NZ Truck & Driver December 2020

NZ TRUCK & DRIVER

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| December 2020/January 2021

December 2020/ January 2021 $8.50 incl. GST

BIG TEST A test of two halves | FLEET FOCUS Passion projects | FEATURE Complex....but simple

FLEET FOCUS

Passion projects

FEATURE

Complex... but simple

A test of

Issue 241

two halves

The Official Magazine of the

ISSN 2703-6278

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CONTENTS

Issue 241 – December 2020/January 2021

2

Aeolus News

The latest in the world of transport, including….

Isuzu and Volvo alliance finalised – with UD sold to Isuzu; nationwide truck crash repair network planned; six new Mobil Delvac 1 Hall of Famers inducted – including NZ Truck & Driver founder Trevor Woolston

22 Giti Tyres Big Test

Central Equipment Movers’ new Kenworth T909 heavy-haulage tractor unit leads a double life – and we get to experience its classic “game of two halves” lifestyle first-hand

39 Transport Forum

Latest news from the Road Transport Forum NZ, including…..the new Government has a big job ahead of it; Rollover Prevention Programme is rolling on; new Forum chair Greg Pert has an optimistic outlook

50 Teletrac Navman Fleet Focus

Ghosts of the past are all around the Oratia yard of R&R Malam – a place where, five generations ago, the family involvement in transport began…with a horse and cart. And where Richie Malam’s childhood passion for Kenworths, sparked by the like of Barry Butterworth’s black W924AR, lives on in a growing number of KWs

FEATURES

REGULARS

66 Southpac Trucks Legends

79 Truck Shop

An ever-evolving, empowering culture that founder Andrew Carpenter began 28 years ago...and what his TR Group gives back to the industry, makes him a Southpac Trucks Legend

New products and services for the road transport industry

80/ PPG Transport Imaging Awards 81 Recognising NZ’s best-looking truck fleets….

68 A helluva tough trailer test!

A full-scale crash test to prove the load security of a trailer, seems totally over the top….until you realise that it’s a prototype of a trailer that will transport America’s nuclear weapons and other nuclear loads

81 Complex…but simple

Publisher

Trevor Woolston 027 492 5600 trevor@trucker.co.nz

Advertising

Trevor Woolston 027 492 5600 trevor@trucker.co.nz Hayden Woolston 027 448 8768 hayden@trucker.co.nz

EDITORIAL Editor

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

Editorial office Phone

PO Box 48 074 AUCKLAND 09 826 0494

Associate Editor

Brian Cowan

CONTRIBUTORS

New truck and trailer registrations for October

93 NZ Heavy Haulage Association

All operators who carry overweight loads need to stay up to date with the legal requirements of BESS – Bridge Engineering Self Supervision

87 Castrol Truck Driver Hero

Christchurch truckie Morgan MacAllister-Robb has won the hearts and admiration of a growing group of dog-lovers in recent months – by helping get dozens of homeless animals from rescue centres to “their new humans.” Yep, in his Kenworth

95 National Road Carriers Association

The recent cannabis legalisation referendum has provided a timely reminder for operators to make sure their drug and alcohol policies are fit for purpose

91 AI to “transform” driver market

Gerald Shacklock Dave McLeod Olivia Beauchamp

ART DEPARTMENT Design & Production Luca Bempensante

Zarko Mihic EQUIPMENT GUIDE AUCKLAND, NORTHLAND, BOP, WAIKATO, CENTRAL NORTH ISLAND Advertising Trudy Woolston

027 233 0090

trudy@trucker.co.nz AUCKLAND, LOWER NORTH ISLAND, SOUTH ISLAND Advertising Hayden Woolston

99 Vertex Lubricants Recently Registered COLUMNS

FUSO NZ boss Kurtis Andrews reckons his company’s latest challenge is both “incredibly complex….yet incredibly simple”

Artificial intelligence is being employed in a new app bringing together drivers looking for jobs… and operators with work, looking for drivers

MANAGEMENT

including a giant pullout poster of this month’s finalist

027 448 8768 hayden@trucker.co.nz Dion Rout 027 491 1110 dion@trucker.co.nz

97 Road Transport Association NZ

ADMINISTRATION Sue Woolston MANAGER accounts@trucker.co.nz SUBSCRIPTIONS

NZ subscription price

ADDRESS Phone Freephone Postal Address Street Address Web

Sue Woolston accounts@trucker.co.nz $80 incl. GST for one year (11 issues) Overseas rates on application +64 9 571 3544 0508 TRUCKER (878 2537) PO Box 112 062, Penrose, AUCKLAND 172B Marua Road, Ellerslie, AUCKLAND www.alliedpublications.co.nz

Positive signs ahead – despite ongoing challenges

Contributions: Editorial contributions are welcomed for consideration, but no responsibility is accepted for lost or damaged materials (photographs, graphics, printed material etc).

To mail, ensure return (if required), material must be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope. It’s suggested that the editor is contacted by fax or email before submitting material.

Copyright: Articles in New Zealand Truck & Driver are copyright and may not be reproduced in any form – in whole or part – without permission of the publisher. Opinions expressed in the magazine are not necessarily the opinions of, or endorsed by, the publisher.

NZ Truck & Driver Magazine

PRINTING & DISTRIBUTION Printer Bluestar Retail Distribution Ovato Publication: New Zealand Truck & Driver is published monthly, except January,

by Allied Publications Ltd PO Box 112 062, Penrose, Auckland

Net circulation – ended 31/03/2019

11,360

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Truck & Driver | 1

NEWS

Isuzu, Volvo alliance (and UD sale) confirmed ISUZU IS NO LONGER THE LAST REMAINING MAJOR truck make not aligned to a global truckmaker supergroup – with confirmation of the strategic alliance with the Volvo Group announced almost a year ago.

Also confirmed, as part of the deal, is the Volvo Group’s sale of UD Trucks to Isuzu Motors for 243 billion Yen (equal to around $NZ3.4billion).

The announcement that the deal has been finalised came hard on the heels of rival TRATON agreeing terms to buy out Navistar International – giving it a long-sought strategic foothold in the huge North American market.

Volvo and Isuzu announced that they have signed binding agreements to form the strategic alliance (for a minimum of 20 years) “in order to capture the opportunities in the ongoing industry transformation.”

The two companies will form a technology partnership, intended to leverage their complementary areas of expertise “within both well-known and new technologies” and to create “a larger volume base to support investments for world-class technology.”

That partnership will see joint development, by Isuzu and UD, of common platforms for medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks for the Japanese and other Asian markets, “utilising, amongst others, Volvo Group technology.”

The alliance partners will also co-operate on new technologies such as autonomous driving, connectivity and medium and heavy-duty electric vehicles.

The Isuzu Motors buyout of UD will create “the best longterm conditions for a stronger heavy-duty truck business” for both makes in Japan and internationally, the alliance partners believe.

This will accelerate growth by leveraging greater volumes and complementary capabilities, creating significant synergies for Isuzu Motors: “As a first step, Isuzu Motors and UD Trucks are discussing the conditions for supply of certain truck variants from UD Trucks to Isuzu Motors from 2022 onwards.”

As UD transitions to its new ownership, “to secure smooth business continuation,” the Volvo Group will provide transitional services and components to UD Trucks.

The alliance will also explore “further opportunities for even broader and deeper collaboration within the commercial vehicle businesses across 2 | Truck & Driver

geographical areas and product lines for future urban logistics solutions.”

Volvo Group president and CEO Martin Lundstedt says he has “high expectations on this strategic alliance, which will make Volvo and Isuzu Motors even more competitive within their respective markets and segments.

This is an opportunity to share technology investments and also to help each other grow.

“I am confident that UD Trucks will become a bridge between the Volvo Group and Isuzu Motors and that the strategic alliance will create the conditions to continue to develop UD Trucks to a new level within Isuzu Motors.”

Isuzu Motors president and representative director Masanori Katayama says: “The difficult and unforeseeable COVID-19 situation has made the strategic alliance even more valuable and has built a solid, trustful relationship between Isuzu and the Volvo Group.

“This longterm partnership will span across products, technologies and regions, and actively contribute to service improvements and strengthened customer satisfaction, as well as supporting the logistics industry.” T&D

The UD Trucks make will continue under Isuzu ownership

NEWS

Above & below: Royans is a long-established Australian truck and trailer accident repair specialist, with an expanding network in Australia’s eastern states Right: Transvisual GM David White (left) with former owner Richard Ryan

NZ-wide crash repair chain planned

A CHAIN OF ONE-STOP-SHOP TRUCK AND TR AILER crash repair centres nationwide is planned for New Zealand – extending a grand plan already under way in Australia.

The trans-Tasman network is being created by Australia’s largest truck and trailer accident repair specialists, the Royan Group.

Royans has been in business in Australia’s eastern states for 75 years, specialising in truck and trailer accident repairs, panelbeating and spraypainting.

The current expansion drive began in Australia early in 2020, after private equity firm The Growth Fund took a controlling interest in Royans: In six months the group increased its Australian footprint from six repair centres to 10, with four more planned by year’s end.

Mid-year, its focus also turned to NZ – with the purchase in July of Auckland’s Transvisual truck refinishing centre.

That, says new Transvisual general manager David White, “was the first step.” Now, he adds, “we’re in the process of expanding this operation, while looking at new sites across the country.

“We feel confident that there’s a big gap in the marketplace. Insurers are writing jobs off because it’s actually easier than trying to get a unit repaired in about five different places, then re-assembled – and all done at the right price.”

The aim is to have a network of six or seven sizeable (around 5000 square metres) crash repair centres capable of working on trucks of all sizes, throughout the country….and soon.

Says White: “We hope to have it all done within the next 24 months… two to three years max…

“It’s bold, but we’re already quite a way down the track with looking at things like locations where we need to be, existing players, who’s in the marketplace.

“We’re thinking about if there’s someone we want to partner up with, do we want to acquire a business, or do we want to look at greenfields.

“So it’s not like ‘once we get this facility right, then we’ll step out.’ This is just part of the one big project.”

White, who was formerly a senior executive with PPG Industries NZ, says that there are some really good truck painters spread around the

country – also good panelbeaters, good fabricators…and two or three that do good chassis repair work. But, he adds, “there aren’t too many big facilities that do it all – certainly not a nationwide network of repair facilities that can share resources, people and information.”

White says “there used to be this thinking that if a chassis is bent it’s bent – and you either put in new chassis rails or throw it away. Actually, that’s not the case at all: If a rig has a bit of accident damage they can be straightened – as long as you know what you’re doing, you’ve got the right equipment, and experience.”

Transvisual’s current 4000 square metre site in Wiri is able to do everything from prep to complete resprays and graphics, but currently is limited to handling light to medium-duty truck crash repair work – outsourcing repairs on heavy-duty vehicles.

However, White says that the company has now secured another 2000 square metre facility nearby where heavy-duty vehicle repairs (including structural work) will be carried out.

The intention is that the Auckland facility will become “a one-stop shop for accident repairs.”

And, given the planned network, he adds: “Soon, if you own a fleet and you’ve got a unit that comes off (the road) in Kaikohe we can look after it… or if you’ve got a unit that comes off in Christchurch, we’ll be able to look after it there too.” T&D

Truck & Driver | 3

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NEWS

This year’s inductees (or their representatives) – from left: Inductee Jim Black’s son Aaron, Anita Dynes, Graham Sheldrake, Trevor Woolston, Sir Jack Newman’s great-granddaughter Sarah Newman-Hollis and his grandson Nigel Newman-Hollis, and Warwick Wilshier NEW ZEALAND TRUCK & DRIVER founder and publisher Trevor Woolston is one of six new inductees into the Mobil Delvac 1 NZ Road Transport Hall of Fame.

Woolston was honoured alongside the HoF’s first woman inductee, Otago transport operator Anita Dynes; prominent log transport industry leaders Warwick Wilshier and Graham Sheldrake; tyre industry veteran Jim Black; and the late Sir Jack Newman – longtime head of the pioneering Newman Bros transport operation and founder of Transport Nelson (TNL).

The inductees were welcomed into the HoF at the annual gala dinner at the Bill Richardson Transport World in Invercargill in mid-November.

The 64-year-old Woolston has actually started two magazines that cover the road transport industry, first launching NZ Trucking (in 1985)…

And then, having sold that in 1995, he returned to publishing four years later with NZ Truck & Driver.

Woolston pays tribute to wife and business partner Sue, and to his family (two of whom also work in the business): “I’m proud of the team I have around me.

We’ve been together a long time. It’s not a one-man job.

Sue deserves a lot of credit.”

His story, he says, is another example “of the strong part that family plays in the transport industry.”

Anita Dynes is credited as having been a crucial part of the development of Dynes Transport, alongside husband Jim. HoF co-founder and HW Richardson Group director Jocelyn O’Donnell said: “There is no worthier woman to be the first recognised as a Hall of Fame inductee than Anita Dynes.

“The transport industry has long been a maledominated field, but the contribution made by many women has been absolutely vital in growing and

New Famers honoured strengthening the NZ transport industry as a whole.”

The HoF citation says that over 50 years, until her retirement two years ago, “Anita’s strong work ethic, family values and tenacity have been crucial to the success of Dynes Transport…”

Sheldrake, who is on the HoF selection panel, was clearly gobsmacked by the announcement of his name as an inductee.

Since driving the formation of the Log Haulage Contractors Association in the 1980s, the now-retired Tokoroa transport operator has put huge time and energy into numerous key roles in industry organisations – including the presidency of NZRTA Region 2, the board of the RTF, the Transport & Logistics Industry Training Organisation and the Log Truck Safety Council.

Jim Black has been a key supplier to the industry through his co-ownership of Bandag tyre retread factories in Dunedin and Christchurch and eight Tyre General outlets around the South Island.

Warwick Wilshier is one of the industry’s most successful log transport operators – but in addition

has chaired the Log Transport Safety Council for two decades…leading the successful drive to improve logtruck safety with the Static Roll Threshold and campaigns including Share the Road and Fit for the Road and sleep apnoea testing.

His HoF citation says that he is “called upon daily for assistance from many people – from drivers to forest managers, to fellow carriers, to Transport Agency…. to Transport Forum.” His advice is “all given freely and honestly, in a warm and generous manner. Warwick has truly been a leader in his field.”

At the age of 28 Sir Jack Newman became MD of Newman Bros – the coach operation started in 1879 by his father and uncle. He built it into a business with a nationwide fleet of buses, campervans, rental cars and trucks….and also turned it onto a major player in NZ tourism.

He also founded TNL in 1938 with about 50 trucks.

By the time he retired in 1980 it was one of NZ’s biggest transportation and trucking companies, with 1500 vehicles. T&D

Below, from left to right: Trevor Woolston paid tribute to wife Sue....the late Sir Jack Newman...

Jim Black was unable to attend the awards celebration

Truck & Driver | 5

NEWS Powering to the top of Pikes Peak – on electric power

Symbolic, iconic, electric IN A SYMBOLIC SHOW OF THE POWER OF ELECTRIC trucks, Kenworth and Peterbilt etrucks have become the first heavy-duty zero emissions vehicles to drive to the summit of the 4302-metre-high Pikes Peak.

The battery electric Peterbilt Model 579EV and the fuel cell electric Kenworth T680 took to the renowned Pikes Peak hillclimb course on “America’s Mountain” in Colorado.

They had to negotiate 7-10% gradients, climbing through 156 tight turns and a 1432m elevation gain in 20 kilometres.

“Conquering Pikes Peak demonstrates PACCAR’s leadership in fuel cell and commercial vehicle electrification,” says Kyle Quinn, PACCAR chief technology officer.

Peterbilt GM and PACCAR vice president Jason Skoog says taking the

Model 579EV to the Pikes Peak summit “is an important milestone for Peterbilt and our entire lineup of battery electric commercial vehicles.”

It is also, he says, “further validation of all the real-world miles Peterbilt has accumulated across our entire EV test fleet and demonstrates we are ready to deliver production vehicles to our customers next year.”

The T680 FCEV has 470 horsepower/350 kilowatts and a 560km range, using a Toyota hydrogen fuel cell electric powertrain. The Model 579EV uses high-energy density, state-of-the-art battery packs that deliver a 240km range and can be recharged in three to four hours. It produces up to 670hp/499kW. The FCEVs are due to soon go to work at Los Angeles ports, while the BEV Pete is targeted at regional haul, port, metro pickup and delivery and last mile operations. T&D

KAT buys lower North Island businesses

KAT managing director Aaron Smith

FOLLOWING ON FROM KEITH Andrews Trucks’ appointment in October as the new Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner dealer in the lower North Island, it has bought out Wellington’s Diesel and Equipment Services and First Commercials in Palmerston North.

As a result of the acquisitions, since November 11 all Wellington Merc, Freightliner and FUSO sales, parts and service have been provided by KAT branches in Seaview and Porirua.

In Palmerston North, the First Commercials business will transition to KAT ownership at the end of January – with M-B and Freightliner parts and service support “provided in cooperation with FCL” until then.

KAT managing director Aaron Smith says the company is “very pleased to provide certainty to the transport community of the lower North 6 | Truck & Driver

Island. We realise the most important thing to operators is keeping your fleet moving and we are foremost committed to that.”

Both Diesel & Equipment and First Commercial have had long associations with the FUSO and Daimler Trucks brands and are already working with KAT to ensure that customers of the three makes “will enjoy the best possible sales, parts, service and support experience moving forward.

“We’re excited to now be working together in support of these fantastic brands, and for the future, as we join forces as new Keith Andrews dealerships in the lower North Island,” Smith adds.

“We are committed to providing the very highest standard of support that customers expect….” T&D

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NEWS

Biggest-ever Volvo range renewal VOLVO TRUCKS HAS RENEWED ITS ENTIRE Australian-built range – in what it says is its biggest-ever Australasian launch.

The new Volvo FM, FMX, FH and FH16 went on sale at the end of November – less than three weeks after they were revealed.

It is also “our safest, most productive and most efficient range of transport solutions,” says Volvo Trucks Australia vice president sales Tony O’Connell.

“This has been a massive project and we have invested heavily in our manufacturing capability to ensure that these trucks will be built at our Wacol, Queensland, production facility.”

The new FH will have the option of Euro 5 and Euro 6 emissions levels across the range, in both 13-litre and 16-litre engine variants and a range of horsepower options.

The FM features an all-new cab as well as Euro 5 and E6 options – with 11-litre and 13-litre engine choices.

Building on the current Euro 6 offerings in Classic Volvo FM11 and FM13 models, the entire range of models now come with options for Euro 6.

The new FM’s Euro 6 ratings include the 11-litre at 380hp, 430hp and 460hp. The 13-litre engines have 460hp and 500hp alternatives. And the previous range of Euro 5 engines, with 330-500hp options, are still on offer.

The FMX will also retain the option of a 540hp Euro 5 powerplant.

Added to the FH options are 13-litre Euro 6 engines – including the 500hp D13 turbo-compound engine – in addition to the 13-litre 540hp rating.

The FH16 has the existing Euro 5 range, with power ratings from 600700hp, plus Euro 6 alternatives at 550hp and 650hp.

Volvo says that the addition of the Australian I-Save package to the new FH “is set to create new levels of fuel efficiency and CO2 savings.”

The 500hp/2800Nm Euro 6 turbo-compound engine is included in the Australian I-Save package or, for long-haul operations, there’s also an FH package combining Australian I-Save, the new Euro 6 D13TC engine and the I-See cruise control system – which accesses centrally stored topographic data to optimise transmission performance and engine efficiency.

That package also includes I-Shift with a dash-mounted gear selector and economy transmission software, I-Cruise with I-Roll, an optimised 2.83 rear

axle ratio, fuel efficient energy tyres, engine idle shutdown and a variable displacement power steering pump.

O’Connell says that the new-generation Volvos have been “designed from the inside out with the driver in mind. We all know how hard it can be to attract drivers in this country. These trucks raise the bar in terms of comfort, performance and efficiency.”

On the FM and FMX, visibility has been improved by more than 10% – with similar lines to the FH cab, a larger windscreen, slimmer A-pillars, slimline mirrors and a lower door line.

To minimise blind spots a new passenger-corner camera activates when the left indicator is used – or it can be activated with the push of a button, so the driver can check the area when required. The camera image is displayed on the nine-inch dash mounted touchscreen display (which can handle input from up to eight cameras).

On the FH and FH16 models, LED headlights feature an adaptive high beam function which partially dips the high beam lights when the headlights or taillights of another vehicle (or even the lights of motorcycles or bikes) are detected ahead.

The new models offer adaptive cruise control down to 0km/h, hill descent control and EBS, with Volvo Dynamic Steering an option. T&D Visibility has been improved by over 10% on the FM (above) and FMX ((this picture)

Truck & Driver | 9

NEWS TRATON’s Navistar buyout is a done deal TRATON’S BID TO BECOME THE WORLD’S NO. 1 truckmaker took a major step forward in early November, with confirmation of its bid to complete the total buyout of America’s Navistar International Corporation.

The deal, worth $US1.7billion, gives TRATON the foothold in the lucrative North American market that it has been pursuing.

It already held a 16.7% stake in Navistar and since March 2017 has worked in a strategic alliance with the US company, which builds International trucks.

The alliance, it says, “has delivered significant value to both companies through increased purchasing scale and the integration of new technologies.”

This transaction builds on that success by combining TRATON’s strong position in Europe and substantial presence in South America with Navistar’s complementary footprint in North America to create a global company well-positioned to benefit from enhanced brand performance, increased innovation and industry-leading capabilities.

“Today’s announcement accelerates our Global Champion Strategy by expanding our reach across key truck markets worldwide, including scale and capabilities to deliver cutting-edge products, technologies and services to our customers,” says TRATON CEO Matthias Gründler.

“Together, we will have an enhanced ability to meet the demands of new regulations and rapidly developing technologies in connectivity, propulsion

k c u r T Your

and autonomous driving for customers around the world.

“Navistar has been a valuable partner and we are confident this combination will deliver compelling strategic and financial benefits, create enhanced opportunities for both Navistar and TRATON, and best position us to drive sustained value in the evolving global commercial vehicle industry.”

Navistar president and CEO Persio Lisboa says that the deal “builds upon our highly collaborative and successful strategic alliance and further enhances the growth trajectory of the combined company, while delivering immediate and substantial value to our shareholders.

“We look forward to continuing to work with the TRATON team to create opportunities for our employees and provide an outstanding experience for our customers and dealers through best-in-class products, services and technologies.”

Gunnar Kilian, member of the board of management of Volkswagen and responsible for its truck and bus division, says: “Volkswagen is TRATON’s biggest shareholder. The agreement is thus an important milestone for Volkswagen because it underpins our strong strategic commitment to continue driving growth also during the ongoing challenging economic climate. The acquisition of Navistar will significantly leverage TRATON’s positioning in North America, one of the biggest and most profitable markets for heavy trucks. Together, the companies can enhance scale and reach in key markets as well as create further synergies.” T&D

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NEWS

The deal delivers the International make to TRATON, giving it an already-established foothold in the huge North American market

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NEWS

FUEL CELL FRENZY, ELECTRIC EXCITEMENT Cummins, which has previously shown off this FCEV prototype, has now teamed up with Navistar to develop a heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell truck HYDROGEN FUEL CELL PIONEER Hyundai says it has won two huge orders with Chinese companies – to supply 4000 hydrogen trucks in the next four years.

It has signed a memorandum of understanding with three Shanghai-based energy companies to supply 3000 hydrogen FCEVs – setting up a “business cluster” to cover hydrogen production, charging infrastructure and truck sales and lease programmes.

Another MOU signed with two companies in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei economic zone, calls for the supply of another 1000 hydrogen trucks.

China is, as Hyundai Motor commercial vehicle business executive VP Lee In-Cheol says, “one of the hydrogen markets with the most potential.”

In July, the Korean truckmaker delivered the first 10 of its XCIENT FCEV trucks to Switzerland – the start of an order for 1600 trucks to be supplied in the next four years.

The Hyundai order is just one announcement in a seeming frenzy of fuel cell electric and batteryelectric truck news – with truckmaking archrivals Daimler Truck and Volvo Group reporting that they have now finalised their previouslyannounced JV to build fuel cells for use in heavyduty trucks…

And with enginemaking giant Cummins announcing that it’s teaming up with Navistar International to develop a heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell truck for the North American market.

Bosch says it will start production of hydrogen fuel cell powertrains between 2022 and 2023, focusing initially on trucks.

Rising superpower in the truckmaking world, TRATON, has signed a JV with Hino Motors to 12 | Truck & Driver

develop battery electric vehicles and FCEVs. And then there’s the news that Volvo Trucks will have electric versions of its complete heavyduty truck range ready for European orders by the end of 2021 – with volume production starting in 2022.

Remarkably, each of these FCEV and etruck announcements came within a one-month period – a telltale sign of the industry’s current excitement about zero emissions trucks.

The Cummins/Navistar project, which has won $US7million worth of US Government funding, will see a Cummins hydrogen fuel cell electric powertrain integrated into an International RH Series tractor unit.

Darren Gosbee, Navistar’s VP engineering, says: “Hydrogen offers great opportunity in the commercial vehicle sector….”

Cummins VP and new power president Amy Davis says the company is excited to work together with Navistar “to lower costs and make hydrogenpowered vehicles more accessible for fleets to adopt.”

Martin Daum, Daimler Truck chairman of the board of management, says that “the hydrogenbased fuel-cell is a key technology for enabling CO2-neutral transportation in the future.”

Volvo Group president and CEO Martin Lundstedt says: “In the future, the world will be powered by a combination of battery-electric and fuel-cell electric vehicles, along with other renewable fuels, to some extent. The formation of our fuel-cell joint venture is an important step in shaping a world we want to live in.”

Matthias Gründler – CEO at TRATON Group, says: “TRATON’s mission is to carefully

Unlikely bedfellows: Daimler Trucks chairman Martin Daum (left) and Volvo Group president and CEO Martin Lundstedt have forged a deal for the two truckmakers to work together to build fuel cells balance the interests of People, Planet and Performance. This new joint venture with our strong partner Hino is the next important step in electrification, pushing our mission further ahead.”

Gründler reiterated TRATON’s intention to invest 1 billion Euros on electrification in the next four years.

Volvo Trucks is now running tests of the electric heavy-duty Volvo FH, Volvo FM and Volvo FMX trucks to be launched in Europe – targeted at regional transport and urban construction operations. They have GCMs of up to 44 tonnes and offer a range of up to 300kms.

Volvo’s vision is to be selling heavy-duty batteryelectric and hydrogen FCEV trucks with a longer range – suitable for long-haul operations – in the second half of this decade. Its objective is for its entire product range to be fossil-free by 2040. T&D

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NEWS

Penske here for the long haul PENSKE’S PULLOUT FROM THE Australia Supercars Championship does NOT mean the United States-based giant is also bailing-out of its New Zealand and Australian new truck businesses, the Australasian arm of the group says.

Penske Australia & NZ has moved to snuff out any spinoff rumours along those lines in the wake of the US-based Team Penske’s departure from the Aussie V8 series and from its partnership with Dick Johnson Racing.

In a press release, Penske Australia & NZ president Randall Seymore reaffirms its longterm commitment to the NZ and Australian truck markets.

“Since Team Penske partnered with Dick Johnson to form DJR Team Penske several years ago, we have seen tremendous success on the track and in the boardroom.

“We thank DJR Team Penske for helping to make Penske and our brands household names, and we look forward to remaining Dick Johnson Racing’s biggest fans.”

Since establishing itself in Australasia in 2013, “Penske continues to invest heavily in its on-highway and off-highway operations, the statement says.

Penske Australia & NZ president Randall Seymore says the company is here to stay – longterm “Penske Australia & NZ remains dedicated to our customer base, our more than 1000 employees and our OEM partners,” says Seymore.

“The growth of our business and loyalty of our employees, even during these challenging times, has been extraordinary.

“Building on several significant wins recently

in key markets such as road transport, energy solutions, defence and mining, we foresee a standout year for the business in 2021.

“Our team at Penske Australia & NZ will continue to build on our customer partnerships in 2021 and beyond, providing them with world-class customer service, along with our portfolio of superior products.” T&D

Karin is new boss of Mercedes-Benz Trucks THE MALE-DOMINANT WORLD OF global truck company bosses has a new woman member – high-achieving Swede Karin Rådström taking over the management of Mercedes-Benz Trucks.

Rådström, who will take up her role as Daimler Truck’s board of management member responsible for M-B trucks on February 1, started as a trainee at Scania just 16 years ago.

Rådström graduated with a Master of Engineering in Industrial Management from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

Since 2007, she has held various managerial positions within Scania’s sales and service organisation including heading its bus and coach business and starting up its connected vehicle operation.

Most recently she has been responsible for sales and marketing at Scania as a member of its executive board.

She succeeds Stefan Buchner, who retired in October, as head of Mercedes-Benz Trucks. T&D Truck & Driver | 15

NEWS

Lowes grows

INCREASING DEMAND THAT has seen Christchurch dangerous goods tanker manufacturer Lowes Industries rapidly expanding – eventually spreading into five separate, adjoining buildings – has now seen it move into a new, purposebuilt home.

With double the factory floor space of its restrictive, inefficient old Woolston setup, the new 2200-square-metre factory – on a 6500 sq. m. site at Hillsborough – is intended to futureproof the business for foreseeable expansion.

The 65-year-old company, which makes the claim that it is “the top DG tanker manufacturer in New Zealand,” had been planning the expansion project for 10 years, managing director John Metcalf says.

Lowes did manage to stave off the move for some years by implementing a leanmanufacturing programme, which Metcalf says “paid huge dividends in improving productivity and throughput – allowing us to continue to grow in our existing properties.

“But, inevitably, it came time when the only way upwards was to look outwards. There is now plenty of room to grow into,” he confirms.

The factory floor accommodates 18 truck bays, two of them comprising a dedicated and certified DG tanker servicing area, in which loaded tankers can be worked on safely.

The yard space is five or six times bigger than the combined exterior room of the former Lowes facilities – now with two covered DG-certified wash bays included. The new building also has a two-storey admin facility.

“But of greater importance to us is that it is one consolidated, built-for-purpose work area – where everything can be planned and carried out without constantly having to move between different smaller workshops,” says Metcalf.

“We also have two gantry cranes which run the 16 | Truck & Driver

full length of the building, whereas previously we had crawl beams over each work bay and had to make do with hoists at each bay.

“It was very labour-intensive in the old facility and we are expecting to see a considerable lift in productivity in the new premises.”

To gear up for the larger premises, Lowes had been hiring more staff for about 18 months prior to the shift, giving itself “enough time to upskill them.” In that time it took on 14 new workshop personnel and an additional design engineer, boosting staff strength to 38.

The expansion is already delivering the opportunity to explore new products, Metcalf says: It is building two milktankers for assessment

by Fonterra.

“This is a first for us and is only really possible because of the additional space we now enjoy.

We also have a number of other projects we’re working on…”

The Hillsborough site is a “perfect” location – close to the Mobil fuel terminal, the Liquigas

LPG terminal, a container storage terminal and many of Lowes’ customers’ bases.

Metcalf says that in addition to being the South Island’s only DG road tanker builder, Lowes is a service agent for Palfinger and Hiab truck cranes and for Hammar and Patchell sideloaders, “as well as tail-lifts, hook-lifts and other similar equipment.”

He says that over the 13 years he has owned Lowes, “we have gone through the GFC, earthquakes and now COVID, which individually have each had a significant impact on us.

“Despite this we have always come back strong and have grown at a very healthy pace. We turned over $1.3million a year when we bought the business and had it not been for COVID we would have been looking at finishing up with around $9m in 2020. We are still aiming to hit $10m either in 2021 or the year after.”

COVID-19 cut its 2020 tanker builds back from the 22 projected to around 15 (10 trailers, five rigids). T&D

Top & below: Lowes’ new, purposebuilt HQ integrates its entire operation into one building... which includes 18 work bays

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NEWS

South Island Port User Working Group chair Jonathan Ward (left) and Lyttelton Port Company GM, container operations Simon Munt, shake on the agreement

Port and users group agree to work together A LYTTELTON PORT USERS GROUP THAT INCLUDES transport operators responsible for 90% of the port’s road freight movements has signed a “milestone” agreement with the port to work together.

South Island Port User Working Group chairman Jonathan Ward says the group’s focus is “to promote the key values of health and safety, productivity, chain of responsibility and compliance between all South Island port companies and their users.”

The group, formed in late 2019, comprises port users from throughout the South Island and has the backing of the Road Transport Forum, Road Transport Association New Zealand, National Road Carriers and the NZ Trucking Association.

“Forming the working group was seen as a way for road transport and other industries to develop a stronger and more positive relationship with the port,” says Ward.

The signing of a memorandum of understanding by the group and the Lyttelton Port Company, says Ward, “shows there is a willingness from both

parties to work together, and this is a positive step in the right direction.

“For the economy to grow and recover it is important that the whole supply chain is working effectively together.”

Lyttelton Port Company GM, container operations, Simon Munt, says the aim of the agreement is to focus on prioritising issues of concern affecting South Island road freight operators and other industries who use port facilities.

“We’re committed to supporting road freight operators, while continuing to provide service delivery to the Canterbury supply chain.

“LPC is the gateway for the goods that keep both Canterbury and the South Island moving – our relationship with road freight operators is a part of that.”

Working group membership has initially been focused on container transport operators and exporters, but it believes that other port user groups such as shipping companies and transport operators dealing with bulk, logs and vehicle freight in and out of the port will also join the group. T&D

CablePrice adds Detroit in the South Island CABLEPRICE HAS ADDED another piece of the Daimler Trucks lineup to its South Island offering – with the announcement that it has become an authorised service dealer for Detroit on-highway engines across four dealer locations in the Mainland.

The deal, which sees the company providing full Detroit parts, service and warranty support at its Christchurch, Timaru, Greymouth and Invercargill operations, follows on from CablePrice’s recent confirmation as the South Island sales and service dealer for Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner and FUSO. CablePrice deputy MD Aidan Mahony says

that with the company’s “long history of servicing and supporting the transport and heavy diesel industries in the South Island,” the addition of Detroit is “a natural extension that complements” the recent dealership appointments involving the three Daimler Trucks makes.

In addition to having “a team of parts and service technicians on the ground, Detroit customers will also benefit from access to CablePrice’s 24/7 call centre for additional support and increased service options,” Mahony adds.

“We are excited about this agreement with Detroit. They have a great reputation and produce an excellent range of engines that complement

our existing commercial vehicle lineup.

“This new agreement will see CablePrice providing South Island customers with increased local aftersales support, along with the knowledge that they’re well backed by an industry-leading team,” says Mahony Penske Australia and New Zealand general manager technical services Sean McLean says: “Detroit is excited to commence a new partnership with CablePrice. We are confident that CablePrice and its customers across the South Island will reap the benefits that Detroit provides, including the new DD13 and DD16 engines in the Freightliner Cascadia range.” T&D Truck & Driver | 19

NEWS

The Auckland Freight Plan aims to address complaints that the transport network has “forgotten” about the movement of freight

Auckland plan for smarter, smoother, cleaner freight movement A NEW, STILL EVOLVING, PLAN TO make freight movement in Auckland smarter, more efficient and more climate-compatible has been launched.

Working with the freight industry, Auckland Transport (AT) has created Delivering the Goods – the Auckland Freight Plan (AFP).

The aim is to “shape AT’s relationship with the freight industry” …...and to “address challenges faced by freight as a mode in the region.”

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff acknowledges that “the freight industry plays a critical role in our economy. Council, industry and consumers all benefit from the efficient movement of goods across the region, and collaborating helps us ensure that we can achieve this outcome.

“From an environmental point of view, effective and efficient freight movement also helps us reduce carbon emissions and the impact of global warming.”

AT chief executive Shane Ellison, says that “freight plays a critical role in our economy – a role that will be even more important as we recover from COVID-19. The plan helps the industry target climate-compatible development, while ensuring effective movement of freight within the region.”

Ellison says feedback from the freight industry is that the transport network isn’t facilitating the 20 | Truck & Driver

efficient movement of freight within the region – that it’s “perceived as the ‘forgotten mode.’ ” The plan was developed during 2019 after AT developed the Freight Reference Group (FRG) and Freight Working Group (FWG), with representatives from the freight and transport sectors.

The AFP will feed into Auckland’s Future Connect – a 30-year integrated network plan for the region, currently being developed.

Jenny Chetwynd, AT’s executive GM of planning and investment and FRG chair, says the plan represents AT’s enthusiasm to work collaboratively and drive change: “We have heard the industry loud and clear. Freight is a critical mode for the Auckland region. During the COVID-19 crisis this was very evident, as the supply chain worked tirelessly to keep supermarkets and healthcare facilities stocked.

“AT will use Delivering the Goods to ensure that the role of freight is recognised and reinforced in all the work we do.”

Jason Heather, of the National Road Carriers Association and the FRG, says the freight industry is very pleased to have been involved in this project since its inception: “Having that knowledge at hand has helped AT fully understand the dynamics of operating heavy fleet in a complex environment.

“Auckland is a rapidly growing city, so naturally the demand for freight and services has grown at the same pace, but has had to do it on an outdated network. The new AFP will address this need. The fact that it will evolve as our industry does is a welcome addition.” T&D

Scania service dealership change SCANIA NEW ZEALAND SAYS that Blenheim independent service dealer Vent Ltd “will no longer be an authorised Scania dealer.”

Scania managing director Mattias Lundholm says the company “will be making a further announcement very soon to provide our upper South Island customers with more information and timelines.”

He says Scania’s renowned quality customer service remains its top priority and points out that Scania recently acquired seven Trucks & Trailers service centres around the country, which boosted its network to 29 dealerships and trebled its employee numbers to over 190. T&D

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A test of

Story Dave McLeod Photos Gerald Shacklock

New Zealand’s first mid-roof 36-inch sleeper Kenworth T909 and its three rows of eight MTE transporter is at around 57.5 tonnes all-up as it winds its way out of Boston Forest, near Pureora, with a 30t grapple loader

22 | Truck & Driver

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Truck & Driver | 23

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Central Equipment Movers’ Taumarunui-based Kenworth lives a double life – doing a real mix of off-highway and main road work

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HIS GITI BIG TEST IS LIKE ONE OF THOSE FOOTY matches that live up to the good old cliché – that it’s a game of two halves.

Which is fair enough, because that’s exactly the sort of life that our test truck leads.

New Zealand’s first Kenworth T909 with a 36-inch midroof sleeper cab is a Taumarunui-based heavy-haulage tractor unit – devoted to shifting heavy machinery (mostly forestry loaders, haulers and the like) around the King Country and, more widely, around the central North Island.

It involves a real mix of on-highway and off-highway operation. So, typically enough, today’s test first saw the Central Equipment Movers unit deliver a secondhand heavy log-loader from a yard in Taupo…to a logging crew working on a farm woodlot near Otorohanga. Almost all strictly main road running – “a cream run,” as driver Kyle Gibbs describes it.

Then, as if the much-experienced heavy haulage driver Gibbs has saved the best till last (but actually, it’s because he was hoping that this morning’s rain would have cleared-up by now), here we are in a pine forest to the west of the Pureora Forest Park, not far northeast of Waimiha.

Now, it’s not very far – a mere 26 kilometres or so – from this skidsite in Boston Forest, to Benneydale, where Kyle has to deliver the 30-tonne Hyundai grapple loader he’s picking up.

But around 17k of that is on Pukemako Road – a tight, twisty and vertically testing forestry road.

And that makes it a decent test, for sure, of the new, purposebuilt Kenworth 6x4 tractor unit and its three rows of eight Modern Transport Engineers low-loader.

Kyle and pilot Taylor James soon have the Hyundai 250 loaded and secured and Kyle starts the journey with the heavy-duty Eaton Fuller

RTLO22918B (2250 lb ft/3050Nm-rated) 18-speed Roadranger in 1st low as we pull away from the skid-site.

He’s not bothering to upshift, happy to have the combination crawl along for the immediate, reasonably tight turn that demands that he use all the available road to get around.

Straight after that we’re into a downhill with a sharp left-hander.

There’s no need for the Cummins X15 engine’s two-stage engine brake though: Kyle has the T909 at walking pace….5km/h. There’s a tree stump on the inside of the corner’s apex. Kyle uses the pushbutton control to adjust his mirror to keep an eye on it.

Once we’re past that obstacle, Kyle upshifts…but only up to 3rd high.

On the engine brake’s strongest setting he starts down a hill to a bridge – doing 15km/h with the X15 revving at 1500rpm.

The 15-litre Cummins has the 600-615 horsepower rating (that’s 447-458 kilowatts in metric speak), delivered at 1800 revs. Its 2050 lb ft/2779 Newton metres of peak torque is on tap at 1200rpm.

As the descent eases a bit Kyle upshifts into 4th low, at 20km/h and 1800rpm. We approach the bridge and he lifts off so we slow as he lines us up. We’re at 3.5 metres overall (the trailer’s been widened to 3.3m, but the machine has around 100mm overhang each side) and as we approach the bridge, he puts it into 1st high and listens to pilot Taylor’s guidance as we cross.

Says Kyle: “It’s nice to have another set of eyes and you’ve got to know you can trust him – that exactly what he’s telling you is exactly what’s happening. If he’s telling you there’s another foot out on the left, I can’t see that – I’ve got to know he’s right and I’m not gonna clip the bridge.”

Heading for a small uphill, Kyle picks up speed and gears till he’s got the Roadranger in 4th high, the Cummins at 1700rpm, at 25km/h.

“You could maybe….come up a gear faster, but then quite often you’ve got to back off for a corner like that, and the trailer will suck a lot Truck & Driver | 25

of power out of the truck as it’s pulled around the corner.

“There’s a lot of tyres you’re trying to drag across and turn. You don’t want to be grabbing a gear halfway around a corner.”

The road’s drier than Kyle thought it might be, but there’s still plenty of corrugations and potholes. The road’s narrow too – narrow enough to necessitate pulling over where possible to let oncoming trucks go by.

We get up to 30k, in 5th high – but not for long: A super-tight hairpin bend looms up: “We don’t really want them any tighter than this,” says Kyle.

“This is really hard on trailer tyres…. and this one is particularly bad because it dips in the centre there.”

He sums it up, decides to take it in 3rd high, but then at the last moment, decides to go down one more, explaining: “You have to back

26 | Truck & Driver

right off and let the momentum work.”

We go around at 6km/h, the Cummins almost idling at 1100rpm. And then we’re straight into a reasonably steep hill. We start up it in 4th high, at 1900 and 30k but when the revs drop to just under 1500 he downshifts a full gear – so now we hold at 20km/h, climbing through a corner, with the Cummins revving at 2000. Kyle’s working on the basis that we’ll be able to stay in this gear to the crest – and he’s right: The revs slowly ease to 1700, at 17km/h.

For the steep downhill that follows, he puts the Roadranger into 2nd high, letting the engine revs rise a bit: “We may have to use the service brake – can’t let it run out too much and gain speed because I know we’ve got a sharp right at the bottom. If it was a straight ahead we’d normally pop it up a gear and then another one.”

All pictures: The impressive-looking unit – below seen en route from Taupo to Otorohanga, delivering a 32-tonne logging grapple loader – is a hard worker, but isn’t short of the fancy stuff. Its First Edition name acknowledges that it’s Central Equipment Movers’ first brand-new Kenworth, its first unit based in Taumarunui...and the first 36inch mid-roof sleeper T909 in the country

After stopping to let a ute go past, Kyle pulls away in 1st high: “We’ll probably only get to 2nd, because it’s such a sharp right hander ahead.” At 1900rpm and 13km/h, he stays out wide to get the trailer around: “The problem with that is it’s not as hard-packed on the outside of the corner, so you can get a bit of wheelspin.” As it happens, we don’t.

Just in case though he has – as usual off-highway – switched the traction control system off, because it “will kick-in if it gets too much wheelspin and it will drop the throttle as a response – and that can be quite off-putting.

And sometimes it causes a bit of a problem.”

He shifts up to 4th low and then takes a split, looking ahead to the next uphill looming up: “We can grab a whole

gear but it won’t hold it.” We end up at the top of the low range – doing 28km/h at 2000rpm.

As the revs drop to 1500 Kyle downshifts a half-gear – taking it back again a little further up when the revs climb back up to 2000. He stays in 4th high to the crest, even though the engine fan kicks in and takes a bit of the guts out of it.

Now we move up a half gear into the high range for a slight downhill run at 33k. Our pace isn’t dictated only by the hills and the corners: “Some of the condition of the road determines the speed too,” Kyle points out. Taking a run at the uphills, for instance, isn’t an option – not without risking hammering the gear.

Truck & Driver | 27

Everything bar the ramps on the MTE low-loader can be controlled from a handheld remote. The trailer has been widened to 3.3 metres

On a fairly flat to gently undulating stretch he gets up to 6th low, our speed around 50km/h. That’s nice and comfortable on a road like this, Kyle confirms – “plus it’s less harsh on the trailer.” In fact, if not for the potholes, he’d have a little more speed on.

Another climb through some S bends drops us back to 5th high, initially maintaining 35k at 1650rpm. With the crest looming he’s happy to let the Cummins lug down a bit more than usual, down to 1400.

It’s the same on the next climb – Kyle this time letting the revs drop to 1300 just as we make it to the top.

Just as Kyle saved the toughest part of our test till last, this forest road saves its steepest pinch till last – not far short of us getting back to tarmac of the Mangakino-Benneydale road.

For this climb Kyle prepares by slowing, so he can downshift two whole gears from 5th low. As he explains, it’s easier on the driveline to grab it now, rather than trying to change halfway up the hill.

The revs rise towards 1900 and we’re at 15km/h. On a really steep pinch the fan kicks in and the revs drop to 1500….but recover to 1700.

Kyle says maybe he’ll have to grab another gear…..but at the critical moment, as the revs drop to just under 1500…they then start to pick up again.

Says Kyle: “Anything lower would have been too low and any higher we’d have lost the momentum. Anytime you don’t have to crack the torque on a hill for a gearchange, the better your momentum.”

The drive out from the skid-site has been, he says, a reasonably typical taste of the off-highway running the T909 is doing all the time.

If it’d been wet a couple of corners might have been a bit harder to get around, traction-wise.

There’s also the fact that the weight balance of the load and the combination is a tradeoff between the perfect positioning of the big log-loader for optimal handling and traction off-highway and the need to keep the Kenworth’s axle loadings legal for the highway – thus, in this case, necessitating positioning the Hyundai a little way back.

Talking of balance – our experience with the on-highway side of the heavy-haul T909’s daily existence started early today, back at Central 28 | Truck & Driver

Equipment Movers’ Taumarunui satellite yard.

There’s a fair bit of déjà vu about this test: NZ Truck & Driver met Kyle in Taumarunui early one morning 13 years ago – to test the brand-new Kenworth T908 tractor unit he was driving for Jilesen Contractors….the first of its kind in the country.

That Kenworth, with a 625hp/466kW C15 CAT ACERT engine, boasted (just like his new 2020 drive) 2050 lb ft/2779Nm of peak torque, ran a RTLO22918B Roadranger and towed a three rows of eight transporter…. also the same as this. And, of course, Kyle was using it to shift heavy machinery around the King Country and surrounding regions…just as he is now.

There’s a lot that’s the same (or similar)…and a helluva lot that’s different as well: At the time of our T908 test, Kyle had been with Jilesens for 11 years – first driving an R Model Mack and Mitsubishi tippers, then doing about eight years of low-loader work, with a 450hp CH Mack.

After about five years on the T908, “I decided that I had to get out and try something else” – namely heading to Western Australia to drive iron ore roadtrains for a couple of years. At that time the quad-trailer combinations were the biggest road-registered vehicles in Aussie, he says – running at 170 tonnes all-up, with 120t of ore. The unit ran 24/ seven, doubleshifted – clocking-up 9000kms a week.

“I lived the dream, as they say,” Kyle jokes: “I loved it and hated it in equal measures, because my family stayed here in NZ and I would do six weeks in and two weeks home. But it was a really awesome experience – an adventure that I really needed to do and will never regret. I learnt a lot and the conditions there are so extreme. I loved it but it was a hard lifestyle.”

Back home he decided to satisfy a couple of hankerings – doing flatdeck work….and running inter-island. He got both behind the wheel of a Freight Lines T404 Kenworth, doing general freight nationwide: “I got to tarp a lot of loads and stuff like that which is rare these days…. went everywhere from Whangarei to Invercargill…. It was cool.”

His planned two years of that – “to get inter-island work out of my

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system” – was cut short when longtime friend Colin (Scania) James offered him a return to transporter work with Central Equipment Movers.

The family business, set up by Scania and wife Deb in 2005 and now with sons Matthew and Taylor both involved – Matthew driving a 250-tonne-rated Kenworth C508 and Taylor now a qualified overdimension load pilot (who is, in fact, leading the way today) – was keen on basing a transporter in Taumarunui (Kyle’s longtime hometown) to meet a growing demand tied to increasing logging activity in the King Country.

So, four and a half years ago, Kyle started with Central Equipment Movers, driving a T404SAR Kenworth, with a four rows of four selfwidening low loader. When that trailer couldn’t handle the increasing number of bigger jobs that were coming up, especially off-highway, a four rows of eight transporter was rented – and this new T909 and its new MTE low-loader were built.

Our day with Kyle and the year-old Kenworth starts out in pretty miserable weather – but the transport run across to Taupo is straightforward and provides a good opportunity to chat with Kyle en route.

So I climb up the T909’s three well-spaced steps and settle in as we head off – the RT busy with pilot Taylor regularly relaying helpful info on what lies immediately ahead.

Kyle reckons that the choice of this truck was a bit of a team effort – but for him it was a complete no-brainer: “I’m one-eyed me. There’s a lot of other brands I like – and I love a good truck, doesn’t matter what it is. But me personally – for this job there was only one choice for me: Kenworth.”

Kyle says that they did look at other trucks though, including a European cabover “that would have been a beautiful truck – but it’s not

for me. Some of those Euro trucks can be quite isolated from what’s going on, because those cabs just ride so beautifully.

“I think you’ve got to feel it through your feet, the steering wheel and the seat. I like a traditional style of truck with a big hood on it too, twin exhausts, some chrome and a truck that looks, sounds and feels like a truck.”

Once the Kenworth was decided on (the James already owned the C508 and Kyle’s T404SAR, as well as a Western Star) the family and Kyle sat down with Southpac Trucks salesman Adam McIntosh and brainstormed the specs.

“Everyone had an opinion of what’s good and what’s bad – we threw them all in the hat with Adam and he steered us in the direction of what, engineering wise, suits Kenworth.”

That’s how they arrived at the 36-inch mid-roof sleeper – suggested

by McIntosh to provide a bit more working space and storage. This one is a NZ first, so it’s cab format that isn’t well known, but there was general agreement that it was “not a bad idea: It’s got plenty of room in it and you’ve got the benefit of the outside storage lockers to store your gear, hard hats and wet weather gear.”

The mid-roof version was a must, simply because anything taller just isn’t practical for Central Equipment Movers’ line of work: “Sometimes we’ve got to do haulers with a pole – off-highway. If the hauler’s sticking out over the front of the truck, with the ropes and everything, it just doesn’t lend itself to doing that. And there was no real need for it – we don’t sleep in the trucks as such.”

The Kenworth’s rated to a 140-tonne GCM – but with the three rows of eight transporter its biggest payloads on-highway top out at 40-odd tonnes, and that’s only on very specific routes. It can take heavier loads with the addition of a dollie.

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There’s a lot of the traditional inside the T909, including its old-school dash, Roadranger stick shift and pintucked crimson vinyl trim, but also has touches of modernity, including steering wheel-mounted controls – for the engine brake, cruise control and a high-beam flash

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Truck & Driver | 31

Off-highway though, Kyle says, “it’s pretty common” for the trailer alone to shift a 50t log processor or even a 60t log hauler. Given the combination’s 27.5t tare weight (16t for the trailer, 11.5t for the Kenworth), that’s an impressive 77.5-87.5t all-up running weight.

Deciding on the driveline was a matter of sticking to the tried and true: “We already knew what running gear works – the same as our 13year old Western Star. It’s a pretty common setup.”

Engine-wise the Cummins X15 was the only option (not that he’s complaining) and the heavy-duty 18-speed Roadranger is a “tried and tested” heavy-haulage standard.

Kyle reckons he’s quite pleased with the X15’s performance: “It goes well and it’s still early days – it’s only got 80,000km on it, so it’s starting to come right now.”

He says though that the Cummins did take a little while to get used to: “You’ve got to keep it high up in that rev range – they have a real hollow spot if you let them die down too much. Sometimes you’ll drop a gear and it won’t pull itself up again. That took a bit of getting used to.”

He concedes that in the past he may have been a bit of a lazy driver – letting an engine lug down quite low in the revs. So that had to change: “With this one, as long as you keep it in that good range – above that 1600 revs mark – it’s great.

“If you’re gonna drop a gear on a hill you want those revs to be coming back in above that 1500-1600 mark.

32 | Truck & Driver

“If it comes in under that, it feels like there’s nobody home. It’s caught me out a number of times and I’ve ended up dropping two gears to try and get it back.”

Kyle is very much a Roadranger fan – because, he explains: “They’re either in gear or they’re not – no false neutrals or anything like that. It’s up to you. It’s direct off the box….you know what’s going on.”

Not that he believes a manual is essential for this work: “There are trucks out there that are doing this with automated transmissions, but if you’re going to use them it would have to be a proper, fully automated transmission. Those automated manuals are not the chop for this type of work. I’ve driven them before on highway trucks… “ In fact, he points out, Central Equipment Movers’ Western Star had its original AMT swapped for a manual: “Too many problems with it – with gear selection. And there’s one thing an automatic transmission can never do – doesn’t matter how good it is – and that’s see what’s in front of you in the bush.

“It can’t pre-empt what’s going to happen in another 100 metres. You can drive them in manual and bypass all of that but what’s the point then? Might as well just have a manual.”

The 2250 lb ft/3050Nm-rated EZY Pedal Advantage 3 VCT+ is, in his opinion, a really nice, light clutch – but there was a teething issue with it: “Early on, I could feel a vibration through the floor and when it went for its first service they worked out that it was the revised clutch linkage.

Clockwise, from opposite page, top left: Taylor James is Central Equipment Movers’ pilot....Taylor and Kyle get the 30t machine onto the low-loader... just short of the log loader’s destination, pilot Taylor has spotted a low telephone line...Kyle Gibbs is in his happy place – shifting big loads in a new Kenworth...the 600-615hp Cummins called for some adjustment in Kyle’s driving style....the combination is at close on 60t all-up....the hydraulic suspension has been lowered so the trailer sits on the ground during loading....now Kyle raises the low-loader, ready to head off

There wasn’t enough sideways movement to allow for the bounce in the cab and the twist in the chassis under load – it was taking up all the slack in the linkage and therefore holding pressure in the clutch….. making it come out of adjustment.” Southpac Rotorua put in a new linkage and it seems to be good now, he says.

The Kenworth cruises along with the Cummins at 1600rpm at 86km/h in top gear, which Kyle says “is bang on the money: If we had any higher diff ratio it’d be too low in the rev range and you’re up and down the gear lever all day.”

When it came to the ratios for the Dana Spicer D52-190 heavy duty (23.6t-rated) diffs “we more or less just duplicated the diff ratios that we had in the previous truck – but they were a little bit lower – 4.72s I think they are (whereas this has 4.78s).

“You find that even when we’re loaded, because of that gearing range it’s still pulling nicely – even in top gear. It’s in the nice part of the power range.”

Fuel economy, of course, is not something heavy-haulage operators can afford to worry about: “You can’t do what we do and have exceptional fuel economy.” All Kyle knows is that he can usually run about four weeks on a tank of AdBlue.

Retardation-wise, Kyle says that Cummins’ two-stage engine brake is “a good package – it works. You can fit aftermarket hydraulic retarders if you really want to but we don’t really see the need for it.”

He does have a gripe though about the engine brake controller: “Normally it’s on a stalk on the column and you flick it on and off, up and down for the stages. But they’ve changed it to the steering wheel buttons and it’s hard to find when you’re turning the wheel – it’s not in a fixed position. For me personally it’s a bit of an issue, I would have preferred it to stay on a stalk or on a button on the dash.”

The Kenworth’s extra heavy duty Neway AD246/10 rear air suspension and the taper-leaf springs on the Dana Spicer D2000F heavy-duty, 7.3-tonne front axle are, in Kyle’s judgment, “fantastic. That’s why we chose to stay with the Neway air suspension – because it just gives such a better ride. Traction-wise it’s good, even though we don’t have anything like central tyre inflation to help off-highway. It’s a real niceriding truck – the 5400mm wheelbase I think is bang on…not too long, nor short (which tends to kick back a little bit). I can’t fault it.”

The suspension is completed by the air suspension under the cab and by the ISRI 6860/870 Pro air suspension seat, which Kyle says, has got “a good seating position and infinite choices: Sometimes you might raise the seat up a little bit – say when you’re going through a tricky bit and you want to see over the bonnet.” It’s duplicated for the passenger.

According to Kyle, “you get a lot more steering feedback on a truck like this than say a European. But having said that, this is way over and above similar trucks I’ve driven – it’s got a real nice, light feel to it. It’s very relaxed.”

Truck & Driver | 33

All pictures, from left to right: Wide steps on the fuel tank are aided by good grabhandles each side....another load delivered....the Kenworth heads towards Mangakino, alongside Lake Whakamaru

The cab is spacious and well laid out – traditionally Kenworth with diamond pleat, button-tufted crimson vinyl trim…and yet there’s also a modern feel to it. Kyle likes a clean and tidy working space: “I’m a bit anal about that. You’re getting in and out of the truck all day, with mud and everything – it can become a really untidy place really quickly, so I take off my shoes outside. This is my workspace, so I like it uncluttered.”

The steering wheel comes with buttons for the cruise control, a high beam flash and the engine brake. All the major switches and controls are now on the dash – within arm’s reach.

Kyle likes the new screen that came with the EROAD electronic RUC recorder and nav system: “I find it handy with its little reminders. It keeps you in check. Plus it tells you what road you’re on and speed zones....”

The two-piece windscreen option was chosen for this truck – partly, says Kyle, because it’s a really traditional look: “It’s how the old-style Kenworths were.” But it’s also practical: “If you get a stone chip on one side you don’t have to replace the entire screen.”

The mirror setup has the large oblong one above and a smaller, round, convex wide-angle below. Kyle reckons they’re really good as they’re heated and powered – the latter a must: “If you’ve got a wider load on, you can quickly flick the mirrors out to see what you need.

Backing the trailer off the road into an entrance-way or turning around in the bush, you can lose sight of your trailer, so they’re super handy. There will always be a few blind spots in a truck like this but that’s something you get used to.”

There’s no overhead offside mirror, because a lot of the time the unit’s working with a pilot and, as Kyle says, the pilot will “know what you’re trying to achieve. They’ll hop out of the ute and guide you onto tight bridges or into tight places. The extra set of eyes really helps.”

Kyle’s pride in “his” new rig is abundantly clear – his Kenworth love shines through: “I know guys who have got some high-horsepower Scanias, for instance, that are doing his work and they love them – and they would be a beautiful truck.

“But me personally – it’s hard not to buy into the Kenworth thing when you’ve bought a new one and gone through the whole Southpac experience. You sit down with a guy like Adam (McIntosh) that knows his stuff, you ask him something and he always has an answer for it – and it’s on the money. You ask him about diff ratios and he’ll tell you what this truck over here’s got in it, and he’ll say this worked well and this 34 | Truck & Driver

not so well.”

Kyle loves that in one sitting you can completely spec the truck: “You choose your wheelbase, you choose your diff, your gearbox, your front axle, what type of rims, the dash layout, the interior colour, the mirrors, the intakes….whatever.

“You tell them what you want and they build it for you, within reason.

This is my truck – there’s not one exactly the same as this anywhere.

Similar but not exact.”

He likes the fact that “it’s got a presence on the road” – so much so that he gets plenty of comments from other drivers and members of the public alike.

Mind you, he does confess that one look-good feature – the big, flat, polished alloy front bumper is a bit low for some of the places it gets into.

Nevertheless, he’s adamant that a truck is a workhorse – and “it’s still got to be practical.” And the T909 is: “It does everything we want it to do and it does it with ease. Having driven quite a few Kenworths and quite a few bonneted trucks, this is the standout of them all. They’ve evolved, they’re a bit nicer, a bit quieter, a bit smoother.”

At a machinery sales yard at the north end of Taupo, our first load awaits – a 32t Hitachi grapple log loader that’s just been sold to a harvesting operator. Kyle and Taylor don’t take long in setting up the MTE trailer and getting the loader on board. It’s a process they always prefer to do themselves, to ensure the trailer isn’t damaged.

Kyle’s impressed with the MTE trailer, which has an 80,000kg GVM. He particularly likes that its hydraulic suspension height can be adjusted (by 200mm or more, he reckons) and the trailer hydraulically widened, using a handheld remote. Maximum width is a potential (but rarely practical) 3.7m – but more regularly it’s out to 3.5m or today’s 3.3m.

It doesn’t have onboard scales because, says Kyle, “we find that with the off-highway work you can have a bit of trouble with them. Some of the twisting and turning can make them faulty…and we felt they were unnecessary for us.”

Loaded, the combination (including the load) is 20 metres long, 3.5m wide and 4.8m high – a decent enough load for the drive to Otorohanga.

We start off in 1st low (empty Kyle says he’d be in 2nd or even 3rd) and on the reasonably flat road he takes full gears – one at a time, shifting at about 1800rpm. Only once he’s into 6th high, at 40km/h, does he start splitting gears, ensuring that he’s back on the throttle at around

1600rpm after each shift.

“Any lower than that you start to lose the torque band of the motor.” The last half gear into top sees the revs settle at 1550 at just under 90k.

Despite the large and hefty load, the trip is uneventful – cruisy even. Not far past Mangakino there’s an example of the sort of extra demands this line of work puts on drivers and pilots – a bridge that the permit requires Kyle to slow to 20k, down to 4th high as we drive across straddling the white line (our pilot prepared to stop oncoming traffic up ahead of us). Says Kyle: “It’s part of the job. You’re constantly speeding up and slowing down.”

“Highway-wise we stick to a fairly small area: Tokoroa, Taupo, Taumarunui, Te Kuiti, Otorohanga – so you know most of those roads reasonably well. You’ve been over them before – you know where the steep pinches are, you know where the steep downhills are, you know where the sharper corners are….. But sometimes there is a rural road that you haven’t been on before.”

There’s a lot of planning needed, depending on what you’re carrying, your weights, restrictions on what roads you’re allowed to travel and axle loadings: “Like today, we need to do a bypass down another road because we’re too heavy to go over one bridge. You’ve got to be onto that sort of planning.”

He does most of it himself, calling on Scania James (or even other companies’ drivers) if need be: “The heavy haulage industry is quite small, so if it’s out of our area we’ll ring up other drivers and they’ll tell you what you need to do. Most of the guys are really helpful.

“We work in with other operators too or pass on work that’s not suitable for us or if we’re too busy.”

Even with the off-highway work, although there are always new areas of forestry opening-up (thus there are new roads) because Central Equipment Movers’ drivers are working throughout the central North Island forests constantly, “we know the roads pretty much – we know where and when we can’t go.”

Off-highway the same axle loading limits don’t usually apply and speeds are a lot lower anyway. Also, says Kyle, in terms of load restraints, on-highway “I tend to be a bit more cautious: You’re not gonna get a ticket for having too many chains,” he reasons. “Offhighway you don’t need to do that, as such.”

But, particularly in winter, off-highway can be much more challenging – with sometimes wet and slippery surfaces: “You’ve got

to use the whole road and a bit more sometimes to get the trailer out wide enough. In summer you can just drive out onto a wide-open skid site – but in winter you’d get stuck. It’s just dirt – there’s no metal on them. So you’ve got to be thinking ahead.”

Thus jumping into the ute with the pilot to scout what’s ahead is a commonsense approach.

Knowing exactly where to position the machines on the low loader is also really important: “We shift (machines) off-highway fully rigged, so both the machinery and the centre of gravity is a bit higher. You want to have a machine far enough forward that it puts enough weight on your truck to give you extra traction too. If it’s too far back (in a highway position, for instance, so the tractor unit’s axles aren’t overloaded), you could get into a steep pinch off-highway in the gravel and run out of traction.”

The Kenworth and its MTE low-loader are, Kyle says, up to the rigours of all this – but what really take a lot of punishment are the rear suspension and the tyres on the tractor unit: “They’re operating at a weight greater than what’s optimum, so tyre wear is massive for us. It’s the roads, the weight, the sharp turning – it cuts them up.

“If a highway truck is getting 100,000kms out of a tyre, we’ll get 50,000km if we’re lucky.”

The nature of the T909’s work and the fact it’s based in Taumarunui, rather than Tokoroa, means that it probably does more highway work than the rest of the Central Equipment Movers fleet.

On the other hand, “I can spend a week in Kinleith doing exactly what they do – off-highway all day….six, seven trips, all in the forest.”

Personally, he likes “to have a good mix of the two. Off-highway can be less stressful because of the (highway) restrictions – but more stressful ‘cos you’re not driving on a two-lane highway. You’re on a single carriageway, gravel road with tight corners and steep gradients.”

In fact, it is one of the things he loves about this job…that it has its two distinctly different types of work: “That’s what sums up my work….and I think this job with Colin and Debbie is perfect because you’ve got the variety.

“You’re not just up and down the highway sort of thing…and you’re not stuck in the bush all the time. It’s a very good mix of both, you know. Ideal.”

Like I said at the start, this test is like a game of two halves….and so too is the working life of Kyle and his Kenworth. T&D Truck & Driver | 35

Test

HTAYDEN REVOR

Potential obstacles include overhanging branches as the loaded Kenworth heads out of Boston Forest

RADITIONAL ALL-ROUNDER IS THE WAY KENWORTH describes the T909 model. But it’s more than that – it’s a trucking icon, a truck driver’s dream ride….

And in this day and age of technology, innovation and efficiency it’s funny to have a truck like this on the roads and for it still to be seen as the pinnacle of most truck drivers’ careers. You can’t help but get excited about driving it.

Kyle Gibbs has had the privilege of being thrown the keys to a brand-new T908 back in 2007…..and now getting to drive the country’s first T909 36-inch mid-roof sleeper.

Kyle, Taumarunui-based with Central Equipment Movers, has a logging loader that needs to be delivered from Taupo to a farm block just out of Otorohanga – and I take over the wheel from Wairakei.

The climb up into the cab is not bad for a bonneted American truck, with three steps set around the fuel tanks and grabhandles on each side of the nearly 90-degree opening door.

Once in the ISRI seat it’s not hard to get into a good comfortable driving position. The interior of this cab is best explained by Kenworth themselves, traditional… everything from the gold emblazoned gauges in a woodgrain dash and pintucked vinyl

36 | Truck & Driver

interior.

On the steering wheel you have a headlight high beam flash and cruise control buttons on the left and on the right are the engine brake controls. On the left stalk are indicator, windscreen wiper and headlight controls and on the right there’s a trailer brake stalk.

To the left of the driver there’s a semi wraparound dash with more gauges, an entertainment unit, CB radio, aircon controls and switches for everything from interior lighting to crosslocks…plus a double cup holder. On the right-hand side of the dash are engine fan, headlight and PTO switches.

The easy part of getting to know this truck is that there is a gearstick coming straight out of the floor to your left hand – so no looking around for stalks or buttons on the dash to find any Drive, Neutral and Reverse buttons.

There are controls on the steering wheel, but what would be good there would be hands-free cellphone controls….rather than the engine brake controls. They’d be better on the usual stalk as they’re hard to use when you’re in the tight stuff.

What I do like about Kenworth’s traditional way of doing things is that you can see the dash screws – so when something goes wrong and the mechanic needs to get behind the dash there’s no pulling

• SPECIFICATIONS •

Hayden Woolston

KENWORTH T909 36-inch mid-roof sleeper 6x4 Engine: Cummins X15 Euro 5 Capacity: 15-litres Maximum power: 447-458kW (600-615hp) @ 1800rpm Maximum torque: 2779Nm (2050 lb ft) @ 1200rpm Engine revs: 1430rpm @ 90km/h in 12th gear Fuel capacity: 900 litres Transmission: Eaton Fuller RTLO22918B Roadranger 18-speed manual Ratios:

and twisting at the dash to pop it off…it can easily be unscrewed, what needs to be done can be done…and then it can easily be screwed back on.

Starting out, with the load at 3.5m wide, the West Coast heated mirrors give good rear vision. On both sides you have an upper flat mirror and a lower convex mirror that work well together.

Gaining speed at 60 tonnes is easy, with the Cummins X15 producing 615hp. The Ezy-Pedal clutch is nice and light and in no time I’m into top gear, cruising at 90km/h. Heading to the Atiamuri turnoff there are a few small climbs and descents that don’t seem to faze the X15 and the 18-speed Roadranger manual gearbox.

At Kyle’s suggestion I downshift full gears at 1300-1500rpm and splits between 15001700rpm. You really don’t want to let it drop below 1300rpm as the torque dies out below that, unless you’re cresting a hill. Heading up the gearbox the gearchanges are best made between 1700-1900rpm. These new Roadrangers really are a lot more forgiving than their predecessors.

After the Atiamuri turnoff we hit some tight stuff and pilot Taylor James shows his worth and skill with crisp clear communication on what’s happening ahead of us – as well as warning oncoming drivers that we’re approaching.

While I’m driving around some tight corners, Taylor calls through to say that a car he pulled over for us hasn’t stayed on the roadside.

Thanks to his warning, I can keep the 3.5m wide load as far left as possible as the woman driver approaches. To my astonishment she doesn’t slow down or even look our way and

very narrowly misses the rear right-hand corner of the trailer.

My next challenge with the wide trailer comes as we head alongside Lake Whakamaru and come across some roadworks….with only a ridiculously narrow single lane on the righthand side of the road, between road cones.

It’s not helped by the fact that to the right-hand side of the road is a cliff, with overhanging trees and boulders that I need to avoid.

About one kilometre into this nightmare, the truck’s owner, Scania James, calls on the RT. Kyle’s first words are: “Have you had complaints already!” The suggestion is I’ve collected a few road cones.

The reason for all of this is, after about 2k of cones on the left and cliff on the right, there are some guys working on the Armco barrier!

Once clear of the roadworks we pull over to check the trailer for any cones stuck up and under the unit. There’s none – and I reckon that means I mustn’t have hit any!

The rest of my drive through to Whakamaru and across the dam is a breeze, with Taylor’s piloting giving us a clear road ahead.

It’s here I have to begrudgingly hand Kyle back his truck. It’s been hard to find the right words to explain my first T909 test, but looking back, the first paragraph of my father’s 2008 T908 test is, I think, a perfect way to sum this experience up: “With this truck, smiling is contagious.”

Kyle smiles while he drives it and I’m still smiling days after driving it. So not much has changed since 2008 for the traditional allrounder. T&D

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: Dana Spicer D2000F heavy-duty, rated at 7300kg Rear axles: Dana Spicer D52-190, combined rating of 23,600kg, with inter-axle and cross-axle diff locks Auxiliary brakes: Two-stage Cummins engine brake Front suspension: Taper-leaf springs Rear suspension: Neway AD246/10 extra heavy-duty air suspension GVW: 26,500kg GCM: 140,000kg

Truck & Driver | 37

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THE DRIVING FORCE OF NEW ZEALAND TRUCKING

Finance Minister Grant Robertson has a big challenge to steer New Zealand out of recession Attribution: “Grant Robertson” by Tertiary Education Union (NZTEU) is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

New Government has a big job ahead of it

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by Nick Leggett Chief Executive Road Transport Forum NZ

AVING THE ELECTION DONE AND dusted is definitely something of a relief after what was an extraordinarily-long grind of a campaign.

Of course, the four-week postponement due to COVID19 and the return of Auckland to level 3 dragged things out somewhat, yet there was always a sense that the result was never really in doubt.

Jacinda Ardern was flying high due to the general public’s response to her handling of COVID-19….and the National Party was in complete disarray, meaning the only real interest lay in whether or not Labour would be able to govern alone.

We can all be thankful that the media’s fascination with Billy Te Kahika and the wild-eyed conspiracy-theorists at Advance New Zealand didn’t translate into any real movement at the polling booth.

The new Labour Government, while still basking in the triumph of its historic victory, has a massive task ahead of it.

Day-to-day life for many of us may seem fairly normal at level 1, but the world is still in the midst of a crisis – both healthwise

and economic. NZ is about to feel the full impact of a global economic downturn.

The next three years could be some of the most challenging economic conditions faced for generations. With no international tourists, few international workers, international markets that are contracting and mounting government debt, there is no doubt that the finance minister will have his work cut out to provide the right environment for recovery.

For the freight sector, which is naturally concerned with the health of the global supply chain, there are going to be problems as imports and exports become further restricted. It is an issue that has so far flown under the radar, but it deserves the Government’s immediate attention.

Labour will also need to do a better job of implementing policy that supports NZ business, particularly the thousands of small businesses that are the backbone of our economy.

Labour’s agenda when it comes to employment legislation is of significant concern. The proposal to do away with the ownerdriver or contractor-driver model will make it harder for our Truck & Driver | 39

THE DRIVING FORCE OF NEW ZEALAND TRUCKING

Deane Rodgers, holding his Castrol Truck Driver Hero Award, is pictured with (from left): Summerland owners Ross and Barbara Millard, NZ Truck & Driver’s Olivia Beauchamp, Summerland GM Grant Lowe, Deane’s partner Karen Phillips and RTF CEO Nick Leggett industry and shows little understanding of how the supply chain works. A change to the relationship between owner-drivers and principals will have unintended consequences that will flow down to exporters, consumer markets and the country’s overall economic performance.

There is also concern at the implementation of Fair Pay Agreements (national awards) that will further reduce flexibility within the sector and an increase in the minimum wage that will lump additional costs on already marginal businesses.

Investment in infrastructure remains critical. We can’t solve our infrastructure deficit in three years, but progress does need to be made on both roading and public transport projects that will improve the ability of trucking operators to go about their work safely and efficiently.

The East-West Link in Auckland, Christchurch Southern Motorway and State Highway One from Wellington to Levin must be priority projects – and the significant safety problems with the Napier to Taupo Highway must also be addressed.

When it comes to safety the Land Transport (Drug Driving) Amendment Bill that will introduce roadside saliva testing for drug impairment must be passed and testing rolled out across the country as soon as is practical.

I am particularly looking forward to the opportunity to work alongside the Government to build our industry’s future workforce capability and supply through the Te ara ki tua Road to Success traineeship programme. The Government was very supportive of this project during the last term and we expect that to continue.

There are hard times ahead and NZers have entrusted this Government to help get us through it. We can only hope that the way they govern reflects 40 | Truck & Driver

that and they are not tempted by hard-left fringe elements that don’t really understand how our economy works.

Moving off politics, I was lucky enough recently to get the chance to celebrate the heroism one of the many outstanding drivers in our industry, in a small ceremony for the annual winner of the Castrol Truck Driver Hero Award.

Deane Rodgers, who drives for Summerland Express Freight, was earlier this year driving his truck and trailer loaded with infant formula through South Canterbury when he spotted smoke coming from the trailer.

Knowing just how dry the surrounding countryside and farmland was and the danger that strong winds posed in spreading a fire, Deane (who knows the area well) made the decision to keep driving until he reached the Makikihi Country Hotel, which he knew had space to park his by-now flaming truck.

During what must have been an extremely stressful five kilometre drive he called ahead and prepared the fire brigade and ignored the desperate attempts of other motorists to get him to pull over.

Deane’s selfless quick thinking and bravery avoided what would have been a far bigger incident – one that could have resulted in significant loss of crops and damage to farms as well as major disruptions to the state highway.

Driving 5kms with a burning truck takes some serious nerve and is a real testament to Deane’s professionalism and his 33 years of experience as a truck driver.

I really enjoyed spending the evening with Deane, his partner Karen, and the Summerland team who were there to recognise him. It was another reminder of what incredible people we have in our industry and it is important that we continue to recognise that. T&D

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THE DRIVING FORCE OF NEW ZEALAND TRUCKING

Operators can arrange Rollover Prevention Programme workshops at times convenient for them and their staff

Rolling on despite COVID’s challenges L

IKE M AN Y OTHER IN-PERSON EV ENTS IN OUR new COVID-19 world, the Rollover Prevention Programme has faced some serious challenges in 2020.

Lockdowns, social distancing requirements and new protocols to follow in delivering the freight task have meant that holding workshops has been extra difficult.

The Road Transport Forum is encouraged that despite these issues, 10 Rollover Prevention workshops have been held in 2020, with around 240 participants. “ With growing conf idence that further major outbreaks of COVID-19 can be avoided, we really want to encourage operators who haven’t yet held a workshop for their drivers to consider the possibility in 2021,” says RTF’s Nick Leggett.

The Rollover Prevention Programme is a joint initiative between RTF and Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) and is supported by ACC, the NZ Police and RTF’s three associations – RTANZ, NRC and the NZ Trucking Association.

Since the programme began, in 2016, more than 6500 people have participated in around 170 meetings…from the Far North to Invercargill.

“It’s safe to say that, in terms of uptake, Rollover Prevention has been one of the most successful safety programmes our industry has ever run,” says Leggett.

Programme presenter Jeff Fleury is a highly regarded vehicle safety specialist with NZTA in Dunedin and, with over 40 years of

experience dealing with the aftermath of road accidents and as an expert in heavy vehicles, he knows the subject matter inside out.

“Unfortunately, in my career as an accident assessor I have been to my fair share of serious incidents involving trucks,” says Fleury: “None of them are pretty as it’s often the case that the bigger the vehicle, the bigger the mess when things go wrong. However, it is equally true that with the right skills many of those accidents could have been avoided.

“While I know that nobody will remember every aspect of the workshop, I am conf ident that every driver takes away the key messages when it comes to speed, the physics of vehicle dynamics, the impact of different and dynamic loads, and the importance of vehicle maintenance and a driver’s personal health.”

As Jeff points out, the workshops have evolved over the years: “Recently I’ve incorporated some dash-cam footage that was provided to me by a couple of drivers who had some fairly hairy near misses.

“They are a pretty powerful illustration of what can happen when things go pear-shaped and I know when I show them that they have an impact on workshop participants.

“I have also slightly altered my presentation style over the years.

It’s fair to say that the men and women in the transport industry are no-nonsense sort of people so I think naturally my style has evolved to suit that. The workshop is designed to be an honest discussion and it works really well when we can address the issues in a straightforward manner.”

Truck & Driver | 43

THE DRIVING FORCE OF NEW ZEALAND TRUCKING

“As an industry, road transport probably doesn’t do enough to emphasise ongoing driver training...”

There is an incorrect assumption amongst some that the rollover workshops are only available for those in the hire and reward road transport industry. However, the programme is open to any organisation involved with heavy vehicles.

Says Fleury: “A couple of months ago I did a meeting in Invercargill that was arranged by a forest management company, for its log truck operators, road construction crews and a contractor that transports the log haulers.

“Over the years a number of workshops have been arranged by forestry owners as they have seen the value for their contractors. Any business that uses heavy vehicles and contracts or employs drivers will benefit from a rollover workshop.”

If your organisation has yet to hold a Rollover Prevention Programme workshop you can arrange for Jeff to come and present to your drivers by contacting RTF, your local association, or by dealing directly with

Jeff himself – Jeffrey.Fleury@nzta.govt.nz Each workshop lasts around three hours and is absolutely free.

More information on the programme and a registration-of-interest form are available at www.rtfnz.co.nz Jeff has some fairly frank suggestions for the road transport sector: “As an industry, road transport probably doesn’t do enough to emphasise ongoing driver training, which is especially important to keep up with new vehicle technologies, configurations and weight changes. There should also be an increase in checking drivers for competency as part of industry best practice.”

Finally, he has some sage advice for truck drivers: “Keep your eyes open, drive within your lane and remember your following distance.

You also need to keep your speed appropriate for your vehicle, load and road conditions.

“Oh….and keep off that bloody cellphone!” T&D

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THE DRIVING FORCE OF NEW ZEALAND TRUCKING

Jeff Fleury with his Outstanding Contribution to Training Award, presented to him by then Transport Minister Simon Bridges at the 2016 RTF Conference

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THE DRIVING FORCE OF NEW ZEALAND TRUCKING

An optimistic new Chair for RTF New RTF Chair Greg Pert: “We know that road transport responds better in a crisis than probably any other part of the economy”

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T F R ECE N T LY W ELCOM E D T R A NZ LIQU I D Logistics’ Greg Pert as its new board Chair.

Pert has been in the road transport industry for 38 years, f irst working for Dale Freightways and then going on to be an owner-driver….and eventually running his own f leet.

Today Tranzliquid Logistics has a f leet of 42 trucks delivering fuel or fuel-related products, mainly in the North Island, servicing all oil companies. It remains family owned, with both Greg’s partner Jackie and son Gareth heavily involved.

Greg is also a board member of the National Road Carriers Association, a member of the Petroleum Industry Transport Safety Forum (PITSF), and a chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT).

“For me, to be chosen as the chair of the RTF board by your industry peers is an honour and I am happy to accept this new challenge,” says Pert.

“My plan is to respect, listen to, help and appreciate all those in the road freight transport industry.

“I believe that standards, culture, and core values remain integral in all aspects of business operations.”

Greg takes over from Neil Reid, who served six years as Chair and now steps back – albeit only slightly, as he still maintains a place at the board table.

Says Pert: “It is fair to say I have some pretty big shoes to fill. Neil has led the board in a really well-considered and thoughtful manner.

He’s a guy with a great deal of experience and wisdom, and he’s quite a deep thinker in many ways. I am sure I will lean on him for plenty of advice as I get comfortable in the role.

“Having already spent f ive years on the RTF board I have had

a pretty good apprenticeship and have a good idea where RTF ’s strengths lie and how we can get the best out of our current industry structure.

“There is a tremendous amount of expertise on the board and in the organisation, as well as across all of our associations. It is really important that we get the best out of the resources we have and are all pulling in the same direction.

“Like the rest of the economy, things are likely to be a bit tough for transporters over the next few years so we must make sure we are in a position to get the best possible outcomes for our industry,” says Pert.

“The transport and logistics sectors are often the first to feel the impacts of economic f luctuations, as illustrated by one of our major banks using the Truckometer as a key judge for economic activity.

“It is also true that pretty much everything spends time on the back of a truck at some point of the supply chain. This makes it all the more important for Government to create the right regulatory and business environment not only to do our job, but to help lubricate NZ’s economic recovery as well.

“While road transport is a naturally self-reliant industry, we cannot operate in isolation. It remains important that RTF works closely with all levels of Government because we have some serious challenges ahead that will take a coordinated public-private approach to get on top of.

“New and improved roads are vital, as is the maintenance of existing critical routes such as Napier to Taupo. It often goes unsaid, but improvements to the provision of public transport in our cities will make a big difference to freeing up congestion, which in turn will help economic and freight efficiency,” Pert says.

Truck & Driver | 47

THE DRIVING FORCE OF NEW ZEALAND TRUCKING

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

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

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• Road Transport Forum NZ PO Box 1778, Wellington 04 472 3877 forum@rtf.nz www.rtfnz.co.nz Nick Leggett, Chief Executive 04 472 3877 021 248 2175 nick@rtf.nz

Greg Pert, pictured here at a recent industry conference, already has plenty of experience in governance roles and through 38 years in the industry “We know that road transport responds better in a crisis than probably any other part of the economy.

Much of that comes down to our hard-working and resilient people, who are our greatest asset. It is also critical that we continue to work to invest in them.”

Pert is really encouraged by the support that RTF and the industry already have from government when it comes to initiatives to support the recruitment of new people into our industry.

“I am really keen to help (RTF chief executive) Nick (Leggett) and his team lead the development of our future workforce because that is the key to the longterm health of trucking in NZ. “With the newly developed Te ara ki tua Road to Success programme we want to continue to build on the work we have already done with government and across the industry.”

The path ahead may look a bit rockier than it did six months ago, but with an optimist like Greg Pert at the helm you can be sure that RTF is already working towards a brighter future.

The current RTF Board is: • Greg Pert (Chair) Neil Reid • • Mark Purdue • Don Wilson • Deborah O’Brien Ken Winsloe • Steve Doughty • • Sean Rooney • Warwick Wilshier T&D 48 | Truck & Driver

National Road Carriers (NRC) PO Box 12-100, Penrose, Auckland 0800 686 777 09 622 2529 (Fax) enquiries@natroad.nz www.natroad.co.nz David Aitken, Chief Executive 09 636 2951 021 771 911 david.aitken@natroad.nz Paula Rogers, Commercial Transport Specialist 09 636 2957 021 771 951 paula.rogers@natroad.nz Jason Heather, Commercial Transport Specialist 09 636 2950 021 771 946 jason.heather@natroad.nz Richie Arber, Commercial Transport Specialist 021 193 3555 richie.arber@natroad.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 Simon Carson, Chief Operating Officer scarson@rtanz.co.nz Area Executives Northland/Auckland/Waikato/ Thames-Coromandel/Bay of Plenty/ North Taupo/King Country Scott Asplet 0800 367 782 (Option 2) 027 445 5785 sasplet@rtanz.co.nz

South Taupo/Turangi/Gisborne/ Taranaki/Manawatu/Horowhenua/ Wellington Sandy Walker 0800 367 782 (Option 3) 027 485 6038 swalker@rtanz.co.nz Northern West Coast/Nelson/ Marlborough/North Canterbury John Bond 0800 367 782 (Option 4) 027 444 8136 jbond@rtanz.co.nz Southern West Coast/Christchurch/ Mid-Canterbury/South Canterbury Simon Carson 0800 367 782 (Option 5) 027 556 6099 scarson@rtanz.co.nz Otago/Southland Alan Cooper 0800 367 782 (Option 6) 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

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The current flagship of the West Auckland fleet – a 2018 Kenworth T909 (which doubles as Richie Malam’s office) – picking up a load of maize

HERE WERE MOMENTS IN WEST AUCKLAND transport operator Richie Malam’s education that he really enjoyed: Like watching all the trucks go past his school. LOL. During lunchtimes and intervals, “I used to stand at the fence and watch Barry Butterworth go past in the Black Bitch.” Yep, the black Kenworth W924AR tractor unit owned (and given its now totally un-PC name) by the legendary Kiwi “outlaw” speedway racer and truckie.

With Richie being a Westie, some of the locals were among his favourites: The Lendich and Antunovich Contracting trucks, for instance. And other contractors like Ian Spedding, the Lipanovichs and their Macks and the R.E. Jackson trucks. In fact, Richie’s first ride in a Kenworth was in Spedding’s first KW, in the mid-1970s.

The thing is that Richie is not only the son of a truckie….he’s also proudly able to boast of four generations of forebears who drove or owned trucks.

And that includes a great-great grandfather who started out as a horse and cart carrier – way, way back in 1893…working out of what is still the family property in semi-rural Oratia.

Charles Mills, then only recently arrived from England, later introduced the first freight truck to West Auckland – nearly a century ago.

In a family where following tradition clearly runs deep (the 51-year-old Richie is, by the way, the fourth in a line of Richard Malams, stretching back to his great granddad!), it’s absolutely no surprise that he’s long since become a transport operator.

As he puts it: “I think I’ve got trucks running through my blood somehow.”

There’s no doubt about that when you spend time with Richie (real name Richard George Malam) and his Dad Lindsay (real name Richard Lindsay Malam) at the Oratia farm where members of the Malam family have lived for 127 years (so far).

Ghosts of the past are everywhere here: It’s where Charles Mills ran his horse and cart operation, where he ran a blacksmith shop and where the old house that generation after generation of Malams have lived in, still stands.

And more recent ones: The ghosts of Richie’s boyhood – the passion sparked back then by the likes of the Butterworth, Antunovich and Lendich Kenworths showing through in the form of a growing number of KWs in the 10-truck R&R Malam fleet, owned by Richie and Lindsay.

Along with the company’s flagship 2018 T909 (which, unsurprisingly, is the truck Richie drives), there’s a 2004 T950, a 2007 T904 tractor unit, a six-year-old K200 and, most tellingly, a 1981 W924AR that’s still in daily work. It just happens to be a truck once owned by the Antunovichs.

Elsewhere, an old LW924 Kenworth sits in an even older shed, awaiting restoration redemption. There’s a treasured touch of Barry Butterworth around Richie too: He owns a Ray Alach-built speedway midget car that the legendary Butterworth (who died in 1993) raced…

And, much more significantly, he owns – and is now painstakingly restoring – the very same Black Bitch Kenworth that excited his attention when he was a schoolkid. He bought it off Butterworth’s son Floyd (who drives for R&R Malam) six or seven years ago…making the promise that it will be fully restored to its original specification.

The old “like father, like son” proverb prevails with Richie Truck & Driver | 53

All photos, clockwise from top left: Lindsay (left) and a young Richie with one of Nissan Diesel salesman Lindsay’s trade-ins and the ‘57 Chev Richie sold Oratia district, west of Auckland...Lindsay and Richie represent the R&R in the company name – since both are actually named Richard....the Malam DAF CF has been added

and Lindsay and their history in other ways too: They both also share a passion for classic American cars – 1955 to ’57 Chevs, in particular – some of which have had an emotional/sentimental history for both the family and the trucking company.

Like the (no-longer-owned) ’57 Chev that Lindsay and wife Barbara helped Richie buy when he was just 14 – too young to even legally drive it! Most notably, that car was sold to finance Richie’s stake in R&R Malam when he and Lindsay started it 30 years ago.

But that, remarkably, was 97 years into the family’s history as a carrier in Oratia, in the foothills of the Waitakere Ranges.

It all began with Charles Mills buying the farm at Oratia shortly after emigrating from Manchester…and then establishing his carrying business.

54 | Truck & Driver

When, in the early 1900s, daughter Amelia married Richard Thomas Malam – the son of another early West Auckland settler and renowned brickmaker – the young Richard (Dick) joined his father-in-law in the carrying business.

In fact, when Mills bought a Model T Ford in the early 1920s, it was Malam who did all the driving.

Lindsay says that the family history, passed down through the generations, has it that his Granddad Richard (Thomas) drove everywhere in the Ford – even on the primitive roads over to the west coast, across the Waitakeres. Out to Whatipu at the Manukau Heads, and over to Piha and Karekare – the latter with a formidably steep access road.

Lindsay, who lived a lot of years with his grandparents, heard many of the old stories and recounts a couple of them: “Driving

t fl

ld m

to get his stake in R&R Malam....in 1893 Richie’s great-great grandfather, Charles Mills, started a horse and cart carrying business, servicing the fleet about four years ago. The Kenworth T659 on the far right has since been sold, the 1973 Kenworth LW924 has been put in storage and a new

down to Karekare they used to have to cut a tree at the top of the hill and tie it under the back of the horse-drawn wagon to use it for a brake…!”

His Granddad also reckoned that he’d have to back the Model T all the way up the Piha hill, so that the petrol, gravity-fed, would make it to the carburettor.

Lindsay doesn’t know how or why, but believes it was probably due to the Great Depression that the Mills/Malam carrying business petered out in the late 1920s or early ‘30s – despite the fact that the large number of Dalmatian settlers who’d arrived in Oratia soon after Mills generated a lot of extra business from their fruit orchards.

During the Depression Dick Malam took on all sorts of jobs: “He worked on building the Scenic Drive, using his horse and

scoop, and also worked in the native logging mills at Piha and Karekare as a labourer, like everybody else. He even did some time down in the goldmine in Waihi.

“They had five children to bring up through the Depression, so it was hard going.”

Lindsay’s not sure exactly when he started, but his Dad, Richard Charles Malam (born in 1914), eventually resumed the family’s involvement in driving trucks.

Lindsay reckons his Dad “always liked trucks. Around the farm we had a small Bedford with a little hoist on it for doing firewood.” There was plenty of manuka (ti-tree) on the property, which the Malams cut and sold.

Despite his own liking for trucks, when Lindsay left school at 16, he got a job at a city garage, doing mechanical repairs on

Truck & Driver | 55

Above: Little Richie poses on the bumper of his Dad’s J.S. King & Sons Butterbox International Top right & right: This is how it began. Lindsay and Richie bought this tired 1977 CW40 Nissan. Richie got his HT licence in it, then started doing the few jobs R&R Malam could pick up....even as he refurbished it

cars and light trucks. He did get some truck action – driving a light truck picking up spare parts around the city and taking customers’ trucks to the testing station.

But after four years (just a year after his grandfather died, in 1964) he scored a job with a real trucking company (and quarrying, earthmoving and farming business), J.S. King & Sons in Wainui, northwest of Auckland.

After a few months in the workshop, he got what he really wanted – driving one of the company’s 15 or so trucks, a 1956 Leyland Comet 90 tipper, with a single-axle trailer.

The company worked all around the Auckland region – as far north as Warkworth and the south heads of the Kaipara Harbour, and south to Meremere and Pukekohe.

A series of Butterbox International ACCOs followed – first a petrol-engine version, eventually a 185-horsepower V8 Perkinsengined model.

And then a switch, in ’74, to a brand-new CW50 Nissan Diesel – a brand that Lindsay stuck with for the next 26 years.

The J.S. King operation had been split into various divisions – the trucking business renamed Wainui Metal Transport and the workshop renamed Progressive Maintenance. In ’72 it had become the Nissan Diesel parts and service agent in the lower north area – and three years later that was expanded to sales of the Japanese make, covering the area from Wellsford north.

Lindsay was offered the salesman’s role: “So I was a truck and trailer driver on a Friday night – and on Monday morning I was a Nissan Diesel salesman. So it was in at the deep end.”

It was, he soon found out, “a hard road – a very hard road.” It took him four months to sell his first truck: “The biggest problem was that the Nissan Diesels were significantly more expensive than the other three Japanese brands. So, 56 | Truck & Driver

to convince people to buy a Nissan Diesel, it was fairly hard work.”

The result? “I didn’t do big numbers. In any given year I always did more than a dozen – maybe 15 to 20.”

So how did he overcome the price disadvantage?

“Perseverance really! I visited most people that I could find in the North, every three to four months. Some of them every couple of months.” His biggest deal with one customer was an eight-truck dairy company order.

It helped when the company’s sales area was expanded further south – first down to Albany, then to the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

There was a spinoff effect from Lindsay’s career, of course, on his son. As Richie says: “There was always a truck around home. It was either when Dad was driving trucks or he’d always have a trade-in here. And I’d be washing it or driving it around the yard, even though I wasn’t supposed to. I would have a go.

“All that I wanted to do was leave school and drive trucks. But Dad and Mum said ‘no, you should get yourself a trade. You can always go and drive trucks later – but get yourself a trade.’ ” So when Richie was 15 he started a panelbeating apprenticeship.

Like Lindsay, he’d developed a passion for classic American V8 muscle cars and celebrated completing his apprenticeship in 1990 by taking a month’s holiday in the US – even quitting his job so it could happen.

Soon after his return home he and his Mum and Dad came up with a plan – one that would allow him to indulge his passion for trucks and tap into Lindsay’s years of experience in the industry: They’d buy a secondhand tipper and start a cartage business at the family property – a 50/50 father and son

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Lindsay would carry on working in his Nissan Diesel sales job – doing the admin side of things at nights and weekends – while the 21-year-old Richie would get his HT licence and drive the truck.

At that time, in the wake of the global sharemarket crash, Richie reckons it was probably the only way he was going to realise his truck driving dream: “A lot of people were still struggling really bad – so I wasn’t going to get a truck driving job anywhere without experience and knowledge.”

His stake in the company came from the sale of his pride and joy – the’57 Chev that Mum and Dad had financed him into when he was just 14. The car was a low-mileage example from a deceased estate – a rare find.

Lindsay already had a similar car – and he and wife Barbara funded Richie’s purchase: “It was a really good old car, but it needed doing up, which I completed during my apprenticeship.

It took me a long time to do it…” he explains.

It’s the car he got his driver’s licence in. But, with paying back his parents the money that he borrowed to buy it, “I couldn’t afford to run it (daily), so I used to ride a Honda 125 to work – so I could drive that on the weekends.”

Selling that car, he reckons, “was hard, but at the end of the day, it was all I had. I had no money. That car had to be sold to help purchase the first truck.”

And he acknowledges now: “I feel that sacrificing that car, as hard as it was, really has enabled me to have what I’ve got today.”

R&R Malam started with a 1977 CW40 Nissan tipper.

“Unfortunately,” says Richie wryly, “that truck was very tired and needed a lot of work. It had done heaps of Ks, and had had a hard life.”

58 | Truck & Driver

Never mind. As Richie says, “we didn’t have any work” anyway. So once he got his HT licence, he set about completely stripping the truck, rebuilding it and repainting it: “And when it was finished, it was a very tidy truck.”

Even then, as he recalls, “there wasn’t a lot of work around.

A lot of people said to us ‘Oh, you’re mad! Why are you getting into trucks?’ And, we said: ‘Well, it can’t get any worse! It can only get better.’

“So we plugged away there with the one truck. And what I would do is, because it didn’t have consistent work, I would be panelbeating and doing restoration work in the shed.

“And then, a job would come in – it might be one load, it might be a day’s work and it might only be once a week. But I’d get in the truck, go out and do that.”

Lindsay organised a side job for Richie – delivering new Nissans to customers all over the country and bringing back their trade-ins.

Meagre existence that it was, driving trucks was Richie’s dream come true and he insists still that he wouldn’t change a thing: “Thirty years later, if you asked me what would I really love to do, I’d still tell you ‘drive trucks.’

“I don’t enjoy some of the things about the industry sometimes, but that’s a whole other story.

“The bits and pieces kept us going. Dad was still selling trucks at that time and I didn’t have a family, so I was able to commit all my time to help build the business up.

“Then we steadily got busier. We started to grow a small clientele and I ended up being out every day.” There was a lot of working with companies doing swimming pool and house excavation work (“there were a lot of houses going up in the early ’90s”), plus pipeline and drainage work for a customer that R&R Malam still contracts to.

Above: T950 was R&R Malam’s first brand-new Kenworth, bought in 2004

Opposite page, top & bottom left: Lindsay’s ACCO pulled up outside home in Oratia, with wife Barbara pictured holding the then eight-week-old Richie Opposite page, top right: The family’s start in trucking stretches back almost 100 years, to when Charles Mills (seated) bought this Ford Model T truck....and was joined in the business by son-in-law Richard Thomas Malam (left) Opposite page, bottom right: Richie and Lindsay in 1997, with their brand-new Nissan Diesel CW380....which they still work

So they bought a second truck, a Nissan CW41 tipper, and hired their first driver… “and the work started snowballing.”

To help meet the need, Richie started to hire other small companies and owner/drivers to help, “rather than turn the work down. And we also helped others with their overflow work.”

In 1993 Lindsay ended 29 years of working for Heck King and his family to join Nissan Diesel at its Auckland HQ as a salesman.

But he was also continuing to play an active role in R&R Malam, as Richie points out: “At nights and weekends, he was doing the accounts and sending out the invoices, among other admin duties.”

Father and son also did all their own servicing – and pretty much all their own mechanical work, “unless it was a major.”

As the work (and the clientele) increased – and with more subcontractors being taken on – around ’95 Richie and Lindsay decided to buy a third truck…a 1987 model International T-Line.

Richie explains the choice: “We didn’t have a lot of money.

And this truck suited us because we could afford it. But it was needing a complete refurbish, which once again, I did in our shed at Oratia.”

But the next purchase, a couple of years later, broke the mould: This time it was a brand-new 380 Nissan Diesel – bought from Lindsay, of course. Given his love of Kenworths, Richie concedes that, “as much as I don’t like saying it, it’s probably been the best truck we’ve ever owned. We still own it to this day. It’s done a million kilometres and 38,000 engine hours. It’s been a brilliant truck.”

As he recalls, “initially we were never going to have any more than one or two trucks. And then we weren’t going to tow any trailers – we were just going to have six wheelers only. But then

a trailer came along – and that was towed by the 380 Nissan.

“Later that same year, we bought our first Kenworth – an exAntunovich W Model, with a big-cam 400 Cummins. So I went from a brand-new Nissan to a 1981 Kenworth – because my love for Kenworth trucks goes back a long, long way.”

And he adds: “To be completely honest with you, I didn’t have a lot of encouragement from anybody for buying the Kenworth – including Dad. He wasn’t for it at all. Nor was anybody else really. They thought I had rocks in my head!”

Lindsay explains: “For the kind of work we were doing at the time, I didn’t really think we’d use a big truck like that.” And it had a big bulk bin on it that wasn’t suitable for R&R Malam’s work then.

Richie concedes that Kenworths are “less manoeuvrable…. with less visibility, to a point. But I had a personal thing to prove it to everybody that it would work. And I went out of my way to make it work….and it did. And it’s still working today.”

But it got off to a tragic start with Malams: At the end of Richie’s first day in his beloved Kenworth, close to home an oncoming car came across the centre line and crashed head-on into the truck….in a suspected (and successful) suicide.

Richie escaped uninjured…but “very shaken up. It does sit with you, but you’ve got to get back up and carry on. And when you see people doing stupid things, it does bring it back to you. When you do a lot of miles on the road sometimes, unfortunately, these things happen.”

The truck was badly damaged and was months off the road – but over the next 10 years the business, and the Malam fleet, grew steadily.

In 2000 Lindsay, then 55, retired from his sales job at Nissan Diesel to work fulltime in the family business – not to take some cushy job, parked up in the office, but to drive one of the Truck & Driver | 59

Above: W924 Kenworth was bought in ‘97. The 39-year-old is still in daily work Opposite page top: LW Kenworth is still owned, but currently in storage

Opposite page, bottom: The Mills/Malam carrying operation enjoying a few beers

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60 | Truck & Driver

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company Nissans.

Then in 2004, came a landmark moment (‘specially for Richie): The purchase of the company’s first brandnew Kenworth – a T950. It was, he says, “a huge deal.”

And this time Lindsay was totally onboard with the idea – Richie having proven the value of the W Model to the business.

In fact, Lindsay was the one who was against another secondhand truck, taking the line: “Well, we should go the whole hog and buy a new one.”

They also bought another secondhand trailer to go with it – and that’s led to more truck and trailer units (five of them now, with new trailers and truck bulk bodies mostly supplied by Transfleet). There’s also been a 2007 Kenworth T904 tractor unit and a semi tipper bought, because it “better suits some of the jobs we do. There was a gap there that we weren’t filling…

“You can get an artic in where you can’t get a truck and trailer in. So you can cart twice as much as you could on a six-wheeler…”

Again, as Richie explains: “We never wanted to grow as big as we’ve grown, but we needed to grow with our customers, otherwise we were going to get left behind.”

Tracey Murray – one of Lindsay and Barbara’s three daughters – started off doing “little bits and pieces” of the admin work for R&R Malam almost 20 years ago.

By 2007 that had turned into taking over around half of the admin work that Lindsay had been doing.

Husband Scott, who was then driving for the company (a back injury later forced him to quit), was able to occasionally stand-in for the Malams to look after the trucks in Richie and Lindsay’s absence.

For the next three or four years Tracey and Lindsay continued to share the admin, and then she took

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over…. although Lindsay “does still handle the insurances and so on.”

The brand-new T950 purchase kicked-in a new era of only buying new trucks, including a 440hp Nissan Diesel and a 350 Mitsubishi the same year. The Nissan, of course, “was for Dad, because he’s a Nissan man,” says Richie: “Couldn’t get him into a Kenworth, as much as I tried.”

It helped Richie’s ability to run the business from behind the wheel of his Kenworth – as he still does today – that around 2014, responsibility for the fleet’s greasing, servicing and repairs (carried out for 20 years by him and Lindsay) was handed over to Steven Dean, at SD Performance in Henderson.

Over the years, even with Lindsay’s deep involvement with Nissans and Richie’s love of Kenworths, the Malams have bought a variety of makes – a Freightliner, a Mitsi/FUSO, a Hino…even an Autocar that they bought to wreck, but ended up running for a couple of years.

But in 2014/’15 the fleet’s Kenworth presence stepped up, with the purchase of a new K200 – adding the cabover to give themselves a unit with a bit more manoeuvrability as well as payload capability…

And the addition too of a new T659 8x4 with a five-axle trailer. The latter was specifically for a job around Auckland and the Waikato.

Lindsay, prompted by the fact his Dad had died at the age of

75 (not long before R&R Malam started up), decided to retire in 2015, when he turned 70: “That’s why I stopped. I was quite happy driving, and I was still driving a truck and trailer on the Northwestern Motorway at six o’clock in the morning until six o’clock at night.”

Since then, he’s been virtually retired – still does a little admin stuff and is still the co-owner of the company, with Richie. Living next door to the yard, unsurprisingly he still “pretty much knows what’s going on day to day.”

In 2019, R&R Malam actually decided to part company with one of their Kenworths – the T659: The job it had been bought for “didn’t really last for us…and the truck was probably a little bit big, a bit cumbersome for what we do. We did make it work and we were using it, but we decided to let it go. It was our least-practical truck.”

Unsurprisingly, its replacement was another KW – a T909 and a short five-axle trailer, that’s now Richie’s truck and, along with the K200, is one of two HPMV units (this one able to run up to 52.7t).

They kept it in the Southpac Trucks family with the latest addition as well – a new Euro 6 DAF CF. It’s the first AMTequipped truck in a Roadranger fleet and Richie says of the AMT: “So far I’m still on the fence about it – seems to be doing okay so far, but time will tell.”

The company runs EROAD on some of the trucks – the truck-

All pictures, clockwise from top left: K200 Kenworth was added six years ago...Hino 700 Series came the same year....the ‘81 KW doesn’t look its age....Lindsay and Barbara’s daughter Tracey does the company’s admin work....T659 spent about five years on the fleet....Richie with the Wainui Metal Nissan driven by his Dad....these days the company does a lot of infrastructure work, like this night-time pipeline project

62 | Truck & Driver

only 6x4s, primarily for “claiming back the offroad mileage.

It has worked on tracking numerous times where the odd customer has challenged us on start and finish times of trucks on jobs. It’s definitely got its benefits,” says Richie. But so far he’s not been convinced to run it across the fleet.

Interestingly, both Tracey and Richie bring a mix of old-school and new technology to their roles – Richie, for instance, still organising all of the fleet’s jobs out of a diary each evening.

While Tracey, working in an office at Lindsay and Barbara’s house, still does the accounts manually – but scans handwritten invoices and delivery dockets and emails them to clients every day. At the same time, she does electronic banking, wages and tax.

Says Tracey: “I know a few people probably think we’re pretty old-fashioned, but it works for us. It’s tactile and we don’t seem to have any problems (touch wood)!

“I know we will eventually have to (go digital/electronic) – but at the moment it works.”

Tracey takes responsibility for overseeing the company’s compliance and health and safety requirements, assisted by “a good health and safety adviser.” Regular random drug-testing is similarly outsourced.

Ask what a typical day looks like for the 10-truck Malam fleet in 2020, and Richie checks that day’s diary. They’ve been working for seven customers, on a range of jobs that includes carting aggregate and sand to a couple of readymix concrete plants, topping-up bulk metal supply yards and carting metal in and dirt out of a big drainage job and a big civil pipeline project – the latter all on a night shift.

As usual, he’s been running subbies as well – six of them today. There’s also one owner-driver (whose Mack runs under the Malam name, but with orange paint rather than the cobalt blue Malam livery adopted over 25 years ago).

As he’s always done, Richie runs the business from behind the wheel of his Kenworth and reckons that he’s “fairly comfortable” driving fulltime AND organising the trucks at the current 10-truck level, plus subbies.

For a period about three years ago the numbers crept up to 12 and that convinced him to get rid of two when the opportunity arose. He mentions that he’s lucky that his fiancée Trish is “understanding of what I do…the hours spent driving all day and sorting and dispatching jobs for the next day.”

While Richie concedes they might in future need to get bigger to meet demand, he insists: “We’d rather not. We’d rather work alongside our trustworthy contractors, as we’ve always done.”

He explains that this industry that he loves and enjoys working in isn’t always a joy: “Well, we don’t enjoy it every day, to be honest with you. I think having some good people that you’re working with and alongside is key. Good clients and good allies to work with…

“But there’s a lot of things about the industry that aren’t good. Cut-throat cowboys…and the disloyalty of some contractors. There’s a lot of that out there now. People climb over each other to get to where they want to get.”

Lindsay agrees: In the past decade, he says, “it’s been a huge change. And I think that’s probably why we get along so good with old-established companies. We’re all on the same page. We can give each other a job without the fear that the

Truck & Driver | 63

But even more so there’s his ultimate passion project.... next minute the job’s gone.”

Ask Richie to take stock of where they are, with 10 trucks on the fleet, and he says: “Without being a blow-arse, I’m proud of what we’ve achieved...we started from absolutely nothing – from one old truck that Dad and I bought together.

“We’ve built up a good healthy business and had a good lifestyle as well. We still have to work hard at it – and you definitely have to keep at it every day.

“And this is why we’ve never put a transport manager in to run it….in a lot of ways I’d like to have someone else running it and I’ll just drive my truck, but it doesn’t work that way. It’s very hard to get someone to run your business the way you do it yourself.

“We’ve found that it’s more successful us doing it ourselves.

We keep it in the family. And then any decisions that have got to be made, Dad and I always talk about them. We don’t always agree, but we always talk about them together….

“And it just works well. And that’s why we don’t want to get any bigger. We would rather work alongside other good companies and all have a fair bite of the cake.”

They’ve turned down opportunities to branch out into other areas of work – primarily so “we haven’t become competition to

the people we’re working for.”

Over time the nature of the Malams’ work has changed – from predominantly residential housing work to delivering bulk loads to concrete plants and aggregate suppliers, plus a lot of civil infrastructure work.

While the work has increased, the client base has slimmed down. Says Lindsay: “It’s smaller – but we’ve got a good relationship with our customers. And some of them go back to basically when we started.”

Every driver they’ve hired, says Richie, “has come through word of mouth. We’d rather park a truck up than have the wrong person driving it – because your driver turns up to the job and if he doesn’t do a good job it’s not very good representation for your company. If you haven’t got good staff, you haven’t really got a business.

“The majority of our work has come from the work that we’ve done for people in the past. And the relationships that we’ve built.”

So, he adds: “All things going well, we’ll just keep boxing along the same and just see how things go. No great plans.”

There’s passion, sentiment and pride that runs through this R&R Malam business: The family history in NZ transport and

All pictures, clockwise from top left: Lindsay in 2009, with his Nissan Diesel CW440....Richie and sister Debbie with Lindsay’s Nissan....the T909 putting on a light show on the wharf....ex-Dynes T904 tractor unit and semi trailer suit certain jobs.....four of the current fleet have headed off on all-night job, leaving this varied lineup parked-up for the night

64 | Truck & Driver

in Oratia is something that’s in the blood – and Richie feels strongly about keeping it going: “We are very passionate about the area and the family and what we do here.”

Lindsay too confesses to pride in having restored the Malam name in trucking: “It’s an old name in the West.”

There may not be an obvious succession plan for the Malam business – given that Richie’s 20-year-old daughter Brooklyn, who he reckons “had to spend a lot of time in trucks with me as a young girl, is more into horses, not so much into the trucks.”

Tracey’s son Jacob is definitely a truck guy, and has now

taken on working with the drivers to wash the trucks every Saturday and Sunday – taking over the role from older brother Mitchell…who’s now joined the Army.

Richie’s passion includes historic musclecar racing, in a ’68 Z28 Camaro.

But even more so there’s his ultimate passion project – the professional rebuild of Barry Butterworth’s Detroit 8V92engined Kenworth W924 tractor unit.

It’s like it was meant to be – a path that was set 35 or more years ago, when Richie got the biggest kicks of his schooldays, seeing Butterworth’s Kenworth drive by. T&D

Truck & Driver | 65

LEGENDS

Culture First - Andrew Carpenter

W

ITH A BESPOKE LUNCH room that features a 6ft truck hauling refrigerators, office walls adorned with photos of staff doing outdoor pursuits and a personnel development programme that enables both vocational and personal growth, you could say that TR’s head office in Penrose is more of a club than a well-oiled truck and trailer rental group - but it’s their ever evolving, empowering culture that founder Andrew Carpenter began twenty-eight years ago and what they give back to the industry that makes him a Southpac Truck Legend.

TR Group began back in 1992 when Andrew (supported by family resources and father Ron of Motor Truck Distributors / Truck Leasing fame) took on what was then the CHEP Trailer Hire business with a fleet of sixty-five trailers, evolving to what is now an almost seven thousand strong fleet of trucks and trailers

66 | Truck & Driver

and a business that is currently expanding into Australia and beyond.

Andrew has been in the transport industry his whole life and he has no doubt that growing up he developed his trucking bug from his father, however, it wasn’t a predetermined goal in life to be in trucks, in fact he didn’t really have a particular goal when he left university, saying “It was just a happy coincidence that right at that moment this opportunity came up and I took it.”

Andrew recalls that back then, the Carpenter family bought the Auckland based Chep Trailer Hire operation and Andrew took the helm. “I moved up here [from Palmerston North] and started running Trailer Rentals as we called it. Trucks did not come into the picture until 1998.

According to Andrew, ‘Truck passion and focus’ is basically the difference between what they and many of their lease competitors do. He says “virtually all their competitors origins are from a ‘money lend’ parentage, we’re more about ‘what truck do you want and what are you trying to do?’ “It’s more truck solution based”.

Inevitably Andrew brought with him some of his father’s core values and principles and operationally and culturally he knew exactly

how he intended to shape the business.

He says, “the customer driven philosophy is timeless and there’s wisdom that you can draw from my father’s generation,”. It is important to keep building on that too, Andrew goes on to say, to reflect the way the world is moving.

“I like the generation we’re in now, people have a lot of confidence and security. Some of the young people here are unbelievable, they’re superb, they’re perfectly relaxed and confident within themselves, they’re interested in ‘what’s right’ rather than ‘who’s right’.”

Despite the business’s obvious success, Andrew himself is the picture of humility and credits much of its achievements to their leadership team and ultimately to the staff.

“We have a leadership team of twelve and I feel that everybody on it contributes equally and has for years and years. Our thing is to build a team of people who are really good at what they do but are also doing what they want to be doing and getting their own personal fulfilment, it’s a healthy balanced equation in my view.”

He says that TR’s culture is about freedom and choice, “it’s about finding your place here and grabbing the opportunities

Main: P Insert: B the first

From left to right: Andrew explaining the learning pit, TR Group, ANZAC themed Kenworth K200

to learn and grow as a human being, if you do that, you’ll learn and grow as a professional in your role. So the whole flavour is about learning and growth and that’s one of the most fulfilling things for me personally.”

TR is somewhat of a karma chameleon and its arguably ‘uniquely refreshing’ culture is something that has slowly evolved over the past twenty-eight years, however, there have been some milestones along the way.

“Like a lot of these things, they slowly grow as you live life, you try things and decide that things are or are not you. At some point you get more deliberate about it and say well what does this look like if I’m trying to share it with other people and you create something that you can communicate to others more clearly.”

He says that about twelve years ago they [the team] took time to write out their values and recalls it being interesting ‘because the only way that writing out your values works is if you try and describe what you are not what you want to be’. And then three years ago they created a set of ‘pillars’, essentially guidelines that are the ethos of the group

itself.

Andrew explains, “it begins when people join us. Our process for hiring is very deliberate in order to get the right people.

We’re really clear about what the role is but we’re equally clear about the culture and style of our place. People that join us want to be here and complement it, they don’t sit outside of it for too long, they become it. We believe that TR as a separate being doesn’t exist, it’s just a name we give ourselves, in fact TR is just us, all of us.” And that’s where the pillars come in.

“On one side we say let’s try and strive to be the best in the world at what we do, (hiring trucks and trailers) and if we do that some extraordinary results will come. On the other side we say, let’s go about our business by believing we can always make a positive difference for other people, be it the person we work with, the customer or the supplier. And if we go about our lives like that the result will be that we leave a lasting impression.”

Andrew says that often you find that people suggest you have to choose which one is more important. Are you going to build your business and make it big or are you going to slow down and take time to look after people and accept that the business might

not grow or succeed because of that. “But we’ve learned that they don’t have to trade off, there doesn’t need to be one or the other, you can have both and do both.” He reckons that there’s a sweet spot where you’re actually doing both at the same time all of the time, what you’re doing and how you’re doing it is leading to a good business and making a positive difference for others. “And that’s where we try and live because our definition of success is both. If we do one but not the other, that’s a fail.”

All the hard work goes on between the pillars, Andrew says ‘the pathway to get there is the bit in the middle where we say, always learning, growing and improving in key areas, customer value, our capabilities, our work and ourselves as human beings.’ For this the group has a designated PCAD (Personal Care and Development) team and room that’s there to support and encourage people to be the best they can be. They have many powerful learning models, such as ‘learning pits’ that recognise that to learn you have to get worse before you get better, and conduct off-site team challenge weeks designed to help team members excel. TR also runs LEAN, a customer focused business model that is designed to maximise the energy and time that goes into doing things that customers value and, as a consequence, reduce wasteful non value adding activity in business processes, notes and charts run on walls throughout the three floors of office space.

But it’s not just the team that this culture embraces, TR sponsors the Youth Team Trust, National Truck Driving Champs, New Zealand Fire Service, Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust, and the Hopeful black dog to name but a few.

Evidently what Andrew began twenty-eight years ago when TR commenced has proven to be a success both inside and out of the organisation but he finishes by saying “in terms of giving to the industry, I think the best thing we can do is be the best bunch of people we can be, that the industry likes to deal with and my dream is to see if we can build a culture that carries on.” T&D

Truck & Driver | 67

This picture: The first prototype of a new trailer, designed and built specifically to safely transport nuclear weapons and radioactive material, is about to be hit, broadside on, by the sacrificial tractor unit and loaded semi-trailer careering towards it Below: Rockets propel the combination up to highway speed on the laboratory’s sled track Both photos Sandia National Laboratories

68 | Truck & Driver

FEATURE

Story Wayne Munro Photos Sandia National Laboratories & US Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration

A FULL-SCALE CRASH TEST IN THE UNITED STATES HAS seen a rocket-propelled, fully-loaded tractor and semi-trailer combination propelled headlong into the side of a parked semi-trailer.

The reason for the spectacular test, at a desert site in New Mexico, was to see how well the stationary semi-trailer’s cargo was protected in a potentially catastrophic highway-speed side collision.

Why go to so much trouble and expense? Turns out it’s perfectly understandable: The trailer was a prototype that’s so far taken five years to develop – and was specifically designed to protectively cocoon nuclear weapons or radioactive materials being transported around the United States.

The Mobile Guardian Transporter (MGT) is a concept trailer that’s been designed and built from scratch by Sandia National Laboratories – a company specialising in research and development on behalf of the Truck & Driver | 69

Above & right: A convoy of trucks transports transuranic waste – a byproduct of making nuclear weapons, generating nuclear power and conducting nuclear research – from Sandia National Laboratories to the Department of Energy’s nuclear waste safe storage facility Both photos Randy Montoya, National Nuclear Security Administration

US government.

A longtime contractor to the US Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Sandia’s “primary mission” is “ensuring that the US nuclear arsenal is safe, secure and reliable.” That includes the movement of nuclear weapons around the country.

As Jim Redmond, Sandia senior manager on the MGT programme, says: “Making sure we conduct transportation safely and securely is a critical part of effective nuclear deterrence. It’s not an extra – it’s an essential part of the programme.

“It provides needed assurance to the American public and our allies of the safety and security of our stockpile. You’ve got to

be able to ship nuclear assets safely and securely – or you don’t have a deterrence programme.”

The unique crash test is seen as a major milestone for the NNSA as it develops new transporters to replace the current fleet of vehicles that move nuclear assets within the US. The present transporter fleet has been in use since the 1990s.

Another two MGT prototypes will now be built, with the aim of having the new vehicles in service till 2050 and beyond.

A huge amount of data recorded in the crash test will be used for qualification of the transporter and “to better understand cargo response in accident scenarios for years to come,” says Sandia.

Truck & Driver | 71

Top left: Workers prepare a remotehandled transuranic waste container ready for it to be trucked to a permanent waste isolation facility.

Photo Randy Montoya, National Nuclear Security Administration Top right: Back in 1945, technical and military couriers unload a major component of the first atomic bomb test from the Army sedan used to transport it to the New Mexico test site.

Photo National Nuclear Security Administration

Right: For around 15 years, until 1992, the “White Train” was used to transport nuclear cargo – but the white painted wagons, necessary to manage heat, was conspicuous...and attracted anti-nuclear protesters Photo National Nuclear Security Administration

Using the laboratory’s sled track, rockets propelled a sacrificial semi-trailer and tractor unit at “highway speed” into the MGT prototype.

Sandia’s MGT programme’s senior manager Jim Redmond says that transporter crash tests like this haven’t taken place at the lab for many years – and never on this scale: “About two decades ago, Sandia crashed a truck into an immovable barrier. But this is the first time we’ve done a test in this configuration, where we took a truck at full capacity and propelled it down the track and hit our test article sitting idly at the end of it.

“In two decades, you can imagine how much technology has advanced in terms of our ability to measure responses of the trailer and its contents.”

Redmond’s team was able to use numerous inexpensive, highdefinition/high-frame-rate cameras, for instance, to capture every split-second of the crash test. It is also, of course, able to benefit from the huge advances in computing speed and data storage capabilities since the 1990s.

“The combination of these advances enabled us to have much 72 | Truck & Driver

higher resolution measurements in time and space that we will use during the qualification phase of the MGT programme,” says Redmond.

Technological advances, of course, also went into the MGT’s design and construction – and are the reason why it is “not an extension of the old trailers: We started with a clean sheet of paper.”

Nearly everything on the MGT is custom designed and built and Sandia worked for years on the design before beginning work with an external partner to build the road-ready trailer in just over a year.

Then the development team worked for another six months assembling electronics for the prototype before beginning to test it in abnormal and normal environments – the latter including driving it on the road while measuring shock and vibration response. It also included exposing the vehicle to thermal cycling, while measuring its response to various temperatures.

For the first six months of this year the team prepared the prototype for the crash test – setting-up data-acquisition

“We apply science to help detect, repel, defeat, or mitigate threats.” instrumentation and configuring and installing representative cargo.

The aim of the test, says Kylen Johns – lead on the prototype project – was “gathering an unprecedented amount of data, realising that it would be extremely difficult in such a harsh environment.

“We were crashing a semi into another semi and protecting these super-tiny, thin cables meant the difference between getting critical data or missing major objectives.”

During the test, more than 400 channels of data and video were collected, says Redmond: “Every sensor served a purpose and provided specific data that the team needs to ensure that the transporter meets all requirements.”

The five-year investment in this first prototype resulted in a test that Redmond says lasted less than 10 seconds.

Sandia says that “national security is our business. We apply science to help detect, repel, defeat, or mitigate threats.”

It’s a job that it’s done for more than 70 years – and as the NNSA highlights, there have been huge changes in the way it has dealt with the secure transportation of nuclear weapons and materials.

Back in 1945, in preparation for the world’s first atom bomb test – carried out in the New Mexico desert just a few weeks before the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki – there was nothing remotely sophisticated in the transport arrangements to assemble the nuclear components.

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Top left: During a 1962 visit to Sandia, US President John F. Kennedy checks out a satellite system designed to detect atmospheric nuclear testing Top right: An Atomic Energy Commission courier in the late 1950s, armed with an M3 submachine gun, guards a truck carrying high explosives Left: The test sled track that propelled the tractor unit/semi-trailer combination in the latest crash test was used in 1988 to crash a complete F-4 Phantom jet into a thick concrete slab All photos National Nuclear Security Administration

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A Replacement Armoured Tractor (RAT) and a Safeguards Transporter semi-trailer – part of the fleet currently used to transport nuclear weapons in the US

The NNSA recounts that couriers drove nuclear weapon components, including the plutonium core – from a Los Alamos laboratory to the test site…on the back seat of a US Army sedan!

Other bomb components were trucked to the detonation site “in a metal container packed inside a wooden crate and secured in a steel bed….covered by a tarpaulin. All of the shipments were escorted by technical couriers, special agents and armed military police.

“The birth of the bomb,” says the NNSA, “demanded an ongoing effort to provide specialised protection of weapons and components on the nation’s highways.”

That responsibility eventually landed with the NNSA’s Office of Secure Transportation (OST).

Under its watch, over the intervening decades, cars and open steel-bed trucks used to transport nuclear weapons have given way to purposebuilt trains, aircraft and now, primarily, to technologically advanced tractor units and semi-trailers.

A focus on rail transportation for the nuclear “assets,” from the mid-1970s to around ’92, brought the OST into public visibility.

Its so-called White Train comprised secure wagons, buffer wagons and courier/federal agent coaches – painted a conspicuous white to provide thermal protection for the heatsensitive weapons. That made the train readily identifiable compared to unmarked tractor units and semi-trailers on highways, and attracted numerous anti-nuclear protests. In the mid-1980s the train was made a little less obvious, with the sides of the wagons repainted more conventionally….but the carriage roofs remained white.

Aircraft have also been used throughout the 70 years to move

the nuclear weapons, and the OST fleet currently comprises two Boeing 737-400 passenger/cargo aircraft and a DC-9 Combi, housed at a US Air Force base in New Mexico.

Sandia’s first secure trailer, built specifically to provide safe transport for nuclear weapons and materials, was the Safe Secure Transport (SST), designed in the early 1970s.

The SST was replaced in the 1990s by the Safeguards Transporter, which “further enhanced security systems and improved safety and ride comfort to the tractor-trailer system.”

That’s the trailer still in use – and is now the OST’s primary means of moving nuclear weapons, their security guarded on the highways by accompanying federal agents.

Vincent Fisher, OST’s assistant deputy administrator, says: “Our job is so important to the nation’s wellbeing that we can’t rest on past successes and accomplishments.

“Threats change, technologies evolve, budgets fluctuate and responsibilities inevitably increase. But the ongoing execution of our mission rests with smart, highly-trained and patriotic people who manage what we do, who plan for every contingency, and who support the steadfast agents who carry out our mission year after year on the nation’s highways. We re-dedicate ourselves to that effort every day.”

OST says that over more than 40 years – travelling the equivalent of a trip to Mars and back – the nuclear weapons and materials transporters and their drivers “have had no fatal accidents or release of radioactive material.”

Convoys of transporters are accompanied by special escort vehicles and OST says its agents “have a critical national security mission that requires them to maintain a low public profile, while travelling millions of miles on public highways.” T&D Truck & Driver | 77

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RANSPORT OPERATORS CAN now plan, turn-by-turn, an exact route for a job – using Teletrac Navman’s artificial intelligence-first software that takes into account factors including heavy vehicle infrastructure en route (such as bridges and tunnels), specific company or customer safety requirements and permit conditions.

Its next-generation Journey Planner tool and advanced in-cab navigation application, available through Teletrac Navman’s TN360 AI-first software, is also capable of taking into consideration contractual requirements, the vehicle to be used and load compliance.

The Journey Planner pairs with Teletrac Navman’s SmartNav: Route application on a driver’s in-cab device, which provides turn-byturn navigation.

The advanced route planning tool is “a major

step up from traditional navigation software, which is not designed to keep drivers on a prescribed route,” says Andrew Rossington, Teletrac Navman chief product officer.

“Traditional software often redirects drivers to a route that is not desirable, causing compliance or safety issues when truck drivers are sent onto light vehicle-only routes or across protected infrastructure.

“We design technology with the aim of solving everyday issues for transporters – it’s a direct response to what our customers are asking for. This level of control is going to make operations smoother and more productive for busy transport operators.”

When considering loads that transport operators carry, such as hazardous loads or valuable goods, “planning the exact path the driver can take ahead of time helps to ensure a

safe trip.”

If a truck has to deviate from the planned route – because of road closures, accidents or roadworks, for instance – the SmartNav: Route application will automatically redirect the driver back to the planned route via the safest and most compliant roads.

It will also alert the back-office, giving “the business the assurance that they will meet contractual requirements and keep driver safety front of mind for every job.”

The Journey Planner also allows operators to more accurately quote a job based on a chosen route – getting a more complete picture of the planned task versus actual task, to assist in driving efficiencies. They can also better plan driver schedules with more precise route timing – the level of precision helping businesses become more competitive and efficient. T&D

A Kiwi taste of classic truck stop

K

ENWORTH DEALER SOUTHPAC TRUCKS HAS created a themed merchandise area within its Manukau City showroom that captures a classic American truck stop vibe.

The Fuel Room sets the mood with its American retro-style logos, 44-gallon drums turned into perspex-topped display stands, a polished exhaust stack and shroud doubling as an aircon duct…and T-shirts hung from Kenworth grilles.

There are retro American counter-tops, toolboxes repurposed as merchandise cabinets, Kenworth ox-blood red barstools (at the bar where coffee is served) and a mural showing Southpac CEO Maarten Durent’s 1971 Kenworth and, for contrast, a new T909.

The 44-gallon drums show off “all the knick-knacks – the keyrings, torches, models, belt buckles and coffee cups,” says Southpac Trucks national parts manager Matt Lamb.

“We wanted to create a Kenworth customer destination space inside our showroom for merchandise” – a distinctly different environment within the showroom that has a classic truck feel about it.

He reckons it’s “a complete destination store for all things Kenworth – a place where you can come and get fuelled-up.”

Lamb and Durent gained the inspiration for The Fuel Room from a 2017

The Fuel Room is a spectacularly-themed space within the Southpac showroom road-trip through middle America, from Detroit to New Orleans – visiting Kenworth and Peterbilt dealerships and the famous Iowa 80 truck stop, reputedly the world’s biggest. T&D Truck & Driver | 79

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FEATURE

Fuso NZ’s parts inventory has increased fourfold on what is started out with in 2016

COMPLEX….

BUT SIMPLE

Story Dave McLeod Photos Hayden Woolston

URTIS ANDREWS, THE BOSS OF FUSO NEW Zealand, reckons his company’s latest challenge is both “incredibly complex….yet incredibly simple.”

The challenge comes as part of its new role – as NZ’s supplier of spare parts for all of Daimler Truck & Bus Asia Pacif ic’s brands.

With Daimler Trucks having decided to consolidate its Kiwi representation into its Australian-based regional HQ, Andrews’ Fuso NZ operation has now been conf irmed as the Kiwi service provider for all Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner and Alliance spare parts – as well as its already-established FUSO

parts business.

And Andrews has set the business the target of a 97% f ill rate (or order fulf ilment rate – a calculation based on the number of orders able to be satisf ied immediately, divided by the total number of orders). And that’s the task that he reckons is seemingly contradictory: Complex….and simple.

He explains: “Our number one job is to have the right part, at the right place, at the right time – so all we’ve got to do is f ill up the warehouse with what we need and sell it! It’s completely in our hands to make it much better than it was.”

And it’s not like Fuso NZ doesn’t have an impressive track record to call on: In 2016 Keith Andrew Trucks (KAT) was Truck & Driver | 81

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Below: Fuso NZ now handles the spares for all Daimler Truck brands except Western Star

appointed the FUSO trucks representative in NZ – taking over the role from Mitsubishi NZ. Purchasing all of the FUSO truck parts that were then in the country and relocating them to Fuso NZ’s 3000-square-metre Mangere warehouse facility in Mangere, Fuso NZ (created by KAT) took control of parts management and increased the order fulf ilment rate from 65% to 97%. And this success is something Andrews now intends to replicate with the spares for the rest of the Daimler brands.

Andrews recounts the Fuso NZ experience: “We found this warehouse and took all of their (Mitsubishi’s) stock: It f itted on one and a half shelves – that’s how little they were holding.

“We grew it to four racks, plus all our small bins – and taking the original 6000 to 7000 lines up to around 12,000.

Our goal for Mercedes is to equal what we do with FUSO, which is 97% fulf ilment out of this warehouse.”

Even though the former Mercedes-Benz-run parts operation was located just 100 metres from Fuso NZ, Andrews says that the move to their new home, involving around 10,000 new lines, was still a big undertaking.

“We did it once in 2016 so we’re pros at it now,” Andrews laughs. The move was much slicker this time: “In 2016 we had a week’s shutdown. We had to stocktake, physically move the stock and then put everything on the racks.

“This time it was more of a transition. M-B got a list for their warehouse guys to pick and we brought a truck across for them to forklif t (the spares) on. It was a couple of big shipments, then two or three boxes at a time.”

As a result there was only a three-day shutdown for the entire move – and the dealers were geared up for it: “They were given plenty of notice. For them, the parts weren’t available in the M-B portal one day – and the very next day they could see them on our Connect system.”

While most of the new spares stock only had to travel 100m, some of the biggest spares were shif ted 158 kilometres! Andrews explains: “We’ve got 25 Mercedes-Benz

and Freightliner cabs stored in our Whangarei warehouse.

And although Argosy is no longer available, we have stock of around eight cabs as peace of mind for the owners of Argosys that are running around right now.

“We believe that you’ve always got to have a minimum of one cab for each model in stock.”

In terms of stock lines, Andrews reckons that Fuso NZ’s parts inventory has now increased fourfold on what it started with in 2016 – and turnover has trebled.

It has, he says, been nice steady growth all the way through, aside from “a couple of big bites.”

It does help that they’re all Daimler parts: “It’s not like we’re branching out to different suppliers throughout the world – we’re dedicated to Daimler. You’ve got FUSO, which is Japan, Mercedes, which is Germany, Freightliner which is America…

“And you’ve got Alliance, which is your af termarket brand – sourced from lots of places. We’ve got the complete set now, which is enough to do.”

He says that adding Mercedes-Benz parts complements what Fuso NZ already had: “Things are bigger and there are more transactions, so there’s not a lot of negatives, if any. Of course, smaller can quite of ten be better: You know what’s going on. But I’m pretty happy.”

Andrews says that his goal is not to be the biggest and richest, but rather to have something slightly smaller and ensure a better job: “If you know everybody’s names then you’re doing a pretty good job.”

The increase in parts has meant an increase in staff – f ive in the warehouse and two extras in the off ice.

The building itself had enough space to cater for the extra spares: “The footprint was already here. We already had the warehouse, but we had to add some extra racking. The computer system was there – we just added a couple more brands. It’s just a copy and paste.”

As for the way Fuso NZ runs its operation – Andrews says, tongue in cheek, that he doesn’t want to give away too many Truck & Driver | 83

“What’s more, we know trucks: It’s what we’ve done – forever.” must stock it, we’ll stock it.”

The company also runs a lost sale report: “If you go to order a part and it’s not there, you hit ‘lost sale.’ It’s really simple – but simple is something that people find difficult to get right.

“If we don’t have a part and it’s a key part that we should have (or the customer is going to suffer), we will source it. We will grab it – we will find it.”

He says he genuinely loves challenges: “You give me a problem…I will find a solution.”

Fuso NZ has seen rapid growth since it started in 2016, but Andrews says he’s pretty comfortable with the size it’s now at – and that getting the parts business right is his No. 1 focus.

“As the service provider for Daimler Truck and Bus, we buy the stock….we own the stock, we’re in control of the stock. It’s our stock…it’s completely in our hands to make it better.

“What’s more, we know trucks: It’s what we’ve done – forever.” T&D

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secrets….but he does believe there’s a lack of focus in some businesses nowadays: “It’s the world we live in – people don’t seem to do as good a job of things as they used to.”

Operationally, the company uses a real-time stock management system called Equip (from Australia). But it has built its own purposebuilt Fuso NZ portal for dealers to log into to order parts. This Connect system simply needed adapting to accommodate the additional brands.

With KAT one of Fuso NZ’s customers there’s obviously a vested interest in ensuring that parts are immediately available….but this seemingly just adds to the business’ focus on having the right parts in stock.

Says Andrews: “With Mercedes, the parts are easier and quicker to source, as they’re replenished from Australia. But we will always stock higher levels to make sure we don’t have to rely on other people. If we’ve got the part here, we’ve got control. And we don’t have a budget cap on stocking – if we

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Pet taxi truckie

Morgan and one of his passengers

Story: Wayne Munro Photos: Morgan & Rachel MacAllister-Robb

C

HRISTCHURCH DRIVER MORGAN MACALLISTER-ROBB LOVES trucks…and dogs. That combination, plus his generosity and a ready preparedness to help animals has seen him doing something remarkable, heartwarming.

For the past eight months the 48-year-old truckie has been referring to his CoolTranz Kenworth K200 8x4 tractor unit as his “pet taxi.”

With his bosses’ blessing, Morgan has often added an extra element to his temperature-controlled freight runs between Christchurch and Palmerston North.

Passengers, that is – in the form of dogs and cats. Primarily homeless animals that need transporting from rescue centres to their new owners – or, as Morgan prefers to call them, “their new humans.”

Or their “human slaves.”

And, as he readily concedes, he is a bit of a soft touch if someone asks for a favour for an animal.

Morgan is our latest Castrol Truck Driver Hero – because that’s exactly what people say of him on Facebook: “A hero…an absolute champion…a wonderful person” – someone who has “touched the lives of every human and animal you have helped.” And dozens more like that.

Morgan also hopes he has thrown shade on the popular image of truckies being tough, burly, unfeeling blokes. Or worse.

This all started back during New Zealand’s Level 4 lockdown, when dog breeders and rescue centres were unable to get animals transported over Cook Strait to their new owners.

Morgan was asked by an exec at CoolTranz if he could take a German shepherd puppy from Palmerston North to Christchurch for a mate.

Diesel ended up sleeping the night in the sleeper cab of Morgan’s Kenworth waiting for a ferry. And, after about 16 hours together, “when I dropped him off I didn’t want to leave him….and he didn’t want to

leave me either!”

Morgan readily confesses to being an animal-loving tragic: He and wife Rachel (they do, by the way, have two dogs of their own) were already running a couple of Facebook pages for animal lovers.

And when he posted something about transporting Diesel, word soon got around. In fact, he reckons, “the floodgates opened: I got inundated with messages about doing other puppies.”

He agreed to take a labrador pup with him from Wellington to Blenheim for a breeder – and “by the time I did that puppy….she’d already jacked-up two other people with puppies for me to do.”

While some people might think that for a truck lover and dog-lover, this might be a perfect scenario, Morgan points out that for someone who, first and foremost, has a job to do and schedules to keep to, who sleeps in his truck….and who is renowned for keeping it fastidiously clean, there are downsides.

“It is true that I have the best job in the world – that I drive trucks AND I get to spend time with puppies. But….it’s not as easy as it comes across.

“But…. I find it hard to say no! I know I’m way too soft.”

That’s led to him transporting at least 30 dogs and 10 or 12 cats – most of them rescue animals – since he delivered Diesel in April.

He’s even created a new Facebook page, Very Important Paws, dedicated to the animals he transports. His ulterior motive is, he says, to see how they’re getting on “with their new humans.”

He also hopes that the FB page will show the general public that truckies are nice people too! He explains: “I’m just a truck driver who adores all animals and creatures and I’m very lucky to have a wife who does too – so we make a great team, along with our own V.I.Paws.

“I think the biggest stigma with what I do with transporting animals,

Truck & Driver | 87

Clockwise, from top left: Morgan and labrador mates....Rossi, abandoned and blind in one eye, on his way to a new life...

CoolTranz bosses are happy with Morgan’s feelgood image-building on behalf of truckies.....Darcy won Morgan and Rachel’s hearts.... little Lily, en route to giving a recently-widowed Wellington woman some much-needed companionship

is the fact I’m a truck driver. LOL. Many people don’t think a truck driver would give the care and attention that their animals deserve. This is a stigma I wish to destroy!”

He adds: “I grow very attached to these creatures, LOL (even the ones who have wee accidents in my truck).

“I will never accept money from rescue organisations for any rescue animal I take, as in my opinion, if these people are willing to give their time to rescuing animals, and people out there are willing to take on rescues…then I am very willing to connect these animals with their forever homes.”

He’s even furnished his Kenworth with its own dog crates, water bowls, water supply, toys and leads.

With his V.I.Paws there have, of course, been “mishaps.” Like the two purebred lab pups picked up out of Woodend, destined for Palmy: “Within an hour, I had to stop because one of them spewed and the other one had diarrhoea. This was one of those times when I wondered ‘what the f*** am I doing!!’ ” Luckily, they were fine after that.

But then there was the cute wee dachshund pup he picked up in Seddon: “In the first 20 minutes she vomited. Then while we waited for the ferry in Picton I got her out and had a play with her…and she peed on my bed! And while I was cleaning that up, she went to the other end of the bed and pooed!!

“A lot of people say ‘how do you handle it – you love your truck.’

Well I do, but I love the animals as well.”

Three rescue pups he carried actually chewed their way out of their crate! After that, he swore he’d never carry more than two at a time.

But….there was another trip where he ended up with three puppies, a cat…and its human owner! He already had the rescue pups when the cat owner pleaded with him to take his cat from Picton to Christchurch…so he could hitch-hike. He took them both.

88 | Truck & Driver

When they got to Christchurch at 1am, “I had four families waiting for me… It was pissing down – and I’m handing out puppies left, right and centre!”

Zac and Obi were difficult passengers – but only because the two fully-grown black Labrador rescue dogs weighed 40kg and 50kg: “They were a major to get into the truck, they were so big.” Apart from that though “they were amazing dogs.”

Sad stories? Like Rossi: “Aww, such a gorgeous puppy – with a really sad story. He was found in a sack, by a river…and due to the mistreatment, he’d gone blind in one eye.” Morgan has a photo of his clearly-delighted new human picking him up.

Lily is a little nine-year-old dog whose human was seriously ill, so she wanted to rehome Lily. Morgan delivered her to a new home and got this reaction: “I can never thank you enough Morgan, for bringing Lily to Wellington from Christchurch at the very beginning of Level 3, when there was no other way to transport her. She is an absolute joy to my recently widowed Mum and has put the smile and purpose back in Mum’s life.”

Handovers like that are “really nice. Sad as it can be, with certain ones, for me to be saying goodbye to them, it’s really cool. A really sad story but a perfect ending.”

And then there was Darcy – a little Jack Russell cross. He spent a few nights at Rachel and Morgan’s home before his trip: “By the time I took him to Nelson I was like ‘no, no – I just can’t do it!’

“And I did wonder: ‘Am I the right person for this job.’ It was the second dog I sort of got attached to, but this was definitely the one that made me shed tears.”

Which one has been his best experience? “The last dog I did was the best dog I’ve ever had. But I told Rachel that and she said: ‘You say that about every one!’ ” T&D

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FEATURE

AI TO “TRANSFORM” DRIVER MARKET A RTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CAN TRANSFORM THE New Zealand truck driver market – for the benefit of operators and drivers.

This is the belief of Kiwi job-based driver hire service DGH, which specialises in supplying commercial drivers to transport operators on a job-by-job basis – whether that’s for fixed terms, seasonal work or adhoc assignments.

DGH says its Road Ninja solution, set for launch in January, will put more jobs on offer, create a bigger pool of drivers ready to work and make pay rates transparent.

Road Ninja is the brainchild of DGH founder and MD Bodhi Vette, who says it is is “the perfect solution for drivers and operators alike and ideal for the ‘Gig economy’ (a labour market in which short-term contracts or freelance work is to the fore, rather than permanent fulltime jobs) that the industry and this generation is heading towards.

“Road Ninja will radically change the way transport companies operate.”

The Road Ninja app (available soon in both the Apple store and Android Play store) will, he says, give drivers the ability to source and secure jobs from anywhere in NZ, at any time – and allow them to set hours that suit and their ideal pay rate.

It will also be beneficial for operators: Through the Road Ninja website, “operators can appeal to drivers when they’re ready and looking to work, request the services of specific known drivers that they prefer to work with, can post and manage multiple work assignments and even manage their fleet.”

Road Ninja is free for drivers to join. They download the app and create their own profile, including a photo and an optional video CV – a simple-to-use facility.

A copy of their driver’s licence is uploaded and then checked by the NZTA’s Transport Operator Register Online. The app has a skills rating calculator – where drivers add their skills and their aptitude. They also indicate what geographical areas they’re available to work in.

In what Vette terms an “industry disrupter,” the drivers set their own pay rate, if they wish. Road Ninja allows them to declare themselves as “open to fixed-priced job offers,” or stipulate the hourly rate they’re prepared to work for – removing any room for ill-feeling about pay rates.

Their declared hourly rates will feed a real-time AI “industry average” grid, where drivers and operators alike can gauge what the market expects to be paid for various roles and experience.

Once their profile is loaded, drivers can accept or decline offers of assignments that suit their requirements via the app – anytime, anywhere.

For operators the process is just as easy. Posting jobs to the Road Ninja platform is a simple four-step process that includes checking availability of drivers from “NZ’s biggest driver pool.”

They set the assignment criteria – details including specific requirements for the role such as start/stop times, pay rate, drug and alcohol testing, first-aid certificates or port access. They can set an itinerary, a route (using Google maps) and then send the assignment to selected drivers on the Road Ninja network.

When a driver accepts an assignment, job reminders and alarms can be sent to the driver’s calendar, pre-departure checks (standard or bespoke) are registered via the app (with any issues noted via text, images or 30-second videos), check-in points are logged and geofenced as suggestions and an e-logbook is completed.

There’s also a chat feature available for drivers and operators to communicate with if they wish to.

The assignment is visible in “relative” real time and payment is made off the e-logbook details once completed. At the end of each assignment, drivers and operators get the opportunity to rate each other – which Vette says is a way of independently reference-checking each other’s work and ethics.

Vette says that two months ahead of Road Ninja’s January launch it already had around 1000 drivers and approximately 100 trucking and tourism operators on its database. T&D

Truck & Driver | 91

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New Zealand Heavy Haulage Association

OP Ltd

Staying up to date with BESS

AND S BAY

Photos – JP Ware Transport

BESS allows approved operators and drivers transporting overweight loads to self-supervise on bridges that have specific speed and positioning requirements

By Jonathan Bhana-Thomson – chief executive, New Zealand Heavy Haulage Associationsociation

TD31101

L

ET’S TALK ABOUT BESS. NO, NOT SOME LONG-LOST FRIEND – IT is Bridge Engineering Self Supervision that I’m talking about here.

This is the licence that drivers need if they are travelling on an overweight permit. These permits are for indivisible heavy loads – and are different from HPMV permits. Overweight permits are required in a number of different situations: - Transporting a large indivisible load or piece of machinery - A heavy mobile crane travelling on the road, - A special overweight vehicle, such as a pile-drilling machine - A heavy agricultural vehicle An overweight permit is required if a vehicle is over the maximum legal weight for a vehicle or combination, according to the limits in VDAM – and it is not a divisible freight load on an HMPV/50Max permit.

The reason for an overweight permit is to manage those bridge structures that have a lower weight capacity on the roading network.

For state highways, the New Zealand Transport Agency uses a bridge assessment tool (OPERMIT) that models the individual axle loads of that overweight load/vehicle over each bridge.

Bridges that an OPERMIT identifies as not having sufficient capacity for overweight loads to travel over at a normal road speed (which places greater dynamic loads on the bridge), are identified as requiring the vehicle to travel over the bridge….with speed and position requirements.

Many years ago, this association worked with the authorities to develop a system (BESS) where drivers could be trained to supervise themselves over these bridges – not requiring an external bridge supervisor to watch them cross over weight-restricted bridges.

The basic steps to gain a BESS are as follows: 1. The transport operator registers with NZTA The owner/operator of the overweight load or vehicle must be registered with NZTA. Operators need to contact NZTA to apply for

this, and they must have a good reputation for compliance with transport requirements – including overweight permits. The BESS programme is a privilege – not a right – and is only extended to trusted operators.

2. Individual drivers must apply Each individual driver who holds a BESS must apply and be individually trained and registered. Again, these drivers must have a good track record of compliance with transport and traffic regulations. There is a schedule of requirements and possible “issues” that may cause a driver to not be accepted by NZTA. Each individual driver must apply and be accepted by NZTA, and an application form is available.

Once the driver’s application has been approved by NZTA the driver can contact one of the BESS assessors listed to find out information about the programme and the cost.

3. NZTA registration Once the Unit Standard has been gained then NZTA issues the driver with registration (provisional for six months in the case of some new drivers) and this registration is issued for five years.

4. Renewals Before the end of the five-year licence period a BESS holder must renew the BESS certificate. This includes a refresher course. Contact one of the BESS assessors to arrange this.

5. BESS administration All queries and application forms need to be made to the BESS administrator, at the following email: BESSadmin@nzta.govt.nz We encourage all operators to keep up to date with the requirements for BESS, to ensure that drivers registered as holding a BESS licence are kept current through the five-yearly renewals, and to ensure on-road compliance with the bridge crossing requirements….protecting the integrity of the bridge structures on our roading network. T&D Truck & Driver | 93

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National Road Carriers

Cannabis referendum prompts drug and alcohol policy check

By David Aitken, CEO of National Road Carriers Associationn

T

HE CANNABIS LEGISLATION AND CONTROL BILL REFERENDUM has provided a timely reminder for all road freight transport companies to check their drug and alcohol policies to make sure they are fit for purpose.

With the referendum looming, National Road Carriers presented a “Clear the Haze” seminar in Auckland at which Road Transport Forum CEO Nick Leggett and The Drug Detection Agency CEO Kirk Hardy presented facts around the bill. Our intention was to help members know what they were voting for in the referendum. Watch a video of the seminar at https://vimeo.com/467586092 By the time you read this, we will know the outcome of the referendum, but regardless of whether New Zealanders decided to legalise recreational cannabis or not, the referendum is a prompt for companies to check their drug and alcohol policies. TDDA offers a free policy review for NRC members and special rate drug testing services.

Nick Leggett said the overriding concern with cannabis use is the impact on workplace health and safety and the costs and liabilities that go with increasing risk in the workplace.

“The proposed law claims to minimise harm, regulate the market, cut out the gangs and reduce use. But it is silent on health and safety. Deloitte research in Canada, where cannabis is legal, suggests use would become normalised,” he said.

“A new law for roadside testing would be needed. Other road users will be drug users so expect more accidents caused by impaired drivers. There are massive implications for drivers and employers that legalisation proponents have not considered – director liability, insurance costs, workforce training and compliance.”

Kirk Hardy said the percentage of THC (the active ingredient in recreational marijuana) had increased significantly in the last 20-plus years. In 1995 the average percentage of THC in traditional marijuana was about 4% and in concentrated marijuana was 13%. By 2018 these average percentages had increased to 16% and 61% respectively. The main active ingredient in medicinal marijuana is CBD and it has very low levels of THC. Employees who tested positive for cannabis had 55% more industrial accidents, 85% more injuries and 75% more absenteeism than those who tested negative.

Even if recreational cannabis was legalised, employer duties under the Health & Safety at Work Act will remain the same. Nothing changes in terms of needing a robust drugs and alcohol policy – and the ability to test remains the same, as do the Australian and NZ standards.

Kirk said it was very important for employers to understand the

David Aitken

difference between “intoxication” and “impairment.” Intoxication is the phase after cannabis has been consumed, during which THC can be more easily detected in the system. Impairment is the effect on performance that can last for days, but cannot be tested for.

“Impairment is any reduction in task performance that could lead directly or indirectly to an incident or accident. Impairment is often confused with intoxication – they are related but distinctly different.”

Drug related intoxication and impairment has three stages: • Acute intoxication: The euphoric high immediately after consumption of the drug • Hangover impairment: Coming down from the acute stage with possible effects including sleep deprivation, mood impairment, irritability, apathy or low motivation • Chronic impairment: The need to re-use The testing method must be fit for purpose. Testing methods include: • Oral fluid – up to 6 hours • Urine – 1-3 days casual user; 2-10 days regular user; 4-5 weeks chronic user • Hair – only for regular users Factors that affect drug testing timelines: Frequency of use, age, weight, height.

Kirk said drug and alcohol policies must outline the processes or actions employers will follow so they cannot be challenged for treating workers unfairly. Education and training of supervisors is paramount.

To underline the importance of good processes and policies, Kirk gave examples of rulings from the Australian Fair Work Commission (FWC) that had become case law including: • The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union vs Port Kembla Coal Termination, in July 2015, in which the FWC ruled the employer was permitted to introduce a drug testing policy where employees were tested randomly, using either oral or urine testing.

• Specialist Diagnostic Services, in September 2016, where the FWC ruled the employee had been unfairly dismissed and was awarded $30,000 because the company did not comply with the Australian/NZ standard or follow its internal policies.

• Arnott’s Biscuits vs United Voice and others, in May 2018, where the FWC reaffirmed the employer’s power to introduce urine testing for all employees.

Our goal in partnering with TDDA is to help NRC members have robust drug and alcohol policies and testing processes in place to ensure the safety of all road users. T&D Truck & Driver | 95

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Road Transport Association NZ

Positive signs ahead despite ongoing challenges

By Simon Carson, RTANZ chief operating officer

T

HE YEAR 2020 HAS NOT BEEN EASY FOR INDUSTRY, with COVID-19 having an impact on everyone. Because of the global pandemic, our nation is in the midst of constant change, which will eventually evolve into the new normal.

While we are managing to contain and shake off the physical effects of COVID, the wider effects of the pandemic will remain for some time yet.

Tourism has arguably taken the biggest hit, with many having to explore new opportunities within the local market, or else risk closure. As Kiwis, we are an innovative and adaptive bunch – which has shown in the creative minds of business owners across New Zealand.

Indications are that our borders will not reopen to tourists or immigrants for some time and the lack of immigrant workers will continue to have significant effect on transport, as well as rural and agricultural sectors.

We have recently seen the UK plunge back into further lockdown due to bad pandemic management from its government. The COVID alert levels NZ introduced in March were introduced for a reason, and while they have been crippling to parts of our economy, the lockdown has been largely effective in containing what could have been a wide spread of the virus.

Compared with how hard many other countries have been hit, we are fortunate to be able to live on isolated islands in the Pacific.

While COVID put a halt to many government projects, some work still continues on national projects. I attended a Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency meeting with new CEO Nicole Rosie and other stakeholders, where the agency offered assurance that transport projects currently in place will continue to be expedited to minimise the impact of COVID-19. Money from the COVID Response and Recovery Fund (CRRF) has been allocated to the National Land Transport programme (NLTP) because of the affect the pandemic has had on the transport budget.

Then Transport Minister Phil Twyford later said: “Waka Kotahi (NZTA) will have the funding needed to keep building infrastructure,

Simon Carson

despite lower revenue being collected from petrol excise duty and road user charges due to COVID.” Roading projects and promised infrastructure will become clearer toward the end of 2020 while right now a predominantly red government “with a green tinge” settles in for the next three years.

Labour claims to have a transport plan that is better, faster and fully funded. Their commitment is to invest in regional and rural roads, to place more people into jobs, address the huge transport infrastructure deficit, and improve public safety on our roads. Much of this is yet to be seen, and the government needs to be held to account by industry and the public.

Many roading and “shovel-ready” infrastructure projects that Waka Kotahi NZTA has proposed seem to be rolled out across the country with a serious lack of industry consultation. An example is the National Weigh Right Programme where a shovel-ready infrastructure project, the Rakaia Weigh Right Station (CVSC), which is the first in a series of 12, was presented to us without industry consultation.

RTANZ supports the Weigh Right Programme, but opposes this site which we deem to be critically unsafe.

The industry, still, is in a period of compliance review which is having a serious effect on transport operators throughout NZ. Outstanding Road User Charges across the country right now sit at in excess of $80million, with industry share being around half of that amount. It is likely we can expect RUC recovery to feature as a priority on the NZTA radar considering the financial impact COVID has had.

The statistics on the driver shortage are not improving, with 37% of transport operators reporting a shortage of drivers. The aging workforce figures clearly show that within five years, 20% of the total professional drivers will need to be replaced.

RTF is launching Te ara ki tua – Road to Success, a driving traineeship taking a new focus on industry training and employment.

The programme will combine practical job training with theory, leading to qualification, and will progress to placing people in industry jobs. T&D

z Truck & Driver | 97

Tauranga-based Bennett Log Haulage has put this new Kenworth T909 to work all around the central North Island, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and the Coromandel Peninsula for Aztec. Kane Bennett drives the 6x4, which has a 600-615hp Cummins X15, a 22918B Roadranger manual gearbox and Meritor diffs on Hendrickson PAX 462 suspension. The truck, which has heaps of extras, is named Tumai in honour of Kane’s grandfather and his uncle, the late Wayne Bennett, who was a a logtruck owner-driver

COVID’s new normal N

EW ZEALAND’S NEW TRUCK MARKET continued at its so-called “new normal” in a world still struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic in October, with sales almost 25% down on the same month in 2019.

NZ Transport Agency data shows that 361 trucks were registered in the overall market (trucks with a GVM above 4.5 tonnes), compared to 480 a year earlier.

Similarly, the 3385 total 2020 registrations at the end of October amounted to a 26% fall from last year’s 4566 sales

at the same point.

The trailer market for the first 10 months of the year was down 13% on 2019, with 1045 registrations compared to 1202 a year earlier.

In October, in the overall truck market, longtime No. 1 Isuzu (813/83) improved its lead, ahead of FUSO (494/51), Hino (451/58) and Scania (250/25).

Behind the top four, Iveco (236/30) overtook Volvo (214/7) to take fifth position. Behind them, the rest of the top 10 (in fact, right down to 15th place) was unchanged, Truck & Driver | 99

Silverdale’s Titan Earthmovers has put this new International ProStar tipper to work around the Auckland region, carting bulk metal. Robbie Williams drives the 6x4, which has a 600hp Cummins X15, an 18-speed Roadranger manual gearbox and Meritor 46-160GP diffs. It has a Transport Trailers bin and tows a matching five-axle trailer.

23,001kg-max GVM

4501kg-max GVM

Brand ISUZU FUSO HINO SCANIA IVECO VOLVO MERCEDES-BENZ KENWORTH DAF UD FOTON MAN SINOTRUK VOLKSWAGEN MACK HYUNDAI FREIGHTLINER INTERNATIONAL FIAT WESTERN STAR RAM PEUGEOT JAC OTHER Total

2020 Vol 813 494 451 250 236 214 197 137 134 118 66 51 48 37 34 27 24 22 18 5 4 3 1 1 3385

% 24.0 14.6 13.3 7.4 7.0 6.3 5.8 4.0 4.0 3.5 1.9 1.5 1.4 1.1 1.0 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 100.0

October Vol % 83 23.0 51 14.1 58 16.1 25 6.9 30 8.3 7 1.9 31 8.6 11 3.0 12 3.3 18 5.0 6 1.7 7 1.9 5 1.4 4 1.1 3 0.8 6 1.7 2 0.6 0 0.0 2 0.6 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 361 100.0

3501-4500kg GVM

Brand FIAT MERCEDES-BENZ CHEVROLET RENAULT PEUGEOT FORD IVECO LDV VOLKSWAGEN Total

2020 Vol 237 79 30 28 23 20 7 4 2 430

% 55.1 18.4 7.0 6.5 5.3 4.7 1.6 0.9 0.5 100.0

October Vol % 32 60.4 9 17.0 1 1.9 5 9.4 4 7.5 1 1.9 1 1.9 0 0.0 0 0.0 53 100.0

4501-7500kg GVM

Brand ISUZU FUSO IVECO HINO MERCEDES-BENZ FOTON VOLKSWAGEN HYUNDAI FIAT RAM PEUGEOT Total 100 | Truck & Driver

2020 Vol 239 223 129 92 56 46 37 23 18 4 3 870

% 27.5 25.6 14.8 10.6 6.4 5.3 4.3 2.6 2.1 0.5 0.3 100.0

October Vol % 29 30.9 15 16.0 18 19.1 9 9.6 9 9.6 2 2.1 4 4.3 6 6.4 2 2.1 0 0.0 0 0.0 94 100.0

In the premium 23t to maximum GVM division, Scania (235/23) solidified its lead...

Brand SCANIA VOLVO ISUZU KENWORTH HINO MERCEDES-BENZ DAF FUSO UD IVECO SINOTRUK MAN MACK FREIGHTLINER INTERNATIONAL WESTERN STAR HYUNDAI Total

2020 Vol 235 214 168 137 126 122 121 120 87 53 46 42 34 23 22 5 1 1556

% 15.1 13.8 10.8 8.8 8.1 7.8 7.8 7.7 5.6 3.4 3.0 2.7 2.2 1.5 1.4 0.3 0.1 100.0

October Vol % 23 15.3 7 4.7 10 6.7 11 7.3 18 12.0 19 12.7 11 7.3 16 10.7 15 10.0 4 2.7 4 2.7 7 4.7 3 2.0 2 1.3 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 150 100.0

Trailers 7501-15,000kg GVM

Brand ISUZU HINO FUSO IVECO FOTON UD MERCEDES-BENZ MAN HYUNDAI JAC OTHER Total

2020 Vol 364 125 100 40 20 8 5 4 3 1 1 671

% 54.2 18.6 14.9 6.0 3.0 1.2 0.7 0.6 0.4 0.1 0.1 100.0

October Vol % 34 45.9 16 21.6 11 14.9 7 9.5 4 5.4 1 1.4 1 1.4 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 74 100.0

15,001-20,500kg GVM

Brand HINO FUSO UD IVECO MERCEDES-BENZ SCANIA DAF ISUZU MAN SINOTRUK Total

2020 Vol 81 39 23 14 14 14 11 9 5 2 212

% 38.2 18.4 10.8 6.6 6.6 6.6 5.2 4.2 2.4 0.9 100.0

October Vol % 7 30.4 7 30.4 2 8.7 1 4.3 2 8.7 2 8.7 0 0.0 1 4.3 0 0.0 1 4.3 23 100.0

20,501-23,000kg GVM

Brand ISUZU HINO FUSO DAF FREIGHTLINER SCANIA Total

2020 Vol 33 27 12 2 1 1 76

% 43.4 35.5 15.8 2.6 1.3 1.3 100.0

October Vol % 9 45.0 8 40.0 2 10.0 1 5.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 20 100.0

Brand PATCHELL DOMETT FRUEHAUF ROADMASTER MTE TRANSPORT TMC FREIGHTER TRANSFLEET TES CWS JACKSON HAMMAR MAXICUBE KRAFT MILLS-TUI MTC LUSK EVANS TIDD SDC MAKARANUI TANKER MD PTE HTS COWAN FAIRFAX LOWES FELDBINDER SEC COX WHITE KOROMIKO UNDERBELLY TEO TOTAL DOUGLAS OTHER Total

2020 Vol 114 98 90 85 82 58 55 41 41 37 28 23 16 15 14 12 12 12 11 11 10 9 9 8 7 7 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 4 4 3 3 82 1045

% 10.9 9.4 8.6 8.1 7.8 5.6 5.3 3.9 3.9 3.5 2.7 2.2 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.3 7.8 100.0

October Vol % 12 10.3 10 8.5 12 10.3 14 12.0 9 7.7 8 6.8 7 6.0 2 1.7 4 3.4 4 3.4 4 3.4 3 2.6 2 1.7 0 0.0 2 1.7 2 1.7 2 1.7 3 2.6 1 0.9 1 0.9 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 1 0.9 1 0.9 2 1.7 0 0.0 1 0.9 0 0.0 1 0.9 0 0.0 1 0.9 1 0.9 1 0.9 0 0.0 1 0.9 5 4.3 117 100.0

Michielsens Transport in New Plymouth has put this new Isuzu CYJ530 tipper on the road.

Dale Michielsens drives the 8x4, which has an 18-speed Roadranger manual gearbox and rear air suspension. It pulls a five-axle Transfleet trailer and has a matching alloy bin on the truck.

with Mercedes-Benz (197/31) in seventh, ahead of Kenworth (197/31), DAF (134/12) and UD (118/18).

In the 3.5-4.5t GVM crossover segment – the only part of the market where registrations were up on 2019 – Fiat (237/32) extended its runaway lead, followed by MercedesBenz (79/9), Chevrolet (30/1) and Renault (28/5), while Peugeot (23/4) moved ahead of Ford (20/1).

In the 4.5-7.5t GVM division, Isuzu (239/29) continued to move ahead of FUSO (223/15). The rest of top six were also unchanged, with Iveco (129/18) third, ahead of Hino (92/9), Mercedes-Benz (56/9) and Foton (46/2).

In the 7.5-15t GVM class, Isuzu (364/34) continued its dominance – its year-to-date total now nearly triple the registration tally of closest rival Hino (125/16). It has registered more trucks in this class than the accumulated total of all of other makes in the division. FUSO (100/11) was third, well ahead of Iveco (40/7) and Foton (20/4).

In the 15-20.5t GVM category, Hino (81/7) continued its clear lead, ahead of second-placed FUSO (39/7) and UD (23/2) in third. In fourth place, Iveco (14/1) was

joined by both Mercedes-Benz (14/2) and Scania (14/2).

The tiny 20.5-23t GVM division saw Isuzu (33/9) hold its No. 1 position, ahead of Hino (27/8), while FUSO (12/2) remained third.

In the premium 23t to maximum GVM class, Scania (235/23) solidified its lead YTD ahead of Volvo (214/7).

Isuzu (168/10) remained in third, ahead of Kenworth (137/11) in fourth.

Hino (126/18) and Mercedes-Benz (122/19) both had good months, each moving up a place – at the expense of DAF (121/11) and FUSO (120/16) respectively. UD (87/15) and Iveco (53/4) completed the top 10.

In the trailer market, Patchell (114/12) slightly extended its lead on second-placed Domett (98/10), while Fruehauf (90/12) remained third. Roadmaster (85/14) topped the registrations for the month and moved ahead of MTE (82/9) for fourth YTD. Transport Trailers (58/8) retained sixth, ahead of TMC (55/7), while Freighter (41/2) and Transfleet (41/4) tied for eighth. TES (37/4) rounded out the top 10. T&D Truck & Driver | 101

Longtime Manawatu civil engineering contractor Stringfellows has added the first DAF to its fleet of 60 machines and vehicles. The CF530 6x4 tipper has a 530hp MX engine, a TraXon AMT and DAF SR1360T diffs, a full suite of safety features and a steel bin built by MJ Custom.

Bombay’s N&J Wood is reckoned to be the only fleet in the world running an International ProStar, LoneStar and 9870 – having just added this new 6x4 ProStar tipper to its bulk tipper operation. It has a 615hp Cummins X15, an 18-speed Roadranger and Meritor 46-160 diffs.

102 | Truck & Driver

This new Kenworth K200 2.3m Aerodyne curtainsider unit has gone on the road for the Semco Group, carting general and chilled freight North Island wide. The 8x4 has a 550hp Cummins X15, an 18-speed Roadranger transmission and Meritor 46160GP diffs on Airglide 400 suspension. It has a Jackson Enterprises curtainsider body and tows a matching five-axle trailer.

Designed for New Zealand roads Whatever you are carrying we’ve got you covered.

To find out how Total Tyre Management can help your fleet contact our expert commercial team: ttm@bridgestone.co.nz www.bridgestonetyres.co.nz/TTM

16562 - BDS Commercial ads- Resize-210x297-v1.indd 1

20/12/18 10:46 AM

Papakura-based Ace Transport has put this new International ProStar tipper on the road, carting bulk metal around the Auckland region. Shak Khan drives the 6x4, which has a 600hp Cummins X15, an Eaton UltraShift 2 AMT and Meritor 46-160GP diffs. It has a Transfleet bulk bin and tows a matching five-axle trailer.

Plants are delivered around the country

by Zealandia Horticulture’s new DAF CF450 FAS curtainsider, which has recently gone on the road. The 6x2 has a 450hp MX11 engine, a 12-speed TraXon AMT and a DAF diff, with a lifting tag axle. It has a Fruehauf body and tows a matching two-axle trailer.

104 | Truck & Driver

TDM Construction has put this new DAF FAT CF530 sleeper cab tipper to work supporting the Pukekohe-based company’s earthworks, civil engineering and drainlaying projects. The 6x4, which is driven by Christine Williams, has a 530hp MX engine, a TraXon AMT and DAF diffs, with a Transport Trailers steel tipping body.

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