LEGENDS
D
Ian Emmerson
URING A LIFETIME WORKING IN THE TRUCKING industry, Ian Emmerson has developed a strong philosophy that, while competition is vital to driving business efficiency, just as much can be gained from cooperation – between transport operators and their customers, and between industry groups. This month’s Southpac Legend also admits to being passionate about the engineering side of the business, in terms of specifying and setting up units for optimal efficiency and suitability for their jobs. To this end he was very active in the industry group that worked with government agencies to develop what became the HPMV regulations in the early 2010s. Early, and successful, products of the group’s work were the 11-axle Super-B Emmerson Transport curtainsiders carting palletised export wood pulp from Pan Pac at Whirinaki to Port Napier. Running to a 62t permit gave the units a payload capability of 40t, double that of a standard 44t GCM combination. Born and raised in Hastings, Ian decided at 15 he’d had enough of schooling and started to work full-time on the family’s process cropping and horticulture property. He gained his truck and trailer licence at 18, not a big deal he admits, for he had been driving a variety of machinery on the farm long before that. The family had its own trucks, and in 1978 branched out into the commercial side with the formation of Emmerson Transport. This side of the business grew rapidly, and the farming was downsized and consolidated into apple growing.
60 | Truck & Driver
Ian and his brother Peter helped their father John on the transport venture. In common with most fledgling transport businesses of the era, the company relied initially on TK Bedfords. “After that, for a time our mainstay linehaul truck was a 250 A-Series ERF, and then we ventured into Internationals, 3070s and T-Lines. I did a lot of my driving in Inters. “The company expanded dramatically in the wake of deregulation during the late 1980s and early 1990s. What had started primarily to cart our own export produce to the ports of Tauranga and Auckland grew to include livestock and rural work and after that, general freight. “Peter stayed more hands-on with the driving, while in the mid1990s late 1980s I shifted into a management role. By that time, I had put up around a million kilometres on the road.” In that era the company moved out of livestock and was rebranded ETL. Growth continued, and by the mid-2010s the company was the biggest general freight transport operator in the Hawkes Bay and had six depots across the North Island. In early 2021, ETL was sold to Chester Perry Securities, with Ian has staying on as a director and business consultant. He says the sale has allowed ETL to grow and take on new opportunities: “I didn’t want to load my son Shaun and daughter Karly up with the responsibility for a major company, which can be a real minefield to handle. “The transport industry isn’t as simple as it looks. It’s quite complex, and the passion of younger people to be involved is
