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branding aspects.

“The KCL logo does stand out and it’s been interesting to watch it develop.

“It used to be just like a stencil of Taupiri mountain. Then we invested is some branding and that’s where the diamonds come from.

“The top of the diamond is Taupiri Mountain and the bottom is the reflection of the mountain in the [Waikato] river. The logo didn’t come from nothing, quite a bit of thought went into it.

“It’s clean and streamlined on the trucks and you can chuck it onto anything and it looks good.”

For the most part the KCL logo has found a home on brand new gear. The operation is built around modern equipment, an enthusiastic attitude and close relationships with key clients.

“My business is built on relationships. We are not the cheapest cartage contactor. I pride myself on relationships, providing a service and having quality equipment and operators,” says David.

“And actually being able to pull resource when it’s needed. And you’re not going to be able to pull resource if you’re pitching too cheap.”

While David grew up on a dairy farm he says a farming career wasn’t for him.

“I’m interested in the farm but I was always more interested in heavy machinery,” he says.

“When I left school I worked at the Perry Aggregates quarry at Horotiu. From there I went to a company called K & L Distributors and started driving their little onsite fuel tanker.

“I suppose that’s how the love affair with fuel started. They bought an ex-Waitomo Mitsubishi Shogun and I really did my apprenticeship in that big bit of timber and then got the opportunity to go to Tranzliquid. I worked for K & L for just over two years.”

Five years spent at Tranzliquid Logistics turned out to immensely valuable.

“I was at Tranzliquid in a pretty active role with driving, driver training and assisting in a little bit of fleet management,” says David.

“I was heavily involved in driver training in the last year-anda-half to two years I was there. But driver training wasn’t really for me; I was good at it but couldn’t stand riding passenger in a truck for too long.

“Sometimes there was an age problem and I believe I was too young. I was only 24 at the time and even though I was good at it, there could be some massive age gaps and I was a young guy telling someone in their ‘sixties how they should be doing their job.

“It made that job pretty challenging but I also trained some really cool people there too. I loved working at Tranzliquid and I’d still be there now if I hadn’t got into this.

“Greg [Pert] and Jackie [Carroll] who own it [Tranzliquid] are awesome and humble people. And Mick Pullar, who runs the fleet management there, would be one of my key mentors. If you want to know how to run a truck, he’s the man.

“I learnt everything about how a transport business should run

Left: A DAF CF is one of two trucks Kainui Contracting has leased from TR Group.

Above: David discusses cartage plans for the new Brymer Heights subdivision with Online Contractors director Dan Hopper.

at Tranzliquid. As a young player in the industry you need to find mentors and I struck gold by working with Greg, Jackie and Mick at Tranzliquid.

“I mean, you’ve still got to do it yourself but with mentors like them you are not being set up to fail.”

The Young Driver competition also provided valuable lessons and helped David to work under pressure.

“I had three goes at it. I didn’t win the first time at the Mount [Maunganui] but the second (Hamilton) and third (Dunedin) time I did.

“It was a good challenge. It teaches you a lot because you have to be quite involved in the law and practice side of it; the theory side of it. It’s important if you want to run a transport business.”

The opportunity to make a move on his own came just over three years ago.

“I was hungry for that next step and I sort of got promised the world by an operator. The pressure was on, `get that truck on the road’ and when I did it was ‘actually, we didn’t get that contract in the end.’

“So we had to go and find it for ourselves. It was scary at the time but it was probably the best thing that ever happened.

“I bought my first Merc, an Arocs 2646 with a T&G Hardox bin on it. We’ve still got it on the frontline of the fleet today.

“It was heinous on day one but we got the ball rolling, got our name out there a bit and started to get some extra work so I bought number two, a dedicated six-wheeler. It’s a little 350 Arocs [2635].

“Then in lockdown 2020 I ordered my first brand new trailer, a four-axle bulkie off T&G and then at the same I ordered the Actros what I thought was going to be KCL003. But before it turned up I bought a 510 Arocs.”

The third Arocs became KCL003 and the Actros 2658 6x4 pulling a five-axle T&G trailer - which David refers to as the company flagship - is KCL004.

“I like 6x4s pulling a large trailer. A T&G with a slippery deck and extra ribs in the side can be doing civil work one day and palm kernel, coal or fertiliser the next.

“Four axles still have their place but the next two will be 5-axles,” he says.

“Up to KCL004 it was all new equipment other than the first Transfleet trailer I bought to get the ball rolling.

“The same month 004 went on the road I bought the Volvo FM from Ivan Stark. It’s a 2019 and had done 170,000km when I bought it, so it was brand new really.

“It was a good truck that turned up at the right time. We needed a truck fast and we rent a trailer for it.”

The two leased TR Group trucks are a 2021 DAF CF 530 and a 2017 Mercedes-Benz Arocs 2651 that David happens to have some history with.

By sheer coincidence it’s the very same truck used in the 2017 New Zealand Young Driver of the Year contest at Hamilton - David’s first win.

“It’s nowhere near as shiny as it was back at the competition

The second truck in the KCL fleet is a Mercedes-Benz Arocs 2635 which is used as a dedicated six-wheeler.

but it’s done about 350,000km. I’ve had it a year and a half. It was meant to be hired for a week and it’s never left.”

David says the preference for Mercedes-Benz is directly related to the work KCL does.

“It’s horses for courses right? Mercedes provide an extremely good truck for what we are doing.

“In the civil game they are a really good truck. You can put them in any role whether it needs to do 700km a day or 300km a day metro and work on a tight site.

“You can put it on bulk work or just keep it local. In terms of driver comfort, safety, good fuel figures and the serviceability, for me in my business, it’s one of the best trucks you can buy.

KCL001 has been in work for three years in February and has done 300,000km.

“It’s 100k a year of some tough work and it’s still a tidy truck. 003 has clocked up about 160,000km in its first year. That’s impressive for a tip truck.

“004 has already clocked about 40,000km in its first 3-4 months of work.”

David’s objective for the trucks is that they look clean and are easy to maintain.

“The look is clean and simple. We Dura-Bright and paint everything so there’s no polishing and everything that’s fitted to the truck has a purpose. Our trucks are smart but they’re not overdressed and everything can be easily replaced.

“It can be easy in this industry to get into a pissing competition with flash trucks when it’s really about creating solutions for your customers.”

David says his operators have become converts to the Mercedes-Benz brand.

“They are forgiving trucks. They’re all automatics. Gone are the days if you couldn’t drive a Road Ranger you weren’t a truck driver. I want the drivers concentrating on the job, not stressing about finding a gear.

“But having said that, the Kenworth T610 I’ve got coming in 2023 will have a Road Ranger.”

The value of standardising a fleet is a lesson from his Tranzliquid time.

“It just makes sense. If you’re not standardising your fleet you can’t just chuck another operator in another truck for the day. That’s a key part of a having a profitable business.

“And you get the loyalty from your service providers and all the rest of it.”

When it comes to loyalty David singles out Transport & General for praise.

“I wouldn’t have a business without T&G in terms of keeping us on the road.

“They get you out of the shit but they don’t let you know they’ve done you a favour. They just get you back rolling again.

“Their support is excellent and I always get the feeling they want you to succeed.

“They don’t judge me as a smaller operator or a new player on the block. They are a key part of my business and I see myself doing one to three builds with them a year.

“TR Group are a key part of my business as well. I’d be screwed without them.

Above: Driving fuel trucks at K and L Distributors, a Mitsi Shogun tanker (left) and before that an Isuzu on-site delivery truck gave David Rogers his first taste of the transport industry. Right: By sheer coincidence the TR Group Mercedes-Benz Arocs 2651 used in the 2017 New Zealand Truck Driving Championship is now leased as part of the KCL fleet. Here is David in action during the competition and with his trophies after winning the Young Driver competition for the second time.

“The relationship with Keith Andrews Trucks wasn’t always good but they’ve got a good crew in Hamilton. The Hamilton branch have really developed and they are doing a good job for me.

“Without T&G, TR Group, Keith Andrews Hamilton and guys like North Waikato Tyre Centre in Huntly, who are awesome to us, and K&L Distributors who do our fuel, we wouldn’t be rolling.”

Another key supplier, and an example of how KCL plays to its strengths and calls in help where it’s needed, is Hamilton-based NZ Heavy Diesel Services (NZHDS). ”They come every second Sunday morning and do a full greasing and safety inspection on all the trucks. It’s preventative maintenance because the trucks get a hiding.

“We deal with local companies who provide a great service and contract a lot out to the people who know what they are doing. It leaves the operator to operate the truck and my time is wasted underneath trucks.” On the day we catch up with David he has six of his own trucks working plus his usual array sub-contractors. Our first stop is Gleeson’s Quarry at Huntly where the leased DAF along with KCL003 and KCL004 are making 10 or 11 trips a day moving rock to the first stage of the new Sleepyhead development at Ohinewai. The second stop is Greenhill Park subdivision development on the northeast edge of Hamilton where KCL is working alongside Online Contractors. “At the moment we are taking advantage of the good weather to remove spoil and stockpiling rock at the site for the next phase of the development,” says David. “Today we’ve got seven trucks working at this subdivision, two KCL and five sub-contractors. “Online Contractors has been our biggest opportunity,” says David. “We manage a big part of their cartage. They just ring me and say ‘we need five trucks here and 10 truck and trailers over here’. That’s where the sub-contractors are important. “Online Contractors and Greenhill Park subdivision have built my business. We’ve pretty much had an involvement there since day one of KCL. “They [Online] specialise in civil construction and I specialise in transport. They do what they do and we do what we do. We take all the stress of them having to find those trucks. We’re almost like a brokerage. “That’s what has allowed the company to have such good growth because we are actually looking after whole projects. “Apart from Online Contractors we do a lot of coal with

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The 2021 Mercedes-Benz Actros 2658 and five-axle T&G tipper are the flagship of the Kainui Contracting fleet.

Gleeson & Cox from Auckland to Huntly and we also work with Rock and Rubble quite a bit. We also work with a few smaller companies and farmers.

“Basically we cover the greater Waikato and Bay of Plenty. Obviously working with farmers we’re over at the Mount doing palm kernel and fertiliser. Mainly direct to farm.

“Sometimes we cart fertiliser to Whangarei or down to Dannevirke but not as much as we used to.”

After a couple of site visits and photo shoots it becomes obvious that David has put plenty of planning into the day for NZT&D.

He’s considered photo locations and arranged access ahead of time. Each time we arrive at a site there’s a KCL truck almost front of the queue, ready to be loaded.

In the process David’s also getting to meet some of his key contacts, getting some face-to-face time with his operators and keeping an eye on multiple sites.

We check out a subdivision development at Temple View and another Online project at Brymer Heights where KCL trucks and sub-contractors are working before heading back to David’s office via the depot at the family farm.

Shortly after arriving David’s office administrator Nat Freeman - another 20-something who works up to 30 hours a week for KCL - turns up. There’s a sense of a well-timed plan coming together with David’s logistics skills to the fore.

“We are about making things happen so if you go in without a positive attitude you’re not really going to make anything happen. People aren’t interested in dealing with negative people, that’s for sure,” says David.

“I love working with people. We deal with a lot of cool people in this business and I like to do things for them.”

With its beginnings in early 2019, the majority of KCLs operation and growth has come during the Covid-19 pandemic. David says the timing hasn’t been negative.

“During level 4 in 2020 we had our record month to that time in business. We were in autumn and there was a lot of autumn fertiliser to shift around and stock feed. We had a good month. The relationships and the time of year certainly helped.

“In lockdown 2021 we had been so busy it was a chance for everyone to catch up and breathe. We did a bit of lime, fertiliser and stock feed but it gave our guys a chance to catch their breath because we’d be doing max hours every week for the whole year.

“We were an essential service so we could get trucks in for COFs and some preventative maintenance and then we hit the ground rolling the day we came back.

“So Covid has affected us but not in a massive way. Everyone still needs stuff shifted and the standard story in transport is “if the trucks stop then the world stops. It’s as simple as that really.”

David says Taupiri is proving an excellent base for KCL with its proximity to the north side of Hamilton and the improving highway network as the Waikato Expressway evolves.

“While we do a raft of different things, one thing we haven’t really been that heavily involved in is the [Waikato] Expressway because that’s a project that’s coming to the end.

“But the Taupiri location is fantastic. It’s central to all the quarries and a stone’s throw from Auckland and the Mount.

Above: KCL’s Volvo FM makes a suburban soil delivery. Right: David now spends very little time driving and more of his day in the office where he’s supported by Nat Freeman, who has a part-time admin role with Kainui Contracting.

“We don’t see any dead time. We don’t see trucks running dead which is great for me in terms of running a profitable transport company.

David says KCLs pace of growth has surprised him.

“It’s quite impressive when you go to sites and think ‘we’re looking after all of this”.

“It has definitely surprised me. My 10-year goal was to have five trucks on the road so we’ve smashed that out of the park.”

“It’s definitely had its challenges and I didn’t see it being where it is today. The main goal at the moment is to have it so I manage my business rather than my business managing me. And keep providing the quality of service to our clients.

“We’ve been pretty lucky. We haven’t struggled for staff or anything like that. That comes down to good gear and fair rates.

“What has been cool is that people seem to want to see young guys succeed. They see an up-and-comer having a go and they love it.

One of five Mercedes-Benz units at work in the Kainui Contracting fleet, KCL003 is a 2020 Arocs 2651.

“We having a good crack at it by putting good equipment on the road. A common question is “how can you afford to put those new trucks on the road?

“The answer is, `I can’t afford not to’.

“We are a solutions based cartage company at the end of the day, so you can’t tell your customers ‘no’.

“We focus on getting the work, doing the work and not letting our clients down. If we pitch for work then ‘no’ is not in the vocabulary. We make it happen. ”For our clients the answer is always yes and then we figure it out.”

David says there are stressful times.

“If we are doing coal runs the phone starts ringing at 3am and it doesn’t stop till nine at night. There’s been the odd day when I felt like jamming my head in the ranch slider.

“It’s important not to get distracted and don’t sweat the little stuff or you will lose focus on what you should be focussing on. “If something doesn’t go quite right, find a solution and move forward. Don’t dwell on issues, you will just stay on the same issue forever.”

So what does he do to relax away from his world of transport?

“I go water skiing, but not right now,” and David relates a story of a tumble and a burst ear drum.

“I love water skiing and I go to the mountain for some skiing in winter. I’ve got a good friend circle and they understand I’m busy, so if they want to grab my boat they can set it all up and I’ll meet them down there.“

With a general shortage of younger people in the industry and some established one-man operators getting out of the game, David believes his young crew, with five drivers aged between 23 and 30, is a benefit to KCL.

“It’s a young crew mixed with a bit of experience. They are all Class 5 license holders and we put the greener drivers through the TR Group Master Driver system,” says David.

“The culture is a bit like a rugby team and I’m a bit like the coach. I recognise everyone makes mistakes but I don’t like a culture of blame.

“I believe we have a good team environment and a positive culture. Every second month we get together for some pizzas and a beer.

“I work to put the right drivers in the right roles. Some guys love civil work. I find bulk work boring but other guys love it. I need guys to play to their strengths.

“In my case, I know how to run trucks and get them to work, not how to service them or change tyres. It’s about having the right people in the right roles.

“And it’s just as important to keep sub-contractors happy as they are a very important part of this business.”

The foreseeable future for KCL is in part mapped out with arrival of KCL006 - a new Actros 2653 originally due in April this year but now delayed till later in the year – and the Kenworth T610 for bulk work ordered for 2023.

David says KCL may add also a Telehandler to assist reloading and handling materials on soft ground.

“And one of the next steps is to invest in some land and set up a depot that’s not on my parents’ farm,” he says.

“Long term? Watch this space; if we keep ordering trucks we’ve got to keep them busy.” T&D