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Teletrac Navman Fleet Focus
…. but perfectly formed
With winter dusk closing in, the Steve Martin Contracting T610 and its Convair B-train are seen in full glory
GPS Tracking – eRUC – Job Management – eLogbook
Photo Andrew Geddes, Timaru Signs & Graphix
Steve Martin and the newest addition to his fleet. He reckons the Scania has raised driver comfort to a new level
YOU ONLY HAVE TO TALK TO STEVE MARTIN FOR A
little while to understand that this is a man with a real passion for trucks and trucking.
Someone who not only loves the machines and the industry….but also has a good knowledge of the history of trucking in Otago – born of growing up in and around the trucks his Dad John drove when Steve was a kid.
And from the time spent as a workmate of his Dad’s, driving for RA Little and Samson Freight – as John went on to clock up almost half a century behind the wheel.
And then….from his own 42-year career (so far) – most of it based out of hometown Dunedin.
Of course, he’s not unique in having inherited a passion for trucks from his father. It used to happen all the time in Kiwi trucking.
What is remarkable though is that Steve – for all his love for trucks – never harboured a burning desire to own them…. to create a Steve Martin trucking empire.
And he reckons it’s almost by chance that here he is now, at the age of 60, the owner – with wife Robyn – of a fleet that’s making its own mark in South Island trucking.
Steve came late to becoming a transport operator, but in 17 years has created a business that has made its presence felt…and how!
The Steve Martin Contracting linehaul tankers and refrigerated units are so spectacular and do so many Ks that their presence surely far exceeds the modest size of the fleet.
In fact, the term, “small but perfectly formed,” could have been created with Martin’s fleet in mind! There are just five trucks in the operation – but boy do they make a statement out on the road.
The fleet comprises a brand-new Scania S620, a near-new Kenworth T610, a four-year-old Freightliner Argosy, a 2018 Mercedes-Benz Actros and an almost-classic 2013 Western Star 4884 FX.
The green and white tractor units are adorned with striking swoopy stripes, finely detailed pinstriping and, usually, lots of lights.
The five trucks fulfil Steve Martin Contracting’s commitments as one of the South Island contractors to Goodman Fielder subsidiary Quality Bakers – carting bulk flour from Farmers mill in Timaru to its bakeries in Dunedin, Oamaru, Christchurch, Nelson and Wellington.
The trucks also deliver dairy products from Goodman Fielder’s Meadow Fresh processing complex in Christchurch – sometimes to Dunedin, but primarily through Central Otago.
The road to this point started in Dunedin 50-odd years ago, when Steve was just a little tacker. He explains: “When I was a kid Dad worked for Maxwell Brothers and RA Little. Between them and Samsons later on – and finishing up at McLellan Freight – he racked up close to 50 years in the industry.
“He actually started as a carpenter in Motueka, until he and a mate came down here for a holiday and decided to stay on. They were working on a job sealing the Te Anau Road when he met Mum, who worked in the diner at Mossburn.
“After they were married, Mum’s uncle, Dick Little, offered Dad a job carting meat into Central Otago.
“On the Central run he started with a Bedford, and later
Clockwise from opposite page: The Western Star is the retirement “keeper” for Steve and wife Robyn, but still regularly does its share of the work....TK Bedford was but one of many RA Little trucks driven by John Martin....Steve is happy with how his trucking life has worked out....the first of the two Freightliner Argosys Steve has owned. He mourns the demise of the model
on had a Scammell. This had a lifting tag axle, which meant he never got stuck in the snow. Then it was on to Cooltainers, with a Mercedes LP1923 model. He used to cart venison as well, from Tim Wallis’ helicopter operation in Wanaka.
“He also ran butter from the coastal boats at Dunedin to Invercargill, and crayfish from Bluff. It was virtually a roundthe-clock business. When we were kids we barely saw him. Mum brought us up...but then in the holidays we were able to go for a ride with him!
“Then Dick Little got the contract with PPCS to service all their processing plants from Timaru to Bluff, running chilled meat into Dunedin, which meant even more expansion.
“The company then got hugely into log cartage, which proved a case of too much too soon, because there was a big downturn in the export market and they were forced to restructure. One of the casualties was Dad’s Merc and he had to get into a Leyland Crusader – much to his disgust!”
After the restructuring, Little’s were left with four trucks – a Merc 1313, the Crusader, an International C1800 and a single-drive Leyland Mastiff powered by a 185hp Perkins 6-354.
Steve recalls that truck fondly: “Dad ran it for a time on the Central meat run, towing a 40ft refrigerated semi. After Samson Freight took over Littles it was repainted and continued on until they themselves finished up. Everyone tried to kill it, but nobody could. It just kept going, still with the original engine. It was an awesome truck.”
Steve had joined his Dad, working at Littles, “pretty much as soon as I left school,” and got his heavy traffic licence at 18. The test, he recalls, was a pretty casual affair: “The boss drove me down to the traffic police office in Mosgiel, then left me there while he walked back to the yard. He obviously had faith that I was going to pass! When I finished it was straight off to the works to pick up a load.
“When I subsequently went to get my trailer licence it was in the Mastiff, with the 40ft self-steer semi behind. The cop was suitably impressed how well it followed around the tight corners!
“When I was 21 I got into the Crusader my father had driven earlier. At the time I had come off the C1800 International, which had had its original petrol V8 and auto gearbox replaced by a 175hp Scania engine and a six-speed Gardner main gearbox with a three-speed ‘joey’ box behind.
“It was quite a truck. There was no heater. In the winter you had to sit on your hands to warm them up enough so you could then clear the ice off the inside of the windscreen!
“Both the main and auxiliary gearboxes were overdrive units, so it could reach 85mph downhill before you pulled it out of gear. And it had hydraulic brakes, meaning it was all go and no whoa!
“My next truck was a 265hp V8 FUSO that Dick bought off a
farmer in Southland, while Dad got a new six-cylinder FUSO. That V8 went like a scalded cat.”
Not long after, Samsons bought out Littles, after gaining the majority of the meat contracts in the region. It was in the time before logbooks and the hours being worked were immense, recalls Steve, especially when the Central Otago run was done twice a week. The fact that the meat was all on hanging rails called for constant attention in bends.
Under Samsons ownership, Steve had three Mitsis in a row – a 315, 320 and a 400. The 315 was fitted with all the extras available, and in 1985 actually won the top prize at the Gore truck show. It was still running until a couple of years ago. The 400 too was a great performer, he recalls.
After Samsons bought the Transpac operations in Otago and Southland they branched into general freight. In the early days of this arrangement Steve was carting cattle hides out of Belfast to Dunedin, using a B-train with a front trailer of meat and the back one loaded with hides.
For a time he also did a linehaul run out of Christchurch, carting fresh produce as far as Invercargill.
The mid-1990s brought a big moment in his trucking life: “After 20 years at Littles and Samsons, things were starting to change – and I got a chance to cart bread for Quality Bakers out of Dunedin, where they’d shifted their main baking to.
“I did that for 10 years – 12 trips a week (double shifted) to Invercargill – before the company decided to change over to owner-drivers and I was given the opportunity to go out on my own.”
Milestone moment that this was in Steve Martin’s trucking life, he says it almost in passing – and then explains: “It wasn’t that I’d always had a master plan to have my own business, but the chance was too good to refuse.”
So, at the age of 43, in 2004 Steve Martin Contracting was born: “I started off with a 460 day cab Volvo, followed by a 520. Then I switched to a Kenworth K108 Aerodyne, fitted with a Cummins ISX EGR. The main reason I didn’t go for another Volvo was that I preferred to stay away from AdBlue... though the Cummins had its own issues. It was under a full
Clockwise, from above: Reece Martin, Steve’s nephew, shares the driving of the Kenworth T610....the K108 Aerodyne handled the “milk” run for several years.... the Argosy was the main truck on the flour run until replaced by the Kenworth – still handles the backup work
maintenance contract, thankfully.
“In the 17 years I’ve been in business I’ve had the two Volvos, the Kenworth, the Mercedes, the Freightliners (the current Argosy and another before it), the Western Star, and now the Scania coming on board for the milk.”
The Martin trucks comprise such a varied lineup for a small fleet, the word “scattergun” might come to mind when considering Steve’s truck-buying preferences. But he is, in fact, far from brand-promiscuous: Each of his trucks was chosen after careful consideration – the final choice dictated by solid business logic.
Well….except, that is, for the Western Star: Steve happily admits buying that was wholly driven by his heart....and Robyn’s heart as well. She reckons that the WS is “my truck” – and it’s a claim backed up by the name it carries, Robyn’s Nest.
The small matter of her gaining a Class 5 licence is all that now stands between Robyn getting behind the wheel of her truck – and she’s confident that won’t take long.
She reckons, in fact, that she’ll do it before Steve gets around to securing his motorcycle licence. There’s a back-story here: He bought a Harley-Davidson Fat Boy a couple of years ago…..but has yet to get his licence to ride it, blaming work pressure. Now, it seems, family bragging rights are at stake.
The five trucks from five different makes still have a cohesive Steve Martin Contracting look – thanks to their one common factor: Spectacularly good presentation.
It’s not bling for bling’s sake: It comprises a stack of very tasty extras, like laser-cut exhaust shrouds on the conventionals and multicoloured night-time running lights, that together make the Martin trucks standouts visually.
The sweeping green striping over a white base has been a fleet colour scheme staple since it was used on the current Argosy when it was set up for flour. Andrew Geddes of Timaru Signs and Graphix looks after the signwriting and has been involved in the evolution of the livery from the beginning.
On the T610 linehaul flour unit, the colour scheme on the tractor unit is repeated on the six-axle B-train Convair tanks. Goodman Fielder brands take pride of place on the sides of the Fairfax/Thermo King quad semi that will be behind the new Scania, which is replacing the Mercedes on the “milk” work.
The Australian-built Convair monocoque tanker/trailers are works of art in themselves, boasting a whole range of practical and dressup extras. Steve says the primary factors in commissioning them were a quicker manufacturing turnaround and a higher load capacity than NZ makers were offering.
Local engineering on several of the new trucks has been handled by Fitzsimon Motor and Engineering Services and HDPS Engineering, both of Christchurch. Steve credits Dunedin’s McCormick Motor Bodies for doing “an awesome job setting up the new Scania.”
The first trailer on the Convair set carries a self-contained backup blower in case the tractor unit (which uses its PTO to drive the primary blower) is temporarily out of commission. As Steve explains, having gear that’s ready to go, round the clock, is vital. The appetite of the bakeries is insatiable.
Fully loaded, the B-train carries around 30 tonnes of flour, which – thanks to dual delivery ports on the tanks – can be discharged in under an hour. Despite the weight-saving design of the Convair tanks, all the equipment adds up, and the unit is H-rated to 54t.
As the main linehaul rig, the Kenworth is based in Christchurch, where drivers Reece Martin (Steve’s nephew) and Matt Brown live. When required, the Argosy backs up, towing a smaller semitrailer tank.
Steve describes a typical schedule for the linehaul unit: “At the beginning of the cycle it will have delivered a load to Dunedin, then back to Timaru and reload it for Nelson.
“The other driver will jump in at midnight at Christchurch and deliver to Nelson, return for a driver swap – and the next driver will then take it to Dunedin before returning to Timaru and picking up another load for Dunedin.
“Generally he’ll get back to around Oamaru before running out of time and taking his 10-hour break. On his next shift he’ll then load again and head for Nelson, swapping for the next driver at Christchurch.”
Once a fortnight a load of grain goes to Wellington, which is when Steve often has to back up with the Freightliner on a couple of runs to Nelson.
Because the schedule isn’t time critical it offers quite a lot of flexibility, he adds: “As long as we can keep the bakeries going, we can be doing it any time of the day or night.”
Reece Martin concurs: “Flour in the silos is all that matters, so there’s no need to stick to a tight schedule. We might get back to Dunedin on a Friday and load up at Timaru for Nelson on the Sunday afternoon if they’ve used a lot of flour – but if they’re in good shape I’ll go on the Monday, leaving around
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The almost round the clock nature of the linehaul flour work sees the unit clocking up over 25,000kms a month. The Mercedes on the finished-products run has done even more – in excess of 30,000kms.
Reece has been driving with Steve for coming up four years. Before that, he was with Christchurch’s Burnell & Son Transport for six or seven years, from the age of 21. Though he’s Christchurch born and raised, in school holidays he used to stay with his granddad in Dunedin, helping out at Samson Freight – and regularly got a lift back home with Steve.
After working on forklifts at Foodstuffs and TNL when he left school, Reece moved to Fulton Hogan Central, where he gained his Class 5. As he explains, Steve had always promised there’d be a job when he expanded. In the meantime, he had a year with Cliff Hancock carting Quality Bakers bread on a Christchurch-Dunedin run.
With Reece and Matt Brown looking after most of the flour work, it’s up to Steve to plug the gaps when needed. This is generally called for when the main unit goes to Wellington, says Reece: “Depending on the weather and the ferries we can be away for up to two and a half days.
“Nelson too is a bit awkward because they have quite a small silo there, that holds just 40t, whereas this main unit carries 30t, meaning ideally they will have dropped below 10t before we deliver. To try to juggle everything can be difficult.”
Because the trucks don’t deliver to supermarkets, the rush on home baking during 2020’s COVID-19 lockdown didn’t affect
Clockwise, from above: A Littles fleet lineup from the 1970s shows a similar variety of brands as the current Steve Martin Contracting mix.... the T610 is nearly as impressive in the daylight as at night.....Robyn, Steve and their much-loved Western Star
the company directly, though it did have a significant roll-on effect, says Steve: “The mill was going around the clock, and we too ended up being flat out because of the demand for bread. I was filling in regularly for drivers, to give them days off.”
Even though “the old days,” in the time before logbooks, saw drivers routinely clocking-up huge hours, Steve still reckons that drivers today are more at risk of fatigue-related problems on the road. He explains: “There wasn’t the pressure of the schedules they have to run to now. If you felt tired, you just pulled over and went to sleep for a bit, whereas now you often don’t have that flexibility.
“In our work, we’re lucky that the runs aren’t time-critical – and I always tell the drivers to have a rest if they’re tired.” He laughs in recalling the result onetime of that policy: “We had one driver on a night run – Andy Clark – who parked up
to have half an hour of shuteye...but when he woke it was morning and the sun was shining!”
In terms of his latest truck-buying decision, Steve explains that one of the factors in choosing the Scania over a Daimler Group model (two Freightliners and a Merc have been among his purchases in the last few years) is the expectation of better parts support than he got with them: “The drivers love the trucks, but when you’re running around the clock you can’t afford to be off the road for too long if something minor is needed.
“Everything breaks down, but it’s how things are handled after that that really counts.
“And I’d still like to have a Freightliner for this new truck: Trevor McCallum is a wonderful salesperson for the brand – knows everything about the trucks.
“But they don’t have anything I can use, now that they’ve dropped the Argosy: The sleeper conventional models are too long. To fit in front of the quad reefer and stay inside length limits you’d have to settle on a day cab. And if you’re stuck in the snow for several hours at the bottom of a hill at midnight you need somewhere to sleep.
“In essence we have two trucks working virtually fulltime all the time – the Kenworth and the Scania. When the boys get under the pump I fill in with the Freightliner and the old three-axle tank trailer, while the Westie can do either job – flour or milk.”
A new quad-axle semi flour tanker is on order from Convair, and is expected to be on the road early next year. It will replace the old three-axle unit on backup work and will offer a capacity of around 28t.
The Western Star – despite being seen by both Robyn and Steve as an alltime ‘retirement’ keeper – will still be doing a fair share of the backup work.
It’s a much-loved truck – and Steve still recalls his first encounter with it: “I did a run with it as a favour for its owner, James Bennett, who was short of a driver.
“When I found it was carrying around 10t more than I realised – and doing it easy – I thought: ‘This is me.’ Then in the middle of last year, when James bought a new Kenworth T610, he sold me the Westie.”
The truck had around 950,000kms on the clock. Since then it’s had a complete makeover, including the chassis being
Clockwise, from above: For several years the trucks used blue in their colour scheme to match the Meadowfresh-branded trailers. The Mercedes-Benz Actros is the last to do so.....Steve favoured Volvos early on for his fleet.....the C1800 Inter that was Steve’s first truck with Littles – good for 85mph downhill, but not so good at stopping!....the current Argosy was commissioned at the same time as the Convair tanker B-train and was the first to use the green colour scheme
sandblasted and repainted, complete with a couple of layers of clearcoat on top, before Timaru Signs and Graphix performed its signwriting magic. The mileage is now up around a million clicks – proof that it’s still a vital part of the business.
Steve reckons the truck has character-plus: “When I got it, it had straight-through pipes, and I figured it might have rusted-out mufflers. However, before I could do anything about it I had to do a trip to Nelson on the flour...
“The pipes were rusted alright: I reckon the sheep three paddocks away were running! And when I put the Jake on, man what a noise! It has since had the curved pipes and new mufflers fitted, which has quietened it down a lot...though it still has quite a bark.”
The 600hp Cummins ISX engine and drivetrain have also been brought right up to speed and the wiring completely replaced. Quizzed about the overall cost, Steve avoids looking at Robyn and suggests we move on to a different line of questioning...
Fleets often talk about a family feeling, and in the case of Steve Martin Contracting that’s very much true. On the day we visit, Steve and Robyn’s son Dave Fitzgerald has dropped in for a chat. Though he doesn’t work fulltime with the company he often helps out with truck relocations on his days off. He drives for RD Petroleum, delivering a variety of bulk products from Lyttelton or Dunedin all over the South Island.
Dave says he wasn’t a dedicated trucker from the word go, instead dabbling in a variety of activities, including pizza delivery, after he left school. This was followed by a switch to handling a stop/go paddle for Fulton Hogan, and building gabion baskets. There, his work ethic kicked into gear, and he gained all his wheels, tracks and rollers, heavy vehicle and dangerous goods licences. In quite a short time he progressed, through various more challenging positions, to driving trucks – including driving and operating a bitumen sprayer for Fulton Hogan. Steve says it’s great to have a good reliable driver with Dave’s skills in the family to call on when needed.
Then there’s Andy Clark – who isn’t direct family, but might as well be. As he explains, his uncle and father worked with Steve and his dad at Samsons – and he got to know them at a very young age: “I’d be running around the yard from the time I was about six or seven years old. I was destined to be involved with trucks from the word go. I think for a while I was the youngest person in New Zealand to gain my Class 5, after going through a concentrated training course down here in Dunedin.
“I started off after school doing the nightshift, servicing trucks for Dunedin Carrying. They wanted me to do a diesel mechanic’s apprenticeship but I was keener to drive. Because I was so young I found it quite difficult to get into a job, but Tullochs gave me a chance on the milk contract they had with Goodman.
“But then there was a shuffle-around in the contracts and Steve got the run I’d been doing. I rang him to see if he had any openings, but it turned out he’d just put someone on and I’d missed by a day.
Clockwise from top left: A Littles FUSO alongside its Leyland Crusader. Steve used to drive it with the sunroof open to hear the bark of its Detroit 8V71 engine....the freight must get through, but when nature intervenes, sleeper cabs are a must....John Martin’s Merc 1923 model with two refrigerated Cooltainers
“I was lucky enough to get a very similar run to Invercargill with John Craigie, the other owner-operator working out of Dunedin for Goodman Fielder. I subsequently joined Reece in running the flour on the Argosy when Steve got that contract in 2018.
“Since then, even when I’ve been fulltime in driving jobs with other companies, I’ve worked on and off for Steve – filling-in when he’s been a driver short over the weekend.
“Steve has been a good mate and a mentor right through my life: I’ve gone to him every time I’ve needed advice or help.”
“He encouraged me to follow my dream and go driving roadtrains in Aussie – and helped me secure a job there in 2019, mainly driving bulk bitumen tankers in Queensland and NSW.”
In terms of where to from here for Steve Martin Contracting, Steve says he’s not hellbent on growth for its own sake: “We could possibly put another unit on for the flour – that would give us a better cover for breakdowns or if a truck is caught in Wellington with bad weather and ferry cancellations.
“But it’s not critical, and I think we’re in a pretty good balance at the moment. Over the next 10 years I’d like to think about slowing down.”
Robyn concurs: “As we get older we are planning to work less. That’s why I’ve already pulled back to three days a week.” (She is a nurse in the hospice system, co-ordinating the care of at-home patients).
In terms of staffing, Steve doesn’t see too many problems with backing-off a little with his hands-on involvement: “I’ve never had to advertise for a driver, it’s always word of mouth. When we got an extension to the Central Otago run and I needed another driver I heard through a mate of mine about a guy who was on logs but not all that happy with it.
“That turned out to be Neil Wilson, who is still with us. I rang him and he said that he’d like to do a bit more driving than he was at the time. I said we could probably help him out – and put him on to Central Otago for Tuesday and Wednesday, then three days to Christchurch. At the end of the week he said he was getting more than enough driving!
“My mate Graeme Lowery, who I used to work with at Samsons, was back from Aussie a couple of years ago and rang me looking for work – as he’d finished at the mines. I started him part time, then not long after, one of my permanent drivers left after 13 years due to an injury. This opened the way to increase Graeme’s hours, and allow part-time work for Dave Bassford who I’d known for 30 years, and was keen for just a couple of days a week.
“We have three part-timers who can fill in at quite short notice – Steve Chave, Kevin Johnson, and Mark Sadgrove. Normally I try to cover main drivers’ holidays, but quite often we need somebody at short notice.”
Steve reflects on the way the business has developed – almost by a chain of circumstances, rather than a drive for growth: “If all this had happened when I was a lot younger, maybe I would have pushed to get bigger and bigger.
“But, you know, I am proud and thankful for my dedicated team of drivers.
“And I think things have worked out pretty right the way we are.” T&D
