Road Transport Association NZ

Certification delays another cost for operators

By Simon Carson, Road Transport Association of New Zealand chief operating officer

Simon Carson

GRASSROOTS ORGANISATIONS ARE PRIMARILY MADE UP OF

individuals or businesses advocating a cause to spur change at local, regional, or national levels.

To effect change, the association asks that members work to identify and raise the issues experienced at grassroots for the good of the industry.

For transport and NZ’s supply chain to operate efficiently, there is a requirement for industry to remain compliant. And for that to happen we heavily rely on certification and, more importantly, the certifiers.

We understand there are certification pressures on fleets due to a number of factors – in particular, a lack of vehicle certifiers around the country…as well as vehicle inspectors turning relatively simple fixes into something now often referred to a specialist.

When the specialist is satisfied with completion of the modification or rectification work, only then will they issue you with an LT400 form. You must then present the LT400 to a heavy vehicle testing station to complete the certification process. In a nutshell, this has become a waiting game, and yet another significant cost to transport businesses.

A recent quote from one heavy vehicle certifier I spoke to states: “There is a significant increase in minor work that we would simply not have been asked to look at six months ago, as well as a significant increase in the nervousness of vehicle inspectors that are absolutely scared to make a decision on very minor issues.”

As a consequence, testing and certification issues are compounding and quickly becoming a critical industry matter.

RTANZ wants to hear from operators to help us better understand industry pressures around testing stations and the Waka Kotahi NZTA LT400 vehicle certification process. RTANZ is asking for you to provide us with specific information relating to your HMV certification or LT400 experiences. We request any feedback you have on the following points: • Have you noticed significant changes in the service provided at

CoF inspections and, if so, what are those changes? • Have you suffered delays due to LT400 certification and, if so, are they minor (vehicle parked up for one or two days) or major (vehicles parked up for longer periods)? • How many cases of these delays have you experienced in the last 12 months? • What is the availability of certifiers in your area? • What are you doing to manage fleet vehicles parked up – for example, have you needed to replace those vehicles in the fleet, or looked to source vehicles to cover workload? • Are you experiencing direct costs due to LT400 certification delays. And, if so, of what order are these costs (hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of dollars)? • Have you noticed a difference in whether trucks have been more impacted than trailers…and, if so, which is more affected?

Lately we have seen more and more infrastructure changes announced to industry with minimal notice or sufficient consultation. The deteriorating state of our nation’s roads and bridges has become a serious obstacle for our industry, with badlybuilt roads and ageing bridges having weight restrictions reduced to the point where they are no longer usable – with some bridges being suitable for 50MAX, but off limits for HPMV.

The Kopaki rail overbridge on State Highway 30, linking Waikato and the Bay of Plenty, has now been restricted to vehicles under six tonnes and the Mangaotama Stream bridge on SH39 will be restricted to vehicles that are less than 50% of Class 1. T&D