar 8200, purchased in 1991. Until then, he says, he’d really only been “dabbling” in linehaul – and that was the turning point: He took on linehaul fulltime.

“We hauled alcohol around the North Island. From there we got a couple of contracts. Our first owner/driver contract on linehaul was with Streamline Freight in ’95. That was Auckland-Palmerston North-Wellington.”

The Navistar also delivered John the company’s signature gold colour scheme: “It came out of the States painted that colour and then we just stuck with the colour. They called it Las Vegas Gold.

“Then we got one of the local fellas, young fella, to do the signwriting by hand. And that gold has stayed with us since.”

More trucks were added to the fleet: “You save up what you can,” John says by way of explanation as to how he financed them.

Among them through second half of the Nineties were the secondhand trucks John is possibly best known in the business for – classic North American Marmons, the high-quality products of an independent, low-volume Texas truckmaker that was in business from 1963 till ’97.

He bought his first one out of the US in 1996 and liked what he got – so “I ended up buying a whole lot of them.

Everything was assembled by hand – not on an assembly line. Even the cabs. Everything except for the motors and 48 | Truck & Driver

gearboxes.”

He ended up importing what he believes were the only four Marmons ever brought into NZ. “The Marmons were different and I was probably just one of those people who was different out there.”

Some time in the ‘90s, while on holiday in Australia, he visited a sleeper cab bodybuilder and imported one for his Navistar: “I installed it and fitted it.”

The motivation was obvious: “Being on linehaul it was just too difficult (in a day cab truck). I used to sleep across the seats actually. A bit of a dumbass.

“This was before logbooks – when I first started out.”

Thus a lot of time was spent in the trucks: “And you know in that time we used to bend the rules a little bit. I won’t say too much…”

They got by for a few years with the first Marmon and the Navistar, and then bought an old S Line International.

By the late ‘90s the Lockley twins, Amy and Anna – now 39 – had parlayed their lifetime love of trucks into getting their Class 5 licences and started driving for the family business.

John recalls that they “came to see me in the yard when they were about 10 years old and said ‘can we come drive with you?’ They knew what they wanted to do.”

Actually, he says with a hint of remorse, he had earlier talked their older sister Tracey out of becoming a driver: “Young Tracey come and seen me when she was 15 or 16.

She wanted to be a driver, but back in those days I had flatdecks and there was tarping. It was a bit hard for a girl then and I talked her out of it.”

Amy confirms the childhood passion she and Anna had for trucks: “Being a family business we were brought up around trucks and we didn’t see Dad much growing up.

Above: The three stars of the current fleet – the Legend 900 flanked by the two T409 SARs....John’s beloved W924 edged out to a support role these days

Opposite page: One of Lockleys’ series of Marmons – this one a 1996 model SB90SL – leads its Navistar 8200 and Sterling AT at the Valley Truck Show in 2006. Photo Rod Simmonds

“So every weekend we’d be on the truck with Dad and that’s how we came to love the trucks. Dad put us behind the wheel while the truck was still moving. So we were straight in the hot seat and we’d take over from him as he showed us sections of the road.

“We idolised Dad growing up. He was our hero and that’s where we fell in love in with trucks. We used to drive Dad insane asking questions: ‘What did you do that for? Why are you doing that?’ ” After leaving school they worked in the office with their Mum for 15 months, says Irene: “As soon as they were able to sit their licences, it was ‘see you later Mum.’ ” Anna and Amy started driving in the Navistar and the S Line Inter, while John drove his Marmon: “Later, I bought one of the girls a Marmon and I bought an old 1981 W924 Kenworth. It’s parked out in the yard over there. That’s been my truck ever since – for the last 20 years or so.” The truck, with a 425hp Cat engine and a 60-inch sleeper, has long since been nicknamed The Old Bitch.

Laughs Tracey, who has worked in the business for eleven and a half years, doing admin and dispatch: “We say it’s got more bling-bling than Mum.” For the twins, going to work as drivers was initially “a bit hard,” recounts Amy: “We copped a lot of flak… ‘you won’t last,’ that sort of thing. That’s what made Anna and I more determined to stick around and prove everybody wrong.

We’ve outlasted a lot of males on the road.

“Some still think women belong in the kitchen, but we’ve been lucky to grow up with the old-school drivers who

looked after us and I think a lot of that was due to respect for Dad as well. Everyone’s got everyone’s back. You get to know each other and end up becoming like one big family.”

But not necessarily always one big HAPPY family. John reveals that there was plenty of verbal fireworks between him and the girls early on: “Mum’ll tell you, when they first started driving, I’d sack them nearly every day or every week! I WOULD sack them and the language wasn’t nice. I’m not kidding ya.” Irene confirms that there were “screaming matches between them.”

And John continues: “I didn’t want them to make the mistakes I made when I was younger. But they’d always turn up on a Sunday afternoon or Monday and start again.

“Silly as it is, having family working for you is harder than actually employing an outsider. They cause you more stress.

They’ll go straight for the jugular like their mother does and choke me. They’ll just speak their mind and throw their toys out of the cot and not even think about what they’ve said.

“And, of course, being family you stress over their wellbeing, you know – but you don’t want them to leave, ‘cause you know they’re good operators.

“But now it’s a little bit different. They’ve grown up and they realise what the old man goes through and I think it’s changed a little bit. Now they’re telling me off.”

After the W Model arrived, “from there we just sort of grew,” says John. He put a driver into the Kenworth, then bought two secondhand Scanias and two trailers to go with the American trucks.

“We did a bit of work for Peter Baker (Transport) and Truck & Driver | 49

Clockwise, from top: John is clearly very proud of the driving prowess of twin daughters Anna (left) and Amy....golden-themed murals adorn the Lockley trucks....John’s beloved W924 Kenworth is now relegated to backup truck status

we’ve kept that relationship going.”

The Lockley fleet reached its peak in the late 1990s/early 2000s – with 10 or 12 linehaul units – several more Marmons among them.

The growth, says John, was “dumb” – and he explains: “In your younger years you think you can do everything. We grew bigger, but by growing bigger we had surplus trucks to cover. We used to have workshop staff – we had everything back then. I felt we were too big at one stage.”

He reckons it felt like they paid too much tax – and “for every five good truck operators you’d have one dumbass that’d cost you money. And I mean he’d cost you a LOT of money! Just doing stupid stuff.”

As a result, the Lockleys have purposely scaled-down the business over the past 12 to 15 years, with the family taking on additional roles – even handling the maintenance work that demanded two or three mechanics in the old days.

The Lockleys’ work for Streamline Freight was a constant for 22 years – even running on for a few years after Freight Lines bought out the company in 2013.

50 | Truck & Driver

John reckons: “Part of the deal was that (the late) Jim Barker (the founder of Freight Lines) said that the contractors stayed on. So I stayed for two years.” But, he adds, “you didn’t have to be a rocket scientist: They were paying me $1.2million a year in revenue for four trucks. Once Jim died, the writing was on the wall.”

After that work came to an end, “we put another two trucks into Superfreight.” Lockleys also began working with former Streamline people in Titus Transport: “We’ve been with them the last two or three years now, helping them out. I don’t mind helping people, getting them established,” John says.

Nowadays the company has four Kenworths on linehaul duties. They are, John says, “a bit more expensive to buy, but they hold their value. In the last three years I’ve bought everyone a new truck.

“When I scaled back to six trucks we started making money, because I could pick the drivers I wanted. I could keep a closer eye on them and on all the running costs. So to me big is not always better.”

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In 2011 the company bought two new trailers and then he promised the girls that he’d buy them each a new truck to mark their 20 years of driving for the business – the first of the two Kenworth T409 SARs going on the road at the end of 2016, the next one in 2018.

And let’s not forget that he ordered himself something nice as well – one of the 13 Kenworth Legend 900s bought

by Kiwi operators in mid-2017….and eventually ready to work in October 2018.

The fleet is thus transformed – from the classic Marmons of the past….to new North American classic-style Kenworths.

The Marmons were sold off one by one, with the exception of two that met a grisly end. Daughter Amy had an accident with John’s first Marmon, he recounts: “Poor young bugger. Car driver drove out of a stop sign straight into her and she was jack-knifed across the road, on fire. She’s a lucky girl – she’s skinny so she managed to get out the door. Burned the truck down….and the trailer.”

Another Marmon used on house removals work “got written off by a young fella” – one of the drivers – just as John was about to finalise a deal to sell it.

“We’ve had two or three rollovers in our time,” says John: “Not many – but too many, you know. And it’s just stupidity on the drivers’ part. Ninety percent of the time it’s not an accident – it’s a crash.

“I’ve worked that one out: An accident is if a wheel fell off or an axle broke, or something like that, you know. But a crash is if they roll over: You know full well it’s just a bit of

speed, or they’re doing the wrong thing at the wrong time.

And that’s all it really is.

“Soon as you load, if you’re a good operator, you should know how the load’s gonna travel. So you drive accordingly.”

Which brings up the question of safety procedures.

John’s pretty blunt on that score: “Yeah, keep your foot off the accelerator.” It’s a message that’s drummed into the Lockleys drivers – “and we’re watching them all the time. I mean it’s very hard working for us, because up until young Amy had the baby (she’s currently on maternity leave) there were three sets of eyes on the road looking at them: Meself and my two daughters.

“And we always talk to one another – ‘you’d better have a talk to that driver Dad, ‘cause he’s speeding or he’s doing something stupid.’

“As I say to the drivers, ‘if I’ve got to be talking to you every day, look for the gate – that’s where you’ll be going,’ because they’re doing stupid stuff. And I’ve got other things to think about. I’ve got the business to run.”

The Lockley trucks are now governed as well: “Once we governed ‘em down then our maintenance started coming back down. It just proves that if you drive a bit slower – and I’ve done the exercise meself – you get there just as quick.”

Driving faster “you’re not going to achieve anything, you know. Just a lot more wear and tear.”

Apart from Anna and himself, John currently has two fulltime drivers – Alan Hull and Kerry Waugh. So the

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Clockwise from top left: The gold colour scheme was triggered by the Lockley’s second new truck, a Navistar 8200, coming in the colour – but it suits a company based in a goldmining town....daughter Tracey wanted to drive trucks but was talked out of it, now does admin and dispatch.... Irene looks after the finances – and she was the one who came up with the Lockleys “circus” line

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Above: Anna Lockley heads out of hometown Waihi in her Kenworth T409 SAR Right: This 1989 W900 Kenworth was sold about a year ago

operating fleet is down to the two near-new Kenworth T409 SARs and the brand-new Legend 900. The old W924 and a Peterbilt are parked up in the yard as backups.

Although John was home for a period before the arrival of the Legend late last year, he is still a fulltime driver – and isn’t about to quit. The appeal, he says, is “the peace. I enjoy it. The day I stop enjoying it will be the day I probably give up and come home and annoy the shit out of Mum.” Tracey interjects: “He tried there for a bit to slow down – but that didn’t work for any of us.”

John reckons he used to have a waiting list of drivers interested in getting a job with the company – but the numbers dwindled pretty quickly when Lockleys introduced its current drug and alcohol policy.

It does random drug testing, Irene explains: “If we suspect someone we’ll drug test them. I reckon the law has got to get more onto it and do more drug testing on the road, because there’s a lot of them out there still doing it. We’ve sacked a few ourselves.”

John agrees – and points out that regardless of it not being law, drug testing is in an operator’s own best interests: “I mean, if you have a crash or an accident and the insurance company can prove that he’s been on drugs, you can be liable, you know.”

Over almost 25 years now, John Lockley Transport has – through its work with Streamline, Superfreight, PBT and Titus – been carting “a bit of everything….everything you eat, sleep and wear,” in John’s words.

It hasn’t been without its problems. That’s why Irene, who

handles the finances, describes herself as the “carrier of the headaches.”

Self-taught from watching their accountant in the early days, she says that running their own business has been “really hard work.”

John agrees that “it’s been a battle.” But he also puts forward the view that “I know she’s just as proud of what we’ve got as anyone else. She’ll say she’s not, but she is – I know she is. Now that she’s just doing financials it’s been a lot better for the business, because she controls it real tightly and it’s bloody good.”

To which Irene reckons: “He’s the hardest thing to control.

He just hands me the bills.”

The good-natured banter continues between the two as John points that Irene doesn’t drive a truck – “she drives everyone bloody mad” instead.

He adds that daughter Tracey is “the blonde in the office – the boldest of all our blondes.” Tracey accepts that and insists: “Every company’s gotta have a blonde!”

In the midst of such hilarity, the conversation turns serious when John volunteers that another reason why things have been scaled down to their current size is his health: At Christmas time in 2011 he was away in Palmerston North when Irene called with the news that one of their trucks had rolled over.

By the time he got back home and helped clear up the crash aftermath he had a violent headache.

Doing something about it was put on hold till after Irene had a scheduled knee op – then, as John recounts, “when Truck & Driver | 55

Above: Amy, currently on maternity leave, is missing her job at the wheel of her Kenworth Top right: Fourteen-year-old Peterbilt 377A is a spare

Bottom right: The Ford that was the Lockleys’ first new truck

she come home from hospital I said, ‘get me a doctor.’ ” As she said straight off: “You’ve gotta be sick! You don’t normally ask for a doctor.” He takes up the story: “They tested me for everything and found out I had cancer – prostate cancer.

John says that “when Mum was in hospital, I only had four or five trucks running and I thought to myself ‘this is bloody good.’ ” So he decided then and there that “I was going to scale down. We just told the customers – the ones we didn’t want. I’m pretty frank with ‘em – customers and drivers.

“You know, they call me a bit blunt but there’s no use pussyfooting around anymore. I’m over it, you know.

“I’m 67. You reach a point in life where you’ve got to just tell it how it is, walk away and get on with it. If you dwell on things too much it would put you in the grave.”

Despite his health problems his commitment to the business (albeit in a scaled-down form) has been just as strong as ever: “When you’re self-employed you’ve got nothing else to think about. You’ve gotta concentrate on what you’re doing. You’ve got to be on top of your business and your drivers.

“I went off my trolly the other day with one of my guys.

He decided to have a sleep on the road – to stop and have breakfast in Taupo instead of getting home. To me, they’re my responsibility until they’re home. Once he’s knocked off, I can knock off. You know what I mean?”

Irene agrees with him: “While the trucks are on the road you’ve got to be thinking of their safety.”

John says a lot of the drivers have told him that “over the years, when they’ve rung me and they’ve had a breakdown or something, ‘you always answer the phone as though you’re awake.’

“That’s because the fact is my brain’s doing 100 miles an hour all night long, while I’m sleeping. So while I’ve got trucks on the road I’m always thinking of them.”

Of course, that’s doubly so when the drivers happen to be his girls. He tries to look after them, even from afar: At one stage he got the truck stop in Turangi to cook vegie meals for them once a week.

He’s also made sure that their trucks both have 50-inch sleepers and fridges for comfort: “Yeah, being your daughter 56 | Truck & Driver

you worry about her, you know. And it makes no difference how old they are, it’s still your daughter.”

On the other hand, chips in Irene, they’re great drivers: “If all our drivers were like them we wouldn’t have a care in the world.”

Their pride for their girls shines through. Says John: “There’s nothing wrong with women operators. They’re better on the roads – of course they are. Safety is built into their way of thinking.

“With a male, and I’m not that different, you’ve got a macho thing….and that’s all it is with 90% of males: You’ve gotta beat the next guy.”

He says, for instance, that he’s been riding with the girls “and someone’s come on the wrong side of the road around a sharp corner and they’ve managed to stop. Me or another male would’ve run ‘em right over. Honestly.

“But safety to them is like…they’re such smooth operators. They are…they’re bloody…you can’t beat ‘em.”

He struggles for the right words to express his admiration for his girls, then adds: “They’ve had good training I suppose – through me yelling and shouting at ‘em over the years. But we’ve always maintained the old school of driving: What speed you go up the hill in, you go one gear less down the hill.

“They’re magic to watch going down a hill. They’ve got it in the right gear that it holds up and they might just touch the brakes occasionally.”

The last trailers he bought new “had done a million k before I changed the brake pads out. That’s what I mean.”

The Lockley girls are just as proud of their parents. As Amy says: “Dad’s such a hard worker – and a gentle soul as well. Genuine, old-school, out to support his family.

“My sister went on holiday for a couple of weeks and Dad was driving her old truck, which only had a small sleeper.

Around the same time her new truck was due to arrive. He said ‘how do you girls live in those trucks all week?’ So he rang up Kenworth and changed the specs…..said ‘the sleeper needs to be bigger.’ ” It’s a big help, with the girls doing overnighters on their linehaul runs.

Anna says she loves the freedom that goes with the job: “As females we’re quite accepted…. Some people have the

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perception that we’re trying to be something we’re not – but you don’t have to put on a tough exterior. Just be yourself and you don’t have an issue with anybody.”

She says of John and Irene: “Our parents have come a long way and had to work their arses off to get to where they are.

“Nowadays you can see the change compared to what the company used to be like. They’re in a good place despite the hardships over the years.”

Both girls agree that their truckie careers have been made easier because they’re twins – “because you’re each other’s best friend and you’ve got the same way of thinking. You support each other.”

Amy worked up to the day she went to hospital to have her baby daughter. Now her driving is temporarily on hold: “I always think I’d like to get out and drive…I’d like to take baby with me.

“But I don’t want her dancing around in the truck either and I don’t want anyone else raising her. So I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. She’s gonna come first – before anything.”

She has tried to at least get behind the wheel of John’s new Legend, but reports: “Dad wouldn’t even let me get in the driver’s seat. I wanted to so bad. He took the keys out when he brought it back to the yard!”

The thrill of getting it “hasn’t worn off yet,” she says. Until now her Dad was always into genuine Kenworth classics – old ones. But with the Legend, which has a classic retro look combined with modern running gear and comfort, he looks to have been won over, she reckons: “Now that he’s driven the new truck he’s swaying that way….realising how good it is to be comfortable and to get out at the other end without his bones rattled to bits.”

Ask John what he attributes to his success and true to form he reckons: “I’m just a dumbass. Honestly, the average person probably would’ve given up long ago if he had half a brain. Really it’s just persistence. If you stick at what you’re doing, you’ll achieve it. It doesn’t happen in five minutes. It takes a number of years to build anything successful. You

know, it does, honestly.”

John and Irene have been together for 48 years, married for 46 and in business together all of that time.

They met at the beach and John, laughing, reckons: “I was a good catch.”

Irene responds: “He’s full of self praise. I’ve put up with him for 48 years. I deserve a bloody big medal.”

As to the future, John says he may convince the girls to take over the business one day. And, as always, he’s looking out for them towards that end – positioning the company to best suit them.

“I’ve got to do five more years now to get my trucks freehold again. I might buy another new complete unit in that time – but I hope to set the business up to where, if the girls do decide to take it, it’ll be freehold for them and they’ll have reasonably new gear.

“Our customers are quite happy to have the girls on board – because they know they’re good workers….excellent workers. They get the job done – and they know transport like the back of their hand.”

If this all plays out, Amy reckons, the girls would be seriously motivated to be successful: “We’d want to keep his name going and things going for him. The company’s his pride and joy. He’s built it from scratch – gone through a lot of tough times and climbed back up again. It would be too heartbreaking to have to shut down.”

And there’s even a potential future beyond Tracey, Amy and Anna, as Tracey says: “My little one (now eight) reckons she’s gonna become a truck driver.”

Ask John what he values most from all those years of John Lockley Transport and he smiles: “I think I’m most proud of the family. The girls, you know – being good little operators.

And Mother here, she’s done a bloody good job. Now we’ve got her trained right.”

Irene fires back: “I trained meself! You didn’t train me.”

Serious again, John reckons: “I’d do it all over again and I wouldn’t change it. It’s been a learning curve right from the beginning. Even the difficulties. The difficulties come with it.” T&D Truck & Driver | 59

w o L w o sl

&

Story Wayne Munro Photos Gavin Blue

Loaded at 203 tonnes all-up, the FH16 700, equipped with the new I-Shift with ultra low crawler gears, idles up the 8.8% gradient

60 | Truck & Driver

FEATURE

Truck & Driver | 61

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The ultra low crawler gear I-Shift is rated for starting on a 10% gradient at 190 tonnes, or at 325t on the flat

I

HAPPILY ADMIT IT: I’VE ONLY EVER BEEN A FAIRweather, special occasion, few-and-far-between truck driver.

Or, as 1967 Formula One world champion, the late Denny Hulme once put it rather bluntly during my previous life in motorsport – I’m “just a f***ing journo!” (At the time he didn’t much like scribblers like me).

True as all that is, 20 years ago I did earn my full truck and trailer HT licence – and I sure as hell am not going to pass up the opportunity to get behind the wheel of something new, something different, something big in the world of trucking.

It’s how I’ve come to drive trucks in Aussie, in Europe, in the States, Japan, China, India and other places, as well as here in New Zealand.

How I got my arse into the driver’s seat of a 750-horsepower Volvo in Sweden years before the king-of-the-road model was launched here, how I came to take a Merc Army truck down a crazy-steep gravel hillside on the Waiouru offroad training tracks, laughed like a crazy-man at experiencing first-hand the sportscar-like acceleration of a fully-electric Fuso Canter in Japan…and drove a Volvo double roadtrain much of the way from Adelaide to Melbourne.

Big, of course, is best. Thus, driving a Volvo FH16 700 triple roadtrain in the Pilbara was THE standout experience (even if Aussie women in trucking pioneer Heather Jones would only let me drive it empty).

After all, 68 tonnes without a load on is still pretty impressive.

It WAS my ultimate big-is-best experience….

until this: A first-hand taste of Volvo Trucks’ latest development of its sophisticated I-Shift automated manual transmission.

This is next-level special – because, in demonstrating the capabilities of its new ultra-low crawler gear version of the AMT, Volvo’s prepared to let me get behind the wheel of an FH16 700 6x4 tractor unit hooked up to a two-axle dollie and a 10 rows of eight low-loader….

Which just happens to be loaded to 203 tonnes allup! And which sees the whole combination stretch out to around 30 metres.

Not only that: I get to drive it up a steep hill – as in an 8.8% gradient – leaving the I-Shift (mostly) in fully automated mode. Creeping along at around 7km/h and at 800 or 900rpm – and that’s not even in either of the two crawler gears that have been added to this AMT. This, of course, isn’t about me getting my kicks: My drive, at the Australasian launch of the specialpurpose I-Shift, held at Queensland’s Mount Cotton test track, does serve an important purpose.

Allowing me and a bunch of trucking industry media journos to take command of a heavy-haulage unit at such a hefty weight – and on such a steep hill – drives it home just how utterly confident Volvo Trucks is about the capabilities of the Ultra Low Crawler Gear (let’s just call it ULCG eh) I-Shift.

It’s a development that gained online fame back in 2016, when Volvo posted a YouTube video showing an FH16 750, with the heavy-haulage trans installed, covering a short distance towing 20 trailers – each of Truck & Driver | 63

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Above: The tilt of the cab tells the story of the torque involved as the 203t combination climbs the hill

Opposite page: The ultra low crawler gears transmission adds 12 centimetres and 46 kilograms to a standard I-Shift

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them double-stacked with loaded shipping containers.

The combo stretched 300 metres and weighed 750 tonnes all-up.

Okay, spectacular as that was, it was a publicity stunt. But the followup reality was that Volvo went to market with its I-Shift with crawler gears – rating it to get started from a standstill with up to 325 tonnes on a flat road and on a steep hill (10% gradient) with up to 190 tonnes. That rating, it says, is a world-first for a series production truck with an automated transmission.

What’s even more impressive about all of this is the fact that, since the crawler gears are added to a standard overdrive or direct drive I-Shift gearbox, the ULCG transmission will manage everything from crawling along at 0.5km/h (utilising the extra crawler gear set)…. to cruising along at normal highway speeds (using the standard I-Shift gears).

This, says Volvo, is unique – avoiding what’s always been a tradeoff between startability and highway functionality (and thus fuel economy).

This wide-ranging speed capability comes at the cost of just an extra 12 centimetres in the length of the I-Shift (this to accommodate the extra gear reduction set, some parts of which are made of high-strength materials for durability) and an additional 46 kilograms.

One other modification was required for trucks running at around 70t and above – a propeller shaft that’s been uprated from the standard 28,000 Newton metres, to 33,000Nm…adding up to 27kgs, depending on the wheelbase.

The extra gear train is located directly behind the gearbox coupling and comprises two extra gearwheels – one on the input shaft and one on the intermediate shaft.

The crawler gear I-Shift can be partnered up with Volvo’s 13-litre or 16-litre engines, in FH16, FH, FM or FMX models – with either one or two crawler gears… both options also available with (or without) multispeed reverse (MSR), which adds two additional reverse gears to the standard I-Shift’s four.

In the ULCG version, with two crawler gears, you get a 32 to one Crawler 1 ratio (compared to the standard overdrive I-Shift’s 11.73:1)...plus a C2 gear with a 19.37:1 ratio. Add the MSR and there’s a 37.5 to one Reverse Crawler ratio (compared to the standard I-Shift’s 13.73), plus an extra mid-range ratio.

The single crawler gear version comes with a 17.5:1 ratio – with the lowest reverse ratio at 20.5:1 if MSR is added.

Attending the Australasian crawler gear launch is the bloke they nickname “Mr I-Shift” – the soon-toretire, 39-year Volvo Trucks employee Ove Wikstrom.

He’s been working on the highly-successful Volvo AMT for 20 years – his involvement pre-dating its launch (in 2002).

As he makes clear, the crawler gear development – launched here at Mt Cotton, along with the supersmooth Dual Clutch – isn’t just for heavy-haulage.

It’s purposebuilt for mining, quarrying, big weight combinations – including Aussie roadtrains, of

course….and logging in steep country. But also for jobs as diverse as tipping and spreading and roadsweeping.

And it’s perfect too for any truck called on to do a lot of low-speed manoeuvring (frequently hooking up trailers, for instance)…or those that might need to restart on their own if forced to stop on a steep hill.

In fact, given that the crawler gear transmission can be installed in four different models – and since it still allows a truck to run at highway speed limits at low revs – its applications are almost endless, reckons Wikstrom.

“If you take the I-Shift gearboxes and include the crawler gear and also the dual clutch, we can (more or less) cover all applications. In the beginning it was very limited, so we have increased applications all the time – so now it is used more or less by everybody.”

The crawler gear project started around 2011 or 2012. Wikstrom says it was prompted by the realisation that Volvo needed to offer a greater span of gear ratios if it was going to cater for heavy haulage and other applications with high combination weights. Thus startability with heavy weights became the main aim of the project.

They quickly discovered that the market potential was “much larger than we imagined…” and the beauty of the project was that it could be done by modifying the existing I-Shift transmission – “so it is not a completely new transmission…so therefore the cost is not comparable to a new transmission project.”

Truck & Driver | 65

Top left: Ove Wikstrom – “Mr I-Shift”

Above: Low and slow. With the Engine Control engaged, in the lowest crawler gear (C1), the 16-litre engine idles at less than 600rpm and we’re going so slow it doesn’t register on the speedo as we crest the hill Left: Volvo says that the crawler gear transmissions are suited to many, many more applications besides heavy haulage

The crawler gear transmission delivers not only extreme startablility, but also extremely slow operating speeds. With the trucks here, for example, with 4.12 rear axle ratios and 315/80R 22.5 tyres, the lowest forward speed possible is reduced from 1.98km/h with a standard I-Shift, down to 0.9km/h.

In reversing, the speed decreases from 1.7km/h to 0.8km/h.

Says Wikstrom: “I can tell you something: When you’re connecting trailers….it is fantastic. So, many people like that very, very much. That is a very important feature.”

Another huge plus is that starting off with high weights using crawler gears greatly reduces the stress put on the clutch – down to just 25% of the energy going to the clutch in a standard I-Shift, says Wikstrom: “What is the meaning of that? If you fail to start in a very severe situation, you can start all over again and the clutch will not be overheated, so that is very good…and also for the durability of the clutch and transmission.”

Field testing, including running the transmission in extreme heat and cold and at high altitude, was carried out in 2013 and 2014 in the leadup to the 2016 market launch in Europe.

Since the launch Volvo has sold 10,300 ULCG I-Shifts – around 7% of all I-Shift production.

Given the roadtrain market, this Australasian launch is “very important…and there is very big interest of course in this market.”

While there has been no specific crawler gear I-Shift sales targets set for Australasia, “what I personally expect is that we might use 10% of production in two years. It can be more – let’s see. We’re prepared for that: It is very easy for us to increase production.”

66 | Truck & Driver

Of the crawler gear I-Shifts sold so far, almost half (42%) were specced with the full shebang – the ultra low crawler gears plus multi speed reverse. Just over a third (35%) had a single crawler gear and MSR. FH fitments accounted for 42% of the crawler gear sales, with FMX installations at 29%, FH16 at 22% and FM just 7%. Overall, last year almost 7% of all I-Shifts had crawler gears.

I get my first taste of what the ULCG I-Shift is capable of when I ride shotgun with Volvo Trucks international driver development manager Per Hansen, in the 203t FH16 6x4 heavy haulage combination.

After a brief rundown of his preps, (including turning off the traction control and selecting the 6x4’s inter-axle difflock – “I’ll always have it on if I have a load like this,” he says) – he selects the lowest of the crawler gears, automatic mode on the I-Shift…. and we oh-so-gently, ridiculously smoothly, ease away. Hansen has very little throttle pressure and the upshifts come at around 1000rpm.

The AMT takes itself up to second before he intervenes to manually order up a double upshift to gather some speed before we start up the steep hill: “When it’s totally flat I’ll be in automatic, but when it’s like here – a bit hilly – I’ll be in manual.”

As we’re about to start the climb he downshifts two gears, so we’re in 2nd: “So, if I accelerate now, the wheel will come off the ground,” he says happily. No sooner does he say it, than he does it….and it does it!

Just like a speedway midget car, the front left wheel lifts off!

My reaction? “Bloody hell! Whoah! Far out!” That amount of torque can’t be good for the driveline, I suggest – but he’s reassuring: “Nah, nah, nah, nah….”

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It shows just how confident Volvo is in the abilities of its crawler gear I-Shift that it’s prepared to let a bunch of journos get behind the wheel of a 203 tonne combination...on a steep hill

And the Volvo has a secret weapon in that regard – which Hansen brings into play as we climb the hill, left front wheel off the road, at 1200rpm, doing 7km/h in second gear.

He selects Volvo’s engine control – like a crawlerspeed cruise control function, active from 0-15km/h: “So when we come up a mountain like this, where it’s uneven, it’s fantastic to put it on – because, if you hit a pothole or something like that, you’ll push the accelerator and you WILL put enormous strain on the driveline.”

Now he has another trick to show off – casually announcing: “I’ll actually just stop here now…” Say what! Gotta be kidding….

But no: Volvo says the crawler gear I-Shift is rated to start on a 10% gradient at 190 tonnes – so, 203t at 8.8% should be okay.

It is. Now in manual mode, he uses the park brake momentarily to “put a bit of pressure on it”……and, with very little throttle and low revs (below 1000rpm), we resume the hillclimb in the lowest crawler gear.

Just like that.

Says Hansen: “The mistake people make is they want to use horsepower instead of torque. You want to use torque – and that’s down here.”

We’re in C1 (the lowest crawler gear) when he engages the engine control function again and we sit at 700rpm – going so slowly that, as Per reckons: “If you were actually on a pushbike you’d fall off – your speed wouldn’t be high enough to keep you upright.”

The crawler gears and engine control, he suggests, will be great for the heavy haulage operators around the world who cart power-generating windmill components to mountaintops: “A lot of times they actually build the road to get up there and so it’s very TD29075 TD27300

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uneven – and this is very good for that.”

The engine control, which has Hansen hooked – “I really love that feature” – also works on the multispeed reverse gears too.

Nearing the top of the climb, he goes back to human shifting and throttle control: “Okay, we’re in Crawler 1 now, so you just have to be a little bit careful with the accelerator, because it’s a lot of torque.”

The downhill back down to the skid pan is taken in manual mode, with the extra benefit of a few dabs on the brake pedal, plus the Volvo’s full engine braking – with the inter-axle difflock now working to avoid any chance of torque (compression) lockup.

Hansen is a believer in the inter-axle difflock or the power divider being on “every time the chassis could twist….. So, in and out of service stations and depots, you should put it on. Just have a look at the ground into depots – it’s all black with tyre wear because people don’t use this.”

Back on the skid pan, he shows off the reverse crawler gears: Going into auto mode, selecting Reverse Crawl and, with just the lightest throttle, moving off.

The speedo shows 0km/h – “so we’re doing .8 or .9 or something, if that. Handy in a yard when its bumpy and all that sort of stuff.”

Then he says the magic words: “Do you want a crack at it?” Mate, are you kidding! We swap seats and the laidback Hansen casually runs through some instructions: We’re all set with the power divider in, traction control off, Crawler 1 selected and in manual mode.

We move off – so easily it makes me laugh. By the foot of the hill we’re up to 4th, and as instructed I order-up a double downshift and then, at around 1400rpm, push the button to engage the EC (engine Truck & Driver | 69

control).

It’s a bizarre feeling: Crawling up a steep hill at 7km/h in 2nd gear, both feet off the pedals….and the front left wheel up in the air: “Wow, that’s crazy,” I reckon. Per shrugs – “it’s just physics…. it’s simply just the torque/weight ratio.”

One-wheel steering is different, but going so slowly, there’s plenty of time to manage it. At the top of the hill, I disengage the engine control, manually shift up till we’re in 4th …then engage the engine brake and downshift to 3rd for the steepest part of the descent. A couple of dabs on the brakes and we’re back on the flat.

Stuck for superlatives, I reckon it’s “the bees’ knees!” It’s a sign of how happy and out of my comfort zone I am: I’m sure I’ve never once uttered that old-school expression before.

It’s probably a once in a lifetime driving experience – and I’m happy….even though I’m also a bit disappointed with a couple of indecisive hesitations.

Not territory you want to get into when you’re in charge of something this heavy…and on wheels!

Per’s reassuring: “Yes, but you wouldn’t know would you – that you’ve got that much weight.”

He reckons I’ve done well. But then, he also immediately lets it slip that he’s setting the bar low: “That was bloody good mate – we didn’t have any accidents!” We both have a good laugh at that.

The I-Shift dual clutch given its Australasian launch here is rated to a maximum 70t gross combination weight and 2800Nm of torque – available on 500hp 70 | Truck & Driver

and 540hp FH models and, on special request, for FMs. In principle, says Wikstrom, it’s essentially two parallel gearboxes, with a clutch apiece – allowing one to change the selected gear, while the other is pre-selecting the next.

The result is powershifting – doing away with the usual dropoffs in turbo pressure and engine torque experienced with a standard I-Shift.

As Wikstrom says: “When you’re driving the I-Shift, you know, you can feel it when you drive it – it is changing gear. With this you don’t feel it.”

The shifts are, he adds, quieter, faster and smoother – resulting in more comfort for the driver and the load and reduced trip times and improved fuel economy on hilly, winding roads. There is also, he adds, potential benefits to total cost of ownership.

And, he adds, “when it comes to heavy trucks we are the only one, as far as we know, to have this solution here.”

The dual clutch version of the I-Shift is 100kg heavier than the standard AMT, but is particularly beneficial for liquid, livestock and sensitive goods transport – and its smooth gearchanging “is nice when you have poor traction or if you have frequent inclines or frequent gear shifting.”

There’s the opportunity at this drive day to get a first-hand taste of all manner of Volvo’s safety and driver support systems, including lane-change support, adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning and driver alert support.

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Top left: The FH is able to idle along, even up the hill, with the crawler gear I-Shift in automated mode – at somewhere below 10km/h and less than 600rpm Top right: To show off the crawler gear I-Shift’s capabilities, the demo includes hill stops and restarts....even with the 203t combination

Right: Happy as a pig in the proverbial – editor Munro at the wheel of the 203t combination

Then there’s I-Roll, where we coast along at 500 to 600rpm in an FH 540 B-double highway unit loaded to 61t…and with the crawler gear I-Shift. As driver trainer Bill Manton sums up, as I try its freewheeling mode: “No brakes, no nothing – you’re just along for the ride. No fuel, nothing on your turbo boost. So at the moment you’re doing 3 litres per 100kms! Not bad is it.”

It’s not that he expects the truck to be driven softly, gingerly: When I’m too gentle on the throttle for his liking, he laughingly encourages me to “harden up… you’ve got to be a bit more Australian, you need fatter soles on your boots!”

When I get the chance to drive another FH16 700 and low-loader combination – this one loaded to 136t – driver trainer Paul Munro directs me to try a hill stop/ start.

He briefs me: “We’re suggesting that for extreme heavy haulage like this you don’t use the Hill Start Aid – because you’re a little bit dependent on technology to release the brakes quickly.

“What we’re suggesting is you use the park brake.

Don’t pull it all the way on – just pull it down to a firm resistance and then, as soon as you let it go, you’ll release it and you can move off.”

We start into the hill as per directions, but my

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unfamiliarity with the controls means I’m not quite quick enough to toggle the Engine Control speed up after engaging it….and so we end up doing our hill stop/start near the bottom of the hill – earlier than planned.

I hold the combination on the park brake, gently apply some revs, feel the torque….and let go the brake.

Then I quickly push the button to engage the EC. The ever-positive Paul Munro reckons that the premature hill stop was a bonus: “The beauty of what happened is that was on the steepest bit of the grade.

That was a better demonstration there: So that’s how smooth it is. The only unfortunate thing is it might take another two minutes to get up here.”

That’s because we’re locked into C1, crawling along at 1 or 2km/h at around 1250rpm – smack in the middle of the peak torque zone (from 1000-1500 revs).

Munro has an extra trick to show – highlighting the crawler gear I-Shift’s capabilities: As we near the crest, where the road curves in a big arc to the right and then plunges back down the hill, he directs me to use the EC speed control to reduce the revs….right down to idle! So, we complete the last bit of the climb with the 16-litre scarcely ticking over – at 550-600rpm!

I tell him I love it: “So do I. How good is it!” says Munro. T&D Truck & Driver | 73

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National Road Carriers

The year that was

By David Aitken, CEO of National Road Carriers

T

HE ONLY CONSTANT IN THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY IS constant change – a bit like fuel prices.

A few months ago, I was suggesting that if costs were being affected by increasing costs of fuel, insurance, increased congestion and salaries, then companies needed to review their rates and consider raising them.

Now the experts are suggesting fuel prices could drop by 15% from the highs of September/October. If you haven’t increased your hourly rates since then it might be a little harder to justify now, as fuel is the most obvious reason – even though all the other increases are applicable. However, if you haven’t included a Fuel Adjustment Factor or FAF in your contracts, I suggest you do so now….if you can.

Driver training is starting to gain momentum under the Sector Workforce Employment Programme overseen by Steve Divers.

Commercial Road Transport Courses are now being held at six tertiary institutions throughout the country, with four more about to come on stream.

Different courses run by the Motor Industry Training organisation (MITO) are also on the horizon, now that area has been completely revamped.

However, this still requires support from the industry to provide the practical experience all course participants need as part of the training.

Individually and collectively we need to co-operate with our local course providers and offer the on-the-job training the courses require, as well as offering training and experience to potential drivers.

We are working with SWEP to fill a couple of obvious holes where no courses are available and in larger centres – Auckland in particular – the courses need to expand, given the much greater population.

As always, we have been heavily involved in lobbying over highway improvements and with the now not-so-new Government, the task has become a little harder.

There have been some wins, but some other decisions seem to fly in the face of common sense: Quite rightly the new bypass road for the Manawatu Gorge seems to have been fast-tracked, compared to the pace of some other developments.

Twelve months ago, the coalition government torpedoed most of the Roads of National Significance projects announced by the previous National government. Some have reappeared under the guise of road safety improvements and economic benefit for the regions.

So the Otaki-Levin expressway and bypass is going to happen, but only as a two-lane road.

If experience and history should have taught the NZTA anything it is that economic progress and expansion and a growing population require more infrastructure. They will just get Otaki-Levin built….and realise that traffic volumes require four lanes!

The area of the Waikato Expressway around Hampton Downs/Te Kauwhata is a great example of doing things twice, instead of doing it right the first time.

The main highways leading to the Port of Tauranga, which has the greatest tonnage of freight of any New Zealand port, are another example of plans to do the bare minimum. Apparently, there will be safety upgrades only.

State Highway 2 south of Waihi has a sad fatality rate. It is the main freight route from Auckland to and from the port at Tauranga. The best way to reduce or eliminate the crash statistics is a four-lane divided highway, with centre barriers.

Vast amounts of freight come out of the Waikato, over the Kaimai Ranges. That road, with its tight corners, needs major improvements, which will benefit all vehicles on the road.

The Mount Messenger bypass will hopefully get final resource consent to go ahead – but only after more than a decade spent considering the route.

Around the greater Auckland region, the Penlink – from SH1 to the Whangaparaoa Peninsula – and the Mill Rd improvements in South Auckland have been brought forward in the work schedule. Now they just need to get on with it….ASAP! We’re finally going to see a roundabout at the Whangarei Loop Rd North SH15/SH1 intersection. However it has been decided that a single-lane roundabout will be constructed instead of a future-proofed two-lane…..for some unknown reason.

Originally the much debated and highly publicised East West Link, from Sylvia Park to Onehunga, was aborted 12 months ago. Now common sense has prevailed and the project is being re-investigated by the NZTA. This will be at least the third time by my reckoning. The answer is simple: Just Do It! Environment Court approval has been given. It has gone through all the planning procedures. Let’s not waste time doing the paper war again, while the volume of all traffic in the Sylvia Park, Penrose, Te Papapa and Onehunga area just keeps growing.

On behalf of the friendly, hardworking staff at NRC I would like to wish the wider road freight transport and trucking community all the best for 2019. T&D Truck & Driver | 75

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SWEP

HW Richardson Group driver training manager Graeme Mabey speaks at the launch of the company’s new Class 2 training vehicle

BEING BOLD IN TRAINING

By Steve Divers Director – career pathways – road freight transport Sector Workforce Engagement Programme (SWEP)

T

WO INITIATIVES I WANT TO HIGHLIGHT this month are about bold moves taken by companies and groups, aimed at delivering training and supporting driver cadets.

In November I was invited to attend the launch of HW Richardson Group’s Class 2 training vehicle at Bill Richardson Transport World in Invercargill.

As I’ve come to expect from HWR’s progressive team of driver trainers and supportive management, the Group has invested in a great asset to deliver training – supporting its existing programme with the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT).

HWR driver training manager Graeme Mabey says that the Invercargill-based Hino 4x2 truck will be used to provide students and cadets with handson practical driving experience.

“Having the training truck has been a vision

of the HWR driver training team for the past couple of years. The Class 2 curtainsider vehicle complements the training and licensing our team provides throughout the HWR Group.”

HWR has been a key partner with SIT for a number of years and 2018 saw the launch of its amended course. The programme leverages the HWR relationship by contracting experienced driver trainers to deliver the training to the SIT students.

HWR is one of a number of Southern operators offering students on-the-job experience via work placement and the new truck will enable HWR to better cater for this.

The course is also supported by access to a Fonterra milktanker and with the addition of HWR’s dedicated Class 2 vehicle the students will be able to gain further valuable practical experience.

Historically they have utilised Class 2 vehicles from Truck & Driver | 77

Clockwise from top left: Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and National Driver Training Centre manager Michael Barbour....

Shane Jones announced the Provincial Growth Fund investment in November.....the new HWR Group Class 2 driver training vehicle was launched at Bill Richardson Transport World

a number of Southern businesses and it is this goodwill shown by the supporting companies that has made the course what it is.

Further north, the SWEP initiative has undertaken a stocktake of industry programmes and has looked into some of the challenges preventing access to our industry.

During this process SWEP engaged with the team at Talent Central (Manawatu), which has shown a passion for developing relationships and pathways into transport and logistics careers for school students.

What was evident was that, although SWEP and Talent Central had been working independently, the conclusions reached on the access preventers were identical…and that Talent Central had been working on practical ideas to allow students to gain a car licence.

It is this car licence issue which significantly delays entry to our industry and, although this was highlighted to Government last year, with the Ministry of Education seeking to develop policy on this, it is a challenge that cuts across a number of ministerial portfolios.

The team at Talent Central, supported by Accelerate 25 and the Manfeild Park Trust, has been operating a pilot programme which has seen upwards of 170 school students gain a car licence (in part or full).

This has been operating on a shoestring budget – leading to an application to the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) to allow it to formalise a car licence programme with the scale to target a potential 2800 students from a possible 34 schools.

The SWEP team supported this initiative and the 78 | Truck & Driver

subsequent application to the PGF – with the plan to include heavy vehicle licences, after students have obtained full car licences.

The result of the application saw Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announce the PGF’s $2.85million investment in the Manfeild Park Trust’s National Driver Training Centre in November.

This investment, which is for facility improvements and to allow for some operational costs, is a potential game-changer for school students and our industry: The challenge behind car licensing is scale, and the National Driver Training Centre (NDTC) provides a solution that’s supported by a number of key founding stakeholders, including TR Master Drive Services, Higgins Group, Fonterra and others.

I encourage operators in and around the wider Manawatu region to start considering how they can help and support this initiative. This could involve utilising the trainers and the facility to develop their own driving cadets, or to collaborate with other operators to support the development of cadets while they progress through their heavy vehicle licence classes.

One obvious advantage of accessing an offhighway facility is the ability to train specialist driving skills such as tanker and live load stability, civil contracting and heavy machinery operating.

I’m certain that the industry has some great ideas that we’re yet to hear about and a key person or operators to liaise with at the NDTC is Michael Barbour. His initial role is to project manage the facility upgrade and to develop the key relationships needed to support the required training. T&D

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FEATURE

MOVE OVER BOYS

Story & photos Hayley Leibowitz

Dayna Callender is the first recruit in a new Road Transport Cadetship in the Bay of Plenty

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PETITE TEENAGER, WITH LONG AUBURN HAIR and gentle features, Dayna Callender is hardly your typical truck driver.

But, as the first candidate to take advantage of the partnership between the Freight and Logistics Action Group (FLAG), Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology, and the Bay of Plenty transport industry’s Road Transport Cadetship, she is something of an industry pioneer... and she is passionate about trucks.

Switching between onsite experience as a metro driver with Priority Logistics, practical training and lectures, and a Google virtual classroom where she can submit footage of herself driving, Dayna is loving the programme.

When we meet her in Mount Maunganui she’s just returned from delivering frozen meat pallets to a local supermarket, currently driving a Class 2 curtainsider.

She’s soon to upgrade to Class 4: “That’s exciting.

The furthest I drive at the moment is to Katikati. I start early and load myself with the forklift. I can’t wait for the longer drives when I get to see the country,” she says.

Dayna, just 18, first heard about the course through her school, Mount College. “They put me through ‘student for a day,’ so while I was at school I went to

the course for a day and joined in with the class.

“So I got to see what they did and had a go on the machinery and stuff.” It confirmed that she was pursuing the right career.

“Studying and working was difficult at the start but then when you get a routine it’s a bit easier. The Google classroom is good. I like technology. I have formal lectures as well as assessments and driving assessments too. I’m the very first person doing the cadetship. It’s been pretty good. It’s all gone well so far,” she says.

Priority Logistics’ LCL (less than a container load) dispatcher Colin Braithwaite says the company has had candidates from Toi Ohomai for seven years but Dayna is the first cadet: “She’s been brilliant. She’s comparable to the best that we’ve had.

“Dayna’s doing it slightly differently. It’s a bit more intense I think and the polytech seems to be investing more time and resources into her. Not just because she’s a woman, but so that they can streamline candidates that have got more potential – those they perceive to have more talent.

“With the new cadetship there’s a lot more involvement from the polytech. They’re keen to get it working properly as well, so they’re talking to us and Truck & Driver | 81

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Dayna is a new-age truckie....who certainly doesn’t fit the traditional image of a truck driver

getting our opinion.”

He’s all for women drivers, saying that “generally speaking they’re a little bit more considerate to other road users. And they take a lot more care with things like paperwork, which is crucial to the part of the business that I’m involved with.

‘I know that I don’t have to go to Dayna and ask her to write more clearly or write properly. And that’s been the same with other female drivers we’ve had before.”

With about 36 trucks in the fleet plus a number of trailers, Priority Logistics runs around 70 vehicles: “We’ve got five or six smaller trucks and the rest are flatbeds, container trucks or tanker trucks, which work around the country. We pretty much concentrate on the North Island but in the milk season we do operate a couple of trucks in the South Island as well. The bigger trucks are more the bulk trucks, hauling liquid, bulk freight, concrete pipes and that kind of thing.”

It’s the perfect environment for Dayna, she says: “None of my family drive. I’ve just always loved trucks and always looked at them and wanted to drive them – the size, the looks, the different styles and what they can carry…it all appeals.

“Plus I like being in control of the vehicle and also seeing new places and meeting new people.”

She says her experience so far has lived up to her expectations “and more. There have been heaps of opportunities that I didn’t expect – like you guys and young people approaching me and wanting to know about how I got into it. Things like that. I’m not used to that, but it’s good.”

Asked how people react to her choice of profession, she says most are “quite surprised. Older people tend

to judge you because you’re young and they think you may not be able to do things as well.

“Also, people just assume you can’t do things to a decent standard because it’s a male-dominated industry…that kind of thing, yeah.”

So should there be more women in the industry?

“Definitely. For sure….because we can do it just as well as anyone else, you know. And it’s for everyone – it’s an awesome job, so women should get into it,” she says.

She doesn’t see any problem with maintaining a work/life balance in the future: “People make assumptions that it won’t work if you have kids or family, but I don’t think it’s an issue. There are so many jobs you can get – driving, or even management – to work around the hours that you want in the transport world. Heaps of options out there.”

Women in Road Transport’s board chair Meryn Morrison agrees: “Most industries have a representation of everybody – ages, gender, races – without discrimination, and that’s where we want to get to as well. It’s about balancing our industry with the norm,” she says.

“Plus there’s the fact that you get paid to see the scenery and find a level of independence you won’t get stuck in an office.”

Though traditionally the industry has been seen as a man’s world, Meryn believes that’s changing: “I think it’s the old precept that you have to be physically strong and it’s long hours and a dirty, rough occupation. But those days are long gone.

“Trucks are automatics these days, they’re as comfortable as being in a car, many have computers to Truck & Driver | 83

“There are a few challenges but it’s an awesome career.” select gears, plus there’s electronic braking…and not the big heavy clutches anymore.

“You don’t need huge arm muscles for an 18-speed Roadranger. It’s a totally different task these days. Add to that the places they go to care about health and safety and treat people well – and it’s not the rough industry it used to be 20 or 30 years ago,” she says.

Dayna’s advice to women going into trucking is to “stick with it. Learn as much as you can and just keep trying, even if it seems difficult at times. There are a few challenges but it’s an awesome career.”

The oldest of three children, Dayna says that initially her Mum was “a bit worried because trucks are…like,

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big you know. Scary – that kind of thing. But now they’re all for it. They’re happy for me that I’m doing what I want.”

Her girlfriends, mostly at university, were surprised by her career choice at first, but have been “real supportive. Everyone’s been pretty good actually.”

As to the challenges of driving a truck, Dayna says the biggest ones are traffic and people on the road: “There’s a lot of people out there that make it difficult – you know, cars and that. So you’ve got to be really aware, 24/7.

“It is much tougher than driving a car. It takes longer to stop. And you have to go wide at the corners ‘cause

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Hella T&

Left: Dayna reckons that her Mum was a bit worried because “trucks are...like, big, you know. Scary.....”

Above: Priority Logistics’ LTL dispatcher Colin Braithwaite says Dayna is “brilliant”

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if you don’t you’ll take out a power pole or something with the tail swing of the truck.

“And backing…you’ve got to be careful about that as well.

Make sure you’re looking in your mirrors. Be slow to manoeuvre.

Heaps of things to think about.

Yeah.”

At Toi Ohomai she clearly seemed so suited to truck driving that they asked if she’d driven before – and described her as “a natural,” says Dayna.

She doesn’t know where her aptitude for driving came from: “I kind of think I understand the dynamics of trucks and how they work. I don’t know where that came from.”

She says her dream job would be to drive fuel tankers and she has been approached

by Bay of Plenty-based Tranzliquid with a permanent job offer once she has her Class 5 licence. With the help of Women in Road Transport and Carters Tyre Service, she expects to get her Class 5 licence in April this year: “There’s a six-month wait between every licence, because I’m under 25 – otherwise it’s three months.”

Morrison points out there are currently two scholarships on offer to take women through from Class 2 to Class 5 licences. Dayna was put forward as a candidate by RTA’s area executive Dave Cox. Meryn found her “enthusiastic...with the right attitude to succeed, with a family who supports her. She’s already in the industry so she Dayna now has her Class 4 licence and has stepped up from a four-wheeler to a 6x4 has a realistic idea of what it’s about.”

As part of the course Dayna has already begun her student learnership experience with go to America one day and drive a W900.”

Tranzliquid, gaining practical experience in fuel transportation Since New Zealand Truck & Driver talked to Dayna for this story, she has earned her Class 4 licence and has moved up every couple of weeks. from driving four-wheelers to a 6x4, and is delighted with the “I’ve always been interested in the dangerous goods side progress: “I felt like I’ve been waiting for it for a long time, of things,” she says: “It’s quite challenging carrying fuel and I though really it went quickly. To finally get to drive it was think as a job it would be awesome. And you do longer drives something I was looking forward to.” as well, rather than stopping every two minutes.”

“At first it felt like a big step-up….but then it didn’t, as I have If she had her choice of truck to drive it would be a Kenworth been taught to drive with a trailer on the back. So it’s the same W900 – “because they’re awesome and they’re American trucks sort of manoeuvres – just bigger and longer. It was actually with big sleeper cabs and they look good.” alright for me getting into it.

Her hope is to remain based in the Bay of Plenty, doing “Going into the course I didn’t think it would all happen so longer drives, while still living with her family in Mount quickly. Yes, I am proud of myself.” T&D Maunganui: “I’ve been here all my life. But it would be cool to 86 | Truck & Driver

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Concerns over NZTA regulatory corrections

By Road Transport Association NZ chief executive Dennis Robertson

B

Y THE TIME YOU READ THIS WE WILL HAVE SEEN A LOT more about the story developing prior to Christmas – about the possibility of truck drivers being suspended and 20 trucking companies being told by the New Zealand Transport Agency that they could lose their operating licences because of safety breaches.

This followed the resignation of NZTA chief executive Fergus Gammie, who had been under fire since it was revealed that the Agency had not been carrying out its regulatory function properly – resulting in thousands of vehicles having to be retested for warrants of fitness.

In a statement, Gammie said that by stepping aside he was hopeful that the necessary review and improvement of the regulatory function at the NZTA could be completed without any distraction.

A concern about this review is that a number of people who have been in contact with NZTA may well have felt they were not going to be further investigated….but now will be.

If this was a serious issue, this should have been dealt with by now. To leave it till now and challenge these people is pretty harsh. RTANZ believes this is a kneejerk reaction and there should have been more diligence and a better conversation with those companies to deal with some of these issues.

If the NZTA hasn’t acted until now we do have to challenge how serious the risk to road safety is. If public safety is put at risk they do have to do something about this – we totally support the safety aspect of it, but are concerned with the way it’s being done.

It would have been better if the Agency had worked with the companies to rectify the problem. From the Association’s point of view we are trying to help members in this situation with compliance.

Road Transport Association NZ chief executive Dennis Robertson

NZTA has had a number of problems with its compliance process, as highlighted by the work of its lawyers Meredith Connell. They assessed 850 internal NZTA cases on compliance issues and were looking at how they manage internal decisions that NZTA staff had made….with the inference that some needed to be revisited.

It seemed initially that this was mainly about the work of the engineers and certifiers – but now this has been shown to be a small part of the potential cases they will review.

Clearly there is going to be a lot of activity around a wide range of compliance issues to come, and you need to be aware that this increased enforcement will be taking place – and that the Commercial Vehicle Safety Team (CVST) and NZTA will be looking to issue more offence notices.

Part of the media circus around this are claims from the likes of First Union that companies compete for tenders by forcing drivers to accept low pay rates and long work hours. We have seen claims about logbook or worktime offences, speeding tickets, and driver behaviour offences – including dangerous and reckless driving – increasing or even doubling over five years.

Really? Let’s get a grip here: Since 2000 the number of truck kilometres travelled has almost doubled and the number of heavy trucks on our roads has increased by 45.5%. Since 2016, with the introduction of 50MAX we should have expected it to be much higher.

Some clear analysis needs to be done to show this rather than just plucking random figures out of the air. I believe that if this was done it would show what we already know – that vehicles and drivers are safer and more compliant now than they were in 2000.

So we look forward to seeing who will become the new CEO of NZTA. It could be a tough role to take on. T&D Truck & Driver | 89

DO YOU KNOW A TRUCK DRIVER HERO? Is someone you know a“TRUCK DRIVER HERO”?

Someone who has significantly contributed to the safety of others such as: helping someone from danger, acting in a consistantly safe way to prevent harm to others or just generally helping other motorists on our roads.

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Rugged Cat phone here

G

LOBAL CONSTRUCTION AND MINING EQUIPMENT manufacturer Caterpillar has launched its new flagship rugged smartphone in New Zealand.

The Cat S61 is drop-proof up to 1.8 metres and waterproof up to three metres and for up to one hour – “making it perfectly suited to rugged environments,” says the Bullitt Group – Caterpillar’s worldwide mobile device licensee.

Bullitt says that the phone, which has a $1599 recommended retail price, boasts “tough and durable features” that make it perfect for people engaged in outdoor activities – for work or leisure.

The upgrade to the Cat S60 smartphone also has improved thermal imaging capability, laser-assisted distance measuring and an indoor air quality sensor.

These new features and enhancements help enable a new set of use cases where portability, connectivity, and greater image quality are necessary, Bullitt says.

It adds that vehicle diagnostics, asphalt monitoring and highertemperature equipment monitoring are now possible with the Cat S61, in addition to the Cat smartphone’s traditional applications including detecting heat loss, identifying overheating electrical appliances and overloaded circuitry and seeing in complete darkness or through the likes of light fog or smoke.

Its distance measuring capability allows users to take point-to-point measurements of up to eight metres and add dimensions or area estimates to images.

The thermal imaging camera integrated into the phone is sharper, has added colour palettes and a higher resolution, with images displayed in HD, and now measures temperatures up to 400°C. An indoor air quality monitor is capable of measuring temperature, humidity and levels of air pollutants (VOCs), making it an important tool

The S61 is drop-proof at up to 1.8 metres for air quality control, able to alert users to high levels of indoor air pollutants (volatile organic compounds, from paints, solvents, carpet, furniture and cleaning products) in working environments.

The sensor can also provide humidity and current temperature readings.

The phone has a large 5.2” FHD screen, protected by Gorilla Glass 5 and optimised for outdoor use. It is also IP68 dustproof and waterproof. It is built to survive repeated drop-tests onto concrete from 1.8m.

Bullitt Group CEO Peter Stephens says: “Cat’s rugged phones have been incredibly well received in NZ and we are delighted to add the S61, our flagship model, to our offering in the region.

“The temperature and resolution improvements found in the Cat S61 will open up thermal imaging to many more users and use cases, and its unrivalled inbuilt tools of the trade mean we are confident that it’ll go down a storm.”

The Cat S61 is available through Gough Cat branches nationwide or online from PB Tech. T&D

A Jumbo upgrade

A

WIDELY USED COMMERCIAL VEHICLE LAMP, commonly referred to as the Jumbo, has been upgraded by NARVA. The Model 49 rear combination lamp has now been released here – the successor to the Model 48, which NARVA New Zealand says “has dominated the transport industry on both sides of the Tasman.”

The new lamp fits the same footprint as its predecessor “and is sure to be as popular,” says NARVA. The new lamp is available in various function and colour configurations, featuring a continuous neon-like LED light-pipe that frames the lamp’s borders and meets the Australian Design Rules performance standard for tail lamps.

Says NARVA: “Much like the lighting on some prestige European cars, this creates a modern, signature appearance for the truck or trailer, because the LED light pipe stays illuminated when the other functions are off.

“The stop, indicator and reverse functions are activated on the inside of the tail lamp, with high quality optics to gain the attention of those following.”

The Model 49 has a sleek and slimline design (it’s just 46mm deep), with

no visible screws or mounting holes – snap-in retro reflectors covering them to provide a flush appearance.

The lamp inserts themselves are replaceable – but NARVA says that’s unlikely to be necessary “as the lamps are made with virtually unbreakable polycarbonate lenses and come backed by a five-year LED warranty.

The Model 49 lamp is available with coloured or clear lens in the form of triple tail, stop and rear direction; triple tail, stop, reverse and rear direction; or twin tail, stop and rear direction. It’s available at automotive outlets nationwide. T&D

The new Model 49 combination rear lamp Truck & Driver | 91

Designed for New Zealand roads Whatever you are carrying we’ve got you covered.

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Waharoa’s Laurent Contractors has put this new DAF XF105 Super Space Cab livestock unit to work. It has a 510hp PACCAR MX engine, an 18-speed Roadranger manual transmission and Meritor 46-160 rear axles on Airglide suspension. Extras include a fridge, heated driver’s seat, a microwave oven, night heater, light bar and Alcoa Dura Bright alloy wheels. The 8x4 and its fiveaxle Domett trailer are fitted with Nationwide crates.

Record slips away A

LAST-MINUTE SLOWDOWN SAW THE NEW Zealand new truck market just fall short of notching-up its best-ever year of sales in 2018.

In the end the overall market (trucks with a GVM above 4.5 tonnes) ran to 5164 trucks – just 45 less than 2017’s 5209 alltime record.

An up and down second half of the year saw a downturn in new truck registrations in August and September, then a bounceback – with recordbreaking sales in October (449) and November (470).

At the end of November, with a month of registrations still to come, sales for the year stood at 4884 – 88 ahead of the same point in 2017.

And then a slump to the worst December sales level since 2012, with just 280 new trucks registered, put paid to the chance of a new annual benchmark. It turned out to be the market’s worst month of 2018.

The trailer market also saw a December slowdown…but a new annual record was already guaranteed – 2017’s previous-best full year performance, with 1577 trailers registered, having already been surpassed by the end of November (which saw 150 regos for the month).

Although the 106 December trailer registrations amounted to the lowest since 2013, it pushed the 2018 total out to 1714 – an 8.6% improvement on the year-old record.

In the November/December close to the overall truck market’s year,

longtime No. 1 Isuzu increased its 2018 lead, its 235 registrations pushing its total sales for the year (trucks above a 4.5t GVM) to 1197, with a 23.2% share. Its 143 regos in November was its best month all year.

Fuso finished 2018 in second place, with 93 for the final two months and 829 for the year – still well ahead of Hino, which registered 104 in the final two months, for a 2018 total of 707.

Behind them came Mercedes-Benz (387/66), Kenworth (310/38), DAF (279/32), Volvo (274/26) and a big-finishing UD (271/45). Iveco (252/41) also finished strongly, well ahead of Scania (167/10), MAN (113/11), Freightliner (74/13), Mack (65/5), Foton (53/9) and Sinotruk (37/9).

Fiat dominated the 3.5-4.5t segment, with 112 regos in the closing months to take its 2018 total to 429 – remarkably quadrupling the sales of its nearest rival, Mercedes-Benz (106/12), with LDV (28/14) third.

Fuso (364/32) held on to stay at the top of the 4.5-7.5t GVM class despite a big finish from Isuzu (320/83). Mercedes-Benz (240/25) was third for the year, followed by Hino (139/20) and Iveco (126/28).

In the 7.5-15t segment, Isuzu (448/90) extended its runaway hold on the No. 1 spot, ahead of Fuso (201/25) and Hino (193/26). Well behind were UD (60/8), Iveco (30/4) and Foton (14/1).

In the 15-20.5t division, Hino (79/14), was the clear market leader, ahead of (continued on page 97) UD (57/11), Fuso (46/4) and Isuzu (32/2).

Truck & Driver | 93

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VT Transport has added this new Hino 500 crane truck to its operation, based in South Auckland. The 6x4 has a Palfinger 15500 crane and extras including Alcoa alloy wheels and a deck built by its own engineering shop.

23,001kg-max GVM 2018

4501kg-max GVM 2018 Brand ISUZU FUSO HINO MERCEDES-BENZ KENWORTH DAF VOLVO UD IVECO SCANIA MAN FREIGHTLINER MACK FOTON SINOTRUK FIAT HYUNDAI INTERNATIONAL RAM WESTERN STAR RENAULT OTHER Total

Vol 1197 829 707 387 310 279 274 271 252 167 113 74 65 53 37 35 24 24 23 22 1 20 5164

% 23.2 16.1 13.7 7.5 6.0 5.4 5.3 5.2 4.9 3.2 2.2 1.4 1.3 1.0 0.7 0.7 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.0 0.4 100.0

Nov/Dec Vol % 235 31.3 93 12.4 104 13.9 66 8.8 38 5.1 32 4.3 26 3.5 45 6.0 41 5.5 10 1.3 11 1.5 13 1.7 5 0.7 9 1.2 9 1.2 2 0.3 3 0.4 3 0.4 0 0.0 1 0.1 0 0.0 4 0.5 750 100.0

3501-4500kg GVM 2018 Brand FIAT MERCEDES-BENZ LDV CHEVROLET FORD PEUGEOT RENAULT TOYOTA VOLKSWAGEN IVECO OTHER Total

Vol 429 106 28 21 20 19 15 12 9 9 2 670

% 64.0 15.8 4.2 3.1 3.0 2.8 2.2 1.8 1.3 1.3 0.3 100.0

Nov/Dec Vol % 112 72.7 12 7.8 14 9.1 4 2.6 2 1.3 1 0.6 4 2.6 2 1.3 1 0.6 2 1.3 0 0.0 154 100.0

4501-7500kg GVM 2018 Brand FUSO ISUZU MERCEDES-BENZ HINO IVECO FOTON FIAT RAM HYUNDAI VOLKSWAGEN JAC RENAULT Total 94 | Truck & Driver

Vol 364 320 240 139 126 39 35 23 15 3 2 1 1307

% 27.9 24.5 18.4 10.6 9.6 3.0 2.7 1.8 1.1 0.2 0.2 0.1 100.0

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Nov/Dec Vol % 32 15.8 83 41.1 25 12.4 20 9.9 28 13.9 8 4.0 2 1.0 0 0.0 2 1.0 2 1.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 202 100.0

“The trailer market also saw a December slowdown…”

7501-15,000kg GVM 2018 Brand ISUZU FUSO HINO UD IVECO FOTON MAN HYUNDAI MERCEDES-BENZ DAF SINOTRUK OTHER Total

Vol 448 201 193 60 30 14 11 9 8 3 1 7 981

% 45.7 20.5 19.7 6.1 3.1 1.4 1.1 0.9 0.8 0.3 0.1 0.3 100.0

Nov/Dec Vol % 90 56.6 25 15.7 26 16.4 8 5.0 4 2.5 1 0.6 2 1.3 1 0.6 2 1.3 0 0.0 0 0.0 1 0.0 159 100.0

15,001-20,500kg GVM 2018 Brand HINO UD FUSO ISUZU IVECO SCANIA MERCEDES-BENZ MAN SINOTRUK DAF CAMC Total

Vol 79 57 46 32 24 20 18 9 4 3 2 294

% 26.5 19.1 15.4 10.7 8.2 6.7 6.0 3.0 1.3 1.0 0.7 100.0

Nov/Dec Vol % 14 33.3 11 26.2 4 9.5 2 0.0 4 13.6 4 0.0 3 7.1 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 42 100.0

20,501-23,000kg GVM 2018 Brand HINO UD ISUZU FUSO DAF MAN VOLVO MERCEDES-BENZ Total

Vol 39 11 5 4 1 1 1 1 63

% 61.9 17.5 7.9 6.3 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.6 100.0

Nov/Dec Vol % 9 90.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 1 10.0 0 0.0 10 100.0

Brand ISUZU KENWORTH VOLVO DAF HINO FUSO SCANIA UD MERCEDES-BENZ MAN FREIGHTLINER IVECO MACK SINOTRUK INTERNATIONAL WESTERN STAR OTHER Total

Vol 392 310 273 272 257 214 147 143 120 92 74 72 65 32 24 22 6 2515

% 15.6 12.3 10.9 10.8 10.2 8.5 5.8 5.7 4.8 3.7 2.9 2.9 2.6 1.3 1.0 0.9 0.2 100.0

Nov/Dec Vol % 60 17.8 38 11.3 25 7.4 32 9.5 35 10.4 32 9.5 6 1.8 26 7.7 36 10.7 9 2.7 13 3.9 6 1.8 5 1.5 9 2.7 3 0.9 1 0.30 1 0.30 337 100.0

Trailers 2018 Brand Vol PATCHELL 210 FRUEHAUF 160 MTE 138 ROADMASTER 117 DOMETT 115 TMC 94 TRANSPORT TRAILERS 89 MAXICUBE 64 FREIGHTER 61 TRANSFLEET 60 JACKSON 55 FAIRFAX 46 TES 39 KRAFT 31 EVANS 29 CWS 23 MILLS-TUI 23 HAMMAR 22 LUSK 17 CHIEFTAIN 13 MAKARANUI 13 HTS 12 TIDD 11 ADAMS & CURRIE 10 MTT 9 SEC 9 FELDBINDER 8 TEO 8 COWAN 8 WHITE 8 MORGAN 7 PTE 7 KOROMIKO 7 TANKER 6 TRINITY 6 GLASGOW 6 DOUGLAS 6 BELL 6 GUY NORRIS 5 LOWES 5 NICKEL 5 SDC 5 OTHER 141 Total 1714

% 12.3 9.3 8.1 6.8 6.7 5.5 5.2 3.7 3.6 3.5 3.2 2.7 2.3 1.8 1.7 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.0 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 8.2 100.0

Nov/Dec Vol % 22 8.6 22 8.6 24 9.4 21 8.2 12 4.7 14 5.5 18 7.0 5 2.0 16 6.3 8 3.1 8 3.1 6 2.3 6 2.3 7 2.7 3 1.2 3 1.2 5 2.0 3 1.2 4 1.6 0 0.0 1 0.4 2 0.8 0 0.0 1 0.4 0 0.0 4 1.6 0 0.0 1 0.4 2 0.8 2 0.8 1 0.4 1 0.4 2 0.8 0 0.0 0 0.0 1 0.4 2 0.8 2 0.8 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 2 0.8 25 9.8 256 100.0

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This new MAN TGS35.540 8x4 tractor unit has been put to work by Waiotahi Transport, towing a fouraxle semi-trailer to cart waste from Whakatane to Paeroa twice a day. It has a 540hp D26 engine, a TipMatic AMT and MAN hypoid rear axles.

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(continued from page 93) Next came Iveco (24/4), Scania (20/4) and Mercedes-Benz (18/3).

In the tiny 20.5-23t segment, only leader Hino (39/9) and seventhplaced Volvo (1/1) registered a truck in the last two months of the year.

In the premier 23t-maximum GVM class, Isuzu mirrored its No. 1 status in the overall market with a clear lead – its 60 regos in the final two months taking its 2018 total to 392.

Second for the year (and the month) was Kenworth (310/38), followed by a scrapping Volvo (273/25) and DAF (272/32). Hino (257/35) was fifth, ahead of Fuso (214/32), Scania (147/6), UD (143/26), MercedesBenz (120/36) and MAN (92/9).

In the overall market, in 2018 Isuzu lost both volume and market share compared to the previous two years – and its registrations dropped to an average of “only” 99.75 per month…whereas that figure was at 105.16 in 2017 and 101.5 in 2016, points out market analyst Robin Yates, whose Marketing Hand consultancy prepares this report for NZ Truck & Driver, based on NZ Transport Agency statistics.

But, regardless of those comparative negatives, Isuzu continued its standout streak as the biggest-selling make on the NZ market….for the 18th consecutive year!

Fuso couldn’t maintain the same volume of sales nor the market share of its remarkable 2017 comeback year, but still easily held onto second place in 2018.

Hino, Mercedes-Benz, Kenworth and DAF – filling out the top six

– all improved both market share and sales volumes….with Kenworth improving from 9th in 2017 to 5th last year.

Volvo lost both share and volume, but still ended up 7th, ahead of improvers UD, Iveco and Scania. MAN, 11th, also lost share and volume, but the next four – Freightliner, Mack, Foton and Sinotruk all gained both.

In the 23t-max GVM segment, market leader Isuzu gained volume but lost share, second-placed Kenworth made gains in both (and moved up from 4th to 2nd at the expense of Volvo and DAF), while third-placed Volvo lost both share and volume.

Fourth to sixth-placed DAF, Hino and Fuso (in that order) each gained share and registered more trucks. Freightliner (up one place to 11th) and Mack (holding 13th) lost share but improved volume. Scania, MAN, Iveco, International and Western Star lost both share and volume.

In the record-setting trailer market, Patchell was No. 1 in 2018 for the ninth straight year, while also becoming the first manufacturer to exceed 200 units in a single year with its 210 registrations (22 of them in the last two months). Last year’s sales beat its own previous record – 186 registrations, set in 2017 – by 12.9%.

Fruehauf came second (again) with 160 registrations (22 in November/ December), followed by MTE (138/24), Roadmaster (117/21), Domett (115/12) and TMC (94/14). Transport Trailers (89/18) was 7th, ahead of MaxiCUBE (64/5), Freighter (61/16) and Transfleet (60/8). T&D Truck & Driver | 97

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Five-year comparison – overall market (4501kg-max GVM) Brand

2017

2018

2016

2015

2014

Volume 1197 829 707 387 310 279 274 271 252 167 113 74 65 53

% 23.18 16.05 13.69 7.49 6.00 5.40 5.31 5.25 4.88 3.23 2.19 1.43 1.26 1.03

Volume 1262 955 661 331 229 253 294 267 246 168 161 70 62 13

% 24.23 18.33 12.69 6.35 4.40 4.86 5.64 5.13 4.72 3.23 3.09 1.34 1.19 0.25

Volume 1218 414 639 171 153 198 203 247 184 131 137 87 55

% 29.96 10.18 15.72 4.21 3.76 4.87 4.99 6.07 4.53 3.22 3.37 2.14 1.35

Volume 1071 680 659 220 184 201 228 261 113 159 150 117 73

% 24.90 15.81 15.32 5.11 4.28 4.67 5.30 6.07 2.63 3.70 3.49 2.72 1.70

Volume 856 677 733 233 177 189 252 262 122 154 240 162 63

% 19.33 15.29 16.55 5.26 4.00 4.27 5.69 5.92 2.76 3.48 5.42 3.66 1.42

18

0.44

18

0.42

55

1.24

SINOTRUK FIAT

37 35

0.72 0.68

31 37

0.60 0.71

5 28

0.12 29

19

HYUNDAI

24

0.46

32

0.61

49

INTERNATIONAL RAM

24 23

0.46 0.45

25 50

0.48 0.96

21 29

0.71

WESTERN STAR VOLKSWAGEN JAC

22 3 2

0.43 0.06

25 8

0.48 0.15

1

0.04 0.02

24 14 4

1

0.02

15

0.29

1 27

0.02 0.52

ISUZU FUSO HINO MERCEDES-BENZ KENWORTH DAF VOLVO UD IVECO SCANIA MAN FREIGHTLINER MACK FOTON

RENAULT CATERPILLAR OTHERS Total

5164

5209

0.69 1.21

17

0.67 0.40

21

0.43 0.47

0.52

20

0.46

26

0.59

0.59 0.34 0.10

33 5 3

0.77 0.12 0.07

42 77 5

0.95 1.74 0.11

5

0.12

30

0.70

20

0.45

14 18

0.34 0.44

8 23

0.19 0.53

26 17

0.59 0.38

4066

4302

Increased share from 2017

4428

No change in share from 2017

Lost share from 2017

Five-year comparison – 23,001kg - max GVM 2017

2018

2016

2015

2014

ISUZU KENWORTH VOLVO DAF HINO FUSO SCANIA UD MERCEDES-BENZ MAN FREIGHTLINER IVECO MACK SINOTRUK

Volume 392 310 273 272 257 214 147 143 120 92 74 72 65 32

% 15.59 12.33 10.85 10.82 10.22 8.51 5.84 5.69 4.77 3.66 2.94 2.86 2.58 1.27

Volume 365 229 292 241 202 187 152 94 85 124 69 78 62 25

% 16.17 10.15 12.94 10.68 8.95 8.29 6.73 4.16 3.77 5.49 3.06 3.46 2.75 1.11

Volume 340 153 202 189 196 98 115 99 50 103 87 50 55 5

% 18.86 8.49 11.20 10.48 10.87 5.44 6.38 5.49 2.77 5.71 4.83 2.77 3.05 0.28

Volume 329 183 228 197 213 135 141 115 75 121 116 39 73

% 15.94 8.87 11.05 9.54 10.32 6.54 6.83 5.57 3.63 5.86 5.62 1.89 3.54

Volume 234 177 250 175 301 215 139 131 88 152 160 37 63

% 10.44 7.90 11.16 7.81 13.43 9.59 6.20 5.85 3.93 6.78 7.14 1.65 2.81

INTERNATIONAL WESTERN STAR CATERPILLAR

24 22 0

0.95 0.87 0.00

25 23 1

1.11 1.02 0.04

20 24 14

1.11 1.33 0.78

20 33 8

0.97 1.60 0.39

26 42 26

1.16 1.87 1.16

0 6 2515

0.00 0.24

0 3 2257

0.00 0.13

3

0.17 0.00

28 10 2064

1.36 0.48

18 7 2241

0.80 0.31

RENAULT OTHER Total 98 | Truck & Driver

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Hawke’s Bay operator Tomoana Warehousing & Transport’s recent entry into logging has seen it put two new Mercedes-Benz Arocs units to work in the region. Luke Cooley drives this 3263 8x4, which has a 630hp engine in front of a Powershift AMT and M-B diffs. It tows a fiveaxle Patchell log trailer and has matching logging gear on the truck.

Mangatangi’s Fitzgerald Earthworks carts bulk loads around the northern Waikato with this new Volvo FM tipper. The 6x4 has a 500hp engine, I-Shift AMT and a steel Cambridge Welding bin.

Bond Earthworks has this new UD Trucks PK16-280 4x2 tipper in work around Christchurch. It has UD running gear – a 280hp engine, a six-speed transmission and diff – plus a Winter Engineering body. Photo Alix Houmard

Truck & Driver | 101

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Blue Ice Logistics now has this new Freightliner Coronado tractor unit shifting general freight countrywide, towing a refurbed six-axle Fruehauf B-train. The 34-inch sleeper cab 6x4 has a 560hp DD15 engine, an Eaton UltraShift AMT and Meritor 46-160 diffs on air suspension. Extras include a full leather interior, a fridge and a tv.

Hill Log Haulage in Taupo has added this new Mack Trident to its operation. The 8x4 has a 535hp Mack MP8 engine, an 18-speed Roadranger manual gearbox and Meritor 46-160 diffs, plus a central tyre inflation system, onboard scales, toolboxes built into the steps, stainless precleaner covers and offset front rims. It has refurbed logging gear and works with a refreshed trailer.

102 | Truck & Driver

This new DAF FAT CF85 is the sixth example of the PACCAR make to join Waikato’s Te Akau Transport operation.

Longtime company driver Keith James has a 510hp PACCAR MX engine, an 18-speed Roadranger manual and 46-160 diffs. It has a Transport & General body and matching four-axle trailer.

Recently

Registered

www.trt.co.nz

McRobbie Brothers in Pokeno has this new Kenworth K200 Aerodyne tractor unit now in work. It has a 600-615hp Cummins X15 engine, an 18-speed Roadranger manual transmission and RT50-160 diffs with full crosslocks. Photo Cole Taylor

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TD28024

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Foodstuffs North Island contractors John and Janet Baillie from Auckland have put this new Volvo FH tractor unit to work, towing an existing Fairfax refrigerated semi trailer. Driver Mike Ruki Willison delivers chilled/frozen and fresh produce on a daily run to the Waikato and King Country in the 6x4, which has a 540hp 13-litre engine, an I-Shift AMT and rear air suspension.

5

104 | Truck & Driver

This new BCB Contracting Kenworth T409SAR 28-inch IT sleeper is now running general freight between Christchurch and Dunedin for Mainfreight. The 6x4 tractor has a 600hp Cummins X15 engine, an 18-speed Roadranger manual transmission and Meritor RT46-160GP diffs on Airglide 460 suspension. Extra fabrication and setup work was done by HDPS Engineering.

AP21327

Nelson-based Harte Distribution has put this new MAN TGX 35.540 8x4 BL to work on its contract for TSI (Transport South Island), carting milk and other food products between Christchurch and Nelson seven days a week. It has a 540hp engine, a TipMatic AMT and HYD-1370 diffs on air suspension. It tows a four-axle refrigerated trailer.

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RECRUITMENT TRUCK & DRIVER

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(A DIVISION OF TRUCK SMASH REPARIS)

AUCKLAND’S JOSAM TRUCK CHASSIS STRAIGHTENING SYSTEM

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106 | Truck & Driver

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108 | Truck & Driver

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OPOTIKI TRANSPORT CO. It all started with the Opotiki flood of 1918 when farmer S.S Brewster lost his farm and started suppling fire wood in Opotiki to provide an income for himself. Starting out with a horse and cart then as motor vehicles became available he purchased one and started the Opotiki Transport story.

For just $40-00 plus postage and handling $7-00

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TD28770

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110 | Truck & Driver

TD28502

For your copy contact: Paper Plus Opotiki, PO Box 37, Opotiki Ph 07 315 6263 Fax 07 315 7133 Email opotiki@paperplus.co.nz

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REGISTER ONLINE NOW:

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IF MEMBERS OF YOUR CREW ARE NOT MEMBERS OF A CLUB AFFILIATED TO NZ SPORT FISHING INCORPORATED A TOURNAMENT MEMBERSHIP OF $25 PER ANGLER IS REQUIRED. PLEASE TICK BOX IF TOURNAMENT MEMBERSHIP REQUIRED FOR ANGLERS.

TOURNAMENT MEMBERSHIPS REQUIRED No: __________________ @ $25, TOTAL: $ _________________ (Tick Box Alongside Anglers Name) $125 PER ANGLER, No: ___________________________________________ TOTAL: $ _________________ GUEST ENTRY (non anglers) $50 each, No: ___________________________

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NON-REFUNDABLE 25% DEPOSIT with entry to Tournament. Balance payable no later than Wednesday night briefing. Cheques payable to: Truckers & Loggers Fishing Tournament.

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TD28908

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LOUIE AND HIS HARD CASE BUGGERS Well known forester and hunter Lance Duncan retired from the forestry industry then sat down and wrote a book. It’s the tale of his life and is full of yarns from many years of working in forestry and hunting and those people he met along the way.

Its full of humour, our proof reader was in stitches when she worked on this manuscript. It hasn’t been sterilised it’s written as Lance tells it and anybody who knows him will know you will get it straight.

If you are easily offended then it’s probably not for you.

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Get your copy now, for a great read and some real entertaining yarns.

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I t t Post PO Box 112062 Penrose, Auckland 1642

Ph 09 571 3544 Fax 09 571 3549

•

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ORDER FORM: LOUIE AND HIS HARD CASE BUGGERS $50 INCL GST & POSTAGE (NZ PRICE) *OVERSEAS PURCHASES-POSTAGE PRICING WILL DIFFER, PLEASE CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION

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AP27602

ADDRESS: CARD HOLDER NAME:

S

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Transport Transport Transport Repairs Repairs Repairs Ltd Ltd Ltd are are are the the the authorised authorised authorised Parts Parts Parts &&Service &Service Service Distributor Distributor Distributor for for for Bigfoot Bigfoot Bigfoot Equipment Equipment Equipment Ltd Ltd Ltd from from from Canterbury Canterbury Canterbury tototo Southland Southland Southland

With With WithaaaBigfoot Bigfoot Bigfoot onboard onboard onboardyou’ll you’ll you’ll monster monster monsterany any any surface surface surface

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Drivers Drivers Drivers allall over all over the over the world the world world choose choose choose thethe BIGFOOT the BIGFOOT BIGFOOT CENTRAL CENTRAL CENTRAL TYRE TYRE TYRE INFLATION INFLATION INFLATION SYSTEM SYSTEM SYSTEM so so they so they can they can match can match match thethe tyre the tyre pressure tyre pressure pressure to to theto thethe speed speed speed andand the and the weight the weight weight of of theof the vehicle the vehicle vehicle onon any on any road any road road surface surface surface - at- at- at thethe touch the touch touch of of a button. of a button. a button.

ForFor over For over 25 over 25 years 25 years years thethe Bigfoot the Bigfoot Bigfoot system system system hashashas proven proven proven itself itself itself over over millions over millions millions of of miles of miles miles covered covered covered in in allin all corners all corners corners of of theof thethe globe globe globe andand isand the is the isfirst the first choice first choice choice forfor operators for operators operators who who demand who demand demand accuracy, accuracy, accuracy, endurance endurance endurance andand ease and ease ease of of use. of use. use.

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Enter your fleet colour scheme in the PPG Transport Imaging Awards: Just fill out this entry form (or a photocopy of it) and send it into New Zealand Truck & Driver.

Be in with a chance to win in the annual PPG Transport Imaging Awards.

Contact name name & position in company: ________________________________________________________________ Location:

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Phone numbers: __________________________________________________________________________________________

TD16163

Fleet or company name:___________________________________________________________________________________

Please send a selection of photos of one particular truck in your fleet colours. It’s desirable (but not compulsory) to also send shots of other trucks that show off the colours. Make sure your images are supplied as large format files taken on a fine setting on a digital camera. The files must be at least 3MB. All entries become the property of Allied Publications Ltd. All entries property of AlliedIMAGING Publications Send yourbecome entry tothe PPG TRANSPORT A Ltd. S AWARD Send your entry to: PPG TRANSPORT IMAGING AWARDS 1642 or email to waynemunro@xtra.co.nz Allied Publications Ltd PO Box 112062 Penrose Auckland Allied Publications Ltd, PO Box 112062, Penrose, Auckland 1642, or email to waynemunro@xtra.co.nz (Remember do not reduce size of images to transmit by email, send two at a time on separate emails if large files.)

(Do not reduce the size of images to send them by email – send large files one or two at a time in separate emails if necessary).

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Trans West

transformations

T’S A TRUCKING OPERATION THAT’S BEEN AROUND ON the Coast for 60 years. It’s just that it’s had a handful of different owners, three different colour schemes….and two different names in that time.

Trans West Freighters started out in Greymouth in 1958, the name first registered by Peter Gurr and Barry Hurley, its trucks bearing a cream and brown livery.

The name stayed the same for around four decades…with a colour scheme that was also little changed – with a red stripe added and the cream sometimes supplemented (or replaced) with white.

By 1986, TWF’s West Coast owners were sharing the company with Nelson-based TNL and Northern Southland Transport – each group with a 33% shareholding.

But a year after the Transpac collapse in 1987 (which involved TNL), TWF became 100% owned by Northern Southland – and started a period of rapid growth.

The fleet numbers jumped from a handful of trucks in ’86, to 28 just two years later…and 42 by 1995 – many of them Mercedes-Benz models.

In this period, TWF became renowned in the industry for its innovative ways of dealing with a difficult environment – like stock units with crates designed precisely to just fit under a heap of low-clearance bridges….

And, most famously, its practice of running B-train freight units across Arthurs Pass, beating the 13-metre length restrictions on the Otira Gorge zig-zag by having the tractor unit drop off the rear trailer, tackling the Gorge, parking the front trailer...

Then doubling back and picking up the rear trailer, returning…and then re-assembling the B-train. Eventually, TWF even got to the point of leaving a tractor unit at one end of the restricted route to save unhooking the B-train tractor.

Even with the to-ing and fro-ing it saved 68kms or so each way, compared to running via the Lewis Pass.

2 | Truck & Driver

Then, around the start of the new millennium, the fleet was rebranded – the TWF name and colour scheme disappearing, its trucks instead taking on the Northern Southland Transport name and its brown and cream livery.

Then, seven years ago, the Trans West Freighters name made a comeback, albeit with a brand-new colour scheme – blue and white base colours, separated by a red stripe.

It’s a radical departure from its historic colours – so how come? Simple: In the wake of Northern Southland’s West Coast freight business being sold to Toll New Zealand, its Canterbury/ Westland livestock and bulk operations were also sold – to Methven-based Philip Wareing Ltd, which has blue and white base colours…with gold stripes.

Thus, says PWL’s Mark Wareing, it achieved two things – a distinctly different look and branding to the colours of former owner Northern Southland…and the return of an important name in the Coast’s history.

It’s this colour scheme, which currently adorns seven trucks, that earns Trans West Freighters the status as this month’s finalist in the PPG Transport Imaging Awards.

It’s a livery that’s shown off to great effect on TWF’s two latest additions – a pair of identical Kenworth K200 Aerodyne HPMV livestock units, powered by 615-horsepower Cummins X15 engines and driven by Dylan Pupich and Mike Johnson.

The colour scheme, which also currently features on two DAF CF85 tippers and three Mercedes-Benz Actros units – two on livestock and one tipper – was something of a no-brainer in terms of its base colours, according to Mark Wareing.

“It was easy deciding on the Wareings blue to cover up the Northern Southland brown.” And the red stripe served two purposes – in that it’s a nice nod back to the red stripe on the old brown and cream TWF colour scheme….

“And we wanted it to break the white and the blue up a bit.”

He reckons jokingly that the colour scheme was decided “in

TRANSPORT IMAGING AWARDS

Clockwise from below: The blue and white Trans West colour scheme echoes that of the Philip Wareing Ltd fleet – except they have gold stripes....the old brown, cream and red TWF livery featured for decades – on a fleet that was heavily Merc oriented. This was in 2000...... one of the two new Kenworth K200s shows off the current colour scheme to good effect.... in the early 2000s the Trans West colour scheme was dropped, in favour of the branding of its Northern Southland parent company..... the current TWF livery has slight variations to best suit different makes and models, including its three Mercedes-Benz Actros units.

Poster photo – Bill Irwin

a family argument one day – the ‘board meeting’ we have every morning and every night.”

In terms of the look of the trucks – as distinct from the actual colours used – “we didn’t want to make it a million miles away from where it currently was. So people still recognised the phone number and the drivers. And the brand.”

They were at pains to ensure that the Trans West Freighters and TWF signwriting looks very similar to the company’s original branding.

So, as Wareing says: “The old name’s come back – hopefully stronger than it ever was.” Although the branding is the same, technically the company name IS slightly different – it’s now Trans West Freighters (2011) Ltd. There was some discussion initially about having the trucks showing off “a bit more silver.”

That was dropped – but Mark for one is delighted with how the new Kenworths bring some “bling,” in the form of their alloy wheels and bumpers, stainless steel mesh grilles and chrome grille surrounds: “They really do stand out.”

Timaru Signs came up with the graphics for the most recent trucks added – the DAFs and the Kenworths. That includes

subtle differences to the detailed livery – retaining the red shadow under the TWF logo on the front of the Kenworth Aerodyne sleeper cabs…

But simplifying the front-of-cab branding to Trans West – dropping the ‘Freighters’ – and adding a pale blue shadow.

There’s also red and white pin-striping around the headlights and the bottom of the cab and a new treatment of the Trans West Freighters signwriting on the doors.

Where the company Mercs saw the white drop down to keep the ‘Trans West Freighters’ signwriting all on a white background, the red stripe now runs straight – with ‘Trans West’ on the white and ‘Freighters’ on the blue.

Wareing says that PWL’s signwriting used to be done inhouse, “but it got too big for us – so we took it outside.

“They usually do a couple of mockups and my brother, me and my father sit around and say ‘we’ll change that....we’ll have this’ and do whatever.”

Public and customer response to the latest form of this historic Greymouth-based operation’s branding has been good, says Mark Wareing: “A lot of West Coasters like the TWF brand – and they like the colour scheme.” T&D

Truck & Driver | 3

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TD28865

PPG Industries New Zealand Pty Ltd, 5 Vestey Drive, Mt Wellington, Auckland. Call 0800 4 PPG CT (0800 4 774 28)

Web: www.ppgfleetpool.co.nz