NZ Trucking Magazine, November 2022

K200 WAR MACHINE IS MULTI-FUNCTIONAL

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A FS Hino from the Lift N Shift fleet heads along Whakatu Drive towards Nelson City with a Sumitomo excavator in tow.

Photo: Craig McCauley.

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CONTENTS THE

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

REST

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

8 Editorial

Gavin Myers Ph: 027 660 6608 Email: gavin@nztrucking.com

10 Road Noise – Industry news

FIELD EDITOR

Carl Kirkbeck Ph: 021 760 766 Email: carl@nztrucking.co.nz For all advertising enquiries: Matt Smith Ph: 021 510 701 Email: matt@nztrucking.co.nz Pav Warren Ph: 027 201 4001 Email: pav@nztrucking.co.nz

22 Hall of Fame 2022

40

CLOSING TIME The Trucks of Westland Breweries

60 Labels Mean Nothing – Connor is driven to succeed 64 Just Trucking Around 66 Special Rigs for Special Kids 68 Great Dashboards

SUB EDITOR

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Tracey Strange

Ricky Harris

74 New Rigs

CONTRIBUTORS

ART DIRECTOR

Craig Andrews Marty Crooks Faye Lougher Craig McCauley Jacqui Madelin Alison Verran Mike Verran Shannon Williams

John Berkley

80 New Bodies and Trailers

Niels Jansen (Europe) Paul O’Callaghan

PUBLISHER

(Europe)

Howard Shanks (Australia)

Will Shiers (UK) VIDEO PRODUCTION

DIGITAL IMAGING

82 Million Mile Club

Willie Coyle

84 Wanaka Memory

DIGITAL MANAGER

86 Mini Big Rigs – Flat deck and accessories

Louise Stowell OFFICE ADMINISTRATION

Georgi George

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

Jonathan Locke Izaak Kirkbeck Milly McCauley Howard Shanks

New Zealand Trucking magazine is published

by Long Haul Publishing 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.

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88 Craig’s Truckin’ Snapshot 90 Little Truckers’ Club 92 What’s On/Cartoon

46

FORWARD IN TIME IAA Transportation 2022

96 Moving Metrics 100 Trucking Industry Summit 102 Road Ahead Conference 104 Person of Interest – Catching up with Raphael

56

FRESH OUT OF OLD-SKOOL War Machine is Subtle but Sleek

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106 Product Profile – NAPA 108 Carriers’ Corner 110 Business, Together 112 Truckers’ Health

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116 Legal Lines 118 NZ Trucking Association

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120 Transporting New Zealand 122 The Last Mile BROUG HT TO Y OU BY

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ALL ROADS LEAD TO ALICE Road Tripping to Alice Springs

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THE TRUCKS OF MONTEITH’S THE FUTURE OF TRUCKS AT IAA

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26 COVERING THE BASES New 700 Joins the Whanau

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K200 WAR MACHINE IS MULTI-FUNCTIONAL

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EDITORIAL

KNOCKING THE FUTURE

I

find myself writing about the next generation for the second issue in a row.

It’s been a regular theme here and in my weekly EDM editorials, with the country grappling with social issues such as rising youth crime and ram raids and the industry grappling with an ageing workforce and lack of youngsters following in their tyre tracks. It’s clear that these are problems that must be resolved.

At Transporting New Zealand’s The Road Ahead conference in September, economist Cameron Bagrie revealed the eye-opening state of the country and its economy and what we need to pay attention to if we are to safeguard the future.

We have a summary in the first of multiple conference reports on page 102, but here I’d like to address a specific point that raised my eyebrows as he spoke. He wasted no time bringing it up and returned to it numerous times in his almost hour-long presentation.

“What would you look at today that will give you the

best benchmark of where New Zealand will be 30 years down the track?” he asked the delegates. “Education.

Currently, in New Zealand, 60% of kids regularly attend school. Of Maori/Pasifika kids, 45% regularly attend school.

Surely the most important investment we must make over the next five years in regard to New Zealand’s economic future has to start with the education system and the kids,” he commented.

“I’d argue the three best things we need to be doing for New Zealand is getting the education system right, getting the health system right and getting the infrastructure right. We need to beat the drum on those things.”

I doubt many would disagree with Cameron on that. Regardless of political persuasion, those are among the basics for promoting the future of any society. It also sometimes seems that those in the highest seats continually struggle to get the basics right and keep them tracking. We’ve seen it with the roads; decades of underinvestment blamed

TRUCK & LIGHT COMMERCIAL adapted masthead.indd 1

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8 New Zealand Trucking

TRADER November 2022

on administrations gone by, and a perpetual game of catch-up competing with vanity projects and ideological fancy. We’ve seen it with public health, which was truly exposed by the extreme measures taken to prevent a system teetering on a knife edge from being overwhelmed by a virus that jumped on the world out of nowhere.

And now, within education.

About half of all kids not bothering to attend class regularly should be cause for alarm at the highest level. As it is, anyone who’s recently hired school-leavers will tell you; overall, they’re not well enough equipped to cope with the working world – where cotton wool and participation trophies don’t exist.

Or, as Cameron put it: “The worst kids can be today is in a state of deferred achievement – no one fails.

And then we wonder why their first knock out of school blows them apart.”

One of the delegates, a concerned mother, asked Cameron what he thought fixing education looked like.

“Start by getting the kids to turn up, and then focus on achieving once they’re in class,” was his immediate response.

“Fixing the education system is, unfortunately, going to involve one big battle with teachers and the Ministry of Education. Someone needs to take that fight on; it doesn’t look like anyone’s got the political nous or desire to do that at the moment. I don’t think we’re taking enough risk with how we manage kids, and that doesn’t build resilience. Knocks taken when you’re young tend to be small, and that builds resilience for the big knocks.”

I’m no teacher, economist, or politician, but I’ve come from a country – South Africa – where the public education system has been mismanaged to the point of worthlessness.

The thought of New Zealand receiving the kind of knock that could come from this is possibly the most frightening I’ve had all year.

Gavin Myers Editor

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Piha, New Zealand, 2022

ROAD NOISE NEWS

NRC LAUNCHES SNAP SEND SOLVE APP National Road Carriers has launched a new app that enables road users to report problems on New Zealand roads.

Snap Send Solve is a free app that sends reports of hazards to local authorities across New Zealand using geolocation technology.

Issues such as road slips, subsidence, flooding, overgrown vegetation, dumping of rubbish, potholes and public restroom issues.

Councils across New Zealand will receive basic Snap Send Solve reports for free.

The app is available for download via Apple’s App Store and Google Play.

Sharp spike in costs may hurt transport operators and consumers

T

he trucking sector is on ‘cost watch’, according to Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand, with road-transport business costs having risen almost four times higher than the general inflation rate in the past quarter.

The latest Grant Thornton Cost Index shows there has been an overall quarterly increase to June 2022 of 6.24% in road transport business costs, compared to a 1.66% increase in the CPI inflation for the same period.

Between September 2018 and September 2020, despite an increasing CPI, transport costs managed to stay relatively stable.

However, in the past two years, the transport inflation index shows unprecedented increases and the gap between that and the CPI is growing wider.

Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand chief executive, Nick Leggett, says the sharp spike in costs may force some road transport operators out of business unless they pass costs on, and the rise will also hurt consumers and add to the already soaring costs of living.

“The index demonstrates that just passing on inflation level increases isn’t going to be enough to keep some trucking businesses afloat,” Leggett says.

“The industry cost

increases are overwhelmingly higher than inflation, driven by fuel increases of 29.64% followed by an increase in the cost of tyres of 4.10%.”

Transporting New Zealand believes this is a stark warning to trucking businesses that they must understand their own costs, engage with their customers, and pass those costs on. It is important for the economy that trucking companies remain viable to avoid an even more challenged supply chain than currently exists.

“We know from a recent industry survey, that one in five transport companies say they are unable to pass on any of their costs,” says Leggett.

“The good news is that the same survey told us over 40% of industry businesses said the government’s road user charge (RUC) discount of 36% was helping with

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these cost pressures.”

Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand is continuing to advocate for an indefinite commitment from the government to extend the RUC discount, fuel excise tax reduction and public transport fare reduction.

“Whether it’s people or freight, we know that transport gets more costly on households and businesses in tough economic times,” says Leggett.

“Our fear is that we are only at the beginning of hard times. While our members are working hard to minimise costs to customers, they also have to survive as businesses.

“Government discounts on fuel make all the difference right now. Removing them on 31 January 2023, would be a disaster.”

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Photo: Western Hills Quarry, Horahora, Whangarei

ROAD NOISE NEWS

VGA MARKS 50 YEARS OF MANUFACTURING Volvo Group Australia has marked 50 years of building trucks in Australia. Volvo Group Australia’s Wacol manufacturing plant was established in June 1972. Since then, more than 70,000 Volvo and Mack trucks have been produced at the site.

In celebration, the keys to a 50-year-branded Volvo FH700XXL were handed over to Scott and Regina Harvey while Nathan Stephens of Ipswichbased JR Stephens took delivery of a 50-year-themed Mack Anthem.

Volvo Trucks international senior vice president, Per Erik Lindstrom, says: “I am super proud to help celebrate 50 years of building trucks here. This country is very important to Volvo Group, and we are here to stay.”

Says Martin Merrick, president and CEO, Volvo Group Australia: “While this is a celebration of our success and longevity in one of the toughest trucking markets on the planet, this is also a celebration of customer success,” This year also marks 20 years of Mack trucks being built at the Wacol plant in Queensland.

Production of battery-electric trucks is also expected to begin at the Wacol plant in 2025.

12 New Zealand Trucking

New system retrofits diesel engines to run on 90% hydrogen

E

ngineers from UNSW Sydney have converted a diesel engine to run using 90% hydrogen as fuel – reducing CO2 emissions by more than 85% and improving efficiency by more than 26%.

The team, led by Professor Shawn Kook from the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, spent about 18 months developing the hydrogen-diesel directinjection dual-fuel system.

The researchers say any diesel engine used in trucks and power equipment in the transportation, agriculture and mining industries can be retrofitted to the new hybrid system.

The system maintains the original diesel injection but adds hydrogen fuel injection directly into the cylinder. The collaborative research, performed with Dr Shaun Chan and Professor Evatt Hawkes, found that specifically timed hydrogen direct injection controls the mixture condition inside the engine’s cylinder, which

November 2022

resolves the problem of harmful nitrogen oxide emissions that have been a major hurdle for commercialisation of hydrogen engines.

“If you just put hydrogen into the engine and let it all mix together you will get a lot of nitrogen oxide [NOx] emissions, which is a significant cause of air pollution and acid rain,” Kook says.

“But we have shown if you make it stratified – that is, in some areas there is more hydrogen, and in others, there is less – then we can reduce the NOx emissions below that of a purely diesel engine.”

The system does not require extremely highpurity hydrogen, which must be used in alternative hydrogen fuel-cell systems and is more expensive to produce.

That improved efficiency is achieved by independent control of hydrogen direct-injection timing, as well as diesel injection timing, enabling full control of combustion

modes – premixed or mixing-controlled hydrogen combustion.

“In applications where the hydrogen fuel would need to be stored and moved around – for example, in a truck engine that currently runs purely on diesel – we would also need to implement a hydrogen storage system to be integrated into our injection system. The general technology with regards to mobile hydrogen storage needs to be developed further because that is currently quite a challenge,” says Kook.

The research team hopes to be able to commercialise the new system in the next 12 to 24 months, pending investment.

“Being able to retrofit diesel engines that are already out there is much quicker than waiting for the development of completely new fuel cell systems that might not be commercially available at a larger scale for at least a decade,” says Kook.

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ROAD NOISE NEWS

Gone fishing with Trucking Radio 24/7

W

classic Snapper Secrets), as well as writing for overseas fishing magazines.

He’s also authored several fishing books.

The Keith Andrews Fishing Report with Mark Kitteridge features weekly on Trucking Radio 24/7, with Mark offering commentary on ‘fishable conditions’ including weather, tides, the best fishing spots, what’s biting, and talk about fishing products and gear.

“As a business founded in the Far North, we have so many of our team who have a deep love for fishing. That and it being a big part of Kiwi culture, it was a no-brainer to support the Fishing Report,” says Aaron Smith, managing director of Keith Andrews Trucks.

“It’s a great way for a hard-working industry to relax, unwind and have fun with friends and family.”

ith the previously announced UDC Business of Trucking segment, including a weekly report by economist Cameron Bagrie, and the Clint Brown Sports Show having kicked off in October, Trucking Radio 24/7 is excited to welcome yet another new voice: the Keith Andrews Fishing Report with Mark Kitteridge.

Well-known within the New Zealand fishing fraternity, Mark’s whole life has centred on fishing. He helped to start up and then manage specialist fishing tackle store Just Fishin’ with Tony Bishop, which for eight years gained both national and international recognition, successfully attracting anglers from all over the country and the rest of the world.

While managing the store, he was also a field editor for the NZ Fishing News magazine. He has starred in television shows and videos (including the all-time

Mark Kitteridge.

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ROAD NOISE NEWS

SEA Electric doubles assembly capacity

E

lectric truck manufacturer SEA Electric has doubled the size of its assembly facility in Dandenong, Melbourne. The expanded plant will cover 8000m2 on a total site of 15,000m2, giving SEA Electric the capacity to produce eight trucks daily, or up to 2080 units a year.

Founded in Australia in 2012, SEA Electric released its first electric commercial products in 2017. Last year, it launched a range of medium and heavy-duty electric cab chassis models. The SEA 300 EV and the SEA 500 EV are available in various models, from 4.5-tonne GVM vehicles capable of being driven on a car licence to 22.5-tonne three-axle rigid trucks.

For the past year, SEA

Electric’s existing facility has enjoyed the benefits of a 100kW rooftop solar array, which has produced 129MWh of energy to date, with 86MWh being exported back to the

power grid.

All told, the system has ensured that the site is approximately 60% carbon positive.

SEA Electric will utilise the

batteries within vehicle-to-grid (V2G) functional trucks on-site, where the trucks could provide power-grid stability by feeding energy back at times of peak demand or grid disruption.

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ROAD NOISE NEWS

Five-million kilometres for Xcient FCEVs

T

wenty operators of 20 Hyundai Xcient hydrogen trucks have come together at an event in Olten, Switzerland to cover their five-millionth kilometre driven in two years.

“Over the past two years and more, we have been on the road with numerous partners and visionaries at the pace of a start-up to prepare this project and also to put it into practice,” said Jörg Ackermann, president of the Association Pro H2 Mobility Switzerland.

“The 5,000,000km already driven show that it works.

We see this milestone in the history of mobility as the perfect moment and motivation to continue developing the hydrogen ecosystem.”

The basis for low-emission electromobility with fuel cell vehicles is green hydrogen, as currently produced in Switzerland by Hydrospider AG at the run-of-river power plant in Niedergösgen.

Hydrogen production began at the same time as the first hydrogen electric trucks went into service two years ago.

Hydrospider transports the hydrogen by means of highpressure containers to the current eleven hydrogen filling

stations in Switzerland.

“Hydrogen can replace the fossil fuels that are mainly used today, especially in the area of heavy-duty transport.

We are very pleased with these five million kilometres, but at the same time they have challenged us. The hydrogen electric trucks drive so much and so reliably that we have to expand production as quickly as possible and thus create the conditions for further growth on the production

side,” said Nicolas Crettenand, CEO of Hydrospider AG. A second production facility in Switzerland will be commissioned by before the end of the year. With this plant, an important goal of the ecocycle is increasingly coming to fruition, the establishment of decentralised production of green hydrogen. This will further reduce the transport distances between production and hydrogen filling stations.

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ROAD NOISE NEWS

Scania pilots autonomy on public roads

S

cania is partnering with HAVI Supply Chain on a new trial that will see an autonomous truck used in the transport of commercial goods.

The pilot, carried out under regular traffic conditions, aims to learn about the effectiveness of autonomoustruck transport as part of hubto-hub operations.

A first for Europe, the pilot

will see the autonomous truck drive between Södertälje and Jönköping in Sweden, a three-hour journey of about 300km. The route forms part of a longer logistics flow for HAVI, with the first and last mile being handled by manually driven vehicles.

The pilot is a first step in showing how autonomous trucks can form part of a viable hub-to-hub logistics

flow and allows Scania and HAVI to evaluate the effectiveness of their technologies.

“We know the transport system will change in the coming years and that the industry faces challenges of driver shortages and diminishing margins, so the transformation process towards autonomous technology needs to start

alloy or

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happening right away,” says Robert Melin Mori, Scania project manager in charge of the initiative.

“We need to learn about autonomous operations now to be ready as soon as the technology is ready. We believe this pilot will be a hugely important stepping stone.”

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HALL OF FAME 2022

BACK IN PERSON Words and images supplied

The Mobil Delvac 1 New Zealand Road Transport Hall of Fame gala dinner reverted to an in-person event this year, held at the Bill Richardson Transport World in Invercargill in September. In front of more than 450 guests, inductees were selected to take their places alongside some of the industry’s most respected names.

David Conroy One of six children, David Conroy was born in Napier in 1951. From an early age, he had a strong work ethic and spent the school holidays at McDonalds Transport, a local rural transport company, cementing his interest in the industry. He left school at 15 and started work for Ethridge.

In the late 1960s, David’s interest in road transport led him to start driving trucks for Napier’s Hughie McAllister. This was followed by a stint driving for Nihill Bridgemen Croad, based out of Hastings, carting livestock, metal and timber, which took him all over the North Island, with the late Matt Purvis being the dispatcher. Not afraid of hard work, David put aside extra money earned for future opportunities.

At 21, David approached a local furniture removalist Bill Griffin and, with financial support from his mother, purchased a business with one D-Series petrol-powered Ford.

Conroy Removals was founded in 1972, based out of Napier, with one truck.

David was transporting household furniture all over New Zealand, and 18 months later, purchased another truck and one VA from Ivan Palleson, Hastings. At this time, David’s brother Gary joined the business as a

22 New Zealand Trucking

partner and drove the second truck. Gary has since retired but remains a shareholder.

In the early days, their mother looked after the administration and phones while the boys covered the country in their trucks.

As the business grew, it established a branch network. In the late 1990s, there was a desire to have a presence in Australia, so they purchased a threetruck business in Brisbane, followed by businesses in Townsville, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

David always had a passion for the wider transport industry, serving on the RTA at a local branch level and at a regional level on the CARTA executive.

He also served on the New Zealand Overseas Movers Association.

Conroys is now in its 50th year of business with about 350 staff and 12 branches in

David Conroy.

November 2022

New Zealand and Australia.

David is still actively involved in the day-to-day operations, ensuring the team maintains a can-do attitude and provides the customer service he is proud of.

Glyn Tyler-Davies Glyn Tyler-Davies was born in Warkworth in 1940. After attending Mt Albert Grammar, Glyn went to work in admin at Tasman Pulp and Paper before joining the family business, Smith and Davies, in 1958. At 18, he got his heavy traffic licence and started driving a 953 OLB Bedford tipper.

In 1966, with the construction of the Auckland Harbour Bridge, Smith and Davies moved premises to Northcote, where Glyn steered the company into contracting, with earthmoving and bulk metal cartage becoming its core work.

He began to apply his philosophy to the business, one he sticks with today: “Go after jobs that are different – cart rock, cart scrap steel, do the harder-type work – there’s money in it.”

Under Glyn’s direction, Smith and Davies’ first major contracting job involved all the earthworks for Auckland’s first shopping mall, LynnMall in New Lynn. At about the same time, the company

bought the first of many Mercedes-Benzes – a 1418.

By 2000, Smith and Davies had more than 60 trucks, all Mercedes-Benz. The company reaped the benefits of a one-make fleet with familiarity and a stock of interchangeable spare parts in the workshop.

In 1970, Smith and Davies added log transport to its operation, beginning a 29-year relationship with Carter Holt Harvey.

Eventually, the company worked in some way on just about every major construction project in Auckland, including the Manukau wastewater treatment scheme, northern motorway extensions and the removal of contaminated landfill. A successful diversification of the business was dredging work, making mudcrete for the America’s Cup, reclaiming land at the waterfront for Fletchers and stabilising mud at the Bayswater Marina.

Glyn was an active committee member of the Auckland Regional Transport Authority from the late 1960s to the mid-1990s.

Over the years, Glyn and Noleine attended some 29 consecutive conferences and made many lifelong friends and contacts countrywide.

In 1999, they won the BNZ Road Transport Business of the Year Award.

Glyn sold the Transport and Civil Engineering business to Graham & Bob Grove in 2004 via a management buyout and retained the yards and other property assets.

Since retiring from road transport, Glyn has developed and maintained his commercial property

interests and is a landlord to several transport operators and fleet-service specialists.

Glyn Tyler-Davies.

Ian Patchell Ian Murray Patchell was born in 1949 and grew up on the family farm in Ngakuru near Rotorua.

Ian spent his formative years working on the farm and developed an entrepreneurial spirit. At 12, he employed his own crew, picking up hay bales and driving his father’s truck to transport them. He learned welding by repairing a broken Bakelite wheel on his cast-iron toy truck using a magnifying glass and the sun as a makeshift welder.

Ian left school at 17 and, after various jobs, left Rotorua in 1969 to pursue a career as a boilermaker at Kinleith Mills in Tokoroa, establishing himself as one of the top boilermakers in the country.

In 1972, Ian returned to Rotorua and started a small engineering workshop in View Road, focusing on repairing and manufacturing attachments for bulldozers and loader equipment, and repairing log transport equipment for local contractors.

In the early 1980s, after repairing repeated failures in other manufacturer’s trailers, Patchell produced some of the most innovative light-tare trailers of that time in collaboration with transport company owners and customers from Rotorua, Kawerau, Tokoroa, Taupo and Napier.

In 1986, Ian fitted the first onboard weigh systems into log transport equipment and, in 1995, formed the onboard weigh-system company SI-Lodec. In 2004, Patchell added a stainless tank manufacturing division and, in 2005, procured the highly regarded Swinglift container side loader.

Ian is a founding member of the New Zealand Log Transport Safety Council. In 2007, he was sworn in as a Justice of the Peace and, in 2019, took out Businessman of the Year at the Rotorua Business Awards. In 2020, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame at his old alma mater, Rotorua Boys High.

In 1991, Ian mandated the company retain an annual count of at least 10% of its labour force in apprenticeships. Launching this year is the Rotorua Boys High School Engineering Trades Academy, a Patchell Group partnership reconnecting Ian with his school and bringing to fruition his vision of training highly skilled tradesmen.

Ian is quick to acknowledge the hard work and skills of the Patchell Group team. He is still active in the business and is often seen in his workshops running the practised eye of an ageless ‘boilermaker’ over the products his companies produce.

Ian Patchell.

John Frew John Frew began working in the haulage and transport industry in 1928 at 18.

His father Edgar was a 50% owner of McCrostie and Frew, which operated in Greendale using a McLaren traction engine, hauling bagged grain to the railheads at Northwood north of Dunsandel and to Darfield.

In November 1930, John bought his first truck, a fivetonne second-hand Republic, and John and Edgar began trading as EH Frew. This name was necessary because John was still a minor, so he could not legally operate a cheque account.

The traction engine was sold the following year.

In 1933, at the first transport licensing hearing in Christchurch, John was granted a general goods services licence. He immediately appealed against the restrictions imposed and so began a working lifetime of fighting for more licensing rights.

In 1935, the Frews fleet of two trucks was increased with the purchase of another Greendale carrier’s truck. This truck had a sheep crate with a drop-down second deck so

cattle could be carted. Frews now began to service the weekly Addington livestock and cart fat lambs to the Islington freezing works.

John was a foundation member of the Malvern branch of the New Zealand Road Transport Alliance. In 1940, as chairman, he was instrumental in opposing the wartime government-forced amalgamation of about 10 local transport companies in the Malvern and Selwyn counties. Instead, the branch formed a goods service control committee, with John as chairman, to allocate the supply of tyres and fuel, and organise cartage work until war’s end.

Shortly after the war ended, Frews purchased Rae Bros Transport and moved to Darfield. The company’s name changed to Frews Motors after the war and again in the early 1960s to Frews Transport.

During his working life, John did driving, servicing and mechanical repairs. He was a competent engineer, building livestock crates, bulk lime spreader hoppers and elevators for transferring bales of hay from truck deck to hay shed. He also built Frews’ first bulk two-axle tip trailer to cart coal, grain and superphosphate.

By the mid-1960s, John’s three sons – Evan, Mervyn and Owen – were all working in different roles in the company.

The 1970s was a time of expansion for Frews with the purchase of transport companies in Sheffield and Oxford, followed by diversification into demolition and contracting work in Christchurch. The size of

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the fleet expanded from 10 vehicles to nearly 50, leading to its centennial celebration in 2021.

In 1992, in recognition of his service to the transport industry for more than 45 years, John Frew, then aged 82, was awarded life membership of the Christchurch branch of the NZ Road Transport Alliance.

John Frew.

Sam McRae In 1932, Sam McRae sold his Chev car to purchase a truck. Before that, Sam had worked on farms and in the mines. He and his wife Helen were soon able to buy a new Bedford for £300. In 1936, they purchased the businesses of James Grant and TE Duncan, based in Nightcaps. Not long after, they purchased the business of Eric James of Aparima and Des McGrath of Wreys Bush.

Much of the original work involved coal cartage from the local mines supplemented with the cartage of sheep and lambs during the season.

The business and fleet grew and expanded to serve Aparima, Orawia, Ohai, Birchwood, South Hillend and Opio. In the mid-1940s, a unit to sow lime and fertiliser was purchased and fitted to a D40 International. The business operated various trucks, and

24 New Zealand Trucking

the work now included hay, tiles, freight and bagged super, lime and grain.

In 1945, when his brother John arrived home from the war, Sam offered him a part in the business, hence the name S&J McRae. Shortly after, he set up Ohai Freight with John and friend Bob Nisbet. In 1953, Sam joined Terry Gilligan to purchase Terry’s father Barney’s business in Mossburn, which formed into Te Anau Transport. Sam and Terry joined George Hedley, Cliff Bennetts and John Davies to form Northern Southland Transport. Sam also operated Heddon Bush Transport and was one of three original directors of Central Fertiliser Company, which was set up to operate the bulk fertiliser store at Lady Barkly.

When licencing rules changed, Sam is believed to have been the first in Southland to obtain a vehicle authority. He also transported the first building around the lake to Queenstown on the back of a truck.

Sam always fought for the underdog and was a man of principles, an anonymous benefactor to many.

Sam McRae.

Wayne McCurdy Wayne McCurdy was born in New Plymouth in June 1950. McCurdy Engineering

November 2022

was established in 1961

by Wayne’s parents, Jim and Barbara. In 1965, the company was officially formed and moved into a purpose-built engineering workshop on Barrett Road.

Wayne joined the team in 1972 after qualifying as a fitter and turner with the Taranaki Harbour Board.

As the company grew, it expanded into body-building, crane mounting and chassis alterations. Around this time, Wayne joined the Institute of Road Transport Engineers and the Truck & Trailer Manufacturing Association, of which McCurdys is still a member.

Wayne took over the reins in 1987 and signed up with Titans as a service dealership, picking up the Volvo truck and construction franchise. In 1990, the company moved into new premises on Devon Road. Southpack Trucks approached Wayne, giving the newly formed Auckland business a presence in Taranaki. Having the Volvo franchise for Taranaki meant McCurdys could support Fonterra (Kiwi Dairies at the time). Eventually, Titans was taken over by Truckstops, bringing in Hino and Mack.

In 2011, Wayne and his wife Frances purchased another established Taranaki automotive business, Moller Johnson Isuzu, with workshops in Hawera and Bell Block. McCurdys now offered Taranaki-wide coverage for the heavytransport industry. McCurdy Engineering and Moller Johnson integrated in 2017 and rebranded as McCurdy Trucks.

In late 2019, McCurdy Trucks opened a purposebuilt truck and trailer repair facility with a specialist

10-bay service workshop, eight-bay engineering and fabrication workshop, showroom and expanded parts warehouse at upgraded premises in New Plymouth.

Wayne has always been an active contributor to most transport organisations, including TTMF, RTA, and the Heavy Wheel Aligner Association and is still a member of the MTA Heavy Transport Committee.

Wayne has also served on government committees, developing rules and opportunities for private truck workshops to conduct COF inspections.

In 2000, Wayne’s son Paul joined the company as an engineer, making it three generations of McCurdy engineers. A fourth-generation McCurdy now works in the business.

Paul has since become the company manger, but Wayne still keeps a daily eye on things.

McCurdys now employs about 60 staff within its parts, service and engineering workshop, sales and admin departments.

Wayne McCurdy.

THE NEW HINO 700 SERIES

STRENGTH WHERE IT COUNTS Leading edge truck design meets world-class quality and reliability. Underwritten by Toyota, the world’s most successful car manufacturer, the new Hino 700 Series is strong across the board with advanced features that actively support safety, driveability, and performance.

TALK TO OUR TEAM TO SECURE YOURS 0800 367 446 | HINO.CO.NZ/HEAVY-DUTY

COVER FEATURE

COVERING THE BASES Hino’s new 700 enters the market in the wake of new models and updates from rival Japanese manufacturers, ushering in new efficiency, technology and safety features.

The 700 also follows nearly two decades of solid dependability and industry performance by its predecessor. It has a lot to contend with, and live up to. Let’s find out how it fares.

Story, photos and video by Gavin Myers and Carl Kirkbeck

I

t’s been a long time coming. Images of the ‘new’ Hino 700 have been circulating for at least five years. But, details of this new model, which has slowly been introduced to selected markets, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand, have been scant. We waited patiently, with no official word on when – or even if – it would arrive.

Then, in 2021, murmurs started reverberating… and

by September of that year, as if out of nowhere, Sime Darby Motors NZ announced it had officially launched the new 700 into the New Zealand market.

By the time the new model was announced, the previous-generation 700 had enjoyed an almost twodecade run; a stalwart in the brand’s heavyweight portfolio in several global markets and on local soil. In fact, the Foodstuffs 450hp FS 700 6x4 truck tractor that graced the cover of our August 2004

The 2848 cuts a figure coming into port.

issue was one of the first to go to work worldwide. Long in the tooth, it may have been, but there’s no denying the 700 had staying power, continually holding its own against the Gigas, HDs and Quons of the world, as well as various lighter-spec Euro models.

Lockdowns, chip shortages and supply-chain lethargy aside, the new model has begun to appear on local roads as orders have been fulfilled. We thought we’d watch from the sidelines before finding the ideal model in a typical operation to have our first taste. What transpired was one of those unexpectedly fortuitous opportunities.

While not quite the staggering 37 years it took before Southern Transport appeared on the cover of New Zealand Trucking magazine, in its 20-year history, North Island transport provider Les Harrison Transport has been featured in the magazine

but never on the cover. Les is undoubtedly one of the industry’s good fellas, and his partners in the business, Craig Foster and Chris Flavell, too are real salt-of-the-earth types who go way back with Les. Undoubtedly, that was already a story waiting to be told (see Friends and family, page 36).

As for the 700, there could hardly be a fleet more dedicated to the model than that of Les Harrison Transport.

While there’s been the odd truck from other suppliers to meet contracts or fulfil a specific need, Hino has been the company’s bread and butter since 2008, when the company bought its first truck from Sime Darby Motors NZ. The brand makes up 78% of the 100-strong fleet, making it truly a part of the Les Harrison family.

“They’re a good day truck,” says Les. “They are comfortable, and the chassis are heavier and stronger – you can do a lot more with

it, extend it a little more, make the cab ride better. You don’t have to do much to the subframe for a hiab, which saves on cost.”

“Partnership is a pretty fluffy word,” adds Craig. “But Sime Darby is generally pretty good; our relationship is pretty good.”

For New Zealand Trucking, the variety within the LHT operation meant we’d also be fortunate enough to sample two different models in two different applications. First up, we’d meet Kareaua Karokoua and his FY 3248 8x4 rigid crane truck and four-axle trailer at the company’s head office at Empire Road, Hamilton.

Two days later, we’d find ourselves in the company’s Mt Maunganui yard to meet Glen Mosely and his FS 2848 6x4 with tri-axle Patchell swinglift. The Mount branch is home to 15 crane units, three side lifters and two flatdecks, all of which can be found from Coromandel to Wellington.

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Smiles on the dial A broad beaming smile you can spot a mile off, a friendly laugh and an easy-going aura as he goes about his business – that’s Kareaua Karokoua, known around the Les Harrison yard as Kare. We clock him before we’ve even walked through the gates, and after a brief but engaging introduction, we’re all lined up and heading out the gate into the Hamilton traffic.

Our run for the day is typical for Kare. From the yard, we’re heading a few minutes north to

Clay Bricks in Huntly to collect the day’s load; the seven pallets on the truck are bound for a new build in Piopio, and the five on the trailer to one a little closer to home in Pirongia. Shifting bricks is the main role of LHT58, though it is called into action for other jobs when needed.

Having just joined the fleet and with a mere 8200km on the clock when we meet up with it, Kare’s 700 is typical LHT fare for four-axle crane trucks. The 7m deck is from Foremost Engineering, a small

company that employs oldschool engineering to produce seriously good products, which has found a home in the LHT fleet over the past six or seven years.

The crane on the back is another Sime Darby Motors product, a 5.6-tonne, 17m Palfinger PK 22002-EH unit.

“We have the experience and have that physical input to how the truck behaves on the road with another five tonne of weight over the back axle. So, we build them to our specs as a person who’s at the sharp

end of the dollar. A lot of thought has gone into them,” comments Les. Hooked to the Ringfeeder is an MTE 4A flat-deck trailer, which has been around the block a few times. But there’s a very good reason for that. “I always use this trailer because it’s on air and that’s good for the bricks. They don’t bounce – we don’t want them to crack. It’s good for the job,” Kare explains. Enough said.

Similarly, the truck’s rear end rides on Hendrickson air. “It’s bulletproof,” Les says.

Loading at Clay Bricks Huntly.

Left: Palfinger is another brand from the Sime Darby stable trusted by the LHT Group; Middle & Right: Remarkable build quality from Foremost Engineering has made it a trusted supplier to LHT.

1

2

1) Brown and beige might not be to everyone’s taste, but it does differentiate the 700’s cab. 2) Clear instruments and modern steering wheel a pleasure to use. 3) Drive selection now via a rotary knob on the dash. 4 & 5) There’s enough storage peppered around the cab.

At 1.2-tonnes per pallet, it’s fair to say LHT58 won’t be challenged by its 14.4-tonne payload today. Nonetheless, we’re here to see the truck in typical action, so that’s fine with us. Lined up at Clay Bricks, Kare’s off to an easy start as owner Eric Finlay zips pallets off the stockpile with the forklift and loads up the truck in no time.

Hey, good looking Watching on from the sidelines gives us the perfect opportunity to have a good look at the 700 and assess the new lines in the soft early morning light. And wow, what a great job the designers have done. The overall impression is a much bolder presence. The windscreen is taller but offset by the larger Hino logo set in the bold four-plane chrome grille. Gone are the large

indicator housings that were characteristic of the old model, the indicators now integrated into the headlight housings that remain low and right at the edges of the deeper bumper. These units now also incorporate LED daytime running lights, LED low beams and halogen high beams.

Hino has also extended the doors to cover the second step, which goes a long way to harmonising the front-threequarter appearance.

Looking at an old and new model side-by-side, the same basic character lines that define the 700 are retained, but the overall appearance is sharper, more chiselled. It’s evolution and revolution in one, and definitely one of the most handsome cabovers on the market today.

While we’re talking design, it’s fair to say Hino has

3

4

5

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injected more flair into the interior redesign than its Japanese rivals have into their current offerings. Okay, the predominant brown plastic covering the lower door panels, centre trays and passenger-side dash might not be to everyone’s taste.

But, combined with the beige headlining, overheads and back panelling, it is a welcome change from the traditional (and often drab) greys and silvers. A peppering of circular air vents also adds character.

Facing the driver is a comfortable, well-sized fourspoke wheel with phone and multi-info display controls to the left, and cruise and skip forward/back buttons on the right. Two large, clear gauges for speed and revs (including two smaller needles for front and rear air pressure) flank the

30 New Zealand Trucking

multi-info display. This offers digital temp, fuel and DEF levels, and various menus for comprehensive trip, safety, cruise and eco information.

The left-hand wands between the wheel and instruments control wipers and auxiliary braking above, gear shifts below, with the right lights and indicators. The main gear selector for R-N-D is a nifty rotary knob mounted on the dashboard alongside a double bank of auxiliary switches and the park brake lever. Above, surrounded by faux carbon fibre trim, are the HVAC controls, RT slot and 6.5in touchscreen infotainment system.

Atop the dash is a handy storage tray, with another at the passenger side of the dash. More trays and cup holders are in the lower November 2022

console and between the seats. This central tray/cubby is not as substantial as those in the UD or Fuso, or even the new Isuzu. But whether that’s good or bad in the context of traditionally chunky Japanese cabs will likely come down to personal taste. And the trailer brake mounted between it and the driver’s seat does look a little ‘tacked on’… surely there could’ve been a way of integrating that to match the great execution of the rest of the interior? There’s a pair of cubbies overhead (with interior light controls and more auxiliary slots on either side of the driver’s) and a thin, liftable bunk behind the seats.

Easy going, quiet running Before we know it, Kare has the load stropped down, and

we’re headed south on the expressway for Pirongia. This will be our first introduction to Kare’s unhurried temperament.

The build is located off a twisty rural road up a steep dirt driveway. Like any good operator, he gets out the truck to suss out the site beforehand – and promptly concludes there’s no way he will get the truck and trailer into place. As it’s the trailer load destined for the Pirongia build, Kare hatches a plan to park the trailer about 10 minutes further up the road, head down SH3 to offload at Piopio, and then trans-ship the trailer load onto the truck for the Pirongia build later.

“I always have a plan,” he explains. “From experience, I’ve learnt to look at a map of the local area the night before I go out and plan what I can do

Left: Special delivery for a couple of new builds. with the trailer. Sometimes you might have enough space on a country road just to park it up, but jobs on main roads can be problematic.

“It’s an easy job, but it takes patience,” he laughs.

With an application that can’t exactly be described as taxing, Kare’s 700 epitomises ‘under-stressed’, and so the 353kW (480hp), 2157Nm (1591lb/ft) E13C-BK offers up more than enough grunt. The E13C is the same, dependable lump of iron (and quite a physically large one at that) that has performed diligently in the 700, but in this guise, includes selective catalytic reduction (requiring DEF) to now meet the Euro-6 emission standard. Though it’s still new, LHT58 is currently registering around 2.5km/l.

No manual transmissions are available with the Euro-6 powertrains – just a six-speed Allison automatic or 16-speed ZF AMT. The 16-speed TraXon transmission would prove smooth, quick and intuitive in both trucks, with both drivers commenting on how well it’s been tuned to make full use of what the E13C has to offer.

Despite its light payload, one of the first things noticeable as we hit the road is how nicely the FY 3248 cruises. Sure, there’s the odd kick from the front load-share suspension, but comfort is good, and by all accounts, Kare is impressed by the truck’s stability. It cruises with a ‘linehaul’ attitude.

“I really like this truck. It’s comfortable inside, it cruises nicely, and it’s quiet,” Kare says.

Indeed, the low noise levels in the cab are the next most noticeable attribute once up to cruising speed. The 8x4 recorded an impressive average in the 75dB range, and we were even more impressed when the 6x4 bettered that at 73dB.

Kare Karokoua epitomises working hard makes things happen.

HARD WORK AND AMBITION

T

hirty-seven-year-old Kareaua Karokoua has had a short but ambitious career in trucking.

It was 2010 when Kare and his wife Eritebwa Mauteka moved to New Zealand from the tiny mid-Pacific Island nation of Kiribati. But Kare didn’t immediately find himself in the driving seat. In fact, he’s only been driving for about five years.

“I had to find a job offer when we arrived, which was hard. But I was lucky to find a job at Perry Metals in 2011. I worked there as a labourer for five years, operating the gantry cranes, which gave me the feeling for using cranes,” he explains. “But I didn’t want to be stuck there all my life.

I wanted to be out earning more money.”

Kare’s cousin was a truck driver, and he encouraged him to get his licence. It was an idea Kare liked, and he started putting the wheels in motion while continuing his

day job at Perry Metals.

“At Christmas, everyone took time off, but I kept going. The next year, I booked my course and took my annual leave for two weeks then,” he says.

As soon as Kare achieved his class 2, he started looking for driving jobs and got one with Nick Pemberton Construction.

“That’s where I started my trucking experience. When I got my class 4, finding a permanent job became a lot easier. There was heaps of opportunity.”

After a stint with CV Compton, Kare moved to Total Access, but soon he had the desire to get his trailer licence. “I sorted that out myself as well. I approached my boss, but he said I’d have to wait as the company didn’t have class-5 jobs available. So, I said, ‘All good. I’ll pay for it myself.’

“I’ve spent a lot of money on trucking. But I really

enjoy it, so I don’t mind the expense of paying for the licences.”

While working at Total Access, Kare looked for class-5 driving jobs and applied at Les Harrison Transport about 18 months ago. “I really like it here; they look after me.

“My class-5 experience started here. Driving with a trailer wasn’t easy at first.

But I’d practised every weekend – never missed one – until I started to get the idea and got the feeling for it,” Kare explains.

Kare has five kids (the oldest at school in Kiribati) and hopes some might follow him into driving.

“Maybe my sons, but I don’t know about the girls,” he says with a laugh. “The kids enjoy sitting in the trucks; it’s a good experience for them. Even if customers’ kids like the trucks, I let them sit inside and take a photo.”

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Glen rolls into Matata.

Glen Mosely.

SIDELIFT SAVANT

W

hen he arrived six years ago, Glen Mosely was the first sidelift driver at Les Harrison’s Mt Maunganui branch. “Work has picked up a bit since then,” he says with a chuckle.

Glen started driving at 20 when he found himself looking for a career change.

“I was working as a security guard, and an agricultural contracting job came up with Jackson Agricultural Contracting in Te Pahu, so I thought I’d give that a go,” he explains.

He spent time carting maise and grass in a twoaxle truck before joining Gilmours Hamilton, doing deliveries. “Gilmours put me through my class 4,” Glen says.

“Then a job came up for a Swinglift driver at LCL, back when they were still running.

They put me up to class 5 with forklift, dangerous goods, and wheels, tracks and rollers. When they sold out, I went to Australia.”

Glen found himself behind

the wheel of an FH Volvo with 620 Cummins doing general interstate freight.

After six years in Australia and missing his two kids growing up, Glen returned to New Zealand.

He adds: “The kids have no interest in trucks yet, but I’ll hopefully try to keep them away from it,” he jokes. “It’s not that it’s a bad lifestyle, but they’re a lot smarter than I am. So, hopefully, they’ll have even more opportunity.”

Back in New Zealand, Glen found himself on the road, carting milk powder out of Reporoa for NZL Group.

“But I quite enjoyed doing this sort of job [sidelifts], so when my mate rang me up and told me Les Harrison was starting up in Tauranga, I chucked my name down,” he says.

“I’ve lived all over the place, but Tauranga has always been home. And Les Harrison’s a good crowd to work with. They don’t push you; there’s always tomorrow.”

Life’s necessities Glen Mosely’s unit, LHT92, was one of the first new 700s to join the fleet. Coupled with its new tri-axle Patchell Swinglift 3SMSL-40 trailer, the rig went on the road in May and has clocked up just north of 26,000km.

Today Glen will head out to Essity Kawerau to collect three container loads of life’s most important paper in its unfinished form and deliver

them to the Port of Tauranga, bound for Melbourne.

There are 17 massive reels of unfinished toilet paper per container for an overall load of 19.4 tonnes. Glen’s already done his first run for the day by the time we meet him at the depot.

He approaches with a smile and a firm handshake, and we waste no time discussing his new charge.

While we think it looks just

as good in truck-tractor configuration, we’re surprised when Glen comments: “It pretty much blends in. A lot of people can’t immediately tell the difference.” Then he quips: “At least these bumpers shouldn’t be as expensive to replace as the chrome ones!” Yes, some local operators might miss those…

Departing the Mount along the SH2 Tauranga

Eastern Link allows Glen to demonstrate the merits of the new 700’s SmartSafe suite of active safety features.

Standard fitment on the FS, SmartSafe incorporates the pre-collision system with safety eye; autonomous emergency braking and pedestrian detection; driver monitor; lane departure warning system (LDWS); and adaptive cruise control.

The suite finally brings

the big Hino in line with the latest safety-laden offerings from Fuso (New Zealand Trucking, July 2022) and UD (New Zealand Trucking, March 2022). And as we reported in last month’s issue, the latest Isuzu Giga offers a similar suite, too. In a world where comprehensive electronic safety systems are an absolute necessity and buyers are ever-more healthand-safety minded, the

Japanese truck safety-tech playing field has, finally, well and truly been levelled.

Glen locks the adaptive cruise onto the vehicle ahead, and the 700 maintains the set gap and speed with ease. It offers a following distance ranging from 35m to 100m and will automatically engage the engine brake to maintain speed once the vehicle ahead exceeds 3kph over the set limit.

Cruising along SH2 at Pongakawa.

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“If I get too close without indicating for an overtake, for example, it’ll sound an alert – not a very loud sound, but at least the dash also flashes red. If I have the radio volume up, I can only see it light up,” Glen comments.

Applying the engine brake or threestage intarder will automatically shut off the system. “I haven’t got close enough to a vehicle in front to find out if it’ll come to a complete stop. I’m hoping it will, but I don’t really want to test that one,” Glen says with a laugh. “But if you come up quite fast, it’ll put all your retarders on and slow it right down.”

Like many drivers of trucks fitted with

Loading, locking and lifting.

similar systems, Glen comments that while the LDWS works fine on an expressway, he’ll usually shut it off on any other road.

Once we find those other roads, turning off towards Kawerau, it’s apparent the 6x4 rides along as well as the 8x4. Like Kare, Glen notes the comfort and quietness in the cab and triumphantly declares that one of the most consistent criticisms of the old model by some drivers has been righted: “In the old one, you couldn’t get the seat back far enough. It now has a lot more room for the driver.”

The two men also agree the new 700 has some exceptional mirror units.

The main and wide-angle units are

well-positioned with solid arms and housings and offer a large, clear view rearward. They’re heated, too.

Lifting and pulling The loading dock at Essity Kawerau requires Glen to put the container on the adjacent loading platform, raised approximately a metre. The containers also highlight one of the more annoying aspects of the new 700 for Glen. He explains: “The sensor for lining up the containers has a green light and a red light. When you’re in reverse at night, those lights come on, and normally, I’d turn the lights off and on again to cancel

S P E C I F I C AT I O N S them. However, ‘off’ for the headlights is ‘auto’, meaning they’ll always come on at night, so I have to turn the truck off and on again to cancel the sensor lights.”

Loaded up, we turn back for the port at Sulphur Point. The payload is naturally noticeable, but at no point in the journey does the 700 show strain. “It goes all right,” says Glen. “For what we use it for, 480hp is plenty. The power seems more useable; they’ve done some tuning.”

At first glance, the move to Euro-6 has little changed the characteristics of the E13C on the previous Euro-5 VG variant. However, while peak power and torque figures have remained unchanged, their delivery has indeed been refined. Whereas before the full 353kW peaked at 1800rpm before dropping off a cliff, and max torque peaked at 1100rpm before declining through the rest of the range, power now peaks at 1600rpm, plateaus to 1800 and drops off only marginally after that.

Torque peaks 100rpm earlier and plateaus to 1500rpm with a more gradual decline through the rest of the useable range. At 90kph, the E13C sat just on 1500rpm.

More useable it should definitely be… Although lacking the outright grunt of the Shogun 510’s OM471, it’s more than a match for the Quon’s slightly torquier GH11TD and the Giga’s peaky 6WG1 warhorse.

Under load, the E13C gathers speed with more of a guttural, thumping beat punctuated by crisp, welltimed shifts. “I’ll generally leave it in auto. This gearbox is a lot better than others I’ve experienced; it changes a lot closer to what I would do,” says Glen. He adds it’ll start off as high as seventh and will allow a skip shift of up to three ratios up and down the box when driven in manual. Both

drive and reverse have a ‘slow’ mode for precise manoeuvring.

LHT92 is currently averaging 2.1kpl.

Conclusion Two decades of familiarity and dependability have ensured the previous-generation Hino 700 became a mainstay in fleets worldwide. In Aotearoa, the 700 has also filled almost every need in the heavytransport sector. Now, the baton has been handed to a new generation.

The improved ride comfort, refinement on the road, re-tuned drivetrain characteristics, quality of materials and – importantly – interior space for the driver, move this model leagues ahead of its predecessor.

And there’s little doubt that the improvements have lifted the 700 back to a prominent position among Japanese trucks. It is smarter both in looks and technology, which will no doubt please drivers and fleet/operations managers, especially in terms of the active safety fitted to the FS 2848.

In an operation such as Les Harrison Transport’s, there’s no doubt the 700 will continue to form an integral part of the ‘family’.

As for our time with the Les Harrison team, and as you’ll read in Friends and family over the page, it was a glimpse into what a powerful force childhood dreams and aspirations are, especially when channelled in the right direction. The very genesis of the Les Harrison Transport Group is owed to one young lad’s hard work and determination. He turned his boyhood passion into a onetruck owner-driver operation, then over time, organically grew that business through whanau, friendships and partnerships into what has become a significant logistics provider.

Hino 700 FY 3248 Air and Hino 700 FS 2848 Air Model: FY 3248

FS 2848

Tare: 9170kg

7895kg

GVM: 32,000kg

28,300kg

GCM: 63,000kg

63,000kg

Wheelbase: 5925mm

4275mm

Engine: Hino E13C – BK Capacity: 12.9 litre Power: 353kW (480hp) at 1600 to 1800rpm Torque: 2157Nm (1591lb/ft) at 1000 to 1 500rpm Emissions: Euro 6 – DPR, EGR, SCR Transmission: ZF 16 TX TraXon 2440 TO 16-speed AMT Clutch: Dry single plate with damper springs Chassis: 302 x 80 x 9.0mm Front axle: Reversed Elliot I Section Beam Front axle rating: 15,000kg

7500kg

Front-suspension: Taper leaf springs with stabiliser (plus load share on FY 3248) Rear axle: Tandem drive with inter-axle differential and cross locks, full-floating single reduction, single-speed by hypoid, 3.9:1 Rear-axle rating: 21,000kg

21,000kg

Rear suspension: Hendrickson HAS 460 Air with ECAS Brakes: Drum. ABS and EBS Auxiliary braking: Jacobs engine brake and ZF IT3 intarder Additional safety (FY 3248): Anti-Slip Regulation (ASR), Roll Stability System (RSS), Easy Start Hill Assist (ES), Cruise Control, Reverse Buzzer and Camera, Central Locking and Keyless Entry Additional safety (FS 2848): In addition to FY: Pre-Collision System (PCS) inclusive of Safety Eye (SE), Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), Pedestrian Detection (PD). Driver Monitor (DM), Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS), Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) Fuel: 390 litres DEF tank: 28 litres Wheels: Alcoa Alloy Tyres:

275/70 R22.5

Electrical: 24V Cab exterior: Front Underrun Protection Device (FUPD). LED low beam headlamps, LED daytime running lights.

Cab interior: Driver airbag, Seatbelt pretensioner, Telescopic tilt steering column. ISRI 6860/870 NTSC2 seven-way adjustable driver’s seat, high-back reclining passenger seat. 6.5in LCD touch screen with DAB+ AM/FM radio, AUX input, Bluetooth, Android 6.0, CAN bus connected, and Wi-Fi enabled. Multiinformation display.

New Zealand Trucking

November 2022 35

FRIENDS AND FAMILY

W

atch over the early morning fleet activities at the Les Harrison Transport depot in Hamilton and begin to comprehend the diverse nature of the LHT Group of companies and how extraordinary the journey of its founding director Les Harrison has been. Chatting to Les and business partners Craig Foster and Chris Flavell, you quickly understand that diversity has come from the group’s commitment to forming longstanding relationships with clients simply by being flexible and open to solving their many and varied transport requirements.

Lasting impressions “Ever since I was a kid, I was into trucks,” Les enthuses. “Growing up in Taupiri, our neighbour had trucks, and I kicked around there watching the comings and goings.

Several local trucking firms were in close proximity, companies that did a lot of dairy company work as well as short-trip sand and metal deliveries. That’s where the interest really came from for me and had me hooked. But before the trucks, I worked at the Horotiu freezing works for

about 16 years.”

In 1987, Les handed in his notice at the works.

He left on a Friday and bought his first truck the following Monday, starting as an owner-driver for Davies Transport with a second-hand 4x2 Isuzu.

The work was varied and often involved a good dose of creative thinking, which was great grounding for the road ahead. “I was with Davies for about five years – great times. But it was time to follow the big dream and have a go out on my own.”

This would be the genesis of Les Harrison Transport. “Davies Transport did hiabs so I stuck with that,” Les explains.

Discussions with a local building supply company led to Les acquiring its crane truck, an older 8x4 Hino. It’s at this point Les acknowledges his accountant Grant Hodder, who with his staff at Barroclough & Associates has been just a phone call away for Les, Craig and the team. “Grant was there along the way, supporting me with the purchase of my first truck and every truck since. He was always ready to lend a hand and was always on hand with his financial acumen until

his sudden passing early in October. I’m glad he was with me for most of the journey but sad that he won’t be here to finish it with us.”

With Les’ eldest son Mark joining him in the business – and then his younger son Paul – they began managing the building supply companies’ deliveries. The team did the job more efficiently than had been done in the past, saving the client and end users money in the process.

“By the late 1990s, we had about five or six trucks, maybe seven. We did a lot for PlaceMakers, ITM and Carters. Slowly the relationship with PlaceMakers grew, and remained pretty healthy until the recession came along and everything slowed down. But it carried on until around 2012 when they changed to another service provider, though we still do bits and pieces for them,” Les says.

Make it happen Les and Craig’s business relations began the best part of 15 years ago in 2007. Craig tells the story: “I was employed by PlaceMakers, managing a frame and truss plant. I’d already known Les through

From humble beginnings, the team at LHT Group haven’t lost sight of how it all began.

rugby, and site deliveries of our products, this really was the start of the friendship.

I convinced Les to buy a T-Line and flatdeck semi from New Plymouth, which was a major step as the job had previously been done by hiab only. I feel I played a big part in convincing Les that it was a good business move with plenty of revenue options over using multiple hiabs.

“The day we went to collect the T-Line will forever stick with me – we ended up on one of the main streets of New Plymouth, mixed up in a Christmas parade and getting abused by a bunch of bikies,” Craig says with a laugh.

Quickly, solving transport issues began to put Les Harrison Transport on the map. Craig relays an incident from his time at PlaceMakers: “I remember getting told on a Friday that we couldn’t deliver a whole load of precut units to a client in Hamilton on time on the Monday as we promised, through lack of

transport options. So I went to Les to see what we could do. He had not long before purchased the T-Line. By the Sunday night we had the precut units physically sitting in Hamilton and we delivered them first thing Monday morning, as promised.”

Craig notes that being innovative and thinking outside the square really pays dividends. “Like preloading at night so there are no delays in the morning, prioritising jobs and coaching staff. Can that container be delivered anytime today? Yes, it can.

Okay, move it to later in the afternoon and go do this urgent job now. You have to learn to be flexible and accommodating.”

Not long after, a business opportunity in the way of a container hire and sales business presented itself to Les and Craig, and after some discussion, the two went ahead with the purchase. Suddenly, their friendship had progressed to

being business partners.

“I was actually still working full-time at PlaceMakers, and here I was wheeling and dealing the containers as a sideline, with Les looking after and managing the container pick-ups and deliveries. All was going well, then in 2008, I got called into my boss’ office and given an ultimatum because people were now ringing up PlaceMakers reception wanting to talk with the container man! So, yes, that was the turning point for me, and I joined Les in the business full-time.”

Growing gains Growth has been largely organic, with the bulk of the expansion implemented to accommodate their clients’ growing needs. There has also been the odd strategic move, those moments where an opportunity that complements or extends the reach and abilities of the company presents itself. One such opportunity was the

purchase of Bougen Transport in Hamilton in 2010.

“They were tough times.

Recession was in full swing, but we could see the opportunity in front of us. So, a deal was struck between both parties and we were all set to go. Then we get a call from our banker at National Bank – back before it was ANZ – to tell us that the finance had been revoked and they would not go ahead with the funding for the purchase.

This was the night before the day the deal was supposed to go through. It was a big deal for us, a significant amount of money. But, fortunately, we have some great people around us and we could still go ahead and make it happen. Although it was a huge leap of faith, it was the correct move.”

At this point, Les jumps in and says with a laugh: “Yeah, but even to this day, we still have dealings with that same banker, and every transaction we do with him, we rub it in

New Zealand Trucking

November 2022 37

just a little more by always reminding him of them backing out of that deal.”

Says Craig: “What we have learnt over the years is that by sticking with the same banks, finance companies, trailer manufacturers and the likes, you build strong relationships that have depth. Our suppliers have ended up with a level of understanding of how we do business. A prime example of this was just last week.

One of our trailer suppliers rang us up out of the blue.

They had a cancelled order for a trailer. They knew we would probably have a need for it, so they offered it to us first. We grabbed it. I then drove straight around to a local dealer we work with to see if they could sort us out a tractor unit for it. They said they were sure they had a spare order they could get to us by December. So, suddenly, we are ahead of the curve.

“That is something that I have learnt from Les. We really are at polar ends of the business spectrum. There are times when Les has had to hold me back – if we had done everything I had wanted, we would probably have gone broke. But then, likewise, there have been times when I have had to grab Les and say, ‘Right. C’mon mate. Let’s go see that client and go get this deal over the line.’ It truly is a great working relationship.”

Craig continues: “When you look out at the yard now and look at how it operates, the difference in how we do

38 New Zealand Trucking

things now is incredible. I remember when we used to swing every box out there; we couldn’t run the business now if we didn’t have the reach stackers or top lifters. Step by step, we have worked to build efficiency into the business; gradually, by managing risk the best we can. Some good guidance from accountants has also taught us what to do and what not to do.

“Then also having Chris Flavell coming on board over in Tauranga has taken the Tauranga operation to a whole new level. He has played a big part in that expansion with the support of the two of us here. It really is about sharing ideas and talking as a team instead of facing things on your own. This way, it really is a problem halved. So, yeah, our collective business ideas complement and strengthen each other.”

Thicker than blood From day one and as the business has grown, a strong family influence has emanated from Les; his ethos and mana apparent in all aspects of the business. This is evident as Chris details a great friendship that has its roots in 1982 when he and Les played alongside each other for the Fraser Tech Rugby Club.

“Great memories all right… a fantastic social club. We couldn’t get away with half the stuff now that we got up to back then,” Chris says with a laugh.

“I was driving a little tipper around town at the time, and November 2022

one day Les bumped into me on a job and said, ‘Hey, can you drive a crane truck?’

To which I said, ‘I can drive anything.’ So armed with that info, Les got me a job with Davies Transport as well. I was on an eight-wheeler Mitsi with a PK13B – big gear in the day – and we were delivering all sorts of things, a lot of work for Fulton Hogan and Hawkins delivering bagged cement and site sheds, all sorts really. They were great times working together. Les took me under his wing, even down to the fact that he also got me the opportunity to go owner-driver at Davies as well, right when Les first went owner-driver.

“So, yeah, a lot of good history working together with a lot of laughs along the way, and a lot of good lunch breaks at the Empire takeaways in Frankton – their massive spring rolls and chips were spot on,” laughs Chris.

“We have always stayed in touch right through from those early days. When I was working at the Tatua Dairy Company, I would be driving for Les on my days off, filling in for those who were off work and all that. He really has been good to me over the years – more like a big brother, to be honest.”

Winning on the day The recipe for a successful business is the same the world over – establish and maintain excellent relationships built on understanding and meeting

customers’ needs and requirements.

But like any great game plan, the entire team must be informed, on board and ready to play their parts. The only way to achieve this level of commitment and unity is to have a captain who can lead from the top while educating, nurturing and empowering those who look up to them.

Having the opportunity to work with the team at LHT Group for three days while we tested the new Hino 700 Series, we experienced these qualities first-hand.

Special thanks Thanks to Les Harrison, Craig Foster and Chris Flavell for allowing us into your organisation and sharing your passion for people, transport and trucks with us.

Thanks to Kareaua Karokoua and Glen Mosely for having us along and being some of the most easy-going drivers we’ve had the pleasure of riding with.

Thanks to Cal Eagle and Adam Crawford at Sime Darby Motors NZ for the tip towards Les Harrison Transport and to Hino salesman John Te Rangi for furnishing us with all the technical details of the two new 700s on these pages.

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CLASSICS LOCKER

CLOSING TIME After almost a century, the closure of Greymouth’s Monteith’s Brewery in 2020 spelt the end of West Coast-based beer production. New Zealand Trucking had the pleasure of catching up with some of the men who, over the course of the past five decades, worked to ensure there was always cold beer on tap.

Story by Craig McCauley

40 New Zealand Trucking

November 2022

Photographs as credited

eries’ heyday during the The vehicle fleet in DB Westland Brew employed, from truck mid-1970s. More than 60 people were refrigeration engineers. drivers and brewers to sales reps and

B

eer in the mid1800s was a true staple of the West Coast. In 1868, there were more than 150 pubs and four breweries between Hokitika and Greymouth.

That number had reduced to only 37 pubs by 1927, mostly due to the population decreasing as the fortunes from coal and gold mining ran out.

Stewart Monteith and his son, William, operators of

Reefton’s Phoenix Brewery, merged with the coast’s other three brewers that same year to form Westland Breweries.

Perhaps the most wellknown name in New Zealand beer, Dominion Breweries purchased the business in 1969 and renamed the Greymouth operation DB Westland Breweries.

Trucks were integral to the Westland Breweries business before DB’s acquisition. Over time, the company owned several Bedfords (S Models

and, latterly, TKs) and an AEC Monarch.

Ken Swinburn became the fleet mechanic in 1970, a role he held for 16 years.

He recalls the Monarch was still in service and remembers its appetite for windscreens, mainly due to wayward stones striking the expanse of glass that was a feature of AEC’s Ergomatic cabs. A particularly bad week on the run between Greymouth and Westport saw five windscreens destroyed,

which kept the local glazier very busy.

D-Series Fords became a feature of the fleet. Initially, a D800 was sent south from DB in Auckland, fitted with, to quote Ken, a “knit one, purl one, drop one gearbox”. (Fourspeed, flick a switch, which gave you another four ratios.)

Ken says the company was never afraid of spending money to keep the truck fleet in top condition, mechanically and appearance-wise.

During this era, Tasman

New Zealand Trucking

November 2022 41

ated ran several Bedfords. This S-Model oper Before DB ownership, Westland Breweries via West Coast History and Recollect. during the 1960s. Photo: Mick Thomson

The AEC Monarch began its life under Westland Bre weries ownership and transitioned through to the Dominion Breweries era. Photo: Bru nning collection.

A freshly painted Bedford KM in the Greymouth depot circa 1978. Photo: Monteith’s archive.

TK delivering to the old Recreation On the ‘town & around’ run, a Bedford ve.

Hotel in Greymouth. Photo: Monteith archi

Presentation was important to DB. This Ford D-Series looked smart decked out with a sun visor, extra marker lights and spotlights.

Photo: Ken Swinburn.

DB throughout New Mercedes-Benz trucks were popular with 1973. in road the on Zealand. This LS1418 went Recollect. and ry Histo t Coas Photo: Don Eadie via West

e 1970s early combination of the lat Typical pub delivery ads home to he rcedes-Benz A-train 1980s. A LS1924 Me tion. oto: Monteith’s Collec Greymouth on SH6. Ph

No. 23, an Isuzu VPR, ove rnights in Blenheim.

Photo: Dave Carr Collection . ge continued with the Westland Breweries General Motors linea ers to the former Barry’s purchase of some Isuzus. Here, one deliv ve.

Hotel in Blenheim. Photo: Monteith archi

wit s last mechanic, poses Barry Honey, the fleet’ d. yar th ou ym Gre 24 in the a Mercedes-Benz 14 e. hiv arc ith Photo: Monte

1424 had given By the late 1980s, the Mercedes-Benz ls. way to the higher horsepower 1928 mode er.

Cogg Photo: Andrew

h

Benz 1424, in his MercedesJock Allen with a rather cold aught livery, on the later DB Dr ck Allen.

Pass. Photo: Jo day in Arthur’s

Tyres looked after the fleet’s rubber, signwriting was done by local Jimmy Rhodes, and Mobil Oil was the supplier of fuel and lubricants.

Everything else was done in the Greymouth workshop.

Ken’s comment regarding the condition of the trucks is echoed by Les Heyden, an employee of DB on the West Coast for over 30 years.

Les spent his childhood riding in the DB trucks with his uncles Peter Burnett and Jock Allen. He took frequent trips in a Mercedes-Benz 1418 delivering bulk beer to Parkers Road in Tahunanui, Nelson, where it was

transferred into large storage tanks for further distribution.

Les was offered a job driving for DB in 1986 and leapt at the chance. At morning smoko on his first day, he was presented with a pint of beer, a common occurrence in that era.

A Mercedes-Benz 1424 A-train combination was his first rig, and DB had recently changed from having set trucks, doing set runs to the Greymouth fleet, operating on a seven-week rotating roster.

Runs included south to Haast, up the coast as far north as Karamea, as well

New Zealand Trucking

November 2022 43

Some of the men who made sure a cold beer was always on tap. From left: Jock Allen, driver; Ken Swinburn, mechanic; Barrie Calder, manager; Les Heyden, driver and latterly brewer; and Kevin Kilkelly, owner/driver. All five men regarded the brewery as a fantastic place to work. Photo: Craig McCauley. as to Nelson and Golden Bay and to Blenheim. Trips to Christchurch and the DB Mainland Brewery at Washdyke, near Timaru, were also common.

The A-train trailer combination was made up of a three-axle short semi and two-axle dog trailer, which had a mix of small (135 gallons/614 litres) and large (270 gallons/1228 litres) stainless tanks on them. Beer was pumped through a maze of control valves and hoses to tanks located generally in the receiving hotel’s cellar.

Tanks were supposed to have been cleaned before a fresh delivery arrived but often, they hadn’t. The drivers would get in and clean them if necessary. Les remembers one driver taking his watch off while cleaning one. He forgot to grab it when he climbed out and filled it with fresh product.

When the tanks were empty the following week, the

watch was recovered, still happily ticking.

Some varieties of beer were transported in 30- and 50-litre kegs. These were manhandled off the truck deck and dropped onto the ‘mother-in-law’ – an old bag filled with cork designed to break their fall. They were then lowered by rope into the cellar and stacked where the publican wanted them.

DB owned many hotels on the West Coast. On some runs, besides bulk beer, the trucks carried meat, bottled beer, wine, spirits, gas bottles and even bags of laundry to the companyowned hotels.

In the 1990s, as the beer-consuming public’s palate drifted towards less mainstream brews, the Greymouth site was renamed Monteith’s Brewery and began brewing some traditional brews to reflect its historical origins. This change in volume influenced

the West Coast trucking operation dramatically. It was downsized at the turn of the century, resulting in some staff redeployments.

Only a single Greymouthbased linehaul driver was required under the new regime. Bob Glover drove the remaining Mercedes-Benz 2538 B-train combination, while Les went into the brewery to learn the craft of beer brewing and acted as the second driver when required.

Kevin Kilkelly became an owner-driver with a Mitsubishi Canter purchased from DB, which he used to deliver kegs and packaged beer between the Grey Valley

and South Westland. Kevin replaced the Canter with an Isuzu NPR later, which wore the Monteith’s livery.

In 2010, Dominion Breweries outsourced all West Coast beer distribution to external contractors. This saw the last Greymouthbased truck, Mercedes-Benz No.47, roll out the gate onto Turumaha Street for a final time.

Monteith’s Brewery went on to produce an extensive range of products until production ceased at the end of 2020, bringing almost a century of commercial brewing on the West Coast to a close.

• 2 • 1

A note from New Zealand Trucking This article was compiled over several enjoyable visits to Greymouth during the past two years. Sadly, Ken Swinburn passed away while we were in the final throws of putting this together. RIP Ken.

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The first part of our Hanover coverage.

Many more articles to come in the months ahead.

The Mercedes-Benz eActros Long Haul, won the International Truck of the Year Innovation Award for 2023. The company’s first foray into longhaul tractor BEV, it’s due for series production in 2024.

FORWARD IN

TI M E IAA Transportation 2022 Story by Dave McCoid

F

rom the moment you entered the first pavilion at IAA Transportation in Hanover this year, any cynicism you may have still harboured regarding the changing nature of global road transport, would have been well and truly crushed beneath the wheels of our electric and biofuel future.

That shock was even more impactful thanks to the Covidinduced binning of the 2020 event. Daimler Truck CEO Martin Daum’s opening-night

Pictures by Dave McCoid and as credited

remark on his company’s stand, “A lot has happened since our last IAA”, redefined understatement in the same way Benz himself redefined mobility. Standing amid it all, with four years since the last IAA edition, we may as well have been on a different planet at times. This event was an alternative fuel and transport methodology rethink, with names that reassured us, and others that had us scrambling for Google to answer the ‘who’ question.

At times, there was a scent

IAA Transportation showcases what’s at the forefront of road transport in Europe… and, let’s face it, the world. In 2022, the message was clear: we are no longer on the cusp of change; it is taking place all around us.

of paradox in the air. In the world outside the pavilions, diesel is still very much in charge. Stroll onto the side of the autobahn and what’s moving the world today is rooted in the Mesozoic Era rather than the ‘Lithionic’.

However, with their hands forced by signatures on the bottom of carbon-reducing obligations, the OEMs are now focused on the windscreen, not the rear-view screens.

Those obligations mean they also must act quickly, not just for reasons of planetary

welfare, but cost. Regardless of how big you are, attempting to effect three generations of R&D in one, with no real clarity as to where the eventual ROI will come from, consumes gargantuan levels of resources, both technical and strategic.

Navigating today’s big names through these historical waters – ensuring your decisions don’t consign your charge to nostalgia – takes nerves of green-energy steel. Therein also lies the clues to the significant manoeuvrings occurring in many OEM

ownership structures: ensuring what needs protecting is protected and risk is shared among all with a future stake.

Neither is it unfair to emphasise the traditional incumbents in that sentiment. Wrong as it may be, the upstarts are still afforded a level of grace the household names are not.

Maybe it reflects a society highly motivated by ideology, but equally so, the absence of an aftersales track record. Failing in the latter is where the seeds of enduser disillusion lay inducing a return to that which is comfortable.

Don’t think for a moment the information revolution is done with us, either.

Much of today’s hardware advancement owes its genesis and ongoing relevance to it. But it’s more than that. OEMs have taken the opportunity to push much deeper into their clients’ businesses. The days of buying the good wagon and tending to its needs yourself may not just be the domain of the foolhardy; it might actually be impossible. Likewise, the standalone mechanicalrepair business could be as much at risk as the humble diesel/petrol station.

Consultative purchasing, predictive fleet maintenance, guaranteed buy-back, swathes of additional telematics, battery status, recharging strategies and route optimisation will be the conjoined siblings of alternative propulsion.

While the cynic within might say, ‘Don’t think for a moment all that telematic data collected over the past three decades was all about you,’ there is a lot to be gained for OEMs who can take customers’ hands and collaborate in navigating the complex fog ahead. Whether the end user’s balance sheet has experimental wriggle room or not, providing solid,

comforting, practical advice in the next decade may well set up a beautiful union for the two, three, or more that follow. In tomorrow’s world, the peak consideration in any potential change of supplier will be the collateral damage of an interrupted data stream.

Neither is any of that even touching on the blockchainencrypted data security of the truck, load and driver.

Even Orson could not have imagined Blockchain, and that we’d all be each other’s big brother, Then there’s the ‘why?’

As sad an indictment as it may be, the moment climate and emission levels cross that threshold of being the next ‘must-have’ on the corporate string of bunting, that’s actually when we’ll have the impetus we need.

The last great addition was health and safety, and unlike the dignity-stripping levels that achieved, this one can’t really be overdone. This has nothing to do with the journey; it is only about the destination.

The sobering condition, of course, is the ability of politicians to ensure the network is there to support the tsunami of product flowing onto the market.

That’s not to say they’re in charge of physical provision; God help us in that case.

They need to create the legislative, compliance, and consenting framework that allows the ‘doers’ to ‘do their thing’. That can’t be hard, can it?

Suffice to say, if we were to take 50 years as a yardstick by which to measure a civilisationaltering level of change for those engaged in road transport, the halfcentury from 2010 will likely resemble that from party lines to the iPhone 15.

This month: the indoor displays of our big six. (You really can’t comprehend the scale of this show - Ed.)

DAF’s XD won the International Truck of the Year Supreme Award for 2023. (Inset) IToY President Gianenrico Griffini presents DAF president Harold Seidel with the award in front of world media.

DAF

After all that, let’s get underway with diesel. It might be the last time we can. The big news was DAF’s new XD series regional distribution and construction (XDC) range taking out the International Truck of the Year 2023 Award.

It meant DAF has won the coveted accolade two years on the trot. A rare feat indeed.

Think again if your first thought is, ‘Not surprising considering the truck has the same DNA as its big siblings and last year’s winners, the XF, XG, and XG+.’ The XD had to fend off Scania’s ‘Super’ longhaul driveline and the Mercedes-Benz Actros with the third-generation OM471.

The XD really is a little honey, a truck you take a shine to the instant you see it. In non-XDC form, it’s low, with a curved windscreen delivering class-leading vision, low belt lines, digital ‘vision dashboard’, and DAFs Digital Vision System (camera rearview).

Based on PACCAR’s Euro-6 MX-11 and ZF TraXon autoshifter combo, the IToY judges considered criteria, including technological innovation, comfort, safety, driveability,

fuel economy, environmental footprint and total cost of ownership when amassing the 134 votes that saw the XD series cross the line in first.

You can’t help but see yourself happily leaving somewhere like ‘Foodies’ for a cruisy South Auckland or Christchurch regional delivery round! The trucks go into production in autumn (Europe) this year, i.e. now. Arrival on our shores?

We contacted Richard Smart, general manager of sales at Southpac Trucks, who told us, “potentially 2025, 26”.

Time for a nice segue…

XD will also be available in DAF’s upcoming BEV range.

Of course, DAF was a pioneer in ‘eDistribution’ in 2018 with the CF and LF BEVs, with a range back then of 200km and 280km, respectively. This year, it announced XD and XF in BEV format, upping the game considerably with PACCAR EX-D1 and D2 permanentmagnet e-motors with outputs from 170kW (230hp) to 350kW (480hp), and a modular battery string system that will give ranges between 200 and

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500km on a single charge.

Able to take fast DC and AC charging, a three-string pack on a 325kW charger can be boosted from 8% to 80% in 45 minutes, and the largest pack from 0% to 100% in two hours.

Optional is an onboard charger enabling AC charging of up to 22kW. That is obviously a slower process,

but it allows operation when fast charges are unavailable.

With the right route-planning and charging strategy, DAF says operators can achieve 1000km fully electric per day.

The 2-5 string pack starts at 170kW (230hp) and 1200Nm (885lb/ft), and we end up at 4-5 string packs that top out at 350kW (480hp) and 1975Nm (1457lb/ft). Don’t attempt to

reconcile that to anything you know unless you’ve driven an EV. It’s a whole new world.

DAF makes a big thing of providing clean rails for bodybuilders to work with. Well done, them. Battery strings can be ‘tuned’ to application, allowing room for crane legs and the like. A 650V ePTO is available for the auxiliary kit.

Starting series production

Daimler Truck

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A huge presence with a strong and varied hand at the poker table. In 2018, Daimler had one series production zeroemission vehicle at IAA (eCanter). This year, there were eight. While Daimler firmly believes no one size fits all, its options currently comprise only diesel, BEV, and down the road, FCEV. “We are focusing on battery and fuel-cell vehicles because we are convinced our industry will need a dual strategy for sustainable transport in the future,” said Daimler Truck CEO Martin Daum at the media night. “We do not need a triple strategy that includes natural gas.

Gas-powered drives are an expensive bridging technology that relies on fossil fuel and emits CO2.”

Mercedes-Benz Truck CEO Karin Rådström gave a brief rerun through the Mercedes-Benz low- and zeroemissions story, which ended with the world premiere of the eActros 300 4x2 tractor for urban distribution, able to tow all common European trailers with a range of 220km, delivering 300kW continuous and 400kW peak power.

Series production will begin in the second half of 2023.

Rådström emphasised the purposebuilt aspect of the eActros range with rear-mounted twin-motor eAxles rather than a “quick-fix” development path that retains components such as prop shafts.

Sadly, for the 300, it wasn’t the centrepiece of the stand. That accolade went to the Mercedes-Benz eActros LongHaul 4x2 tractor. It was announced in 2020 and follows the commercial launch of eActros rigid for heavy distribution last year. The unit previewed the design language intended for the series-production machine. First prototypes have been in full testing, and in the coming year, near-series

in the first half of 2023 at a new facility in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, the new models will be available in 4x2 tractor and 4x2 and 6x2 rigids with a top GCM of 50 tonnes. If you’re in Europe next year and you see a DAF with blue grille and headlight accents, that’ll be the strong silent type right there.

prototypes will head to customers for further rigour.

Vital stats on the 4x2 unit comprise a 500km single-charge range and three battery packs with a capacity of 600kWh. Two electric motors form part of a new eAxle generating a continuous output of 400kW and peak of more than 600kW. There will be rigid variants at launch and durability will compare with a conventional long-distance Actros at 1,200,000km over 10 years.

Batteries for eActros LongHaul are lithium-iron phosphate, the increasingly popular choice among OEMs for reasons of service life and useable energy, able to charge from 20% to 80% in under 30 minutes on a charge output of about one megawatt. Planned for series production in 2024, the truck will be built on the line at the plant in Wörth, Germany alongside conventional units.

Mercedes-Benz also raised the potential e-trailers bring to the party, citing a range extension of up to 800km with the right mix of componentry.

No surprises that the eActros LongHaul will be wrapped into the ecosystem of consultative services to ensure optimum uptime and use, including Daimler Truck Financing for both truck and infrastructure at the customer site. Interestingly, Rådström said the eActros LongHaul would have “a much lower energy consumption per kilometre compared to diesel, less than half. We expect to have lower running costs and over the course of a common operating period – five years and 120,000km per year – this truck can amortise as well as a diesel truck.”

Infrastructure-wise, Daimler’s involvement in the Traton and Volvo Group tripartite project, delivering 1700 fast charging sites across Europe’s

1) The eCanter in its latest incarnation runs further, has increased GCM, and an increased options list. 2) New regional/urban eActros 300 was also launched, although in the shadow of soon-to-be big brother. (3 & 4) Mercedes-Benz GenH2 FCEV prototype has a date with its series production destiny in the last third of the decade. 4) Nothing to see here, it’s not that complicated.

Mercedes-Benz Truck CEO Karin Rådström accepts the International Truck of the Year Innovation Award from IToY president Gianenrico Griffini for the 4x2 LongHaul BEV. big freight lanes, was a key message in Daum’s address, as was the need for bureaucrats to start making serious headway on the infrastructure issue.

Once up, the tripartite network would be brand-agnostic.

Also spoken about was Daimler’s involvement in the High Performance Charging in Long Distance Truck Transport (HoLa) project, under the patronage of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), essentially a body planning the construction and operation of a selected high-performance Megawatt Charging System (MCS). Four sites in Germany are being set up and evaluated.

Later in the decade will come Mercedes-Benz FCEV products, key to its offering in the longhaul space where demanding conditions and increased flexibility are required. Its GenH2 trucks are in test-track and public-road testing, with the company looking to ranges of 1000km and more.

Daimler prefers liquid hydrogen over gaseous, citing increased energy density carried providing for longer ranges. The trucks will hold the fuel in two tanks, each comprising two sleeved stainlesssteel vacuum-insulated tubes capable of carrying 40kg each. In series production, the fuel cell will provide 2 x 150kW and the battery 400kW additional situational assistance via a 70kWh capacity battery.

Payload goal for the series-produced unit is 25 tonnes on a 40-tonne GCM. In 2021, Daimler Truck and Volvo Group joined forces with fuel-cell manufacturer Cellcentric to produce fuel cells for their respective offerings (more on that next month). Daimler Truck is also working with Linde, developing a new process for handling liquid hydrogen – subcooled liquid hydrogen technology (sLH2). The goal is for a refuelling prototype station in 2023, with high levels of transparency and collaboration across industry to ensure a mass-market standard. A shareholder in hydrogen filling station, H2

Mobility Deutschland, Daimler Truck is planning to work with Shell, BP, and Total Energies on hydrogen-filling capabilities on important routes across Europe.

Meanwhile, Daimler Truck, Iveco Group, Linde, OMV, Shell, Total Energies and Volvo Group will be working together to create conditions for a mass-market rollout of hydrogen trucks in Europe as part of the H2Accelerate (H2A) interest group.

If you need a breath of more familiar air, Mercedes-Benz Actros L (Limited) Edition 3 was on the stand with the new Actros F. Why were they there?

“The transition to CO2-neutral road transport is in full swing. For the transitional phase, we aim to further optimise our premium trucks with conventional diesel engines in the interests of our customers, to sustainably reduce TCO, and to reduce the CO2 footprint,” said Stina Fagerman, head of marketing, sales and service at Mercedes-Benz.

The L has a limited run of 400 units for the customer who wants ‘the works’, whether luxury, efficiency or safety. The F, on the other hand, is aimed at the more functionally focused client. Both trucks have the Gen-3 12.8-litre OM471 motor, offering up to 4% improvement in economy on the previous iteration. Both have Active Brake Assist 5 (ABA 5), and Lane Keep Assist. Sideguard Assist is standard on the L and optional on the F, and the L also comes with secondgeneration mirror cam, or Active Drive Assist as an option. Mercedes-Benz Complete Mile and Uptime support packages come recommended for optimal TCO. Right, back to tomorrow, and something almost familiar to us, eCanter.

I say ‘almost familiar’, because this is Next Generation eCanter, launched at IAA and the result of knowledge gained from more than 6,000,000 eCanter kilometres around the globe since the truck’s launch in 2017.

Range was, of course, a feedback highlight, and the new truck with three different battery packs can provide ranges from 70km to 200km, as well as AC and DC charging. There are 42 variants now, with wheelbases from 2500mm to 4500mm, and GCMs from 4.25 to 8.55 tonnes.

Two sizes fit all in terms of cab width, with a 1.7m and 2.0m options and, speaking to safety, eCanter sports ABA 5, Active Sidegaurd Assist, and to prevent the wee fella sneaking up on people, an Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS) when turning on the kerbside. Beep beep.

The S-Way Fuel Hero shows just how much there is still to be gained from diesel.

IVECO

IVECO is no stranger to taking on alternative fuels with gusto, having played in the gas space for many years. Then there’s its direct association with Nikola Group via the CNH Industrial investment when it lived fully under the brolly of that conglomerate.

More recently, IVECO has been active in the BEV space across multiple vehicle end-use strata under both the IVECO and JV Nikola brands.

IVECO, MAN and Mercedes-Benz have a major advantage heading into the new era of transport, able to offer the full gambit from last mile to line linehaul under one brand, which means aftersales support, fleet-wide operational data, and just as important at this time, emotional comfort. That’s a compelling sales point.

IVECO’s 4300m2 exhibit backdrop in white and blue was the most striking; the colour choice itself a message to the world, announcing the new base colour for the company logo – ‘energy blue’.

Luca Sra, president of Iveco’s truck business unit, spoke about the company’s roadmap to sustainability encompassing “trustworthy, sustainable and intelligent transport solutions” and a “move to net zero carbon by 2040 through an all-range multi-energy approach”.

Key to those aspirations on the stand was the new eDaily, the Nikola Tre BEV European 4x2 artic, and beta versions of the fuel-cell Daily and European 6x2 version of the Nikola Tre FCEV. Starting with eDaily, which is a huge one to nail in terms of ensuring one of the most useable and configurable LCVs retains everything we love when something other than ICE is propelling the show. All body variants have been

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2 1) The S-Way CNG, a propulsion methodology IVECO is not a stranger to. Photo: Iveco Group.

2) Nicola Tre FCEV betaprototype. Series production is due to commence in Europe Q1 2024.

3) IVECO’s eDaily.

The pressure is on to ensure ‘fantastic’ remains that way.

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retained, with the option of an ePTO up to 15kW. Native power comes via a 37kWh modular battery set-up maxing out at 111kW. At the high-end, power tops out at 140kW and torque at 400Nm, with range anywhere from 110km to 300km (WLTP), and a potential of 400km if you line up your ducks just right.

When reality bites, that may be an aspirational figure. IVECO says the configurability allows “range optimisation”, and it is donkey-deep in sage advice to ensure customers get what they need, know what’s happening, and know how to optimise every moment once hands are shaken and deals are done.

Helping to open the alternative-propulsion door and easing transitional stress on the customer base, IVECO announced plans for its innovative Green and Advanced Transport

Ecosystem (GATE) business model. This all-inclusive long-term BEV/FCEV rental model will also include an exclusive and innovative EV-dedicated pay-per-use formula. Continuing on a theme, IVECO Services is the soon-to-be-launched umbrella incorporating all integrated services supporting customers’ operational and business decisions. One size no longer fits all.

Nickola was on the IVECO stand, obviously – no need to explain that – and big EVs are its game. Orders are open for its 4021mm wheelbase 4x2 European BEV tractor unit. Nine batteries storing 738kWh, delivering up to 530km range, with an 80% charge on a 350kW charger taking about one hour and 40 minutes. Output is 480kW continuous delivered to an FPT-manufactured eAxle (FPT is IVECO’s powertrain brand).

The pitch for the BEV Nikola is hub-to-hub and regional hauling.

For the big jobs, Nikola will soon have its FCEV available (US production ex-Coolidge, Arizona, Q4 2023, and European ex-Ulm, Germany, Q1/2 2024). On display was the beta prototype (production representative) and an impressive sight it was. In 6x2 trim with a steering tag axle and 3932mm wheelbase, the truck will clock up 800km with 70 useable kilogrammes of hydrogen stored at 700-bar.

Refuel time is 20 minutes.

“IVECO and Nikola enjoy a solid partnership that began in 2019,” said Gerrit Marx, CEO of Iveco Group. “Together, we have met every milestone on our path toward deploying zero-emission heavy-duty trucks and North America and Europe.”

Sticking with FCEV, IVECO also had its beta FCEV Daily

on display, with a Hyundai 90kW Hydrogen fuel-cell system and 140kW eMotor, with battery pack by FPT. GVM is 7.2 tonnes, with a three-tonne payload and 350km range. Refuelling time is 15 minutes. The FCEV Daily’s pitch will be tasks, where eDaily’s range runs shy of the mark.

Much of the remaining stand visited IVECO’s welldocumented journey in compressed and liquified gases to date. And like other OEMs, that spoke to the role they may well play in bridging the divide between zero-emissions aspiration and actuality… for the next decade at least.

Continuing the theme, displays demonstrating the efficiencies that can be gained in driving Euro-6 diesel engines were also present, as was a celebration of the marque’s famous Turbo Star brand in the form of a swankyas red S-Way. What a comfort that was in a strange new world.

Scarily, in the far corner was the IVECO Plus autonomous driving S-Way display truck.

Suffice to say, goodness knows what IAA Transportation 2030 will be like.

But one thing is without question: whether it’s EV, hydrogen, gas or dieselpowered, and even if it drives itself, S-Way is a sexy truck.

Can’t wait for the day it graces our part of the world… early next year, by all accounts.

Enter the MAN eTruck 4x2 long-haul tractor unit. It too is due for series production in 2024. (More next month.)

MAN

Like it’s Traton Group stablemate from the north, the Lion’s roar at this point is all about BEV. “For the mobility of tomorrow and sustainable, climate-neutral transport, MAN Truck and Bus firmly believe that battery-electric drives are the way forward,” said Alexander Vlaskamp, MAN’s CEO. Of course, we know there’s an FCEV project underway in the wings.

MAN leans on its experience in the EV world via buses, vans and eTGM distribution offerings to help soothe the anxieties – a ‘We got this!’ sort of approach.

The centrepiece of its stand was the eTruck in what it called “near-series prototype” status. In 2019 and 2020, we visited and drove MAN’s new-generation TG series – a truck yet to arrive on our shores – and talked about its underlying preparation for a new tomorrow. That new

tomorrow is upon us, and it will be game-on in 2024 when MAN and Mercedes-Benz both bring their linehaul 4x2 BEVs to market.

The MAN eTruck tractor in 3750mm wheelbase, 4x2 configuration presented with an electric motor in 300-350kW, four-speed transmission, and hypoid drive axle i = 2.53 (final drive). The Lion boasts daily ranges of between 600km and 800km and up to 1000km in the future, says MAN. Ranges are contingent on some form of charging, with the truck built for high-capacity rapid turnaround megawatt charging.

Twenty units have been launched at the Munich plant, where the trucks will be made on the same line as their diesel-powered cohorts.

Flexibility to build what the customer wants is at the heart of that decision. It must also be more cost-effective than a

green-field site, surely?

Electric trucks need batteries, and in addition to funding from the Free State of Bavaria, investment in the Nuremberg MAN plant is well underway, which will see 100,000 battery packs produced per year from 2025. MAN sees battery production and sustainability as core goals and, as such, there are stringent supplychain conditions on materials used in battery manufacture as well as the pursuit of a 97% recycle rate for all raw materials used.

Like all OEMs, MAN says the eTruck is infinitely flexible, just like a diesel wagon, and like all OEMs. There’s also a strong suggestion that to achieve that, MAN helps determine all aspects of purchase, configuration and operational parameters, e.g. route planning and recharge strategy, not to mention assessing telematic feed from

the trucks. MAN ReadyCheck and eManager drill into the depths of all that.

Standby for lots more on this machine soon.

EV success will hinge on infrastructure as we know, which in most cases, will start at the customer’s depot.

Traton Group founded the OEM collaboration with Daimler Truck and Volvo Group to stand up the 1700 fastcharge locations across key European sites.

The rest of the MAN stand was a festival of combustion and a celebration of the famous marque’s broad mix of capabilities, including construction, severe terrain, construction, heavy-haul, regional and metro distribution and, of course, linehaul.

Trucks without mirrors aren’t even a talking point in Europe anymore, and except for the last-mile contingent and the “Euro-5 6x4 for the Australian market”, MAN’s OptiView

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adorned the entire display.

The Lion S trim that has all the extras made a spectacular appearance in both TGX and TGSS models, making its first appearance on the latter at the show, adorning a 41.520 8x4 BB CH construction chassis.

On the topic of ‘The show’s not over yet’, the company’s new version of the D26 engine was launched at IAA 2022 also, sporting an extra 7kW (10hp) and 50Nm (37lb/ft) across the range.

With engine and aero refinements, operators can expect up to 4% improvement in fuel burn.

MAN was more than bullish on what comes hot on the heels of alternative propulsion, meaning autonomy and, not really hot on the heels, to be honest – potentially contiguous in certain applications. The biggest potential disrupter to optimised e-efficiency is the driver, and next to infrastructure, they’re also the scarcest resource.

Infrastructure we can fix, the other problem has been unfixable around the globe for nigh on three decades, and as such, the autonomous mood was an undercurrent beneath the surface of many exhibits.

MAN cited a reduction in human error, elimination of HR-related compliance and unattractive long-haul tasks, plus the ability to place humans in varied and demanding tasks as key attributes of autonomy.

The company talked about its ANITA intra-terminal project with Deutsche Bahn (German Rail), as well as the hub-to-hub ATLAS-L4 project that is scheduled to see L4 autonomous trucks on the German motorways by the end of 2024.

Photo: Scania.

The Scania 45R BEV looks sharp and produces 450kW (610hp equivalent).

Scania

“Standing at the brink of the biggest change in our industry” is how the president and CEO of Scania and parent Traton Group, Christian Levin, summed up where we all find ourselves in history.

The pointy end of global truck manufacturing doesn’t get any ‘pointier’ than Levin and his peers. When they’re all singing the same tune, rest assured public-bar cynicism is about as relevant as a group therapy session at the Kremlin.

Although Scania is singing BEV as the ultimate solution at this stage, “the future is sustainable, the future is BEV”, it also affirms there are no silver bullets, and as such, it has enough eggs in its basket to ensure no door is entirely shut.

Scania offers a comprehensive phased transition for the less maverick in the customer base, meaning diesel, CBG and LBG (compressed/liquid biomethane gas) combustion providing choices enroute to HEV (hybrid, not the other H), and ultimately, BEV.

Scania won the European Green Truck Award in 2022 with its €2 billion Super Series diesel and bio-fuel engine platform. It’s the sixth year in a row the Griffin has won the award, and certainly offers early options to the most risk-averse. From there comes the expansion of its biogas engine range, with two new 13-litre CBG and LBG engines, rated at 311kW (420hp) and 340kW (460hp), respectively.

Biomethane can reduce CO2 by 90% from a wheelto-well perspective, and both engines have been developed with performance characteristics aligned to the Super Series motors, so operators experience comparable performance.

“Tractor and trailer combinations for longhaul applications with train weights of 40 tonnes can now expect ranges up to 1400km with liquified biomethane in their trucks,” said Stefan Dorski, senior vice president of Scania Trucks. He said with the rate of network roll-out for refuelling gas engines

increasing, Scania Trucks offered a strong alternative for customers wanting to reduce their fossil-fuel footprint. “It does not mean you have to give up anything in driveability, flexibility, or driver comfort.” Orders for the new biogas engines can be placed in Europe in Q3 2023.

A true sign of the times was Scania’s central inside display being devoted to new connected services – My Scania and the Scania Driver’s App – as well as BEV charging solutions.

As stated at the top of the article, the digital relationship between OEMs and customers will likely be the cornerstone of the physical relationship going forward, and with 600,000 connected Scania’s currently roaming the globe, there’s an awful lot they already know. Predictive maintenance and BEV control packages will form part of Scania’s labyrinth of digital and commercial business support.

Scania also showed a prototype megawatt

Volvo

The R410 running on bio-gas.

charging system (MCS) station provided by the CHARIN alliance. Highpowered charging of 1MW or more would make it possible to recharge longdistance trucks in about 45 minutes – the driver’s mandatory rest break (local compliance). Final standards are yet to be determined, but the goal is a safe singleplug system and unified charging-location point on trucks, allowing the interface to be automated. The goal is also to incorporate V2X (vehicle-to-grid) communication.

The availability of CCS (combined charging system) and MCS charging points for European customers is vital if widespread uptake is to happen and that’s at the root of the TratonMercedes-Benz-Volvo Group collaboration that will see 1700 installations on major European corridors.

Scania had three BEV trucks – two urban and one regional – and a bus on the indoor stand. BEV is where Scania’s main fossilfree pitch is, and in June, it

released the regional longhaul 40 R or S with 400kW (560hp equivalent) and the 45 R or S at 450kW (610hp equivalent). Again, modular architecture is the blueprint, with 4x2 tractor and 4x2/6x2 rigid configurations available. Range is 350km on a 40-tonne, tractor and semi, six battery setup. Recent dimension changes in Europe allow a 4x2 tractor to carry the six batteries required. Range on a 64-tonne 6x2 Nordic combination is 250km.

Opportunity charging – e.g. rest break/depot – in the course of a day on 375kW charger would improve flexibility considerably.

“We can now offer solutions for a range of applications,” said Fredrik Allard, senior vice president and head of electrification at Scania. “These additions will serve as a launch pad for a transition for all kinds of customers.”

The Swedish giant has been hugely vocal on its environmental mission beyond the end product, placing what it calls

science-based targets around production and pushing deep into its supply chains with emissions expectations of its suppliers.

A 50% reduction in CO2 from operations between 2015 and 2021 and 25% less energy per produced vehicle in the same timeframe are two examples.

Scania, too, rang the autonomy bell. Mobility solutions include the wholly owned subsidiary LOTS Group, a unit formed in 2021 to capture market opportunities in the future transport ecosystem. The unit drives the development of new business models outside the current core business, increasing Scania’s role in the transportation and logistics value chain, as well as developing and commercialising the autonomous offering. If you can read between all the lines in that paragraph, there’s much to ponder.

Playing ‘find the internal combustion engine’, was a complete waste of time on the Volvo stand. They were absent. While it and other cleaner combusting options do, and will, continue to play a key role in the company’s offerings for some time yet, Volvo Truck President Roger Alm wanted to send a clear message. “We need to act now, not wait for future solutions. It is a competitive advantage to go electric now, and it will be even more into the future.”

The position he was speaking from was being the only OEM offering a complete BEV truck package from the FL’s 10-tonne GVM to the FH tractor at 44-tonne GCM. The latter was released in early September and assembled with its combustion-powered brethren on the same line at the Tuve Gothenburg plant.

Although only in tractor configuration currently, Alm affirmed the FH rigid’s arrival in 2023.

Regarding BEV market share in the weight classes in which Volvo competes, Alm said the company had 30% in Europe and 60% in North America. To date, Volvo Trucks had sold 2600 units in 27 countries.

Head of global product management at Volvo Trucks, Jessica Sandström, said 50% of European truck journeys were 300km or less, and a considerable dint in the transport task could be undertaken on overnight depot recharging on nonhigh-capacity chargers. That stat probably applies to many Western truck markets the world over.

Citing data from a project the company has undertaken using independent researcher Ipsos across 1000 buyers

Like Scania, Volvo FM Electric certainly manages the emotional impact of the BEVs by retaining a completely normal look. of transportation in Europe, Sandström revealed 78% were willing to pay more for no or low CO2 transport, 85% would change transport suppliers if they couldn’t meet their targets, and 60% thought they would lose customers were they not able to meet targets. The numbers are telling and reinforce the fact emissions reduction is on the way north if you’re in search of marketable qualities for your business – qualities that end in real dollars.

Of course, not all Volvo’s future chickens are in the BEV basket, and FCEV via the Cellcentric collaboration with Daimler Truck, will play a crucial part in its heavyweight long-distance forward offerings. Alm said testing continued, and the first of those machines would find homes with selected customers in 2025.

Collaboration is king, and Sandström addressed the hot topic of energy availability, citing the Volvo-DaimlerTraton collaboration on the

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1700 European charging stations, as well as internal strategies around dealership charging. Sign up a new Volvo BEV and you also get a charger as part of the package. Then, of course, there are the plethora of tech, data, maintenance and commercial support packages that will be part and parcel of tomorrow’s buying decisions.

Volvo, of course, emphasised its stellar reputation for safety would not in any way be compromised in a BEV-FCEV future, saying today’s passive and active safety features are all there, and things like side impact on their BEVs far exceed the requirement.

“In the crash tests, we have made sure the electric system turns off and that the battery system stays in place in event of an accident.”

Other safety-minded developments include Active Grip Control, designed to keep the high torque characteristics of the EV set in control.

Fuel cells are on their way to Volvo also, in a joint venture with Daimler Truck and Cellcentric.

In terms of unveilings, the key one was the company’s eAxle, due to go into series production in about

two years. It incorporates the electric motors and transmission and allows room for additional batteries.

November 2022

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TOP TRUCK

FRESH OUT OF

OLD-SKOOL DNA is uniquely individual, the blueprint for what makes us tick. Meet 23-year old Bo Hewson, and you don’t need to be a biophysicist to understand that diesel and driving are firmly embedded in his family’s double helix – as is a bent for working a drop-sider.

Story and photos by Carl Kirkbeck

56 New Zealand Trucking

November 2022

D

rop-sider trucking ranks right up there with pavlova and yellow kiwifruit when it comes to vigorously defended New Zealand intellectual property. With its roots firmly embedded in the early agricultural workshops of the back roads of rural New Zealand, the drop-sider is that superlative blend of multifunctional flat-deck and bulk tipper our very own electrodewielding Dr Frankensteins brought together.

Bo’s connection to drop-siders starts with his grandfather Ian Lord, who ran a general carrying business out of Normanby in South Taranaki. Bo explains: “My first memories of trucking are pouring over photos at my

grandparents’ place of all the trucks they used to operate.

Looking at what they used to get up to was pretty cool. The trucks were old-school dropsiders with the wooden sides.

They’d come into the yard, whip off the sides, drop the crate on and go out to pick up a load of hoggets for the works, then come back and set up for bulk to head down to the railhead and load off the train with the clamshell.

Yeah, pretty cool stuff, all right.”

Diesel and driving feature heavily throughout the family’s careers. “My nana used to run the local school bus. She would run the kids to school, then come back home to make the boys’ lunch and take that up to the yard

for them. Then, later in the afternoon, get back in the bus and drop the kids back home again.

“Then, there is Mum. She has her class-5 licence. She drove for Kiwi Dairies out of Hawera on the tankers. Now she drives a little Freightliner FL80 6x4 tipper locally on general earthworks.

“A funny story – when she was younger, she would have sneaky drives of Grandad’s trucks around the yard when he was out. So, yeah, driving definitely runs in the family.”

Growing up in and around the transport industry has left a lasting impression on Bo. “I started playing with Matchbox toys as a youngster, and now here we are. I guess the toys have just gotten bigger,” he

says with a laugh.

Like so many of us, Bo left school at 15 and was told he needed a trade qualification behind him. He started a building apprenticeship, but after three years of hitting thumbs, he turned 18 and thought, ‘Right, I can get my class 4 and 5 licences now.’ Compiling a CV at his dad’s work, Bo bumped into Russell Hawkes of Taupobased Hawkes Cranes. On hearing Bo’s plans, Russell immediately offered to help him get his class 4 and 5 if he quit his job and started with him immediately. Three years of interesting and varied work at Russell Hawkes led to an opportunity to finally get into a linehaul drop-sider with Rhys Adlam at Huka Haulage.

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1) The deep-buttoned grey interior of the K200 with woodgrain detail – is there a better combination? 2) Bo Hewson, following family traditions with passion.

3) Clean and simple lines, hallmarks of both the K200 and any Hog Haulage build.

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“Rhys handed me the keys to a Signature 620-powered flat-roof K104 truck and trailer combination. It sure was one cool rig to operate.” A quick stint with Bo’s dad at Lakeland Drilling was next, looking to be involved in the family business, but the call of the road was far too strong.

Encouragement from his good mate Kaden Parkinson convinced Bo to finally have a chat with Kaden’s dad, Aaron Parkinson of Taupo-based Hog Haulage, about a job.

A quick conversation with Aaron and Bo was a gainfully employed team member.

Bo’s steed is a new K200 flat-roof Kenworth known as War Machine. Powered by the mighty X-15 Cummins, set at 615hp, with a Roadranger RTLO22918 18-speed manual transmission certainly keeps it real, especially with three pedals on the floor. A point worth noting is that War

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Machine, as seen on these pages, is the net result of at least a year’s worth of planning and building by the team at Hog Haulage. It was to be Kaden’s pride and joy.

However, as Kaden plans to make the shift from the road to the office in the next six months or so, he suggested to Aaron that it would be better to give the truck to Bo from new, seeing as he was coming on board and would end up with it anyway. We tip our hat to you, Kaden – that truly is the measure of a man in the trucking industry, someone prepared to do what is right for the business, even though it means handing over the keys to what would have been yours. Top marks, mate.

The nine-axle War Machine combination is the epitome of how a drop-sider should be configured. Fresh from the Roadmaster workshops, it is a well-executed build that

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has been thought through at the drawing-board stage with well-laid-out and ample storage. The finished result is crisp and clean, a hallmark of the Hog Haulage fleet.

For general carriers, the drop-sider really is the Swiss army knife of transportation.

As Bo accurately puts it: “The

drop-sider is so versatile, every load is different. Every day is different. But regardless of how dirty the work can get, you must keep it clean. You must be able to drive past those shop windows and see those shiny wheels.”

We couldn’t agree more.

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4) Grandad, Ian Lord, was a pivotal influence on a young Bo, who absorbed the family’s transport history like a sponge while growing up. 5) It was a start with Russell Hawkes that Bo is extremely thankful for, as it finally opened the door to a working career in the transport industry for him. 6) Operating a K104 for Rhys Adlam’s Huka Haulage, as Bo put it: “It was one cool piece of kit.”

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Story and photos by Gavin Myers

LABELS MEAN

NOTHING While every life comes with challenges, some are tested more than others and their paths to success often require extra will, effort and support. Connor Brownlee’s story illustrates what can be achieved against the odds.

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s young as he is, 22-year-old Connor Brownlee got an early start in trucking. At 15, he learned the basics at ‘ground level’ from those more experienced

before finding his way into the driver’s seat and building a name for himself in the industry.

But the past seven years have represented immense personal growth and the

ability to overcome a particular challenge. Connor has autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which is defined as a neurological disability affecting the ability to socialise and communicate effectively. Not

Loading up logs for G.J. Sole.

Connor Brownlee has battled hard to get into the industry.

that you’d immediately know talking to him today.

“I never really went to high school. I got kicked out of two schools for being ‘problematic’. But I didn’t get diagnosed until I was 16; we didn’t know the full lengths of what was going on,” he explains.

Connor grew up in Waiuku and his desire to work with

trucks and machinery came from his dad Jeff, who drove trucks. With help from dad, his mum, Joycie, and from Connor’s ‘second’ mum and dad, Lyndal and Wayne Stewart, he managed to learn how to make that a reality.

“Lyndal and Wayne helped me with my mental health. They supplied me with everything, basically gave me another life

so that I could work through it,” Connor says.

So what is ASD for Connor?

“I’ve been called a ‘spaz’ or a ‘retard’, but it’s not about that.

All it is, is you think and work in different ways. You have a different mindset. I don’t get stressed easily but when I do, I really stress. It took me four years to learn the signs of when I’m getting worked up and going to lose it and how to control it. Whereas I used to just turn around and blast your head off, now I walk away for 10 minutes and calm down.”

It’s a credit to Connor that for the past year, he’s managed to live with ASD without the need for medication. “Over the years, I’ve probably been on about 30 different medications.

Some have made me worse, some have made me better,” he says.

When it came to his journey into the trucking industry, though, having ASD has

unfortunately been a sticking point. “The whole label thing; I’ve felt too scared to walk into certain places and say what I’ve got because people would turn around and say ‘we don’t want you’. I got told I was a liability. I’ve had other people turn around and say, ‘we don’t want a spaz working for us’ or call me a retard. I’ve been dished that my whole life to the point where I once had an ambulance pick me up from a worksite when I had a panic attack in a tractor.”

As Connor mentions, stress and anxiety are among the difficulties faced by people with ASD. “I can go out, do the job and come back. I look after the gear, would work 24 hours if I could and I won’t stop ’til the job’s done… But the second you say, ‘hey, I’m autistic’, you’re judged and not on how you are or how you work. It’s like a wall goes up and they don’t want to know you,”

New Zealand Trucking

November 2022 61

Left: Connor with the Scania he drives, contracting to Tito Transport. Middle: Happy behind the wheel no matter the job. Right: Connor at the wheel of the Scania.

Connor says.

Happily, there have also been people accepting of Connor’s ‘label’ – with some who have had an especially big influence, seen his potential and taken him under their wing.

One of these key figures in Connor’s life is Skip Golden.

When Connor moved to the North Shore at 17 to live with Lyndal and Wayne, he found work with various civil and earthmoving crews. During that time, he and Skip crossed paths.

“Skip took me in and put me in the workshop. I basically had to know how to fix the truck if anything went wrong before I could drive one. I learnt to drive by moving the trucks around… Skip threw me into the trucks and said, ‘figure it out’.

“I had a massive cock-up one day, thought I’d get fired over it. Skip had just bought his first Scania, it was all shined up and polished, and he asked me to back it up. I said, ‘Skip, I’ve never backed a trailer before.’ He said, ‘Give it a go, take your time, you’ll be right.’ I backed in between two of his old Fusos and swiped the side of the bin on a parked truck. I was quite upset, but Skip said, ‘We all make mistakes, but you’ve come to me and owned up to it.’ Then he gave me a polisher…” Connor laughs.

“Often, I’d think I was making a mess, but he

62 New Zealand Trucking

gave me reassurance and confidence. Most of what I know came from Skip, he’s supported me and been my mentor through it all. I’ve struggled and walked out of the industry many times. Skip has always been there and dragged me back in and built me up.”

Another notable influence in Connor’s life has been Graeme and Noleen Sole of Taranaki’s G.J. Sole Transport, one of the companies at which Connor was doing some work when we caught up with him. “Apart from Skip, Graeme and Noleen are the only others that have understood me and treated me as if I’m a normal person,” Connor says.

“Graham’s attitude is, ‘If you can do your job and come home safely, it’s only a label.’ I could ring him up if unsure and ask him the same question five times, and he doesn’t fire up about it. It’s a good environment, and he runs it like a family. He’s said to me, ‘For someone your age, you know exactly what you’re doing.’ After all the negative stuff I’ve had, that kind of positive feedback means quite a bit to me.

“There aren’t many people out there who just take you for who you are.”

Between his grounding at Golden Contracting and his latest contracting position at New Plymouth-based Tito Transport, Connor worked at various other civil and

transport companies. He also worked with Neville Bros. between 2018 and 2020, which put him through his class 2 and set him out doing tip work and driving a fourwheeler cattle truck.

The year 2019 was a big one for Connor. He started his first company as a side business, Machine Guys. “I bought a 1982 Hino GD 4x2.

It had a real high deck, about 1500mm off the ground. The first digger I put on it was a three-tonner, and I about crapped my pants – there was that much roll. I floated around with that doing work here, there, and everywhere while working for other companies as well.”

Also, during 2019, Connor got involved with the disability support agency Manawanui and its Fund for Good programme, which paid for him to achieve his class-4 licence. Later working for Pollock Cranes, he was put through his class 5.

Besides the financial aspects, achieving his heavy transport licences came with its own challenges.

“I didn’t think I could do it because I cannot do theory.

With ASD, I can’t take in information theoretically, I learn visually. I can read something and look at a picture, but I won’t remember it 10 minutes later unless I can physically see it being done. So, for my class 5 I sat at VTNZ for five hours redoing my theory until

I got it.”

Connor reckons that studying for the theory test could be made easier for many people with short video clips explaining some of the concepts. “Some of the complicated scenarios with trucks and trailers – say chain points and weights – even a 10-second clip that visually demonstrates it would make all the change in the world.”

More recently, Connor started Connor Brownlee Contracting, doing small earthworks jobs, agricultural work and contracting to other companies. During this time, he moved around between the Waikato and Bay of Plenty but, following a split with his partner, he decided to pack up and move to Taranaki to be closer to his grandfather – which is what led him to the yards of G.J. Sole and Tito Transport.

“At 22, I’ve got every licence and ticket apart from a bike licence. If I’ve battled through it and done it, anybody can.

Getting judged puts you off, yes, but how many other people are out there trying to do what they want to do and are getting shut down and feeling like they can’t accomplish it?

“If you talk to people, you’ll find good support networks.

The trucking industry is hard.

There are a lot of old-school people. But stick to it, talk to the understanding people, and you’ll be right,” Connor says.

November 2022

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JUST TRUCKING AROUND

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Cam ‘Ferg’ Ferguson Jaymin McGuire bumped into Cam Ferguson, also known as ‘Ferg’, in Hikarangi while grabbing lunch. Based in Whangarei, Cam runs his own business, Ferguson Transport, which provides bulk tipping, metal-spreading and fill services, whether it be on subdivisions, roading projects, farms or driveways.

Cam drives a 2004 Kenworth T650 with a 550hp Cat C15, with an 18-speed Roadranger gearbox.

Cam says that he “loved trucks as a young fella, so just jumped in and gave it a go”, and that he’s been driving trucks on and off for about 11 years.

The best part of the job, states Cam, “is simply being out and about. There’s something new every day. You’re always learning.” He also says his truck is the next best part of the job, having owned the Kenworth for six months. It started life as a logging truck and was converted into a tipper when it was a few years old.

There are always pitfalls to a job, and “load rates, road quality, expectations, and the lack of loyalty from newcomers”

are just a few that Cam has experienced in his time. He reckons that they need to “definitely throw some money at the quality of roads, and to driver training to help contain the number of useless drivers out there”, as this could help

make the roads safer for everyone, truckers and all.

Cam’s big question was: ‘Wine or beer?’ “You can’t beat an ice-cold beer, for sure!”

Daryl Uhlenberg We rarely catch a director of one of the country’s longest-standing names in trucking when they’re behind the wheel. Recently, however, Gavin Myers spotted none other than Daryl Uhlenberg as he was taking a break at the BP Truckstop, Taupiri.

Daryl had just picked up the latest addition to the Uhlenberg fleet from Adam McIntosh at Southpac Trucks in Auckland, a new Kenworth T610. He and the as-yet unbranded tractor unit were on the way back to Uhlenberg’s hometown of Eltham, where the T610’s drivers Buzz and Ian were awaiting its arrival.

“This is fleet No.37, the second of identical spec – 36 went on the road about six months ago,” Daryl explains.

No.37 joins the fleet as a dangerousgoods unit, running a 24-tonne quadaxle LPG tanker predominantly between Eltham and Auckland.

“It’s pretty much a standard 8x4 configuration for a DG tanker, with a Cummins X-15 up front and 18-speed

64 New Zealand Trucking

November 2022

Roadranger,” Daryl says.

Daryl runs the family-owned business, started by his parents 56 years ago, with his brothers Tony and Chris. “I’m usually driving the desk, so I enjoy the opportunity to get on the road and do these one-offs every now and again. I do enjoy being out on the road. For my

retirement job, I want to go truck driving,” Daryl says with a laugh.

Naturally, Gavin had to ask Daryl the usual JTA questions, and in response to some of the industry’s challenges, he says: “Definitely the poor condition of roads and infrastructure. We are faced with almost third-world conditions to operate in, and funding is either not being spent wisely or completely misdirected.

The condition of our roading is the most escalating problem we have.

You can’t put sugar on it.”

As he’d just picked up a meal, Daryl’s vexing question was McDonald’s or KFC? “You can’t beat a good serving of KFC. However, if any of my family reads this, please tell them I was having a salad and a bottle of water, not this Big Mac and coffee.

I’m meant to be watching my diet!”

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Freddie O’Sullivan Conal O’Sullivan, better known to his friends as Freddie, is a 30-year-old truck mechanic from Dunshaughlin, County Meath in the Republic of Ireland. He was preparing to leave the Retro Truck Show in Gaydon, Warwickshire, England, when Paul O’Callaghan suggested a photograph.

After serving his apprenticeship, Freddie spent a few years fulfilling his lifelong dream of driving on the continent before settling down at home and working in the family business, Commercial Repair Services, alongside his brother Garrett and father Donal. He admits that he misses the long-distance driving, but working in the garage allows him to indulge in his other hobbies, such as playing Gaelic hurling for his local club Drumree and shooting during the season.

Trucks are his main source of interest, and the white Scania 143H 420

behind him is his pride and joy, mainly used for shows and bringing trailers to the test centre. The left-hand-drive truck was first registered in Belgium in 1995 before it was sold to a collector in Ireland.

Freddie’s favourite aspect of driving is at night when the roads are quiet, allowing him time to think. However, he dislikes the ‘digi card’ [digital tachograph] drivers’ hours’ monitoring system in modern European trucks.

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SPECIAL RIGS FOR SPECIAL KIDS

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THE

RETURN OF SMILES After a Covid-19 delay for Dunedin’s Special Rigs for Special Kids, the event finally returned to the streets of greater Dunedin.

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Story and photos by Craig Andrews

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he impressively coordinated event was again led by Dunedin’s Greg Inch and his remarkable committee.

It was all familiar stuff – happy kids, happy parents, grandparents, caregivers and, of course, those unsung heroes in the form of truck drivers and their trucks. Crane trucks, loggers, street sweepers, livestock trucks, fire engines and even buses all ensured that children were ferried around the route.

A special mention must go to the Dunedin City Council and Fulton Hogan for making sure that the main street of Green Island was passable despite significant roadworks.

It’s a fabulous day, the popularity of which never seems to diminish. One can only imagine how big the 30th event, planned for 2023, will be.

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1) A trio of Mainfreight UDs. 2) The most familiar truck in the parade and leading from the front with Greg Inch behind the wheel: a 1984 Scania with nearly 2,500,000km on it. 3) Once again, Dynes had a big contingent. This great-looking K104 is now on plant-carrying duties. 4) Tidy CH Mack from McEwan Haulage. 5) Nice move MAN, with a happy customer on board. 6) Smart Fulton Hogan FM Volvos. 7) McEwan Haulage operator Stan Prattley with his grandson, Mason Sefona’a. 8) There were plenty of tired arms from waving and pulling air-horn cords. 9) Eleven trucks from R&R Hiab Services turned up for the day. 10) Plenty of McLellan Freight trucks turned up. 11 & 12) Protranz’s anniversary Mack Super-Liner and Maurice Adams’ 3070 Acco were two stars of the show.

13) One of the Downer Isuzus still wearing its winter kit. 14) Diehard Mack supporter Cranleigh Haulage from Kaitangata had this smart stock unit pleasing the crowds. 15) This cool Clutha Valley Transport Isuzu was one of three units from the Clydevale-based company.

66 New Zealand Trucking

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November 2022

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GREAT DASHBOARDS OF THE PAST In this series, we look at great dashboards of the past, when character, quirks and idiosyncrasies dominated the driving department’s control centre. When gauges were physically connected to hot and cold bits and, when they worked, told you if those bits were hot or cold. When Kysor alarms bleared on summertime ascents and you could manually control shutters and fans. When switches made shit happen when it wasn’t important and didn’t when it was. Yes, the great dashes were yesterday’s infotainment – sometimes low on information but always high on entertainment.

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November 2022

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AUSSIE ANGLES

Story by Howard Shanks

Photos by Mick Linger, Highland Haulage

ALL ROADS LEAD TO ALICE Every August for the past couple of decades, all roads lead to Alice Springs for Australian truck drivers for the annual road transport reunion.

However, this year’s reunion marked the first gathering of the event since the forced hiatus due to Covid-19 restrictions.

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ccasionally, the freight takes a back seat to the journey and the people along the route.

This story is about one of those rare occasions. For Highland Haulage owner Mick Linger and his son Marcus, the pilgrimage from their hometown in Deloraine, Tasmania – halfway across the continent for the Road Transport Hall of Fame’s reunion in Alice Springs – was a few years in the making. But one they’d both been looking forward to for some time.

Even if you’ve never met

70 New Zealand Trucking

Mick or Marcus, one look at their impressively restored trucks speaks volumes about the passion these men have for their machines. For this trip to ‘the Alice’, Marcus had chosen to take up the Ford LTL 9000 they’d restored a couple of years ago. Mick, meantime, was eager to climb behind the wheel of the ex-TNT 1978 SAR they had not long finished rebuilding.

For Marcus, though, the first leg of the journey was no holiday. He loaded his tautliner in Deloraine with freight bound for the mainland, then caught a ride on the Spirit of Tasmania November 2022

earlier in the week. Finally, in Melbourne he unloaded and reloaded his tautliner with cargo bound for Adelaide.

“All our trucks are working trucks,” Mick says as he tightens the ratchet strap. “But this old Mack I’m taking up to the Alice is the first new truck that Byron Bonney ordered.

A keen team from Lloyds North found it still working up in the state’s northeast. So consequently, they negotiated its purchase and organised its restoration. But have a chat with Robbie Maher. He’ll fill you in on the details about the Mack,” Mick suggests.

“I’m on a bit of a mission at the moment as I have to catch the boat tonight,” he adds, hurrying off towards the office.

Later that night, Mick leans on the aft rail of the Spirit of Tasmania and sends a simple

text as the side thrusters churn the waters of the Mersey River, spinning the ferry around to face north.

The phone on my desk pings with the incoming message. It reads, “We made the boat, talk to you tomorrow.”

Mick and Marcus assemble at Highland Haulage’s Melbourne depot for a final check-over of the trucks. Even though Mick and his crew are meticulous regarding their restoration work, the additional checks will ensure a troublefree journey to the red centre.

Google estimates the journey will take 23 hours and 58 minutes driving and warns of severe weather with damaging winds. Undeterred, the intrepid travellers set off, overnighting in Adelaide to unload the freight out

of Marcus’ tautliner before continuing northward.

And no trip to the red centre would be complete without a photo with the famous Coober Pedy opal truck sign. Later, Mick and Marcus park up in Coober Pedy next to the Star Wars spaceship before hitting the road early the next day.

When they arrive in Alice Springs, Mick is thrilled when the event organisers offer him the prime parking spot in front of the Kenworth Dealer Hall of Fame shed.

“Several people thought the old Kenworth SAR was one of the new legend models,” Mick smiles. “It’s not till I pointed to the 8V92 Detroit Diesel under the hood that they believed it’s an original SAR.”

R-Model Mack The R-Model Mack on Mick’s drop-deck is a significant piece of history in the Lloyds North organisation. The company, founded by Byron Bonney in 1977, commenced operation from a small tin shed at the Long Reach woodchop mill, shuttling waste bark from the mill and employing nine

people using second-hand trucks.

Byron Bonney was posthumously inducted into the National Road Transport Hall of Fame during the event’s Covid hiatus. Still, family, friends and his original new Mack R-Model officially made the journey to accept the plaque this year. It had long been a dream of Bryon to have one of his trucks displayed at the museum after a visit prior to his death.

The inscription on his induction plaque reads: ‘He was born into a transport family and left school at 15 to pursue a career in the family business. He worked in various roles and eventually managed the Bonney Mix Concrete division. In 1977, Byron had the opportunity to purchase the family’s tree bark division and establish Lloyds North.’

Byron led by example and was extremely driven.

He worked within all levels of the business and worked long hours to stay on top of operations. By 1978, when Byron took delivery of his

Byron Bonney’s R-Model has been painstakingly restored and left on display at the National Road Transport Hall of Fame for the next 12 months.

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first new Mack prime mover, Mack Trucks flew him to the Mack factory in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA, where he was presented with a Mack key to the city.

This truck has been painstakingly restored, and the company has kindly left it on display at the National Road Transport Hall of Fame for the next 12 months.

“A lot of people helped fulfil Byron’s wish to have one of his trucks displayed up at Alice Springs,” Robbie says. “Laurie Kelly in Launceston did a lot of the restoration, Scott Barker painted it, and the master signwriter Kevin Brown worked his magic on the mural and signwriting. Finally, Mick helped us by transporting the Mack to Alice Springs.

“Back in 1978, the old R-Model was a reasonably heavy-spec’d truck,” Robbie continues. “It’s

powered by a 285 Maxidyne engine, coupled to a twin-stick six-speed Mack transmission.

It had the bigger 44,000-pound Mack carriers on a camelback suspension. It had a top speed of around 90kph.”

While the attendance roll-up wasn’t anywhere near the bustling crowds of pre-covid events, the journey and experience didn’t disappoint. “We had a great time,” Mick smiles. “It’s great to get away for a few weeks with the boys. We all enjoy our trucks, and we caught up with many old friends we’d worked with over the years and hadn’t seen for some time.”

“Thankfully, our trucks ran up and back without so much as squeak or rattle out of place,” Mick adds. “But next year, you can tell your boss he’d better send you along with us so you can take your own photos.”

2

3 1) Visiting the famous Coober Pedy opal truck sign. 2) The classic SAR is so pristine it had visitors wondering if it was the new model.

3) Markus (left) and Mick Linger.

“Are you done with little tippy?”

NEW RI GS ON THE R OAD

Photo: Andrew Geddes.

‘BAD HABIT’

Kenworth K200 6x4 tractor 2.8m sleeper cab

OPERATOR: Bascik Transport, RT Southern Linehaul, Pleasant Point ENGINE: Cummins X-15 15-litre 459kW (615hp) 2779Nm (2050lb/ft) TRANSMISSION: Eaton

Roadranger RTLO22918B 18-speed manual transmission REAR AXLES: Meritor RT21165GP rear axles REAR SUSPENSION: KW Airglide 460 BRAKES: Disc. ABS, EBSS

RIGGED/SET-UP: Southpac Engineering, HDPS Engineering FEATURES/EXTRAS: All boxes ticked. Kentweld bumper. Full cupboard package

THE DRIVER’S MACHINE MAN TGX 35.540 Premium 8x4 rigid XL sleeper OPERATOR: Move Logistics, Punjabi Drivers, Tauranga ENGINE: MAN D2676LF06 12.4-litre Euro-5 397kW (540hp), 2500Nm (1850lb/ft) TRANSMISSION: MAN TipMatic 12 28 OD with retarder 35 FRONT AXLES: MAN VOK-09 FRONT SUSPENSION: Parabolic springs REAR AXLES: MAN Hypoid HYD-1370 / HY-1350 (3.70:1) REAR SUSPENSION: Electronically controlled air suspension (ECAS) BRAKES: Disc. ABS, EBS. MAN BrakeMatic SAFETY: ACC, EBA, ABS, ASR, ESP BODY/TRAILER: Truck: TMC 7.4m mezzanine floors / Trailer: Korimiko 11.5m mezzanine floor FEATURES/EXTRAS: Chrome sun visor. LED marker lights and lightbar. Microwave PAINT: Haddock Spray Painters 2003, Whakatane SIGNAGE: Marty’s Signs, Mt Maunganui OPERATION: General freight, Auckland and Wellington DRIVER: Lovejeet Singh SALES: Mark Ellerington

w w w. t r g r o u p. c o . n z 74 New Zealand Trucking

November 2022

PAINT: Ex-factory SIGNAGE: Timaru Signs Graphix OPERATION: General freight, nationwide DRIVER: Robbie Jeffrey SALES: Chris Gray

“GREAT SCOTT!” OPERATOR: Carron Scott Contracting, Te Anau ENGINE: Scania DC 13-litre Euro-6 403kW (540hp) 2700Nm (1990lb/ft) TRANSMISSION: Scania Opticruise GRSO905 14-speed AMT with manual over-ride and Scania retarder

Scania R540 8x4 rigid sleeper REAR AXLES: Scania RPB735 hub reduction with cross lock and diff lock REAR SUSPENSION: Scania full air suspension BRAKES: Disc. ABS, EBS BODY/TRAILER: TES (Transport Engineering Southland)

FEATURES/EXTRAS: Air management kit. Alcoa alloy wheels. Factory on-board scales PAINT: Ex-factory SIGNAGE: Vital Signs, Invercargill OPERATION: Rural carriage, Te Anau SALES: Kere Menzies

METRO HONEY! Scania P410 B6x2NB rigid OPERATOR: Mainfreight, Peek St Investments, Napier ENGINE: Scania DC13 Euro-5 13-litre 306kW (410hp) 2150Nm (1586 lb/ft) TRANSMISSION: Scania Opticruise GRS905R 12-speed AMT with 3500 retarder REAR AXLES: Scania R780 single reduction axle with tag/ lift axle REAR SUSPENSION: Scania air suspension front and rear BRAKES: Drum. ABS, EBS BODY/TRAILER: Elite Motor Bodies, Wiri FEATURES/EXTRAS: Alcoa Dura-Bright alloy wheels.

Super-single steer tyres. Scales. LED Scania marker lights. Customer stainless-steel trim. Fridge PAINT: Ex-factory SIGNAGE: Mammoth Signs, Napier OPERATION: Mainfreight metro, Hawke’s Bays DRIVER: Adam Jackson SALES: Callan Short

Free phone: 0800 50 40 50 New Zealand Trucking

November 2022

75

NEW RI GS ON THE R OAD

STICKING WITH A WINNING FORMULA OPERATOR: Daily Freight, Ghotra Linehaul, Auckland ENGINE: IVECO Cursor 13 Euro-6 (Patented Hi-eSCR DPF system) 425kW (570hp) 2500nm (1850lb/ft). Super Engine Brake TRANSMISSION: ZF Hi-Tronix

12TX2420 12-speed AMT REAR AXLES: Meritor MT23150/D hypoid with diff locks REAR SUSPENSION: Front air, IVECO eight-bag ECAS rear BRAKES: Disc. ABS, EBS SAFETY: ACC, AEBS, LDW, HH. Driver assessment system

BODY/TRAILER: MaxiTRANS body and five-axle trailer FEATURES/EXTRAS: Air management kit. Alcoa DuraBright polished alloy wheels.

Stainless-steel sheathed guards. Full leather airsuspended ISRI seats (heated

READY FOR THE NEXT 50!

DAF CF530 Euro-6 6x4 tractor sleeper cab OPERATOR: Conroy Removals, Napier ENGINE: PACCAR MX-13 12.9 litre Euro-6 390kW (530hp) 2600Nm (1920lb/ft) TRANSMISSION: ZF TraXon 12TX2620 REAR AXLES: DAF SR1360T single reduction inter-axle and cross lock REAR SUSPENSION: DAF 8-bag SR1360T BRAKES: Disc. ABS/EBS SAFETY: Full safety suite (ACC, FCE, AEBS, LWD, VSC, AB) BODY/TRAILER: Roadmaster three-axle furniture semi FEATURES/EXTRAS: Air management kit PAINT: Ex-factory SIGNAGE: Fleet Image, Auckland OPERATION: Furniture and fragile freight, nationwide DRIVER: Billy Harris SALES: Mark O’Hara

w w w. t r g r o u p. c o . n z 76 New Zealand Trucking

November 2022

IVECO X-Way 570 8x4 rigid AS sleeper and cooled). Double bunks.

Fridge and coolbox PAINT: Ex-factory SIGNAGE: Royans, Auckland OPERATION: Linehaul general freight SALES: Pieter Theron

Photo: Conroy Removals.

SERIES 5 HAS ARRIVED AT MCFALL Volvo FM540 8x4 rigid OPERATOR: McFall Fuel, Te Awamutu ENGINE: Volvo D13G 13-litre 403kW (540hp) 2600Nm (1920lb/ft) TRANSMISSION: Volvo I-Shift with dual clutch SPO2812 REAR AXLES: Volvo RTS 2370B REAR SUSPENSION: Volvo RADD-GR air suspension BRAKES: Disc. ABS, EBS SAFETY: Full safety suite BODY/TRAILER: Barrel and fit-out: Tanker Solutions, Wellington FEATURES/EXTRAS: DG-equipped cab and chassis.

Factory-fitted PTO and hydraulic pump. Alcoa DuraBright alloy wheels PAINT: Ex-factory SIGNAGE: Rutherford Signs, Tauranga OPERATION: Fuel cartage, greater Waikato DRIVER: Barry Petch SALES: Todd Martin

Photo: Mark O’Hara.

FIRST BUG RISING Kenworth K200 8x4 rigid 2.3m flat-roof sleeper OPERATOR: East Coast Haulage, Masterton ENGINE: Cummins X-15 15-litre Euro-5 448kW (600hp) 2779Nm (2050lb/ft) TRANSMISSION: Eaton Roadranger RTLO20918B 18-speed manual REAR AXLES: Meritor MT21-165GP, 4.30:1 with dual axle locks REAR SUSPENSION: Kenworth AG460 BRAKES: Drum. ABS, EBSS BODY/TRAILER: Patchell log gear, and five-axle Patchell log trailer (refurbished) FEATURES/EXTRAS: Dual exhausts and dual Ram intakes. Stainless-steel drop visor. Custom grille. Air horns removed and additional marker lights added.

Alcoa Dura-Bright alloy wheels. Fridge PAINT: Ex-factory SIGNAGE: Supreme Painters, Masterton OPERATION: Log cartage, lower North Island DRIVER: Geoff Futter SALES: Mark O’Hara

Free phone: 0800 50 40 50 New Zealand Trucking

November 2022

77

NEW RI GS O N THE ROAD 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 FCA – Forward Collision Avoidance FCW – Forward Collision Warning FUPS – Front Under-run Protection System HH – Hill hold HSA – Hill Start Assist 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 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

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NEW KIWI BODIES & TRAILERS New Zealand Trucking brings you New Kiwi Bodies & Trailers. Bodies and trailers are expected to last twice as long as trucks, and

New Zealand has a rich heritage of body and trailer building,

new technology and advanced design features are showing up almost every month.

included on these pages, send a photo, features, and the

and we’re proud to showcase some recent examples of Kiwi craftsmanship every month. If you want a body or trailer manufacturer’s name to trailers@nztrucking.co.nz

New product out of the Northland mist On a misty Northland day come a couple of standouts for machine and body supplier Bison Equipment in Kamo. Even though it’s fantastic when operators choose to keep the body-build of their new gigs local, looking at the kit the team at Bison has turned out, why wouldn’t you?

Firstly, the two trucks are the first of their breed in the Far North. MAW Ltd, Kaitaia, is the proud owner of this Series-5 FM, and Dicksons Quarries in Whangarei now has a spanking new Anthem in its collection of Bulldogs.

The Volvo will immerse itself in agricultural cartage, hence the 5.1m drop-side set-up. With a Hardox floor, she’s as ‘tuff’ as the manufacturer’s name implies, and the two-way rear swinger only adds

to the rig’s versatility. The front-ofbody Delta hoist and THS hydraulic components take care of the ups and downs and Hella does what it does best on the illumination front.

The Bulldog has a 5m Hardox gravel body with grain locks, spreading chains, and a sharp-looking PVC cover that matches the cab paint.

Delta built-in front-of-body hoist and THS hydraulics despatch the gravely

consignments through the tailgate at just the right time. Hella again does its bit for after-dark operations.

Features: Volvo – 5.1m drop-side, two-way tailgate. Hardox floor, Delta hoist, THS hydraulics. Hella.

Mack – 5.0m Hardox gravel body.

Grain lock, spreading chains. THS hydraulics. Hella. Bison Equipment

KIWI 16/17

Contact Jim Doidge 021 190 1002, Hayden Jones 0800 549 489, Danial Vincent 021 222 4144 | sales@kiwityres.co.nz |

0800 KIWI TYRES (0800 549 489) | kiwitrucktyres.nz 80 New Zealand Trucking

November 2022

KIWI 175

Front to back In last month’s New Rigs, we saw the front of the Musson Logistics International ProStar binwood truck. Now, let’s look at the bit that carts the goods that pay for it all… built by those masters of metal manipulation, Rotorua’s very own MillsTui. The Hardox steel body has rear-entry doors for access to the bin, plus hatches to make cleaning it that much easier.

Mounted aft is a Palfinger

Epsilon Q150 crane with allweather cab.

Access into those awkward places is aided by the inclusion of Bigfoot central tyre inflation, and although the truck’s life will often

be undertaken far from the madding crowd, pride and finish have not been assigned a back seat.

Polished alloy wheels, an alloy toolbox, and stainlesssteel tail-light infills add

Features: Hardox steel body, Bigfoot central tyre inflation. Palfinger Epsilon Q150 crane.

Mills-Tui to the already striking two-tone green and white Musson livery.

Wisdom leads the way According to the boffins, collaboration is one of the pathways to success in modern business.

The relationship between New Zealand’s Total Transport Engineers LP in Mount Maunganui and Tieman Tankers in Victoria, Australia, says ‘amen’ to those theories when you see what the two companies can produce.

Built for customer HEB Construction to operate out of its Christchurch branch, the base four-axle bitumen semi-trailer was fabricated in Australia by Tieman and sent to New Zealand for final fittings, certification and compliance by the team at Total Transport Engineers LP.

The finished unit can cart 26 tonne of product at 46-tonne GCM, though currently it’s running 22 tonne at 44 tonne GCM. Plenty of polished alloy and stainless steel, along with full reflective side under-run protection, clearly demonstrates that great looks and elevated safety levels are compatible goals on a modern build.

One cool part of the finished rig

is HEB’s choice of tractor unit, choosing to completely refurbish one of the company’s 10-year-old Mack Granites and assign it to the task.

Spectacular!

Features: SAF axle and suspension.

WABCO EBS braking.

Total Transport Engineers LP / Tieman Tankers

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KIWI 175

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The KIWI 16’s tougher twin Super heavy-duty case Puncture resistant 17mm extra-deep tread

Multi-use tread pattern Urban/highway/off road Puncture-resistant 17.5mm extra-deep tread

New Zealand Trucking

November 2022 81

A truck that has given great service since it’s heart transport.

EAT YOUR CARROTS SO YOU CAN TAKE A LOOK AT CAROTS

W

ith the withdrawal of the model, finding a cool-looking Freightliner Argosy will be an ever-more wonderful thing as time marches on. If this big 2012 ‘Freighty’ hangs around in the Eden Haulage gold, it will surely become such a truck.

Its early years were somewhat chequered for owner Phil Collinson.

Not the truck he wanted, the Argosy was purchased when another supplier couldn’t deliver. The EGR Detroit Diesel was dogged with trouble from the outset and the Eaton AutoShift was “slow as

the second coming, and unreliable,” according to Phil. When it finally gave up the ghost at 600,000km, Phil decided to quit the combo at the head of the powertrain and retro-fit a brand new Cummins Gen-2 Signature and Eaton Roadranger 18-speed manual. “Jason and John Fowler were both at Transport Repairs here in Invercargill at the time, and they did a superb job to better than factory spec,” Phil says.

“Fuel consumption on its first run was 2.1kpl as opposed to 1.8 average for the previous set-up. I couldn’t be happier

with the truck since the transplants.”

Interestingly, CAROTS was one of the first HPMV 22.3m units to hit the road in the South Island. It was on the cusp of the new legislation when it wasn’t known if four-axle trailers would be more viable than five.

Approaching 1.8-million kilometres on the clock, it’s the only ambient unit in the fleet, running from the deep South to Marlborough and back. “I’ll have to decide shortly whether it gets a cosmetic refurb and truck chiller, or replaced.”

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

82 New Zealand Trucking November 2022

CORNERSTONE BRAND

R

ounding out the Eden Haulage contribution to the Bridgestone New Zealand Trucking Million Mile Club, we end it how we started, with the truck brand that company owner Phil Collinson attributes to standing up a young business.

“This truck and its sister paved the way for the trucks that followed. I needed trucks that would work hard and provide a solid grounding in

the early years, and that’s exactly what they did.”

Driven by George Smith from new, the 2008 International 9800i has done 2.3 million kilometres having had a new ISX Cummins implanted at 1.2 million kilometres when “number two piston decided to try the rotary engine thing to see what that was like,” as Phil put it.

Fitted with a Carrier undermount fridge motor at

mid-life, the truck still works the company Invercargill, Christchurch, Marlborough, and Auckland circuit.

“Cents per kilometre, the Internationals are still the most cost effective trucks I own. This one is on its second set of brake linings and still running the original drums.”

An interesting aside, the cab was originally 90” and cut back to 80” ex the factory to increase deck space. This

was a common prectice back then.

“It’s a brand sometimes unfairly maligned. Had the Intertruck workshop in Christchurch been retained, I would have another one tomorrow.

“It’s up for replacement in the next couple of years, but only because of driver retention and the need for bigger cabs with more room.”

Another stalwart International in the history of Eden Haulage.

Bridgestone and N ew 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.

TO JOIN, EMAIL:

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

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 November 2022 83

WHEELS AT WANAKA MEMORIES

We bring you a pictorial memory from the phenomenal 2021 Wheels at Wanaka event – to keep the embers well and truly lit on the run-up to 2023!

C&R Developments had no competition for biggest-grader honours. The only one in New Zealand, its Caterpillar 24H with its 7.3m (24ft) moldboard is an awe-inspiring machine that had the crowd revelling in every appearance.

No wonder it’s the world’s favourite forklift.

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

Mitsubishi Forklift trucks from Centra, moving New Zealand forward.

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Auckland - 32 Hastie Avenue, Māngere Bridge, Ph: 09 634 8500 Hamilton - 38 Maui Street, Ph: 07 849 5128 Palmerston North - 25 Bisley Street, Ph: 06 355 9033 Christchurch - 38a Parkhouse Road, Ph: 03 343 6814

11/03/22 1:02 PM

Truck &

HEAVY TRANSPORT ENGINEERS

SALES - NORTHERN

Phil Hawkes 027 701 4000 phil@tmc.kiwi

Auckland 8 Oak Road, Wiri

SALES - CENTRAL

Ron Price 021 701 098 ron@tmc.kiwi

Hamilton 18 Evolution Drive, Horotiu

SALES - SOUTHERN

Paul (Skippy) Goodman 021 701 110 skippy@tmc.kiwi

Christchurch 56 Edmonton Rd, Hornby www.tmc.kiwi

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MINI BIG RIGS

Above: Our subject matter: the Mercedes-Benz and threeaxle, 43ft flat-deck semitrailer of Pilkington Automotive Glass driven by Ken Kirk, circa 1992. Right: The completed trailer ready for the paint shop, then a load for its maiden voyage.

HEAVY ENGINEERING IN

PLASTIC

Our Ken Kirk/Pilkington Glass Mercedes-Benz project has been a mostly straight-out-of-the-box build. This month, we get a bit adventurous and break out the sharp hobby knife and some Evergreen sheet plastic and start scratch-building.

I

n the movie Back to the Future, Doc Emmett Brown says, “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.” This month, we say, “Instructions? What we are building, we don’t need instructions.”

It is now time to design and scratch-build the flat deck and accessories upon the chassis frame and suspension we built last month. The first step is to measure and cut out the deck surface.

Evergreen 2mm plain sheet plastic is a solid option. This gauge will give the trailer rigidity, preventing distortion in the future.

Working out the correct measurements for our build

requires some straightforward calculations. For example, we know the overall permitted width on New Zealand’s roads is 2550mm, and we are building in 1:24th scale.

Divide 2550mm by 24, and we get 106.25mm. This means our overall build width for the trailer is 106mm, give or take 0.25mm.

So, let’s cut our sheet plastic into 100mm strips, as we will add 3mm to each side by fitting combing rails to get the 106mm total width we are after. We know the trailer was a typical 43ft triset semi, so we apply the same calculation. The only difference is we first need to convert the 43ft imperial

measurement to metric.

This is easily done using an online ‘ft to m’ conversion application. Entering the 43ft measurement, we get a conversion of 13,106mm.

Divide this by 24 and get an overall length measurement of 546mm.

Using the 100mm strips of 2mm sheet plastic, lay out the required pieces on a flat surface to obtain the 546mm length. Making sure that the pieces are straight and true, we overlay the assembled chassis carefully onto the sheet plastic while ensuring that it sits evenly distanced from both sides and parallel.

Once in the correct position, glue the chassis to the sheet

New Zealand’s largest stockist of quality models and vintage toys

plastic and allow it to dry for 24 hours.

Now that we have the superstructure of the trailer complete, we can concentrate on the finishing touches, such as combing rails, tie rails, tool lockers and mudguards.

There are no instruction sheets for this – we are simply doing the best we can to replicate the trailer by looking at the three photos we have of it. From these images, we can see that there will be a lot of guesstimation required, as well as heavy use of the eyeometer.

There is no right or wrong way to scratch-build, so do not hold back – this is the fun part about scratch-building.

It is completely up to your imagination, so get stuck into it and have fun creating a one-off model that is exclusively yours.

Next month, we are on the home straight. We paint, detail and finish the construction of our trailer, as well as construct a tarped load to sit on its back – just like the real rig would have had for its 1/50 KW C509 & Drake 2x8 & maiden voyage.

“Centurion” at $649.50 Spe

LAYBY NOW FOR CHRISTMAS

1/64 Kenworth K100 & 2 Trailers “CR England” $199.50

1) Accurately cutting out the 2mm sheet plastic into 100mm-wide strips for the trailer’s deck is the first step of the build. 2) Lay out the 100mm sheets to the required length, then overlay the assembled chassis, parallel and centred to the sheets, and glue them into place, allowing to dry thoroughly. 3) Next, we fit combing rails to the deck. Using 6mm x 3mm rectangle strips, we achieve the required 1:24th scale width of the deck – 106mm – and the correct side-profile height. 4) Cut 2mm-wide box section into 5mm lengths to form the droppers for the tie rails.

5) Fit the droppers in place and glue, allowing plenty of time for the glue to dry. 6) Once the droppers have thoroughly dried, cut to fit and glue a 1.5mm solid rod in place to form the tie rail.

7) Using your eye-ometer and creative licence, cut, fabricate and form the likes of mudguards and headboards. 8-12) The under-belly tool and tarpaulin locker looks difficult to fabricate.

But, when you break it down to its basic form, it really is just a simple box. Start by measuring and cutting out the box’s sides, top and bottom, and assemble one side at a time. Before C509 & Drake 2x8 & 5x8glueing Low Loader on the top, it is n” at $649.50 Special Combo Deal! a good idea to pop in some corner gussets to support the shape of the box. Add some detail to the locker doors, such R AS as hinges and handles, to boost the level of realism.

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CHARITY FUND RAISER

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Although organised in the middle of a pandemic, the inaugural Whanganui Toy Fair went off without a hitch. It wasn’t the greatest timing, but organiser Steve Brown realised many events to raise funds for local charities had been cancelled, meaning that they were missing out on funding. He decided to organise an event, Model Trucks as a Souvenir, to help out and raise money. With the support of a couple of local businesses, the venture cost $1200 but raised $3000 for the chosen charity.

The trucks are based on the conventional Kenworth Aerodyne at 1:87 scale. There are five different-colour tractor units; blue, green, orange, red and white. The trailers have stickers with scenes of Whanganui on their sides and acknowledgement of the supporting businesses on the top to create three different liveries.

The trucks sell for $10 each, with the full $10 going to charity. If you would like one or more of these trucks, contact: whanganuitoyfair@ gmail.com

CRAIG’S TRUCKIN’ SNAPSHOT

S

Long-time contributor Craig McCauley showcases a mixture of classic and contemporary images of Kiwi trucking.

Wilkins Farming Ltd, based in northern Southland, has a well-presented fleet servicing the rural sector. Here we see the company’s multi-functional Kenworth K200 captured while set up with Warren Auger Bins parked at the company’s Wendonside yard.

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LITTLE TRUCKERS’ CLUB

HI, LITTLE TRUCKERS! I hope you are all starting to enjoy the warmer weather and longer days, giving you more chances to get out there and spend time doing the things you love. I had so much fun at the Mack Trucks 50th anniversary celebrations. So many awesome trucks. If you were there and took some photos you would like to share, please send them in. I will be sharing some of mine next month.

Congratulations to Cooper Jones, who found the Little Truckers’ Club logo on page 16 of the October issue. Keep an eye on your mailbox, Cooper, as a prize is on its way to you.

Cooper also sent us a picture of himself and his brother Austin on their dad’s friend’s truck. “My grandad used to be the boss of the workshop at Hall’s when my dad was a kid,” Cooper says.

We have also received a picture from Tony Willitts and his grandson Archie, who is only one-year old and is truck-mad. “‘Truck, truck,’ he says every time he sees one,” says Tony.

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

90 New Zealand Trucking

Did you know that Mack also produced railroad cars and locomotives between 1905 and 1930?

MACK COLOURING-IN COMPETITION

Don’t forget! Mack Trucks has given us a cool Bruder Toy Mack Truck to give away to help celebrate its 50 years in New Zealand.

We have already received some fantastic entries. Thank you to everyone who has sent in coloured-in pictures so far.

If you would like to be in with a chance to win, all you need to do is colour in the Mack truck on page 91 of the October 2022 issue and either take a photo of your artwork or scan it, then email it to me at rochelle@ nztrucking.co.nz. Make sure to include your full name, age and address. Entries need to be in by 10 November. So be quick!

Cooper and Austin Jones with the Hall’s Freightliner.

SCANIA DRAWING COMPETITION We still have a couple of Scania colouring packs to give away. If you would like to be in to win one, all you need to do is draw or make a truck. Take a photo of your art and send it to me at rochelle@ nztrucking.co.nz along with your name, age and location. Grab your colouring-in pens and/or pencils and get creating Little Truckers!

Tony Willitts and his grandson Archie.

th Joke of theunmd on on trucks?

e fo What snakes ar ers!

Windscreen vip

The Little Truckers’ Club logo is hidden somewhere in this issue − find it and let me know where it is, and you may win a prize.

You can email me at rochelle@nztrucking.co.nz Novmeber 2022

NZT 22

r.

DAVID DIDSBURY 027 403 2035 National Fleet Manager – Light Commercial Vehicles

TREVOR WILLS 021 237 118 Light Commercial Vehicle Sales – Auckland

PIETER THERON 021 347 992 Truck Sales – Auckland

HAS YOU COVERED FROM NORTH TO SOUTH Meet the nationwide team Iveco NZ has a long rich history in New Zealand and its team has seen many miles as well. Iveco is a proud manufacturer and importer of commercial vehicles spanning the light, medium and heavy duty truck segments, and also offers a range of small to large buses.

ROBBIE GREENHALGH 022 1234 626 Sales - Waikato

ELLIOT BARNARD 021 347 869 Sales – Lower North Island

STRAUN SYME 027 434 0846 Sales – South Island

s?

Ph 0800 FORIVECO

NZT 22033 Iveco - FP NZT V2.indd 1

www.iveco.co.nz

18/07/22 3:28 PM

TMC TRAILERS TRUCKING INDUSTRY SHOW 25 to 26 November Canterbury Agricultural Park Contact: truckingindustryshow.co.nz, info@ nztruckingassn.co.nz

TRANSFLEET TRAILERS / ALLIED PETROLEUM BOMBAY TRUCK SHOW 21 January 2023, 10:00am Bombay Rugby Club, 30 Paparata Road, Bombay Contact: Facebook – bombaytruckshow

All scheduled events may be subject to change depending on weather conditions etc.

Please check the websites before setting out.

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.

92 New Zealand Trucking

November 2022

NZ SUPER TRUCK RACING 28 to 29 January 2023 – Timaru 18 to 19 March 2023 – Invercargill Contact: facebook.com/ NZ Super Truck Racing

KAMO TOUCH A TRUCK SHOW 29 January 2023 Hurupaki School, Dip Road, Kamo Contact: facebook.com/Kamo Touch A Truck

WHEELS AT WAIRARAPA 4 to 6 February 2023 Clareville Showgrounds, Carterton Contact: wheelsatwairarapa@waiaps.org.nz, wheelsatwairarapa.co.nz

WHEELS AT WANAKA 8 to 9 April 2023 Three Parks, Wanaka Contact: wheelsatwanaka.co.nz

SHANE

GRAY

#5

Team Quality Racing Wellington, NZ TRUCK

Kenworth T404 SAR

ENGINE Caterpillar C15

AWARDS

2NZ Super Truck 2007, 2011, 2012 1st Overall A Class Truck 2010, 2022 2nd Overall A Class Truck 2009/2010, 2012 3rd Overall A Class Truck 2009, 2011, 2016 Eagle Spares Best Presented Team 2012, 2013, 2014, 2022 Forest Freighters Parts & Mechanics Award 2014, 2022

ABOUT

Shane is the owner and operator, since 1994 of Quality Demolition (QDC Group) based out of Wellington and has recently expanded the group with the acquisition of both Masterton & Ohau Quarries.

Shane was involved earlier on in speedway driving both stockcars & superstocks before getting into truck racing. Shane has also raced in Australia as a co-driver for SRZ Racing and taken his previous truck over to race in their championship.

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96 Moving Metrics 100 Trucking Industry Summit 102 Road Ahead Conference 104 Person of Interest – Catching up with Raphael 106 Product Profile – NAPA 108 Carriers’ Corner 110 Business, Together 112 Truckers’ Health 114 Health & Safety 116 Legal Lines 118 NZ Trucking Association 120 Transporting New Zealand 122 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. From time to time, we’ll be asking experts their opinion on what the numbers mean.

Summary of heavy trucks and trailers first registered in September 2022.

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

This information is compiled 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 heavytruck classes and one heavy-trailer class.

A goods vehicle is a motor vehicle that: (a) i s 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.

Vehicle class

Description

NB

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

(mediumgoods vehicle)

NC (heavy-goods vehicle)

TD (heavy trailer)

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

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

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/vehicle-dimensionsand-mass-2016-as-at-1-September-2019.pdf Note: Vehicle classes are not the same as RUC vehicle types or driver licence classes.

96 New Zealand Trucking

November 2021

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

First registration of TD class heavy trailers for September, year on year by major manufacturer

First registration of NB, NC and TD class vehicles year on year, to date

First registration of NC class vehicles year on year to date, by major manufacturer

First registration of TD class heavy trailers year on year to date, by major manufacturer

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November 2021 97

This information is put together from metrics provided by the NZ Transport Agency.

New Zealand Trucking acknowledges the assistance of the media team at NZTA in providing the data.

ROAD USER CHARGES Total value and distance of road user charges purchased between 01 January 2018 and 30 September 2022 by purchase year

RUC purchase for September 2022, all RUC types In September 2022 there were 49 different types of RUC purchased for a total distance of 1,252,963,683km at a value of $108,218,923.

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

Purchase period

Distance purchased (km)

Value of purchases

1 Jan 2018 – 31 Dec 2018

15,736,558,458

$1,875,364,397

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 – 30 Sep 2022

12,189,966,252

$1,167,879,534

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 – 30 Sepr 2022

9,790,797,381

1,087,866,376

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.

RUC purchases all RUC types

98 New Zealand Trucking

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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

Average monthly RUC purchases by year (all RUC types)

RUC distance purchased year to date for selected RUC types

RUC purchases September 2022 for selected types

By comparing distance purchased year to date with the same period for previous years, trends in changes to activity by RUC type vehicles will become clear.

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November 2021 99

Trucking Industry Summit 2022 This is the third and final summary of the key addresses from the Trucking Industry Summit 2022 held in Christchurch at the end of July.

Future Decarbonisation The decarbonisation options for New Zealand’s transport sector will be a combination of electrification, hydrogen, and liquid biofuels, according to Z Energy’s commercial fuels sales manager Spencer Tait.

“There’s sort of a Godzilla-King Kong battle emerging as to what’s going to be the preferred solution,” he says.

With north of 40,000 electric vehicles in New Zealand, Tait says a lot of investment is going into the electric vehicle space, including vehicles, infrastructure and government policy.

“Our view is that at the moment, electricity has its nose just in front from a long-term point of view. We believe the technology coming through and what we’ve seen with smaller vehicles will flow through into the heavy-vehicle task as well.”

Tait says there are some big barriers when it comes to hydrogen adoption. “It’s not just the investment in the assets, but also the infrastructure that supports it.

And to do that at scale, in the time that we have, is a real challenge,” he says.

When it comes to biofuels, Tait says Z has been pretty active in policy work with the government.

“There’s a biofuel’s mandate that’s been drafted at the moment that will come into effect in April, 2023. What that’s asking to do is for all fuel retailers in New Zealand to sell small portions of fuel over the next few years as a biofuel,” he says.

Tait says there is a range of biofuels available, including ethanol-based product, the BioD diesel product and a renewable diesel product coming out of Europe, which he says is most likely to be the preferred product for the transport sector in New Zealand.

“It has a relatively higher or moderate unit cost, but requires no investment,

100 New Zealand Trucking

November 2022

Spencer Tait.

Brendan King.

both in the infrastructure to bring it to New Zealand, but also the vehicles that it would go into,” he says. “It’s literally just a drop in fuel. So in terms of adoption, obviously that means we can go really quickly.

“We do see electrification and hydrogen playing a role in the future.

But biofuels is what we see as the best solution for the next decade.”

Brendan King, general manager at TR Group, says the drive towards decarbonising our world is gathering momentum and we are starting to see emerging technologies from the big truck manufacturers getting closer to mass production.

“We think the key to success is focusing on ensuring customers have a great experience and fuel value.

“We don’t always get it right, but we will always try to do our best. And this includes doing the right thing, and that includes doing the right thing when it comes to climate change,” he says.

“Doing the right thing with climate change means taking some technology risk and, alongside some of our likeminded customers, trialling zero-emission vehicles. It is important that these technologies get real-life action, so we can all learn their limitations and see what advantages they can have.”

King says it helps to support ongoing development of technology as well as supporting industries that are required to make it happen. “Be that around fuel infrastructure, service and repair and training. All of these support networks need to grow alongside the truck supply.”

“The main question I get from people is, ‘Do electric trucks work?’ I can tell you that, yes, they do work, and they come with several advantages for a start.

“They’re actually a bloody beautiful

Ryan McDonald. driving experience. They are smooth and quiet and have plenty of get up and go. As a rule, they’ve been mostly very reliable and cheap to run.”

However, King says electric trucks also have their limitations.

“They come with a very high capital cost, which is not offset by the lower operating costs. We are are also yet to see how long their life expectancy is, meaning diesel trucks are still cheaper from a total cost of ownership point of view,” he says.

“Electric trucks are also heavier than their diesel counterparts. They have limited range and it can take an age to refuel or recharge them. Infrastructure is also very limited, and this will be the biggest thing that will limit the adoption of EV technology.”

King says the alternative fuels space is an intriguing opportunity. “What will the transport industry look like in 100 years from now? If you think 100 years ago it was horses, well, what’s 100 years in front of us going to be? What’s even 10 years going to be like?

“It’s hard to say with any real certainty, but one thing we do know is that it will look different.”

Ryan McDonald, head of new business at Hiringa Energy, says there are lots of ways hydrogen can be used to decarbonise the New Zealand economy.

“That’s not to say that we should be going after all of them,” he says. “At Hiringa, our approach is to hit heavy transport and heavy freight – that’s trucks, buses, planes and boats – to decarbonise the industrial fleet stock.”

Hiringa is currently working on a hydrogen refuelling network that is being rolled out across the country. There are four stations under construction, at

Auckland, Palmerston North, Hamilton and Tauranga, with plans to roll out 24 stations by 2026.

The first four stations are going to be producing hydrogen on-site. “What we’ve also been able to do is make it so that our stored hydrogen on-site can actually be shifted to another site, so that gives us a bit of resilience so that we don’t find ourselves short,” says McDonald.

“The first four stations in the North

Island, and the three additional ones we’re working on now in the South Island, is just a representation of the type of range that you should be able to get with a fuel-cell electric truck.”

He says New Zealand is the ideal place to roll out this kind of network because most freight routes can be addressed with only the four stations in the North Island and three in the South Island.

“That’s why New Zealand’s been

an early adopter in this because it’s a relatively small investment in order to get a reasonably high impact.”

MacDonald says it has “taken a village” to get Hiringa’s hydrogen initiative up and running.

“There’s just so many people involved throughout New Zealand. There’s lots of engagement and touchpoints, lots of companies that are stepping up and wanting to be a part of it.”

Training and people Attracting the next generation into the transport sector and supporting those who are in it are key to a healthy industry.

The New Zealand Trucking Association is launching Careers Trucking, a complete careers programme that will run from the association’s Road Safety Truck and be taken nationwide to schools and events.

The programme aims to provide a behind-the-scenes look into transport careers, and inspiring the next generation and those looking for a career change.

Carol McGeady, general manager at the New Zealand Trucking Association, says something needs to be done now to attract younger people into the transport sector.

“What we’ve found going into schools is there are career advisors and no-sayers who just don’t want their children to work in transport.

“And it’s quite hard to find anything decent on the internet to actually find out how to be a truck driver,” she says.

“If we don’t do something, we are going to be really challenged in the years to come because the other industries are really competing for these young people to come through.

“We are proposing a four-step approach, which will be supported by an online portal that will be quite in-depth so that careers advisors and other trainers can tap into it to get correct information. The portal will be really promoted through socials and it will be designed in a way that it’s a good customer experience,” says McGeady.

“We’re targeting anybody looking to change careers, maybe people that are coming back into the workforce. And obviously students; we want to make sure that transport is represented in those young years when they get to senior school,” she says.

“We’d like to build this into a sustainable programme that will

Carol McGeady.

Kelly McLuckie.

actually start to feed some people into the pool, so you’ve got more choice of who you can employ.”

Supporting those already in the sector needs to be a key focus, with a need for change and support in the transport sector, according to Kelly McLuckie of consulting firm Success Formula.

Success Formula specialises in safety, culture and leadership within the transport and logistics industry in New Zealand.

“Things have been pretty tough in the transport and logistics sector over the past couple of years. The wellbeing of our people has become really important, and it’s something that people are paying an increasing amount of attention to,” McLuckie says.

“As operators, drivers, business owners, it has been a very stressful time, and people are looking for some support and some help.”

Success Formula has launched the Transport Wellbeing Hub, which brings together practical resources that operators can apply to their business. “It’s going to be a fairly sizable programme. It will be something practical and tangible that provides resources to help make a difference and improve the wellbeing, health and mental resilience of ourselves and our workforce.”

The hub is awaiting funding and is expected to launch towards the end of this year.

National Road Carriers update Collaboration and partnership is the name of the game, so says National Road Carriers chair Simon Bridges.

Bridges says it was music to his ears when Brett Aldridge, Waka Kotahi chief operating officer for regulatory services, invited engagement between government and the transport sector. “Perhaps, it should be, I think, music to all our ears, that he said, ‘Can we work together?’

And I take him at face value on that. I would take him seriously,” he says.

“We can’t deny that these big challenges are possibly as big as they’ve been in a very, very long time, if ever, in the trucking sector. Deteriorating roads, labour supply issues, supply chain issues, cost and compliance and the everchanging environment that only seems to go that way, never that way.

“There’s all of these issues confronting us, but I think we must focus on the positives and the opportunities that are there. There’s a heap of good initiatives

by the trucking sector that we are getting on with.”

However, Bridges says there may have been an implied warning that comes with Aldridge’s offer of collaboration.

“If we don’t engage, collaborate and partner, the change will probably still happen, but without us, and to us.

“So stay engaged and connected with your sector associations and be prepared, dare I say it, to play your part, and from time to time, do some heavy lifting.”

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November 2022 101

The Road Ahead Conference 2022 Transporting New Zealand’s The Road Ahead Conference took place in September at Invercargill’s Ascot Park Hotel, to discuss what’s ahead for transport operators as the world looks to recover from the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The conference focused on a changing workforce, sustainability and environmental requirements, future fuel sources, supply chain issues, and disruptors such as the digital revolution.

Over the following five issues, we will summarise the key topics discussed. This issue, we look at the key points from Minister of Transport Michael Wood, National’s transport spokesperson Simeon Brown, and economist Cameron Bagrie.

Michael Wood Minister of Transport

The most important area of the land transport sector is safety, according to Minister of Transport Michael Wood, who presented to the conference via Zoom.

“We all want to ensure that every time someone pops in their car, they are going to get home safely at the end of the day,” he says. “Yet in New Zealand, we have a record that doesn’t always live up to that.”

On average, one person is killed a day on New Zealand roads and around another seven are seriously injured.

Wood says the government’s Road to Zero strategy is about putting an end to “just accepting” poor road statistics.

“I think collectively, as a country, we’ve done this for too long. There wouldn’t be any other sector where we just accept that several hundred people die every year,” he says.

“In the language we use, for example, calling it the ‘road toll’ – we’re saying that this is the price you pay to use a piece of road. This puts us on the wrong pathway when really our approach should be to relentlessly focus on how we make sure that people are not killed or seriously injured on our roads.”

The government has an interim target to achieve a 40% reduction in death and serious injuries by 2030.

“It’s an ambitious target, but we know, based on evidence and international examples, that if we do the right things we can do it and we can save many lives.”

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November 2022

Wood says Road Zero is about looking at all the different levers across the land transport system.

“That means we need safer vehicles, safer drivers, safer roads, and safer speeds. It’s going to take all four of these if we really want to change the system.

“The government’s putting its money where our mouths are on this as well.

We’re investing around about $2.7 billion to make sure that we support the actions that are necessary within Road to Zero,” he says.

“That’s across police enforcement, improvements to roads and making sure that we support drivers to be as safe and well-trained as possible. It’s about recognising that even the very best drivers will sometimes make mistakes, so we need to build and maintain a system that means those mistakes don’t become fatal or don’t cause a serious incident.”

Wood says the government is working on road safety penalties. “We know that discouraging bad choices through risk-taking with appropriate fines and penalties and good enforcement… backing that up can make a significant difference,” he says.

“We increased the penalties for cellphone use last year, and we’re now carefully working through a package of proposals to make sure we are sending the right message to all road users about the need to work within the rules to keep everyone on the road safe.”

Wood says about 25% of the deaths on New Zealand roads involve a person who is driving to work. “We know that there

are many players who have an impact here. The chain of responsibility holds that it is not only commercial drivers who are responsible for safety, but all the people and actors that influence driver behaviours,” he says.

“You’ll know about the pressure that comes on you and your teams from other players in the supply chain that can sometimes create unsafe situations.

Those players have a responsibility as well and they must be held accountable if their influence results in non-compliance with traffic rules and laws, which puts people on the roads at risk.”

Simeon Brown

Simeon Brown National Party transport spokesperson

Meanwhile, National’s transport spokesperson Simeon Brown says the government needs to tackle underlying cost pressures and remove bottlenecks in the economy.

“This is a challenging time as we’ve moved from Covid through to a time with significant cost pressures, which are coming through to [the transport] industry, particularly with fuel prices that have reached record highs this year,” he says.

“There is a need to make sure that cost pressures are kept under control, and the government has a critical role in understanding the impact this has and how it flows through to every industry in New Zealand.”

Brown says the cost of living is the critical issue going into the next election.

“There are many things outside of the

government’s control, but there are also many things inside the government’s control,” he says. “And these are things that affect every single business up and down the country.”

Brown says there needs to be a focus on good policy and making sure we have a good transport policy that helps get New Zealand moving and stay connected.

“Trucking companies are often criticised for many things, whether it’s because people think there should be fewer trucks on the road, or they simply think that the supermarket shelves should be filled by rail,” he says.

“We must be realistic with transport policy. Ninety-three per cent of freight is moved by trucks on the roads, and that statistic is not going to change anytime soon, regardless of how much money the government decides to spend on railways.

“New Zealand is a sparsely populated country. It’s long, it’s narrow, and our roads are the lifeblood of the New Zealand economy. Primarily it’s trucks that move our freight and logistics around the country,” says Brown.

“We understand how vital roads and our trucking companies are to economic productivity, and we’ll be 100% focused on supporting your industry and helping it to grapple with the challenges ahead,” he says. “We know there are big issues, and we want to focus on solutions that are practical and make a real difference for your industry.”

Brown says the National Land Transport Fund must be used to help make the transport system safer, more efficient, and more productive.

“The transport fund has become diluted from its core purpose with more and more activities being added, which takes away from its core purpose, which is to make sure our roads are well maintained and to build new ones,” he says.

“There is increasing concern about whether our roads are receiving the maintenance and renewals that they need, and whether our taxes and road user charges are being used appropriately from this fund.”

Brown also says there needs to be a longer-term plan regarding regional connections. “We need to have funding mechanisms that appropriately look at the costs that are charged and how we are allocating that resource and making sure that we’ve got better access to capital in terms of actually being able to

take a longer-term view of how we spread the costs.

“We also need to have a plan around delivery, and that’s partially going to be how we break through some of the consenting challenges, which have held up equity projects for too long, and also the issue of making sure we’ve got skilled workers in New Zealand so we can get things done.”

Cameron Bagrie

Cameron Bagrie

Economist, Bagrie Economics Economist Cameron Bagrie says New Zealand needs some brave and bold leaders. “One of the biggest problems we have across the country at the moment is that New Zealand is very fragmented.

We are a very divided society. In fact, I’ve never seen New Zealand like this before,” he says.

“We have those conversations in our own houses or with our close friends about how this just doesn’t feel right, and I don’t see any political parties standing up with the recipe of how we’re going to mend it.

“A populous leader is just a leader that stands up and says, ‘I’m gonna put money in your pocket – whether that be spending or via tax cuts.’ We don’t need that sort of leadership. We want real leadership, and I’m not seeing too many step up.”

Bagrie says now is the time for businesses to start thinking about market share. “It’s not fun making money when everybody’s making money. I don’t like that environment when the market’s going up; everybody looks like a rockstar. I like a tough market because a tough market sorts out who’s any good at anything,” he says.

“And what you need to be thinking about over the next two to three years is this thing not called the market, but market share, which is a fancy way of saying, ‘ripping the throat out of the

competition’.

“If you do well and your competitor does not, when you go home on a Friday night and you crack open that bottle of beer or that bottle of wine – that’s gonna taste extra sweet because your endeavours are going to reflect your work, not the market covering your backside.”

While the New Zealand economy is looking good, Bagrie says there are some cracks.

“We have low unemployment, bank non-performing loans are low, strong corporate balance sheets, and low levels of government debt. But then there are the other things we are noticing, like inflation.

“Inflation is just a corrosive lack of leadership,” he says.

Bagrie says there has been a lot of damage done to businesses’ money lines over the past 12 months. “The money line, or supply line, is the truck and the staff member. If your truck’s not working for a day because you don’t have demand to use that truck, you can wear that. If your truck isn’t working for a week because your staff has taken an extra week of sick leave or you can’t get a part to fix your truck, that’s damage to your capability.

That is the line that hurts. And what I think happened across New Zealand in the past 12 months is that we’ve done a lot more damage to our capability – or the money line – and we need to be focusing on reconnecting that line.

“Going back to have a look at what we saw in the 1970s and 1980s, this is how it works,” Bagrie says. “Inflation moves up and your staff member says they need to be compensated for inflation. So, you force up wages, and that adds on to costs, this adds costs onto inflation, and the mouse on the exercise wheel is going round and round. That is the playbook, or the merry-go-round, that we need to break.”

Bagrie says to stop inflation from getting passed onto the end consumer, there needs to be a variable that stops it in the middle, and unfortunatey, it will be business margins that will start to suffer.

“So, if you are a business owner at the moment, your margins are your numberone issue to be focusing on because that goes right to the bottom line,” he says.

“This is about having strategies to pass on price increases; anything you can do to give yourself a little bit of wriggle room within that margin or give yourself a little bit of control.”

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November 2022 103

PERSON OF INTEREST

A year in and Rafael Alvarenga and his family are feeling right at home. Exciting and busy times ahead in transformational times.

A NEW NORMAL We were itching to catch up with Rafael Alvarenga and ask how his first year as Scania New Zealand’s managing director has been.

Twelve months after his family’s somewhat unorthodox arrival, the country is clear of lockdowns. Aside from work, we hoped the Alvarengas were finding the 2022 version of ‘Kiwi normal’ a great place to be.

Story and photos by Dave McCoid

W

e first met Rafael Alvarenga about a month into his time as managing director of Scania New Zealand. He and his family had arrived during Auckland’s spring lockdown, delaying any ability to ‘get their Kiwi on’, so to speak.

Lockdown also hampered Rafael’s ability to tour the traps and meet crew and customers.

Zoom was a man’s best friend.

Move on 12 months and when we meet Rafael at Scania New Zealand’s Wiri HQ, there’s certainly a comfortable air about him, that of routine and familiarity amid the exciting-yet-formidable goals he has set the company.

On the home front A year ago, Rafael told us

104 New Zealand Trucking

the family were excited to be coming to New Zealand, and they had a to-do list before they arrived. “I can tell you that list has doubled!” he laughs.

“We were able to start going out just before Christmas, and shortly after, we headed north, staying in Paihia and going to see Cape Reinga, the Bay of Islands and Kerikeri. It reminded us of the beaches back home in Brazil. Then at Easter, we went to Rotorua and Taupo. More recently, we took a day trip down the Forgotten Highway and got our passports stamped at Whangamomona. That was fantastic. Everyone was just amazed at the scenery. My kids said, ‘Do Scanias come here?’, and I said, ‘They go everywhere’.”

November 2022

The Kiwi way of life was thrust upon Rafael, but families often have to find their own way. How has acclimatising to Aotearoa been for Fernanda and children Maria, Isabela, and Gustavo.

“They have settled in well.

The first six months were spent establishing their circle of friends and their own routines, and then after a while, they wanted to get out and start seeing things.

I would say they are well adapted, and the New Zealand people have been very nice with our family.”

Business Rafael took over from Matias Lindstrom. The order books were full and record sales achieved. Rafael’s skill sets were in aftersales and support.

You might say one’s role was creating the energy and other’s maintaining it.

“For me, it’s about targeted skillsets, aftersales, and support. Our vehicles are perfect, but a vehicle that is not running makes no money.

For us, the future is massive in aftersales, so customers trust we are here for the long run.

“I was positively surprised at the skillsets here in the technical staff. Top Team is a competition we have among the Scania technicians. It’s run locally, regionally and then the final is in Sweden. New Zealand technicians have won the last two out of three global competitions and came second in the other. It gives me great confidence we have the right skillsets in place. But we need to ensure we keep great capability, that we have the tools, workshops and training at our Christchurch training centre as the tech evolves.

“We are working on processes within the support network, so the experience of a customer in any workshop they visit is seamless and in the shortest time possible, ensuring parts are pre-picked, works orders created and the right technician in place before the customer arrives.

“We have new facilities in Hastings and Hautapu in the Waikato, expanding into areas we are needed.”

As they have the world over, supply chains and labour have been hot topics at Scania.

“The global supply chain is all about planning, whether it’s 50 or 200 days out, you just must plan for that. We were surprised at how big the global supply-chain issues got in the first part of the year, due in part to Covid, but also other events like wars etc. Scania globally had not seen anything like it in our history. We now believe the worst has gone, and supply chains are starting to smooth out.

“Shipping and getting the

Business Transformation Team

N

trucks here is still challenging, and even the local bodybuilding backlog. However, we are now [late September] still taking orders for completed deliveries in 2023.”

“There is a shortage of technicians. Everyone has the same problem. We are not just looking for ready trained technicians, but training tomorrow’s technicians. The opportunities available with Scania mean they can end up working throughout the business, both vertically and horizontally.

“Scania is transforming as a company, looking to become a more sustainable business with new technologies and digitalisation. It was time to start looking at that in New Zealand also, so we are prepared. The team had to be

standalone, though, not people tied up in the day-to-day running of the business. The project has four key pillars; the first is digitalisation – not just KPIs and dashboards, but the digitalisation of the business to eliminate wasted time, repetition, and cumbersome processes.

Second is performance – focusing on customer operations and ensuring they are getting the most out of the vehicle they have purchased. Three is network development – demand today will not be same as demand tomorrow. What investments do our workshops need to deliver in tomorrow’s business? And four is driving the shift – sustainability and new technologies.

Scania is backing batteryelectric vehicles for a large proportion of the transport task. Technician training, preparation, and ensuring

we can help spec the right vehicle for the customer are key. Next year, we aim to sell double-digit EV sales, and by 2025, be selling 10% BEV trucks. The company’s global goal of 50% BEV by 2030 must then be ours. We must work with stakeholders in terms of all aspects, including a green-electricity charging infrastructure.”

The critical question from last time New Zealand steaks and beer? “New Zealand meats we are finding very good. We are back into BBQ season, and we like the rump cap. Beer?

Speight’s, and some locally brewed draught beers are really good. I’ll keep updating you on that!”

The New Zealand model “At a management meeting in Sweden in June, it was clear we are being watched positively. Even at Scania, what we are doing is pioneering, achieving in three years what often takes 10.

Our growth and how we are building the business here have become somewhat of a reference. That has guided some of the decisions that mean we are fully connected with Sweden.”

For the full interview check Podcast Special – Episode 12

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PRODUCT PROFILE

KEEPING IT COOL Driver comfort is essential when operating a heavy vehicle, especially on long-haul routes and during the longer, warmer summer days. Here’s how you can ensure your AC is protected.

FROM CONDENSER

TO EVAPORATOR

K

eeping your air conditioning system in prime condition and ensuring all its components are in working order means you will get a longer lifespan out of your unit.

When combined with high-pressure refrigerant, moisture can damage a truck’s aircon. When your system has been open to the atmosphere for a while, it is susceptible to contamination by moisture or foreign particles. It is important to remove any moisture, as it can be extremely harmful to the system’s components and impact how the AC operates.

One system component is the receiver-drier, which protects all the other parts of the AC loop. It is located between the condenser outlet and the expansion valve inlet on the highpressure side of the circuit.

A receiver drier’s primary role is to protect system components, such as the compressor, condenser, thermal expansion (TX) valve and evaporator, by acting as a filter, removing moisture and contaminants.

However, the receiver-drier does have different roles. These include retaining moisture and contaminants from the system; finalising and securing condensation of the fluid; compensating for the variations of fluid volume; and ensuring oil returns to the compressor.

Used in AC systems containing a TX valve, refrigerant from the condenser enters the receiver-drier and passes through a primary filter, which removes foreign particles, and a molecular sieve and desiccant that removes moisture before moving to the

STRAINER

DESICCANT STRAINER = HIGH PRESSURE LIQUID IN

= HIGH PRESSURE LIQUID OUT

The ins and outs of a receiver drier.

TX valve via a liquid pickup tube.

Not all receiver driers contain an internal liquid pickup tube and would be mounted horizontally. Correct installation is critical.

Receiver driers must be replaced when the AC system is opened for service or when a compressor, condenser or TX valve is replaced.

NAPA Auto Parts has a comprehensive range of over 350 receiver driers, covering more than 16,000 applications. Get in touch with the team with the know-how at NAPA Auto Parts.

Find out more at napa.co.nz

Various receiver driers.

106 New Zealand Trucking

November 2022

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CARRIERS’ CORNER

GOLD-PLATED DREAMS, MONOPOLY-MONEY BUDGETS! As understanding as I am of the need to set lofty goals, we must pay attention to the baseline from which we’re fixing that aspiration. If I were to base this solely on what I see in my neck of the woods, I’d say that we’ve got a hell of a long way to go to even get to the start line.

O

ne can only look at ‘Road to Zero’, the government’s campaign to drive towards zero deaths and serious injuries on New Zealand roads, with noble admiration. But it’s also difficult to take the uber-aspirational vision with the seriousness it was designed to attract – especially considering the level of execution and delivery witnessed daily within the agencies and ancillaries tasked with providing us with a safe and suitable network of roading and amenities.

Within 2km of our main depot lies a precarious two-way bridge (one lane in each direction) straddling a small creek and making up a critical link in SH1, the road that one might expect to be kept in a perfect state of repair. Some two months ago, there was an accident on the bridge – the Armco safety barrier on the northbound side peeled back like a can, removing a raft of the posts keeping it in place. That this barrier sits unrepaired as I write this – with a suitably weak and perfectly sized gap existing through which a wayward car might stray – remains beyond belief. The repair shouldn’t require an elaborate campaign to determine its importance.

I’d feel more comfortable if the above was an isolated instance. Alas, a mere 5km south, another critical Armco rests gently against terra firma, thoroughly flattened by a container semi unit a few weeks back, the barrier having done its job at the time. A sprinkling of magical orange cones now resides where the barrier once stood, perched as if to scare another vehicle from daring to venture off this decidedly unfriendly, off-camber sweeping corner, and the reigning champion in numerous rounds of ‘corner vs car’.

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Let’s continue our tiki tour of SH1 further southward, arriving in the charming little South Pacific hamlet of Auckland. This is currently rebranding itself as the ‘City of Snails’ based on plans to reduce vast tracts of suburban roading to 30kph speed limits (and some extreme cases, 10kph). As with Waka Kotahi’s Road to Zero aspiration, lowered speed limits may have merit. But the reality is that we’re again tasking budget and resources towards fixing issues that originate elsewhere. Most concerningly, they further divert available funding for the repair and upkeep of the assets we already have.

Yes, they’ll inevitably come from different buckets of money, but try telling the unfortunate soul with the misfortune to meet one of the Armcos above in their current state that the funding to repair the said Armco was diverted into an array of new speed signs scattered around the city. Interestingly, Auckland Transport’s website puts the cost of a vehicle fatality at $4.53 million; those Armco repairs surely seem pretty slim in comparison.

I’ve just used a trio of examples, but I sense that many worthy examples of such shortcomings and sub-standard

Within 2km of our main depot lies a precarious two-way bridge (one lane in each direction) straddling a small creek and making up a critical link in SH1, the road that one might expect to be kept in a perfect state of repair. situations exist across the country – it just seems to have become the norm.

We’re forever going to live in a world where we can’t do everything we’d like, personally or governmentally. I completely agree that we must prioritise what’s truly important and set lofty objectives around those priorities. But at the same time, we must do so in the belief that we have suitable foundations and a realistic budget to fund what’s needed.

The fact that we can’t maintain the roads we ply daily to an acceptable standard is cause for alarm by itself. Yet that concern ratchets up a few notches when we start seeing examples of policy creeping in to compensate for this repair in an attempt to artificially change the playing field – as in reduced open-road and urban speed limits.

Let’s focus on nailing the crawl before publicly committing to the Olympic 100m sprint!

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 15-truck general freight operation based in Warkworth, north of Auckland.

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BUSINESS, TOGETHER

THE CEILING OF

COMPLEXITY As businesses experience growth, it helps to change the mindset, especially if staff and owners alike are having growing pains.

W

hen we develop a business, we expect returns will go up. Often, in reality, returns diminish as a company gets bigger. We refer to these stages as the ‘ceiling of complexity’.

Generally, when a company grows, traditional work practices will only suit up to a point. For example, a business may go through a significant growth phase, with everyone working harder and harder to deliver. After a few months, people start experiencing burnout – the input from the team and owners is no longer sustainable. A crisis occurs, and the leadership team decides to go back to working an acceptable number of hours per week. The business keeps growing but the return drops off.

To get past the ceiling, we need to find a breakthrough – something that changes how we do business and enables us to continue to grow while still getting the return that we desire.

In this example, it could be a form of leverage, a systemisation that enables us to work smarter and not harder. Or it could mean reviewing a pricing structure.

The business may get through this growth pain and reach a new one as it continues to develop. The key is to be aware that the company as it’s currently run cannot necessarily sustain prolonged growth.

There are always ceilings, and there is always another layer of complexity needing to be broken through. We must explore what is occurring in the business that is holding us back from desired returns.

To get past the ceiling, we need to find a breakthrough – something that changes how we do business and enables us to continue to grow while still getting the return that we desire.

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New Zealand Trucking

November 2022

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

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EVOLUTION TO REVOLUTION REVOLUTION EVOLUTION EVOLUTION TO TO REVOLUTION Keeping ahead of the decarbonisation challenge

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TRUCKERS’ HEALTH

SIX SIMPLE STEPS TO SLIM FOR SUMMER Getting healthier often gets confusing and overcomplicated – but it doesn’t need to be. Take small and practical steps towards improving your overall diet, be active throughout the day and get enough sleep, and you’re on the right path to achieving your goals and feeling optimistic about your health and fitness.

A

s the weather warms up and we creep slowly towards a glorious summer, I have come up with a list of simple steps to slim down and tone up before the warm weather hits. As fun as spending hours in the gym and restrictive diets sound (not), here are some alternatives to get healthier over spring.

1. Manage portion sizes Despite popular opinion, it is not necessary to remove entire food groups or types of foods from your diet. As the cliché goes, everything in moderation.

A more helpful way of looking at it is allowing yourself to eat the foods you enjoy but keeping an eye on the amount you’re eating. For example, it’s fine to have a sweet tooth and enjoy chocolate but ensure you eat a bar rather than a block as a snack. Practise moderation and control by eating portions that satisfy cravings but reduce overall calorie intake.

2. Get your steps in Yes, another cliché but an important step in the process (see what I did there?).

If you have a sedentary job, your NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) will be low (just a fancy way of saying how much you move throughout your day when not doing purposeful exercise). It means you will have to make more effort outside of work to get those steps in.

This can be simply a 30-minute walk or cycle each day. If you have an active job and happen to wear a Fitbit/exercise

tracker, you may notice that you’re hitting 10,000 steps a day with ease – which should be your daily target.

3. Sleep well Getting enough sleep is hugely important for overall health and recovery. I know this can be difficult when work requires long or unpredictable hours but do your best to plan ahead. If you have an early start, try to get to bed earlier. Instead of watching an hour of TV, you might watch 30 minutes and get to bed half an hour earlier. It may seem insignificant, but it will make a world of difference over time, giving you an extra 3.5 hours of sleep every week.

5. Balance your meals As mentioned, it’s not about cutting out certain foods or food groups but about managing portions. When we eat dinner, for example, we should have some protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats to balance the meal. This could look like a piece of steak, a nice salad and a dinner roll. The vegetables should fill up half of the plate, the carbohydrates and protein a quarter each. As a gauge, they say your meat portion should be the size of the palm of your hand.

6. Incorporate fitness into your social calendar I know this may sound like a drag and not realistic, but hear me out. I’m not saying that every time you catch up with friends, you should go for a 10km run – it just means that you could be mindful about trying to squeeze in something active while socialising. This can be anything from a game of backyard cricket, a walk along the beach, a bush walk or a bike ride. Choose something you enjoy because you will be more likely to want to do it again.

4. Drink clean As the barbecues and brews begin to flow, it can be easy to overindulge and drink your calories. This means that instead of getting energy from foods, you’re opting to drink beverages high in calories, such as sugary RTDs, which could put you over your calorie target for the day and, over time, could result in weight gain. I’m not saying that you must abstain from alcohol, but you can make better choices.

For example, make your own vodka soda and avoid the sugary Cokes and mixers found in many pre-mixed drinks.

There are always sugar-free options for mixers that can be added to your favourite spirit, as well as a large range of lower-calorie RTDs which have less sugar and junk in them.

Laura Hulley Personal trainer

STAFF WANTED Modern Transport Engineers Limited is the largest heavy transport manufacturing company in New Zealand, and we are looking for experienced self-motivated technicians to join our team in Te Rapa, Hamilton. We pride ourselves on offering a safe workplace, offering high quality products & turn-key solutions to our clients, and finishing what we start.

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PAINTERS AND SANDBLASTERS

Background in a mechanical trade or similar technical industry.

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Install brake components to heavy transport trailers for the Australasian market.

Must be an honest, hard working team player with a good record of discipline, timekeeping, and flexibility to perform any job assigned to you.

Carry out related preventive maintenance and fault diagnosis on all vehicles.

Must have an eye for detail and be able to consistently produce a high quality of work.

Repair and service vehicles as necessary.

Able to work well within a team.

Pride in producing quality work consistently.

Good time management skills and communication skills.

Repair and service vehicles as necessary.

Relevant experience as an sandblaster.

If this sounds like you, apply now, please include a CV and a cover letter to Lloyd@modtrans.co.nz, please include position you are applying for.

ROBBIE PASLEY +64 27 566 3025 robbie@modtrans.co.nz

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HEALTH AND SAFETY

LOOKING AT WORK AS IT IS DONE Recently, I’ve been to a few training sessions where people talk about work as it is done. But work is subject to change, which impacts the health and safety approach.

T

raditionally, the business of health and safety has been based on fear, problems and – sometimes – blame. Anyone who works in the area has had an image of being the ‘fun police’. It would be fair to say that putting rules in place and insisting on compliance is the starting point for most companies, especially those just starting the health and safety journey. There is a place for this type of health and safety.

Once the basic health and safety structure is in place, it can be time to move on to the next level. There are a few key points to having a great health and safety culture, but it all starts with people. Recognising people (workers) are responsible, want to do the job as well as they can, and want to go home safely, allows everyone to work together effectively.

Start by recognising that work is changeable and seldom goes the way we expect. There are changes every day.

These can include weather, customer demands, worker illness, breakdowns, etc. When work or work conditions change, workers will modify their actions so that the work gets done. Management

23031 DANI1 TRUCKING AD.pdf

27/5/10

may not realise this is happening, particularly if the outcome is what is expected. When we expect widgets and get widgets, we tend not to look at how the widgets were produced.

Evidence suggests that a workplace that does not report accidents, incidents and near-misses is more likely to have a catastrophic event. This may indicate a culture problem. Visiting the workplace and talking to the workers makes it possible to see and hear what is happening. Asking questions such as “tell me about a job that went well. What made it go well?” and “tell me about a job that didn’t go as well as expected.

What made it not go well?” will give management a lot of answers. It also

How can Safewise help?

We work with organisations that need more health and safety knowledge or more time to address these issues than they have in-house. We also have free Covid-19 resources available.

For more information, check out the website, safewise.co.nz

makes the workers feel engaged in the processes of work and safety.

Take the time to listen and walk around. Give workers feedback on their suggestions, recognise their contributions, and give them a sense of pride and belonging. The workplace will become a place people want to be; pride in work will increase, resulting in more quality work and less downtime. It may require a change in attitude and some perseverance, but it will pay off in the long run.

Tracey Murphy is the owner and director of Safewise Ltd, a health and safety consultancy. She has more than 12 years’ experience working with organisations from many different industries.

Tracey holds a diploma in health and safety management and a graduate diploma in occupational safety and health.

She is a professional member of the New Zealand Institute of Safety Management and is on the HASANZ register.

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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LEGAL LINES

KEEPING DRUNK AND DRUGGED DRIVERS OFF THE ROAD Annual road deaths are steadily increasing despite lowering the adult alcohol limit and making alcohol interlock devices compulsory for repeat drunk drivers, or those caught at a very high alcohol level. This problem affects us all, so we need to find better ways to protect our communities from impaired drivers.

Roadside testing While deaths involving alcohol and drugs have been rising, the number of alcohol checkpoints on the roads have been decreasing. In 2014, the police did about 3,000,000 roadside alcohol tests, and there were 48 deaths involving drunk drivers. In more recent years, roadside alcohol tests were about 1,500,000 and annual deaths involving drunk drivers have ranged from 79 to 87.

A recent independent review of the government’s work delivering on its road safety targets highlights that road police officers can be diverted to other duties 30% of the time. The Covid-19 pandemic has undoubtedly been responsible for increasing demands on the police, which hasn’t helped. But now that the worst of this appears to be behind us, it’s time to bring the number of roadside tests back up again. Compulsory random roadside oral-fluid testing for drugs is set to begin in early 2023. Hopefully, the combination of these two testing regimes will be more of a deterrent for people who are

116 New Zealand Trucking

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currently just running the risk and hoping they won’t get caught.

Legislative changes You may recall that in 2014, the adult alcohol limit was lowered. It is now an offence to drive with more than 400 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath or 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. In 2018, alcohol interlock devices were made mandatory for drivers who had either two qualifying convictions within five years or a single offence with a breath alcohol reading of more than 800 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath or 160 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

An alcohol interlock device is an excellent physical barrier to prevent someone with alcohol in the system from driving because their car won’t start if there is any alcohol present. In 2020, there were a few thousand alcohol interlocks in use in New Zealand, which prevented 37,061 attempts by someone with alcohol in their system to start a vehicle. That equates to every single interlock in a car preventing 10 attempts to drive.

Recidivist offenders More targeted measures are required to deter repeat drunk and drugged drivers.

I speak from personal experience when I say there appears to be a significant proportion of impaired drivers who have substance abuse problems that go well

What can I do?

A community response is needed to stop drunk and drugged driving. Our attitudes towards road safety matter if we want to keep our whanau safe. Many people don’t drink at all if they are going to be driving, which is to be encouraged.

Please do not let your friends and family attempt to drive if they are impaired.

They may not thank you for it at the time but you could be saving a life. Be a responsible host when you are serving alcohol and have options for people to get home safely without driving.

I have lost count of the number of times that clients have told me that they didn’t want to pay for a taxi to get home after they’d had a few drinks because it was too expensive. They end up kicking themselves afterwards because the fines, court costs, offender levy and loss of licence they face ends up costing them twice or three times as much, not to mention the stress and anxiety it causes them and their families. They will also have to live with the stigma of being a drunk driver, and you can’t put a price on a clean court record.

Please note that this article is not a substitute for legal advice, and if you have a particular matter that needs to be addressed, you should consult a lawyer.

Danielle Beston is a barrister who specialises in transport law.

Contact her on (09) 379 7658 or 021 326 642

1022-01-T

I

was disappointed to discover that the number of annual road deaths where a driver was above the limit or refused to submit to a breath or blood test has risen from 48 people in 2014 to 79 in 2020. In the five years from 2016 to 2020, there was an average of 78 road deaths each year involving a driver above the legal alcohol limit. That works out to be one out of every five road deaths involving a drunk driver.

If you include the number of deaths where a driver tested positive for drugs, this number increases to two out of every five road deaths. In other words, rather than improving on-road safety, we seem to be going backwards.

beyond their driving. Often the court is the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff left to help someone try and rehabilitate themselves by addressing their substance abuse issues as part of their sentence.

This often takes the form of supervision or intensive supervision, which requires the offender to meet regularly with a corrections officer who can direct them to attend programmes that would benefit their recovery.

There are now also therapeutic courts, such as the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court, which have recognised that alcohol and drugs cause great harm to society, and focus on situations where substance abuse and offending are intertwined.

By Shannon Williams

THE

LAST RODEO TRUCKING LEGEND REX HOLDEN With a career in the transport sector spanning 45 years, Rex Holden of Central Pine Transport has seen it all – trucks getting faster, trucks getting flashier, fuel prices skyrocketing, rules and regulations getting tighter, and roads getting worse.

F

1022-01-T

ollowing in his father’s footsteps (his dad started trucking in Taumarunui back in 1946), Rex entered the transport sector working for Joe Skudder in Hastings in 1977. A year later as an 18 year old, Rex got his licence – and the rest, as they say, is history.

After a few years with Joe, Rex moved on to Emmerson Transport.

“There were only three of us back then,” he says. “I was the first driver.”

Come 1983, Rex moved up to Rotorua where he started with Central Plateau Transport on a 1964 Kenworth – one of the first Kenworths in New Zealand.

Rex then went onto Freightways, and ended up an owner driver of a 320 Mack, the first truck he had ever bought.

After stints with K&S Traders, TD Haulage and various others, Rex made the big call to head over the Tasman in 2007.

“I wanted to have a crack at

the road train work,” he says. “I was only meant to be there a year. I ended up there for nine. I went into partnership with a guy there and between us we had three Volvos, four Kenworths and nine trailers.”

After getting crook in 2015, Rex felt it was time to head home.

After getting back into the logs for a couple years, he set up Central Pine Transport with a brand new Hino – the name and colours in honour of his relationship he had with Jim Middleton for his time at Central Plateau Transport.

“When I came to Rotorua in 1983, I had only been with CPT for a week or so when my mum died, so I was going back to Hastings and Jim gave me $200 and a job when I got back. I never forgot that.”

The relationships Rex has made in the sector are the most important part of trucking, he says.

“I’ve kept in touch with all my bosses, the people who have employed me, and most of the people I’ve employed, we’ve ended up in long-term friendships,” Rex says.

“It’s all about the people you meet. I’ve got mates that I’ve known since I was a young kid, and sadly now a few are passing on, but it is a brotherhood.

Even now with the younger guys, I think they still have that brotherhood, but it’s a different game now.”

Rex had the Hino for five years before he went on to buy the Scania, aptly named The Last

“ I R E A L LY E N J OY E D D E A L I N G W I TH K R A F T. N OTH I N G WAS A PROBLEM, TH E Y MA D E TH E P R O C E SS E N J OYA B L E ”

Rodeo, that he’s currently sitting in, custom built by Kraft.

“Kraft is customer focused.

They really put a lot of effort and pride into their workmanship.

The gear sells itself, which says a lot,” says Rex. “The Last Rodeo – everyone put a lot of effort into it. It’s a smart-looking piece of gear.

Normally I don’t really care about that stuff – a truck is just a tool for the job – but it’s quite an impressive unit.

“Their finish is impeccable, and it is already proving itself, carrying some serious loads in some serious conditions.”

What’s next for Rex? “Well I’m 62 now, so I’ll drive this for a couple years and then I’ll put a driver on it,” he says.

“It’ll have to be a good driver, mind you.”

Kraft Engineering Limited: 5 Wikaraka Street, Ngongotaha, Rotorua | Phone: +64 77 357 4597 | Colin King: Ph: 027 539 0075 | E: colin@kraftgroup.co.nz | James Worsnop: Ph: 027 572 2642 | E: james@kraftgroup.co.nz

NZ Trucking Association can be contacted on 0800 338 338 or info@nztruckingassn.co.nz

David Boyce chief executive officer

2022 TMC TRAILERS TRUCKING INDUSTRY SHOW SET TO BREAK ALL RECORDS

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he TMC Trailers Trucking Industry Show has received record exhibitor entries and registrations for its Truck show & Shine event. Visitors are expected to exceed the last show held in 2018, and more space has been made available as record bookings have been received. It has now evolved to be much more than a truck and trade show, developing into a true festival celebrating the trucking industry. The NZ Trucking Association’s small team organises and runs the show on the day.

The secret to the show’s success is that the costs are affordable for exhibitors and visitors. Entrance for children is free, as are all the activities, making it an affordable day out for the whole family.

The 2022 show sees the introduction of the National Industry Competitions, which is attracting a lot of interest. The 2022 TR Group NZ Truck Driving Championships runs over 25 and 26 November during the show. A regional heat was held in Auckland on 15 October with the class winners getting direct entry into the final.

Truck drivers from all over New Zealand will travel to Christchurch to compete in the Hydraulink Class 5 Truck and Trailer, Spartan Finance Class 5 Tractor Semi or the EROAD Class 2 categories, with an overall winner being selected to be the NZ Truck Driver of the Year 2022.

Each class winner will receive a trophy, $2500 cash, and a return trip for two to the 2023 Brisbane Truck Show. Each class runner-up will receive $1000 cash.

Special recognition awards will be given to the winners of the TR Group Young Driver of the Year and the EROAD Women Driver of the Year.

The first-ever big crane competition, sponsored by Liebherr, is taking place, with Titan, Smiths and Calder Stewart facing off to find New Zealand’s best operator. The competition will be based on a health and safety training course.

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Palfinger is sponsoring New Zealand’s first truck-mounted crane competition.

Competitors will each have a chance to take out the NZ Palfinger Truck-Mounted Crane Champion 2022 shield. The course will be set up with grandstands so the public and supporters can follow the day’s activities. The awards presentation will take place later that evening on the Teletrac Navman lawn during the industry awards ceremony. On the Friday, during the Careers Trucking Showcase, students will see demonstrations that will hopefully inspire them to enquire about career opportunities.

The 2022 New Zealand Forklift Industry Association Forklift Championships is going to be exciting, based on overseas competitions that are interesting to watch and compete in. The winner will receive the 2022 trophy, $1000 cash and a prize pack. The second-place winner will receive $500 cash. Regional heats were held around New Zealand on 15 October with regional winners getting direct entry to the final.

All kids’ events are free, including some amazing activities such as the MEGA bouncy truck obstacle course, the minigolf transport village, the giant sandpit filled with treasure, remote-control toy trucks and the Valvoline road-safety track, where you can ride a scooter or a cool pedal car.

The event is a celebration of professional truck drivers and a showcase of the industry. Companies have taken huge spaces to display their trucks and equipment.

The stars of the show are the 2022 UDC Show & Shine entries. Upwards of 400 trucks are expected to travel from around New Zealand, as a record number have already registered. Extensive registrations for the BP Classic Trucks Showcase 2022 means more of the showgrounds has been allocated to accommodate the numbers. A winner’s

trophy will be awarded at the Teletrac Navman Show Lawn and awards ceremony.

Careers Transport 2022 is a huge focus on Friday, 25 November. We have invited secondary schools from throughout the South Island to attend. This is a fantastic opportunity to highlight the abundance of career opportunities within trucking.

Students will have the chance to engage face-to-face with people doing the job. We have encouraged companies participating to send along some young people as they will relate better to the young people attending.

The trucking industry is crucial in keeping New Zealand’s economy going, moving more than 93% of all freight annually. Without the trucking industry, the country would come to a complete stop. With a growing truckdriver shortage and an ageing workforce, attracting the next generation has never been more important.

It is an important day for the industry, and everyone in the industry needs to get behind it and support it in some way.

The show will round off at the Teletrac Navman Show Lawn and Awards Function. Live bands will be playing.

Tickets are $30 per person. Drinks and food-truck meals are available at your own cost. This dinner will sell out, so it is advisable to order your tickets now.

There is something for everyone. It is a show not to miss – plan to be there for the day. Entry is $10, with children under 18 free. Parking is free. The event is being held at the Canterbury A&P Showgrounds in Christchurch. Public entry is via the Wigram Road entry. It will be an amazing weekend for Christchurch.

For more information, visit truckingindustryshow.co.nz The show organiser is Rebecca Dinmore, rebecca.dinmore@trucking.nz

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Transporting New Zealand can be contacted on (04) 472 3877 Nick Leggett chief executive officer or info@transporting.nz

NEIL REID HEADS HIGH ACHIEVERS HONOURED AT INDUSTRY AWARDS

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his year’s Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand conference was the first since 2019, which also meant that it was the first time in three years that we held the Transporting New Zealand Industry Awards.

I believe these awards are an important way for the trucking community to recognise best practice and outstanding achievement annually. They are about helping an industry that very rarely blows its own trumpet to enjoy and promote its success. The awards honour individuals and organisations whose activities and achievements ultimately improve the daily lives of others and ensure the industry is a rewarding and safe environment to work in.

The big award of the night, the VTNZ Supreme Contribution to NZ Road Transport, was a double hit for the winner, Neil Reid, as he also received the firstever life membership to Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand.

As many in the industry know, Neil is a true gentleman of the transport business.

He grew up in a trucking family on the West Coast, so transport was very much in his blood. A role with Mobil Oil brought him to Southland, where he became the Invercargill manager of Freightways in 1974, as well as the local branch chair of the Road Transport Association. Upon a transfer to Christchurch, Neil managed the much larger Gutherys Freightways, with another shift taking him to Blenheim and the Newman’s Group, later Transpac Holdings.

A period of turmoil during the late 1980s and early 1990s, including receiverships, negotiations, shareholding issues and a trip to civil court, saw Neil and his business partner Garth Butler finally settle as 50/50 shareholders in the rebranded TNL Group.

The mid-1990s saw further difficulties befall the organisation, and it was only Neil and Garth’s dogged persistence, support from the bank and dedicated and loyal staff who took a significant pay cut, which rescued the company. It says a lot about Neil that his team agreed to reduced wage rates to help save the

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company – and his gratitude to them remains.

As managing director until 2007, Neil built TNL into an extremely successful road transport, contract warehousing and international freight and customs operation.

After selling his share of TNL, Neil served the industry through executive roles in RTA Region 4 and very ably chaired the Road Transport Forum for six years.

Inducted into the NZ Road Transport Hall of Fame in 2015, Neil leaves an unmatched legacy in business, innovation, overcoming severe commercial challenges and service to the road transport industry.

Neil was hugely instrumental in the transition and merger of RTANZ with RTF

Neil Reid. to form Transporting New Zealand, which has provided a more unified advocacy voice for our members. On a personal note, Neil has been extremely supportive of my staff and me, and I’m very grateful to him for his wise counsel.

The night’s other award winners also deserve special mention.

The Alexander Group took out the EROAD Outstanding Contribution to Health and Safety Award in recognition of the extraordinary length of time this company has been an industry leader in health and safety. The company, which specialises in dangerous and high-value goods transportation, was one of the early adopters of speed limiting and the use of telematics and continues to be at the forefront of using leading-edge safety technology.

Josh Hart of Hart Haulage was a

deserving winner of the Castrol Truck Driver Hero Award. Famous for his pinkliveried truck that carries anti-bullying messages, Josh has become a wellknown anti-bullying campaigner and advocate who always has time to have conversations with other truckies or members of the public about bullying and how to combat it. Over the years, Josh must have helped hundreds of people deal with what is a destructive presence in our society, and he fully deserves this award.

The EROAD Young Driver of the Year Award went to Brianna Wilson, who is a class-5 driver at Philip Wareing Ltd and, along with Josh, is also one of our Diversity Champions. Brianna started as an apprentice driver and never shies away from challenging work, which she undertakes with a polite, cheerful and positive attitude. She is also a strong advocate for providing more opportunities for women in the industry.

This year’s Teletrac Navman Outstanding Contribution by a Woman in the Road Transport Industry went to Jenny McIntyre of Waimea Contract Carriers who, together with her brother, manages what is a major log transport operation, employing 90 staff across the top of the South Island. Jenny has been in the industry since she was 14 and is known as a resourceful, tenacious and empathetic leader with very sound management skills, who has overcome many obstacles along the way.

Finally, the gala awards evening was also a great chance to celebrate our first tranche of Road to Success graduates.

Working full-time and studying for industry qualifications takes serious dedication, and we are really proud of the following graduates who progressed to their class-5 licence over the past year while training on the job: Nadine Rowan-Thomson, KAM Transport Sheryl McGlashan, Brenics Ltd Hayden Cockburn, Road Transport Logistics, Mark Closel, NZ Express Transport.

November 2022

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n article published on Newsroom on 25 August Revenue Review will consider this shortfall; for ‘consider this draws attention to the shortfall in funding NZTA shortfall’, it is easy to read price increases across the board. needs to maintain our roads. The article says that The ‘officials’ are also quoted as telling the minister that NZTA has already spent 80% “high levels of staff turnover are of its budget one year into its threeadversely impacting productivity and year funding cycle. The culprits are momentum”. This comes at the time the Our roads – something to said to be the weather and of course agency is reported as having acquired consider Covid-19, which NZTA says resulted in 1000 more staff than it had in 2017, with About 300B.C., the Romans recognised 11% reduction in income. What? Did most of the increase in what are called the importance of having a substantial the agency expect its income to remain back-office jobs. For example, the roading network as vital to their the same while everybody else took a number of human resources staff has communities’ economic wellbeing and nosedive? One only must look at the increased from 51 to 118. Something survival. They undoubtedly built their revenue from RUC published regularly doesn’t sit right with me, particularly roads using the best materials and in this magazine to see how much this when one recalls the recent round technology. Some of the roads are still has affected NZTA income. But in one of redundancies at the agency, with usable today. Why is it 2000 or so years respect, we should all rejoice because some leaving having 10 or more years later – with all the advancements made the government has loaned NZTA $2 of service in the vital areas of vehicle by humans – that we cannot build roads billion to compensate for this. As it’s only safety and driver licensing. that last longer than a few months? a loan, the expectations are that NZTA Meanwhile, another government will pay the government back. The story agency that’s looking a bit dodgy is suggests officials from the Ministry of WorkSafe NZ. A story by Radio New Transport have told the minister that the current Land Transport Zealand on 17 August opens by saying, “WorkSafe lacks a clear strategy, and it cannot say if its activities are costeffective or reducing workplace harm, an independent review has found.” The story originates from a review commissioned

by Workplace Relations Safety Minister Michael Wood. Yes, the same Michael Wood who is also minister of transport.

This report does make for interesting reading and, at more than 150 pages, it is hard going but does contain some ‘interesting’ findings that affect our industry. For example, on page 15, it says: “Responses to fatigue in the road freight transport industry: given the current lack of agreement over roles and responsibilities of government transport-related agencies, as the regulator and system leader WorkSafe should be intervening as a matter of urgency. This could include conducting a targeted complex intervention in fatigue in the road transport freight industry.”

On page 16, it recommends that [WorkSafe NZ] “reconsiders its view that it is not funded for activities in the transport sector”. Clearly, this report highlights an issue that has hung over the industry for some time: who is the regulator for the road transport industry? NZTA, as the operational agent for DOES YOUR BUSINESS MEET LEGAL REQUIREMENTS? the Ministry of Transport, or WorkSafe NZ? Not to mention the WOULD YOU LIKE TO SAVE MONEY? police as an enforcement agency that works across both?

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Strange coincidences

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