NZ Trucking Magazine March 2024

ROCK AND RUBBLE FH750 – HAMMERING HOME THE MESSAGE

TRUCKING NEW ZEALAND

MARCH 2024

Official magazine of the

Long Haul Publications

Legend of Linehaul MIKE ‘CHARLIE’ CHARLTON

9 413000 047578

KW100 A WORTHY CELEBRATION

$10.90 Includes gst

PROVING ITS METTLE

kiwi favourites The results are in and we couldn’t be happier. Scania has been voted the number one* truck brand in the country by the people whose opinion we value the most New Zealand truckies.

We’re chuffed to have rated highest on all measures, including most preferred, comfort, safety, sustainability, performance, efficiency, service and parts. Thanks New Zealand. It means a lot.

*Nationwide online 2023 survey by NZ Trucking magazine with 720 respondents.

52% were heavy truck drivers, 23% were owner/operators or employees of a heavy truck brand. Truck brands currently driven by respondents – Scania 29%, Kenworth 28%, Volvo 18%, all other brands 25%.

Black Adam, the 2023 730S XT Scania of Taupo-based Northern Linehaul (NLL), rolls into Kawerau off the Million Dollar Highway, loaded with another bundle of pinus radiata to feed the mill. Photo: Michael Beesley.

CONTENTS THE

REST

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Dave McCoid Ph: 027 492 5601 Email: dave@nztrucking.com EDITOR

Gavin Myers Ph: 027 660 6608 Email: gavin@nztrucking.com For all advertising enquiries: ADVERTISING MANAGER

Pav Warren Ph: 027 201 4001 Email: pav@nztrucking.co.nz Mike Devon Ph: 027 332 4127 Email: mike.devon@nztrucking.co.nz Maddy McCoid Ph: 027 336 6811 Email: maddy@nztrucking.co.nz

WORK AND COPS 32 HARD AND ROBBERS

The Story of Mike ‘Charlie’ Charlton

66 72 74 76

SUB EDITORS

Tracey Strange, Faye Lougher EDITORIAL SUPPORT

Carl Kirkbeck, Craig McCauley, Shannon Williams, Russell Walsh.

CONTRIBUTORS

DIGITAL IMAGING

Craig Andrews Faye Lougher Alison Verran Mike Verran Andrew Geddes Niels Jansen (Europe) Paul O’Callaghan

Willie Coyle

(UK, Europe, Australia)

Mike Williams (Australia)

Will Shiers (UK) Rod Simmonds (USA) VIDEO PRODUCTION

78 86

DIGITAL MANAGER

Louise Stowell

90 92 93

OFFICE ADMINISTRATION

Georgi George PUBLISHER

Long Haul Publications Ltd 511 Queen Street, Thames 3500 PO Box 35, Thames 3500

Izaak Kirkbeck Milly McCauley

Celebrating a Brand that Means so Much

Ricky Harris ART DIRECTOR

John Berkley

New Zealand Trucking magazine is published by Long Haul Publications Ltd. The contents are copyright and may not be reproduced without the consent of the editor. Unsolicited editorial material may be submitted, but should include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. While every care is taken, no responsibility is accepted for material submitted. Opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of New Zealand Trucking or Long Haul Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. This magazine is subject to the New Zealand Press Council.

Complaints are to be first directed to: editor@ nztrucking.co.nz with “Press Council Complaint” in the subject line. If unsatisfied, the complaint may be referred to the Press Council, PO Box 10 879, The Terrace, Wellington 6143 or by email at info@ presscouncil.org.nz

48 ROCK HAMMER

Father, Daughter, Rock and Rubble

Further details and online complaints at www.presscouncil.org.nz

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96 Moving Metrics 100 Incoming Cargo – Isuzu’s Future, pt.2 102 Tech in Transport – Bloody Computers 104 IRTENZ Conference – PBS 106 Vipal’s Knowing Your Tyres 108 Person of Interest – Ryan Marra 110 Product Update – Zepro 112 Product Profile – Napa 114 Industry Comment – Lindsay Wood 116 Carriers Corner 118 Truckers’ Health 120 Health & Safety 122 Legal Lines 124 Business, Together 126 NZTA/NRC 128 Transporting New Zealand 130 The Last Mile BROUG HT TO YOU B Y

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Editorial Road Noise News Rig of March 2014 Kamo Truck Show Just Trucking Around Wanaka Memory Scania R500 Afterlifer An Absolute Classic Good On Ya Inside ITOY – Meeting Scania’s Heavy EVs New Rigs New Bodies and Trailers Million Mile Club Craig’s Trucking Snapshot Aussie Angles – The Big Grain Harvest Mini Big Rigs – Replicating the Original Little Truckers’ Club What’s On Cartoon

38 100 YEARS YOUNG

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6 months (6 issues) $52 One year (11 issues) $99 Two years (22 issues) $175 1 Year Australia (11 issues) $198

6 8 31 44 52 53 54 57 58 62

82 30 YEARS OF INNOVATION Revisiting the Original FH16

ROCK AND RUBBLE FH750 – HAMMERING HOME THE MESSAGE v MARCH 2024

TRUCKING NEW ZEALAND

MARCH 2024

18 PROCEEDING REPUTATIONS Long Haul Publications

Legend of Linehaul MIKE ‘CHARLIE’ CHARLTON

$10.90 Includes gst

Official magazine of the

9 413000 047578

KW100 A WORTHY CELEBRATION

Shannon picks up another bin at the MSL yard, destined for the next swap.

WATC H T HE VID EO O N YOUT UBE

MAGAZINE O IAL

HE FT

New Zealand Trucking including Truck Trader

PROVING ITS METTLE

OFF IC

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EDITORIAL

THE IMAGE WE PORTRAY

T

ruck show season 2024 is in full swing, and we highlight a couple of the early shows in this issue. It’s been a great month to get together, and thankfully, there’s still more to come before winter puts a damper on things. No doubt, the highlight of highlights for many will be our report on Southpac Trucks’ KW100 event (page 38), held in celebration of Kenworth’s centenary during 2023.

As I wrote in the EDM editorial during the week of the show, there is no shortage of famous marques that rightfully hold their place in the trucking annals of New Zealand. For many, Kenworth is at the top of that list. The overwhelming response to the KW100 event – the enthusiasm for it from the youngest truck-crazed kid and the punter who proudly boasts a tattoo of the Bug, to some of the greatest names behind some of the most famous liveries we see every day – proves one thing beyond doubt: This is a brand that means so much to so many, one that has ignited passion and endeavour, advanced lives and livelihoods, built legacies and nations.

One could see and feel this there – not only among the truckies who’d spent hours proudly polishing their pride and joy, or from the industry names who understood the importance of the milestone, but also from the public who braved the schizophrenic weather to share in the festivities and get up close

to some cool trucks.

I’ve said it before: truck shows are a significant form of good PR for our industry – regardless of whether it’s a massive once-in-100-year celebration of a single brand or one of the many local shows that attract a comparative handful of trucks.

They’re a way for industry to engage with the public, to show the value of these machines to their lives; that they’re driven by real, passionate, hard-working people. You can’t help but feel good about that. It’s something the industry does well.

This is why I was really disappointed over the past few weeks by some social media posts doing the rounds, and the comments on them by members of this very industry.

One I’d like to reference particularly was posted on a regional roading issues group, with a picture of a log truck asking if it were loaded correctly and commenting that it appeared “pretty unsafe”. That was all, no other remarks or slights on the driver or the industry.

It was a reasonable, legitimate question, especially if made by someone who has no familiarity with the industry or loading and transporting logs.

Of the 49 comments on the post (at which point, the moderator disabled comments), six gave a straightforward, respectful answer. Most of the rest were rude, sarcastic, stroppy, insulting or some combination of these.

TRUCK & LIGHT COMMERCIAL adapted masthead.indd 1

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New Zealand Trucking

March 2024

It’s not the first time I’ve written about the pros and cons of social media and how we choose to use it, nor is it often I feel the need, or that it is my place, to act like Dad in these editorials … but, really, there is no need for any of that.

Instead of offering an answer to the question or taking the opportunity to educate people about the art of loading and restraining logs, most commentors chose to put down the person and, in doing so, portray the wrong image of the industry and its people.

What we say and do, and how we say and do it, says a lot about us – regardless of whether we’re behind the keyboard or face to face. Digital platforms are as much a space for public interation as a truck show or having a yarn with someone while getting a coffee at the side of the road.

It doesn’t matter what you drive, who you drive for, where you are, or who you’re talking to; the industry’s image, reputation and importance are bigger than any one of us. Besides, it costs nothing to be nice.

Dad rant over. Enjoy the month, and get out to some truck shows.

Gavin Myers Editor

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ROAD NOISE NEWS NEW MODELS

Volvo revamps global range

V

olvo Trucks has taken the wraps off an updated heavy-duty line-up, showcasing a range of aerodynamic and safety updates to the FH and FM and revealing an entirely new flagship 17L engine platform now boasting up to 780hp.

Volvo says the D17 engine is equipped with a single efficient turbocharger that boosts engine responsiveness, improving the driving experience. Volvo’s patented wave-piston design optimises combustion and reduces emissions, while the new injection system improves fuel economy, and increased peak cylinder pressure enables high power output.

Power ratings for the Australasian market are yet to be confirmed.

All engines are available with 13- and 14-speed Crawler and Ultra-Low Crawler I-Shift AMT transmissions as well as the traditional 12-speed. The new FH16 600 also benefits from the option of a new low-drag I-Shift variant for highway applications.

Volvo’s I-See technology has

8

New Zealand Trucking

been refined to save energy and carbon emissions, using a cloud-based topographic map to optimise driving and enable more driving time in cruise-control mode, which can save energy and provide more relaxed driving.

Updated brakes with Volvo’s patented drag-free brake discs, pads and hubs improve the braking capacity and reduce energy consumption and emissions.

The FH and FM cabs have received significant aerodynamic improvements; however, the most noticeable feature is the addition of the optional camera monitoring system (CMS), which replaces the traditional wing mirror assemblies. CMS gives a wider field of view than a standard glass mirror and can shift that view as an articulated combination negotiates turns and intersections. An additional outcome is the aerodynamic and efficiency gains of not having mirror housings on the side of the cab. The A-pillar-mounted CMS screens can also be activated remotely from the sleeper for additional security while the

March 2024

driver rests.

Inside, the FH benefits from a revised audio system and interior styling.

“This latest iteration of the Volvo FH is the cleanest, most efficient and most powerful truck we’ve offered Australian and New Zealand customers yet,” said Martin Merrick, president and CEO Volvo Group Australia.

“I’m confident that the new D17 engine will be a gamechanger for linehaul, regional and heavy haulage customers across both countries. This engine has been subjected to a brutal local testing programme in some of the harshest conditions and some of the highest weights this country has to offer to ensure the uptime and productivity that Volvo Trucks customers have come to expect.”

The first of Volvo’s new FH and FM models for Australia and New Zealand will roll off the Wacol assembly line in mid-2024.

In the European market, the FH range has also expanded with the addition of an extended-front variant, dubbed the FH-Aero. It features an extra 240mm, which has been added to the front air

dam of the FH cab. It extends the front to provide a significantly lower drag coefficient and lowered energy consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 5%. It will come with a choice of propulsion systems, including electric, biogas and diesel.

In North America, an all-new Volvo VNL will go on sale at the end of March. It will get an allnew energy-efficient platform, cutting fuel consumption by up to 10%.

The new platform will be the base for new models in the coming years, utilising the company’s electric, fuel-cell, and renewable-fuel technologies.

“We are launching new bestin-class trucks that will set a benchmark for energy efficiency and reduction of CO2 emissions across the entire product range,” said Roger Alm, president of Volvo Trucks.

“They have been designed to accelerate the journey towards our ambitious 2040 net-zero emission target, but they also offer higher levels of safety, productivity and uptime for our customers.”

ROAD NOISE NEWS

New South Island hub for Sime Darby

S

ime Darby Motors and Industrial has begun constructing its new Waterloo Business Park in Christchurch. Due to open by the end of 2024, the site will include Truckstops, TWL, Volvo Trucks NZ, Mack and Hyster.

“This is part of an ongoing programme of growth and investment in New Zealand and reinforces our commitment to our South Island employees and customers,” said managing director of Sime Darby Motors NZ, Pat McKenna.

The new Christchurch site will contain a 14-bay mega truck service centre, parts distribution centre, TWL retail outlet, and Volvo Trucks NZ, Mack and Hyster showrooms.

Caterpillar dealer Terra Cat New Zealand will move its

Christchurch branch, including its Terra Analytical fluid-testing laboratory, to an adjacent 2.5ha site.

“Terra Cat, and the Gough Group before that, has been based at its Hornby location on Amyes Road since the 1970s, and this project is an exciting opportunity to develop a stateof-the-art national headquarters and service branch for Cat,” says Terra Cat CEO Chris Heaton.

“This will enable us to continue providing a world-class service to our customers and take our support for our branches across the country to the next level.”

The support office will accommodate about 200 Sime Darby Motors and Terra Cat employees within the mixeduse precinct called The Works, complete with green areas for

walking and cycling. Future developments for The Works precinct include plaza areas to buy food and drinks and access to gym and childcare facilities.

Sustainability and environmental features are being integrated into the new buildings, including stormwater recycling, electric vehicle and

e-bike charging stations, and building management systems incorporating smart technology to optimise heating, ventilation and air conditioning. The support office will incorporate solar energy, while the other two sites will be future-proofed for solar power.

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ROAD NOISE NEWS

Ruakura Superhub attracts FMCG giants

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road and rail,” Big Chill general manager Phil Clarke said.

“We expect to move an average of 68 20-foot containers per week via rail alone. The supersite has created a high level of interest for businesses that service the chilled and frozen food sector,” said Clarke.

Refrigerfreighters’ 1000m2 facility will include fridge and freezer space and accompanying office space. The building is specified to a Greenstar 4 rating.

Facility design build is underway with main contractor, Calder Stewart Construction, targeting completion and readiness to operate in the last quarter of 2024.

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All trucks based here will serve the Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions, with further operational support from the existing RFF network.

“The dynamic of Auckland, Tauranga and Hamilton as an economic growth engine for New Zealand pointed towards Ruakura as the best location for Refrigafreighters’ next depot,” said the company’s chief executive Michael Roberts.

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and frozen food ready for distribution to retail and food service businesses by Big Chill’s network of 180 temperaturecontrolled trucks and trailers.

Big Chill was acquired by listed company Freightways in 2020, and the new facility is the second investment the business has made to scale up Big Chill’s operations in the national delivery and 3PL and 4PL space.

“We’ve been able to increase our warehousing capacity by 30% at Ruakura and can now increase same-day and overnight delivery services. We chose the site for its location and increased access to a comprehensive network of

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he 49ha Ruakura Superhub is one of New Zealand’s largest multiuse developments. Anchored by the Ruakura Inland Port, its location at the nexus of the “golden triangle” between Auckland and Tauranga is making it an attractive location for transport companies seeking transitional facilities.

In the past month, Big Chill Distribution opened a purposebuilt cool-store facility in the hub, while Refrigerfreighters announced its first Waikato depot at the Ruakura Superhub.

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ROAD NOISE NEWS

NRC, NTA issue member letter about relationship with Transporting NZ

O

n Friday, 16 February, National Road Carriers chairman John Baillie and New Zealand Trucking Association president Rob Taylor issued a statement to members of their respective associations about ceasing further work with Transporting New Zealand on industry issues.

“Over the past year, National Road Carriers (NRC) and the New Zealand Trucking Association (NTA) have, in good faith, sought to work constructively with Transporting New Zealand (TNZ) on several important initiatives for the road freight industry.

“This has included the Road Freight Safety Partnership,

a key government-industry collaborative forum chaired

by Waka Kotahi. TNZ have not reciprocated by working in good faith. Despite the numerous public calls for ‘one voice’, the actions of TNZ have made it clear that rather than working together in partnership as agreed, they have chosen to exploit these collaborative opportunities to progress their agenda to the detriment of the industry outcomes being sought.

“We cannot partner with TNZ, as they have failed to act in good faith in the true spirit of partnership.

“No longer being able to partner closely with

the regulator in the Road Freight Safety Partnership is an opportunity lost for the road transport industry. Our decision to stop working with TNZ is not taken lightly, but we have no choice given the behaviour exhibited in 2023,” the associations said.

In response, Transporting New Zealand board chair Warwick Wilshier expressed “extreme disappointment”.

“I cannot see how [this] latest announcement can in any way be for the benefit of the road freight industry.

“Quite frankly, I am somewhat astounded and dismayed by the claims made in the letter, particularly given our

CEO, another board member and I met with NZTA, and we specifically discussed TruckSafe and the Road Freight Safety Partnership less than two weeks ago.

“Sadly, I can see NRC’s action creating more damage to the reputation of the road freight sector. This is another frustrating distraction getting in the way of us addressing the real issues that our sector is facing.”

The full statement and response as issued by NRC/ NTA and Transporting New Zealand can be found on the New Zealand Trucking website, nztrucking.co.nz.

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Aussie driver licensing framework overhauled

M

andated minimum training and assessment times and experience-based progression options – plus enhanced governance standards for training providers – will be rolled out over the next two years in Australia under a new National Heavy Vehicle Driver Competency Framework agreed to by the country’s transport ministers.

In a recent presentation, Austroads general manager programs, Paul Davies, said the Decision Regulatory Impact Statement (D-RIS) presented to – and agreed to – by ministers includes a new requirement to have a heavy-combination (HC)

licence before gaining a multicombination (MC) licence.

Davies also revealed the new framework features strengthened training and assessment standards for all licence classes, including mandated minimum training programme length and comprehensive competencies and assessment.

The mandated minimum training and assessment times will be 16-24 hours for rigids and 20-28 hours for combinations, including minimum ‘behind the wheel’ time of six to eight hours for rigids and eight to 10 hours for combinations.

There will also be a

requirement for four to eight hours of post-licence supervised driving within three months of obtaining a new or upgraded licence, dependent on class.

Additionally, Davies said ministers had agreed to strengthened training and assessment standards for all licence classes comprising more than 180 identified competency elements to be delivered via a mix of online, driving/yard, and classroom. These included modules on hazard perception testing and attitude and approach to the driving task.

The new framework introduces experience-based progression pathways for driver

licensing. The progression from MR/HR to HC will be cut in half under the experiencedbased pathway (from 12 to six months), as will the progression from MR to MC (from two years to one year). The progression from HR to MC will remain at 12 months due to the new requirement to first obtain an HC licence.

Regulators suggest for most drivers there will be pathways to progress more quickly than currently.

The new framework also includes new governance and other nationally developed standards for training providers.

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ROAD NOISE NEWS

COMMISSION STRENGTHENS EU EMISSIONS TARGETS The European Commission and the European Parliament and Council have entered into a provisional political agreement strengthening CO2 emissions standards for new heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) entering the EU market from 2030 onwards.

The agreement sets CO2 emissions reduction targets for HDVs of 45% for 2030-2034, 65% for 2035-2039 and 90% as of 2040, compared with 2019 levels. These standards will apply to almost all trucks (including vocational vehicles, such as rubbish trucks, tippers or concrete mixers as of 2035), and urban and long-distance buses.

Specific emissions reduction targets are also set for trailers (7.5%) and semi-trailers (10%), starting from 2030.

New urban buses must reduce emissions by 90% as of 2030. All new urban buses will have to be zero emissions by 2035.

Under the provisional deal, the commission will review the effectiveness and impact of the regulation by 2027. This review will cover expanding the scope to small lorries, a methodology for registering HDVs exclusively running on CO2-neutral fuels, in conformity with EU law and climate neutrality objectives.

Additionally, it will address the role of a carbon correction factor in the transition towards zero-emission HDVs and establish a methodology for determining the full lifecycle CO2 emissions of new heavyduty vehicles.

The European Parliament and Council now need to approve the agreement formally. Once this process is completed, the new legislation will be published in the official journal of the union and enter into force.

Unimog tests hydrogen combustion

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ercedes-Benz Special Trucks is testing a Unimog implement carrier prototype with a hydrogen combustion engine in real operation.

The Unimog is a test vehicle used to research the conditions under which hydrogen combustion can be implemented to supplement battery-electric and fuel-cellbased drives.

The Mercedes-Benz Unimog test vehicle is based on the Unimog U 430 implement carrier. A specially converted

natural gas engine with tank, safety and monitoring systems and measurement technology is installed for the alternative hydrogen technology drive.

Hydrogen combustion in the engine compartment produces water, discharged as steam via the exhaust system.

The wheelbase and platform length are dimensioned so that the hydrogen tanks can be installed behind the cab.

The four TUV-certified, 700-bar high-pressure tanks hold about 14kg of gaseous hydrogen.

They are combined into two

double tanks, each operated independently of each other with a tank control unit. In the next development stage, the engineers aim to increase the volume to cover a regular working day.

The engine delivers about 216kW (290hp) and 1000Nm and is noticeably quieter than its diesel equivalent. The prototype was equipped with a front mower featuring two mowing heads to gain further insights in work mode.

IVECO renews entire range

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or the first time in its history, IVECO has renewed every product line in its entire range simultaneously – at an investment of €1 billion, its biggest ever.

The all-new FPT Industrial XCursor 13 multi-fuel engine on the upgraded MY24 S-Way heavy-duty truck is the latest evolution of the Cursor, offering fuel savings of up to 10% in diesel and gas. If run on bioliquefied natural gas, it can eliminate CO2 emissions in a well-to-wheel cycle, says IVECO. Developments in the electric versions of IVECO’s light and heavy lines also reached new levels. The eDaily, the batteryelectric version of the DAILY, now has a range of up to 400km in urban real-world

usage, and 20 minutes of rapid charging delivers 100km of autonomy.

The S-eWay is the first ‘electric-born’, softwaredistinctive heavy-duty truck engineered and manufactured

by IVECO; it offers a range of up to 500km under full load and standard working conditions, with 80% recharging in 90 minutes at 350kW of rapid charging.

Connectivity is now standard on all models and versions in the new range for real-time tracking and fleet management. IVECO offers a comprehensive portfolio of telematic services based on AI algorithms, which potentially add an extra 4% efficiency to a vehicle.

Various Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) – such as a blind-spot warning information system, driverdrowsiness-attention warning and traffic-jam assist – have been incorporated in the new range to enhance safety in and around the vehicle, extending beyond regulatory requirements, with protection for vulnerable road users.

IVECO marked the opening of this new chapter by unveiling a refreshed logo, which it says embodies the concept of “pulse of change”.

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ROAD NOISE NEWS

BIGFOOT EXPANDS IN USA Bigfoot Equipment has signed a distribution deal with United States-based company XACTT to deliver new solutions to the forestry, utility, construction, mining, heavy haulage and agriculture industries by providing a US presence and support to Bigfoot’s marketleading central tyre-inflation technology.

The Kiwi CTI brand Bigfoot has been globally exported for 28 years.

The CTI system allows truck drivers to adjust tyre pressures from their cab to suit the speed and weight of their vehicle.

Lowering the air pressure creates a larger contact area between the tyre and the ground and significantly improves traction on loose or soft surfaces. It can also improve fuel savings and tyre wear, reduce repairs and maintenance costs, and ensure heavy vehicles can safely handle steep inclines or rough terrain.

The systems and component parts will be held in stock in Alabama, and US customers can now order Bigfoot’s CTI system and arrange installation directly with XACTT. “I don’t think anyone’s going to beat us in terms of service and reliability,” says Graham Wylie, owner of Bigfoot Equipment.

“Our product is of the highest quality, and our pricing is also extremely competitive.”

Bigfoot has a loyal customer base in the US and believes in a strong one-on-one relationship with all customers who operate its systems.

“Our goal is to utilise XACTT’s existing networks to best cater to the various sectors where our CTI system(s) are utilised.”

In the Blood is the second book by Mike Isle on the New Zealand Truck-Trailer Manufacturers Federation and charts the industry’s journey through the first quarter of the new century.

Right: Raconteur Mike Isle tells the story in his signature style.

IN THE BLOOD

The new generation of New Zealand truck-trailer manufacturers: The stories and profiles

I

f trucking and road transport run through your veins, Michael Isle’s In the Blood is a must-read. A sequel to Ridin’ the Rainbow, Mike was again commissioned by the New Zealand Truck-Trailer Manufacturers Federation to write the successor volume to the first commissioned work.

Written in 2005, Ridin’ the Rainbow covered the origins and pioneers of New Zealand’s truck body and trailer building industry. In the Blood charts the industry’s path since then to the current day.

“The industry has faced many significant challenges in the first quarter of the century, and the federation felt a sequel to Rainbow needed to be written,” said Mike. “Often, the pioneers are attributed the most difficult times, but today’s generation have faced their own ‘make or break’ moments for sure. We needed to acknowledge and document that.”

Succession is a core theme of the book, and for the multigenerational players, In the Blood recaps their pioneer founders, making it easy to contextualise those who followed. After them is a selection of higher profile first-generation businesses – some of which are now decades

old themselves. The second half of the book profiles members of the federation not covered in the first.

Three other themes dominate the book: turbulent economic times – namely the GFC and Covid-19 – the changing face of compliance and regulation, and the human resource – or lack thereof – across all aspects of the industry.

Those last three topics in no way make this a dour and demoralising read – far from it. Mike does a great job of conveying the laudable qualities of those who formed the industry and federation all those years ago, are still alive and well in today’s generation – albeit a little more polished.

In the Blood celebrates the federation’s key role in the development of regulation and compliance, working with the regulator, rarely seeking an easy route, but rather an agreed and proper one. The result has been all boats rising in the harbour of professionalism and quality.

That work is ongoing and forms a key function for the federation today.

Kudos is also given to those who brokered the collaborative relationship between industry and regulator on the back of

these projects-based journeys – a situation desired and driven by insightful parties on both sides of the fence over many years.

There is a discussion through commentary and quote about defined regulation coming at the expense of rampant creativity. To some degree, the thought is left open to ponder, although examples of the ‘next new thing’ are cited, and it’s also partially resolved by those who have sought to demonstrate creativity in other areas, like recruitment and social licence.

In the Blood – written in the style only Mike Isle possesses.

It would have been a crime had the sequel to Rainbow not been written by this great raconteur, like replacing an amputated arm with an old cow’s leg you had laying around, and purporting the result to be successful and complete.

Together, as a body of work, they exist in harmony – like the two eras of the industry whose story they chronicle.

– Dave McCoid A must-have on your bookcase.

For your copy, contact: Kate Bucknell 021 917-506 kateb@tesnz.com

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COVER FEATURE

PROCEEDING REPUTATIONS The IVECO T-Way is the latest in a family of ultra-capable, hard-working, and raceproven, trucks. It has a lot to live up to.

But it’s nuggety, plucky, tenacious and intelligent – all traits that should set it up for success.

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March 2024

Story by Gavin Myers

Photos and video by Dave McCoid and Gavin Myers

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I

veco launched the S-Way in New Zealand just over a year ago. It’s fair to say that – as it’s done overseas – S-Way has been nothing but a success, boosting Iveco New Zealand’s profile among drivers, operators and on the sales charts. Take a trip along the nation’s highways and byways and S-Ways are seemingly everywhere.

At that launch in late February 2023, much was made about the S-Way’s safety, efficiency, performance and design enhancements, as well as its focus on driver comfort.

When we jumped aboard the Titus Transport 570hp 6x4 S-Way for our June 2023 cover story, it was abundantly clear IVECO had delivered on all fronts. S-Way was the product we’d all hoped it would be – one that would build on the foundational ability set by X-Way on our roads since 2020, simultaneously catapulting the brand’s heavyweight offering into a new era and giving its rivals something to sit up and take notice of.

But alongside the S-Way, presented at the launch in various model configurations, was a lone IVECO T-Way 410 4x4. A replacement for the brawny Trakker, it, perhaps unfairly, didn’t quite attract the same attention as the star of the show on the day.

Its importance to the new range, however, was beyond question – with Iveco New Zealand choosing not to debut the rangetopping 510hp model, but rather the 410hp 4x4, a model Iveco New Zealand medium and heavy truck sales executive Pieter Theron introduced as “a benchmark for severe off-road applications”.

Around the time we’d joined Titus Transport driver Scott Parker for a burn in the S-Way, order books for the complete T-Way range had opened, and full details on the range had been released. For those tasked with tackling goat tracks instead of graded, sealed roads, it all made exciting

reading – but the application of that level of ruggedness is niche for any mainstream OEM, and with the T-Way’s talents stretching impressively wide, finding the right truck in the right application to get our first taste of the T-Way should’ve been easy enough.

Kawerau-based Metal Solutions’ eyecatching T-Way 510hp hook truck has so far been the poster child for T-Way in New Zealand, and the moment we saw it pop into our inbox as a New Rig on the Road, we thought, “Now there’s a T-Way in an operation we’d love to sample.”

Scrappy-Doo If ever there were an apt caricature comparison for the new T-Way, it would have to be Hanna-Barbera’s cartoon Great Dane puppy, Scrappy-Doo. Stick with me – there’s more here than just a bad pun … Nuggety, plucky, tenacious and intelligent, Scrappy would often be the one to save the day for Uncle Scooby and bumbling Shaggy. The more time we spent with the MSL T-Way and driver Shannon de Vos, the more those traits came to the fore.

“We get out to some mongrelly places …

Yes, they certainly try your driving skills,” says MSL director Dave Fretwell as soon as we start discussing the truck. “The T-Way’s straight front axles and raised ground clearance appealed to us straight off. We did look at an S-Way, it offers a slight tare weight saving, but it’s a different truck completely.

We would’ve been ripping off bumpers …

I’m pleased with the T-Way.” Family-owned by Dave, wife Jo and son Chris, and supported by a staff of 16, MSL deals in the recycling of commercial and industrial scrap metal within the upper North Island from its Kawerau base. (See sidebar, In the middle of an endless cycle.)

A tilter, three high-rise cab handlers, a 10-tonne digger, a Merlo and four trucks support the operation. Forming the core

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The MSL team adapted a Hardox bin to fit a 10-tonne digger that it can transport to local jobs and complement the hiab trucks.

Photo: Israel Anderson.

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Nuggety, plucky, tenacious and intelligent, T-Way is the full package.

fleet are the T-Way hook truck, an ex-Fonterra Volvo FM crane truck and a four-wheeler Mitsubishi crane tipper that fills in on smaller jobs. The T-Way’s predecessor – a 2012 Actros 480 – is the fourth, still on-hand for the moment, and a new Volvo FM chassis has just arrived to replace the ex-milk hauler.

“She’s high mileage and pretty trashed.

We’ll strip the gear off that chassis for the replacement FM,” Dave says.

“Scrap is hard on the gear, but we like our fleet to be tidy. We like to operate like that, and we have good staff who work like that too and keep our gear in nice order. When we started, we couldn’t afford to go off and buy new gear, so we had to use our skills to present older gear nicely. Diverse Graphics in Whakatane designed the graphics and still signwrite all our trucks.

“Really, it’s nice to be in a position now where we can afford to go off and buy a couple of new trucks and have that reliability,” he comments.

Volvo, Scania, Isuzu and Fuso were all considered as replacements for the Actros, and Dave ensured he’d done his research in choosing the right truck for the job. “The Japanese trucks went quickly mainly because they don’t have the torque we were after. (A lesson learnt from years of running the poor Actros at 50MAX.) “I then did a spreadsheet comparing the others, and there wasn’t a lot in it pointing to the Volvo. But, then the T-Way became an option, and comparing that to the Volvo, I found it ticked most of the boxes. Price and availability were also a

big part of the decision – it was around $90,000 cheaper than I was quoted for the new Volvo. Looking at what I’d get, I couldn’t see where that difference was.

The Volvo was also 12 months out from delivery,” Dave explains.

After a call to Waikato and Bay of Plenty truck sales consultant Brent Landers, Shannon was dispatched to Mt Maunganui IVECO service dealer Diesel Solutions to check out the T-Way, and before long, it was in the Kawerau yard awaiting its fitout.

One man’s trash … … is another man’s livelihood. And so, in selecting the T-Way, Dave had to be sure he was opting for the right truck for the job, but also that it was spec’d for ultimate productivity.

“We did the fitout of the hydraulics in our workshop. Chris is an engineer. I have an engineering background as well. He looks after all our repairs – tyres, minor servicing, engineering, hydraulics. When you do scrap, you have so much gear and variation in all the gear … So, we’re able to keep the overheads down, and when something of sufficient importance goes wrong, we’re onto it. We don’t have to wait for a call-out,” Dave says.

Koromiko Engineering in Mt Maunganui was drafted to mount the 22-tonne Palfinger T22 Telescopic Hookloader, while a local engineering company applied the finishing touches with custom toolboxes and step plates, and Brad and the team from Coastline Auto Electrical in Whakatane fitted the cameras, hazard beacons, Si Lodec scales,

One bin off, another one on. All in a day’s work.

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Palfinger T22 Telescopic Hookloader does the ‘heavy lifting’.

Weighing up on the Neville Marsh 50T weighbridge.

Shannon covers the skips of aluminium cans at the Whakatane transfer staion.

and Eroad.

No day is the same in the scrap game – you could be barely bothering the scales one day, and perilously close to overstepping weight limits and axle loadings the next.

Our first meeting with driver Shannon and the T-Way is early on a Monday morning at Waste Management Whakatane, where he’s already loaded two skips of aluminium cans onto the 12m, five-axle flat deck that did duty behind the Actros. Operations manager Rob Watkins introduces us to our chaperone, Terry Southland, and we go in search of the newest, neatest vehicle on site.

“It’s a real nuggety looking thing, isn’t it?” comments Dave McCoid as we approach the T-Way. I agree. “Yeah, looks like

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it means business. Very cool, I like it.”

Shannon pauses to introduce himself before uncoupling the trailer and nipping to the other side of the yard to swap out a couple of bins. We didn’t yet know it – only watching from the sidelines at this stage – but the T-Way has two very important features that work together to make Shannon’s job immeasurably easier.

The first are a couple of rearfacing cameras, one above the trailer coupling as is common these days, and one on the bumper just over to the driver’s side. “They’re great to check my loading. However, I can actually see the hook with the T-Way’s mirrors, which you can’t on some other trucks,” Shannon comments. Later, Dave adds: March 2024

“It doesn’t give you a perfect line-up, but it gives you the height. We found that when we changed to the air-suspension trucks, they don’t always sit at the same height.”

The second handy feature is the T-Way’s 800Nm, enginemounted switchable PTO. “It’s a game-changer,” Dave remarks.

“You can be backing in and just put your foot on the brake,

which essentially clutches in, alter the hook height and carry on without having to go into neutral for the PTO. It’s a great feature.”

Load secured, Shannon hits the starter button to head out. Like all modern Euros, the Cursor 13 is whisper-quiet on start-up. It’s a Euro-6e unit, and IVECO’s retained its signature Hi-e SCR after-treatment

In the middle of an endless cycle

N

obody melts steel in New Zealand anymore in any great quantity.

That’s been the big change in the local scrap market,” comments Metal Solutions director Dave Fretwell. “Ten years or so back, when the Pacific Steel Mill in Otahuhu was operating, most steel scrap went there, with a small amount exported.”

Since then, the industry has turned 180 degrees, much to the benefit of scrap dealers like MSL. “The advantage of things now is a little company like ours has very similar selling clout to the likes of the big companies, though they have higher volume and break bulk load, whereas we’re containerising.”

Whakatane-born and with a background in agricultural engineering, Dave’s journey into the world of scrap began more than three decades ago, having spent 12 years in engineering, then 20 years with other scrap metal companies before starting MSL in 2012 in partnership with his wife Jo. “Jo is now semi-retired, though she still does quite a bit in the background.

Building the business, I could never have done it without her support and her nous … I can sit down with her and have the

conversation about a big spend, where the value is, the clients we’re trying to look after, and the solutions – having someone with that ability and support is awesome,” he says with a smile.

“Twelve years ago, I started trading and buying surplus steel pipe off a job in Waikato. We built a whole market supplying steel culvert and casing pipes, mostly into the farming and forestry sectors, and we needed to replace that stock, so we began to think about importing. It was all new territory and interesting at first; we learnt a few lessons.”

They decided to stick with import of steel pipes and plate. “We have big rollers and we cut pipes to length, make sockets, flood gates, and wing walls … That’s all done from here, too.”

It didn’t take long for some of Dave’s old customers to approach MSL about doing scrap again. “And a couple of months later, I was looking for a truck,” he says.

“I bought an old 2003 Volvo hook truck and rejigged it slightly with a crane behind the cab – so it was a crane hook, my one truck that did everything. We got busier and ended up needing another, and a trailer … as it goes.

“That original Volvo is still going up in Auckland.”

Today, MSL services clients in the upper North Island and enjoys a close working relationship with Waiotahi Transport, which moves MSL’s containers directly to port.

“We do a significant tonnage of export scrap in containers to the port. Steven Clayton at Waiotahi gives us great service; he’s all over it, and great to deal with.

“Scrap steel goes to many overseas markets to be recycled into new steel. Steel is an endless-cycle material. You can just keep melting and reusing it,” Dave says.

With the prospect of New Zealand Steel’s $300-million Glenbrook electric arc furnace on the horizon, which would likely be able to process all the country’s export scrap steel volume, the scrap market could be in for another major turnabout in the next few years.

“In the past, it was nice to melt in Auckland, but you had all this local freight and the cost of getting scrap to Auckland [as opposed to local ports],” Dave comments. “KiwiRail’s promised container terminal at Kawerau will open the option to look at containerised train loads; it’s an ideal product to put on rail.”

Dave Fretwell (left) and his son and MSL co-owner, Chris. Photo: Israel Anderson.

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a few tonnes greater, we shoot over to the truck dismantlers at the other end of town for the next bin rotation. This sort of local pick-up, drop-off and swap-out work makes up most of the T-Way’s duties. It does however get to stretch its legs fairly frequently, too. Tomorrow, it’ll be loaded to the brim with non-ferrous metals (aluminium, copper, etc) destined for Phoenix Metalman in Takanini.

The 12m flatdeck will be in tow, loaded with full ‘pallets’ – bales all stacked and strapped – and ‘pods’ – IBCs with the tops chopped off.

“This is the metal we don’t have enough volume of to export ourselves,” explains Dave.

“So we sell it to them. We would have to wait a long time to justify doing a 20-tonne export load of copper, for example, and it would also impact our cashflow.”

MSL ensured the T-Way had no shortage of cleverly integrated lockers. system, with a few additional planet-friendly acronyms to help it reach the current level of emissions compliancy mandated on its home continent. We’re all familiar with the diesel particulate filter (DPF) and selective catalytic reduction (SCR), but there’s also now a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) and a clean up catalyst (CUC).

They are all neatly positioned behind the right-hand second steer in what appears a surprisingly compact aftertreatment package.

Back at base, Shannon makes a quick swap-out of bins once more and, since the FM is on around-town hiab duty, he hooks up its Koromiko tipping tub trailer to load up for a transfer to Metalco Te Puke.

Before leaving, he crosses the on-site Neville Marsh 50T weighbridge. “It’s fantastic, exceptionally accurate,” comments Dave. “We bought a pit weighbridge for a permanent installation, but, with this one, we’ve just never seen the need for it.”

The T-Way is also fitted with SI Lodec scales, a must for a job where the contents and weight of the bin can be a bit of a lottery. “One of the big issues with hook trucks is you’ll often turn up to pick up a bin, and you don’t know what is in it,” he says.

“Sometimes it’s too heavy, and sometimes the payload is okay, but we’re overloaded on one of the axles.” The onboard scales allow Shannon to monitor the axle groups and adjust the bin position accordingly.

Metalco’s scrap deposits now

Nitty gritty We meet Shannon at 6am outside the Mainfreight depot on Truman Lane, Papamoa, where he stops to check his load. Rated at 50MAX, the T-Way is running to Auckland at 49,878kg GCM. With the Kaimais and Bombays ahead of us, we’ll have a couple of opportunities to put its 10hp/tonne potential to the test on the open road – though bearing in mind that, at just 7600km [when we went for our run with Shannon], the

Shannon tips the cab using the nifty wired controller. Right: Cursor 13 in Euro-6e trim offers up a wide, flat torque curve.

T-Way is still loosening up.

Our prior local jobs already proved the T-Way’s ease of manoeuvrability. With its 5820mm wheelbase, IVECO quotes a 21,300mm kerb-tokerb turning radius. For the odd off-road job, the 29-degree approach angle, 16-degree departure angle and 22-degree ramp angle all combine with the 312mm minimum front ground clearance afforded by that straight front axle (286mm at the rear).

“The first load I did with it, I was at an exit race at a cow shed – they’re renowned for being slippery and getting stuck. I just left the lockers on, and it was fine. When I was doing ag work, the last thing you’d want was to get stuck. I’d love to know how bad it has to be for this to get stuck!” enthuses Shannon.

Plucky.

“When Dave asked me if I’d drive an IVECO, I said, ‘Yeah, they drive them in the Dakar!

They’re a strong truck, they love off-road!’” he says with a laugh.

Rocking mode, off-road mode, creeping mode, and diff cross locks are among the many tools in the T-Way’s ‘get out of jail’ arsenal. Intelligent.

Day-cab trucks can look a little awkward, depending a lot on what’s mounted to the chassis behind it. The T-Way 8x4 is offered with two cabs: AD (1700mm length) and AT (2150mm length, including a 540mm-wide lower bunk). Both measure 2300mm wide and 3100mm high. The MSL truck is an AD cab, but in no way does it look awkward – nuggety, remember – or indeed feel cramped once aboard.

“It’s a good space. I’ve come out of bonneted day cabs, and it didn’t matter what I did, I was uncomfortable. I just couldn’t move the seat back enough.

This has a telescoping steering wheel, so I put that as high as it goes. I put the seat as far back as it goes, and I’m happy,” comments Shannon, and as a 6ft 5in bloke, that’s saying a lot.

It’s quiet, too, averaging about 68db at a cruise, rising to about 72db under load.

Shannon de Vos. Driving, for a good company – that’s what it’s all about.

AGAINST THE TIDE

I

t may sound negative, but 39-year-old Shannon de Vos is almost an anomaly as far as modern-day Kiwi career ambition goes. News reports regularly carry stories of Kiwis seeking greener pastures over the ditch, leaving our own already struggling labour market short of all that local talent it so desperately needs.

Shannon’s a Kiwi who’s done things the other way around.

He was born in New Zealand but raised for much of his childhood and teenage years in the coastal regions of Perth. There, it was the Royal Australian Air Force’s jets flying overhead that got his attention – RAAF Base Pearce being located just to the city’s north.

“I grew up wanting to be a fighter pilot. I worked towards that and did the pre-aptitude for the RAAF at 16, but I was already two inches too tall for the 6ft height limit,” he says.

Shannon’s’ working life over in Australia included making his way up in the housing industry and doing earthmoving, or ‘final trim’, with a Komatsu front-end loader.

This helped him refine his feel for the operation of machinery.

“You need to get something level without being able to see anything … you can feel so much through hydraulics,” he says.

Following that but remaining in the housing industry, Shannon was tasked with piloting a smaller digger and a 15-speed, 600hp Sterling.

“That was an experience.

I’d had my licence for a while because I needed a truck licence to drive the front-end loader on the road, but I hadn’t driven trucks. Yeah, it was a different world having to jump into a truck.”

Life’s ups and downs being what they are, eight years ago Shannon returned to New Zealand for a fresh start.

“My uncle saw where I was at that stage of life and said I should try moving back to NZ. He offered me a job in his electrical and powder-coating business in Whakatane. So I hopped off the plane and had a place to live and a job.”

After about five years, Shannon needed to get out on his own again. He worked on a subdivision in Papamoa, but the long hours and a two-hour commute meant this was only a brief entry on his CV. But, it was not all for nothing.

“I’d pass Grant Farms [Whakatane-based earthmoving and cartage contractor] every day, so one day, I cold-canvassed them, dropped off my resume, and got a job. I hadn’t been on machines for about six years,

but it’s like riding a bike. And it was different work, ag work – drain cleaning, river work, stuff like that.”

The job also included some time behind the wheel of a Western Star bulky.

“I do prefer driving, especially if it’s for a good company,” Shannon says. “Like MSL, everyone is happy and Dave’s a genuine bloke.”

Having left his job with Grant Farms and about to head back to Australia for a holiday, Shannon saw an ad on Facebook for a hook truck driver at MSL. “I thought, I’ve never driven a hook truck, but I’ve driven trucks, it can’t be that hard … so I applied and went for the interview. Dave and Michaela [Watkins, office manager] were aware I was going on holiday, but Michaela rang me back that night and said I had the job. I had my holiday, and came back to a new job.”

Now nearly a year later and happily part of the MSL family, Shannon reckons he made the right move all those years ago.

“I’ve got mates going to Australia to find work, but there’s work in New Zealand if you’re willing to do it. My younger brother and sister are still in Perth, and I’m trying to get them to move over, too.”

1

4

2

3

1 & 2) Drive selection alongside push-button start on the dash, while gear selection is on the same wand as the engine brake.

3 & 4) T-Way AD cab is surprisingly spacious, with plenty of nooks and crannies for storage – including a secret cubby in the passenger side of the dashboard.

Speaking of which, we’re now well into our climb up and over the Kaimais. The Cursor 13 offers up 375kW (510hp) from 1560 to 1900rpm and 2300Nm (1696lb/ft) at 900rpm, which it maintains up to 1560rpm, handing over to the max power.

“This thing has a good flat torque curve. It changes up and doesn’t seem to labour; it sits on the torque curve and keeps going. There are certain parts of the climb where it will actually gain speed. At the end of the day, I am going up here at 50 tonne, so anything better than 25km/h and I’m happy,” says Shannon.

On the last steep climb out of the Bay of Plenty leading to the summit, the 16-speed HI-TRONIX (ZF Traxon) AMT smoothly drops down a few cogs to 10th at 30km/h before settling in ninth at 26km/h and roughly 1700rpm. The engine fan kicks in – she’s sure pulling hard. By the time the climb levels out

To the shredder!

B

eing a bit of a petrolhead with a love for all things automotive, knowledge of one aspect of the lifecycle of a vehicle has always alluded me: What happens to cars once they’re crushed and baled?

MSL does crush cars, though not a lot, explains Dave. “If we have time, we’ll pull them apart and bale them in our baler. We separate the heavy steel out for export and the rest will go to the shredder in Te Puke.

Sometimes, if we have a bit of a backlog, we’ll just crush them down and load them on top of the load,” Dave says.

The shredder is the intriguing bit … “Once baled, it has to go through a shredder, a big, high-speed drum with huge ‘hammers’ made of high-manganese steel attached to it. It’s a very blunt instrument; it just hammers and hammers until the particles are small enough to pass through the grate,” Dave explains.

“Then, downstream, magnets lift the steel out, leaving the copper, aluminium, stainless

and some other things. Then they’ll have pick lines to physically pick out these bits.

They’ll also have eddy-current magnets that turn non-ferrous metals (such as aluminium) magnetic at differing rates, allowing it to pick out the various non-ferrous metals individually. The plastics and dumping stuff left behind is called flock.

“I visited a massive shredder in San Francisco. They’ve installed an optical sorter because they found there is still a high percentage of metallic content in their flock waste stream. So they put it through a rotary kiln to dry it out and run it through an optical sorter. This spreads it out over a wide belt, cameras detect the little pieces, and just down from that, air streams blow the various little pieces in the right directions off the belt and into bins.

“It’s just amazing to watch. But we’re [MSL] not even remotely interested in any of that,” Dave remarks.

The T-Way is at home flitting around town or out on the wide-open expressway.

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S P E C I F I C AT I O N S

IVECO T-Way AD5184 8x4

Shannon comes off the one-lane bridge crossing the Whakatane River. and we pass Old Kaimai Road, the T-Way has comfortably recovered speed, the HI-TRONIX box changing up without much pause for concern. Tenacious.

A three-stage engine brake is standard fitment, while a transmission intarder is optional.

Shannon comments that it is the only option he would’ve ticked given the chance.

However, that’s not to say the engine brake is suboptimal.

Heading down the Kaimais into the Waikato, the engine brake provides strong hold-back, to the point Shannon backs it off now and then.

Later, climbing the Bombays, the T-Way holds a steady 25km/h in ninth.

Fuel efficiency to date (13,345km) is a very fair 2.07km/L.

To a ‘T’ While the T-Way may not have launched with the same level of fanfare and intrigue as the S-Way, there’s no doubt that those in the know would have been very excited and

intrigued indeed. The Trakker had a formidable reputation worldwide for being able to tackle rough, tough jobs – and the Dakar Rally to boot. For the past three events, the T-Way has followed in its tyre tracks on the rally – but it’s performance on the job is what counts most.

On first acquaintance, it would appear to be, well, on track.

Behind its purposeful looks (an iF Design Award winner in the Heavy Truck: Industrial Design category, a German Design Council German Design Award winner for Excellent Product Design, and a Red Dot Award winner for Product Design) lay proven underpinnings and an array of electronic smarts. Add to that comfortable, spacious – is this really a day cab? – environs, an easy-driving nature and an efficient but effective drivetrain, and nuggety, plucky, tenacious and intelligent come together in one impressive package.

Now, we just need to jump aboard one of those 410hp 4x4 units faced with a mountain to climb.

Tare:

12,200kg (load cert.)

GVM:

32,000kg (load cert.)

GCM:

60,000kg (load cert.)

Wheelbase:

5820mm

Engine:

IVECO Cursor 13

Capacity:

12,9L

Power:

375kW (510hp) from 1560 to 1900rpm

Torque:

2300Nm (1696lb/ft) from 900 to 1560rpm

Emissions:

Euro-6e

Transmission:

ZF Traxon 16TX 2440 TO 16-speed AMT

Clutch:

Single dry plate, 430mm

Chassis:

309 x 80 x 10mm

Front axle:

IVECO 5890/D OFF

Front-axle rating:

16,000kg

Front suspension:

Reinforced parabolic suspension with dampers

Rear axle:

IVECO 453291ADB – Tandem. Hub reduction and differential cross locks.

3.79:1

Rear-axle rating:

26,000kg

Rear suspension:

Eight-bag air suspension

Brakes:

Disk. EBS, ABS

Auxiliary braking:

Three-stage ITB engine brake

Additional safety:

ASR (anti-skid regulator), DBI (direct brake integration), BAS (brake assistant system), BVR (brake lining wear adjustment), ARB (hill holder), ESC (electronic stability control). Lane departure warning.

Automatic rain-sensing wipers

Additional productivity: Switchable engine-driven PTO, EcoRoll, EcoSwitch, IVECO telematics Fuel:

390L

DEF tank:

50L

Wheels:

Alcoa alloy

Tyres:

11R R22.5

Electrical:

24V

Cab exterior:

Daytime running lamps (DRL), LED headlamps – low and high beam, fog lights with cornering and bending.

Mechanical spring suspended cab, servoassisted cab tilt. Multi-piece steel front bumper with foldable step. Headlight protection grid

Cab interior:

Leather-covered smartwheel with tilt and telescoping adjustment. High-comfort driver seat – fabric, air-suspended, ventilated. Three-way adjustable fabric passenger seat. Roll-up door sunblinds.

LED internal lights. Electronic climate control. Push-button start. Seven-inch LCD HD touchscreen display – DAB + AM/ FM radio, type-A USB input, Bluetooth connectivity, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, voice recognition, TomTom satellite navigation, reverse/side camera compatible (optional).

Special thanks

Our sincere thanks to Dave Fretwell and the MSL team for access to the T-Way, for letting us behind the scenes of the business and for giving us insight into the scrap metal industry.

Thanks to Shannon de Vos for having us along in the cab and regaling us with your stories.

Thanks to Erwin Stolze and the team at Iveco New Zealand for your continued support of New Zealand Trucking magazine and to Brent Landers for the technical info on MSL’s T-Way.

THE

RIGS

OF

2014

Every cover truck holds a special place in the history of New Zealand Trucking magazine. We love to see where their road has taken them.

This month, the Pacific Fuel Haul Western Star 4884FX from our March 2014 issue.

March

Taranaki Traditions A livery now gone from Kiwi roads.

At the time of writing the Western Star was in the process of being converted for its new role.

By the time you read this, it should be well into it.

Western Star Constellation Series 4884FX Currently owned by: Gilpin Cartage Contractors Current odo reading: 1,200,00km Mechanical work: Currently being converted to a five-axle tipper with 6m bin Current work profile: Asphalt cartage Basic original spec: Detroit Diesel Series 60 EGR at 386kW (525hp), 18-speed Eaton Road Ranger RTLO20918, Meritor RT46-160GP at 4.1:1 What we said in 2014: “There is

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Our 100 year history proves that when you do everything with heart, nothing is too heavy.

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something visceral about a classic North American cockpit and all those dials, sumptuous interior and woodgrain fittings, harking back to a time when trucking was a calling, not just a job. When you have the on-road presence these Constellations have, together with a cents-per-kilometre figure that leaves the boss grinning, we reckon that Pacific Fuel Haul has struck a sweet spot with its North American iron.”

HARD WORK an d C ops an d Robber s Story by Faye Lougher

B

orn in Wellington in 1948, Mike ‘Charlie’ Charlton left school at 14 and spent two years as a shearer.

When he was 16, he was offered a job driving trucks for Alvin McWatt.

“I got my truck licence when I was 16. I put my age up; I never had a licence until then,” Charlie says.

The job involved tip work, carting metal out of the Whitford quarry, and clearing house sites. “I enjoyed that job. It was a great job. It wasn’t very good money in those days, but good fun.”

Mike’s maiden voyage in the STL Western Star in 2007.

32

New Zealand Trucking

March 2024

Photos: Charlton collection

Charlie worked for McWatt for two years and then went to Pauatahanui and got a job with Stock Transporters, carting sheep and cattle, a bit of fertiliser, and other agricultural supplies around the lower North Island. “I started there in an S Model Bedford, and I worked for them on and off for more than 50 years,” he says.

Charlie also worked for Dales Freightways in Auckland and Rodney and Otamatea Transport in Wellsford, carting livestock and freight. After applying for a job with Refrigerated Freight Lines, Charlie

At 75, most people would be forgiven for sitting back and taking things easy after a long working life, but not Mike ‘Charlie’ Charlton.

His has been a career for the books, filled with the kind of antics that exist today only in trucking lore. got a telegram to say there was a vacancy in Johnsonville if he was interested.

“I moved down there, and I drove for them for a couple of years. That was a good job, good money, and all over the country. We used to cart the meat from Waingawa Works at Masterton to Foodtown in Auckland. And then ice cream to Gisborne, and Wattie’s stuff from Gisborne to Wellington, all over the place.”

From there, Charlie went back to Stock Transporters – which later became STL Line Haul. “I went back to Stock

1

2

3

4

5

6

1) The ERF Mike drove while working for Brambles NZ in the mid-1970s. 2) Mike’s first brand new truck, an FR Mack he bought in 1980. 3) One of Mike’s early Kenworths working for Mainfreight Auckland in the late 1970s. 4) A shot of Mike’s Kenworth taken outside Rotonui Lodge, Taupo.

5) Dave Taylor’s SAR working for Retko haulage, late 1980s/early 1990s. 6) A photo of Mike’s RFL Kenworth taken outside BP Wairakei in the mid1980s. Son Tom says he did a fair bit of work for Pam Tam. Transporters, and then I moved to Auckland and went back to work for Alvin’s son, Laurence McWatt. I drove a truck and trailer tip truck – tip work and that around the Auckland region. Then we used to do phosphate down to Morrinsville off the Auckland wharves.”

During this time, Charlie bought a truck, a D series Ford, and continued doing local tip work around Auckland. “Then I bought a flat-top truck and worked for Brambles and JB O’Loghlen, carting steel and general freight off the wharves

in Auckland. I bought a bigger truck, a Leyland LAD, and moved over to Brambles New Zealand Freighters, doing local container work and linehaul.”

Charlie says the work was interesting, and in those days, it involved manual labour. “You couldn’t manually load the steel, but everything else off the wharf you had to wheel along with a barrow.”

An ERF followed, the year and model now long forgotten.

“It was an eight-wheeler and a trailer, and I covered wool for Lichtenstein and Co from

Napier to Auckland. It was good money in those days. You just put the trailer up and went back and got another load. You didn’t have to worry about a back load.”

From there, Charlie went to Mainfreight, becoming the company’s first owner-driver.

“The owner of Mainfreight was Bruce Plested, who was the manager for Brambles. He started Mainfreight, and Terry Cunneen, who had also worked for Brambles, was the transport manager.

“Mainfreight had just started,

you know, it was a brand-new company. And there I met a fella called Gary Songhurst, who was their driver, and we have had a lifelong friendship since then.”

Charlie says the pair of them got up to a lot of “naughty things” during their time there.

“I couldn’t put some in writing; I’d probably end up in jail. But we had a tremendous time. We were still working under the rail restrictions – we could only cart 40 miles [64km]. We used to cart to Christchurch and Dunedin and all over the place.

1) Sugar Shack, a Kenworth Mike drove for Stock Transport in the early 1990s. 2) The R-model fresh out the paint shop in Stock Transport’s yard in Seaview, Wellington. It was the last truck Mike owned. 3) This photo was taken when Stock Transport owned the R-model. 4) An International T-Line Mike drove for Retko haulage, carting meat out of Benneydale in the late 1990s.

We were sort of pirates as such, and they were really good days.

There weren’t too many pirates, and we all kept pretty close to avoid the law. They were good days, a lot of hard work, long hours, but also a lot of fun.”

After four years, Charlie decided to go out on his own, doing the same sort of jobs. “I had quite a good client base because everybody wanted their freight to go by road. And the railway relented a wee bit, and you could buy a permit for each load to go places. So we were sort of semi-legal.”

Charlie says he made a lot of friends and gained some good contracts during that time. “It was hard yakka – some weeks, I’d do three trips a week from Auckland to Christchurch.

It was hard work, but good money.”

Charlie started off driving the ERF and then bought a 1980 Mack FR 350, but he says he’s driven all sorts of trucks.

34

New Zealand Trucking

He’s also done a lot of different types of trucking work over the years, including livestock and forestry work.

“I enjoyed driving the doubles in the Kaingaroa Forest, that was something totally different, a hundred tonne everywhere, and they were good people in there. I did that for about four and a half years.”

By this time, Charlie was married, but when his marriage ended, he had to sell up to pay his wife half when they divorced. “I went back to STL Line Haul, which used to be Stock Transporters. And I was there that time for probably about 30 years.”

Charlie had lived in Taupo while working for STL and when he retired in May 2022, he returned to Taupo.

“I’ve always loved working.

Retirement wasn’t really for me, so I’ve been doing a bit of part-time work driving logging

March 2024

trucks for different people until Christmas last year.”

Charlie says he’s never had to provide a CV to any employer, gaining all his jobs through word of mouth. “Or I’d hear of something, and I’d go in and make a few enquiries.”

Talk to anyone who knows Charlie, and there will be a story to tell. Like the time he was delivering stock to the saleyards with Snow Pearson.

“Oh, yeah,” recalls Charlie.

“That was a way back. We went to the Masterton sale with some cattle from out Makara.

And when we got there, it was a union card day and none of us had a card.

“Snow didn’t have a card.

I didn’t have a card. Kieran [Snow’s nephew] never had a card. So they weren’t going to let us unload.

“Snow said to me, ‘You get out and knock them out, and I’ll back the truck in.’ So I got out and bowled this union fella

over in a big puddle and Snow backed in and we unloaded.

He recovered, and he was shouting, ‘You’ll never get unloaded at the works; you’ll never get unloaded anywhere.’

We were blacklisted. So, we hung around the sale and we got about four loads of cattle for the Gear Meat Company. We took them down there, and our mate was the shepherd there, Al Gill, and we never ever heard any more about it.”

Shane Pearson says Charlie used to work for his father in the 1960s. “They used to cart Super from Porirua. It would be in 10-tonne rail wagons and Dad had a clamshell they used to load it onto trucks to take to various airstrips around Wellington.

“Dad sent Charlie down to do a load one day, and it got well past the time that Charlie should have returned. There were no mobile phones in those days, so Dad hopped in

Shane Pearson (left) and Mike Charlton.

his car and went to see where he was.

“He found Charlie shovelling the last of the 10 tonne of Super onto his truck. He couldn’t get the clamshell to work so he got out his shovel and loaded the 10 tonne out of the wagon and into his truck by hand. Not many people would do that today, but that was the kind of guy he was.

“That was one of the things that stuck with me from when I was a young fella.”

Charlie was also a great one for optimising the load space of his trucks.

When five-axle B-trains first came on the scene, Charlie was asked to head out to a West Auckland winery and load 20 tonne of wine on pallets for Wellington. These were in the days of 39-tonne gross loading so 20 tonne was pretty much a full load. So Charlie loads up, and once loaded, heads back to the yard and is waiting around.

Finally, the dispatcher wonders why Charlie isn’t heading off to Wellington so asks, “Everything all right, Charlie?” and with that, Charlie politely asks, “Yes, good thank you, but do you have anything for the back unit?”

Another time Charlie had loaded both units right through with drums of cable at M&M Cables in Sockburn, Christchurch. Next, it was around to Skellerup in Opawa to load cartons of gumboots on top of the cable drums then onto the 50-tonne weighbridge before heading up to the ferry. The rear unit had to be weighed separately because the 50-tonne weighbridge couldn’t cope with the two units at once!

“Yeah, I used to do that, overloading it was called. I was renowned for taking a bit much!”

Charlie says they used to get away with it and he was always looking for something extra to

go on top of his loads to earn a bit of profit.

“I only ever got one ticket for breach of rail and the traffic cop forgot to weigh me. Part of the penalty was you had to give back to rail what you’d done them out of freight, and so I said I had one tonne of vinegar on and that went at C rate or E rate, and I think it cost me £25 or something, which is bugger all, so I got off pretty light there!”

When 50MAX and HPMV came into play, the councils and NZTA could have saved a lot of time and money spent assessing the ability of bridges to handle the new proposed weights by just asking the old-school drivers. They all had been tested many times and passed with flying colours.

Charlie says it took them probably five or six years to realise he had a No.2 goods licence, which only allowed him to drive 40 miles against the rail

in Auckland.

“They wrote to me and said that I had better pull my head in, and so I did. And then, of course, they opened up the licencing after that. For a while, you could go with permits, but then they opened it right up and you could cart anywhere you liked.”

Charlie says driving for Mainfreight in the company’s early days was very different from what it is like today.

“It was good. Gazza and I had the wharf. We would take beer and that to the wharfies.

When we’d go down to get our sea freighters off the ship, everything would be all sorted, and they were good people, you know.

“We never used to bribe them as such, but we used to enjoy their company and so they bent over backwards for us.”

In those days, Charlie never envisaged the powerhouse

New Zealand Trucking

March 2024

35

A picture of one of Mike Charlton’s shirts. Right: Mike’s son Tom Charlton (left) and his first truck as an owner-driver, taken in 2016 with his father.

Mainfreight would end up being today. “I didn’t know that they were going to be worldwide, but I knew they’d do well because Bruce and Neil Graham, who used to run the South Island, were pretty switched-on cookies, and they didn’t do anything for nothing, and they treated us pretty well.

“It’s a huge outfit now – worldwide. I still keep in touch. I still see Bruce every now and again, and one of his daughters.”

As mentioned earlier, Charlie worked for STL for 30 years and says the fact it was a family business is what kept him there. He says he used to take the owners’ children with him in the truck during the school holidays.

“Now they’re the bosses, but they treated me like part of their family, and likewise, I treated them the same. They’re

probably the best firm I ever worked for, and we still keep in touch quite closely.”

The work was varied – Charlie says it involved carting from Kaitaia to Invercargill, anything from general freight to over-dimensional freight for big construction projects.

“You always had something to do and somewhere to go. I was never on a set run; I was a floater. I drove a few different trucks for them over the years, – an R-model Mack and a Mack Super-Liner – they’re nice trucks. I also drove a Kenworth and I had a brand-new Western Star while I was there.”

Charlie has continued to do some work for STL even though he’s now officially retired. He says that in his day, Snow was a hard boss, but fair, and when he stepped down, his sons bought his shares. “And now one boy’s out on his own and the other

two still run STL Line Haul.” [STL was sold on 1 July 2023 to a group of investors, becoming STL Linehaul (2023) Ltd.] Charlie has two children – daughter Jessie and son Tom. His son followed his father into the industry and is now an owner-driver. “Tom’s got three logging trucks under T and J Charlton. He’s got a Kenworth 659 and two Kenworth K200s, carting out of the Taupo forest.”

Charlie says he used to take both children with him until they were old enough to go to school.

“With Tom, I got him a job down here when he was 15, and he rode with me and learned most of his stuff off me. He had two or three jobs, then he got a job on a logging truck, and he’s been logging ever since. I’ve encouraged him and helped him and he’s doing well. He’s got his head

At Stock Transport’s 60th anniversary celebrations. Mike (standing second from right) was one of the company’s early drivers.

36

New Zealand Trucking

March 2024

screwed on; he’s absorbed a lot of information.”

When asked what he’s enjoyed the most in all his years of driving, Charlie says it’s the people. “Friends, other drivers, storemen, managers.

The people are the best part of it; it’s been a lot of fun. I’d like to say a thank-you to a lot of my employers because I appreciated them giving me a go, and they all meant a lot to me.

“Gary Songhurst and I started at Mainfreight at the same time, and we became lifelong friends.”

At 75, Charlie doesn’t think he’d like to be starting out as a new driver today, saying the industry’s heyday has been and gone. “I wish I could carry on a bit longer, but I’m getting a bit old now. I don’t think I’d like to start again as such.”

Charlie says he’s enjoyed his life in the trucking industry, doing a variety of different things over the years. “I really enjoyed my time, especially the pirate days. Now, with the CVIU and all that, you’ve got to pull your head in a bit because there are too many of them.

When there were only a few of them, it was a bit like cat and mouse, and I used to tease them, but you couldn’t get away with it today.

“I’ve got a lot of stories I can’t really tell you about because I’d either get hung or be in jail for the rest of my life! I had a lot of fun while I was doing it, and I really enjoyed the cops and robbers part of it.”

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When the pilgrimage was complete, the scene was breathtaking.

100 YEARS YOUNG Story by Gavin Myers and Dave McCoid

Photos by Gavin Myers, Dave McCoid and as credited

Southpac Trucks’ KW100 event was more than just a Kiwi-as celebration of the Kenworth brand’s centenary in 2023. It will go down in the hearts of local – and quite a few international – trucking enthusiasts as a day to never forget.

H

amilton’s Mystery Creek Events Centre has been host to its fair share of significant gatherings, but for fans of the Kenworth brand, the event on Saturday, 3 February 2024, would have to be among the finest.

Brand devotees still talk about the 50 Years of Kenworth in New Zealand event at Bay Park in 2014. That event attracted 301 trucks, a significant number.

But 100 Years of Kenworth – or KW100 as it quickly became known – was always going to be a big one. It was, quite literally, a once-in-100-year event – and how many brands get to celebrate that milestone?

Recognising this, more than 900 enthusiastic Kenworth owners and drivers registered for KW100, with 756 trucks turning out on the day. They wanted to be there and be a part of

38

New Zealand Trucking

the celebration; that much was plainly obvious by the mere fact some of the trucks were taken out of service for three days – with the Thursday and Friday earmarked for arrivals and setup.

There was just about everything from the Kenworth New Zealand catalogue, starting with the two original 848s to land in New Zealand in 1964 for New Zealand Forest Products.

Other ‘firsts’ included the country’s first Kenworth cabover, a 1966 K923 [yes – 923 is correct], originally owned by JV Geany’s from Rotorua, today owned and in restoration by Craig Gordon.

Also, there was the FJ Ramsey 1978 K124, Snoopy, today owned

by Greaves Bulk Haulage in Gisborne. FJ Ramsey trucks were, of course, famous for towing the country’s first B-trains, one of which was on Snoopy. What an amazing sight that made. The March 2024

‘firsts’ rolled on in and included the 1965 L-924 ‘Steptoe’ the first truck sold to a small private – Howard Brothers in the Hawkes Bay, and the first SAR, sold to R H Tregoweths in Te Kuiti and today owned by the Uhlenberg family in Eltham.

There were other icons of New Zealand road transport, such as the Lendich Construction 1975 W924R, the Kenworth LW924R V12 Concorde, purchased new

by Mt Maunganui-based Mike Lambert Ltd in 1973, and looking ever more original by the day in the care of current owner Mercer Transport Museum. And when you’re talking legendary New Zealand road transport machines – Shane Pearson’s restored Katway Haulage K124 Aerodyne Barney Boy is right up there.

There were Kenworth fleets from throughout the country, working trucks, hobby trucks, restored trucks and trucks that proudly wear the decades of hard toil they were bought to tackle.

Trucks were being cleaned and polished up to the public opening at 10am on the Saturday, the level of pride in

their spectacular presentation noteworthy. That said, special mention must go to Bourke Haulage’s K200 logger, which looked like it drove straight off the skid and into the events centre – a reminder of their reason for being.

The day had a celebratory atmosphere, filled with history, pride, passion and a sense of inspiration, culminating in the gala dinner event in the Mystery Creek Events Centre. Amid 24 gleaming trucks, 800 attendees were fed and entertained to the highest level. The mood of celebration was brilliantly carried over by PACCAR Australia managing director Damion Smethurst and Southpac CEO Maarten Durent, who both gave brief but poignant addresses, before dancing, merriment and the sharing of great yarns of life behind a Bug commenced.

We hope the few images here from the thousands we came home with somehow convey it all.

Congratulations, Southpac, on a superbly organised and executed event, and happy birthday, Kenworth.

The Lendich Construction 1975 Kenworth W924R. Still with its original owner and in immaculate condition.

Shane Pearson deserves a King’s Birthday honour for the preservation of Barney Boy, one of the original two Kenworth Aerodynes operated in New Zealand by Katway Haulage in Auckland.

Bought new by Mike Lambert in 1973, the V12 LW924R Concorde rewrote the book on log cartage in the Bay of Plenty and Central North Island. Although it’s passed though several hands in its life, today Concorde is owned by the Mercer Transport Museum and back in original colours and livery.

A forlorn looking apparition in the corner is in fact New Zealand’s first K model Kenworth, a K923 originally run by JV Geany’s in Rotorua. Now in the hands of Craig Gordon, this icon of New Zealand Road Transport is on its way back to glory. The truck attracted huge attention.

ARRIVALS

Bryce O’Sullivan Contracting adds to the South Island contingent.

Porter Group arrived en-mass.

The Silver Shadow was in its rightful place out front of the Williams and Wilshier Kenworth fleet.

The Brett Marsh fleet resplendently turned out.

When hard work pays you back. The John Lockley Transport Kenworths from Waihi.

Guy Knowles Transport parked in fleet order. It’s all about the detail.

The Watchorn Transport contingent from Whakatane certainly put their best foot forward for the occasion.

The capital crew arrived in numbers. Quality Demolition looking sharp.

ARRIVALS

Another legendary Kenworth fleet arrives, PGF Transport.

Looking like it’s still on the 1988 Kenworth Australia Cavalcade of Trucks promo tour, Alderson Poultry Transport’s K100E Cavalcade tribute truck.

There was no shortage of legends, whether vehicles or owners. White roofs, green cabs, and orange chassis – it can only be Taranaki’s Uhlenberg Haulage.

Is there anyone who can set up a bulky or tip unit like McKay Cartage from Tokomaru Bay? There’s just something they always have that’s hard to put your finger on.

Some trucks make the heart beat a little faster – others red-line it. The McCarthy retro livery look is simply stunning.

RFH came with an unfathomable contribution when you looked across the group brands. This will be the easiest day these new 509s will ever see.

No fleet is more worthy of attendance at a New Zealand Kenworth celebration than Auckland’s Jackson Road Haul, and no fleet holds truer to its look and livery. Sublime!

If you’re a Kiwi truck ‘foamer’ then this line-up of iconic liveries of the 80s is enough to choke you. From left: Dynes Transport, Stock Transporters, Regan Carriers, and Katway Haulage.

Rotorua’s FJ Ramsey operated New Zealand’s first B-trains in the early 80s. Here, is one of those original trailer sets behind a K124 tractor.

Today the unit is owned by Greaves Bulk Haulage in Gisborne.

Bevan and Tania Satherley’s immaculate and period-correct T900 Legend logger. Looking like it’s just on delivery kilometres almost half a decade in.

ALL ABOUT THE PEOPLE

Today was the truck’s turn on the main stage. Graham and Michelle Redington’s T909 glides into the celebrations.

Rocky rolled into town with the Golden Bay / Tasman contingent. Steve Hill’s restored LW and Robert Appleton’s V12 W model Extended Hood ex-the USA.

Ian Spedding’s ability to present a faultless truck is known far and wide. Here his T900 and C501 arrive.

They came from all four corners. Dunedin’s Icon Logistics presented two K200s, one seen here rolling out the back to drop it’s trailer before taking its place in the line-up.

Impartial judges Constable Andrew Ansell, Aaron Kitahara (USA), Phil Spencer (Australia), Senior Sergeant Lex Soepnel.

Maarten Durent addresses the audience on a weekend he will tell you he found emotional at times and personally fulfilling.

Photo: Southpac Trucks

Photo: Southpac Trucks

SHOW WINNERS

Guests pouring into the gala event were jaw-dropped. You couldn’t not be.

Southpac invited two overseas PACCAR employees to join with the local Commercial Vehicle Safety Team to form the judging panel for KW100.

Aaron Kitahara (USA), Phil Spencer (Australia), Constable Andrew Ansell and Senior Sergeant Lex Soepnel made their way through the thousands of visitors on the Saturday to come up with a list of prize-winning trucks. A further two prize winners were added at the request of the overseas judges: The Overseas Judges’ Show Favourites.

Scan to see the table of winners

Special Thanks The team at New Zealand Trucking Media would like to thank Southpac Trucks for the extended access we and the selected group of photographers were granted to the event.

Kamo 2024 Truck Show Story by Mike Isle

Photos by Mike Isle and Jaymin McGuire

Truck of the Show – Driver’s Choice.

Truck of the Show – People’s Choice.

Douglas Logging took out Best fleet.

This year’s Kamo Touch-a-Truck Show, held at Hurupaki School on Auckland Anniversary Weekend, attracted 80 entries, a record for the event and almost double the number of entries for the 2023 show.

Best Linehaul.

T

he Kamo Touch-a-Truck Show has become a muchanticipated fixture of the Northland transport calendar. And it is not just truckies attracted to the show. Families throughout Northland are drawn to it because of its special focus on allowing kids to explore and climb on the big rigs.

Organisers estimate this year’s attendance at about 3500, raising a little over $10,000 for the Ngunguru and Kamo volunteer fire brigades.

The fire department and the police were in attendance with popular exhibits, and the food and

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New Zealand Trucking

March 2024

beverage section did a roaring trade, some even running out of tucker.

Yet it was the trucks that stole the spotlight. A 70-vehicle convoy leading the way from downtown Whangarei to the showgrounds, created a spectacular and boisterous start to the event.

One of the organisers, Andrew Ivey, says he was delighted by the turnout and the ongoing and growing interest from the trucking industry.

He says every driver he talked to said they intended to be back for next year’s event, and with entries

Best Hino.

growing year after year, Ivey says the organisers may even have to cap numbers.

Sponsors showed similar enthusiasm for the show. Again, there was a record number involved, some providing prizes.

Big names such as MercedesBenz, Scania, Fuso and Freightliner came on board as sponsors and to showcase their latest trucks. Some even had company reps helping with the organisation.

Ivey says the Touch-a-Truck Show now has a life of its own. It has momentum. It will continue to grow to the point of “bursting at the seams”, and he and his fellow organisers can’t wait to put it all together again next year.

Kamo Touch-a-Truck Show 2024 Award Winners CATEGORY

SPONSOR

WINNER

Drivers’ Choice People’s Choice Best Mack Best Volvo Best Mercedes-Benz Best Fuso Best Freightliner Best Kenworth Best DAF Best Isuzu Best Hino Best UD Best MAN Best Scania Best Curtainsider Best Logger Best Specialty Rig Best Linehaul Best Tipper Best Tractor Unit Best Fleet Furthest Travelled

TWL Domett Trailers & Hendrickson Suspension Mack New Zealand Volvo New Zealand Keith Andrew Trucks Keith Andrew Trucks Keith Andrew Trucks Commercial Diesel Commercial Diesel CAL Isuzu Hino New Zealand UD Trucks Penske New Zealand Scania New Zealand Domett Truck and Trailer Mills-Tui Trailers and Bodies Get Delivered Nationwide Pilots Bell Transport Black Stag Deli Northern Rural Haulage TWL Scania New Zealand

Mike Brockliss, Ellwood Transport, Scania Bruce, Marsden Transport Solutions, Kenworth Daniel Tupe, Northland Sandblasting Eddie Pukeroa, Cates Bros Shayne, Mainfreight Dean Manahi, DHL Shayne, Mainfreight Bruce, MTS Sam, Northern Rural Haulage Hamish Burton, Northpower Jason McCullough, Akarana Timber Jayden McKenzie, The Produce Connection Rod Field, Field Trucking Mike Brockliss, Ellwood Transport William Thorpe, The Produce Connection - Scania Liam Caldwell, Aztec - Scania Jason, Mangonui Haulage - Scania Graeme Bradford, Tranznorth - Iveco Makotahi Bell, Northern Rural Haulage - Scania Neille Chapman, Golden Bay - Volvo Douglas Logging Jajdeep Powar, DHL (Palmerston North) - Mercedes-Benz

Best UD.

Best Tipper.

Best Scania.

46

New Zealand Trucking

March 2024

LL NEW

THE ALL NEW

THE ALL NEW THEALL ALLNEW NEW THE

THE BEST ESTIN THE BUSINESS IN THE BUSINESS JUST GOT BETTER BUSINESS JUSTGOT GOTBETTER BETTER JUST JUST GOT BETTER

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TOP TRUCK

ROCK HAMMER

When your aggregate handling operation requires transport to achieve its goals, you need your trucks to be more than just trucks. They are your mobile billboards, calling cards and maybe even the first points of contact with clients, so a good and lasting impression counts.

Story and photos by Carl Kirkbeck

W

ith its deep maroon base colour and dynamic red and silver stripes and graphics, the Rock and Rubble fleet is always easy to identify as it travels the North Island. The fleet consists of a wide array of marques, from Fuso to Kenworth – it’s a colourful line-up, for sure. But while presentation is always on point, on close inspection, you discover the intent behind the diverse collection is carefully considered.

Rock and Rubble manager Mark Geor explains: “Our core business are the yards, supplying

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New Zealand Trucking

aggregate, as well as providing clean-fill disposal solutions. This consists of aggregate recycling as well as mobile on-site crushing and screening. So, yes, for us, the trucks are a necessary cog in our operation.

“Our Onehunga and Avondale yards both opened in early 2016, with Silverdale and Tauranga coming online in 2020 during the pandemic. We quickly realised that to move forward and service our customers correctly, we needed the trucks. In 2019, the initial three units came online for us – a Scania and a pair of Kenworths. Initially, we were contracting out all transportation March 2024

needs and resisted purchasing our own trucks. However, due to the rapidly increasing scale of the operation as we began the distribution of our own virgin aggregate products and running two clean-fill sites, it became a necessary evil to establish our own fleet.

“This enabled us to maintain the service levels we wanted to deliver to our clients, a win-win for everyone, really. About 30% of the units are company-owned

by Rock and Rubble, with the remainder being owner-drivers,” says Mark.

Pride of place within the striking Rock and Rubble fleet

is our March 2024 New Zealand Trucking magazine Top Truck.

The big 2022 Volvo FH16 750 nine-axle combination is one of the company-owned rigs and is piloted by Jamie Southey of Auckland.

As we walk around the Volvo, Jamie is quick to bestow praise on his mount. “Yeah, it is an incredible machine, all right. You do a 14-hour shift in this, and you seriously get out with no fatigue.

You could jump back in and do it all again.”

The setup is visually wellbalanced, with a Transfleet alloy body and matching five-axle trailer. The Volvo was built to

An aggregate pile about to be tipped off by the sure-footed five-axle bath-tub trailer: another crisp build by the team at Transfleet.

last, with a double-skin chassis fitted. Naturally, this adds a level of rigidity, hence the fitment of Bigfoot CTI to assist with agility and traction. SI Lodec scales help keep the loading on the correct side of the law, and Hendrickson trailer axles running Tiremaax inflation control keep things stable underfoot. As for the Volvo’s standout signwriting and graphics – this was the work of the team at Caulfield Signs and Graphics, Rotorua.

The at-work location for the poster shoot was the Mercer cleanfill site. This, located beside the Mainline Heritage Trusts underconstruction museum, proved to be the perfect connection to Jamie’s previous employment.

“I started out with 10 years in mobile-truck tyre servicing. This naturally triggered my interest in trucks. So I asked a customer, Warren Midgley, ‘How do I get to drive these big trucks?’ He said, ‘Get a class 5 license and give me a call.’

So I did just that, and once I had it, I found myself behind the wheel of

Tied up in knots? No, just another day at the office for a Kiwi bulk tipper driver.

The 750 kicking up the dust as it passes by transport solutions from a bygone era.

his nine-axle International 9800i on linehaul.

“I did this for two years, but it was not great for young family life. So I had to move on and got a job on the metro trains. I was the guy sitting in an office in the bottom of Britomart controlling the trains. I decided what ran and what didn’t,” laughs Jamie. “It was a great job, but I hated the shift work. My daughter Kayla was looking me eye to eye, and it dawned on me that I had missed virtually every weekend of her growing up.

“I was also missing trucking, so something had to change. Warren Midgley’s son Logan was working in the Rock and Rubble team and had kept in touch with me. When he found out I was after change,

he offered me a job at Rock and Rubble, and the rest is history, as they say. It is awesome now – a great bunch to work with, a great truck to drive and what’s more, Kayla is now also involved.

She loves the industry and is spending more and more time with me, sitting in the passenger’s seat learning the trade.

“It’s awesome. The team are supportive of her and are allowing her the opportunity. In fact, she spent the weekend with me washing the Volvo to get it ready for today.”

Prepping a nine-axle combination for a Top Truck poster shoot? Now that’s quality father-daughter time, if ever there was.

Left: Jamie Southey, in command of the big 750, with daughter Kayla taking the passenger’s seat as often as she can to learn the trade from Dad. Below: Jamie makes the tip-off process look effortless; the agility of the FH Volvo certainly assists with the task.

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Wally Tiller While grabbing a coffee at the Food@Clifton cafe, just south of Invercargill, Carl Kirkbeck caught up with Wally Tiller, who was having a bit of late smoko, and his near-new K200 Kenworth.

Wally drives for Herberts Transport of Edendale and was on the job as part of a rotation of trucks emptying cement bags off the boat at the Bluff port, transporting them into dry storage back in town.

“Yeah, the truck has just over 20,000km on the clock now. I got it handed to me just before Christmas,” Wally says. “I love my Kenworths, and being offered one brand new … how could you say no?”

Wally says he has had a passion for trucks since childhood.

“My cousins were into trucks when I was growing up, and I would go with them as much as possible. I have a brother that’s right into trucking as well. So, yeah, definitely passion there as well,” Wally explains.

“When I left school, I actually started on the tractors, in among contracting and harvesting. I did that for about 15 years, then moved to the trucks. I’m about to head across to the States for a working holiday – just to have a go at driving a Peterbilt or two doing the harvest season. It is something I have always wanted to do.”

We asked Wally where he saw issues in the transport industry.

“The traffic just seems to be getting worse, and roadworks going on – which is good – but the disruptions are getting worse. The trouble is, it just makes people more impatient, and then they take stupid risks that put everyone in harm’s way.

And what for? There is no point just to be a car or two ahead.”

Our vexing question for Wally was ‘North American or European gear?’ To which he replied, “The Europeans are definitely nice, but as I said, I love my Kenworths.”

Yes, Wally, we catch your drift.

Garth South Garth South had just pulled up outside Rutherford & Bond Toyota in Paraparaumu as Faye Lougher was parking nearby.

Driving a 2021 Scania G500 with a 12-speed auto, Garth had driven from Auckland that day with a full load of cars for the Kapiti dealership and would be heading to the Auto Logistics base in Wellington when he finished unloading.

When asked how he got into driving, Garth said he didn’t really know.

“It was something I’d wanted to do since I was a kid but never got around to it until I was really old!” he said with a laugh.

Garth has been driving for Auto Logistics for 15 years – the whole of his truck-driving career – but he had been a courier for 13 years and worked in retail before that.

He admitted to loving everything about his job. “Just being out and about … I don’t have a set run, so I see places I never would have seen otherwise.”

He had to think before answering what he saw as the main problem in the industry today. “That’s a tough one. The main problem is too much bullshit – having to do inductions

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New Zealand Trucking

March 2024

everywhere you go. You’re not allowed to have common sense anymore.”

It was a cold day, so we moved on to the subject of hot pies. “I like everything, but my favourite pie is a pepper steak pie. As you can see, I like pies!”

WHEELS AT WANAKA MEMORIES

Yes everybody, Wheels at Wanaka 2025 is now ‘next year’. If you have never been, put a ring around Easter Weekend 18 -20 April 2025, and if you need to, start walking south.

0324C1

Direct from our ‘what a little sweetheart’ department, we give you this 1971 International ACCO D 1820 belonging to Christchurch-based Kevin Blair Contractors. A Perkins 6 354 is backed up by an IH T35 five-speed gearbox and IH RA189 two-speed rear end. Time to shift some spoil!

AFTERLIFER

CARRYING AN ABUNDANCE FROM THE LAND New Zealand harbours many cabover trucks, mainly of European origin, which began their life in the milk collection sector. Many go on to have a purposeful second life in another industry area. A Scania R500 that began its life picking up milk in the Deep South now hauls grain and fertiliser for a cropping operation in Mid Canterbury. Its owner has a passion for all things trucking.

Story and photos by Craig McCauley

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New Zealand Trucking

March 2024

N

ew Zealand’s milk tanker fleet underwent a major combination change, beginning in the late 1990s.

A-trains were phased out in favour of the rigid truck and trailer, now the dairy industry standard.

When these units are due for replacement, common practice is for the tanks and associated hardware to be transferred to a new truck, while the used cab and chassis are put on the second-hand truck market.

One of these trucks was purchased

by Canterbury farmer, Craig Clucas.

He farms ‘Foxdale’ under the banner of Clucas Farms, a 430ha (1060-acre) property located at Lismore, 21km southwest of Ashburton.

It’s a typical Canterbury arable farming operation. Multiple crops such as wheat, barley, grass and brassica seeds are grown and, following harvest, 4000-odd lambs arrive for finishing.

Craig’s late father, Norman, ran trucks throughout the 1980s and

1990s, including a Detroit Dieselpowered International ACCO, which was superseded by an ex-Clinton Waipahi Holdings Hino FY 5036.

The Hino was a lift-out-side tipper with a set of Sutton three-deck stock crates, making it a real jack of all trades.

Following Norman’s death, the Hino was sold. As Craig puts it simply, “There was no one else to drive it,” and local carriers looked after the farm’s cartage requirements.

Craig became the fourth generation of the Clucas family to farm Foxdale in 2007. With a passion for agriculture and trucks, owning another truck was always on the agenda.

A 1992 model Volvo FL10, which had spent all but the first 18 months of its life in Mid Canterbury, came up for sale.

Craig knew the truck well, and it had visited the farm many times previously when it was owned by Mayfield Transport.

He made a deal with its then-owner,

and for the next decade, it carried much of the farm’s grain to local dairy, deer and pig farms for stockfeed, as well as to seed stores and feed mills between Timaru and Christchurch.

On the return from either Timaru or Christchurch, loads of fertiliser were bought back for use on the farm.

In 2022, a melted piston in the Volvo’s engine prompted a rethink for Clucas Farming’s trucking operation.

Craig remarked the FL10 was a little underpowered with the four-axle trailer in tow. The Dominion Breweries 1990s advertising phrase of a ‘well earnt day’ used to come to mind when battling up the Canterbury Plains into the infamous nor’west wind with a load on.

He elected to replace the Volvo rather than repair it, and set about sourcing a suitable replacement.

Having a fondness for the Scania brand, which stemmed to his school days when the red and white McCormick Transport Scanias ruled the roads of Mid Canterbury, he looked

New Zealand Trucking

March 2024

55

1

2

1) Detroit Diesel-powered International 1900 Series ACCO. Photo: Craig Clucas. 2) Ex-Clinton Waipahi Hino FY 5036. Photo: Craig Clucas. 3) The Volvo FL10 and Roadmaster trailer. Photo: Dean Jackson. 4) Before ... in milk tanker guise, heading out from Open Country’s Awarua site. 5) After ... the R500 after its change in vocation. into what was available in the way of an ex-dairy tanker.

In the Deep South, Open Country Dairy had a Scania R500 available for sale. It had clocked up 960,000km over five seasons on farm milk pickup and it fitted the bill perfectly.

Once back in Ashburton, local company Engineering Repairs removed the Volvo’s deck and mounted it on the Scania chassis.

Craig had initially planned to use the Volvo’s Roadmaster trailer behind the Scania. But those plans were shelved when he discovered a newer-model Cowan high-tensile spilt tipper for sale locally.

An extra metre of length would prove to be handy for shifting bales of straw and the high-tensile construction of the trailer offered an enhanced tare weight in comparison with the Roadmaster.

Lusk Engineering stripped back the trailer and fabricated a new headboard, sides and tail door, matching those on the truck. New toolboxes and guards were also fitted.

When it came to choosing colours, Craig was adamant blue wasn’t going to be an option.

“Too many trucks in Canterbury are blue. We just wanted to do our own thing,” he says.

The white and green livery came about after a bit of trial and error and, although never intended, it has a John Deere look, which ties in nicely as the Clucas Farming tractor fleet

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New Zealand Trucking

originates from Moline in the United States.

Local businesses were used throughout the refurbishment, with the paintwork undertaken

by Bus and Truck Bodyworks in Ashburton. Timaru Signs and Graphix turned Craig’s ideas for a stripe into something unique but eye-catching, and the logo, which adorns the Scania’s doors, is also the result of the team’s handywork.

Craig admits spending more money on the project than initially expected. However, the finished result is great and will serve the operation well into the future.

Anyone who sees the Clucas Farms Scania around Canterbury would be hard-pressed to pick that the truck is on its second life servicing the rural sector.

5 March 2024

3

4

AN ABSOLUTE CLASSIC

The gregarious and charismatic Darrell Shellard was well-known in the 1980s for his research into the relationship between cattle and horses. His theory that the more horses you install under the cab, the quicker the cattle get from A to B, has been well-proven in successive years by many – LOL. Here, his magnificent 440hp V8 Mack Cruise-Liner with 12-speed Maxitorque and 44,000lb diffs sits at the BP Truck Rodeo in January 1989.

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GOOD ON YA MATE

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE

JOURNEY First thoughts might lead you to think this is not the usual angle for a Good On Ya Mate piece, but hats off to the Motor Truck Distributors Mack assembly workers for gathering recently and demonstrating teamwork, self-belief and creating something special lives on forever.

G

ood on ya Mate – the column where we celebrate anyone who has done something to make a workmate’s day a little easier. How then does a reunion of the original Motor Truck Distributors Palmerston North Mack assembly plant and management crew, plus a few notables from successive generations, qualify as a Good On Ya Mate?

Well, it’s all in the message the reunion sends. Many of the true pearls life delivers are the result of the personal journeys

we undertake. Incredible things happen when a group of disparate individuals comes together and work as a team against the odds toward a common goal.

Bonds are formed around words like grit, cooperation, determination, courage, tenacity, standards and leadership. Situations where people are entrusted with a level of responsibility they may have felt inadequate to shoulder – yet took up the challenge and grew as individuals and as a company.

Hear the interview with those originals gathered on the day – Keep On Moving podcast episode 27 .

58

New Zealand Trucking

March 2024

Standing from left: Hayden Cheer, Kevan Withers, Bruce Wilton, Ross Caske, Pat Groube, Danny Claasen, Brent Cooksley, David Beech, Bob Fraser, Barry O’Connor, Brendan Bold, Jason Voice, Murray Sowerby, Gary Ayling, Zane Ryan, Dave Jonasen, Jim Wilson, Evan Bang.

Seated/kneeling from left: Bevan Udy, Vern Marshal, Ron Carpenter, Bill Alexander, Carl Alexander, Robbie Shawn, Andrew Prenter.

Story by Dave McCoid

The result of such journeys is best exemplified by gatherings like the one at Clive and Donna Taylor’s in Paraparaumu late last year.

A group that shared a special time in history, now 24 years gone; a period likely to be the cornerstone of their careers.

The turnout was as close to complete as you could hope and included the business’ inspirational lead-from-the-front boss, Ron Carpenter. Few people have garnered the level of respect in the industry Ron has.

The key to such association

and unity lies not in modernday dross like broadcasting the mistakes of others on social media in the misguided belief it will somehow elevate your standing or capability. No, it resides in behaviours like lending a hand, pitching in and contributing to the creation of something worthwhile, something that fosters camaraderie and trust.

To the Motor Truck Distributors Mack assembly plant crew and those who built a fantastic brand, we say, “Good On Ya Mate”.

This Good On Ya Mate is dedicated to the memory of Graeme Taylor who was unable to attend the reunion due to failing health and who passed away shortly after.

Got your ears on?

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PROMOTIONAL

Investing in employee development Professional development and formal recognition of your staff’s skill base are crucial elements that contribute significantly to the success and growth of a transport business, according to Newey Transport.

P

aula Ewers, General Manager at Newey Transport, says the company pursued formalised training for staff as a proactive response to a downturn in the industry a couple of years ago, compounded by the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We’re a member of the Log Transport Safety Council, and MITO is their preferred supplier for formal qualifications,” Paula says.

Newey Transport celebrated its 21st year in business last year. Specialising in log transport, the company covers most of Northland and some parts of South Auckland.

It has a fleet of 13 trucks, and boasts the largest Mack truck fleet in Northland.

With a commitment to personal development for their team, Newey Transport sought to bridge the gap in formalised training for both experienced and new drivers in the industry.

“Our company wanted to formalise training and development, so our people are actually recognised for what they are doing day-today and what they’re good at. Professional development for our employees is really important to us,” she says.

To date, Newey Transport has had four staff members successfully complete the NZ Certificate in Commercial Road Transport (Specialist Driver) – L4 – Transportation of Logs. There is one currently enrolled and plans for other employees to enrol later this year.

“Many of our employees often underestimate their knowledge until they undergo the MITO programme, complete unit standards, and engage in practical assessments,” Paula says.

Sonny, MITO’s apprentice mechanic, is currently in his third year of the New Zealand Certificate in Heavy Automotive Engineering – Road Transport (Level 3-4).

“They get a lot of pride from putting knowledge into practice, and the tangible value it adds to their skills.”

As an employer, Paula says it has been easy to go through the programme and incorporate the training into day-to-day business operations.

“MITO’s Employer Portal has proven to be a valuable tool in tracking our staff’s progress.

It provides a snapshot of staff progress, which enables us to provide the support they need as they are working through the theory modules.”

Paula herself completed some of the microcredentials to understand the system better, ensuring she could offer adequate support to her staff.

“MITO’s flexibility in programme delivery was super helpful,” Paula says.

“We received hard copy materials as well using the online resources.

“This was really accommodating for the different needs and the diverse learning preferences of our staff.

MITO’s assistance in providing loan devices and improving internet access for one staff member exemplifies its dedication to overcoming potential barriers to learning.

“Investing in our team’s professional growth ensures that our employees are recognised for their skills and experience,” Paula says.

“And it helps bridge the gap between new staff members and those who have been around for a while.”

MITO Job Hub Connecting Jobseekers and Employers Access the profiles of jobseekers actively looking for work in the commercial road transport industry in your region and contact them directly.

Advertise job vacancies – and if it’s an entry-level role, we’ll feature it on the MITO Facebook page.

Register for free today!

mito.nz/jobhub

INSIDE ITOY We bring you exclusive truck industry content from fellow International Truck of the Year member publications.

NEXT-LEVEL

ELECTRIC

The production of Scania’s R- and S-cab electric vehicles is underway in Södertälje, Sweden, and the company says its electric truck technology has now developed to a point that makes it an attractive and relevant option to a broad spectrum of customers, regardless of their transport requirements.

Story by Gavin Myers

O

perating zeroemission trucks is no longer a privilege for the chosen few. That’s the official line from Fredrik Allard, senior vice president and head of E-mobility at Scania. The company’s recent launch of its heavy R- and S-series electric trucks has opened up the option of electric propulsion to linehaul operations while offering related services – such as Scania Charging Access – that it says “are lowering the threshold for a transformation towards fossilfree transport”.

“Apart from true long-haul operations, few buyers today cannot find what they need from an operational viewpoint,” says Allard. “Sure, there are still certain applications that are less prone to turn electric in the near future, but many buyers will be

62

New Zealand Trucking

Photos: Scania amazed when they realise what these trucks are capable of and their efficiency together with our digital services.”

Built around Scania’s modular system, the trucks are offered as rigid and tractor units in 4x2, 6x2 and 6x2*4 configurations with R- and S-series cabs. The trucks offer gross train weights up to 64 tonnes (22,000kg GVM), continuous power levels of 400kW (536hp) or 450kW (603hp), and charging capacity up to 375kW. To make onboarding an electric truck easier for the operator and to match the actual operation requirements more closely, Scania has introduced a range of new ‘Electric Machines’, offering a range of power levels and motor and transmission combinations. The EM C1-4 is expected to become the volume

March 2024

seller, offering flexibility and five levels of power output. (See table, page 64.)

“With its five different power levels and four gears, the EM C1-4 has flexibility written all over it. With this as the foundation, we can guide each customer to exactly the right configuration regarding the number of batteries and our services so that it truly fits their needs,” says Allard.

As with all electric vehicles, driving range is the predominant drawback compared with internal combustion and fossil fuel. The new heavy Scanias offer between 250km and 390km on a full charge (from up to six batteries and 624kWh installed battery capacity), depending on model, weight, operation and driving factors. Charging is via CCS2 (combined charging

system) at 375kW (500A), with one hour of charging adding 270km of range, or a charge from 20% to 80% in 45 minutes. A 130kW charger will add 100km of range in an hour. Charging is managed by an in-house system, and the trucks are prepared for 700kW MCS (megawatt charging system) charging with support for full mega-watt charging.

However, Allard says the approach to operating an electric truck needs to be different. “We are a bit stuck on the concept of always filling from 10% to 100% as we do with diesel,” he says.

“With battery-electric vehicles, the mindset should be to charge for the required range instead.

If you have 120km to go to your home-depot charger, it would be unnecessary to charge for more than that distance with some small extra margin.”

In line with Scania’s electric vehicle naming convention, 40R (opposite) and 45S denote 400kW (536hp) R-series and 450kW (603hp) S-series models.

Scania uses high-energy-density nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) battery cells from Swedish manufacturer Northvolt, which have a carbon footprint “approximately one-third of a comparative industry reference”. Scania says the batteries have a life capacity of 1,500,000km and that one of their main strengths is their charging characteristics.

The company says the batteries can be charged repeatedly up to 100% of the state-of-charge window without any impact on their lifespan (traditionally, it is recommended to keep batteries charged within a minimum and maximum percentage range). They have a straight

charging curve, meaning they charge with the same speed when almost full (traditionally, battery charging slows for the last 20% or so).

As a battery system designed for heavy-duty trucks, the straight charging curve gives predictable charging times and the long battery life secures a low total cost of ownership, says Scania.

Advanced thermal management is key in achieving this battery performance.

The system includes a heat pump for harvesting heat from available losses (such as the motor, batteries, auxiliaries and ambient air), a focus on vehicle cooling with efficient head-wind

utilisation, and an in-house-developed energy and thermal management system to precisely control it.

“We believe that charging issues will be regarded as less problematic when people learn more about how batteries work in reality,” says Allard. “When we analyse operational patterns, it often becomes evident that the vast majority have all the range they need, with a margin. Tippers and other kinds of rigidbased applications often do fewer than 200km per day when operating in urban areas. If they charge at their home depot and join Scania Charging Access for backup, range would not be an issue for them.”

Scania’s electric R- and S-series models are designed to make heavy electric trucking truly viable.

So, what’s Scania Charging Access all about? It is the company’s solution to overcoming the issues currently posed by haphazard charging infrastructure. Scania Charging Access offers seamless access to a Europe-wide charging network in 12 countries, with charge points ranked according to how suitable they are for trucks. The customer gets one consolidated invoice from Scania for charging, independent of who operates the charge points in the network, and the service comes without any sign-up or monthly fees.

“We are pioneering a

consolidated service for heavy vehicles in Europe,” says Magnus Höglund, head of charging solutions at Scania. “It is primarily designed for en route charging.

Our mission is to enable and simplify for true electrification by removing everything from range anxiety to administrative grievances and offering truckready charge points.

“We assess and rank all existing charge points manually, both the ones for heavy vehicles and those for passenger cars. This helps us identify the ones that are beneficial for our customers until there is a significant number and

an extensive network dedicated solely to heavy vehicles. Charge points that are ranked as ‘truckready’ – and their availability – can be filtered using the Scania Driver App or My Scania.”

Although the actual network for trucks and buses is limited to start with, Höglund foresees rapid growth, with the network continuously expanding during 2024 and onwards.

Scania’s first battery electric trucks have been on the market since 2021, driving the brand’s transition towards fossil-free transport with customers operating in urban

Making sense of electric EM C1-2

EM C3-6

EM C1-4

Continuous power

230kW

400 or 450kW

270, 300, 330, 360 or 400kW

Motor/gearbox

Single permanent magnet rotor, 2-speed planetary gearbox

Triple permanent magnet rotor, 6-speed powershift automatic gearbox without torque interruption gearchanges

Single permanent magnet rotor, 4-speed gearbox

Battery capacity

416kWh/ 624kWh (75% useable)

416kWh/ 624kWh (75% useable)

416kWh/ 624kWh (75% useable)

Claimed max range

260km @ 29 tonne 390km @ 29 tonne

350km @ 40 tonne 250km @ 64 tonne

390km+ @ 29 tonne 370km+ @ 40 tonne 260km+ @ 64 tonne

Max GCM

29 tonne

64 tonne

64 tonne

Power take-off

Electric up to 100kW, electro-mechanic up to 60kW

Gearbox PTO 260kW, electric up to 100kW, electro-mechanic up to 60kW

E-machine PTO (mechanic) up to 260kW, electric up to 100kW, electro-mechanic up to 90kW

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March 2024

applications. (It is now gearing up its offering for applications such as distribution trucks and light tippers, with the addition of e-adapted chassis, batteries by Northvolt, and new auxiliary systems that will add better functionality and remove complexity.) The company believes that a step change in the transition towards sustainable, fossil-free transport with zero emissions is imminent, beginning in Europe and the United States. This, it says, is being driven by sustainability demands from customers, increased legislation, and the fact that electric trucks are expected to deliver cost-parity – or better – compared with diesel trucks.

“The interest in battery-electric solutions is immeasurable; potential customers are everywhere,” says Allard. “The fact that some are cautious and limit themselves to ordering a couple of trucks for their fleets is fully understandable since they want to gather experience first.

But with our growing portfolio and an expanding infrastructure, Scania’s target of selling 50% electric trucks of our total volume in Europe by 2030 is definitely within reach.”

Voted no. 1 in Safety.

We’re incredibly proud to be voted #1 in safety in NZ Trucking magazine 2023 national trucking survey.

From stronger cabs, to smart emergency brakes, to side-detection alerts, our focus is always on the best possible protection for our drivers and fellow road users.

*Nationwide online 2023 survey by NZ Trucking magazine with 720 respondents - made up of heavy truck drivers, owner/operators or employees of a heavy truck brand. Volvo came in second in comfort at 17%, followed by Kenworth at 14%.

NE W RIGS ON THE ROAD PUKEHINA EXPRESS DAF CF530 Euro-6 8x4 rigid – sleeper cab OPERATOR: Williams & Wilshier, Rotorua ENGINE: Paccar MX-13 13L Euro-6 390kW (530hp) 2600Nm (1920lb/ft) TRANSMISSION: ZF TraXon 16TX2620 16-speed AMT REAR AXLES: Paccar SR1364 with dual diff locks REAR SUSPENSION: Paccar eight-bag air suspension BRAKES: Disc. ABS, EBS SAFETY: Full safety suite – ACC, AEB, LKA, DA BODY/TRAILER: New logging equipment and refurbished 5-axle trailer by Patchell Industries FEATURES/EXTRAS: Heated seats, fridge, stoneguard PAINT: Factory OPERATION: Logging operations throughout the central North Island DRIVER: Neil Holloway SALES: Adam McIntosh

REPOROA RIPPER Scania P410XT B4x4HZ 4x4 rigid – day cab OPERATOR: P&C Kenyon, Reporoa ENGINE: Scania DC13 13L Euro-6 302kW (410hp) 2150Nm (1585lb/ft) TRANSMISSION: Scania GRS0905 12-speed manual REAR AXLE: Scania RP835 REAR SUSPENSION: Scania parabolic leaf spring front and rear BRAKES: Drum. ABS, EBS SAFETY: Curtain airbags, ABS, EBS BODY/TRAILER: Wealleans fertiliser spreading bin FEATURES/EXTRAS: Bigfoot CTI, TRS wide tyres PAINT: Factory SIGNAGE: Caulfield Signs and Graphics, Rotorua OPERATION: Fert spreading duties in and around the Reporoa region DRIVER: Paul Kenyon SALES: Callan Short

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BLACK BELT OPERATOR: FBT – Osflo, Inglewood ENGINE: MAN D38 15L Euro-6 477kW (640hp) 3000Nm (2212lb/ft) TRANSMISSION: MAN TipMatic 12.30 OD REAR AXLES: MAN HY hypoid

MAN TGX 26.640 Premium 6x4 rigid – sleeper cab REAR SUSPENSION: MAN ECAS air suspension BRAKES: Disc. ABS, EBS SAFETY: ACC, LG, LKA BODY/TRAILER: Mills-Tui aluminium clip-lock truck body and matching X-treme 5-axle pull trailer with wide-belt moving

floor discharging system FEATURES/EXTRAS: Power Tarps retractable wet weather covers, Alcoa alloy rims, stoneguard PAINT: Factory SIGNAGE: Caulfield Signs and Graphics, Rotorua

OPERATION: Bulk agricultural commodity deliveries from the Inglewood base DRIVER: Hayden SALES: Mitch James

ABSOLUTELY IVECO IVECO T-Way 540 6x4 rigid – day cab OPERATOR: Contract Earthmoving, Mangatainoka ENGINE: IVECO Cursor 13 13L Euro-6e 380kW (510hp) 2300Nm (1696lb/ft) TRANSMISSION: Hi-Tronix 16-speed AMT REAR AXLES: IVECO hub reduction REAR SUSPENSION: IVECO eight-bag ECAS BRAKES: Disc. ABS, EBS SAFETY: ABS, EBS, ESP, LD BODY/TRAILER: Elite Tipper Specialists FEATURES/EXTRAS: Traction-Air CTI, stoneguard PAINT: Factory SIGNAGE: Speedy Signs, Palmerston North OPERATION: Earthworks in and around the Tararua district DRIVER: Craig Fitzgerald

Free phone: 0800 50 40 50 New Zealand Trucking March 2024

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NE W RIGS ON THE ROAD

Scania R770 B8x4NA 8x4 rigid – sleeper cab

SHADY’S DRIVE OPERATOR: Richard Mariu Transport, Taupo ENGINE: Scania DC16 16L Euro-6 574kW (770hp) 3700Nm (2729lb/ft) TRANSMISSION: Scania Opticruise GRSO926R 12-speed AMT with 4100D retarder REAR AXLES: Scania RB735 hub reduction

REAR SUSPENSION: Scania air suspension rear with scales – spring front BRAKES: Disc. ABS, EBS SAFETY: ABS, EBS BODY/TRAILER: Logging equipment and matching five-axle trailer by Patchell Industries FEATURES/EXTRAS: CTI, sub-woofer, fridge, microwave, Alcoa Dura-Bright alloy

MADE OF THE RIGHT METAL OPERATOR: Heavy Metal Haulage, Te Kowhai ENGINE: Cummins X-15 15L 459kW (615hp) 2779Nm (2050lb/ft) TRANSMISSION: Eaton Roadranger RTLO22918B 18-speed manual REAR AXLES: Meritor MT21-

165GP REAR SUSPENSION: Kenworth Airglide 460 BRAKES: Disc. ABS SAFETY: ABS, ATC, DTC BODY/TRAILER: Transport & General Transport Trailers tipper body and matching five-axle trailer

Kenworth T610 8x4 rigid – day cab FEATURES/EXTRAS: Alcoa Dura-Bright alloy rims, LED headlights, stainless steel visor, lower bumper chin and fuel tank trim with marker lights, classic grill bars, twin 6in exhausts PAINT: Factory SIGNAGE: Mahana Graphics,

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rims, LED light bar PAINT: Cab factory; chassis by Caulfield Signs and Graphics, Rotorua SIGNAGE: Caulfield Signs and Graphics, Rotorua OPERATION: Log cartage throughout the Central Plateau DRIVER: Shane ‘Shady’ Haskell SALES: Callan Short

Te Rapa OPERATION: Bulk aggregate distribution throughout the Waikato from its Te Kowhai base DRIVER: Daryl Olsen SALES: Tim Finlay

International RH-R6 6x4 rigid – day cab

BULK 2 GO OPERATOR: Double H2GO ENGINE: Cummins X-15 15L 459kW (615hp) 2779Nm (2050lb/ft) TRANSMISSION: Eaton Roadranger RTLO20918B and 18-speed manual

REAR AXLES: Meritor RT46160GP REAR SUSPENSION: International IROS BRAKES: Drum. ABS, EBS SAFETY: ABS, EBS BODY/TRAILER: Transport

& General Transport Trailers tipper body and matching five-axle trailer FEATURES/EXTRAS: AliArc polished front bumper, stainless-steel drop-visor, Premium Plus interior trim

PAINT: Factory OPERATION: Bulk distribution throughout the central North Island DRIVER: Daniel Stoneham SALES: Jarod Maclennan

BAILEY’S PRIDE Kenworth T610 8x4 rigid – day cab OPERATOR: Gilmour Transport, Rotorua ENGINE: Cummins X-15 15L 410kW (550hp) 2508Nm (1850lb/ft) TRANSMISSION: Eaton Roadranger RTLO20918B 18-speed manual REAR AXLES: Meritor RT46-160GP XLFR REAR SUSPENSION: Kenworth Airglide 460 BRAKES: Disc. ABS SAFETY: ABS, ATC, DTC BODY/TRAILER: Logging equipment and matching five-axle trailer by Patchell Industries FEATURES/EXTRAS: Stainless-steel drop-visor bug deflector and wheel-arch covers, classic grille bars, twin 6in exhausts PAINT: Factory SIGNAGE: Wrapped Auto Signs, Tauriko OPERATION: Log transport throughout the central North Island from its Rotorua base DRIVER: Bailey Kemara SALES: Adam McIntosh

Free phone: 0800 50 40 50 New Zealand Trucking March 2024

69

N E W R IGS ON THE ROA D SAFETY KEY – ACRONYM BY ALPHA AB – Air Bag ABS – Antilock Braking System ACC – Adaptive Cruise Control ABA – Active Brake Assist AEB – Autonomous/Active Emergency Braking AEBS – Advanced Emergency Braking System ALA – Active Lane Assist ASR – Anti Slip Regulation / Auto Slip Regulation ATC – Automatic Traction Control BAS – Brake Assistant System BB – Brake Blending CAB – Curtain Air Bag DA – Driver Alert DAS – Driver Assistant Support DM – Driver Monitoring DS – Driver Support DTC – Drag Torque Control EBA - Emergency Brake Assist EBS – Electronic Braking System EBSS – Electronic Braking Safety System ESC – Electronic Stability Control ESP – Electronically Stability Programme FCA – Forward Collision Avoidance FCW – Forward Collision Warning FUPS – Front Under-run Protection System HH – Hill hold HSA – Hill Start Assist IROS - International Ride Optimised Suspension

LCS – Lane Change Support LDW – Lane Departure Warning LG – Lane Guard LKA – Lane Keep Assist PCS – Pre Collision System PD – Pedestrian Detection RB – Reversing Buzzer RM – Rocking Mode RW – Reverse Warning SAB – Side Air Bag SC – Speed Control SD – Side Detection SGA – Side Guard Assist TEBS – Traffic Eye Braking System TECC – Traffic Eye Cruise Control TPM – Tyre Pressure Monitoring VSC – Vehicle Stability Control

New Bodies & Trailers New Zealand has a rich heritage of body and trailer building, and we’re proud to showcase some recent examples of Kiwi craftsmanship every month. To feature on these pages, send a photo, features and the manufacturer’s name to carl@nztrucking.co.nz.

TMC for Taranaki Hawera-based Washer Transport needed a new five-axle curtainsided pull trailer to pair with its existing FH540 Volvo, so it called TMC in Hornby for a solution. The 22-pallet-capable build hits the nail on the head, running 19.5in Hendrickson disc-braked axles, riding on ZMD shock-less air suspension. The TMC team also set-up the build for a fridge installation when the need arises.

FEATURES: Alux polished alloy wheels, stainlesssteel tool-locker doors and light bars, dunnage rack.

TMC Trailers, Christchurch

Dynamic Dunedin A new CF530 DAF for Dunedin’s McEwan Haulage needed a full set-up as a nine-axle heavy-duty bulk unit. After a call to the Dunedin-based team at Site Weld, the in-house design team headed straight to the drawing board. The resulting build is crisp, clean and packed with some cool features. The 5.2m truck bin and 7.6m trailer bin feature buried FOB hoists and are constructed from high-wear-resistant steel.

Power Tarps rollback covers with wireless control top off the build.

FEATURES: SAF Intradisc axles, dual-hinge tail doors, spreading chains, access ladders, tool lockers, Narva LED lighting.

Site Weld, Dunedin

Since 1953

TOLLFREE: 0800 875 669

TRANSPECS.CO.NZ

All roads lead south Another bottom dumping semi-trailer was the order of the day for South Roads, so the Transport Engineering Southland (TES) team were enlisted to design and build a tri-axle solution. Fresh from the factory, the trailer is seen here hooked up to South Roads’ hydrogen-powered DAF. The body is hard-wearing Hardox steel, fitted out with four dispensing doors.

FEATURES: SAF Intradisc axles, super-single wheels, alloy chequer-plate chassis covers, Holland landing legs.

Transport Engineering Southland (TES), Invercargill

Super celebration A special build for Invercargill’s Southern Transport – a 50th Anniversary Mack Super-Liner – needed a creative touch. In providing the result, the team at Transport Engineering Southland (TES) has not disappointed. The crisp alloy bins and tidy 8.3m five-axle pull trailer certainly look the part, while offering solid productivity.

FEATURES: SAF Intradisc axles, Hella lighting throughout, Razor electric rollover tarps.

Transport Engineering Southland (TES), Invercargill

The premier name in the world of truck and trailer wheels Delivering the great professional look of a wheel in combination with significant weight saving benefits and the strength of a quality forged aluminium wheel makes ALCOA Wheels stand above the rest.

BREAD MAKERS

This month, we celebrate the induction of two hard-working million-milers within the same fleet. K&T Trucking of West Melton near Christchurch is a Kenworth stronghold, with the company holding no less than 12 variants of the marque. Owner Kerry Inns is full of praise for the trucks and their performance.

Gem seen here as it was built in 2012, as a nine-axle truck and trailer combination.

Photo: Andrew Geddes.

Affectionately known as Gem – GEM973 is a 2012 K108e.

‘GEM’ GEM973 – 2012 K108E

T

his truck was ordered new off the spec sheet from Southpac in 2012. It was first built as a nine-axle truck and trailer unit and was running bread into Nelson. We spec our trucks to take on the roads and terrain we face with no strain, so that’s setting the engines at 620hp and 2050lb/ft torque, running heavy-duty 22-series manual gearboxes, heavyduty clutches and Meritor 46-160 rear

ends. It is a spec that works for us and means that there is minimal stress on the components.

“This Cummins is pre-AdBlu, so it is the EGR version. Everyone out there seems to have had issues with them, and they whinge about unreliability, but seriously, we have had absolutely no grief with it at all. It did have an unfortunate incident on the Lewis some time back now. But we had it rebuilt,

and it was straight back to work. It has been a great performer – just your regular routine maintenance.

“About four or five years ago, the bread dropped off for us, so we pulled it off the road and, in our in-house workshops, removed the fixed body and converted it into a tractor unit. So now it is hooked up to a quad-axle Maxi-CUBE reefer running between the islands. And it’s still going strong.”

CALLING ALL TRUCKS ON OR OVER 1 MILLION MILES (1.6M KILOMETRES)

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‘THE B-TRAIN’ JWT372 – 2016 K200

T

he story behind this truck is that it was spec’d and built as a tractor unit late in 2015 for another transport operator.

Unfortunately, they were unable to go through with the deal, so fortunately for us, we ended up being offered it and grabbed it.

The B-train was hooked up to it, and that is how it has been ever since.

“It is the X-15 Cummins this time, again at 620hp and 2050lb/ft torque, with all the same gearbox, running gear and suspension as in Gem. It has a bit over the 1,600,000km on the clock

now, and had an engine rebuild around the million-K mark. But, again it has seriously been a great truck that has just got the job done. And this one works – it is on the daily ChristchurchNelson return run. So, yes, it has definitely worked hard for a living.

“There is a replacement on the way, but it will not be sold off or anything like that. No, it will get a bit of a birthday and go onto lighter duties.

“We’ll probably put it on the daily coast run up to Blenheim. Still busy, just not as stressful.”

JWT372 is a 2016 K200 with an X-15 running 620hp, and is known to the team simply as The B-train.

Bridgestone and New Zealand Trucking Media want to recognise trucks that have achieved this milestone in the act of carrying the nation on their backs. Each month, up to eight trucks will be selected, and will feature in the magazine, as well as on our social media.

Those selected will get a Million Mile Club cap and badge for the truck.

Terms • Only owners can submit • NZ trucks only • Supply chain may affect the timing of cap and badge arrival

TO JOIN, EMAIL: editor@nztrucking.co.nz • Quality image of the truck • Name of owner and driver • Basic spec (model, engine, trans, rear end) • Contact details

New Zealand Trucking

March 2024

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CRAIG’S TRUCKIN’ SNAPSHOT

Craig McCauley showcases a mixture of classic and contemporary images of Kiwi trucking.

This Volvo FM500 owned by Rangiora Bulk Cartage was photographed heading west on SH7 near Waipara.

2016 Kenworth 8x4 Aerodyne sleeper Available late August 2023

Complete with 2016 12.1 metre Fruehauf 5 axle curtainsider – 38 pallet unit BPW axles, disc brakes, 19.5 DuraBright alloys right throughout. 50 tonne rated and 23 metre permitted, 930,000kms.

All enquiries to Guy Knowles: 0274 938 384

GN0823

620hp 18 speed manual

OUR FAREWELL TRIBUTE TO A TRUCKING LEGEND

IN MEMORY OF

MURRAY McWATT 121-0324

MAY HE REST IN PEACE

AUSSIE ANGLES

WESTERN AUSTRALIAN ES T THE

GRAIN HARV Story and photos by Ken Kirk

The grain harvest in Western Australia is quite an undertaking each year, with an average 18 million tonnes produced by 4000 rain-fed farms. Between 2022 and 2023, a record crop of 24 million tonnes of grain was trucked to bulk handling bins throughout the southwestern part of the state.

A

ll this activity takes place in a tight timeframe. It starts in the last week of October and almost all of it is done by the end of December – the 2023 season being unusual in that many farmers started cropping

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New Zealand Trucking

in late October and were finished by early December.

Australia expects to account for 13.7% of the world’s wheat exports in 2023, and Western Australia accounts for 40% of that.

The reason for Western

March 2024

Australia’s success as a grain producer is the region’s mostly predictable weather pattern, which enables the farmers to plan their planting with whitegrained wheat varieties that generate high yields for flour milling that is suitable for a range of products. This is unlike the Eastern states, which have rather more unpredictable weather patterns, making it harder for the farmers to plan their planting.

The fleet of trucks involved in moving these massive amounts of grain come from specialised

fleets that do nothing but cart grain, fertiliser and sand to little one-man outfits and then, of course, the farmers themselves, who do a lot of their own cartage. The trucks vary in size and shape, from single-steer, tandem-drive and twin-axle tippers to C-trains that have a B-train A trailer (usually a triaxle set-up) with two tri-axle tippers behind, with a tri-axle dolly between the second and third trailer.

These modern tipping trailers are usually fitted with selfweighing scales to maximise

Truckload upon truckload is collected by fleets that do nothing but cart grain.

axle and gross vehicle mass loadings.

The harvest cycle starts with the farmer getting the header, chaser bin and tractor out of the shed, as well as any trucks that he or she may have. Some of them have some quite nice rigs but a lot of them are old, retired equipment from the transport industry, some of which have seen better days.

Once the crop is cut, the header (combined harvester to some people) keeps cutting until the crop bin is full, the chaser bin driver should have

the chaser alongside the header to receive the crop.

The chaser bin driver takes the chaser to the truck waiting on the farm roadway and loads whatever amount of grain the truck can legally take.

These chaser bins are modern technology and farm machinery married together to make accurate loading of the trucks quite easy. The bulk bin will reject the load if the truck exceeds its legal weight by more than 10%.

In such cases, the truck must return to the farm to offload

the excess before the driver can bring it back to the bin. The grain is then sampled and graded to determine its appropriate classification. A hydraulic arm does the sampling with a vacuum probe that is forced down into the load of grain four or five times per trailer load to get a good overall sample.

From the sample hut, the truck goes to the weighbridge to be gross weighed. The truck then

proceeds to the grid it has been allocated for that particular type and grade of grain. Once the grain is tipped, it is back to the weighbridge – tare out, get the net weight for the load and back to the farm for the next load.

Wheat tends to be the main crop, with Western Australia producing 40% of Australia’s crop. Some 95% of this is exported to Asia and the Middle East. China alone took 6.4 million

tonnes of Australian wheat in the 2022-2023 season.

While wheat is the bulk of Western Australia’s grain, it is not alone in earning the state a healthy export cheque each year. Barley, canola, oats, lupins and field peas do their bit as well. Moreover, the state exports thousands of tonnes of hay and animal feed each year. Around the Lake Grace area, barley was the bulk of the crop last year,

Roadtrains of grain.

The massive grain bulk-heads store the harvest.

but it varies from area to area and year to year, depending a lot on what commodity prices are doing.

Once the harvest is over each year, and this huge amount of grain is stored, it is time to think about getting it to the major grain handling facilities in Perth, Albany, Bunbury, Esperance and Geraldton. The bulk of this is taken care of by Combined Bulk Handlers’ (CBH) trains that run on mainly dedicated train lines, but some of it goes on general freight lines. The rest of it – and it is still in the millions of tonnes – goes by road. This keeps those specialised fleets and their subcontractors busy for the rest of the year, carting grain from the smaller regional bins with no rail connection to the larger regional bins that do have rail connection.

If the amount of grain to be moved from the larger bins to the port facilities is too much for the rail network, the trucks get called in to do what is known as bin transfers. If the export orders are large enough, companies can be tied up doing bin transfers for months at a time out of one major regional bin.

Once all the crop is in, the trucks then start the bin transfers. The trucks not doing bin transfers will then turn their attention to transporting fertiliser and sand from the quarries and the fertiliser plants to the farms.

A lot of farmers put sand on their paddocks as well as fertiliser to get soil balance – this keeps the rest of the fleet busy for the remainder of the year.

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INTERNATIONAL TRUCK STOP

30 YEARS OF Story by Will Shires

Photos: Volvo Trucks

INNOVATION The FH celebrated its 30th birthday last year, and to mark this milestone, Volvo invited Will Shiers to Germany to drive a selection of them, including the first one off the line.

I

passed my truck driving test in late 1993. I remember the date well, as it coincided with the launch of the Volvo FH. As I studied my Highway Code book, I dreamed about getting the keys to a new FH16 and heading to the Middle East like the guys I’d been reading about in TRUCK magazine for the past decade.

In my mind, I was already Dohabound.

In reality, it would take me ages to find a driving job, and when I did, I was piloting a clapped-out Ford Cargo instead.

It would be a long wait until I finally got behind the wheel of a first-generation FH16.

Fast forward to late 2023, and Volvo was celebrating a milestone. The FH had turned 30 years old, and to mark the occasion, the truck-maker invited a group of journalists to Bavaria,

Germany, to drive a smorgasbord of FHs. There were four trucks in total, including an FH Electric, an FH 500 LNG running on biogas and an FH 500 I-Save. These are all great trucks, but I had little to no interest in driving any of them. Why? Because truck No.4 was a first-generation FH16. And that’s the one I made a beeline for.

This stunning FH16 520 was the very first FH off the line, as demonstrated by its 001 VIN. It was initially used as a launch vehicle, with its picture adorning the pages of many a truck magazine in 1993. It was then used as a press test truck, clocking up 85,000km in the process.

Realising its importance, in 1998, the decision was made to mothball it, parking it up in the Volvo Museum in Gothenburg,

Sweden. And this is where it sat until summer 2023.

“We figured the time was right to get the old girl out,” explains Volvo Trucks’ director of press tests, Tobias Bergman. After new batteries had been fitted, the truck started straight up and drove out the museum. It then underwent a major service, with all tyres, liquids and filters being changed. Now roadworthy, it was driven around the Gothenburg area for 3000km without a trailer.

Then, this rolling time capsule was coupled to a trailer, and the 35-tonne outfit was driven 1500km to Bavaria, where I caught up with it.

When lined up next to its newer siblings, the Globetrotter Classic cab looked narrow, but that’s just an illusion. That said, it’s physically smaller inside, thanks to its distinctive raked

windscreen. While the raked screen improved the truck’s aerodynamics, it ate into the driver’s living/storage space. It had a small engine hump, too, which was eradicated in 1995 with the launch of the XL cab.

The curved dashboard was revolutionary back in the day, but like the plastic wood and velour seats that came as standard with the CD trim, it all looks dated today. The FH16 was well-specified for the time, and creature comforts in this one included air conditioning, electric seats and even cruise control.

Behind the wheel After filling out the analogue tachograph, I started it up. It was immediately apparent that the engine was loud by modern standards, but then, this probably had more to do with

Still a great drive today, although trucks have obviously come a very long way.

The FH took out the 1994 International Truck of the Year Award shortly after its launch.

The view forward in the Globetrotter cab of 30 years ago is a step back in time. the cab sound deadening than the actual engine. Although it only complies with Euro-1 emissions regulations, the exhaust appeared to be blowing clean.

The steering wheel felt thin, and the 12-speed manual

gearbox was a definite blast from the past. Although daunting at first, after spending a few minutes familiarising myself with the gate, manual shifting soon came flooding back.

Out on the autobahn, I set the

cruise control to 85km/h, which it maintained impressively on some rather steep inclines. This was once Europe’s most powerful truck and it still holds its own today. Going downhill was a different matter, as the cruise control failed to hold the truck back. It was a reminder that 30 years ago, cruise was simply a convenience, a chance for a driver to rest their right foot, whereas today, fully integrated into the truck’s driveline, it’s a fuel-saving safety aid. It took me a few seconds to locate the dashmounted engine brake switch, which did its job admirably when applied.

An area where huge advancements have

been made in recent years is visibility. While the view from the windscreen was surprisingly good, the rear-view mirrors were poor by the modern FH’s standards, and there was a frighteningly large blindspot on the passenger side.

And on that subject, this truck had none of the three-letter safety acronyms we take for granted these days, not even ABS. In fact, it even had drum brakes.

While the truck’s steering felt perfectly acceptable on the road, when I returned to base and reversed into a space, I suddenly realised how much I like Volvo’s Dynamic Steering.

Worth the wait?

Now for the all-important question – was it worth the 30-year wait to drive?

When I asked social media which of the four trucks in the line-up they would prefer to have as their daily drive, predictably,

HISTORY OF THE

I the resounding answer was the FH16. However, I’m not sure I agree. While it was undoubtedly fun for an hour or so, I reckon the novelty of being behind the wheel day after day would soon wear off.

Truck design has progressed significantly in 30 years, and what was arguably the best truck available in 1993, doesn’t even come close to matching the worst truck today. Whether you score it on safety, fuel efficiency, drivability, emissions or comfort, the FH16 loses hands down. It’s been great to drive, but in truth, it really does belong back in the museum.

You’ll likely hate me for saying it, but from a driver’s point of view, the FH Electric gets my vote. Whatever your views are on electric trucks, they’re undeniably great to drive, and if you get the chance to get behind the wheel, take it. However, from an operator’s perspective, probably not. Of Europe’s big seven truck-makers, Volvo has sold more electric trucks than the others. However, I’m not talking big volumes. And there’s a reason for this: in fact, two reasons.

The first is Europe’s

non-existent charging infrastructure. Together with TRATON and Daimler Trucks, the Volvo Group has vowed to install 1700 truck-charging stations on major European roads by 2027.

However, that number won’t even touch the sides. And then there’s the price. Electric trucks cost almost three times as much as regular diesel trucks, which puts them well out of reach of the average hauler.

Of course, some operators have successfully made business cases for running one or two units, and have picked up additional work on the back of them, but they’re few and far between.

For me, this is a tie between the two new ICE trucks. Gas if you have access to a supply of it, and diesel (or HVO) if not.

Today’s combustion engines are the product of more than a century’s development. They’re cleaner, more efficient and better than ever before, and in my opinion, will be with us for the foreseeable future, albeit running on environmentally friendly liquified fuels.

They do say never meet your heroes …

n October 1993, the FH replaced the F series in Europe. With its all-new cab, revised engines, and class-leading levels of driver comfort, it was the must-have truck of the time.

My magazine, Commercial Motor, was impressed, and in our first stories about the newcomer, we praised the D12A 12L engine, which we said was 10% more fuel efficient than its predecessor.

We reported that the slippery new cab, with its raked windscreen, resulted in a 20% drag improvement. And we waxed lyrical about the creature comforts bestowed upon the driver.

But perhaps the biggest headline grabber was the FH16, with its modified 16L engine, which now pushed power output to a recordbreaking 381kW (512hp). And we weren’t the only ones to be impressed with the FH, which was crowned International Truck of the Year (IToY) 1994.

Over the next three decades, the FH would evolve, with numerous improvements to safety levels, fuel economy,

FH performance and driveability.

One of the key milestones was the arrival of the I-Shift transmission in 2001. It set new standards in two-pedal driving and, despite initial resistance from some quarters, soon grew in popularity. So much so, that by 2018, you couldn’t even specify a manual gearbox in an FH. Other significant developments in its sixgeneration, 30-year history include the launch of an all-new cab in 2013.

This coincided with the introduction of the I-See forward-looking predictive cruise control, which reads the road ahead, making allowances for topography.

Then there was Dynamic Steering, I-Save, and of course, its gas and battery-electric drivelines.

The FH Electric has been crowned IToY 2024, becoming the first zero-tailpipeemission truck to win in the competition’s 48-year history.

So far, 1.4 million Volvo FHs have been sold in 80 different markets, but that’s certainly not the end of the story.

FH REFRESHED FOR 2024 At the end of January, Volvo Trucks launched a completely refreshed global range of heavy trucks – and they’ll be coming to the Antipodes later in the year. Turn to page 8 for all the details.

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New Zealand Trucking

March 2024

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MINI BIG RIGS

March 1985, the start of it all: Torquing Bulldog on the cover of New Zealand Trucking’s first issue.

Torquing Bulldog in full flight with then-New Zealand Trucking magazine executive director Trevor Woolston at the helm.

BUILDING UP TO Story by Carl Kirkbeck

40

As we start the 12-month countdown to the 40th-anniversary celebrations of New Zealand Trucking magazine, we got to thinking: what better way to celebrate than to build a 1/25th scale replica of the very first truck to feature on the cover?

T

orquing Bulldog, an R-model Mack bulk tipper combination belonging to then executive director of New Zealand Trucking magazine Trevor Woolston, was the cover truck of the March 1985 magazine. The first-ever cover image captured it all, a typical

bulk tipper unit of the day on a rural back road deep in the Waikato, penned in by a herd shift of dairy heifers. How much more Kiwi road transport can you get than that? It was when looking at this classic image that the lightbulb moment occurred.

This is the perfect candidate

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for our next big build, an iconic truck with real meaning to the magazine.

We will use the AMT ERTL Mack R-model tractor-unit kit as our starting point. It is based on an early American R685ST, so it comes with its fair share of challenges. Many areas of

the model will need addressing to align it with New Zealand specification.

First, we will need to slightly lengthen the tractor unit into a 6x4 rigid, enabling it to accept the tipper body. Next is the obvious conversion to righthand drive. From here, we need

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Our starting point, the AMT ERTL Mack R685ST: similar but not the same – a lot of work ahead to achieve a good representation.

A good photo of Torquing Bulldog at a truck show. This will assist us when it comes to adding signage and other details, such as aerials and cab lights.

to completely scratch-build the three-axle, spaced-tandem pull trailer and the bathtub tipping bodies.

This is most definitely a step up from the out-of-the-box build we performed when creating the Ken Kirk/Pilkington Glass Mercedes-Benz.

Auslowe from Cowes, Victoria, will also play a part in the correct representation of this build.

The list of aftermarket parts it manufactures is comprehensive.

Another detail photo, this time with the Transport & General Transport Trailers bins elevated. If you have images of Torquing Bulldog you would like to share, please get in touch. They will be greatly appreciated.

For example, the correct grille and grille surround, headlights, wheels and even sunvisor are all items the Auslowe team despatches to nearly every corner of the globe. Using these parts will most definitely speed up the build process and also add a level of serious realism.

There will also be a little collaboration along the way.

We have roped in our good mate and model-truck-building maestro, Marty Crooks, for his

expert advice, and we might even see if we can enlist his help with the construction of the alloy bath-tub bins.

They say many hands make light work, so at this time, as we kick off the build, we would like to enlist the help of you, our readers. If you have any photos of Torquing Bulldog in your collection, then we would love to see them. They will definitely assist with getting the build as correct as possible. If you are

happy to share your images, please email them to carl@ nztrucking.co.nz, and we will be sure to credit you for your support.

This is going to be an interesting and exciting build as we begin the run-up to the 40th anniversary of New Zealand Trucking magazine, and we look forward to sharing it with you here.

Watch this space!

New Zealand Trucking

March 2024

87

BUILD A MODEL TRUCK 2023 In the December 2023/January 2024 issue of New Zealand Trucking, we announced the winners of our annual Build a Model Truck Competition. This month, we catch up with them.

O

ur mates at Italeri again came through with awesome prizes, providing us with three Australian trucks for our winners. Based on a roadtrain-spec 6900 series Western-Star, these kitsets provide the perfect platform to either build straight from the box or get a bit creative and have a go at mixing it up a bit with a touch of scratchbuilding.

Asher Eddy, the winner of the 0-6-year category, seen here with Dad on the right. On the left is editor Gavin Myers presenting Asher with his Italeri prize.

We are absolutely positive that all three winners will have a fantastic time completing these kitsets. Italeri is renowned throughout the kitset building community for producing some of the cleanest-fitting kits in the market. Please keep us posted on your progress. We look forward to seeing what you create.

Well done, once again!

Wylie Sowman, who took out the 12-18-year category with his stunning T909 Kenworth road train, is presented with his Italeri prize by editorial director Dave McCoid.

Winner of the 6-12-year category, Rylan Forrester receives his Italeri prize from Dave in front of Rylan’s dad’s work truck, the basis for his model.

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LITTLE TRUCKERS’ CLUB

HI, LITTLE TRUCKERS! It’s been a busy month for me.

I now have a beautiful horse to ride. His name is Mano, and he is the farm stock horse where I live. I also went out trucking with Aaron from HP Transport.

It was a great day out logging.

More photos of my adventure and an article about my day are in the autumn 2024 issue of Little Trucker Down Under, on the shelves right now.

What exciting things have you been up to?

If you would like to see yourself here in Little Truckers’ Club, just email your stories, jokes, photos, and/or drawings to me at rochelle@nztrucking. co.nz with a short paragraph telling us about them along with your name and age. We love seeing them all.

Congratulations to Luka Smith, who found the Little Truckers’ Club logo on page 60. Keep an eye on your mailbox – something awesome is heading your way.

Well done, Luka!

The Little Truckers’ Club logo is hidden somewhere in this issue.

Find it, and you may win a prize.

Email rochelle@ nztrucking.co.nz with your name, age and where you found the logo.

JOKE OF THE MONTH TWO GOLDFISH ARE IN A TANK. ONE SAYS TO THE OTHER, “DO YOU KNOW HOW TO DRIVE THIS THING?”

Mano the horse.

SPOT SEVEN DIFFFERENCES Out logging with Aaron from HP Transport.

The iconic Mack truck bulldog hood ornament idea originally came from a bulldog that the company’s chief engineer carved from a bar of soap, while he was in hospital, bored, recovering from surgery.

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WHAT’S ON Show organisers Please send your event details, at least eight weeks in advance, to: editor@nztrucking.co.nz for a free listing on this page.

NZTA and NRC Conference 2024 Technology Maintenance Safety 13-14 March Te Pae, Christchurch Contact: bill.james@trucking.nz, 0800 338 338

NZ Super Truck Racing Round 3 15-17 March Ruapuna Park, Christchurch

Round 4 22-24 March Teretonga Park Raceway, Invercargill Round 5 5-7 April Manfield Raceway Contact: Facebook – NZ Super Truck Racing

All scheduled events may be subject to change, depending on weather conditions etc. Please check websites for updates before setting out.

Tui Truck Stop Show & Shine

24 March 2024 Tui Brewery, Mangatainoka Contact: Facebook – Tui Brewery, hospo@tuihq.co.nz

Taranaki Truck Show

31 March 2024 Hickford Park, Bell Block Contact: Facebook – Taranaki Truck Show, taranakitruckshow@hotmail.co.nz

Wood Transport and Logistics 2024

22-23 May 2024 Distinction Hotel, Rotorua Contact: woodtransport.events/event/wood-transportlogistics-2024/

Dunedin Truck Show, 27 January.

WHAT’S BEEN

Kamo Touch-a-Truck, 28 January.

100 Years of Kenworth, 3 February.

Events Gallery Visit the New Zealand Trucking website to view galleries of the latest truck shows from New Zealand and abroad.

Go to nztrucking.co.nz/events or scan the QR code to view on your mobile.

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96 Moving Metrics 100 Incoming Cargo – Isuzu’s Future, pt.2 102 Tech in Transport – Bloody Computers 104 IRTENZ Conference – PBS 106 Vipal’s Knowing Your Tyres 108 Person of Interest – Ryan Marra 110 Product Update – Zepro 112 Product Profile – Napa 114 Industry Comment – Lindsay Wood 116 Carriers Corner 118 Truckers’ Health 120 Health & Safety 122 Legal Lines 124 Business, Together 126 NZTA/NRC 128 Transporting New Zealand 130 The Last Mile BROUG HT TO YOU BY

MOVING METRICS

THE SALES

NUMBERS

New Zealand Trucking reveals how the economy is travelling via key metrics from the road transport industry.

Summary of heavy trucks and trailers first registered in January 2024 This information is compiled by Russell Walsh from information provided by the NZ Transport Agency statistical analysis team and through the Open Data Portal.

The data used in this information reflects any amendments to the data previously reported.

Vehicle type This summary includes data from two heavy-truck classes and one heavytrailer class.

A goods vehicle is a motor vehicle that: (a) is constructed primarily for the carriage of goods; and

(b) either: (i) has at least four wheels; or (ii) has three wheels and a gross vehicle mass exceeding one tonne.

Note: Vehicle classes are not the same as RUC vehicle types or driver licence classes.

Vehicle class

Description

NB

A goods vehicle that has a gross vehicle mass exceeding 3.5 tonnes but not exceeding 12 tonnes.

(medium- goods vehicle)

NC (heavy-goods vehicle)

TD (heavy trailer)

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New Zealand Trucking

A goods vehicle that has a gross vehicle mass exceeding 12 tonnes.

A trailer that has a gross vehicle mass exceeding 10 tonnes.

March 2024

A table of all vehicle classes is in Table A of the Land Transport Rule Vehicle Dimensions and Mass 2016 Rule 41001/2016 https://www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/ resources/rules/docs/vehicledimensions-and-mass-2016-asat-1-October-2019.pdf

First registration of NB, NC and TD class vehicles for January, year on year

First registration of NB and NC class vehicles for January, by major manufacturer

First registration of TD class heavy trailers for January, year on year by major manufacturer First registration of TD class heavy trailers for January, year on year by major manufacturer Number of units

25

20

20 15 10

9 9 6

5 0

9

13 11

9

44

Domett

6

20 16 16

9

9

7 6 7 54

Fruehauf Jan-19

M.T.E. Jan-20

14

10109

10 8 77

4

Patchell

Roadmaster

Jan-21

Jan-22

12 4

6 21 TES

Jan-23

44

453

78

TMC Jan-24

910

8 334

Transport Trailers

Other suppliers of class TD heavy trailers not included in above Jan-19 37

Jan-20 45

Jan-21 41

Jan-22 39

Jan-23 43

Jan-24 58

New Zealand Trucking

March 2024

97

ROAD USER CHARGES

This information is put together compiled by Russell Walsh from metrics provided by the NZ Transport Agency. New Zealand Trucking acknowledges the assistance of the media team at NZTA in providing the data.

Total value and distance of road user charges purchased between 1 January 2019 and 31 January 2024 by purchase year Summary of RUC transactions for January 2024 Number of individual RUC licences issued for month

277,217

Total kilometre RUC distance purchased (All types)

1,246,777,510

Total value of all RUC purchases (All types)

$172,935,845

Purchase period

Distance purchased (km)

Value of purchases

1 Jan 2019 – 31 Dec 2019

16,166,434,103

$2,041,939,272

1 Jan 2020 – 31 Dec 2020

15,421,400,378

$2,069,615,049

1 Jan 2021 – 31 Dec 2021

16,204,803,262

$2,249,341,814

1 Jan 2022 – 31 Dec 2022

17,683,361,155

$1,710,831,998

1 Jan 2023 – 31 Dec 2023

16,687,053,002

$1,655,078,736

1 Jan 2024 – 31 Jan 2024

1,246,777,510

$172,935,845

RUC distance purchased for RUC type 1 vehicles

Purchase period

Distance purchased (km)

Average monthly distance (km)

1 Jan 2019 – 31 Dec 2019

11,502,905,782

958,575,482

1 Jan 2020 – 31 Dec 2020

10,952,303,565

912,691,964

1 Jan 2021 – 31 Dec 2021

11,427,917,860

952,326,488

1 Jan 2022 – 31 Dec 2022

13,375,038,937

1,114,586,578

1 Jan 2023 – 31 Dec 2023

12,029,164,087

1,002,430,341

1 Jan 2024 – 31 Jan 2024

894,577,620

894,577,620

RUC type 1 vehicles are powered vehicles with two axles (except type 2 or type 299 vehicles. Type 299 are mobile cranes). Cars, vans and light trucks that use fuel not taxed at source (i.e. diesel fuel) are generally in this RUC type.

The top eight RUC type purchases, other than type 1, in descending order RUC Type

Description

2

Powered vehicles with one single-tyred spaced axle and one twin-tyred spaced axle

6

Powered vehicles with three axles, (except type 308, 309, 311, 399 or 413 vehicles)

43

Unpowered vehicles with four axles

14

Powered vehicles with four axles (except type 408, 414 or type 499 vehicles)

951

Unpowered vehicles with five or more axles

H94

Towing vehicle that is part of an overweight combination vehicle consisting of a type 14 RUC vehicle towing a type 951 RUC vehicle with a permit weight of not more than 50,000kg

33

Unpowered vehicles with three twin-tyred, or single large-tyred, close axles (except vehicle type 939)

408

Towing vehicles with four axles that are part of a combination vehicle with a total of at least eight axles

A description of RUC vehicle types is available at https://www.nzta.govt.nz/vehicles/licensing-rego/road-user-charges/ruc-rates-and-transaction-fees/ Please note data October differ slightly from that reported for the same period previously due to adjustments being made to the base data.

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New Zealand Trucking

March 2024

RUC purchases (All RUC types)

Average monthly RUC purchases by year (All RUC types)

RUC purchases during January for selected types

Total number RUC Licences issued for month (All RUC types)

New Zealand Trucking

March 2024

99

INCOMING CARGO

ROAD TO ZERO

ISUZU STYLES

Story and photos by Dave McCoid

Grant Cooper, Isuzu Australia chief of strategy, addresses the press in Tokyo.

Taking deliberate steps for a cleaner, more efficient zerotailpipe-emissions road transport future – it’s a task confronting industry and society, and in a region as geographically and topographically diverse as Australasia, it requires hunting through the prevailing technologies to see what fits our unique and demanding landmasses. Isuzu Australia’s chief of strategy, Grant Cooper, recently addressed media in Tokyo and gave some insight into the company’s direction.

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New Zealand Trucking

I

n arriving at the best combination of zero emissions product and support, there is a clear need, first and foremost, to understand the perceptions and preferences of the end customers, and consumers generally.

“In terms of Road to Zero, as it’s being called, there is a level of assumed knowledge and consensus here,” says Isuzu Australia chief of strategy Grant Cooper. “We simply must take the deliberate steps required for a cleaner, more efficient zerotailpipe-emission road transport future. That much we can all agree on.

“In a vast expanse such as Australia, road transport’s environmental impact is one of the major causes of air pollution. In and around urban areas it is already being tackled and is no longer glibly dismissed as a ‘battle for another day’. We are in the midst of this fight right now, and with a considered and sensible approach, there’s a clear path to victory.” It’s a sentiment shared on this side of the Tasman, too.

March 2024

In 2023, Isuzu Australia commissioned a longitudinal research project surveying 1000 trucking and road transport stakeholders, resulting in their Future of Transport Report (FoT). Its core value as a piece of work is the comparative data yielded when compared with a similar exercise undertaken in 2019. Is there a shift in the mood of the market in relation to low- and zero-emissions propulsion? Is the tide turning?

Key findings include: • Some 91% of respondents are truly considering adopting a zero-emissions strategy for their own truck fleets.

• Only 10% are considering a zero-emissions strategy right now.

• Some 70% are considering a zero-emissions strategy over a two- to five-year timeframe.

“This is in line with other research we’ve done with some of the country’s largest road transport fleets. In terms of strictly zero-tailpipeemissions methodologies being considered, battery electric is the overwhelming preference, followed by hydrogen fuel cell, and hydrogen ICE.”

In terms of respondents’ perception of BEVs: • Half the respondents agreed electric trucks are reliable, are suitable for Australian conditions, have a strong residual value, and will play a major role in Australian road transport going forward.

• Half the respondents have concerns about charging times and performance when compared with diesel ICE. “A sustained focus on electrifying the right trucks for the right tasks stands us in good stead to make a considered and sensible transition away from a reliance on ICE technology. In an Isuzu world, the consensus remains that BEVs are the most realistic and widely feasible form of zero emissions able to be meaningfully applied in Australia right now.

“However, here, like the rest of the world, the energy density of diesel by weight for long-haul transport means ICE technology will be with us for a while yet.

“At last year’s Brisbane Truck Show, the available and forecasted product on display from all major truck OEMs was

encouraging – especially by Australian standards. Brisbane was a landmark event for Isuzu in Australia with a world-first preview of the new light-duty N Series EV.” Cooper says that Isuzu’s Zero Emission Vehicle product approach has been customerled, focusing on carbon neutrality, driver comfort, safety and connectivity.

“In delivering this, Isuzu will make available a wide choice of powertrains – battery, fuelcell electric to hydrogen ICE. Internal research and strategy partnerships are driving results here. Operating requirements, infrastructure, and regulations will determine the technology applied.

“There is still plenty of work to do as an industry, gathering accurate and reliable information about these emerging technologies and how best to apply them to business needs locally. With a

sustained focus on electrifying the right trucks in the right tasks, we stand in good stead to make a considered and sensible transition.

“Isuzu set out on this journey some years ago now to clearly understand how commercial zero-emissions vehicles can meet our customers’ needs in line with available technology and operating parameters.

“What we’ve found is a consumer group essentially looking for support. They want OEMs like Isuzu to educate, build awareness, manage and mitigate risk, and importantly, add value to their operations.

They demand a reliable zeroemissions transport partner that offers more than just a vehicle.

“We believe with a collective industry focus on these core customer requirements, Australia’s road transport sector will be in the box seat to see this transition not only take place, but thrive.”

The Isuzu N Series on display at the Brisbane Truck Show – a landmark event for the company where the light N Series EV was previewed with its electric-drive components in view.

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TECH IN TRANSPORT

BLOODY COMPUTERS The first in a three-part series exploring the history of computing in road transport, logistics and warehousing.

Story by Trevor Ammundsen

T

he problem with getting older is that you have experienced more history.

Hence, when asked to write an article about the history of IT in the freight industry, the topic becomes longer and longer the more you think about it.

As I have been involved with developing and implementing systems for the industry for more than 40 years, this article could get quite long, but I’ll try not to be boring.

My history with the transport industry started in 1980 with the release of the first microcomputers for commercial applications. This was a few years before the release of the first IBM PC machines. It was a time when rail was a protected industry, and carriers could only move goods 80km from a railhead, later extended to 150km. Many domestic freight forwarders had depots at the extremes of this limit, odd places like Ohinewai and Tahuna, and friends further down the line. A network of depots approximately 80km apart developed, much like the proliferation of rural support towns that had sprung up

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New Zealand Trucking

earlier. Using connections and guile, these companies would often challenge the restrictive rules, and one of the methods they used to do this was good documentation.

I recall one Auckland customer who would process the consignment notes for a load in Auckland, printing off a manifest and the con notes for the driver’s documentation.

The consignments were printed to go from the collection point to its Hamilton warehouse.

Load details were also recorded on a floppy disc that went in the driver’s cab to Hamilton, where the floppy disc would be processed, and a manifest and consignment notes from the Hamilton warehouse to delivery points printed off.

Cunning people … freight operators. Despite the authority’s use of helicopters to track a number of journeys from Auckland to south of Hamilton, they could never gain evidence of any wrongdoing.

The freight forwarders also gained good business information about their operation, and it wasn’t long March 2024

before other linehaul carriers saw the benefit of having an industry-specific system. And so these systems began to spread.

The domestic freightforwarding segment dwindled with the removal of the 150km restrictions by the 1984 Labour government, although some managed to carry on for some time. As companies that owned trucks became involved with systems, the requirements for business information extended into fleet profitability and management, accounting and so on.

Larger systems that would support multiple users became the norm. This was a time when regional carriers dominated; companies such as United Carriers in Northland, Heaton Carriers in Tauranga, Thames Freightlines in Thames, Nationwide Carriers in Taupo, Baigents, TNL and Wilders in the South Island – the list can go on and on. All would be swallowed up by bigger fish, a pity but an inevitable part of the commercial world.

Innovative thinking wasn’t the sole domain of linehaul carriers,

though. In the 1980s, the unions ruled the ports, and as part of their agreements, only wharf workers could devan containers.

I got involved with a couple of brothers in Auckland who extended their business to include a devanning operation in South Auckland that hired staff who were still members of the Waterfront Workers Union for devanning work. We developed specific versions of the transport software with the ability to track the FCL and LCL states of freight as a foundation of this new business, and so history happened.

With the breaking of the Port of Auckland Wharf, workers’ monopoly of the container cartage segment and the ports was set up to boom. Systems specific to this type of cartage were needed and spread rapidly.

The growth and consolidation of the transport industry was one of the elements that drove the search to realise a more costefficient business, and one of the prime areas focused on was the transaction processing costs.

The five-part NCR paper used for consignment notes

was expensive, so the industry evolved more economical docket books and other forms of documentation. They also set about reducing the number of staff needed to enter consignment details into the computer, which lead to the growth in the use of EDI (electronic data interchange) throughout the industry.

Today, this is well established, with transport companies receiving customer data and sending it to sub-contractors, banks and so on. This drive for connectivity extended to include web portals for clients, enabling them to do some of your work for you and to stop annoying your customer services people.

A much greater volume of business is being carried out by fewer carriers at a reduced transaction cost. Life should be comfortable, but I guess the other side of the equation is the constant attack on margins.

The next significant change in transport industry IT was the system’s extension to

mobile devices. This has been predominately to drivers but also to warehouse staff, store people and forklift operators.

Your staff are being supplied with tools that aid the company’s efficiency no matter where they are. The next step in this extension of systems is to give management the information they need to remotely run the company, be they on the golf course, out fishing or just enjoying a long lunch with their IT representative.

Where does the IT industry go in its search to provide the transport industry with greater efficiency and a lower cost structure? The consignment processing cost has been severely reduced, so the next step is to reduce the cost and gain efficiencies in operations.

There have been some attempts to do this with so-called ‘optimisation’ systems.

These have reasonable results in some industry segments and are a foundation to be built on to give more comprehensive

solutions. These solutions will consider aspects such as truck capacities and characteristics, customer requirements, contract demands, driver status and agreements, collection and delivery point demands and so on.

There is a lot to be considered but successful results should be spectacular.

A notable omission from this article is the IT that has been made available for engine

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management, RUC management and so on. This is obviously significant but not the area I have been involved with, so I will leave this to others. The future of the involvement of IT with the transport industry is also something I will pass to someone else. After more than 40 years, it is time I dedicated greater time to fishing.

In part 2 next issue, how mobile computing improved efficiency.

Conference 2023 Last November, the 2023 IRTENZ 18th international conference, themed Future Highways – Future Vehicles, brought together speakers from New Zealand and throughout the world to present the latest developments on key transport matters, including vehicle productivity and efficiency, road safety, legislation and policy and infrastructure. In the previous issue of New Zealand Trucking, we looked at the challenges facing our workforce, including skills shortages, immigration, education and training. Next up, we look at performance-based standards.

Les Bruzsa – National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, Australia, says the issues facing the road freight industries in Australasia will persist for the forseeable future, and performance-based standards (PBS) are an option to resolve some of those challenges.

“The demand for road freight is not going away. It’s important in Australia; it’s important in New Zealand,” Bruzsa says.

“In Australia, we are trying to match the vehicles to the limitations of the network. We have four levels for access, which is slightly different than here in New Zealand.

“So, what have we achieved with PBS? The scheme was introduced in 2008, and currently we have more than 19,000 PBS combinations. And this year, we have already approved more than 3100 PBS combinations, so the penetration of PBS into the prospective fleet is increasing.”

Bruzsa says more than 5200 transport

operators are using PBS combinations in Australia.

“The penetration is just huge. It’s not just a niche market anymore. It’s not just the big end of town. We have lots of single operators as well.

“And based on our conservative populations, we saved 4.2 billion truck kilometres. Now, if you just think about the past year, we saved around 800 million kilometres. And if I look at the last crash data that says we have 10.3 fatal crashes per 1 billion kilometres, we’ve saved eight or nine lives. And that’s another key important message. It’s not just productivity, but it’s safety.”

According to John de Pont, director at TERNZ, performance-based standards for regulating size and weight arose from a study undertaken by the Road Transport Association of Canada in the early 1980s.

Les Bruzsa.

Canada has a federal government structure, where size and weight regulation was dictated by the authorities within those provinces.

“When road transport first started, that made perfect sense because trucks all ran locally. But over time, of course, there’s more and more long-haul trucking,” de Pont says.

“And you found a situation where there was no single truck design that could drive all the way across Canada because the regulations were different. And, so, the study was looking at how to harmonise this. PBS was used as a way of quantifying the safety performance of these vehicles.”

In 1984, in New Zealand, there was an industry push to increase the gross mass limit from 39 tonne to 44 tonne. PBS measures were used to look at the implications of what that weight would mean.

“Between 1999 and 2004, we had a heavy vehicle limits project,” says de Pont. “We looked at two scenarios: Scenario A was retaining the same dimensions that we have but increasing the weights into 55 tonne across the whole network. Scenario B looked at longer vehicles operating on highways with limited access to the major state highway network.

“This was a large-scale project, and two of the seven work streams, both the safety and the geometrics of the road space requirements, were done by a PBS analysis, both by simulation and by some physical testing.”

However, de Pont says that’s as far as it went. “Basically, the economics were heavily debated. Some of the economic studies said it would work. Others said the cost of upgrading the road network was too high to warrant it. And, so, in the end, nothing happened.”

In 2002, the vehicle dimension rule was created, where all regulations across the government were consolidated into a single rule.

“The PBS standards were reviewed in 2017, and we ended up with 13 performancebased standards. But they’re actually more restricting than the ones we had been using beforehand.”

Australia, like Canada, has a federal government structure, with six states and two territories. “Size and weight regulations were under state control. They decided to start to develop a PBS system for size and

John de Pont.

weight in the late 1990s, and their original concept was very fundamentalist. So, they wanted to try and create a PBS system that required no prescriptive limits whatsoever,” says de Pont.

The final set of PBS requirements was implemented in 2008 and consisted of four infrastructure standards and 16 safety standards.

“The PBS system was included in national heavy vehicle law in 2014. Mapping between the PBS pass-fail levels, four levels of PBS passing and the existing infrastructures was not totally seamless,” says de Pont.

“The states insisted on doing route assessments to determine which PBS vehicles could go on which roads, so there are vehicles still limited by length and width and height and axle loads and bridge formula.”

Comparing the two, de Pont says the Australian approach is much more rigorous.

“Basically, every vehicle must be assessed, and the results are specific to very particular vehicle parameters,” he says.

“In New Zealand, we use the proformadesign-templated approach, which uses relatively conservative parameters for suspension characteristics and tires.

“Basically, if you meet the proforma-design template, we can pretty much guarantee that you will meet all of the standards, regardless of which suspension or which tires you use. This approach is a lot cheaper than the Australian approach, but we probably aren’t squeezing the maximum possible out of each configuration.”

There are significant differences between the two approaches, de Pont says. “Even though the PBS standards are similar, they’re not the same. Why the differences? This is purely speculative on my part. I guess there are differences between the two operating environments.

“Our roads are hillier and narrower than Australia’s, and so our low-speed turningperformance requirements are quite a lot tighter.

“Australia already had these large vehicles operating, so they had roads that were suited to large vehicles, and we don’t have

that. So, it’s hard to say whether the New Zealand approach would have worked in Australia or if their approach would’ve worked here.”

Gavin Hill, GM strategy and delivery in Australia, Transport Certification Australia, says the aim of the PBS framework reflects a broader trend in the transport sector to establish a consistent approach to how digital technology and data are utilised across the industry.

“Transport Certification Australia was established in 2005 to provide assurance around the use of digital technologies and

requirements, and so forth.”

Hill says one of the things that underpins the National Telematics Framework in Australia and New Zealand is the structured relationship between authorities, technology providers and transport operators.

“These structured relationships enable standardisation, consistency and, ultimately, a performance-based approach to technology and data. And that extends to what we know and love today as PBS vehicles,” he says.

Hill says there is a problem of too much data. “It’s easy to drown in data, and just because you might think data is a good idea to collect, usually less is more,” he says.

“The challenge is to turn data into information and insights, and this is easier said than done.

There are lots of people who believe they do it well. But I’m going to say that very few do it well. We are still at a very early stage in the transport sector around understanding how we can use data to our advantage and how we can drive those kinds of insights.”

Hill says that in Australia, the industry faces big problems. “We have infrastructure constraints, fiscal constraints – money’s tighter than ever in this environment and will be for some time. We have a growing freight task and we have a growing population, so the equation looks rather grim,” he says.

“But you need clever collaborative people to come together to work through innovative approaches, which in many cases involves the use of vehicle technologies and data.

“And this, at its core, changes the way we approach problems and the way we look at heavy operations and compliance.”

“These structured relationships enable standardisation, consistency and, ultimately, a performance-based approach to technology and data. and that extends to what we know and love today as pbs vehicles.” data,” Hill says.

“One of the key policy objectives that transport ministers wanted to put in place 20 years ago was to ensure that we had a nationally consistent approach to technology and data.

“In the past, we had fragmented approaches to road transport, where you had different rules and regulations proliferating across the country.

“So over the course of 20-odd years, we’ve led a programme of work with road agencies, the NHVR, other regulators, and most importantly, the technology sector, to deliver a structured programme of work that enables the use of technology and data in a standardised, consistent way that avoids the need for transport operators, the users of technology, to adhere to different standards, different technology

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KNOWING YOUR TYRES

TOWARDS A GREENER FUTURE Vipal Rubber continues its look at sustainable innovations in tyre retreading.

A

s Vipal detailed in New Zealand Trucking, Dec 23/Jan 24, the tyre and retreading sectors are taking a stronger position on sustainability. These are actions

that contribute to lower fuel consumption, fewer pollutants, better use of recycled materials and the use of materials from renewable sources.

Vipal Rubber has been following market movements and promoting research into materials and the development of new products. Here are some notable examples: • The company invests strongly in the research and application of products, promoting the high performance of its

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RETREAD SPOTLIGHT

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Precure treads – for example, special fibres (aramid, nanotubes of carbon and graphene) that enhance performance and make the materials lighter.

• The company researches products employing protective chemicals with a lower environmental impact. For example, it sources alternatives to the chemical 6PPD, which is considered dangerous when in contact with water.

• It is continuously on the

hunt for new technologies to reduce production costs and enhance quality, ensuring a more competitive and efficient process. Vipal Machinery provides state-of-the-art machinery to the retreading industry, with automation and controls to assure accurate and consistent processes.

• It also creates products that allow greater agility in the retreading process, gaining increased productivity and cost reduction.

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BUSINESS UPDATE

SERVICE

at the heart Ambitious, passionate and values-driven, Ryan Marra has a vision for a truck service network that puts the customer first.

W

e’ve heard it before … “It’s amazing how you notice trucks when you enter the transport industry,” comments Ryan Marra. “It’s one of those industries that’s hugely addictive. The people in transport are just good Kiwi, salt-of-the-earth people and, in general, are all trying to do good by each other.”

A mechanical engineer by trade, the 36-year-old managing director of Industry Growth Partners (IGP) has built up more than 15 years of management and directorship experience, including time at Fonterra, Tira (formerly NDA), Visy Board and DEC International. Now, under IGP, Ryan has delved headfirst into his journey of growing a network of trusted truck service centres across the Waikato and Bay of Plenty.

Ryan’s entry into the transport sector unfolded eight years ago when he and his wife Sharra acquired a 10% stake in HTSL Diesel Mechanical (formely Hobbs Transport Services), a company founded by his in-laws.

Reflecting on this move, Ryan shares, “When I came in, it was to continue the family business and enable expansion.” Over time, they increased their ownership until, in July 2022, they bought the company 100%, following Kevin and Cathy Hobbs’ decision to

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retire after 20 years in the business.

Having had his fill of the corporate world, Ryan wanted to provide customers with an alternative option for transport repairs and set his sights on Morrinsville-based BLM Engineering, which he took over on 1 June 2023. Explaining the significance of this acquisition, Ryan notes: “BLM is a nod to my history in that mechanical engineering space. But part of the reason for the purchase was to extend it back into that transport space. The company used to do a bit of heavy vehicle engineering, and it’s currently got a couple of niches it will continue with,” he says.

Ryan had also identified the need to expand geographically and looked at other businesses during 2022. In December of that year, he approached Bert and Debbie Hayden of Central Diesel Services (CDS) in Mt Maunganui, with the support of Murray Kidd at ABC Business Sales.

“CDS stood out as an established heavy diesel repairs and transport engineering business, offering synergies in relationships and locations. Despite not being on the market and Bert and Debbie being halfway through a five-year plan, Murray adeptly managed expectations – the involvement of a third party was crucial. Bert and Debbie, not keen on dealing with a corporate, valued our alignment with family values. They trusted in our vision, recognising in me a younger version of themselves, committed to upholding the same values.”

Following the acquisition of CDS on 1 September, the network now spans seven locations across Waikato and the Bay of

Ryan and Sharra Marra.

Plenty. Ryan stresses the importance of preserving each business’ unique identity, stating, “We’re retaining the names on the doors to honour brand loyalty. The focus is on aligning operations and visuals to ensure a consistent experience across the network, with the ultimate goal of creating a seamless service network that provides customers with a uniform standard of responsiveness, service excellence and competitive pricing.

This approach proves especially beneficial for customers with end-to-end routes, such as Tauranga to Waikato, enabling the creation of comprehensive truck data and history.”

The result: expedited repair times, consistent service quality and cost efficiencies.

Looking ahead, Ryan envisions expanding the network further by bringing in related SMEs under the Industry Growth Partners umbrella. The early results are promising, with customers returning due to the network’s commitment to exceptional service. “It is a sort of network that when you start looking after your customers, they naturally come back to you. You can have frank conversations with them all; they’re real people – even the larger businesses.

Many travel some distance because of our service, and that’s a cool nod to how we do business,” he concludes.

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PRODUCT UPDATE

Zepro Tail Lifts

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Revolutionising Transport in New Zealand A brand demonstrates its success when customers remain loyal, choosing to use its products exclusively for certain aspects of their business. The testament to this success becomes even more powerful when the product’s dependability is so high that the necessity for backup services is practically eliminated. That’s what can be said of the Zepro brand of tail lifts, distributed by TRT, which has established itself as a reliable and essential component for the New Zealand transport industry.

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avin Halley, general manager sales at TRT, says: “The product complements everything else that we do and has seamlessly integrated into our suite of products. It is a bolt-on attachment to vehicles, and also enhances our hydraulic programme, providing us with a more robust presence in the bodybuilding sector.”

TRT is a privately owned family business, specialising in designing, manufacturing, selling and delivering products and services within Australasia’s road transport and construction industries.

With 14 territory managers across Auckland, Hamilton and Christchurch, TRT provides comprehensive support and service to its customers throughout New Zealand.

TRT offers a wide range of Zepro truck tail lifts for small, medium and large trucks.

It offers three main models: the Z-15/Z-20 with 1500kg or 2000kg capacity, the Z-100 with 1000kg capacity, and the ZL-75 with 750kg capacity.

Reliability is key Reliability in New Zealand’s rugged

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conditions is one of the standout features of Zepro tail lifts.

“It’s incredibly reliable, and it gives very few issues. Quality is never compromised with this product, making it a well-known and trusted brand in the industry,” Gavin says.

This reliability has made Zepro tail lifts a preferred choice for many in the transport sector, as they are proven to withstand the demanding conditions of New Zealand’s diverse terrain.

The team at A.J. Tutill & Sons couldn’t speak more highly of the Zepro product, using the brand exclusively for its tail lift operations.

The Auckland-based company is primarily engaged in handling general freight, with a significant portion involving palletised work.

“About a quarter of our work involves tail lifts, and that’s where the Zepros come in handy. The tail lifts play a crucial role in our day-to-day operations,” says GM Jack Tutill.

A.J. Tutill’s journey with the Zepro brand began in 1998, marking the start of a lasting relationship.

“We’ve been diehard Zepro fans ever

since,” says Jack. He says the reliability of the Zepro product is a key factor in why the business has remained loyal to the brand.

“Zepro is an integral part of our fleet. They perform well and are absolutely reliable. We have over a dozen Zepro tail lifts, and we might get one or two breakdowns a year.

They’re just bulletproof,” he says.

A.J. Tutill & Sons currently operates 13 Zepro tail lifts, primarily utilising 2.5m alloy platforms.

“They’re effectively the biggest tail lift and lightest you can get on the market,” Jack says. “The tailored fleet, including steel and smaller variants, perfectly aligns with our business needs, especially when delivering a few pallets at a time.”

Acknowledging the critical role of backup service, Jack commends TRT for its prompt and reliable support.

“But to be honest, the Zepro brand is so reliable, and we have barely any issues, so we don’t really need TRT to ever come out and fix the Zepros,” he says.

“But on the rare occasion we do, they are great to deal with, and any breakdowns are swiftly addressed, which helps us keep to our own commitment of minimising downtime.”

Building up the brand While Zepro’s presence has been steadily increasing, Gavin acknowledges there’s more work to be done in the New Zealand market.

“Product awareness and installation are on the rise, but we still have room to grow our market share,” he says. “We have significantly enhanced our stock holding in the past two years and developed the product range to effectively cover a wide spectrum, from 750kg to two tons, catering to various box bodies in the New Zealand market.”

Gavin highlights the collaborative approach taken to identify gaps in the market, working directly with the factory in Sweden. The result is an enhanced competitiveness and improved efficiency in inventory management. “We now have inventory at all three sites, ensuring that our territory managers can provide extensive

support across the country,” Gavin says.

TRT growth in New Zealand As for TRT, the company has experienced sustained growth over the past two years, especially in the manufacturing sector.

Its significant growth in Australia is contributing to initiatives within New

Zealand, ensuring that TRT remains at the forefront of the transport and truck equipment industry.

“We are planning for further growth and expansion,” Gavin says.

“We are providing end-to-end solutions for our customers, just as we have been for the past 56 years.”

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PRODUCT PROFILE

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Extreme conditions and terrain RAPTOR High Temp enamel products resist temperatures up to 300°C, making them five times tougher than ordinary paints.

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This superior toughness ensures protection from heat, oil and other automotive fluids.

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RAPTOR products emerge as a top choice for transport operators seeking unparalleled durability and protection for their vehicle fleets. With exceptional UV-resistance, heat-resistance and versatile application options, RAPTOR ensures that investments are not only protected but also maintained for years to come.

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INDUSTRY COMMENT

MIND THE GAP Op-Ed by Lindsay Wood

Lindsay Wood explores the challenges he sees with futureproofing our transport infrastructure.

L

ondon Underground’s famous ‘mind the gap’ announcement is a quirky example of the very long reach of infrastructure decisions.

Why is it even needed? Because carriages are straight, but many underground platforms are curved, causing dangerous gaps at some doors.

Why are platforms curved? Because many tube lines follow the roads above.

When were the roads formed? Up to 2000 years ago, when Romans occupied Britain.

We can’t expect Julius Caesar’s transport minister to have envisaged how London would work two millennia later, but it does highlight the long-term implications of infrastructure decisions.

And right now, we’re facing transport decisions on steroids, with the Cook Strait ferry upgrade in turmoil, expansive plans to create ‘world-class’ roads, and shuffling the deck before dealing a new hand for railways.

Factor in badly neglected highways and frame it with the monumental need to slash fossil fuel usage, and it’s hardly surprising we have uncertainty about how far current plans are looking ahead and how far they are looking backwards.

For example, the promise of 10,000 EV chargers seems like visionary planning to propel the switch to EVs. Yet, by slashing incentives, the government has effectively reversed the policy settings that made

Norway the poster child of EV uptake: with strong incentives but haphazard charging infrastructure, Norway’s EVs now exceed 80% of car purchases.

Perhaps more concerning is that heavy transport is barely mentioned in National’s main transport document and is entirely absent from that on charging infrastructure.

As New Zealand Trucking Media editorial director Dave McCoid told a Nelson fleet management group last year, the lack of such infrastructure might prove an Achille’s heel of electrifying New Zealand’s heavy vehicle fleet.

And Port Nelson has a futureproofing anomaly that illustrates the need for government intervention: a major mains upgrade in anticipation of charging HGVs got the thumbs-down because of charges levied on the size of futureproofing cables, not the power they deliver.

There’s also the real danger the international mineral sector won’t come close to supporting the widespread electrification of the global vehicle fleet. It’s no accident that China seeks to dominate world lithium supplies, and Norway just approved controversial offshore exploration for critical rare earth elements.

“But hang on!” I hear. “There’s more to transport infrastructure than EVs.” And to be sure, there is.

But if highway planning is based on dramatically expanding EV numbers, while there’s a serious possibility that won’t happen, then how we think about highways and decarbonising transport may need overhauling.

To give credit where it’s due, thumbs-up for policies exploring congestion charging.

However, many proposed roads hope to

tackle congestion with the approach that caused it (plan highways that encourage new housing; find new highways are soon blocked with extra commuters; plan expanded highways that, in turn, attract more housing...).

So maybe we should press pause on highway planning until we mind the gaps?

Take Hamilton’s Southern Link, with National’s policy proposed “21km of state highway, three new bridges and 11km of urban arterials”. At the same time, Waka Kotahi/NZTA recommended making the best of the existing system and only building local roads already in train.

It also remains a mystery that successive governments claim to focus on efficient, cost-effective infrastructure yet spend fortunes on inefficient highways sized so more people can sit alone in their cars. These are the very cars creating gridlocks that impede efficiency for commercial transport operators and bringing big dollar and emissions price tags.

So, what might this mean for the climate?

As slashing fossil fuels is mission-critical, it means ‘mind the gaps’ all over the place.

There’s one between what we’re told new highways will do and their likely impact; another between policies to decarbonise the private and the commercial fleets; there’s one between current EV strategies and those proven to work overseas; and mineral supply challenges might even mean gaps between highways being planned and those we actually need.

And we haven’t even looked at the gap between the minimal time we have to get our decarbonising act together and the time until current policy settings will have real impact.

Lindsay Wood, MNZM, is founding director of climate strategy company Resilienz Ltd, and in 2024 was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to climate awareness and environmental sustainability. Lindsay is active in policy arenas, develops tools to support decarbonisation, and speaks, writes and broadcasts widely on climate issues.

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CARRIERS’ CORNER

The gift that keeps on giving Does anyone else feel like local and central government infrastructure spending is the gift that keeps giving?

J

ust when you feel you’re over one phenomenal cost blowout, another rears its ugly head and pales the first event into insignificance. There’s no doubt that the fiscal events surrounding Covid-19 added a couple of extra zeros to every significant project, but the past couple of months have blessed us with a clutch of wondrous examples to be floored by.

An easy place to start is the (nowscrapped) Auckland Light Rail, a project that appeared severely short of local support from the start – not the concept itself, but the financial magnitude indicated at its outset. Remember that this was one of Jacinda Ardern’s poster pledges from the 2017 election; in her idyllic world, we’d have been commuting to the airport by rail for several years by now! Promises aside, the fact has emerged that nearly $230 million has been spent on the project to date, with not a digger boom hitting terra firma to show for it. I can understand the cost in isolation, but what I can’t understand is how that’s been consumed over the six years since its announcement without a sod being turned.

Traffic management has been another infrastructure-related expense that’s been to the fore in the past couple of months, and it’s brought with it some eye-watering numbers that, sadly, I suspect came as no surprise to many industry observers.

A BusinessDesk article (2 February 2024, penned by Oliver Lewis) that put things in perspective for me, relayed comments from Ross Copland, CEO of the Infrastructure Commission: the likes of a water utility now factoring 15% of its maintenance costs into traffic management, or the (power) lines company having traffic management appear as 20% of recent project costs. Pleasingly, there was a further inference from the chair of the commission, Alan Bollard, about the non-financial costs that were contributed to by such intervention by way of additional congestion and reduced productivity.

The last cab off the rank has been the government’s scrapping of the iReX

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inter-island ferry and terminal project, a project initially billed at costing well under $1 billion, whereas most recent projections have suggested a price tag of $3 billion or more. The reality is that there’s no question around greater resilience and capability being built in the interi-sland road/rail connection, but that same reality also strongly suggests that projects simply can’t triple in cost before they’ve even commenced; the risk this implies from the outset is immense, and one shudders to think where this project may have ended up landing cost-wise had it proceeded.

At the same time, as a director of an operation that uses the inter-island connection extensively, I fully support the need to assess and act to beef up this connection. However, I believe that it must be done in the most cost-effective, and more critically, the most resilient, manner possible to ensure that our industry, and ultimately the New Zealand economy, gets the biggest bang for its buck and some genuine efficiency gains are made.

MOVe Logistics had obviously commenced (but now abandoned) its project to create a RORO service linking New Plymouth and Nelson. While I don’t know how the economics of this looked, I commend the thought process of looking at alternative routes to connect the islands, options that inherently deliver greater resilience simply

by way of geographic separation (well, as much as we can obtain given the precarious position our landmass occupies on a fault line).

While on the topic of ferries, and coming from a completely different angle, I recently spent a night heading across Cook Strait accompanying several swap trailers destined for the South Island. It was an opportunity to see things from the inside out and again proved a tremendous endorsement of what our industry pulls off, day in, day out, or in this case, night in, night out, to keep products moving across the country. The steady flow of trucks and all but non-existent passenger vehicles in both directions highlighted the might of the road transport network at work; the ferries get plenty of credit for joining the big dots, but once again, it’s ‘our’ collective fleet that’s doing the heavy lifting.

Finally, I wanted to acknowledge the immense turnout and support for the celebration of Kenworth’s centenary at Mystery Creek in early February (I suspect there’ll be ample coverage of it elsewhere in this magazine). (See page 38 – Ed.) I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, but there aren’t too many industries, or tools of industry, that could garner the level of passion and attention that this event demonstrated, and the contribution of Southpac Trucks and so many participating operators and drivers in such an industry showcase is something we should all be immensely thankful for, Kenworth-affinity or otherwise!

Do you agree with Blake or want to engage with his comment? He’d love to hear from you.

Contact Blake at: blake@transcon.co.nz.

Blake Noble is managing director of Transcon, a 16-truck general-freight operation based in Warkworth, north of Auckland. He is also the founder of specialist transport growth and advisory provider Delivery.

Head to getdelivery.nz to connect with Blake.

TRUCKERS’ HEALTH

Why do we EXERCISE? We need to look beyond the facade of all of the fitness rubbish out there, and try to relate it back to ourselves, our own goals and what is realistic for our lifestyles and physiques.

W

e are absolutely drowning in online fitness content.

Influencers, TV personalities and sports stars use so many different channels to promote and praise the trends they attribute to gaining their impressive physiques. Because we are overexposed to many media outlets, we are often influenced and swayed into trying different training trends and fads.

Unfortunately, what is often overshadows all this fluff is the fact that exercise is good for your mental and physical health. Never mind having big biceps or an enviable booty, aesthetics are the least important by-product of an exercise routine.

The danger of fitspos is that you see them, listen to the regime they’ve supposedly been following and think, “If I did the exact same thing, I would look like a photocopy.”

In reality, every person is unique in terms of body composition, metabolism, shape and size. It’s like saying if you used the same fuel in a Mack and a Kenworth, they’d perform exactly the same (a trucking metaphor for you).

Instead of saying, “I want to exercise to look like this person” or “I want to exercise so I’m not as fat”, let’s think about more positive and important reasons why we might exercise.

Get a better night’s sleep Lack of sleep leads to several health problems, including anxiety and depression.

Exercise is powerful in influencing our sleep patterns and helps increase our deep sleep, improves restless leg syndrome, insomnia, and sleep apnoea. If you work long hours, your opportunity for sleep is often limited, so it is important to get as much quality sleep as possible in the small window that you have available. With a newborn, I can see the impact of lack of sleep on many factors, including brain function and the desire to eat everything in sight.

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Increased brain power Exercise helps to sharpen the mind and enhance brain power by increasing blood flow and the production of important proteins for the brain. In the long term, exercise can help the symptoms of diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Improve your energy levels When you exercise, your body releases endorphins, feel-good hormones that reduce your pain perception and provide greater endurance throughout the day.

It also improves overall cardiovascular health, which in turn, helps you get through those long days more easily. With positive hormones flowing through your body, you will feel less sluggish at the end of the day.

Helps with building connections If you exercise in a group or community setting, it reduces the sense of social isolation and helps create new connections and friendships outside of your work environment or usual social scene. Working long hours can often mean we don’t have much time for hobbies or making social connections, but if we choose to exercise in a social setting, we are killing two birds with one stone (doing something positive for our bodies and meeting new people).

feelings and symptoms of anxiety, especially rhythmic forms of exercise where you are utilising your arms and legs together, such as walking, swimming and dancing. Yoga and breathing exercises are also beneficial in calming the mind and helping us focus on the positive, reducing overall anxiety.

Stress release As well as relieving anxiety, exercise can help the body to release stress. In our factpaced and demanding environment, it is common to experience stress and its related symptoms. Exercise reduces the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline and helps to protect the cardiovascular, digestive and immune systems.

Improve your mood and confidence level When you exercise, your body produces chemicals such as dopamine and endorphins, which help to improve your mood and stimulate feelings of calm. As we exercise and slowly build muscle mass and potentially lose body fat, we can feel more accomplished, satisfied and happier in our skin because we are putting in the effort to look after ourselves and improve our health.

These positive benefits of exercise may seem straightforward and obvious, but they are often drowned out by fitness influencers and media streams promoting products and exercise fads. Let’s focus on the positive effects of exercise on our mental and physical health, rather than on attaining an often-impossible physique of a celebrity or fitspo.

Remember this Exercise boosts your ability to remember and recall essential information throughout the day. The hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory and learning, actually grows during regular physical activity. In the long term, people who have exercised regularly have an improved processing speed and function and overall cognitive brain health in later life.

Helps relieve anxiety Today, anxiety is one of the most common forms of mental illness. Exercise reduces the

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HEALTH AND SAFETY

WORKER PARTICIPATION and engagement When drivers or workers are engaged in health and safety, everyone benefits.

T

he Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 provides a robust framework for employee participation or engagement. Worker participation or engagement involves talking to your team and having meaningful and relevant discussions about health and safety. These talks could be discussions concerning changes, development and/or training, incidents, trending topics or just a chat about how everyone is feeling. This is an ongoing process.

Your front-line workers are your eyes and ears; their health and safety observations are extremely valid and important to run a successful organisation. In addition to building a strong health and safety culture, this validates that the drivers are appreciated and all health and safety matters they bring to the table are heard and taken seriously.

How to promote engagement Engage and discuss matters relating to health and safety with employees who are directly affected. Unfortunately, drivers are often most at risk but often 23031 DANI1 TRUCKING AD.pdf

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the most underrepresented workers in an organisation.

Ensure worker participation is more formal and allow employees to participate effectively in improving health and safety.

A safety committee is a formal way of participating in health and safety matters.

It is a simple compliance forum where employees can participate and improve their organisation’s health and safety management.

Participation should align with employees and the organisation. If the organisation is small, all drivers can possibly participate in the health and safety meetings. However, if the organisation is large, it could be an option for a representative from each department to attend health and safety meetings. This may mean that once a month, when the meetings take place, the driver’s representative might start later on the road or finish earlier on the road so that he/she can attend the meeting and represent all the drivers.

The organisation should engage and consult with workers who are directly affected by matters relating to health and safety, such as hazards, decision-making concerning PPE, work conditions, training, procedures and policies. Most importantly, any proposed changes that affect the health and safety of the drivers day to day need to

be discussed openly and respectfully.

Worker engagement is essential to keep your workplace safe and healthy. The organisations with the best health and safety outcomes are the organisations where the PCBU and employees/drivers work together on all matters relating to health and safety.

Kaye Byrne is a health and safety consultant who works for Safewise, a health and safety consultancy organisation.

Kaye has been in the health and safety field in one way or another for the past 10 years, most recently as a consultant.

Kaye has experience working with many different industries and people. She holds a New Zealand Diploma in Workplace Health and Safety Management (level 6) and is a member of the New Zealand Institute of Safety Management.

3:12:58 PM

Danielle L. Beston Barrister At Law Log Book & Driving Hours Transport Specialist Work Licences Nationwide Road User Charges Contributor to New Zealand Trucking ‘Legal Lines’ Column Telephone: (09) 985 5609 mobile: 021 326 642 danielle.beston@trafficlawyerauckland.co.nz Referral Through Solicitor Required and Arranged

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FATIGUE management LEGAL LINES

Fatigue might seem like a minor concern, yet it costs companies millions of dollars each year in excess costs, accidents and errors, as well as burdens on society as a whole.

T

he social expense for fatiguerelated crashes in 2019 was $283 million. Employers are responsible under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 to provide and maintain a work environment where employees are not exposed to hazards. Fatigue is a hazard, and an employee suffering from fatigue is a hazard to other employees.

This month, I want to highlight the importance of recognising fatigue indicators to help avoid workplace accidents and potential risks to public safety. Everybody is responsible for ensuring that no driver is allowed to drive while fatigued, and every driver should be aware of its symptoms.

Fatigue is more than being tired – it’s physical or mental exhaustion to the extent that people are no longer effective or safe at work.

Causes of fatigue Operators must manage the work environment so that fatigue does not become an issue for workers. Incidents can be minor, such as clipped mirrors or broken tail lights, or lead to major damage, such as injury or death.

With an understanding of fatigue, incorporating knowledge into workplace culture and looking out for signs of exhaustion in staff, all of these types of incidents are avoidable. A workplace environment should also promote a safe space for workers to speak to managers or co-workers and express any concerns of fatigue. The list below contains some common causes that you should be aware of: • Body-clock factors Working when you would typically be asleep or sleeping when you would typically be awake.

• Sleep factors Getting less than the typical amount of sleep.

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• Work factors Working long or extended hours.

No recovery from work.

Unrealistic schedules with limited break times.

Lack of safety culture discussing how to discourage fatigue.

• Health factors Medical sleep problems.

General health and lifestyle issues.

Stress levels.

Indicators of fatigue Tiredness-related collisions are three times more likely to result in death or serious injury. A fatigued driver is less able to judge how tired they are, meaning they are at risk of continuing to drive without realising how bad their performance is. Experiencing any of the symptoms below indicates to a driver that their performance has already been affected by fatigue and they need to take a break of at least 15 minutes to reduce their fatigue levels: • restlessness • blinking frequently • yawning • excessive speed changes • braking too late • drowsiness • centre-line drift.

Managing fatigue Proactively investing in staff is important.

Under health and safety regulations, operators are required to ensure that they identify and manage risk proportionately;

TRANSPO

this includes any risk to their own workforce and other road users from poor driving behaviour. Here are tips to incorporate when encouraging safe driving: • practical schedules and rosters that allow drivers to adhere to work time requirements taking required breaks • using technological advances, such as fatigue detection or drive cams, to improve safety and efficiency • identifying rest areas, facilities and any services needed, such as accommodation, food stops and rest areas • ensuring you and your drivers understand and comply with work-time rules and rest-time requirements • checking that drivers are not taking medication that might contribute to fatigue • being aware of whether a driver has other employment and ensuring this is taken into consideration • educating and supporting life management skill development, such as taking action where a health issue is suspected to have an effect and ensuring adequate time off for rest is given • encouraging good-quality sleep, healthy meals, exercise and seeking medical help where necessary • providing access to facilities and considering health and comfort in vehicles, e.g. seating, controls, equipment and low noise levels • having a safe driving policy to help manage work-related road safety and keep employees and vehicles safe on the road.

Next month, I’ll discuss the importance of having a robust, effective and efficient safe-driving policy that will keep workers safe while saving businesses a lot of stress and money.

Please note that this article is not a substitute for legal advice, and if you have a particular matter to be addressed, you should consult with a lawyer. Danielle Beston is a barrister who specialises in transport law, and she can be contacted on (09) 985 5609 or 021 326 642.

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BUSINESS TOGETHER

The value of upskilling yourself and your team In the whirlwind world of modern business, it’s not just survival of the fittest – it’s survival of the upskilled!

P

icture this: you’re navigating through the maze of today’s ever-changing market, and suddenly, you realise it’s not enough to just keep up; you have to stay ahead of the curve. That’s where upskilling comes in, and let me tell you, it’s like adding turbo boosters to your career rocket.

First off, upskilling isn’t just about staying relevant; it’s about turning your office into a playground of innovation and creativity.

Think of it like a giant brainstorming session where everyone’s armed with new skills and fresh perspectives. Suddenly, the problem that had you scratching your head becomes as easy to solve as a Sudoku puzzle on a Sunday morning.

And let’s not forget about the joy of seeing your team light up like a Christmas tree when they realize they’re not just clocking in for a paycheque – they’re part of something

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bigger. Offering training and development isn’t just a box to tick on the HR checklist; it’s a way to show your team you’re invested in their success and growth. Plus, when your employees feel they’re valued and appreciated, they’re as loyal as a puppy with a bone.

Upskilling isn’t just about boosting morale; it’s also about building a team of rockstars that’ll have your competitors shaking in their boots. In today’s talent market, skilled workers are like unicorns – hard to find and even harder to keep. But with a killer training programme and opportunities for professional development, you’ll have top talent knocking down your door faster than you can say “job offer”.

And let’s not forget about future-proofing your business against disruptions. With technology evolving faster than a viral TikTok dance, the skills that are hot today could be old news tomorrow. But by investing in upskilling initiatives, you’ll have a team that’s as adaptable as a chameleon at a colourchanging convention. Whether it’s mastering new technologies or honing those soft skills, continuous learning keeps your business nimble and ready to tackle whatever curveballs the market throws your way.

So there you have it – the lowdown on the high-flying world of upskilling. It’s not just a smart business move; it’s a recipe for success that’s as sweet as a chocolatecovered doughnut on a Friday afternoon. So grab your learning hat and prepare to take your business to new heights because, with upskilling, the sky’s the limit.

Roylance Watson is a chartered accountant and associate at Vazey Child Chartered Accountants in Hamilton.

Email: roylancew@vazeychild.co.nz Phone: (07) 838 5988 Website: vazeychild.co.nz

TMS CONFERENCE2024

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13-14th March 2024 | Te Pae Christchurch bill.james@trucking.nz Ӏ 0800 338 338 Ӏ www.trucking.nz Media Partners

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David Boyce CEO

TMS transport industry event takes shape with scholarships offered for up-and-coming talent

A

s the TMS Teletrac Navman Technology | Maintenance | Safety Conference & Exhibition draws closer, organisers are thrilled with the quality of industry support the event has received from other associations, sponsors and exhibitors. With more than 50 exhibitors locked in, exhibition space has sold out, and attendees are encouraged to buy their tickets to avoid disappointment.

Leading industry names such as Volvo, Penske, Isuzu, UD Trucks, Hino Trucks, Z Energy, Levanta Superior Workshop Solutions, NAPA, Transpecs, Alemlube, Milwaukee and Waimea Engineering – to name just a few – have come on board as gold and silver exhibitors, along with a huge variety of bronze and standard exhibitors that showcase and reflect the vast and varied trucking industry from all aspects of technology, maintenance and safety.

HARMfree Transport & Logistics and TruckSafe will be front and centre, with the NZ Trucking Association and National Road Carriers keen to promote health and safety within the transport industry. The event offers a perfect opportunity to showcase to attendees what best practice in this space looks like and the HARMfree and TruckSafe teams will be on hand to speak to delegates and give insights.

For organisers, National Road Carriers and NZ Trucking Association, the focus

now is on working with the talented group of guest speakers as they fine-tune their presentations to ensure each session delivers the insights, innovation and learnings attendees are hoping for.

“This event has been carefully created after listening closely to the industry. We have taken on board feedback from across the transport sector, and cherry-picked the best bits from international events to bring this event to life. This is not your classic ‘dry’ conference. This is a bespoke event curated specifically for the transport industry and all those who support us,” says David Boyce, CEO, NZ Trucking Association.

One of the strongest themes organisers have taken on board is the desire from industry to have one nationwide transport industry event, which brings together representatives from all areas of the industry.

The TMS Teletrac Navman Technology | Maintenance | Safety Conference & Exhibition promises to do just that, with service suppliers, manufacturers, telematics, agencies (e.g, MSD), regulators (e.g, NZTA), finance, insurance and technology all wellrepresented alongside transport operators and firms.

“For the first time, we will also have the key transport associations coming together to share best practice under one roof.

We look forward to welcoming the Crane Association, Ground Spreaders Association

and the Heavy Haulage Association, along with our Australian partners, the Australian Trucking Association, NatRoad and TruckSafe Australia,” says Boyce.

Guest speakers will discuss various topics and presentations designed to tackle key issues, challenge the status quo and provide insights into how we can collaborate across the sector and with regulators to shape better outcomes.

NRC CEO Justin Tighe-Umbers says: “Feedback from previous events has shown us how much value attendees place on having the time to ask questions of presenters or connect more deeply on the sector-specific issues, not to mention networking with industry colleagues and reconnecting with old friends. This is why we have intentionally created an event format that allows for a mix of guest speakers, sector sessions, networking events, exhibitions, awards, cutting-edge technology on display, on top of trucks, trucks and more trucks.

“Attracting and keeping talent into the industry remains one of our biggest challenges, so aside from an enlightening session on what our future workforce looks like, pipeline creation, culture and leadership, we will have a strong focus on the Careers Transport Expo and showcasing the industry to future talent.”

Senior students have been invited from all over the South Island to attend the Careers

“For the first time, we will also have the key transport associations coming together to share best practice under one roof.”

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National Road Carriers Association can be contacted on 0800 686 777 or enquiries@natroad.co.nz

Transport Expo on Wednesday, 13 March, 9.30am to 11.30am, at Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre. The expo is designed to inspire future generations and will explore exciting opportunities and introduce the huge range of career pathways the transport industry offers. The Careers Transport Expo is also open to adults looking for a career change who are interested in finding out more about transport industry opportunities.

Whether it is a career in driving, engineering, health and safety, technology or logistics, students and adults alike will have the opportunity to speak to industry experts and experience first-hand what a career in the transport industry may look like.

“The TMS Teletrac Navman Technology | Maintenance | Safety Conference & Exhibition is a great way to showcase the industry to young talent, so we want to provide an opportunity for companies to bring their up-and-coming talent to the event,” says Boyce.

NTA and NRC have created the TMS Event Scholarship to facilitate event attendance by young industry talent.

“We are encouraging companies to nominate a staff member who might benefit from this scholarship opportunity and encourage you to apply. Not only does the scholarship help cover the costs associated with attending the event, but your support is also a great way to show you appreciate your team, demonstrate a willingness to invest in their development and are committed to helping them develop and succeed,” adds Tighe-Umbers.

The TMS Event Scholarship is available to top apprentices or technicians, Health and Safety representatives, engineers, despatch representatives, and more. The key requirement is they are relatively new to the industry, or a promising apprentice, a key employee who has shown a desire to further themselves or a team member who would simply benefit from being exposed to everything the event has on offer.

Free two-day TMS Event Scholarship delegate passes are limited, with only 25 available, and are valued at $299 (+GST). The sponsored attendee must attend the two days with a paid delegate from the same

Justin Tighe-Umbers CEO

company. Apply today by contacting Bill James at bill.james@trucking.nz.

“Another key part of the TMS Teletrac Navman Technology | Maintenance | Safety Conference & Exhibition is celebrating industry successes. At the award and networking event on the Wednesday night, we will be using the opportunity to celebrate industry leaders across the technology, maintenance and safety sectors,” says Boyce.

Awards nominations are open for: • PartsTrader Technology Award.

Awarded to the company or entrepreneur with a technological solution or product that enhances the future of the industry.

• bp Maintenance Award. Awarded to the most outstanding technician who is dedicated to continuous improvement.

• ACC Safety Award. Awarded to the company or individual with a safety initiative promoting safety or health and wellbeing.

Keen to nominate? Email bill.james@ trucking.nz.

New Zealand Trucking

March 2024

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Transporting New Zealand can be

Dom Kalasih

contacted on (04) 472 3877

interim chief executive

or info@transporting.nz

Let’s celebrate trucks POUNDING ROADS like never before

D

espite what some people say, heavier and longer trucks are not ruining our roads. Here’s why we should welcome heavier and longer trucks.

In its briefing to the incoming transport minister, the first point Waka Kotahi made on the issue of funding was: “Alongside inflationary pressure, our funding system is strained due to demands such as new roads, the age of the network and the volume of heavier and longer trucks outpacing the required investment in maintaining and renewing the network.”

Not surprisingly, some media got onto that with an anti-truck angle like: “Trucks are pounding the country’s state highways like never before.”

I was fascinated that Waka Kotahi chose to identify the volume of heavier and longer trucks as a specific issue, as it is not only unfair but it doesn’t tell a full or helpful story.

I’m asking it to justify its claim.

I’m a board member of the International Forum for Heavy Vehicle Transport & Technology, and presentations at its biennial conferences are typically dominated by research papers produced by academic institutes. International research demonstrates a different angle.

The simple facts are heavier and longer trucks mean fewer trucks are needed to move the same amount of freight. That means heavier and longer trucks: • reduce emissions • reduce congestion • reduce the safety risk for other road users.

I also find the lack of focus on what trucks do is disappointing. The vast majority of our members’ businesses exist because they supply a service others demand.

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Generally speaking, there is a positive relationship between heavy-vehicle kilometres travelled and gross domestic product. Therefore, growth in truck movements is generally an indicator of a healthier economy.

Typically, trucks make up about 10% of the traffic stream, and their travel is not discretionary. Trucks move freight or other commodities because others need those things.

By and large, most trucks are diesel, so they pay RUC, with trucks contributing about 65% of the annual RUC income. As the Ministry of Transport’s Domestic Transport Costs and Charges Study showed last year, heavy trucks cover substantially more of their cost to the government than light vehicle and rail transport. In other words, trucks pay far more of their share of public costs than others.

Rather than it being seen as a problem, we should be celebrating that trucks are pounding our roads like never before.

As we’ve seen with the Cook Strait iReX project, this government seems serious about greater accountability on public spending. Maybe Waka Kotahi needs to start strategising and reprioritising its spending so we have greater confidence that freight can get to where it needs to.

I’m not sure how helpful it is to tell the minister that “our funding system is strained”.

We agree that funding is critical and our ageing roading network is in desperate need of major maintenance and upgrading.

We also agree that severe weather events – intensified by climate change – are having an impact.

Over the past few years, our members have been disappointed to see the road user

charges they pay go towards speculative investments in areas like rail and coastal shipping while the condition of the roads continues to decline. Waka Kotahi acknowledged in its briefing that it hasn’t been able to deliver a sustainable level of road rehabilitation in that time.

Our roads and bridges also need to be improved to accommodate heavier vehicles and boost freight efficiency.

The government is making some hard, and in some areas of the community, unpopular decisions. These include canning Auckland’s light rail scheme and Let’s Get Wellington Moving, and announcing a start date for RUC on low-emission vehicles.

I am right behind these calls. We can’t be spending billions on schemes for only two cities that just don’t add up when the infrastructure of the entire country is creaky in places.

The light rail project had $228 million spent on it without a single bit of track being delivered.

The government also announced it will move ahead on a second, sorely needed Mt Victoria road tunnel as well as other highway upgrades in the Wellington region.

The introduction of RUC on light-emission cars had to happen to make sure that all road users are paying their share towards keeping the roading system built and maintained.

In other news, it’s great that work is starting on the safety improvements to SH5 between Napier and Taupo. Getting the shoulders fixed and the roads widened makes it safer for all drivers, and we believe it’s a better option than blanket speed restrictions, which often aren’t backed by any evidence of the need for them.

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THE LAST MILE

Where have our INNOVATORS gone?

I

have commented before on the redundancy of the CEO of Te Pukenga and guessed that his redundancy payment may be pretty good considering his reported annual salary. Since then, I’ve delved deeper into what we, the taxpayers, are paying the top executives in the public service.

The information available on the Public Service Commission’s website shows 31 public servants are getting paid more than $500,000 annually. This is more than the prime minister and a lot more than the Cabinet ministers who are their bosses. The prime minister’s salary is $471,000 and Cabinet ministers $296,007. The reason most often cited for the high salaries in the public service is that we need to pay this amount to attract the right people and to match what is paid in the private sector. If we accept this theory, does it mean that the prime minister and Cabinet ministers, whoever they are, are not the right people for the job and if we paid more we would get better people?

Not unexpectedly, several people are upset that the EV incentive, non-payment of RUC on light electic vehicles, is to cease on 1 April.

The incentive for heavy vehicles does not come off until the end of 2025. No matter how you look at it, this so-called incentive is simply a government subsidy in disguise paid for by all of us who, for one reason or another, do not use an EV. From 1 April, a light EV will pay

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$76/1000km while a plug-in hybrid will pay $53/$1000; this is the current cost of a type 1 RUC vehicle.

I keep asking myself, but have yet to get an answer, why should the government subsidise the operation of EVs? Oh yes, the supporters will say that by using an EV, you are not contributing to climate change, conveniently ignoring the fact that EVs still use the roads. The last time I looked, they contribute to both traffic congestion and road wear the same as an equivalent petrol or diesel-powered vehicle does. Some reports suggest an EV causes more road damage than an equivalent fossil-fuelled vehicle. If this is correct, then perhaps EVs should pay a bit more.

The 26 January edition of Transporting New Zealand’s weekly newsletter, Dispatch, makes interesting reading. In this, the interim CEO, Dom Kalasih, makes several comments worth pondering. First, he says, “Wellington is full of clever people”. Perhaps this explains why the region is on the verge of a major water crisis, with more than 40% of the water supplied lost to leaks and no end in sight. Perhaps the “clever” people involved are too clever for their own good.

I agree with Kalasih when he suggests that sometimes we see solutions offered to solve a problem when there is no problem to solve.

How often do we do this? You only have to look at the extraordinary amount of money spent on government reviews and restructuring the public service – look no further at the cost of establishing, and soon dismantling, Te Pukenga, for example. What exactly was the problem this solution was trying to fix?

I also agree with him when he says that the industry is very much a technology taker rather than a technology innovator. So, what has gone wrong? Go back to the industry’s early days and look at some of the developments. Mike Isle’s 2005 book Ridin’ the Rainbow gives some good examples of truck and trailer innovations that were part of our road freight scene in earlier times, many of which were born out of necessity and a desire to become more efficient. I believe that this desire is still out there but less obvious. Take 50MAX, or lower-bound high-productivity vehicles, as they were initially called, as an example.

This was an industry-led innovation that has proved its value by the uptake of 50MAX units.

Perhaps, though, the industry has lost most of its innovative personalities born from the industry’s pioneering days. Possibly, also, the regulators were more accommodating then and had a genuine desire to see a more productive and efficient road freight industry rather than seeing the industry as the baddies.

I also agree that as an industry, we need to be quite clear what the problem is we are trying to fix rather than come up with feelgood solutions first. To quote Kalasih’s article: “Sometimes solutions should be the last step in the policy chain, not the first.” I totally agree. Convincing the policymakers of this, however, will be a major challenge. Together, we must take the issue up. The industry associations could play a big part in this.

After, of course, the problem(s) have been clearly and accurately identified.

The Accidental Trucker

130

New Zealand Trucking

March 2024

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