NZ Truck & Driver July 2018

NZ TRUCK & DRIVER

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| July 2018

July 2018 $8.50 incl. GST

FLEET FOCUS Ray’s way

FEATURE BIG TEST “Ultimate” truck just got better | FLEET FOCUS Ray’s way | FEATURE Kiwi Quon checks in

Kiwi Quon checks in

“Ultimate” truck

Issue 214

just got better

The Official Magazine of the

ISSN 1174-7935

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CONTENTS Issue 214 – July 2018 2

News

50 Fleet Focus

The latest in the world of transport, including….Freightliner Argosy to be killed off within two years; new trucks feature at Fieldays; Freightliner announces a Cascadia heavy-duty electric truck for North America

22 Giti Truck Tyres Big Test Dunedin courier freight driver Reg McCorkindale is past retirement age…. but keen to carry on. No wonder, given that he reckons his brand-new truck is easily the best he’s ever driven. And he’s just hopped out of a 730 horsepower Scania loaded with driver-friendly hightech features!

41 Transport Forum Latest news from the Road Transport Forum NZ, including…..chief executive Ken Shirley finds a welcome desire

by Government to protect transport operators and other small business from big corporates’ late-payment tactics; towing connections “fiasco” calls into question the NZTA’s oversight

A couple of constants have run right through Manawatu operator Ray Reid’s two separate successes in running trucking companies: Delivering on promises….and Kenworths. Lots and lots of Kenworths – all but one, bought secondhand

80/ PPG Transport Imaging 81 Awards Recognising NZ’s best-looking truck fleets….including a giant pullout poster of this month’s finalist

81 SHOWOFFS Finnish transport operator Mika Auvinen has his own spectacular – albeit very expensive – way of attracting and retaining good drivers (and gaining fantastic publicity for his business).

Teaming-up with his drivers to turn working trucks into eye-popping show specials

FEATURES 65 LEGENDS Alan Lord was a late starter in following his Dad and grandfather into truck driving – didn’t get behind the wheel fulltime till he was 21. Still, he’s made up for it since – clocking-up 51 years of driving before retiring this year!

89 Kiwi Quons check in The new, heavily Volvo-ish Quon – which UD reckons has “world-class technology” never before seen in a Japanese truck – has finally made it to New Zealand. We get the chance for a brief driving encounter

75 OLD IRON In the early 1900s a number of big Kiwi companies used Clydesdales to cart their products. Yeah Clydesdales – not the draught horses….the trucks

93 What the SWEP! A column by Steve Divers, director career pathways – road freight transport – in the Sector Workforce Engagement Programme (SWEP), throwing some light on what it’s all about, what it’s working to achieve…and how you can help

95 TRT Recently Registered New truck and trailer registrations for May

MANAGEMENT Publisher

Advertising

Trevor Woolston 027 492 5600 trevor@trucker.co.nz Trevor Woolston 027 492 5600 trevor@trucker.co.nz Hayden Woolston 027 448 8768 hayden@trucker.co.nz

EDITORIAL Editor

Wayne Munro 021 955 099 waynemunro@xtra.co.nz

Editorial office Phone

PO Box 48 074 AUCKLAND 09 826 0494

Associate Editor

Brian Cowan

CONTRIBUTORS

Gerald Shacklock Dean Evans Cory Martin Vladimir Chekhuta Zhao Ai Hua Trevor McGregor Peter Owens Robin Yates

ART DEPARTMENT Design & Production Luca Bempensante Zarko Mihic EQUIPMENT GUIDE AUCKLAND, NORTHLAND, BOP, WAIKATO, CENTRAL NORTH ISLAND Advertising Don Leith 027 233 0090 don@trucker.co.nz AUCKLAND, LOWER NORTH ISLAND, SOUTH ISLAND Advertising Hayden Woolston 027 448 8768 hayden@trucker.co.nz

ADMINISTRATION Sue Woolston MANAGER accounts@trucker.co.nz SUBSCRIPTIONS Linley Wilkinson linley@trucker.co.nz NZ subscription $80 incl. GST for one year price (11 issues) Overseas rates on application ADDRESS Phone +64 9 571 3544 Fax +64 9 571 3549 Freephone 0508 TRUCKER (878 2537) Postal Address PO Box 112 062, Penrose, AUCKLAND Street Address 172B Marua Road, Ellerslie, AUCKLAND Web www.alliedpublications.co.nz PRINTING & DISTRIBUTION Printer Nicholson Print Solutions Distribution Gordon & Gotch Publication: New Zealand Truck & Driver is published monthly, except January,

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NZ Truck & Driver Magazine

Net circulation – ended 30/09/2017

12,141

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Truck & Driver | 1

NEWS

The eCascadia and eM2 electric trucks

Freightliner goes electric IN A MOVE SEEN AS A FIGHTBACK AGAINST ELECTRIC truck startups like Tesla, Nikola and Thor, Daimler Trucks North America has unveiled a heavy-duty Freightliner Cascadia etruck.

The fully-electric eCascadia will have up to 730 horsepower, its batteries providing 550 Kwh of usable capacity and giving it a 400-kilometre range, at up to 37.2 tonnes all-up.

The batteries will be rechargeable up to 80% capacity – providing a range of another 320 kilometres – in about 90 minutes.

Daimler Trucks says that the Class 8 tractor unit is designed for local and regional distribution and shuttling containers to and from ports to nearby freight terminals.

The eCascadia is part of what DTNA terms its Freightliner Electric Innovation Fleet – the heavy-duty truck joined by an eM2 medium-duty truck, an electric bus and the FUSO eCanter light truck.

The other three will join the eCanter in production in 2021 or before – with Daimler Trucks boasting that it will then offer “the widest range of commercial electric vehicles of any OEM in North America.”

Freightliner says it will deliver an Electric Innovation Fleet of 30 vehicles to customers later this year for further testing under real-world operating conditions.

The eCascadia and the eM2 are designed to fit “specific applications” – carefully identified with customers.

The eM2 has up to 480hp, with batteries providing 325 Kwh of usable capacity and a range of up to 370kms at 27.2t all-up. Its batteries can be recharged to 80% capacity (providing a range of 296kms) in about an hour.

It’s designed for local distribution, pickup and delivery, food and beverage delivery, and last-mile logistics applications.

“The Freightliner eCascadia and eM2 are designed to meet customer 2 | Truck & Driver

needs for electrified commercial vehicles serving dedicated, predictable routes where the vast majority of daily runs fall between 45 and 150 miles (72-241kms),” says DTNA president and CEO Roger Nielsen.

“These innovative trucks reflect DTNA’s commitment to bring practical, game-changing technology to market. The eCascadia, utilising North America’s bestselling Class 8 platform, and eM2 106 – based on one of the most in-demand medium-duty truck designs – are built on validated, series production trucks in extensive use by our customers every day.”

Martin Daum, member of the Daimler Board of Management for trucks and buses, says: “We are the undisputed global leader of the trucking industry and we want to remain in that position also with regards to electric trucks.

“We were first-movers on electric trucks and we strive to provide the leading electric truck in each relevant segment. With the foundation of the global ‘electric mobility group,’ we maximise the impact of our investments in this key strategic technology field. Thus, we can go for the best solutions in batteries, charging solutions and energy management.”

Nielsen says that DTNA’s main aim is to bring “vehicles to market that are safe, reliable and efficient. Heavy-duty electric vehicles present the greatest engineering challenges, but they also are the best learning laboratories.

“We have decades of experience in successfully producing durable commercial vehicles in high volumes that stand up to the demands our customers place on them. We now bring this unmatched experience and expertise to the electric truck category.”

At the same time as the Freightliner etrucks were unveiled, Daimler AG announced that this year and next year it will spend a staggering $NZ4.12billion on research and development – including a US facility dedicated to autonomous trucks and $NZ836million on heavy-duty electric vehicles. T&D

NEWS

The Argosy has been a big seller in NZ for almost 20 years...but new sales will cease in early 2020

Argosy to go in 2020

AFTER MUCH RUMOUR (AND DENIAL) ABOUT ITS impending retirement, the Freightliner Argosy is to be killed off within the next two years.

The cabover will bow out in early 2020 – after two decades on the New Zealand market, where it has been Freightliner’s biggest seller by far.

Daimler Truck and Bus in NZ and Australia announced the looming end of the popular cabover in May – at the same time revealing that the all-new Freightliner Cascadia conventional will be launched here in 2020.

The arrival of the Cascadia – the biggest-selling model for the biggestselling make in the North American market – will “signal the start of a new and exciting era for Freightliner in NZ,” Daimler Truck and Bus NZ senior manager Pieter Theron says.

However, the end of the North American cabover will leave a big hole for Freightliner to fill here – with well over 1000 Argosys sold in NZ since the model’s 1999 launch.

Last year, for instance, 13 Freightliner conventionals were sold here…. along with 57 Argosys, the cabover thus representing over 80% of Freightliner sales.

“The Argosy has been a very popular model in NZ thanks to its low tare weight, spacious cab and its tough American powerplant, in a package developed for maximum productivity,” says Theron.

Its departure will leave the North American cabover truck market to the already-dominant Kenworth (which sold 124 K200s last year) and International, which sold 19 9870 cabovers.

Currently the Argosy is available here with the choice of the 15-litre Detroit DD15, Cummins ISX or X15.

Daimler Truck and Bus describes the Argosy as “a striking example of

continuous improvement, with key changes being made in response to customer feedback over the years. These include a range of measures to improve refinement levels and reinforcement of the innovative automatic foldout step for increased durability and safety.”

But Australia and NZ have been the only markets in the world where new Argosys are sold since the cabover was dropped from the South African market in 2014. It had exited the US market a decade earlier.

The end of the model in South Africa triggered widespread rumours in the industry here two years ago that the Argosy was about to cease production – claims that distributor Mercedes-Benz NZ shot down.

Theron told NZ Truck & Driver then that the Argosy’s current model lifecycle was confirmed until at least 2021 – when it’s reckoned that the next exhaust emissions standard is likely to be introduced in NZ and Australia.

While extending the model beyond that emissions change would involve re-engineering the Argosy for the next-level combination of SCR plus EGR technologies, Theron said he was optimistic that would happen – and the Argosy would continue on beyond 2021.

Freightliner Australia Pacific director Stephen Downes says that the Argosy has “been a fantastic model for Freightliner.”

And he adds: “It is fitting that we will say goodbye to the venerable Argosy in the same year that we welcome the cutting-edge Cascadia.”

The US flagship for the make, the Cascadia was upgraded in 2016 and last year earned Freightliner 46,000 US sales.

As for the Argosy, Freightliner says it will continue to improve the cabover, the measures including a new down-speeding Eaton UltraShift option for buyers speccing the Detroit DD15 engine. Daimler says it will deliver a significant fuel economy improvement. T&D Truck & Driver | 3

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18 09:54

NEWS

The all-wheel-drive Unimog is unveiled as a new addition to the Mercedes-Benz NZ model range

Fieldays firsts SCANIA AND MERCEDES-BENZ have used the 50th anniversary of Fieldays to showcase and unveil significant additions to their model lineups.

The Swedish truck manufacturer launched its new-generation trucks, including the flagship R and S Series models – revealing its first all-new range makeover since 1995. Refinements to the V8 engine include improved cooling, new heads, injectors, and turbo/manifold, resulting in a 70kg weight saving.

Importer and exhibitor CablePrice says that the AMT is smoother and faster, while the V8 – a vitally important part of the local range, accounting for more than 60% of sales – is reckoned to offer up to 10% improved fuel efficiency.

Engines range from 520hp (with the same torque as the previous 560-horse V8) to 730hp.

The result of 10 years of development and $NZ3billion of R&D (the largest investment in a new model in the company’s 127-year history), the new range offers improved safety and driver comfort.

Among the cab changes is a repositioned driver’s seat (moved forward and closer to the door), lower dash and door panels and slimmer mirrors and A-pillars to improve vision. There’s up to 2m of headspace in the flat-floor S-cab. High-tensile steel in the cab construction and side-window airbags are specifically designed for extra safety in rollovers. The front axle has also been moved forward 50mm, a new suspension installed and aerodynamics and rolling resistance have been improved.

Mercedes-Benz’s Unimog rejoins the local range after its first appearance here 33 years ago – when 400 units were sold to the defence forces.

Now relaunched into the public arena, the Unimog is promoted as the ultimate go-anywhere all-terrain AWD vehicle. With effectively the same chassis and

underpinnings as it had when first launched in 1945, the Unimog has helical springs that allow 30 degrees of axle movement.

It has a setback engine and transmission, the option of five PTOs and both the VGE (standard cab) and VHE (double-cab) versions can be fitted with 1000 different implements.

The Euro 6 engine, same as in the Arocs, is coupled with a transmission with eight forward and six reverse gears, and featuring Variodrive, the ability to swap between left-hand-drive and RHD in seconds.

The Unimog boasts 44/51 degrees of approach/ departure angles, a 38-degree tipping angle, 500mm of ground clearance and the ability to wade through up to 1.2 metres of water.

Applications include logging, snow-clearing, street-sweeping and firefighting (the latter version coming with water sprayers to cool the tyres and

windscreen and heat-protected cabling. There’s even a self-cleaning radiator that powers the fan in reverse, and a FOPS (Falling Over Protection System) structure over the cab, able to withstand eight tonnes.

In a small display arena at Fieldays the Unimog’s ability was demoed on a man-made mound in the shape of the Mercedes three-pointed star.

UD Trucks had already launched its new Quon flagship before the show (see feature, Page 87), but gave the new models their first public showing at Fieldays as well.

The FUSO stand at Fieldays had a handful of its trucks on show….plus a Mercedes-Benz – namely the top-of-the-range X-Class X250d Power ute that it announced it will be giving away in a promotion running till the end of the year.

Everyone who buys an 8x4 FUSO HD, in either 410hp or 470hp variants, will be in with a chance to win the all-wheel-drive X-Class. T&D

A new-generation R 620 Scania on show

Truck & Driver | 5

NEWS

The EU’s proposed regulations will force European truckmakers to cut CO2 emissions from new trucks by 30% by 2030

Call for heavy Euro CO cuts 2

TRUCKMAKERS WILL HAVE TO CUT CO2 EXHAUST emissions from all new heavy trucks in the European Union by at least 30% in the next 12 years.

Europe has lagged behind the United States, China, Japan and Canada in setting targets to cut CO2 emissions from trucks – but its first proposed standards are regarded by the industry as “far too aggressive.”

The 30% cut is based on 2019 levels, with an interim CO2 reduction target of 15% by 2025.

The EU says that trucks, which comprise 5% of all vehicles on the road, contribute 25% of all road transport CO2 emissions.

European automotive industry group ACEA says that the European Commission seems to have “simply taken the exact CO2 reduction levels it already proposed for cars and vans, and applied them directly to heavy-duty vehicles – without fully recognising the fundamental differences between these vehicle segments.”

ACEA had lobbied for a 16% exhaust pipe CO2 reduction between 2019 and

2030, with an intermediate target of 7% in 2025.

By 2030 the EU wants to cut emissions across all sectors of the economy by at least 40% compared to 1990 levels.

“All sectors must contribute to meet our climate commitments under the Paris Agreement,” says EU commissioner for climate action and energy Miguel Arias.

“That’s why, for the first time ever, we are proposing EU standards to increase fuel efficiency and reduce emissions from new heavy-duty vehicles.”

Environmental organisation Transport & Environment says the proposed targets won’t achieve the EU’s own climate targets – in line with calls from some countries (and even some transport operators) for a 2025 target of at least 24% and a 2030 target of 34-45%.

T&E says that, as a result of the proposed levels, “a lot of cost-effective clean technologies won’t be fitted to new trucks, which will result in truckers and the climate missing out on big savings.”

The proposal must be approved by EU governments and the European Parliament before becoming law. T&D

Taking on waste tyre problem NEW ZEALAND’S LARGEST TYRE recycling facility is “a significant step forward” in managing the environmental problem of end-oflife tyres, says Waste Management NZ. The company has opened the new tyre recycling facility in Wiri, South Auckland – its investment in new tyre-processing equipment supported by the Ministry for the Environment’s Waste Minimisation Fund.

The US-made equipment has expanded the processing capacity of the company’s facility by 250%. This will lead to the shredding of 30,000 tonnes of tyres annually – the equivalent of three million car tyres.

Around 60,000 tonnes of tyre waste is generated annually in NZ from 4.2 million cars and trucks, 6 | Truck & Driver

and as they do not decompose, end-of-life tyres are a critical issue for the environment.

Waste Management’s processing facility provides a local solution for these tyres, with the shredded material supplied for re-use in manufacturing as tyre-derived fuel (TDF), reducing waste stockpiling and turning a discarded resource into energy.

Tom Nickels, Waste Management managing director, says that sustainability is “our core purpose at Waste Management. This facility will play a key role in tackling a growing environmental problem which is a cause of concern for many NZers. Waste Management is proud to be making a difference.

“The Government’s support, coupled with our

own investment, has created a local solution for the re-use of end-of-life tyres, and we are pleased to be turning waste into energy through the creation and supply of tyre-derived fuel.

“As this country’s largest waste and environmental services company, we appreciate the important role we can play in maximising the value of waste streams. Now this includes waste tyres,” Nickels says.

Tyres have a very high calorific value that provides a beneficial source of fuel for a range of purposes including powering cement kilns and power plants.

Waste Management plans to open another tyre recycling facility in the South Island late next year. T&D

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NEWS

Telling them like it is NEW ZEALAND TRUCK & DRIVER IS LAUNCHING A campaign aimed at making the general public more aware of the important part that the road transport industry plays in the success and development of NZ’s economy….and the good that the people in it do every day on our roads.

The We Love Trucks & Drivers Campaign kicks off with a viral online video – aimed at gaining some outside appreciation of the trucking industry…and what trucks deliver to people on a daily basis, helping them live normal lives.

Says Allied Publications business development manager Olivia Beauchamp: “As part of this campaign we’ll be looking for drivers in our

industry to come forward and tell us who they are and what they do” – so they can be featured.

The Truck Driver Hero award is also being re-launched as part of this campaign, “to ensure we can highlight those who go over and above on our roads to help other road users,” she adds. Their stories will be distributed to all media with the aim of getting some exposure outside the industry.

Says Beauchamp: “We ask that everyone in our industry help us to gain as much exposure as we possibly can with this campaign.

“This could be as simple as sharing the content to your company Facebook page or your own personal profile. The more we can get out of this the more it will benefit us all as an industry we’re so proud to be a part of.” T&D

Kiwi tech regional champ

TD28320

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NEW ZEALANDER CAMERON NICOL HAS WON THE Freightliner Australia Pacific Technician of the Year honours.

Nicol, from Auckland dealer Trucks and Trailers, edged out Adelaide tech Brodie Martin and Trucks and Trailers workmate Adrian Hays in the in the final of the technicians’ contest, held at the Daimler Truck and Bus Training Academy in Melbourne.

Along with the title, Nicol wins an all-expenses paid trip to North America – visiting Freightliner’s Cleveland truck manufacturing plant, its test engineering centre in Oregon and its Detroit engine plant. He’ll also attend the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

Freightliner Australia Pacific director Stephen Downes says it’s important to applaud the valued technicians who support the brand seven days a week, 365 days a year: “Quality technicians are a crucial part of our commitment to our customers, so it’s appropriate we celebrate the best of the best with awards like this.”

Freightliner expects interest in next year’s competition to be even stronger. To be eligible to enter, technicians must complete the professional level status of the Freightliner Certified Training Programme. T&D

Champion Cameron Nicol (right) beat Adelaide’s Brodie Martin (left) and Trucks and Trailers workmate Adrian Hays (centre) to the title Truck & Driver | 9

NEWS

Kiwi in key Volvo role KIWI VOLVO TRUCKS STALWART Clive Jones is taking over a key role in the make’s regional leadership team.

Jones, currently national sales manager – Volvo Truck and Bus in New Zealand, next month becomes the new vice-president sales for Volvo Trucks Australia, New Zealand and Oceania, based in Brisbane.

Jones, who has been with Volvo Trucks here for 16 years – first with Titan Plant Services and then with Motor Truck Distributors – is replacing Mitch Peden who has been promoted to head Volvo Trucks Malaysia.

Volvo Group Australia president and CEO Peter Voorhoeve says that since 2002 Jones “has been instrumental in building the presence of Volvo trucks and buses in NZ, and we are looking forward to leveraging his deep insight gained from more than 20 years of experience in the truck industry.

“Clive has been part of the Volvo family for most of his career – from the early days, when he started driving a Volvo FH up and down the highways of NZ. “He has a deep understanding of our customers and our product, and his appointment only adds to the strength of the Volvo Group Australia leadership

team.”

Jones says he’s looking forward to “building on the successes of his predecessor to take the Volvo Trucks brand into an even more dominant market position.

“My involvement with Volvo Group Australia spans my entire tenure with the Volvo brand, and I’ve met many Australian customers along the journey thus far.

“I’m a firm believer that our people are the key to our success and developing their skills and mindset with a customer-centric focus has been one of the ingredients of Volvo Trucks’ success in both Australia and NZ. “Alongside a passion for Volvo, being able to work with the best people in the business in Australia has been a significant part of my decision to take on this role, and I relish the challenges and opportunities it will bring.”

MTD Trucks GM Murray Sowerby says that Jones’ “professionalism, product knowledge and customer service is second to none and he’ll be greatly missed by our customers and our entire team at MTD. “We’d like to thank Clive for his dedication and commitment to our company and the Volvo brand over this period.” T&D

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Mack recall over safety concern CONCERN OVER POTENTIAL FAILURE OF REAR axle yokes has prompted a voluntary safety recall of some trucks built by Mack Trucks Australia.

It has issued the voluntary recall “as a precautionary measure” for 2193 Macks – some Granite, Trident, Titan and Super-Liners built between January 1 2009 and December 31 2016.

MTD Trucks New Zealand general manager Murray Sowerby confirms that the recall applies to around 100 Macks sold in NZ. Mack Trucks Australia says trucks equipped with a SPL250 driveshaft and “specific Meritor rear axles may experience issues with the rear axle yoke.

“In certain operating conditions, these vehicles may experience rear axle yoke failure, potentially causing the driveshaft to disconnect.

“Safety is at the core of our business, which is why we have taken this action. We are contacting owners to request they visit a Volvo Group Australia dealership at their earliest convenience, in order for the first drive axle input yoke to be inspected, and if required, to be replaced.”

Sowerby says such issues “are taken very seriously – and we’ve already begun a check and change process…making replacements as required.” T&D

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NEWS

Bluebridge gets gold Bluebridge Cook Strait Ferries’ Straitsman

BLUEBRIDGE COOK STR AIT Ferries has been recognised for outstanding business practices, earning the country’s highest accolade for tourism operators – a Gold Sustainable Tourism Business Award rating from Qualmark.

Head of marketing and communications for Bluebridge Cook Strait Ferries Mischa Mannix-Opie says the new Qualmark status is recognition of the significant improvements being made under a new customer and

growth-focused strategy.

“We’re delighted to have received this new rating that shows we’re elevating our customer experience and improving practices across all areas of our passenger service,” she says.

Mannix-Opie says the award takes into account new customer benefits, such as the introduction of a partnership with Air New Zealand Airpoints, best-practice health and safety initiatives, customer insights research, enhanced onboard experiences and a brand

evolution.

Qualmark assessor Gregg Anderson says Bluebridge received the top rating due to its excellent systems, procedures and management practices across the business: “Bluebridge demonstrated outstanding commitment to all environmental aspects of Qualmark Sustainable Evaluation and also consistently scored highly in areas addressing economic, people and health and safety processes.” T&D

Hino, Heartland put finance online HINO DISTRIBUTORS NEW ZEALAND AND Heartland Bank have partnered-up to create an online finance service for customers buying new or used Hinos…or simply paying for repairs and maintenance work.

Heartland Bank’s head of business Peter Griffin says that Hino Finance “has been set up with speed and simplicity in mind.

“We know truckies are busy – they’re either on the road or they’re managing a fleet from a central location – which is why we offer a simple online application process that means they can apply any time, on any device and get a decision within minutes.

“The beauty of the offering is that applicants don’t have to take time off the road or out of the office to visit the bank to enquire about finance. They can access up to 100% finance online with payment terms up to seven years.”

Griffin says the creation of Hino Finance stems from the bank wanting to take its successful Open for Business platform for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to a wider market – as well as wanting to leverage its 12 | Truck & Driver

experience with truck finance.

“Our Open for Business platform has been well received by small business owners and we knew its online presence would translate well into other market sectors. Couple this with our depth of experience with truck finance and we could see we’d found an opportunity.

“We are delighted to have joined forces with one of NZ’s premier truck brands to create Hino Finance. Hino more than fits the bill with its nationwide presence and its comprehensive offering.

“Hino trucks have been in NZ for 50 years and with Heartland having roots stretching back even further than that, the fit was mutual,” Griffin adds.

Darren Salt, Hino GM, says: “We know trucks and Heartland Bank knows how to finance them, so this partnership is about taking the best of both and packaging it up for our customers in a simple, online offering.

“Being able to easily introduce our potential customers to Hino Finance is another handy tool for our sales team – and it’s such a simple and speedy process available throughout the country and our Hino network.” T&D

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NEWS

Peter claims king-rig crown LONGTIME GORE TRUCK SHOW AND PAR ADE organising committee member and judge Peter Kingsford swapped roles this year…and came away with the big prize.

The veteran truckie resigned from the committee and the judging panel this year so he could enter the 2016 UD Condor that he drives for Gore Freight & Storage.

After spending two days cleaning and polishing the four-wheel curtainsider, in which he delivers freight around eastern Southland, Kingsford won the King Rig award at last month’s show.

The win earned rousing applause – in recognition of Kingsford’s role in the show’s organisation…and the fact that they reckon it’s a rarity in recent times for a Japanese truck to take the premier award.

Main picture: Fifty-nine trucks entered the show

Above: Organiser/judge turned competitor Peter Kingsford won the King Rig award Bottom, left to right: Fonterra trucks took Best Scania and Best Volvo awards... Kingsford’s King Rig.... Alex McLellan’s Leyland Hippo won Best Truck Over 1million Kms honours

Peter and the same UD won the Best New Truck Award at the 2016 show, but didn’t take part last year.

The show, which started as an adjunct to the New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards, this year attracted 59 trucks – to be judged by three teams of 15 specialists, in 43 categories.

Judging started early at Transport Repairs’ yard and a big crowd checked out the entries before the competing trucks and others did their usual parade through the town.

Road Transport Association District 5 chairman Bruce Robertson, who conducted the prizegiving at the Mataura Licensing Trust’s Traffers tavern, says the show provides the opportunity to “show off ” the transport industry to the general public. T&D

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NEWS Euro 6-engined Beiben

CHINA’S FIRST EURO 6 HEAV Y-DUTY TRUCK WAS unveiled at the Auto China 2018 show held in Beijing.

The Beiben V3ET, made by the Beibin Group, adopts the latest European exhaust emissions standard three years ahead of it being introduced in China for heavy trucks.

The tractor unit has a new 13-litre Weichai WP 13 500 E63 engine, producing 560 horsepower/411kW and 2550Nm of peak torque.

It has a 16-speed automated manual transmission from Chinese company Fast Gear, with a hydraulic retarder. Beiben says that its cab calls on Mercedes-Benz technology. The tractor unit boasts high-tech features including advanced emergency braking, a lane departure warning system, adaptive cruise control, a night vision system and driver fatigue warning.

Also on show in Beijing was the most powerful truck in China – a 560hp

Cleaner, more powerful Chinese trucks

version of a 13-litre Iveco Cursor 13 engine, installed in a Glenlyon C500.

The 6x6 tractor unit is a product of a Sino-Italian JV between Chinese manufacturer SAIC and Iveco.

The Euro 5 engine is accompanied by a Fast Gear AMT, ECAS rear air suspension, Alcoa alloy wheels, WABCO disc brakes with ABS and EBS, an electronic stability programme, cruise control, GPS navigation, integrated system diagnostics and monitoring…plus rear-view backing cameras.

In another Sino/Euro JV, domestic truckmaker JMC unveiled a new range of heavy-duty construction trucks, based on Ford Turkey’s trucks and engine technology.

It showed a 6x4 Veyron tipper, equipped with a 13-litre 500hp Euro 5 engine from Turkey, a Fast Gear 12-speed manual transmission and a cab derived from Turkey’s Ford Cargo, redesigned in Europe. T&D

Below, left to right: Smart-looking JMC is based on a Turkish Ford Cargo.... flash interior on JMC tipper... Glenlyon has 560hp Cursor 13 engine

Truck & Driver | 17

NEWS

Stock transport regs fail With many farmers not standing stock off green feed before transport, operators are finding effluent disposal an even more difficult problem than usual

LIVESTOCK TR ANSPORT OPER ATORS ARE “extremely disappointed” in the way farmers, OSPRI and the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) have failed to implement and properly enforce stock movement regulations, Road Transport Forum chief executive Ken Shirley says.

It is their responsibility to meet regulations under the National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) scheme, says Shirley, who adds: “These regulations were put in place for a reason – as we’re now finding out, to the country’s considerable cost, with the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak.

“Stock trucks are fitted with effluent tanks with a finite capacity…that require frequent emptying. The act of disposing of effluent, which in the past was difficult enough, has – as a direct result of the fear associated with disease spread – become a significant issue.”

Shirley says that many farmers have been remiss in not adequately standing stock off green feed prior to transport, to reduce effluent production – and local government and meat processing companies have been “extremely tardy” in providing access to effluent disposal facilities.

Access to traditional disposal facilities is also now being restricted, because of fears of disease spread, adds Shirley: “With Mycoplasma bovis upon us, greater demands are being put on stock transporters to wash and sanitise their vehicles.

“But there has been no focus on the provision of adequate effluent disposal sites by the other parties.

“Farmers and meat processors are placing increased burdens and cost on stock transporters but steadfastly refuse to shoulder the additional costs and responsibility generated by their own tardiness.

“What if Mycoplasma bovis was an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease? In that nightmare scenario it would clearly not be acceptable to leave the burden of responsibility for effluent disposal solely with transporters – yet the primary sector doesn’t seem to appreciate that the principle here is just the same,” says Shirley.

“Livestock transporters are more than happy to continue to play their part in the responsible movement of animals. However, MPI, councils, farmers and meat processors also need to help facilitate the appropriate disposal of stock effluent through better facilities and practices.” T&D

‘Truckie’ out…‘professional driver’ in THERE’S A PUSH TO REPLACE THE term “truckie,” with “professional road transport operator.”

The Road Transport Association of New Zealand (RTANZ) is asking the media “and others,” to “think twice before using the word ‘truckie.’ ” RTANZ chief executive Dennis Robertson reckons that ‘truckies’ is often used by the media – and “has even crept into official reports.”

But, he believes, “those driving trucks or running trucking companies seldom use the word themselves.

“The use of ‘truckie’ appears to be an imported 18 | Truck & Driver

Aussie-ism, along with ‘tradies, posties, sparkies’ and more – even ‘fieries’ for firefighters.

“Our members are telling us that not all of them like being called ‘truckies’ all the time,” says Robertson.

“The association would prefer the term ‘professional drivers.’ “ ‘Truckie’ may sound matey or blokey, but ‘professional driver’ reflects the serious responsibility of the job,” Robertson reckons.

“These professional drivers have to undergo extensive training and acquire highly developed skills, which need to be rigorously maintained.

“Recognising professionalism is also an

important step in encouraging more people to want to enter the road transport industry. NZ is currently experiencing a nationwide shortage of professional drivers, which could have a longterm impact on the economy.”

Hawke’s Bay-based RTANZ area executive Sandy Walker, who has 47 years’ experience in the trucking industry, says that he encourages attendees at logbook refresher courses he runs to “refrain from writing ‘truck driver’ and enter ‘professional driver’ – because that is what they are.

“I can tell you from that moment on, the bar has just been lifted and you’re dealing with a whole new bunch of people, on a different level.” T&D

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If the more angular front of the Scania isn’t enough to identify it as part of the Swedish truckmaker’s “new generation,” the curtains on the truck and its TMC trailer make sure there’s no mistaking it

Truck & Driver | 23

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Driver Reg McCorkindale reckons that the very last climbs and descents of his run – Saddle Hill and Lookout Hill, on the southern edge of Dunedin – provide the new 620hp engine the best opportunities of the whole trip to show off its capabilities

C

AREER TRUCKIE REG MCCORKINDALE HAS REACHED retirement age…and then some.

But even though he’s already notched-up around half a century behind truck steering wheels, the Dunedin driver’s very happy to keep going “for a while yet.”

That’s no big surprise when you meet Reg and his new truck – which he rates the best he’s ever driven. And that’s saying something when you consider that his last three were all 730-horsepower Scanias!

It rates as even higher praise when he reckons that, in fact, this truck is much, much better than the 2017 R 730 he hopped out of a week or so ago. And that in itself was a truck bristling with power, torque and technology – the latter including predictive and adaptive cruise control and autonomous emergency braking.

So what the hell is this new wonder-truck? Well, it’s yet another Scania – unsurprisingly since that’s the only truck make that Reg’s boss Warren Good has bought in the last 32 years.

Reg reckons he thought his R 730s were as good as it gets….but this S 620, one of the flagship models in Scania’s new-generation truck range, is “way better” than them. So good, in fact, that he’s moved to confess: “I am an extremely lucky man…I’m just bloody spoilt. Oh, this is an incredible bit of gear, this.”

He’s not alone in thinking so: Longtime Post Haste contractor Good hasn’t actually bought this S 620 – it’s an evaluation truck that’s on trial with his WJ & SA Good Ltd operation in Dunedin….as importer CablePrice launches the Scania New Truck Generation in New Zealand.

But it’s clear that Good’s already sold on the new-era trucks, launched in Europe just two years ago.

Even this longtime Scania fan couldn’t credit how much the Swedish truckmaker has managed to improve what he already considered a high-tech, safe, efficient and sophisticated highway truck.

Good, who had the pleasure of driving the S 620 (one of two newgeneration evaluation trucks in the country) across Arthur’s Pass for a Scania promotional photo shoot, is seriously impressed: “Oh it’s magic – light years ahead of its predecessor!

“It’s hard to explain. As soon as you get in it feels more airy. Your vision’s just way, way better – you don’t have the blind spots you get

with the (older trucks’) mirrors and thick pillars.”

And the combination of the new Scania V8 (it has the same block as the old one….but fully a third of the latest 16-litre engine’s components are new) and the latest version of the Opticruise automated manual transmission, has “just gone into another league with its smooth, quick changes.”

Good says it was the Swedish truckmaker’s emphasis on safety that convinced him to buy his first Scania, a T92 conventional 6x4, back in 1986.

Back in those days, he was Christchurch based: “Prior to that I’d been coming down to Dunedin, sliding down the hills in an old Isuzu JCR and I used to have one hand on the door handle – ready to bail out!

“Because if it was gonna let go on the ice and snow there was no way I was going to ride that cab down the hill! I would have turned it into the hill somewhere and bailed out. That was always my plan.”

He’d done some overseas research on the safety built into the cab of Scania’s T92s and talked to people running them as milktankers at the Clandeboye milk processing plant near Timaru – and was happy to find out there were also “getting massively good fuel economy on them.”

One thing leads to another: So, first it was about the safety cab, then the fuel economy…and then the fact that “the first two Scanias I ever had never let me down, in about two or three million Ks… They just kept going.”

And that, he adds, was a pretty important consideration back in the 1980s, when “we were paying 28%, 29% interest…

“So it was a massive amount of money on those trucks to pay them off. But they were still worth it for the peace of mind type thing – with the safety.”

And by 1993 Good had also decided that, in particular, Scanias with low-revving V8 engines were the way to go – starting down the eightcylinder route that year with a 500hp 143 model: “I just worked that out that they were gonna be good for linehaul. So that’s why I got into them – for the safety and for just loping along at low revs.

The 620s and 730s he’s bought were not all about the power: “I buy the horsepower for the torque it produces – so we can go up a Truck & Driver | 25

Main picture, below: The new Scania heads out of the Mataura MDF plant, bound for Port Chalmers Right: The Scania takes one load north most days....rail wagons are waiting to be loaded with most of the plant’s 700-tonne daily output – also headed for Pt Chalmers Opposite page, top: Autumn sunshine gradually breaks through the thick fog on the back road from Mataura to Clinton

hill with a good load on, in automated mode.…and they don’t change gear. They just hold the gears and keep pulling away.

“That’s the advantage of them…they’re a less-stressed motor.

The things just plug along at about 1000 revs all day long. They’ve proved their worth by not working as hard and not doing all that gearchanging.”

To be sure that Scania is still best for his purposes “every couple of years I have a close look at the other Europeans.”

That includes doing a parts price and availability comparison: “I pick out parts we’d use most, like diff parts or gearbox bearings, windscreens and things you need in a hurry – to see the availability of them and how soon you could get them.

“And the Scania still comes out on top, mainly because it’s more of a modular truck than the others. And that’s what made it a lot easier…” Even if the engines have been different in his trucks, “the gearbox, diffs and suspension stuff was the same – to the extent that I could actually steal something off one of my spare trucks to make another one go.”

Good also reckons that his leading role in the introduction of this new-generation Scania to NZ is just the latest in firsts he’s clocked-up with his trucks: “I seem to be the pioneer.”

His 1993 143 500 was “fairly advanced – I think it was the only truck in the country at the time with ABS.” He reckons it was also “the first eight-wheeler 500 outside of Sweden.”

And it was the first new Scania here with a Bosch electronic fuel injection system: “That old 500 – that went for about two years and 10 months and never missed one day.

“And I remember when we first got it….everyone told

26 | Truck & Driver

me this modern stuff wouldn’t work, that this EDC (electronic diesel control) would give nothing but trouble: ‘Oh wouldn’t touch one of those – no-one knows anything about them!’ But it turned out to be the most reliable system out.” He has a good laugh about that.

Given that positive new-technology experience, he was happy to become an early adopter of the autonomous emergency braking and collision avoidance system and the radar-based adaptive cruise control that came in the most recent R 730s and in the new S 620.

“That’s really, really clever stuff. If you’re on the open road, it might be a cockey with his truck with a load of hay on, and all of a sudden he puts the blinker on and slows down to turn left into a paddock…

So you can see what he’s doing but the truck computer, with that radar, thinks you’re going to drive into the back of him.

“You know you’re going to drive around him as he slows down. So all of a sudden this thing gives you a massive big warning, you know: “Crash! Crash!...” or something like that. And if you don’t do anything, it’ll stop – it’ll jam the brakes on.

“The other thing is if you go to pass and there’s traffic coming towards you, it won’t let you. It just lets you know, ‘you’re not gonna make it mate.’ That stuff is just out of this world.”

He points out that Reg had the benefit of it one day on the road out to Port Chalmers, when he rounded a corner to be confronted by a campervan stopped in the middle of the road – its occupants grabbing a stupidly dangerous

photo opportunity.

The Scania braked itself to a halt before he could! Says Good appreciatively: “That’s how much quicker it is than we are.”

The last R 730 also added predictive cruise – the system that uses GPS technology to “learn” the routes that the truck takes….so the AMT knows exactly where the uphills and downhills and corners are, and orders up gearchanges accordingly. Hence no more AMT that dumbly downshifts just when you’re just about to crest a hill….or upshifts just as you’re in need of a downshift for a tight corner.

Now the new-generation trucks, like this S 620, add more firsts – side window curtain airbags, for starters….to guard against injuries in a rollover. Scania says it’s the first truckmaker in the world to offer them.

Other extras not offered in Warren Good’s R 730s but part of this S 620’s package include automatic engine idle cutout and restart and lane-keeping support (which sounds a warning if the truck strays over the centre or roadside line markings).

But the single biggest feature of this particular newcomer is the towering, totally-new S Series cab – with a spacious interior that includes a flat

floor.

It’s also the most obvious feature when we meet Reg and the S 620 outside the medium-density fibreboard (MDF) plant just south of Mataura, in Southland, at 8am on a chilly, foggy autumn morning.

It is spectacularly tall and unapologetically angular – a styling step away from the recent trend to sculpt and round the edges of cabovers to smooth airflow and thus improve fuel efficiency (and yet Scania still reckons this is seven to 10 percent better on fuel than its

Truck & Driver | 27

Left: The V8 shares the same block as the previous 16-litre, but is heavily revised and upgraded Above: Unsurprisingly, driver Reg McCorkindale is a happy man

forerunner). Interestingly, despite the boxier shape, Scania reckons the aerodynamics on the new truck make for an improvement of up to 2% fuel-wise.

It also says that the S Series cab “raises the stakes in long-distance driver comfort” – and provides an “exceptional view from the driver position.” It refers to it in promo material as “your view from the top.”

And it’s not kidding! It’s a long way up and into the cab – Scania making it easy by providing not three but four steps, as well as good secure grabhandles each side. And this isn’t even the tallest (high-roof) cab option.

For the driver, the height of the S cab is accentuated by the fact that clever engineering has the driver sitting higher than in the R Series – in what the truckmaker says is “your optimal driver position,” with “maximum visibility, reachability and comfort when you’re on the road.”

Lowered side windows, a slightly lower dashboard, more glass and cunningly-shaped A-pillars (reasonably thick when viewed from the side, but shaped with a taper front and rear to reduce their impact on vision from the driver’s seat) add to the feeling of riding high.

Reg is almost 60% through his usual run, which started at around 2.30am, when he pulled out of the Post Haste Couriers depot in Dunedin with a load of Post Haste, NZ Couriers and Castle Parcels courier freight for Invercargill – most of it from Christchurch.

In a ritual he’s lived five days a week for the past 11 years (ever since he started working for Good), Reg has driven the 200kms to Invercargill, unloaded, and is now 50k into his return trip back to Dunedin.

Here at the MDF plant, taken over just a few days ago from Korean owner Dongwha by the NZ subsidiary of the Japanese Daiken Corporation, he’ll pick up a load of the fibreboard, to be delivered to Port Chalmers. That’s a round trip of just over 440kms – close to 90% of it fully loaded.

But that’s not the half of it! As per usual, the big Scania’s run actually started yesterday afternoon at around 4pm, when its second driver left Dunedin on a return courier freight run to Christchurch, fullyloaded both ways. It came back south last night with courier freight out of Christchurch – dropping off and reloading some at Oamaru and Dunedin….before Reg got behind the wheel to deliver a full load to Invercargill.

So it’s doing around 1175kms per day – one of nine Warren Good 28 | Truck & Driver

truck and trailer units on the Dunedin-Christchurch-Invercargill-Dunedin run four nights a week, with five of them doing a fifth night.

It means that the operation was perfect for Scania and CablePrice’s S 620 introductory trial, Good explains: “They wanted to do big Ks in a hurry – and my 730s are some of the highest-mileage ones in the world. The first is probably at about 1.8million Ks now.”

The 730s have, he says, “been pretty much troublefree. We’ve had lots of little things – all covered by ScanPlan (Scania’s maintenance and service plan). Like, because of the extra torque, the strain on the drivetrain, they did gearbox bearings pre-emptively – because the regular checks indicated a possible problem.

“They can see something starting to go so they get onto it before it breaks. So they changed bits and pieces here and there – because mine were almost trial ones being the first ones to do so many Ks.” Just as the Good operation is well-suited to this trial, so too is Reg in the perfect position to compare this Scania with its predecessors, seeing as he’s “always done the same run” since starting with Good.

It makes for a remarkable statistic: Reg has probably driven the road between Dunedin and Invercargill over five thousand times! All in Scania V8s.

“I’ve actually been quite lucky because I’ve had each of the new ones Warren has got.” In recent years, that is. The five trucks started with an R 620, then another….and then three R 730s in a row. The last one had just 300,000kms on the clock when he climbed out of that and into this a week ago.

He still recalls that truck fondly: “That 730 – it was an unbelievable truck when I got that. It was so far advanced from the other 730s.”

And now this newcomer has one-upped it in turn.

Reg drives through to the back of the huge MDF plant, pullingup beside a rail siding where a line of 21 curtainsider wagons await today’s 700-tonne dispatch to Port Chalmers. Fourteen of them will be loaded and gone by early afternoon.

There’s time here to do a quick look at this new-generation V8 Scania, presented here in the form of an S cab on an 8x4 truck with a TMC curtainsider body, pulling a matching five-axle trailer. Everything, including the steer axles on the S 620, is on air suspension.

There’s no attempt at travelling incognito – even though this is weeks before the official launch of the new range at Fieldays: The Structurflex curtains on both truck and trailer are emblazoned with

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signwriting identifying it as “The Next Generation Scania.”

Even without that, it’s easy to pick this as one of the new breed thanks to its wedge-shaped cab.

The next clue comes when you go to climb in – and find not three but four grated steps (supplemented by two substantial, long grabhandles).

New Zealand Truck & Driver publisher and tester Trevor Woolston’s eyes light up when he sees the access setup: “That’s how it’s ‘sposed to be.”

There’s another plus right here – the doors open right out to 90 degrees, adding to the ease of getting in and out.

Inside there are identical leather air-suspended seats for the driver and passenger – with red stitching, the same as on the leather-bound steering wheel and door panels. There’s also 1.85m headroom (the high roof model has over 2m), a comfy-looking bunk and oodles of space, with storage including big lockers above the windscreen plus two bins that slide out from under the bunk – one a fridge.

The storage extends to a centre console that includes pullout draws, drinkholders, cubbyholes and a tray.

The dash, with red piping to match the stitching elsewhere, is clever for how much info it manages to put on show very clearly – an analogue speedo that also shows the speed digitally, the total kilometres run, a tripmeter and a fuel gauge. The tacho also shows the time, the outside temperature (1 degree!), an AdBlue gauge and engine temp gauge.

The multi-function digital info display is amazing in terms of what it squeezes in….and clearly. In one mode alone it shows off the cruise control settings, average fuel consumption (currently on 42 litres per 100kms or 2.38kms per litre), the gear currently selected, cruise control

and downhill descent control speed settings, the percentage of usage of various electronic functions, the transmission shifting mode and a graphic depicting the distance setting that the automated emergency braking system is on.

The same kind of integration goes on with the controls on and around the steering wheel as well – with the usual stereo and digital display controls, cruise speed controls and the AEB system’s braking distance setting function, plus the hill descent speed control switch.

A lever on the right carries the controls for the transmission and the five-stage retarder (exhaust brake and hydraulic retarder, which in combination deliver a peak 4100Nm of braking).

Of course there are more rocker switch controls on the dash proper – plus light, mirror adjustment and window controls, all located on the driver’s door.

What lies beneath all of this, under the S cab’s flat floor, is the heavily-revised heart of the new V8 range – the 16-litre Scania DC16 115, which delivers 456 kilowatts/620-horsepower at 1900rpm and 3000Nm/2213 lb ft of peak torque between 950 and 1400 revs.

In Europe, this new V8’s being offered in 520, 580, 650 and 730hp variants – all Euro 6 compliant, of course. The 730 uses both SCR (selective catalytic reduction) and EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) to achieve the emissions standard – the others get there with SCR alone (plus a diesel particulate filter).

Here the V8 options (available only in the R and S cab models) are either a 520hp or this 620hp rating, in SCR-only Euro 5 form….or the 730hp SCR+EGR Euro 6 engine. And the latter, according to Warren Good, is heavier (than its Euro 5 predecessor) – “and the price is horrendous at this stage.”

The new V8s are based on the same block as their predecessors,

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Clockwise from top right: It’s clever how much info is clearly presented on the main dash display...this isn’t even the high-roof cab, but there’s acres of space....everything important is easily reached...steering wheel controls abound, putting so much at the driver’s fingertips but Scania reckons that of 650 components in the 16-litre, 200 are completely new, the development team having focused on four key areas: Fuel efficiency to improve customers’ profitability, serviceability to increase the vehicle’s uptime, improved production processes to increase quality for improved robustness, plus a new design.

The two lower-rated engine options are 80 kilograms lighter than their predecessors thanks to a simplified engine layout and fewer ancillaries – no EGR system, for instance.

The fuel economy gains come from the weight saving and aftertreatment efficiency, plus improvements in AdBlue evaporation, the SCR system and the DPF. The power of the beast beneath us isn’t going to be severely tested on the run ahead as we head out into the fog, with today’s load weighing-out at 22.2 tonnes – which almost exactly matches the tare weight of the HPMV unit. It’d usually be at 50t all up, or thereabouts, for this part of the run.

First-up behind the wheel is Woolston, who’ll take the new unit over the rolling hills on the back road – Old Coach Road – from Mataura to Clinton and then (back on SH1) on to Lake Waihola…so we get a less busy road, more hills and more corners…so much better for testing the Scania.

Smooth and quiet are the first impressions. There’s just a low background V8 hum. And the GRS0905R 12-speed Opticruise automated manual transmission is so-o-o-o-o smooth the shifts are almost imperceptible.

Woolston likes the space around him – is comfy in the seat, happy with the footroom. Premium Euro trucks always do have spacious cabs, he suggests, “because they live in them.”

He’s able to see what’s going on behind courtesy of the big mirrors (which are pushed out from the see-through A-pillars, so you can see between them at intersections), likes the view to the front over the

lowered dashboard, through the huge windscreen.

A break in the fog has us reaching for the sunvisors – one each side that flip down. Now THAT is what you call a sunvisor – substantial. Just like the doorhandles and the doors, which close with a solid-sounding thunk. By the way, there’s a driver’s side-window blind as well.

Into Mataura, past houses with chimneys puffing smoke, Woolston pulls the retarder on – but goes one (or two) stages too far: We slow so much it feels like he’s hit the brake pedal.

As we leave town he engages the cruise control, setting it for 90km/h – leaving it to negotiate the first hill out of town. The Opticruise downshifts to 60k by the top.

From here it’s into windy, gently-rolling territory that the Scania manages by cruising along, supremely unfussed, in 11th gear a lot of the time, running at 70-80km/h on the hills and corners.

It’s beautiful country but in the coming winter it will show a nasty side, with black ice on some corners. So far, reckons Reg, the problem’s been just fog. And he discovered last night, on the way south, that the LED lights on the new Scania were “absolutely brilliant.” In the “very thick, heavy fog…the lights seemed to get under the fog.”

As for the black ice, there is no skill to handling it, he advises: “You just have to let it handle you. You’ve got nothing.…you’ve just got to let it go. It is scary stuff. You might strike it half a dozen times through a winter.” It’s best managed by drivers warning each other on the CB, Reg adds.

Now, in the intermittent sunshine and thick fog, it’s not a problem for us. In fact, NOTHING is a problem, cruising along in this truck – like a capsule, insulated from all of that stuff.

When the outside world does intrude – like roadworks at the foot of a hill demanding a quite quick halt, the combo of exhaust brake and driveline retarder manages it no probs. Same with slowing down for a Truck & Driver | 33

P

•

•

The big Scania handles the rolling hills and corners of the Old Coach Road with absolute ease

65k corner at the bottom of a hill: The fifth, most powerful stage, soon has at us at 60k.

That’s repeated on the downhill run to Clinton, through a series of tight corners, with 75, 65 and 55km/h advisories.

As for going up hills, the slowest and lowest (gear) we get down to is 33km/h and seventh – on one short, deceptively sharp climb. The next-toughest is achieved 10k faster and one gear up.

The unit as a whole is utterly capable and confidence-inspiring. Says Woolston: “Steering’s nice – really positive. Easy to position on the road. The trailer? Yeah nice – wouldn’t even know it’s there.”

A corner with patched-up tarmac confirms that the suspension’s good enough to cope without moving the truck off line at all. Stableas.

Reg reckons that “the ride is totally different to the 730 – like, you can let the steering wheel go and it won’t shift. My old one, you were on the steering wheel all the time.”

The handling and the management of the shocks from the road comes through a sequence that starts with the 275/70R 22.5 Bridgestone R297 steerers and M729 drivers, fitted to Alcoa alloy wheels and Advance GL283A 265/70R 19.5s on the air-suspended TMC trailer.

It continues through air suspension all around, more airbags under the cab…and the premium air-suspended seat.

The truck’s beauty is the instant feeling of familiarity: “It feels like you’ve been driving it for years – like a Volvo, Mercedes. Like you’re sitting at home in an armchair,” Woolston enthuses.

About the only shortcoming we discover is that the windscreen washers end up leaving the mirrors covered with spray.

So it has us wondering: Does it come any more refined than this?

Woolston won’t play favourites. This, he says, is on a par with the new Mercedes-Benz Actros and the Volvo FH 750.

At Lake Waihola Reg seems happy to reclaim the steering wheel.

He’s a man who’s driven a lot of different trucks, seen a huge change in technology since he started out in an old Austin Mastiff back home in Tuapeka Mouth, on the Clutha River around half a century back.

His first driving job saw him doing stock and general cartage for Clutha Valley Transport, his single-drive, non-turbo diesel boasting all of 180hp. And it had a three-decker crate and towed a two-axle trailer: “Used to cart about 310 ewes…and by Christ it was slow! We used to cart right through to Christchurch – 19-hour days. The old logbooks 34 | Truck & Driver

didn’t exist then.”

Reg has, as he puts it, “been around the bush a bit. After livestock I carted gravel on the Clyde Dam project. That was an incredible job eh.

“I’ve just had a lot of different jobs. Got into linehaul – spent five years with Refrigerated Freight Lines. Immediately before Warren, I was working for McLellan Freight. Before that I was with a company in Balclutha carting fresh meat through to Mosgiel.”

Now this – the latest of a succession of increasingly high-tech Scanias. Yes, of course he likes the S 620: “Who wouldn’t like it! There wouldn’t be many drivers around who wouldn’t love driving this.”

Even compared to the other Good Scanias, this is another level: “Each truck’s very different and this one here is more different than any of the others, you know.”

And yes, he embraces the technology – using as much of it as he can, as often as he can: He points to the buttons on the steering wheel and reckons – “see, this here’s your driver. I don’t really need anything down there,” he adds, pointing to the brake and throttle pedals.

Given that the S 620 – like the last R 730 he had – has adaptive cruise control AND the groundbreaking GPS-guided predictive cruise control, it’d be silly not to use it…and Reg does – “a lot, if I can. And most of the time I can.

“But there are still corners where you’ve got to kick out of cruise control, just for my own safety more or less. Just till you get used to it.”

He loves the controls on the steering wheel that allow him to increase or decrease the cruise speed with a nudge up or down for 1km/h…or held to increase that to 5km/h increments.

And then, beside that on the lower part of the steering wheel there’s the hill descent control switch: “So I can come to the brow of a hill and I can just flick this down and it does everything. Unbelievable!

Unbelievable technology.”

The retarder’s giant-hand-holding-you-back is, by his judgment, “pretty awesome alright.”

Reg’s guided tour of the controls continues with the advanced emergency braking system: “This adjusts the distance behind that I can follow a vehicle (before it initiates its own collision-avoidance braking). See I just set it to 15m there, 30m there. Oh awesome, awesome.

“See that stick there – that’s a memory stick (for the predictive

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cruise control). The truck actually gets to know the route that we take – and it remembers it all. And when I get into an area where there’s a downhill run it just flicks into Neutral. My old one used to do it too – the 730.”

He’s confident, by the way, that the truck will soon do better than the 42 litres per 100kms fuel figure that it’s currently achieving: “It’s still very tight.”

He says that it’s hard to avoid triggering the lane departure warning system even in normal driving, but guesses it will be helpful in alerting tired drivers.

He is much more impressed with what the Scania engineers have done with what was “a very bad blind spot” on the R 730, created by the combination of the mirrors and the A-pillar on the driver’s side.

That’s gone on this truck, which he reckons has “brilliant” vision.

Then there’s the calm, smooth way this truck cruises along: “This thing’s just sitting at 90km/h – on auto-pilot! You wouldn’t think we were doing anything like that would you.”

By now we’ve talked our way to the climb up Saddle Hill, on Dunedin’s southern motorway – THE place on his run where the Scania really shows its engine and transmission performance, Reg says.

“It’s actually quite a steep hill to be honest.” This as we easily overtake a Freightliner Argosy truck and trailer unit on the passing lanes.

“She’s just dropped into 6th – that’s as low as we’ll go. The old one would come up in about 7th – but with probably seven or eight more tonne on than this, and at 40k, no trouble. Another 10k up and more weight on its back.

“See I’m up over 45 now – that’s still pretty impressive. Like you have a look where that Argosy is now – he’s dropped well off the

pace.”

For the downhill run he pulls the braking control onto the third (of five) stages: “On full, it’ll just about pull you up.”

Then there’s the climb at Lookout Point – and the last steep downhill run to the end of the motorway: “Like, this here’s really steep…and she’s still pulling over here at 35k, in seventh. Not many trucks would pull up over here at this.”

For the downhill, he sets the cruise control speed to 55k and leaves the electronics to look after everything. It ends up holding us at that speed with a modest 1600, 1700rpm and the retarder still only on its third stage.

Says Reg: “I mean listen to it. It’s hardly even purring. You imagine driving this to Christchurch – you’d get there still refreshed.

Driver road rage must really go right down, driver retention would improve…”

No surprise then that he says he’d be “hard-pushed” to agree now to drive any other truck.

Warren Good, like Reg, already thought he had the truck that was “it” – the ultimate, that is – with his newest R 730…. “until we grabbed that one (the S 620).

“It’s been five years in the making...and Scania say they started from the ground up and built a new truck, working out what they’d done right in years gone by…and making it better. I thought they were going to be struggling. But I reckon they’ve done it.

“The only thing that’s the same as in my last new truck, which was last year’s one, is the driver’s perforated leather seat, with the heating and the fan underneath.

“I’d read the reports from overseas and I didn’t think it could be THAT much better…but it is! It’s just like night and day.” T&D

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The Scania heads out of Mataura – on a trip that driver Reg McCorkindale has done thousands of times....in V8 Scanias

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Trevor Test

I

T’S A CLASSIC AUTUMN MORNING IN Southland when we catch up with the first Scania S 620 in the Southern Hemisphere.

Today we’re carting MDF out of the board mill at Mataura up to Port Chalmers, with an all-up weight of around 44 tonnes – quite a bit down on the rig’s usual loading, around 50t.

Like all the new-model premium European trucks it’s a fair climb up into the cab, with four well-spaced steps and well-positioned grabhandles each side of the door.

It brings to mind my favourite Led Zeppelin song, Stairway to Heaven, climbing into the warm and extremely well-appointed cab – getting out of the foggy, chilly weather.

All of these new Euros with their flat floors and higher cabs require the extra steps to get in…but they certainly make them extremely user friendly.

Editor Wayne Munro and I head off from the mill and the first thing that strikes you is the feeling of familiarity that you get when you hop into a well-appointed cab like this – where everything feels like it’s in the right

38 | Truck & Driver

place and functions as you’d expect it to. It’s a feeling I’ve had with many of the recent new-model tests we’ve done, and it comes from truckmakers’ careful attention to the details as they improve overall ergonomics and driver-friendly features.

Also, the truck picks up gears so smoothly you almost don’t feel the shifts being made.

We quickly come up to full road speed and then immediately hit the 50k limit heading into Mataura. We drop down to that with just a nudge on the retarder stalk.

We’re taking the Old Coach Road to Clinton rather than State Highway One, which means that not only do we miss out Gore, we also get a better test of the performance with more hills and less traffic to deal with.

As we leave the 50km/h area we immediately hit a climb up the passing lane out of town and the truck, with its AMT in automated mode, drops back to 8th gear and effortlessly runs up the hill.

As we get out of town we’re in and out of the fog, enjoying the beautiful country around here as we ride through it in comfort

– shielded from the chill outside by the great climate control system. The ride in the cab is up there with the best of them, with no noticeable bumps coming up from the road and almost no noticeable engine noise, allowing us to conduct our conversation at normal voice levels.

Driver positioning is great, and I don’t need to move the comfy leather seat from where Reg has it set up – don’t need the excellent seat and steering adjustment.

There’s plenty of floor space to stretch out the legs, with the two-pedal system. And the cab has a real feeling of spaciousness with its high roof and flat floor. It’s also very well appointed.

Vision out is excellent. It’s a great mirror setup, with large upper mirrors and lower convex mirrors as well as an offside mirror above the passenger door.

All major controls are right at the driver’s fingertips – in fact you can complete all the regular driver adjustments such as gear selection, retarder operation, wipers and indicators and cruise control without

• SPECIFICATIONS • SCANIA S 620 B8x4NB Engine: Scania DC16 115, Euro 5 SCR Capacity: 16-litres, V8 Maximum power: 456kW (620hp) @ 1900rpm removing your hands from the steering wheel.

We run through the Old Coach Road without needing to use the service brakes at all, as the five-stage retarder is more than capable of controlling our speed – even when we need to slow a little for corners, stop for roadworks and ease back on downhills.

The cruise control is very user friendly, with steering wheel controls allowing either 1km/h or 5km/h adjustments up or down.

The throttle weight is very good, with a nice resistance and comfortable positioning, so there’s no over-extension of the foot and ankle required…as there has been in some trucks we’ve tested.

Once back on SH1 at Clinton it’s an easy run over the rolling country to Balclutha, where we drop down into the town, steadying our speed with the retarder…with little or no noticeable noise.

Over the river and up the steep hill out of town, the V8, with its 456kW/620hp and 3000Nm/2213 lb ft, does it easy – as it does on the hills north of Balclutha.

So it’s an easy run on to Lake Waihola, where I have to give Reg his truck back for the rest of the run to Port Chalmers.

Overall it’s hard to draw a comparison between the top premium Euro models – but this Scania is certainly right up there with the best, in both comfort and power.

Its ergonomics are some of the most impressive I’ve seen. As I said earlier it’s a truck that feels familiar as soon as you hop in it – and to me that’s a sign of a well thought-out and well put-together package.

It’s the first Scania S 620 on the road in NZ, but I’m sure we’ll be seeing a fair few of them around from here on, as CablePrice rolls out this new offering. T&D

Peak torque: 3000Nm (2213 lb ft) @ 950-1400rpm Fuel Capacity: 500 litres Transmission: GRS0905R 12-speed Opticruise automated manual Ratios: Crawler low

13.28

Crawler high 10.63 1 st – 9.16 2nd – 7.33 3rd – 5.82 4th – 4.66 5th – 3.75 6th – 3.0 7 th – 2.44 8th – 1.96 9th – 1.55 10th – 1.25 11th – 1.0 12th – 0.8 Front axles: Scania AM640S, each rated at 7500kg Rear axles: Scania AD400SA, with diff locks, each rated at 9500kg Auxiliary brake: Scania exhaust brake and R4100D disengaging retarder Front suspension: Air, with anti-roll bars Rear suspension: Air GVW: 33,200kg GCM: 60,000kg

Truck & Driver | 39

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THE DRIVING FORCE OF NEW ZEALAND TRUCKING

The new Government is determined to deal with unilateral deferred payments as part of its work on unfair contract terms. Picture: “New Zealand Parliamentary Offices” by Michael Coghlan, licensed under CC BY 2.0

Government to deal to late payers A

by Ken Shirley Chief Executive Road Transport Forum NZ

FEW WEEKS AGO, THE ROAD Transport Forum met with Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash and Commerce Minister Kris Faafoi to discuss the issue of unilateral deferred payments (UDP) and how that is affecting transport operators and other small businesses around New Zealand.

I was very impressed with the conviction of both ministers to do something about protecting small businesses from UDP. There currently exists little legal protection from payment deferral, which is why we’re seeing a number of large corporates unilaterally decide to push their payment times out to 60, 90 or even 120 days. This is having an unfair impact on many operators in our industry and RTF is determined to do all it can to stamp it out.

Our task was to come up with a legislative solution palatable to Government, and to make sure it gets through the legislative process without being too watered down and is

able to find majority support in Parliament.

Our proposal is based around the unfair contract term provisions that already exist in the Fair Trading Act. We believe Government could simply extend provisions that currently exist to protect consumers in consumer-based contracts, to apply to standard form contracts used by small businesses in business-to-business contracts. This would mean that large companies would be unable to force small businesses into unfair contract terms.

The second part of our proposal is to allow small businesses adversely affected by unfair contract terms to apply to the courts for relief from those terms. This is in addition to the current provision by which only the Commerce Commission can apply for relief on a consumer’s behalf.

RTF approached ministers with this proposal as soon as the new Labour-led Government took office and it was encouraging to hear Nash acknowledge UDP in one of his Truck & Driver | 41

THE DRIVING FORCE OF NEW ZEALAND TRUCKING

Industry safety initiatives making their mark A

RECENT REPORT COMMISSIONED BY THE New Zealand Transport Agency has found that three safety programmes run by the road transport industry are having a positive impact on road safety.

NZTA commissioned consultants Beca to establish the effectiveness of education initiatives outlined in the Truck Crashes Rollover Prevention Plan for the alternative State Highway 1 route following the Kaikoura earthquake in November 2016.

NZ Trucking Association’s Share the Road Safely with Big Trucks Programme and the Healthy Truck Drivers Programme – both run out of the Safety MAN Road Safety Truck – along with the Rollover Prevention Safer Journeys Programme administered by the Road Transport Forum and its associations, were all assessed as being effective in getting relevant safety messages across to their different target audiences.

Interviews were conducted with those that had participated in the programmes and found that the key messages were being picked up and that the majority of respondents were making changes to their behaviour in and around trucks as a result.

Unfortunately, the Beca study did not evaluate RTANZ’s Goodwill Agreements and Thumbs Up programmes that were implemented in schools along the alternative route, but from the anecdotal feedback received by the industry those initiatives have also had a positive

impact in educating schoolchildren about how to be safe around trucks.

Once again, this report is validation that what the industry is doing around safety does make a difference and is valued by those we are trying to reach.

RTF and our associations understand that trucks are a significant risk factor on NZ’s roads. As responsible as our industry is, it’s undeniable that trucks are over-represented in accident statistics.

Of course, in over two-thirds of fatal or serious accidents it is not the fault of the truck or the driver. However, this makes educating the public, particularly children, on how to behave around trucks – and our drivers on how best to avoid an accident when another road user does something stupid – all the more valuable.

Resources and information about the Safety MAN Safety Truck can be found at www.roadsafetytruck.co.nz. You can also request a Safety MAN visit for your company, school, community gathering or other event by going to the booking page on the website.

Alternatively, if you or your company are interested in attending or holding a Rollover Prevention Safer Journey’s seminar then please fill out the form on the rollover prevention programme’s page on the Road Transport Forum website (www.rtfnz.co.nz) and send it through to your local area executive or RTF ’s Mark Ngatuere at mark@rtf.nz T&D

Government to deal to late payers first speeches as Minister for Small Business. The previous government had shown little desire in tackling the issue at all.

During our meeting the ministers announced that they were currently considering two different ways of dealing with the UDP issue, the first being what RTF has proposed with the unfair contract term provisions in the Fair Trading Act and the second along the lines of the unconscionable conduct provisions in Australian consumer law.

Unconscionable conduct is a doctrine in contract law that describes terms that are so extremely unjust, or overwhelmingly one-sided in favour of the party who has the superior bargaining power, that they are contrary to good conscience.

It is not an entirely new concept in NZ. The old Ministry of Consumer Affairs carried out a review of consumer laws way back in 2009 and as part of that review it proposed that unconscionable conduct provisions be inserted into the Fair Trading Act. This never happened, 42 | Truck & Driver

(continued from page 41)

as the previous Government took a wait-and-see approach as to how it would play out in the Australian court system.

Introducing unconscionable conduct into NZ law is a far broader solution than what RTF proposes and carries with it wider-ranging consequences. That automatically makes it a far higher legislative hurdle to get over and suggests that the Government may be eyeing it up as a catch-all provision to deal with other contract-law issues outside of UDP. Whatever solution ministers ultimately choose, it seems that the days of having to merely accept unfair payment terms are numbered.

While there is a lot of water to go under the bridge yet, both Nash and Faafoi have shown a real desire to do something positive and not kick the issue into touch like the previous Government did. Transporters can count on RTF to keep the pressure on and make sure that the Government keeps to this commitment. T&D

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Planned state highway projects are to be listed on the new online depository set up by NZTA

ROADING PROJECTS REGISTER CREATED

M

ANY OPERATORS WILL RECALL THE ABSURD situation a few months ago when the Waihohonu Stream Bridge on State Highway 1/The Desert Road was closed for repair…. at the same time as the Tukituki Bridge near Waipukurau was being upgraded and access restricted.

This presented significant operational and route access difficulties for HPMV and 50MAX vehicles, not to mention oversized loads, travelling through the North Island.

“It was a classic case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing,” says Road Transport Forum technical manager Kerry Arnold.

“Contractors to the New Zealand Transport Agency were getting on with their projects at a time suited to them and the agency without considering the implications that would have on the freight task.”

The problems were compounded by the individual project consultants and agency journey managers providing conflicting advice to different sections of the industry.

“What became evident was that there was no single source of truth that the industry could rely on,” says Arnold.

In response to the situation with the Waihohonu and Tukituki bridges, which all parties accepted should not have occurred, RTF and Heavy Haulage NZ approached NZTA management and senior staff to inform them of the unacceptable impact that the parallel closures had on operators.

“It was, in our view, becoming imperative that the agency introduced an advanced notification system of approved or planned works,” says Arnold.

“The purpose being that by creating a ‘single source of truth’ state highways maintenance register, NZTA would provide operators more timely information to help with route planning around bridge refurbishments and network rehabilitations.

“Everyone realises that inevitably disruptions will occur from time to time due to the imperatives of network maintenance and that those situations may 44 | Truck & Driver

have an impact on journey times and route access. However, communication is the key and really all the industry is asking for – as that then allows transport operators to discuss with their clients and customers the change to the freight task.”

The good news is that NZTA has heard RTF and Heavy Haulage’s concerns and has created an online repository that lists all potential planned works.

The information referred to is entirely separate from any emergency works that might arise due to weather events or natural disasters, so operators will need to maintain their vigilance for those notifications from the usual sources.

As part of its representations RTF also formally requested 30 calendar days’ notice of any proposed bridge restrictions be provided to allow operators to inform clients of timeframes and costs of service.

Unfortunately, the realities of this kind of maintenance work means that such a timeframe is not always practical.

“NZTA and its contractors have nevertheless accepted the point that the earlier the industry is informed of state highway projects the better for all parties. It is therefore pleasing to see that where it has been known, notification has been given a full two months ahead of work starting,” says Arnold.

“In other instances, seven to 14 days is probably going to be typical.”

At the moment the register is in a simple spreadsheet format and is available at https://www.nzta.govt.nz/commercial-driving/trucks-and-towtrucks/potential-restrictions-affecting-freight/ Along with the proposed start and finish dates for each project, contact names and telephone numbers are provided, as well as a description of the restriction, detours and vehicle type affected.

Adds Arnold: “NZTA’s eventual goal is to provide this information via an app service that operators will be able to easily access on their phones and tablets. Until then the webpage is a satisfactory interim measure that will hopefully go some way to alleviating the confusion for operators.” T&D

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THE DRIVING FORCE OF NEW ZEALAND TRUCKING

Industry let down in Wastney failure fiasco

Cracks developing in inadequately designed towing connections certified by Peter Wastney Engineering Ltd

T

HE ROAD TRANSPORT FORUM HAS NOT BEEN shy in voicing its disappointment at the situation facing the transport operators in Canterbury, Westland and the upper South Island affected by the Peter Wastney Engineering fiasco.

“From any number of perspectives, the revocation of certification for well over a thousand towing connections was an avoidable occurrence that should have been nipped in the bud quite some time ago,” says RTF chief executive Ken Shirley.

“It is very concerning that so many vehicles had to be taken off the road all at once. Road freight transport is a very competitive, just-intime industry with very tight schedules and very little in the way of spare capacity.”

RTF fully accepted NZTA’s eventual decision to have the vehicles removed from service until their towing connections were recertified, as when it comes to safety that was the only responsible course of action available.

“Presented with the sheer scale of the problem and the safety risks associated with towing connection failure there really was no option but to take those vehicles and trailers off the road until their towing connections were recertified and, in many cases, replaced.

“Margins in our industry are slim and operators require their equipment

to be up-and-running to make a dollar out there. It is likely that the temporary loss of vehicles is providing a major financial headache for many operators.”

RTF is pleased with NZTA’s response on becoming aware of the seriousness and scale of the situation. It must be acknowledged that the Agency agreed to compensate operators for the cost of replacement and recertification of the offending towing connections. However, the Forum is adamant that NZTA must accept some of the blame for the situation getting so out of hand.

“Obviously, with so many certifications covered by the revocation orders (including heavy vehicle towbars), the question needs to be asked as to why Peter Wastney Engineering got away with such unsatisfactory certification practices,” says Shirley.

“This poor practice had been going on for a fairly significant length of time, which means that NZTA has some serious questions to answer over its accreditation, auditing and certification processes.

“This lack of regulatory oversight from the agency is becoming a bit of a common theme. It’s the second time within two years that NZTA has been found to have failed in its auditing responsibilities – following

(continued on page 49) Truck & Driver | 47

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Southern Southern Ways Ways

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THE DRIVING FORCE OF NEW ZEALAND TRUCKING

Road Transport Forum New Zealand was set up as a national body in 1997 to responsibly promote and advance the interests of the road transport industry and its member associations. Members of the Road Transport Forum’s member associations – NRC, NZ Trucking and RTANZ – are automatically affiliated to the Forum.

Above: Ken Shirley believes that the Wastney situation was “very avoidable”

Industry let down in Wastney failure fiasco (continued from page 47) the fraud and corruption exposed in the driver licensing system in 2016.”

Shirley contends that perhaps this is no coincidence when you take into account the restructuring and change that has taken place in the organisation, including the loss of many key experienced technical staff.

RTF believes too that engineering professional bodies also have questions to answer over how such poor performance from one of their members could go unchecked for so long.

Says Shirley: “This was a very avoidable situation and it is not fair that it is the innocent party in this situation, the road transport operator, who is left with a vehicle he can’t use and is consequently out of pocket.

“RTF, in conjunction with its member associations, is giving serious consideration to avenues that may be available for the recovery of ‘loss of business’ costs.”

Affected operators should keep accurate records of any commercial impact incurred by the Wastney certification revocation.

Those records must contain information relating to how cost was incurred, the dates of that occurrence and any relevant supporting information from impacted clients or customers.

It could also include, for example, the cost of presenting vehicles for inspection – factoring in fuel, RUC and machine running costs and would extend to machine downtime and any costs relating to that. Intangible costs such as future lost earnings and longterm business impact are also worth considering.

“Initial legal advice suggests that the bar for a positive outcome for such legal action is set extremely high and most recovery attempts fail, however I believe it is worth exploring further as there is such an obvious injustice here,” says Shirley. T&D

Road Transport Forum NZ PO Box 1778, Wellington 04 472 3877 forum@rtf.nz www.rtfnz.co.nz Ken Shirley, Chief Executive 04 472 3877 021 570 877 ken@rtf.nz National Road Carriers (NRC) Providing services that assist NZ transport businesses PO Box 12-100, Penrose, Auckland 0800 686 777 09 622 2529 (Fax) enquiries@natroad.co.nz www.natroad.co.nz David Aitken, Chief Executive 09 636 2951 021 771 911 david.aitken@natroad.co.nz Paula Rogers, Executive Officer 09 636 2957 021 771 951 paula.rogers@natroad.co.nz Grant Turner, Executive Officer 09 636 2953 021 771 956 grant.turner@natroad.co.nz NZ Trucking Association (NZTA) Working for owner operators and the industry PO Box 16905, Hornby, Christchurch 8441 0800 338 338 03 349 0135 (Fax) info@nztruckingassn.co.nz www.nztruckingassn.co.nz David Boyce, Chief Executive 03 344 6257 021 754 137 dave.boyce@nztruckingassn.co.nz Carol McGeady, Executive Officer 03 349 8070 021 252 7252 carol.mcgeady@nztruckingassn.co.nz Women in Road Transport (WiRT) Promoting the sector as a preferred career option for women and supporting women in the industry www.rtfnz.co.nz/womeninroadtransport wirtnz@gmail.com

Road Transport Association of NZ (RTANZ) Formed in 2010 from the previous regional structure of the NZRTA National Office, PO Box 7392, Christchurch 8240 0800 367 782 03 366 9853 (Fax) admin@rtanz.co.nz www.rtanz.co.nz Dennis Robertson, Chief Executive 03 366 9854 021 221 3955 drobertson@rtanz.co.nz Area Executives Auckland/North Waikato/Thames Valley Keith McGuire 0800 367 782 (Option 2) 027 445 5785 kmcguire@rtanz.co.nz Southern Waikato/Bay of Plenty/Taupo/ Poverty Bay Dave Cox 0800 367 782 (Option 2) 027 443 6022 dcox@rtanz.co.nz King Country/Taranaki/Wanganui/ Manawatu/Horowhenua to Levin Tom Cloke 0800 367 782 (Option 4) 027 446 4892 tcloke@rtanz.co.nz Hawke’s Bay/Wairarapa/Otaki to Wellington Sandy Walker 0800 367 782 (Option 5) 027 485 6038 swalker@rtanz.co.nz Northern West Coast/Nelson/ Marlborough/North Canterbury John Bond 0800 367 782 (Option 6) 027 444 8136 jbond@rtanz.co.nz Southern West Coast/Christchurch/MidCanterbury/South Canterbury Simon Carson 0800 367 782 (Option 7) 027 556 6099 scarson@rtanz.co.nz Otago/Southland Alan Cooper 0800 367 782 (Option 8) 027 315 5895 acooper@rtanz.co.nz

Truck & Driver | 49

Brand-new Kenworth Legend 900 still has to work for its money – but only with Ray Reid at the wheel. Here it’s being loaded with metal at the Rangitikei River quarry now run by Ray

50 | Truck & Driver

FLEET FOCUS

Story Wayne Munro Photos Gerald Shacklock

Ken Reid with a company International TranStar

Ray has saved old trucks and parts from the scrapheap for classic truck rebuilders Truck & Driver | 51

Top: Kenworth K124 with 350hp engine was an ex-Shell unit. Here on the TNT work with its awkward B-train trailer format

Above: Back in the days of hauling potatoes to Auckland. Beside the Mack is Ray’s first-ever Kenworth, a W924, alongside a Leyland Crusader and an ERF

M

ANAWATU TRANSPORT OPERATOR RAY REID RECKONS it’s a simple business: “You say you’re going to do something…and you do it.”

Reid should know: He’s something of a past master at this business – now into his second or third incarnation of running his own successful trucking operations.

There is a rider to his summary of what’s required: “You’ve gotta stay in touch with people. If you’re gonna be late, you’ve got to ring them – you don’t make them ring you. And if you can’t do it (a job), ring them and let them know.”

Of course, when he first started driving, in 1969, that was almost impossible: “Well, in the old days…you left in the morning, you had your job to do and you did it. Your day was set out and you just went out and did it.”

The arrival of “brick” cellphones in New Zealand in the late 1980s was a Godsend for Ray – by then running an 18-truck linehaul fleet: Simply by toting a briefcase – the phone, he laughs, “took up half of it!” – he could run the business from whatever truck or company ute he happened to be driving at the time.

Now, of course, it’s even easier to do things Ray’s way – keeping the customers satisfied (and informed): He constantly wears a headset for his smartphone so he can stay in touch in a truck, his ute, the workshop or around the Reid’s Transport yard – at Rangiotu, about 23 kilometres west of Palmerston North. Or wherever.

And in the office, wife Fiona can see exactly and instantly where trucks are, courtesy of the Precision Tracking GPS system the fleet runs.

The do-what-you-say-you’re-gonna-do credo has been one constant through Ray’s 49-year career in trucking. Here’s another – one that’s been a vital part of Reid’s Transport for maybe 40 of those years: Kenworths.

Even though Reid’s has never been a huge operation – around 18 trucks tops, at any one time – Ray’s owned so many Kenworths he simply can’t remember exactly how many….just that it’d probably be at least 70.

He’s loved the North American classics since he was a young bloke and the Kenworths in the movie Smokey & The Bandit and tv shows Movin’ On and B.J. & The Bear caught his eye…and his imagination.

Funnily enough, what got him wasn’t the whole truck – just the dashboard!: That, he confirms, is “what probably made me always be a Kenworth person….I was always so impressed with the dashboard. And that’s what I was gonna have.”

His love of trucks in general though had started much, much earlier – as far back as he can remember, in fact….since he was born just four years after his Dad (Ken) and Grandad (Jack) started Reid’s Transport, in 1949.

He grew up living right beside the company yard – still the company’s base today.

Truck & Driver | 53

Jack Reid had been a farmer in nearby Opiki, “and he got caught in the Depression times and he had to walk off the farm.

So, that was a bit of a disaster…hence he took a little while to get over that,” Ray recounts.

“But my Grandad was a very strong man….an incredible guy.”

And so, at the age of 50 he started out in business again – this time as a transport operator, in partnership with Ken, then 23.

They bought a Palmerston North operator’s transport licences and his 1942 Chev four-wheeler – no more than a ute really.

They finally found (in Westpac) a bank that would lend them the necessary 300 pounds, built their own stock crates and started carrying stud stock.

“They probably only had six cows for a load. The Bonds, just down the road, had a pedigree jersey herd and they went all over NZ showing their cows. They did about 60,000 miles in a year.”

Jack and Ken expanded the business by buying farm machinery – tractors and hay balers and presses – as well as more trucks: “They did a lot of stock, and they did a lot of hay cartage….and hay contracting as well.”

They also carted a lot of rock – primarily for the stopbanks lining Manawatu’s flood-prone rivers.

Ray’s earliest memories are of Commers and S Bedfords – “probably when I was seven, eight, nine. We always loved summertime because we could all drive tractors and things.”

He and brother John “would have been mowing hay at 10 years old, easily. We used to do the Barber Estate, straight over the road. It was huge – like it was 100-acre paddocks.”

At the controls of two old Farmall H tractors, “we’d go all day and you’d hardly do a round in one of these paddocks!”

The tractors not only weren’t fast, they weren’t flash either – “with no mudguards and steel seats. And there we were – little kids, JUST touching the pedals. And they were so hard to steer – you’d hit a rabbit hole or a bit of a bull-rut and because they were 54 | Truck & Driver

three-wheelers, the front wheels would go in and your head would bash on the steering wheel!”

About the same age, he reckons, he first started driving an S Bedford, doing hay: “I can remember not touching the pedals and my old man used to put me in the seat and we’d have the haybaler going beside it…” Ray was instructed to keep it smooth so the guys putting the bales up on the back didn’t fall off.

“And when we had to stop, the old man would jump down off the loader, hang off the truck, open the door and come in and stop the truck – because I couldn’t stop it!”

So there was no question Ray was going to be involved in trucking: “Well, we didn’t know anything else. That was what we were gonna do. I hated high school. Left school at 16 – soon as I could.

“I got a special dispensation through my Dad – my brother did too – and I got my heavy traffic at 16.” He went to work for Farmers Transport (in Shannon), a business that Ken Reid had bought a third share of – redirecting all of the Reid’s Transport stock work there.

“It was probably a good thing I went somewhere else – whereas my brother stayed here,” Ray reckons now: “I learnt that you do as you’re told – it’s not Dad talking to you.”

Ray drove a TK Bedford tipper, which also took a little stock crate: “I was there probably three or four years – loved it.

“I was only a kid…skinny as a rake. And we used to do a lot of seed potatoes off the railways and out to the growers. And they were big sacks.”

For that job he was regularly paired off with Ian Clark – “a big guy,” who he’s friends with still. Ray, jokingly given the nickname “Muscles,” would do the dragging, while Ian did the stacking.

Ray stayed with Farmers until, in around 1973 or ’74, “Dad decided to buy Petersons Transport – a very old company in Foxton. They used to have old Reos and carted flax. But when we

Above: Remarkably, considering Ray Reid has bought dozens of Kenworths over the years, this Legend 900 is his first-ever new one

Opposite page, clockwise, from top left: The Legend 900 dash – the kind of thing that got Ray hooked on Kenworths.…1970 Kenworth LW923 was nicknamed Aspirin – because it was put to work whenever there was a headache!….Jack Reid on a roller back in the 1970s....1997 T401 tractor unit is en route to Wellington with a load of boulders

took over they had a couple of J Bedfords, a couple of TKs – four little trucks.

“My Dad said ‘look, you can come into this if you want to – and come down to Foxton.’ ” Then he added: “But you’re going to have to have some dough. You’re going to have to sell that car aren’t you.”

Ray was “pretty keen” – and his “gorgeous” Holden Monaro HK GTS 327 Bathurst coupe was duly sold.

It was no secret that the flax industry was dying out, so the Reids went into it knowing that the business needed “to have a new little kick in life, to change its direction.”

For starters, they got into a lot of roading work around Foxton and one TK Bedford was kept and put onto a parcel run to Palmerston North and Levin.

Ray and driver Mike Locke, still with Reid’s Transport today, were “young fellas” working at Petersons together – Ray driving an International ACCO “Butterbox” with a Detroit in it that the Reids had bought and Mike in “an old Merc that we had.”

Local potato growers presented a new opportunity – something different: They needed their produce picked up from the paddocks and, straight away, carted to markets in Wellington and Auckland.

The ACCO was the first to go into this linehaul work. Soon after that though came more Inters (TranStars), the odd Mack, Leyland and ERF...and the first of Ray’s beloved Kenworths – a 1972 gullwing W924 that had been “parked in a shed with a very sick 250 Cummins in it. We took that out and put a Detroit in it – an 8V71, 317hp – put a little tip deck on it and then it also pulled a new four-axle trailer from TMC. The produce work expanded into a full-blown contract with Turners & Growers and pretty soon Ray had four or five trucks doing linehaul “on the spuds.” There was the ACCO plus old TS3 Commers – one with a Detroit V6 in it, others with 130hp two-strokes (“or Knockers, as they called them”) – and Maxi

Commers with V6 53s in them, “which gave them a little bit more horsepower…and a lot nicer noise.”

In those days the Palmy-Auckland return trip took 18 hours: “It was a good day! A good day.”

And the return run to Auckland wasn’t all they did: When they got back to Rangiotu, sides would be put on the flatdeck tippers and the same trucks – and drivers – went to work carting rock and metal; around the area: “We never used to sleep in those days.

No logbooks.”

Late afternoon, and the sides on the flatdecks would be taken off again and the trucks would head out to the potato farms, where they’d be hand-loaded – with the farmer driving the trucks and the pickers loading the sacks of potatoes on the back.

“When we first started they weren’t even on pallets……so if the stacking was no good you had a terrible trip.”

The roads in those days were, of course, pretty basic – and the big central North Island hills were pretty daunting in lowhorsepower trucks: “No engine brakes! So you went down the same speed as you could go up the hill – which meant you were crawling down. She was all hard work.”

What sort of speed? “Oh, wouldn’t be 10mph (16km/h). You could have your whole lunch going up the hill!”

If they were lucky, the drivers might get a nap in Auckland before the markets opened and the trucks could be unloaded.

Once the spuds were off, they’d head back to Palmy – forced to run empty because of the rail restrictions.

The Peterson name was soon gone – absorbed into Reid’s Transport. Ray’s brother John also departed: He didn’t like the work, says Ray, “so I bought him out.”

He too has stayed in the industry – runs J.E.R. Trucking in Palmerston North, contracting to AF Logistics: “Unfortunately he hasn’t learnt very much – he still drives a Mercedes! Mercs and Macks, he likes,” says Ray, pulling a look of disdain.

Truck & Driver | 55

Clockwise from top: T404 delivers metal to a farm for a cow race – regular work for the fleet....Ray and one of three company TranStars, with crates on for a one-off stock shift...Bedford was for local pickups...more rescued Kenworth bits await a collector

Ray on the other hand, loved the life – and the money was good: “We had licences for fresh fruit and veges and we were probably getting more per ton then – I’d say twice or three times more – than what they’re getting now.” Of course, he adds: “But it took us a lot longer for us to get there too.”

Back then the authorities never closed the Desert Road – even in the worst of winter storms: “You either gave it a go or sat it out somewhere and waited. But we all gave it a go…

“On all the climbs where you could be in trouble the Ministry of Works used to leave little heaps of grit on the side of the road.

“You always carried a shovel and you had a throttle arrangement of some sort – a stick that would fit under your dash and on the throttle so you could go just above an idle. You’d have a bungy (strap) on the door so it’d hold the steering wheel a little bit straighter…and away you’d go.

“You’d jump out and you’d shovel the grit under the driving wheels to get it up the hills. You’d have to be quick! Talk about health and safety! It wasn’t happening in those days.

“And we hardly ever, ever got stuck on the Desert Road. And the weather wasn’t any better then than it is today – although the road was probably a bit better, in the sense that the seal wasn’t taken to the edges, so we had more metal to work on.

“The metal was the answer….go right off into the water tables – they’re full of metal….and you could get up.”

Back home, retaining its presence in Foxton, the company diversified into readymix concrete trucks – equipping a TK Bedford and an S Bedford with agitator bowls, to service local builders.

Ray landed another Palmy-Auckland linehaul contract – this one with Sanitarium: “A fantastic job – loaded both ways. Taking Weetbix one way and peanut butter the other.” That, he says, is “when we started to get serious about running up and down to Auckland.

That’s also when he started buying tractor units – all Kenworths, mostly K Series cabovers, but W and LW models as 56 | Truck & Driver

well….all secondhand – and two-axle flatdeck semi-trailers (some of which Reids built their own curtainsiders for).

Each Kenworth purchased went into the old shed on the Reid’s yard, the cabs were removed and rebuilt, the trucks were completely rewired and, where necessary the Cummins or Detroit engines and Roadranger gearboxes would be rebuilt.

He was never a champion for ever more horsepower: “I reckon low-horsepower trucks always come home – high-horsepower trucks can often have accidents,” he explains. And I do believe that our roads, especially down here in the Manawatu and in the Hawke’s Bay or to New Plymouth – are reasonably flat. So really, 400hp, 450 is ample.”

When he picked up another contract with TNT, running three units on linehaul runs (two in the North Island, one between Auckland and Christchurch), the fleet grew again.

“TNT were really big and really made us step up – not just walking, we started running. They were virtually dedicated only to TNT work,” with TMC B-trains purchased, as specified by TNT. The TNT work itself was great and “easy – because they organised everything….we just did the running.”

But after Reid’s had worked for the Aussie company for five years or so, it pulled out of NZ. Ray reckons that the unions were so strong that “the Aussies just got sick of it and bailed out.”

Reid’s Transport opened its own depot in Auckland – “we had to…had to get little trucks to start whipping around everywhere because we had general freight.”

By then Ray was really busy: “It built up to about 28 staff and 18 trucks. It was a bloody headache. I loved it….but too much work.

“Not only were you driving, you were also on the phone all day.

We’d pull into Auckland, where we had a depot and most of the drivers during the day would be sleeping – but I’d be still on the phone. I used to live on probably four hours sleep a day.”

Then, in 1989, he got made an offer he couldn’t refuse: One

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YEARS

night when he was in a truck, loading at Streamline Freight in Auckland… “this guy in a Mercedes car pulls up beside me….looks up at me and says ‘do you know a joker Reid? Where does he hang out?’ ” The inquirer was the late Murray Inglis – the transport operator whose company, M&J Inglis, had been bought by Linfox about four years earlier, as its first step into NZ. Now he was managing the NZ operation for the Aussie giant.

His message was to the point: “He said ‘I want to buy you. You want to sell?’

“And I said ‘ohhh, I haven’t thought about it.’ ” Inglis was disbelieving: “You must have. You can’t be working like this – till midnight loading trucks and seeing them away and everything… it’s time you slowed down.’

“And that’s what happened – just as quick as that.” Within three months the business was sold – the Auckland depot, the linehaul trucks were gone: “They took all the drivers on – on the same wage package…..so at the end of the day that was it.”

His Dad, who still owned a third of the business, thought the Linfox deal “was a great idea. He said, ‘because if you don’t sell to Linfox you’ll be dead!’ He did alright (out of it) – and so he should have. He’d worked hard. And it was HARD work back then.”

Ray Reid was only 42 – “but I was worn-out too,” he says. He retained the company name, the Rangiotu yard and property and “a couple of little metal trucks.”

As part of the deal he’d work with Linfox for six months to ensure a smooth transition. But it was a culture clash from the outset: “My first day....I just went along in my shorts and I had my lunch.

“Murray greeted me at the door and he said ‘Ray, from now on you don’t bring your lunch to work anymore. And the other thing is,’ he said, ‘you’ve got to have a tie, dress shoes. So go home, have the day off – and get a tie!’ ” He got on well with Inglis and his wife Judy: “We learnt off each other. I wished I’d known him 20 years earlier.”

Linfox supplied Ray with a car – in fact “they supplied me with everything you could want! Even lunch out somewhere every day…

But at the end of the day, while it was great, it wasn’t my way of life.

“But honestly, corporates……umm it’d be pretty hard to sort of contain somebody who’s had their customers as special… And to me all my customers are special – in their own right. And they all know me – they all know how to ring me.

“But big companies like Linfox, you’d ring somebody, and somebody would put you onto somebody else…it was hard work, it really was.

“I said to Murray when I’d done my six months: ‘I’m on my way – I’m off home.’ And he said ‘oh no, don’t leave me here!’ ” Ray hung-in another three months, and then left. In fact, Inglis soon ended up leaving too.

Ray headed to the Far North – where he’d bought a retirement house at Mangonui. But it didn’t take long before he was “so sick of it! I couldn’t believe how long the days were.”

He tried to get a job with Mangonui Haulage – but to them “I was an Aucklander – and they like to employ local people ‘cos there’s not that many jobs up there.”

He reckons he offered to sweep the floor in the workshop “or something like that – for nothing! I just want something to do.”

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Clockwise, from top right: Fiona Reid has been helping run the show for nine years...old Commer on its way to a new owner...Ray poses beside Model A converted into a pickup in the company’s yard in the late 1950s....1977 W924 is Ray and Fiona’s second classic

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Truck & Driver | 59

Above, right: T404 is one of nine fleet trucks now Above left, both pics: Ray’s “baby” is this 1975 LW924 classic, complete with a V12 Detroit on the back as ballast Opposite page, main pic: The Legend 900 poses in the quarry now operated by the Reids Opposite page, inset: Three K124s and a TranStar during the TNT linehaul period

They thought he was “a nut.”

Soon after that the local cop enlisted him to drive a school bus: “Two terms I did – and that sent me straightaway home! Never been in a vehicle with a load that yelled and screamed and talked!

It wasn’t me. So, sold the house and came back home.”

One thing was very clear: “I didn’t want to retire.” And his Dad “was still keen. He was very similar to me: He wanted to come to work, always have a job.”

The sale to Linfox had left him with just the two old Rangiotubased tippers – a little Ford D1000 and a W Kenworth.”

Thus “we just started again. And things just rolled along. As something came up, I would take it on…oh it wasn’t long and then we had a few.”

The focus was on farm races: “We bought a grader and a roller and bits and pieces…. And that just developed into farm work.

Had a couple of diggers going.”

By now Ray’s taste in trucks was also reflecting his love of old, classic Kenworths – as working trucks, but also as collector’s pieces. Like the lightweight, sleeper cab Kenworth W924 that was speedway midget car ace Barry Butterworth’s truck.

That’s one he wishes he’d kept – but, after much pestering by the late Butterworth’s son, he eventually caved-in when “he reckoned he’d had heart surgery and said ‘I died three times and my Dad told me ‘you can’t die yet – you gotta get my truck back!’ ” The second-time-around Reid’s Transport fleet grew at a modest rate – expanding to around a dozen trucks in the next 19 years, primarily doing a mix of bulk metal and palm kernel tipper work.

Ray had bought his Dad out of his third share in Reid’s Transport soon after the linehaul business went to Linfox. But Ken, like his father before him, loved to drive into his old age (Jack hadn’t stopped till just weeks before he died, at 84!) – and he was still at the wheel of an old Kenworth in 2000, when he was 74…and would have kept going, except for Ray calling time on his working life.

“I bought him a new caravan and a new Land Cruiser and said ‘go for it.’ And away he went.” Despite the late start to it, he still managed a long retirement: He died in 2016, at the age of 90.

60 | Truck & Driver

For many years Ray contracted to Rangitikei Aggregates, extracting river metal for its screening plant, with four Moxy dumptrucks working fulltime (and seven new ones bought in that time).

That association led to Reid’s breaking into carting aggregates to Firth in New Plymouth, Stratford and Hawera – adding a backload after two or three years, in the form of palm kernel for RD1. It started with two or three trucks – then more.

Four or five years ago, Ray was approached by Peter Barker of Bulk Lines: He wanted to buy the Reid’s Taranaki run. They talked, agreed tentative terms… but then the deal stalled.

What followed was Reid’s best year ever for palm kernel, as Ray’s wife Fiona well remembers. Formerly a travel agent, she’d started working in the Rangiotu office in 2010, to give Ray a hand with the admin and management of the place – a job that had previously been done by Ray’s son Tony.

It was a classic in-at-the-deep-end experience: All she knew about trucks was what she’d heard from Ray since they’d met about five years earlier.

Still, she says happily, “I think trucks are a bit easier to move than people. It was all quite new to me.

“But I just…learnt. It was good actually.” She shared the dispatch and operations manager roles with Ray: “The drivers were very, very good. They’d say to me ‘why am I dropping my trailer load in Bulls and my truck load in Foxton Fi? You can’t do that. It should be the other way around.’ Oh right, okay…”

When the palm kernel boomed, she reckons she and Ray were working seven-day weeks to keep up: “You don’t normally cart palm kernel in winter – well, we were doubleshifting!”

By 2015, when Bulk Lines re-opened negotiations to buy the Taranaki run, the Reid’s Transport fleet was back up to 11 or 12 trucks. Says Ray: “I said ‘it can be yours if you want it – and I’ll go the other way…to Wellington.’ Which is what I’ve basically done.”

The deal was finalised – six trucks (and drivers) and the Rangitikei Aggregates and palm kernel jobs were taken over by Bulk Lines.

Fiona reckons that she and Ray “have a passion for business.

And I think we both really thrive on it.

“You’ve always got to keep work out there in front…and Ray has got a fantastic knack somehow of reading the market – what’s going to happen next.”

So after the Bulk Lines selloff, “then we went into rock. I was thinking, ‘what’s he doing!’ He said ‘nah, I think this is how we’re gonna go.’ And sure enough, boomf!” By that she means the rock and metal business has just taken off – and now the fleet’s back up to nine trucks again (plus the two classics).

Ray bought some old Kenworths with steel bins, specifically to cart big rock – boulders, in fact. Two trucks typically run up to Raetihi for a load of them early each morning, then head south to Wellington, where they tip off at the huge Transmission Gully motorway construction job. Sometimes they stay down in the capital all day, working on another contract, shuttle-running more boulders barged over from Nelson – from the wharves to the motorway project.

The rest of the fleet are all tippers, mostly carting metal for cow races and contractors – much of it sourced from ZMR Quarries, which has been a JV between Ray and the land-owners….but which he has just bought out.

Full ownership, he explains, “means I can use it to my full advantage….it’ll probably keep our trucks busy all the time, on its own.”

The bulk metal work even saw four of the company’s trucks sent down to Marlborough last winter, to work for HEB Contractors on bridge and road rebuilding jobs.

Ray says modestly that his success in business is partly down to “luck and good people…. I put it down to good people, good drivers.” Longserving staff whose numbers are led by Mike Locke, who started with Petersons when he was 18 – and is still with Ray now. Mike Johns, who was driving for Farmers Transport when Ray started there at 16, has also recently joined Reid’s – the two Mikes sharing a T600, each doing two or three days a week.

When the six trucks were bought by Bulk Lines and the drivers went with them, Ray and Fiona gave the longservers among them

gold watches. One of them has since come back to work for them: “He asked if he had to give the gold watch back,” laughs Ray. Ray and Fiona’s passion for classic trucks, which prompted them to start the Northern Commercial Classic Club, is in evidence all around the Reid’s Transport yard.

Inside the workshop, where fulltime mechanic Tai Douglas is fixing an oil leak on a 2003 T650 rock truck – and fitting twin vertical exhausts (because its driver loves them) – is Ray’s “baby,” a 1975 W924 Kenworth with a sleeper box on the back.

Under a cover is a “little something” Ray found to put on the back of the W model on classic truck runs, to add some weight on the drivers…and some fun for the punters: It’s a V12 Detroit two-stroke that once powered a Wabco dumptruck – was totally seized-up when he got it, but was teased back to life by Ray and Tai. Tai added coloured disco lights, but the sound it makes sure ain’t Saturday Night Fever! As Ray says: “She screams her head off, as she’s got straight pipes.”

Beside the W924 is a 1956 Chev truck: “That was my father’s ute. Reconditioned original motor that it came out with – it’s been a bit of a project we do when we haven’t got anything else to do.

It’s always been a runner, never been repainted.”

Outside there’s a 1974 W Model Kenworth that still works regularly – with its original 350 Cummins engine….and (amazingly) its original Transport Trailers bin. Says Ray: “So that shows you the quality and strength of their bins.”

In the back of the sprawling yard at Rangiotu, there’s a few ghosts of old trucks past. The remains of a Mangonui Haulage T600 Kenworth over here, Farmer’s Transport K101 cabs alongside a Freightliner chassis – an old flatdeck Commer way over the back under some trees.

The Commer’s typical of most of the stuff that’s here – rescued

by Ray because someone might want it for a classic truck rebuild.

It came from a scrapmetal dealer’s yard in exchange for an equal weight of scrap.

“I only bought that because it’s got a 6V53 Detroit two-stroke in it. I don’t want to do anything with it myself but it’s there for Truck & Driver | 61

Clockwise, from top right: Ray’s Butterbox International ACCO...the Rangiotu yard at the peak of the linehaul business, with maybe half of the fleet present here....Ray and the old Commer awaiting a new owner....the workshop also houses the classic LW924 and Ken Reid’s old Chev pickup

someone else. It’s been out here for a few years now…. There’ll be somebody, one day.”

What’s unseen are “diffs, gearboxes, radiators, motors… all sorts of stuff, in the old shed over there. Most of that’s Kenworth – “it’s all I want. There’s only one truck I’m interested in.”

There will be a new “shed” built soon on the 16-acre Rangiotu property – to keep his latest purchase in: It’s a Kenworth Legend 900 – amazingly the first new Kenworth he’s ever bought…..in all these years. In fact, apart from the Moxy offroad dumptrucks for quarry work, it’s the ONLY new truck he’s ever bought!

He knew nothing about the “modern retro” limited edition Legend until just before they went on sale (for a day) last year: He and Fiona had been thinking about buying a new T409SAR – just because, he reckons, “it was time. We should have a few new ones.”

When they told him about it, as Fiona recounts, “he said ‘ah no. No, no, no.’ And we said ‘this is you – it’s got your name all over it. A Legend for a legend.’ We didn’t have to twist his arm too hard.”

He’s had it now for a couple of months and yes, she confirms, “he does love it – and he deserves it. It’s really neat. It’s his first and last new truck!”

Ray reckons it’s beautiful: “To me, it was a new truck, but the old look. A tough look.” Love Kenworths as he does, he’s never been a fan of the modern, heart-shaped grilles: “To me they’re like Big Ears and Noddy cars! I don’t mind them so much now but when they first came out – oh, I thought they were terrible.”

Ask Ray where to from here and he swears the only certainty is that he’s going to spend lots of quality time at the wheel of the Legend: “When that Legend came into the yard I said to my 62 | Truck & Driver

wife, ‘I’m going to do 200,000kms in that truck in 12 months….I used to do 200,000 every year.

“I could retire anytime, but I’ll never sell the Legend, nor the other two (classics). And we’ll concentrate on our vintage truck runs. That’s my passion. Organising these runs, we’ve brought a lot of people together… what Fiona and I absolutely love is the people. Amazing.”

So, what’s he’s most proud of from his nigh-on 50 years in the industry? He has a think for a bit, then reckons: “Probably…. to have done what we’ve done…all the hours we’ve worked – and we’ve never had an accident. I’m, not saying we never will, because there’s nuts on the road…”

There’s still plenty of room at Rangiotu for expansion, I mention – and he’s adamant: “No….too old for expansion. I don’t want to grow – I’ve grown old. I feel like 100.”

There is no succession plan in place, says Ray – his two daughters were never interested and son Tony tried the business for about 10 years….and “it wasn’t for him. You’ve gotta do what you want to do. He now has a truck workshop in Feilding.

“What I’d love to find is somebody to take it over and still carry on with it. For somebody young, with lots more abilities in different areas, there’d be no stopping you. And honestly we’re holding back from trying to be like that.”

Fiona can’t see many alternatives at the moment to them selling up – “at some point. It really would be a shame to see the name go, but…”

Fiona says that “both Ray and I love business. We just do.

I don’t know what we’re going to do when we retire, because we talk about it all day and all night. We’re going to drive old trucks hopefully!” T&D

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Even though Lordy wasn’t a one-badge-man, he still did over a million kilometres in this Sandford Volvo FM12 420

Lordy looks back Story Cory Martin

W

HEN TARANAKI CAREER TRUCKIE ALAN (Lordy) Lord retired this year he “didn’t even want to stop.”

“But,” as he asks, “what do you do? Keep driving forever?” He was, after all, 72 years old – with 51 years of driving experience behind him.

So in February Lordy climbed down from the cab for what he reckons will be the last time and stepped into the world of retirement in his Normanby, South Taranaki hometown.

Alan knew from a young age that he wanted to be a truck driver, just like his father and grandfather before him: His Dad, Jack Lord, owned Norfolk and Son – a transport operation he’d bought from his father and a brother-in-law. It was a company that had started out “carting goods by horse and cart.”

Thus, says Lordy, trucking was always “big in the family

– all the men in my family have been involved in road transport.

“My oldest brother (Ian) is nine years older than me – he used to take me around on the trucks on the weekends… I used to labour squaring bales of hay in the summer while in high school. I got to drive the trucks a bit then.”

But, surprisingly, he didn’t become a truckie when he left school. He wasn’t allowed, he explains: “ ‘You’ve gotta do an apprenticeship,’ said Dad. ‘You can’t drive trucks – go do your apprenticeship.’ ” Disappointed as he was, the young Lord complied – training as a plumber, even though he continued to dream of driving for a living.

The dream became a reality when he was 21 – his father falling ill, leaving the business in need of a replacement driver. So Alan started carting coal and Truck & Driver | 65

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Top left: The Lord family’s transport involvement dates back to the horse and cart days, with Norfolk Transport. Here Alan’s grandfather John Norfolk (left) and his uncle Robert Norfolk take a break on the company’s Model T Ford Above: Lordy looks back on 51 years in trucking with only happy memories

Left: Alan puts on his boots while haymaking as a young bloke – his father’s 1954 S Bedford and ‘61 Dodge Kew loaded and ready to go

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general freight alongside brothers Ian and Ken. He’s very aware of how tough it is now for youngsters to get into truck driving – unlike “when I was young: I went in to get my licence and the cop just made me back up three feet and he said ‘yup, there you go. All good,’ ” he laughs.

“Nowadays by the time they’ve gone through everything it costs thousands. Years ago just about every farmer’s son had an HT licence. If you needed a casual driver for a day you could grab any of those lads really. Nowadays it’s the cost.”

When Lordy joined the family business it was running an OLB Bedford, two S-model Bedfords, and a Dodge Kew. They were different beasts to modern machinery: “Trucks today are getting along at 90km/h and they don’t slow down on the hills as much as they used to.

“When I first started driving in the old S Bedfords, with an 18-foot trailer behind ‘em, you’d get into low gear heading up some pretty slight inclines! They were a good truck on their own, but with a trailer! They weren’t really designed for trailers.”

The family business chugged along smoothly for a decade and a half with Jack Lord at the helm – Alan spending his days carting stock and general freight and occasionally spreading fertiliser in the Normanby/Eltham area. Despite being limited (in terms of how far he roamed) by the distance restrictions that protected rail in those days, Lordy loved being behind the wheel.

His passion for driving saw him competing in a number of national driving competitions: In 1971 “I got into the Taranaki team to go to Queenstown (for the final).”

After his Dad’s earlier resistance to him becoming a driver

he was proud of Alan’s achievement: “I came home and my Dad…. you know, it was a big deal. I was pretty happy about it.”

In the early 1980s Alan’s oldest brother Ian bought out the business – changing the name to Ian Lord Transport.

Alan stayed on – and began driving stock trucks, with the deregulation of the transport industry allowing him to get out and see more of the country.

“I was regularly going over to Hawke’s Bay…. We also carted to Auckland at certain times of the year, to Westfield…it was 16 hours to Auckland and back in those times! You tell that to people today and they don’t believe you.”

It was interesting work – but tough too: “It was a lot different back then…used to be a lot of manual work. We used to have to lug those heavy crates around. You didn’t know better though and that’s just what you did…now you can just load and unload with a fork. Who wants to run around chasing stock, covered in shit.”

The trucks were pretty basic as well – like the secondhand TM Bedford his brother had bought secondhand….at four o’clock one morning, from a guy who had to sell it!: “He got it for a really good price. I was coming up Tangahoe hill out of Hawera and the motor blew up. We were kind of expecting it to happen though….…..

We knew it was a bit suspect. We got 12 months out of it before that… It made him a lot of money for what it was.”

When South Taranaki’s Sandford Group bought out Ian Lord Transport in 1984, Alan went with the business – continuing to do the livestock run to Hawke’s Bay: “They came and asked me if I would stay after they took over.

Truck & Driver | 67

“Years ago, we’d help one another” There was me and another driver who knew how everything ran and where everything was…”

Furrowing his brow, Lordy recalls the camaraderie between drivers in those days – and its subsequent decline: “It was different in those days. Years ago, we’d help one another. If someone was broken down on the side of the road you’d stop and make sure he was alright. Today, no bugger stops – they bloody don’t!”

And it wasn’t just the drivers who’d help one another: Entire communities that revolved around livestock would muck in. Lordy reckons he “used to canvass the saleyard at Matau (‘in the middle of nowhere,’ north of Stratford) and the schoolteacher would leave the front door of her house open – so you could go in and use the phone to get a hold of the trucks you wanted.

“The locals used to put on a spread for everyone in the

hall. It was 50c for a buffet of home cooking. All the buyers and truckies and everyone would go and have lunch. There was always plenty of food…. If you came back for another load you could grab some more tucker.”

After a few years, the long hours – working Monday to Saturday – it got to be “too much in the end.” Especially considering that by this point he had two sons and a daughter.

His brother Ken was working for the Kiwi Co-operative Dairy Company – this was, as Lordy puts it, “before Fonterra owned everything” – and he let Lordy know that they were looking for tanker drivers.

He got a job there and was rapt with the arrangement: “I got to work days then….Wanganui to Taranaki was our run.

The kids were young then so getting home at four or five was nice.”

Alan loves manual gearboxes, but after years of driving a synchro box in a Volvo, he had to relearn how to operate an 18-speed Roadranger when he got this DAF

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Top left: Norfolk Transport’s Dodge Kew loaded with cheese cartons for the Normanby dairy factory

Top right: Ian Lord’s trucks were all designed for maximum versatility, with flatdecks that suited them to carrying produce for the Normanby store, bottled and keg beer for the two Normanby pubs....plus baled wool, bagged fertiliser, fencing materials and so on for local farmers. Dropsides and taildoors would be fitted to cart bulk coal, fertiliser or metal. Or they’d take crates for stock cartage

Bottom left: The Lord boys unload wooden cheese crates for the local dairy factory off a railway wagon onto a truck. From left are Ken, Michael and Alan Lord Bottom right: Alan sits on the bonnet of one of his Dad’s OLB Bedfords. Driver and close family friend Bruce Campbell is on the left beside another OLB, with an ML Bedford in the centre

But after a few years at Kiwi, the prospect of working nights reared its ugly head: “I didn’t have to do it….but the writing was on the wall really. We kind of did have to.”

It was a stroke of luck, he reckons, that saw Sandfords in need of a driver – owner Keith Sandford asking if he’d return to driving for them: “They offered me a deal – and then offered me a better deal…. I took it.”

Lordy climbed into the cab of a brand-new Hino tipper… and started a stint with Sandfords that would last for the next 29 years!

“I was in dump trucks mostly. I went all over the lower North Island: Palmerston, Featherston, Napier, Feilding etc…. and drove all sorts of trucks: Hino, Scania, Volvo, and DAF – all brand new. I even did a million kilometres in the Volvo.

“One time,” he remembers, “Sandfords got a bunch of Isuzus and they offered one to me to drive, soon after I got my new Scania. I said ‘I ain’t getting outta my Scania to get in an Isuzu!’ ” He’s not one for automated manuals: “I’ve always had a manual. The Scania and Volvo have a synchromesh, and the 70 | Truck & Driver

latest (in a DAF) was an 18-speed Roadranger. But for most of my time driving, I didn’t have to double clutch because if I did it would bugger the gearbox. Then going over to a Roadranger, where you must double clutch, I had to get back into the habit of doing it.”

After finishing-up with Sandfords five months back, life has been quiet for Lordy: “I’ve done a few things in retirement to keep myself busy. I’ve painted the house.”

He has been offered work by Sandfords, but has turned it down so far: “Too much bureaucracy for me. Complicates your pension and all of that,” he reckons.

Walking onto his Normanby property you’re struck by the serenity of the place, its well-manicured lawn….and the superbly refurbished 1939 Ford V8 F85 truck parked in his garage: “My Dad had a Ford like this (a ’38 tandem-drive, in fact) before I was born,” Alan grins.

This one spent three generations with an Eltham farming family – ended up parked in a shed: “We used to cart lambs out of there. I was out that way buying a ‘34 Plymouth to restore and I suddenly remembered that the truck was still

­

Top left: Alan returned to Sandfords in 1989, to drive this then-new Hino SS45.33 tipper unit Top right: Lordy and his 1939 Ford V8 pickup truck – similar to the one his Dad owned

Bottom left: This International T-Line was one of Lordy’s favourite trucks from his time driving for brother Ian Bottom right: Alan’s uncle, Robert Norfolk, posing with a Norfolk 1935 Bedford

in the shed. It hadn’t moved for 22 years!

“I got the chequebook one night and said to my wife ‘I’m gonna go buy that bloody truck….’ ” Initially, his offers were rebuffed – but, with much persistence and negotiation “I got it in the end.”

With the V8 having been parked-up for over two decades, unsurprisingly “the brakes had seized…everything had seized.” Undeterred, “we stripped her down to the chassis and built her back up.

“She needed a lot of work, especially the paint job.” Phil Sandford (Sandford Group current owner) said to take it into the paintshop – and he’d pay: “So it’s all painted up in Sandford colours. Phil was very generous – they’ve been very good to me at Sandfords,” he adds appreciatively.

Retirement has seen him scale down his form of transport from his last DAF truck and trailer unit’s 26 wheels…to just two. Cycle wheels, at that: He and wife Carmel (and sisterin-law Andrea) “just went and did the rail trail down in Otago. Four days on bikes – I thought I’d struggle, but nah.

It’s not steep or anything – it’s flat most of the way. The hardest day was about 40km and I managed fine.”

Now he and Carmel are about to head off to Australia to see their youngest son: “We have three grandchildren, so we like to go see them at least once a year.”

One thing he’s not missing in retirement is “the crazy 72 | Truck & Driver

driving” that he saw “out there a lot of the time” while driving trucks: “It’s got worse over the years. Silly passing is the thing that gets me. We pull over when we can and let ‘em go but some just can’t wait and have to be in front.”

As for the driver shortage, he laments the passing of the old days when kids could go out in the trucks with their dads. He had a niece who drove trucks – having learnt at the wheel of her dad’s ute in the yard as a young schoolkid: “That’s how we learnt to drive trucks – backing around the yard, taking crates off and all of that. Driving around in paddocks, riding shotgun in the trucks with family.

“When I started I already knew all the places (we went to), because I’d been there. You knew the grumpy farmers – some of the older fullas and all that – who might be suspicious of a young fulla…… When they already know who you are they’re a bit more open.”

He also reckons there should be more women truckies: “We have a girl in town who drives a stock truck and she’s probably better than the men. I think it’s a great idea getting more women to become drivers.”

Lordy can look back on more than a half-century in trucking – traversing the old-school ways and the very latest technology – with satisfaction: “They say to be happy in your work – and I was happy in my work. And I have no regrets.” T&D

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OLD IRON

Clydesdale horsepower…

but not HORSE

power Story & Photos: Gavin Abbot

B

The Clydesdale Model 10-10A was first offered in 1920. The one-tonner came with cast steel wheels, an electric starter....and electric lights

ACK IN THE EARLY 1900S THE THEN-HUGE Auckland supplier and carrier of coal and building supplies J.J. Craig was among those who used Clydesdales to cart its products.

Along with the pioneering Christchurch-based New Zealand Express, NZ Breweries, local councils and fire brigades.

We’re talking about Clydesdale TRUCKS – not the renowned breed of draught horses.

The Clydesdale Motor Truck Company was established in Clyde, Ohio, in 1917 – following the merger of three other American vehicle manufacturers, Krebs Commercial Car Co, Clyde Cars Co and Lincoln Motor Truck Co. Truck & Driver | 75

Early on Clydesdale concentrated on export, sending trucks to 30 countries, including New Zealand. In the United States it boosted its profile by becoming a big supporter of major truck shows.

Here, Cavanagh and Co – a motor truck importer, dealer, bodybuilder and springmaker operating from premises on Symonds Street in Auckland – imported Clydesdales, before moving on to Republics, and then Diamond T trucks.

The Clydesdales were imported from 1917 to 1926, with approximately 105 chassis sold in NZ, mainly in the Auckland province, but also in the

South Island.

Models were mainly L45, L65, L90, Lightweight 10 and a bus chassis, the 200. L.J. Keys, a bus operator in Auckland, had 10 Clydesdale Model 200 buses.

The company used Continental four-cylinder motors, but in 1925 Continental sued the truckmaker for non-payment, placing Clydesdale in receivership. It reorganised and struggled on into the 1930s – in fact, in 1934 it launched new diesel-engined trucks, using Buda and Hercules engines.

The company also continued to export trucks,

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Above: A 1937 Clydesdale tractor unit. The make was an early user of diesel engines

Opposite page, left: This Clydesdale truck, housed in a Dargaville museum, is thought to be NZ’s only surviving example

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Opposite page, right: Back in 1924 this Clydesdale bus ran from the Dunedin railway station to the South Seas Exhibition

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Truck & Driver | 77

Top left: Introduced in 1922, this Model 10-10A features steel disc wheels Top right: The Clydesdale 65X was a 2.5 ton truck sold in 1919-1920 Above: In the 1930s the company also built trailers to go behind its tractor units Right: This Clydesdale ad from 1919 reveals that total cost of ownership was a selling point back then....as it is now

A F p t but concentrated on chasing a large contract to supply a special heavy-duty truck for the US military. When the deal failed to eventuate, the Clydesdale Motor Co was wound-up, and it was formally dissolved in 1938.

78 | Truck & Driver

There is one Clydesdale truck restored in NZ – housed at the Kaipara Vintage Machinery Club in Dargaville. Only nine are known to still exist in the US. T&D

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SHOWOFFS

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INNISH TRANSPORT OPERATOR MIKA AUVINEN HAS HIS OWN spectacular approach to attracting and retaining good drivers for his Helsinki-based company.

He spends large amounts of money on creating out-there show trucks – involving his drivers in the process….

And attracting countless others who’d like to be part of the Kuljetus Auvinen silo tanker operation.

The latest incarnation, which has been winning admiring looks and prestigious show awards in truck-mad Scandinavia, is a Mercedes-Benz Actros 2663 tractor unit and its two cement tanker trailers.

The truck has been painstakingly styled on the United States’ lowrider customised cars – featuring their heavy-duty equivalent with its ground-hugging presence, white-walled tyres, wire-spoke-look wheels, spectacular airbrushed murals, an abundance of chrome and a sensational purple paint job.

The showpiece has followed-up Auvinen predecessors in winning major truck show awards, including being voted Best in Show by the fans at the international Power Truck Show in Finland and the prestigious Nordic Trophy title at last year’s Trailer Trucking Festival in Sweden.

Mika Auvinen, whose family tanker business has been in operation for 65 years, has made a name for himself (and for the Kuljetus Auvinen operation) with a long line of award-winning show trucks – the first an

Main picture & insets: The Mercedes-Benz Actros has been styled on American lowrider customised cars, with whitewalls, heaps of chrome and spectacular airbrushed murals Above: Driver Arto Simola was part of the company’s team that put thousands of hours into the show-stopper

Truck & Driver | 81

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Since then he’s won a string of Nordic Trophy titles with increasinglyspectacular show trucks including the Gunfighter, Shogun and Aces High/The Bomber Scania V8s.

He then turned his attention to a series of Mercs, beginning with an Avatar-themed XTAR Actros, then the “poison-green” Highway Hero – a big-rig homage to North American trucking.

The Highway Hero, based on an Actros 2551 6x2, in 2014 became the first-ever Mercedes-Benz to win the Nordic Trophy in the then 35-year history of the show. The same year, the truck was also a show-stopper at the IAA Truck Show in Hanover, Germany.

The paintwork on the truck and its four-axle tanker trailer alone took more than 1200 hours to complete.

But the new Lowrider Merc easily outstrips the time and money put into the previous showpieces by managing director Mika Auvinen and a company team of about a dozen “hardcore” show truck devotees – including the man who gets to drive Lowliner, Arto Simola, who’s been driving for the company for three years.

Together they put in over 6000 hours of work into converting one of the company’s already-working units into the latest Auvinen dream machine.

After the huge success of the Highway Hero Actros, Auvinen reckons: “I just saw something special in this (the current Actros) tractor unit – so why not have another go at it. And then there was no turning back.”

The project took around a year to create, Simola told Daimler’s

Roadstars magazine: “At the start we didn’t really have an exact plan, just a vague idea of the truck we wanted. Everything else simply fell into place, and everyone in the team was able to express their creativity.”

All the images, colours and modifications on the Actros Lowrider were agreed upon by the team, he says.

Finnish airbrush artist Perttu Papunen, who’d been a creative force in previous Auvinen show trucks, was again enlisted – bringing many of the ideas to life, with about 2500 hours of creative artwork.

The extensive, finely-detailed airbrushing includes intricate scrollwork and striping – and numerous murals, including one on the front, above the grille, appropriately featuring a customised 1957 Oldsmobile Golden Star lowrider.

The actual conversion of the standard Actros into the Lowrider was carried out in the stainless steel forging workshops of vehicle accessory specialist HIO-MEX, near Helsinki.

It used an electrolytic polishing procedure on the truck’s steelwork to give it an extremely smooth surface, with dirt-repelling properties. This ensures a sparkling appearance even in bad weather.

The spectacular exterior is matched by a cab interior that’s decked in purple and white velvet and leather…with golden trim.

The 37-year-old Simola says that during the conversion, “I was mainly in charge of the electrics for the tractor/semitrailer combination.

“That alone was about 1300 hours’ work. Every time I press the golden starting button, I think to myself: It was worth all the effort.”

Truck & Driver | 83

Clockwise from top: The Highway Hero Merc is the company’s predecessor to Lowrider...Western-themed Gunfighter Scania was another Auvinen show-winner.....company MD Mika Auvinen with silverware won by The Highway Hero But “the best part,” he reckons, is that “we don’t just drive this gem of a vehicle from show to show – we actually use it to earn our daily bread.”

The rig, with a 76-tonne rating, uses pneumatics to lower the tractor unit and its trailers by up to 10 centimetres (just like the original lowrider customised cars that are its inspiration) – but in this case for the also-practical purpose of getting the unit under silos to take on bulk cement loads.

Simola tells Roadstars: “What was particularly important to us during the conversion work was not only the absolutely unique look of the truck, but also that it remained practical in all everyday situations – even if it doesn’t appear to be at first glance.”

84 | Truck & Driver

The truck is, he confirms, a virtual fulltime showpiece – even when it’s working: “No matter where and when I show up with the vehicle, people have their phones out straight away, start taking pictures and grinning.”

“It’s a tremendous honour to drive for Mika. We’re both truckers through and through and share a great passion for show trucks. When we’re out at festivals, I get hundreds of drivers come up to me every day saying how envious they are of my job.”

The total cost of the purple Actros is reckoned to be around 450 000 Euros ($NZ750,000), but Simola says: “I don’t think anyone really knows exactly. The difference between men and boys is just the price of their toys,” he laughs. T&D

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FEATURE

KIWI QUON Story & photos Dean Evans

CHECKS IN The new Quon comes with distinctively Euro exterior styling

M

ORE THAN A YEAR AFTER ITS DEBUT AT THE 2017 Brisbane Truck Show, UD has landed and is now launching the latest version of its flagship Quon range.

The newcomer’s Volvo-derived GH11TD engine comes in 287kW (390 horsepower), 309kW (420hp) and 338kW (460hp) ratings – giving UD a useful boost in its most powerful engine….up from 420-horse.

Peak torque ratings start at 1750Nm for the 390hp engine, rising to 2200Nm (at 1200rpm) with the 460.

Under the parentage of the Volvo Group, the Japanese make holds its New Zealand unveiling of the new Quon at the Pukekohe Park Raceway – allowing a few exploratory laps of the motor racing circuit in the new trucks under controlled conditions.

It gives a small group of media the opportunity to see, feel and experience some of the new technology that comes in the new Quon, which includes adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking, plus check out UD’s claimed improved driveability and comfort.

Unveiled by UD’s vice president of sales for Australia and NZ, Mark Strambi, the new Quon (pronounced kwon) is the make’s first major update since 2004, and focuses on five key improvements: Driveability, efficiency, environmental impact, productivity and

uptime.

The updated cab includes an all-new dash and instrument cluster, improved comfort and practicality, along with the added tech advancements that are quickly becoming the accepted norm of new trucks in our market.

“World-class technology that’s not been seen before on Japanese trucks in Australia or New Zealand is now available in the Quon,” says Strambi, who’s accompanied by a team of UD specialists from Australia and Japan for the launch.

The Quon is being launched in 6x4 and 8x4 formats – the latter essential for the NZ market, Strambi acknowledges: “Our focus is heavy duty trucks, which is by far the bigger volume, so to have a good product is critical… and that’s the reason for the introduction of the 8x4.”

Of course, the engine is a key part of the new Quon, and though it’s still below that magical 500hp mark, Strambi reckons that having 460hp as its top rating is no disadvantage for the truck’s purpose.

“In the Japanese market segment, that area (up to 460hp) is where the biggest market is,” he says: “When we dropped the 13-litre a few years ago, we proved that with the power and torque of the new 11-litre, it’s actually as good as what we took away. It’s Truck & Driver | 87

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Above: Both 6x4s and 8x4s are already in the country

Right, top: AMT selector shifter is nicely located – to select modes or to manually order-up shifts Right, lower: Two secure steps and good grabhandles allow easy enough cab entry and exit

like old technology versus new technology.

“For any manufacturer,” he adds, “if you’re not aligned with a major automotive group around the world, you can’t draw on the technology. We have Volvo Group behind us as part of that group and it makes a huge difference. UD Trucks is the first Japanese truck manufacturer to offer PPNLT-compliant heavy-duty vehicles to the Australian and NZ markets.”

Within the GH11 10.8-litre engine is high combustion efficiency, with improved power and torque – and exceeding Japan’s PPNLT (post-post new long term) emission standard by 5%. Strambi explains that the Japanese standard is “a slightly more stringent, cleaner version of Euro 6 – like a Euro 6.5. And we’re the first Japanese brand to bring it out on the market.”

The emissions control system “predominantly” uses SCR (selective catalytic reduction) to achieve the standard, “with a very slight EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) component,” adds Strambi.

The Quon comes only with the 12-speed Escot VI automated manual transmission – basically UD’s version of Volvo’s supersuccessful I-Shift.

It continues the trend away from manuals, which Strambi points out, echoes what’s happening with manufacturers worldwide: “It used to be that everyone had manuals, but now everyone wants automatic these days.”

He adds: “When we launched the 11-litre Quon in 2013 – 2014 here in NZ – we had a choice of going both manual and automated, but we said ‘no, we’ll just go with the group automatic transmission.’ At that stage we were about 70% auto anyway – and it hasn’t hurt us at all. Now I look at our medium-sized product and it’s up around 80% auto.”

The Quon’s AMT is “actually the next generation of transmission and with a lot of smart logic…In the old autos you needed a lot of power to overcome the slow changes, but these new boxes change sooner, smoother, and keep you in the rev range for economical driving…the transmission is thinking for you, sensing hills and keeping it in the rev band.”

Even the ECU mapping didn’t need much tailoring to NZ’s hilly conditions, he reckons: “The Japanese market (requirement) is similar…at least outside of Tokyo and into the hills.

“It’s a very smooth change…and you’ve got a manual override on the side of the transmission. This is much easier to drive, and while there are subtle software variations, it’s the best of both worlds – with the Japanese engine and European transmission.”

There’s also plenty of technology in the truck – and that’s as requested by operators, according to Strambi: “A lot of organisations like and want the safety (for their drivers), like stability control, adaptive cruise control, automatic braking… Even as simple as disc brakes…both the Aussie and NZ markets are huge for that.

“There’s also a key advantage in telematics that allows the truck to freely communicate any current or impending issues.”

UD product manager Neil Carey says the new Quons will come with telematics…for the first time. It will, for example, allow alerts to be sent to the operator’s office if the truck experiences harsh braking, or if there’s a breach of a geo-fence…or if the truck experiences an excessive drop in fuel – with fuel-theft easily pinpointed.

Also, says Strambi, “we have telematics that gives info about the truck so that routine or preventive maintenance is carried out to maximise uptime…the truck speaks to the base, and we can have the parts ordered and delivered to the service centre, so they’re ready and waiting when the truck arrives…and the driver may not even know there was a problem.”

UD insists it’s quite happy targeting the sub-500hp market – Yoshio Suzuki, UD Japan’s director of international vehicle sales, saying at Pukekohe: “We’ve seen pretty even sales between the 420 model – a lot for metro work – and the 460, which have been incremental.

“The eight-wheeler has 22 orders already – with sales split fairly evenly between the 390 rigid and the 420 truck and trailer fouraxle. It (the 8x4) just needed an exhaust redesign, due to the heat generated by the DPF.” So enough of the talk: With opportunities for track time slipping away, we head for a pair of 6x4 Quons parked on the racing circuit – a tractor unit with a tri-axle skeletal loaded with a container; and a tipper, towing a matching four-axle trailer. They’re both loaded to around 43 tonnes all-up.

Truck & Driver | 89

9:50 AM

With a couple of laps on offer, it’s an opportunity for both NZ Truck & Driver publisher and tester Trevor Woolston and I to get a brief taste of the new trucks, with two perspectives (experienced and relative novice).

The door opening looks small, but it’s easy enough to climb the two big steps, aided by a large grabhandle on the right, and smaller one on the left. Inside there’s a comfortable driver’s seat… and a cab that’s driver focused and rather cockpit-like, with the centre console making for a distinct physical separation between driver and passenger.

Ahead is a very clear gauge cluster with a centre info screen and a myriad of dials, functions and buttons on the dash, steering wheel and console, some switchgear derived from the Volvo Group.

The AMT mode selector, with its easy-to-use manual shift buttons on the side, falls easily to hand on the left.

The retarder stalk is prominently mounted on the left, with its four positions indicated on the dash display. Splitting the two front seats is a lot of plastic and storage, with bins, pockets and cupholders, plus a flip-open centre console – all creating the semienclosed feeling.

The large touchscreen is well-placed, though its highly reflective surface acts like a black mirror. A semi-matte finish (even a few 90 | Truck & Driver

grubby fingerprints) would enhance the view. Another minor issue is the positioning of the mirror control switch, on the left side of the dash behind the steering wheel, rather than intuitively on or near the door.

Into D, the Quon pulls away on the flat with ease. The engine pulls strong and clean through its green band of 800-1400rpm, and though it’s got less power than the big boys, with their 500plus, there is a confident way in which the power and torque is delivered that never feels lacking.

Gearshifts are definitely smooth, and relatively quick too – less than a second. And the Quon gets up to 40, 50, 60km/h as quickly as it’s read. After the first few corners of Pukekohe, we’re presented with the back straight: Not the sanitised chicane version of the modern track, but the pre-2013 version with the full 1.2km back straight, ending in a tight hairpin.

It offers the space to really wind the engine up and the throttle is duly floored – the fuel bills are on UD today! The gearbox takes two downshifts as the boost builds and the gears roll off: 7-8-9… we’re easily up to 70 then 80km/h and climbing.

And though the old adage is you can never have enough horsepower on a racetrack, today the feeling is it’s enough. We pass the new chicane and it hits top gear as focus shifts to the

Main: The GW 26 460 truck and trailer unit is loaded to about 43 tonnes Far left: The main dash display is very clear and tidy Left: The Quon interior is comfy and modern, with everything falling to hand.

braking zone. With almost 500 metres to slow it to 30-40km/h, the retarder clicks up through the 1-2-3-4 settings to get the feel of the effect of each mode, pulling it up easily and effectively in the top setting.

A dab of the brake pedal just before the corner completes the slowdown – calling briefly on the disc brakes, which Strambi says will halve brake service time. There’s a lot of tech on the Quon to improve uptime: Sealed wheel bearings, for example, and service intervals up to 60,000km are not uncommon.

We tour another lap to squeeze in a few more minutes of drive time. The smooth track certainly helps, but the cab is noticeably well insulated and quiet at speed. The Quons have parabolic leaf springs upfront and air or mechanical rear suspension.

There is only a very modest hill, but the Quon does impress.

Woolston too is happy with what the Quon has to offer – liking its smooth shifting, its effective retarder and considers that the truck does a good job all-around….and is pleasantly devoid of any glaring issues.

There’s no chance to trial the adaptive cruise control, lane assist or Traffic Eye Brake collision mitigation system today, so we can’t make a judgment on them. But they are key aspects of the Quon.

However we do experience the Escot Roll fuel-saving freewheeling feature that engages neutral when terrain and road conditions allow. And we do experience the Quon’s helpful hillhold system. It works.

After 20 or so laps, the fuel use indicator is sitting at 2.7kms per litre (37 litres per 100kms) – this after a number of drivers have been behind the wheel, with little focus on fuel economy.

Longer runs in the real world out of Christchurch have produced around 3.0kms per litre (33 litres per 100k) with similar loads, according to UD. UD says that globally its sales are strong and growing. Mark Strambi reckons: “We’re coming into a new era. We’ve often sat around that 10,000 mark globally, but this year we’re tracking to 13,500-14,000.

“Previously there was a little bit of uncertainty with the economy and they (transport operators) have held off, but now they’ve started buying trucks – and I look at the order books and it’s not slowing down.

“For 55-tonne work the Quon isn’t going to be your truck of choice. It’s a good short-haul truck, at a good price. It’s not all about power and torque figures, but how it makes them. It’s definitely a big improvement over the 420.” T&D Truck & Driver | 91

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Steve Divers

M

ANY IN THE INDUSTRY HAVEN’T HEARD OF SWEP – THE Sector Workforce Engagement Programme. The very mention of yet another acronym may have you about to stop reading.

But please don’t….

Here’s a quick history of SWEP: Back in 2016, National Road Carriers, Road Transport Association NZ and NZ Trucking Association got together with Government to work out how we could attract more people into our industry.

SWEP already existed – having set up a skills hub for the construction industry at Auckland Airport to assist in providing training opportunities for people entering the industry. It’s provided hundreds of young people with vocational skills – learnt on the job, in a workplace.

Road Freight Transport became a strand of SWEP – the only one that has co-funded a co-ordinator position to develop career pathways into our industry. Thus industry has skin in the game – and member organisations are working together to try and achieve some fixes for this issue.

If it isn’t affecting you now, you’re either doing something right or this shortage of skilled people hasn’t hit you yet. Either way the driver shortage is going to continue to have a major impact.

A number of trucking operators are involved in our group – giving their time and experience to guide our programme to ensure that we have outcomes for the industry that actually eventuate in more drivers.

They’re supported by the chief execs of each member organisation and assisted by some great people from the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment. Everyone wants to see this succeed, as only the industry can bring about the right fixes – so long as our Government partners can smooth the road to getting licences and skills.

So what have we been doing? Well last year was very much about scoping the issues, highlighting that the industry needs to act, while educating as many operators as possible as to what the problems are.

Often we think about poor wages and long hours as being a roadblock, but these are often just a speed bump: Yes they are

issues, but industry is changing as wage pressures are seeing increases occur. This will continue as the shortage takes effect and will likely be a step-change each year.

Last year I spoke at every RTA seminar, the RTF conference and NRC regional meetings – this supported by articles in industry and school magazines, and by the member organisations spreading the wider message on shortages.

Has this had an effect? Yes – we saw an almost 10% increase in new Class 5 licences last year. But we were still short of 900 new drivers….and SWEP is still not a name recognised by our industry.

Hence I’m going to be writing regularly about SWEP and what’s being done to sort these problems out.

Our scoping exercise led us to the following conclusions: • The industry needs to support the current programmes that some of the polytechnic institutes offer, with a view to making them more successful – with a wider reach.

• We need to work better with schools and students to showcase our industry and make it easier to gain a foothold into employment.

• We need to support and develop more industry training and ways for companies to become involved in starting cadetships.

• We need to find ways of influencing those factors outside of our control, such as young people without car driver’s licences.

All of these recommendations are being worked on and this has resulted in an Industry Business Plan, which sets out what we will achieve in the next 12 months – with numbers attached to each performance indicator. We need industry to see what that looks like and become involved.

Some of the factors outside our direct control have been highlighted to Government – encouraging kids to get car driver’s licences through schools is being considered, and we’re working with Government organisations to find a suitable remedy. This is also true of the graduated driver licence regime.

We’re engaging where we can to promote change, but these issues take time to fix. Patience and persistence are important.

Over the coming months in New Zealand Truck & Driver I will focus on each of the initiatives that SWEP’s involved with, to let operators know what they can do to become involved. T&D Truck & Driver | 93

Diesel and Turbo Wellington

Tom Bracken, Sales Manager

Established in 1988 Diesel and Turbo Wellington has evolved into a vibrant well respected business. We are proud to be the Caltex Lubricant Distributor for Wellington, Taranaki, Manawatu, Hawke’s Bay regions.

We understand that equipment reliability is critical to your business. Our professional team, and our Oil Shop Network can assist you with implementing efficient Lubrication service solution for your fleet, saving on down time and reducing operating costs.

Call the Team at Diesel and Turbo 0800 568 9218 or your local Caltex Oil shop.

K & L Distributors BOP Ltd

Auckland Oil Shop

www.dieselandturbo.co.nz Masterton:

Diesel & Turbo Rob 06 378 6900 Taihape: Bells Diesel Truck & Tractor Craig 06 388 0449 Raetihi: Caltex Raetihi Raymond 027 517 8322 Marton: Onestop Auto Centre Rangitikei Ltd Matt 06 327 8708 Napier: Napier Provedoring Co Ltd (Servicing Chatham Islands) Vic 06 835 1724 Waipukarau: Chris Boyd Ltd Chris 027 293 4110 Inglewood: Egmont Diesel Services Ltd Alvin 027 825 6433

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We would appreciate the opportunity to quote on the supply of Products and Services.

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OP Ltd

New transport and logistics company Main Line Distribution’s owner Brenhan Chapman has put this new Kenworth T909, with a 36-inch Aerodyne integrated sleeper cab, into work. The 6x4 tractor unit, driven by Joe Williams, has a Cummins engine, an 18-speed Roadranger manual transmission and Meritor 46-160 diffs on Airglide 400 suspension. Working North Island-wide out of Matamata, it tows a 34-pallet six-axle Roadmaster B-train with high-tensile chassis rails. The many extras include a stainless steel dropvisor and a Vortex aircleaner.

Truck sales slow… trailers hit record

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EW ZEALAND’S HEAVY TRUCK SALES slowed slightly from their previous recordbreaking levels in May…but the trailer market hit spectacular form.

The 172 trailer registrations not only rated as the best-ever May performance….they also amounted to an alltime best – for any month (edging the 167 sales in October 2014).

It was 12% (and 19 trailers) up on last year’s previous alltime best May. And it pushed the year-to-date total for the first five months of 2018 out to 702 – another alltime record (fully 22% ahead of the previous best, 2017’s 572).

The overall truck market (4.5 tonnes to maximum GVM) – with 451 May registrations – was 4.6% down on the same month last year. But that did still create another record – the 2008 total sales YTD was 3.6% up on the previous alltime record, from last year.

Market leader Isuzu had another bumper month, with 108 May registrations in the overall market, taking its YTD total to 440 and increasing its lead over second-placed FUSO (313 YTD and 65 for the month).

Hino (278/55) retained third, but Volvo (136/35) overtook DAF (128/22) for fourth. Kenworth (120/24) and MercedesBenz (108/29) retained sixth and seventh respectively, while Iveco (107/28) lost one place. UD (95/23) and Scania (67/19) completed the top 10.

In the crossover 3.5-4.5t GVM segment the Fiat steamroller continued to crush the opposition, registering 129 YTD and 24 for May. Mercedes-Benz (31/7) held second, Ford (9/2) overtook Toyota (8/0), Volkswagen (5/0) was joined on fifth-equal by Renault (5/2).

In the hotly-contested 4.5-7.5t GVM category, YTD leader Truck & Driver | 95

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AllTranz in Hamilton is delivering containers around the region with this new DAF CF85 Spacecab tractor unit. The 6x4 has a 510hp MX engine, a 16-speed AS Tronic AMT (with Intarder) and Meritor 46-160 diffs on Airglide suspension.

Extras include Alcoa Dura Bright alloy wheels and other premium options.

2018

4501kg-max GVM 2018 Brand ISUZU FUSO HINO VOLVO DAF KENWORTH MERCEDES-BENZ IVECO UD SCANIA MAN MACK FREIGHTLINER FOTON FIAT INTERNATIONAL RAM SINOTRUK WESTERN STAR HYUNDAI OTHER Total

Vol 440 313 278 136 128 120 108 107 95 67 43 38 28 26 18 13 13 12 11 10 4 2008

% 21.9 15.6 13.8 6.8 6.4 6.0 5.4 5.3 4.7 3.3 2.1 1.9 1.4 1.3 0.9 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.2 100.00

May Vol 108 65 55 35 22 24 29 28 23 19 14 4 6 8 3 2 2 2 0 1 1 451

% 23.9 14.4 12.2 7.8 4.9 5.3 6.4 6.2 5.1 4.2 3.1 0.9 1.3 1.8 0.7 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.0 0.2 0.2 100.00

3501-4500kg GVM 2018 Brand FIAT MERCEDES-BENZ FORD TOYOTA RENAULT VOLKSWAGEN PEUGEOT CHEVROLET IVECO LDV Total

Vol 129 31 9 8 5 5 3 1 1 1 193

% 66.8 16.1 4.7 4.1 2.6 2.6 1.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 100.00

May Vol 24 7 2 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 37

% 64.9 18.9 5.4 0.0 5.4 0.0 5.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 100.00

4501-7500kg GVM 2018 Brand FUSO ISUZU MERCEDES-BENZ HINO IVECO FIAT FOTON RAM HYUNDAI JAC Total 96 | Truck & Driver

Vol 140 99 63 52 43 18 16 13 6 2 452

% 31.0 21.9 13.9 11.5 9.5 4.0 3.5 2.9 1.3 0.4 100.00

www.trt.co.nz

May Vol 30 27 19 11 13 3 5 2 0 0 110

% 27.3 24.5 17.3 10.0 11.8 2.7 4.5 1.8 0.0 0.0 100.00

Market leader Isuzu had another bumper month 7501-15,000kg GVM 2018 ISUZU HINO FUSO UD IVECO FOTON MAN HYUNDAI MERCEDES-BENZ DAF SINOTRUK OTHER Total

164 85 80 28 15 10 5 4 3 2 1 1 398

41.2 21.4 20.1 7.0 3.8 2.5 1.3 1.0 0.8 0.5 0.3 0.3 100.00

May 43 43.0 19 19.0 18 18.0 6 6.0 6 6.0 3 3.0 2 2.0 1 1.0 1 1.0 0 0.0 1 1.0 0 0.0 100 100.00

15,001-20,500kg GVM 2018 Brand HINO FUSO UD ISUZU IVECO SCANIA MERCEDES-BENZ MAN DAF Total

Vol 29 25 22 13 10 7 5 2 1 114

% 25.4 21.9 19.3 11.4 8.8 6.1 4.4 1.8 0.9 100.00

May Vol 3 9 5 3 0 3 0 1 0 24

% 12.5 37.5 20.8 12.5 0.0 12.5 0.0 4.2 0.0 100.00

20,501-23,000kg GVM 2018 Brand HINO UD MERCEDES-BENZ ISUZU Total

Vol 12 4 1 1 18

% 66.7 22.2 5.6 5.6 100.00

May Vol 2 1 0 0 3

% 66.7 33.3 0.0 0.0 100.00

Brand ISUZU VOLVO DAF KENWORTH HINO FUSO SCANIA UD MACK MAN MERCEDES-BENZ IVECO FREIGHTLINER INTERNATIONAL SINOTRUK WESTERN STAR OTHER Total

Vol 167 136 125 120 100 68 60 41 38 36 36 35 28 13 11 11 1 1026

% 16.3 13.3 12.2 11.7 9.7 6.6 5.8 4.0 3.7 3.5 3.5 3.4 2.7 1.3 1.1 1.1 0.1 100.00

May Vol % 35 16.4 35 16.4 22 10.3 24 11.2 20 9.3 8 3.7 16 7.5 11 5.1 4 1.9 11 5.1 9 4.2 9 4.2 6 2.8 2 0.9 1 0.5 0 0.0 1 0.5 214 100.00

Trailers 2018 Brand Vol PATCHELL 84 FRUEHAUF 68 MTE 67 ROADMASTER 54 DOMETT 45 TMC 42 MAXICUBE 38 TRANSPORT TRAILERS 30 TRANSFLEET 23 JACKSON 21 FAIRFAX 18 TES 16 FREIGHTER 13 EVANS 10 KRAFT 10 CHIEFTAIN 9 MAKARANUI 9 MILLS-TUI 9 CWS 8 HAMMAR 7 ADAMS & CURRIE 6 TRINITY 6 MTT 5 HTS 4 DOUGLAS 3 FELDBINDER 3 MD 3 MORBARK 3 NICKEL 3 SEC 3 TEO 3 WHITE 3 CECO 2 CONVAIR 2 COWAN 2 GLASGOW 2 KOROMIKO 2 LUSK 2 MANAC 2 MORGAN 2 PTE 2 TIDD 2 OTHER 56 702 TOTAL

% 12.0 9.7 9.5 7.7 6.4 6.0 5.4 4.3 3.3 3.0 2.6 2.3 1.9 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.9 0.7 0.6 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 8.0 100.00

May Vol 25 18 16 10 8 9 9 7 7 5 5 6 9 1 2 0 3 3 1 1 2 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 2 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 13 172

% 14.5 10.5 9.3 5.8 4.7 5.2 5.2 4.1 4.1 2.9 2.9 3.5 5.2 0.6 1.2 0.0 1.7 1.7 0.6 0.6 1.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.0 0.0 1.2 0.6 0.6 0.0 1.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6 0.0 0.6 0.6 0.0 7.6 100.00

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Four new FUSO HD FS3147 8x4 trucks have gone to work for CoolTranz (via TR Group), working out of Christchurch, Dunedin, Nelson and Palmerston North. They have 470hp engines, 12-speed AMTs and air suspension. The MaxiTRANS fridge bodies have Transcold dual-temp refrigeration units. One of the trucks has a Tuckaway tail-lift.

FUSO (140/30) only just beat Isuzu (99/27) for the month, but continued to increase its 2018 lead regardless – particularly over the rest of the field.

Mercedes-Benz (63/19) was third YTD and Hino (52/11) was next, ahead of Iveco (43/13) and Fiat (18/3). Foton (16/5) pulled clear of RAM (13/2).

In the 7.5-15t segment Isuzu (164/43) continued to open a huge lead on the closely-matched Hino (85/19) and FUSO (80/18). UD (28/6) was a long way back in fourth – well clear of Iveco (15/6), Foton (10/3) and MAN (5/2). Hyundai (4/1) lost a place, Mercedes-Benz (3/1) held ninth, but DAF (2/0) also lost a spot. Sinotruk made its entry into the segment with one sale.

In the 15-20.5t segment, Hino (29/3) was only third for the month – with FUSO (25/9) and UD (22/5) closing the gap to it YTD. Isuzu (13/3) moved into a clear fourth, leaving Iveco (10/0) in fifth. Scania (7/3) moved up to sixth, displacing Mercedes-Benz (5/0). MAN (2/1) moved ahead of DAF (1/0).

After a flurry of activity early in the year, the 20.5-23t segment settled into the usual 1-2 contest – with Hino (12/2) first, and UD (4/1) second.

In the premium 23t to max GVM market, Volvo tied with YTD class leader Isuzu for the month, each registering 35 units. The performance lifted Volvo to 136 YTD – carrying it past DAF (125/22) into second…. but having no effect on Isuzu’s 31-truck lead (with 167 YTD).

Kenworth (120/24), Hino (100/20), FUSO (68/8), Scania (60/16) and UD (41/11) all held their places, but Mack (38/4) lost one spot. MAN (36/11) jumped-up two places to be 10th-equal with Mercedes-Benz (36/9).

Snapping at their heels was Iveco (35/9), followed by Freightliner (28/6).

Over 30 different manufacturers contributed to the trailer market’s record 172 May sales. Patchell (84/25) led the monthly registrations…. remarkably, for just the second time this year. It’s surprising because Patchell remained the YTD leader throughout, having started with a dominant January performance.

Domett and Roadmaster shared the honours in February, then

Fruehauf led in March….and in May it was MTE. In May Fruehauf (68/18) edged MTE (67/16) for second, ahead of Roadmaster (54/10), Domett (45/8), TMC (42/9), MaxiCUBE (38/9) and Transport Trailers (30/7) – all of them holding their places.

Transfleet (23/7) moved clear of Jackson (21/5) to complete the top 10.

In fifth place for the month came Freighter (13/9).

Industry analyst Robin Yates has been looking at factors effecting this year’s buoyant truck market and reckons: “Most mature markets follow discernible, regular cycles – the heavy truck market tending to follow the money supply cycle.

“But overlaid is the simple fact that an expanding population creates growth in the cartage of goods and materials.”

And Yates, whose Marketing Hand consultancy prepares this monthly report for NZ Truck & Driver – based on NZ Transport Agency registration data – adds: “This means that each succeeding truck-buying cycle in NZ is of greater volume than the previous one.

“The cycle that started in the middle of last century peaked at 2381 heavy trucks in the overall (4.5t to maximum GVM) market in 2000.

Volume fell to 2251 in 2001 but then rose steadily to 3948 in 2005.

“A steady decline followed – ending at 1630 in 2010, followed by four years of recovery until 2014’s 4438. The market receded again in 2015 and 2016, but shot up to record levels in 2017 – finishing at 5209.

“This year started even better and by the end of May over 2000 units had been registered – in the shortest-ever time.”

Yates observes that “financial services are worried that business confidence is ‘in freefall,’ in the words of one industry leader. However, the stockmarket remains at record levels, so investors are still confident.

“At present the heavy truck and trailer markets are riding their bestever boom. The historic cycles suggest that they have about another year or more to go before a downturn – but as happened in 2009, when the tipping point is reached, the market can crash overnight.” T&D

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Transport Rangiora has this International ProStar shifting general freight all around the South Island. The 6x4 tractor unit has a 530hp Cummins X15, an Eaton UltraShift Plus AMT and Meritor 46-160 diffs. Extras include tinted glass and an alloy bumper.

South Taranaki’s Sandford Livestock has put this new DAF CF85 livestock unit to work. The 6x4 truck, driven

by Rachel Walsh, has a 410hp PACCAR MX13 engine, an AS Tronic AMT and Meritor 46-160 rear axles with full crosslocks. It mainly does truck-only work, but occasionally tows a trailer out of the area. It has a 23ft crate on a Nickel Engineering deck.

98 | Truck & Driver

A second new Kenworth T610 has gone to work for Matt McCarthy, co-owner of Central Logistic Services. Mike Albrett drives the 8x4 logger, which is based in Masterton and carts all around central and lower North Island. It has a 615hp Cummins X15 engine, 18-speed Roadranger manual gearbox and Meritor 46-160 diffs on Primaax suspension. The logging equipment and five-axle trailer were built by McCarthy Engineering.

RECRUITMENT TRUCK & DRIVER

Sales Representative Hamilton Southpac Trucks Ltd, Hamilton requires an Outside Parts Salesperson.

Come and join New Zealand’s fastest growing and most progressive truck dealer team and enjoy exceptional internal support to grow your career.

This is a fun place to work backed by PACCAR’S global range of DAF, Kenworth and TRP truck and trailer parts. This position suits a candidate that is hungry for success and believes in our values of outstanding customer service.

Applicants for this position must have NZ residency or a valid NZ work permit Come in and talk to us.

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Please send your CV to info@spt.co.nz or Outside Parts Sales vacancy, Southpac Trucks Ltd, PO Box 76-463, Manukau City by Friday 20th July 2018

WE ARE LOOKING FOR YOU! Join a team of knowledgeable and motivated journalists who have a passion for the industries they work in.

• Road Transport • Forestry • Light Commercial Vehicles • Transport Industry Engineering Allied Publications is a privately-owned specialist trade publisher. The directors have over 32 years of publishing experience and are leaders in the industries in which they operate.

If you have the skills we have a position for you.

Applicants for these positions must have NZ residency or a valid NZ work visa.

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PURCHASE A BINDER TODAY! KEEP YOUR COLLECTION IN TOP CONDITION For your binder simply fill in this form and return it to: NEW ZEALAND TRUCK & DRIVER MAGAZINE along with $32.00 (GST, P&P incl) Name: Address: Phone: Fax: Visa

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PAINT • PANEL • AUCKLAND’S JOSAM TRUCK CHASSIS STRAIGHTENING SYSTEM • AND LOTS LOTS MORE

102 | Truck & Driver

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Contact Les Plenzler (The Pope) or Danny Radich Ph 09 276 7206 • 09 276 7207 • Fax 09 276 7205 20 Kahu Street, Otahuhu, Auckland tsrltd@xtra.co.nz www.trucksmashrepairs.co.nz

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LOUIE AND HIS HARD CASE BUGGERS Well known forester and hunter Lance Duncan retired from the forestry industry then sat down and wrote a book. It’s the tale of his life and is full of yarns from many years of working in forestry and hunting and those people he met along the way.

Its full of humour, our proof reader was in stitches when she worked on this manuscript. It hasn’t been sterilised it’s written as Lance tells it and anybody who knows him will know you will get it straight.

If you are easily offended then it’s probably not for you.

Get your copy now, for a great read and some real entertaining yarns.

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Ph 09 571 3544 Fax 09 571 3549

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ORDER FORM: LOUIE AND HIS HARD CASE BUGGERS $50 INCL GST & POSTAGE (NZ PRICE) *OVERSEAS PURCHASES-POSTAGE PRICING WILL DIFFER, PLEASE CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION

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Enter your fleet colour scheme in the PPG Transport Imaging Awards: Just fill out this entry form (or a photocopy of it) and send it into New Zealand Truck & Driver.

Be in with a chance to win in the annual PPG Transport Imaging Awards.

Contact name name & position in company: ________________________________________________________________ Location:

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Phone numbers: __________________________________________________________________________________________

TD16163

Fleet or company name:___________________________________________________________________________________

Please send a selection of photos of one particular truck in your fleet colours. It’s desirable (but not compulsory) to also send shots of other trucks that show off the colours. Make sure your images are supplied as large format files taken on a fine setting on a digital camera. The files must be at least 3MB. All entries become the property of Allied Publications Ltd. All entries property of AlliedIMAGING Publications Send yourbecome entry tothe PPG TRANSPORT A Ltd. S AWARD Send your entry to: PPG TRANSPORT IMAGING AWARDS 1642 or email to waynemunro@xtra.co.nz Allied Publications Ltd PO Box 112062 Penrose Auckland Allied Publications Ltd, PO Box 112062, Penrose, Auckland 1642, or email to waynemunro@xtra.co.nz (Remember do not reduce size of images to transmit by email, send two at a time on separate emails if large files.)

(Do not reduce the size of images to send them by email – send large files one or two at a time in separate emails if necessary).

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for one Opposite page: The Waikaka Transport livery is shown off nicely on this 2017 MAN bulk unit

Below, clockwise from top left: The latest spinoff from the original Waikaka colour scheme is the blue and silver Waituna Transport variant... the Milnes livery replaces the original black with red paint.... this was a failed experiment, in which the Waikaka orange was replaced with red – to tie it in more closely to the Milnes trucks.... the Waikaka colour scheme also stands out on its sowers

2 | Truck & Driver

TRANSPORT IMAGING AWARDS

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T’S EFFECTIVELY THREE (MAYBE EVEN FOUR) TRANSPORT company liveries, in one. Or spawned from one, at least.

When Southland’s long-established Sutherland Transport was sold in 2006, the agreement was that the name and the company’s green and cream base colours would change too.

The name was easy enough: Waikaka Transport was born – taking the name of the tiny town it’s based in.

The colour scheme was a bit trickier: Then co-owners Noel Lane, Peter Stevenson and Murray Maslin had to find a livery that was distinctively different….but with imaging that would still look good on the Sutherland colours, while the fleet was gradually re-branded.

Lane largely drove the design process, with help from then company driver Robbie Cummings – settling on silver and black base colours from the outset. The silver on the bottom part, Lane explained later, was chosen because it disguised road film quite well – certainly better than the black.

The owners then enlisted the help of Jim Marshall at Sign Advertising in Gore to come up with a logo that worked on that…and on the Sutherland colours.

“He’s pretty clever – comes up with some good designs,” Lane reckoned later.

Marshall’s solution: A standout orange, gold and white logo, supported by orange and gold striping – the latter enhanced by a swooping orange stripe for the stock crates, dreamt-up by a PPG graphic designer in Auckland.

So 12 years on, when Peter Stevenson – now the majority owner – says he still “really likes” the colour scheme, he’s not kidding!

He likes it so much, he’s spun it off into lookalike liveries for two other transport companies!

When he became the major shareholder in another Southland trucking company, Milnes Transport (in Isla Bank) in 2013 he simply revised its mainly red colour scheme into a modified version of the Waikaka livery.

The silver base colour was retained, while red replaced the black, the stripe changed to black and the logo to silver and black.

Now he’s just started-up a new business, Waituna Transport, at Kapuka – east of Invercargill – and this time the Waikaka colour scheme has been modified to replace the black with electric blue, with black striping and a silver logo: “We’ve gone for a really smart blue. Oh man, it’s sharp-as,” Stevenson enthuses.

For a different reason, the essence of the original Waikaka

livery is also duplicated on Gore Freight & Storage’s fleet: It was originally part of the Waikaka business, but Stevenson sold it around 2009.

He says that he’s recently seen “this fantastic green” on some hoodies made by the Waikaka Rugby Club and reckons that “if I had my time again,” he’d use that green in place of the black in the Waikaka colour scheme.

“Then the three companies would all have the silver base, the black stripe and then their individual top colour. It would have looked really smart. But that ship’s sailed.

“And to be fair, the Waikaka livery – that orange, black and silver – it is actually really striking. It’s pretty stunning really.”

About three years ago, a new UD/Nissan stock truck went on the road – with red replacing the orange in the livery. The idea, says Peter Stevenson, was to tie-in the look of the Milnes and Waikaka fleets more closely.

But…it never made it beyond the one unit: “Just a wee experiment – didn’t work,” says Stevenson now. “Honestly, it just wasn’t as striking as the orange.”

Sign Advertising still does all the graphics on the company trucks, while painting these days is carried out by Brownlie & Scoles from Dunedin.

Stevenson confirms that the Waikaka livery triggers good feedback: “Lots of people say how good it looks.”

But black paint on stock trucks? Can’t be easy to keep clean?

“Yeah, but we’ve got quite an emphasis on presenting our gear tidily,” says Stevenson.

To the degree that he’s just spent $35,000 on a new crate-wash system for Milnes – “one of those nice big crate brushes….those pusharound ones, where you can wash your whole unit in quarter of an hour.”

There’s a similar one also at Waikaka. The wash system is expensive – “but hey, it’ll pay for a fair chunk of itself just in saved man-hours.

“We’ve got two or three drivers who are really fussy about the presentation of their gear – and they’ve dragged all the rest along.

So they’re all keeping their gear clean now.

“I’m more than happy to pay for a driver to spend a few hours a week to clean his gear.”

It is, after all, “a travelling billboard” for the company. T&D

Poster & this picture Trevor McGregor Truck & Driver | 3

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