contents ALSO Mainfreight show A couple of Mainfreight drivers and their part- ners got together and organised a get together and show for Mainfreight trucks. They arrived from all over the North Island, New Zealand Trucking was there to record some of the highlights. 32 50 44 Kiwi trucker leads the V8 Supercars Classic trucking Editorial 4 Truckstop 6 THE Expo review 24 Murray Jensen 31 Mahalo Contracting 36 Looking Back 38 Truck Stops Invercargill 40 Top Truck 48 Classic Trucking 50 Aussie Angles 58 International Truckstop 62 Light Commercials 66 T-Rex 74 Truck Torque 76 Road Transport Forum 78 Political Point 80 Road Transport Association NZ 82 Legal Lines 84 NZ Trucking Association 86 National Road Carriers 88 New Rigs 89 Pin Up Board 92 Last Load 94 Truck Trader’s 95 14 Bryce Baird finds a dog lover at Road Meals when he visits to check out the latest variant of the Mack Trident, and let us know how loyal the new Volvo influenced bulldog is to its roots. MACKsimum loyalty
Transcript
contents
ALSO
Mainfreight showA couple of Mainfreight drivers and their part-ners got together and organised a get together and show for Mainfreight trucks. They arrived from all over the North Island, New Zealand Trucking was there to record some of the highlights.
32
50
44
Kiwi trucker leads the V8 Supercars
Classic trucking
Editorial 4Truckstop 6THE Expo review 24Murray Jensen 31Mahalo Contracting 36Looking Back 38Truck Stops Invercargill 40Top Truck 48Classic Trucking 50Aussie Angles 58International Truckstop 62Light Commercials 66T-Rex 74Truck Torque 76Road Transport Forum 78Political Point 80Road Transport Association NZ 82Legal Lines 84NZ Trucking Association 86National Road Carriers 88New Rigs 89Pin Up Board 92Last Load 94Truck Trader’s 95
14Bryce Baird finds a dog lover at Road Meals when he visits
to check out the latest variant of the Mack Trident, and let us know how loyal the new Volvo
influenced bulldog is to its roots.
MACKsimumloyalty
Editorial 4Truckstop 6THE Expo review 24Murray Jensen 31Mahalo Contracting 36Looking Back 38Truck Stops Invercargill 40Top Truck 48Classic Trucking 50Aussie Angles 58International Truckstop 62Light Commercials 66T-Rex 74Truck Torque 76Road Transport Forum 78Political Point 80Road Transport Association NZ 82Legal Lines 84NZ Trucking Association 86National Road Carriers 88New Rigs 89Pin Up Board 92Last Load 94Truck Trader’s 95
NEW ZEALAND
TRUCKING
14 Bryce Baird finds a dog lover at Road Meals when he visits
to check out the latest variant of the Mack Trident, and let us know how loyal the new Volvo
influenced bulldog is to its roots.
MACKsimumloyalty
contents44 32 50
Kiwi trucker leads the V8 SupercarsFew drivers live the dream life that Kiwi trucker Jason Routley does. He drives the black Kenworth K200 that carries the V8 Supercars safety cars around Australia. Taylor Mosen met with him and got the lowdown on his job.
Classic truckingWith the release of Mercedes-Benz’ Acros, the German company has been building construction trucks for more than 110 years. We document their history and report on some remarkable innovations through the period.
Mainfreight showA couple of Mainfreight drivers and their partners got together and organised a get together and show for Mainfreight trucks. They arrived from all over the North Island, New Zealand Trucking was there to record some of the highlights.
In mid-February I spent a couple of days at the New Zealand Transport
Summit. It was a high level summit mostly discussing the roles of aviation, ship-ping and rail in transport; a significant factor was the almost complete omission of road freight. There was no obvious reason why road transport was not represented at the summit, but there were some good insights that we can learn from when planning for the future.
International Transport Forum Secretary-General, José Viegas gave a standout address explaining many of the issues that European ports had faced over the last decade or so. As ships have got bigger the number of ports has reduced and indi-vidual ports have specialised in a narrow band of freight. Many of the European ports
have massive cities around them, and in some cases the cities have rejected the ports, perhaps this is what Auckland is doing now.
Growing ports typically could not increase their land area and had to han-dle the increased freight volumes more effectively. Improvement in the trans-port of freight to and from the port has been a key part of the answer. In some instances dedicated under-ground roads or rail tracks have been installed to get the freight moved without the added problem of inner city traffic congestion.
It was made clear that we have too many competing ports in New Zealand.
The Managing Director of Maersk New Zealand, Julian Bevis spoke of the consequences of upsizing ships and ranked the Port of Tauranga well ahead of
Auckland in effectiveness. Questioning the value of
our ports drew some inter-esting responses. Two I recall clearly were; the number of ports is necessary because if one was inoperable, for example due to an earth-quake or strike action, the others were needed to take up the slack. The second response was that the road and rail infrastructure was inadequate for transporting freight to ports if they were fewer and further apart. Both naive arguments for such a high level group of delegates.
Coastal shipping is obvi-ously suffering significantly. There were a number of rea-sons mooted for their prob-lems – the government is not supporting them (they wanted an exemption from ETS charges and didn’t get it), road and rail are getting government supplied tracks
and roads to move freight, and international vessels (that do not pay ETS lev-ies) are free to take freight between New Zealand ports. It’s unlikely that any govern-ment would take a retro-spect step and intervene to make this commercial sector more profitable.
International shipping isn’t profitable either, return-ing a mere one percent profit per annum on average over the past decade. Excess capacity and high fuel prices, combined with low freight volumes have forced ships to call at fewer ports where possible and steam at slower speeds to reduce fuel costs. This means long freight delays and disgrun-tled customers, especially in New Zealand where we are so far from the markets.
Interestingly there appeared to be a reluctance to form alliances, both with-
in a mode and at an inter-modal level. The road trans-port industry has already gone through some signifi-cant changes and is prob-ably ahead of other trans-port sectors when it comes to improved service. We are comfortable using rail, air and coastal shipping when they are practical options. There are obviously syner-gies available and these need to be explored.
All that aside, the gen-eral outlook of the confer-ence was one of optimism for New Zealand, our posi-tion and products com-bined with our relationship with Australia and our ever increasing trade in Asia are signs that we will do well in the future.
Too many ports?
E D I T O R I A L
E D I T O R John Murphy Ph: (09) 634 1800, (027) 492 5601 Email: [email protected] D V E R T I S I N G S A L E S
M A N A G E R Ian Ferguson Ph: (09) 634 1800 Mob: (021) 446 164 Email: [email protected] South Island Tony Orr Ph: (0274) 974 467 Truck Trader Frank Willis Ph: (0274) 989 986O F F I C E M A N A G E R & P R O O F R E A D E R Trish Bexley Email: [email protected] U B L I S H I N G E X E C U T I V E
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ABC audited circulation: 9,020 – October 2011 – September 2012Nielsen CMI audited readership: 103,000 Q411 – Q312
MACKsimumloyalty
When Mack’s current line of trucks first poked their snouts out the kennel, those that had a soft spot for the brand gave a sigh of relief.Mack was back. The French influence had been culled out of the breed, and now Mack’s Trident looks as staunch as. However, an automated trans-mission, AdBlue tank and other features show that Mack’s pooches haven’t been killing time by sleeping on the porch...
MACKsimumloyalty
MACKsimumloyalty
Compared to the Granite, you get a bigger, harder, more capable tool for the job with the Trident, it can be spec’d with a GCM of 131 tonne whereas the Granite only gets 106 tonne. The Trident gets a power boost and a stronger spec if you need it too. That suits Road Metals as they are air-horn deep in the Christchurch decon-struction and rebuild work and know there is plenty of work for the rig over the next few decades. Murray’s son Dan Francis, the third generation in the company, was happy to throw a bit of bling at the truck when he specified what they wanted, as it’s going to be around for a long time and much is going to be asked of it over the next few decades.
The attention to detail on this rig is impressive, such as the Ali Arc bumper, stainless air-intake caps, and even white aerials to better match the company colours! Quenton Cattle, who at 39 has ticked off a lot of boxes on his driving wish list, is plenty thrilled to be entrusted
with Road Metal’s new flagship.We caught up with Quenton at dawn on a typical day
at the coal face that would see him scooting around the city carting aggregate from quarry to wherever it was needed, but the main focus at the moment for the Mack is a massive new subdivision on Preston’s Road north of Christchurch, that is being readied for a couple of thou-sand new houses.
“It has to be said that Quenton didn’t want to be put on the truck in all honesty,” Murray claims, “he liked the CH he was on and it was hard to get him out of it.”
Quenton had a couple of reservations, the prime one being that he didn’t really want to be put into a truck with an automated transmission, but he had grown fond of the old Mack. He says that when he drives manual transmissions, “I don’t use a clutch, and Murray said, ‘well you won’t mind the auto then!’ Damn – he’s got me I thought!”
Mack have increased the rating of their MP8 power-plant to 535hp and have gone to SCR to meet Euro 5.
The cockpit is classic Americana with lots of woodgrain, buttoned lining and silver bezels giving
the cab a plush feel. The lack of a gearstick on the floor opens up the cab as well – giving more room for
the operator.
Compared to the Granite, you get a bigger, harder, more capa-ble tool for the job with the Trident, it can be spec’d with a GCM of 131 tonne whereas the Granite only gets 106 tonne. The Trident gets a power boost and a stronger spec if you need it too. That suits Road Metals as they are air-horn deep in the Christchurch deconstruction and rebuild work and know there is plenty of work for the rig over the next few decades. Murray’s son Dan Francis, the third generation in the company, was happy to throw a bit of bling at the truck when he specified what they wanted, as it’s going to be around for a long time and much is going to be asked of it over the next few decades.
The attention to detail on this rig is impressive, such as the Ali Arc bumper, stainless air-intake caps, and even white aerials to better match the company colours! Quenton Cattle, who at 39 has ticked off a lot of boxes on his driving wish list, is plenty thrilled to be entrusted with Road Metal’s new flagship.
We caught up with Quenton at dawn on a typical day at the coal face that would see him scooting around the city carting aggregate from quarry to wherever it was needed, but the main focus at the moment for the Mack is a massive new subdivision on Preston’s Road north of Christchurch, that is being readied for a couple of thousand new houses.
“It has to be said that Quenton didn’t want to be put on the truck in all honesty,” Murray claims, “he liked the CH he was on and it was hard to get him out of it.”
Quenton had a couple of reservations, the prime one being that he didn’t really want to be put into a truck with an automat-ed transmission, but he had grown fond of the old Mack. He says that when he drives manual transmissions, “I don’t use a clutch, and Murray said, ‘well you won’t mind the auto then!’ Damn – he’s got me I thought!”
The transmission controller is simplicity personified. You’ve got a R, D and M button, for Reverse, Drive and Manual, and large plus and minus buttons for when you are in manual. It can’t get any simpler, and Quenton said he finds it easy to use in the real world of quarry trucking despite his initial reluctance to an electronical-ly controlled transmission. He has turned into a believer already.
“I don’t think you can find harder driving than in Christchurch at the moment,” he reflects, and reckons the auto helps negotiate the endless obstacles that rebuilding a city throws up in the way of roadworks, traffic jams and inconsiderate drivers.
Having the auto has made the day easier Quenton reckons. “I think Volvo have done their research and, as for fatigue at the end of the day, I don’t go home tired. I would be at home with either [manual or auto] but for the nature of this job I don’t think you can fault it. You do feel you have a lot more control.”
His last truck was a Vision, and as you’d expect, “this truck eats the Vision for dinner. Its performance is impressive, especially when pulling away at the traffic lights. The auto gives a nice flow of power, but it’s the sheer horsepower that makes the difference. The Vision was slow off the mark and wouldn’t start pulling until it was in the high box,” he says.
Quenton used to drive CX Appeal and Just Magic II, a CH, but the Trident has won him over. However, he still reckons that it’s too early to tell if this will be one of the great models. After all, he drove a CH so he’s got high expectations!
On paper however, there’s not much to prove and plenty to like.
This latest evolution of the new Mack range has become even better than its predecessor with a power upgrade to 535 horses from the 12.8 litre MP8 engine, which now features SCR to meet Euro5 (ADR80/03). It achieves 1920lb/ft of torque (2603Nm), which is a nice improvement over the 1770lb/ft (2400Nm) in the last Granite we looked at in late 2010. While it has slightly
Compared to the Granite, you get a bigger, harder, more capa-ble tool for the job with the Trident, it can be spec’d with a GCM of 131 tonne whereas the Granite only gets 106 tonne. The Trident gets a power boost and a stronger spec if you need it too. That suits Road Metals as they are air-horn deep in the Christchurch deconstruction and rebuild work and know there is plenty of work for the rig over the next few decades. Murray’s son Dan Francis, the third generation in the company, was happy to throw a bit of bling at the truck when he specified what they wanted, as it’s going to be around for a long time and much is going to be asked of it over the next few decades.
The attention to detail on this rig is impressive, such as the Ali Arc bumper, stainless air-intake caps, and even white aerials
to better match the company colours! Quenton Cattle, who at 39 has ticked off a lot of boxes on his driving wish list, is plenty thrilled to be entrusted with Road Metal’s new flagship.
We caught up with Quenton at dawn on a typical day at the coal face that would see him scooting around the city carting aggregate from quarry to wherever it was needed, but the main focus at the moment for the Mack is a massive new subdivision on Preston’s Road north of Christchurch, that is being readied for a couple of thousand new houses.
“It has to be said that Quenton didn’t want to be put on the truck in all honesty,” Murray claims, “he liked the CH he was on and it was hard to get him out of it.”
Quenton had a couple of reservations, the prime one being
The transmission controller is simplicity personified. You’ve got a R, D and M button, for Reverse, Drive and Manual, and large plus and minus buttons for when you are in manual. It can’t get any simpler, and Quenton said he finds it easy to use in the real world of quarry trucking despite his initial reluctance to an electronical-ly controlled transmission. He has turned into a believer already.
“I don’t think you can find harder driving than in Christchurch at the moment,” he reflects, and reckons the auto helps negotiate the endless obstacles that rebuilding a city throws up in the way of roadworks, traffic jams and inconsiderate drivers.
Having the auto has made the day easier Quenton reckons. “I think Volvo have done their research and, as for fatigue at the end of the day, I don’t go home tired. I would be at home with either
[manual or auto] but for the nature of this job I don’t think you can fault it. You do feel you have a lot more control.”
His last truck was a Vision, and as you’d expect, “this truck eats the Vision for dinner. Its performance is impressive, especially when pulling away at the traffic lights. The auto gives a nice flow of power, but it’s the sheer horsepower that makes the difference. The Vision was slow off the mark and wouldn’t start pulling until it was in the high box,” he says.
Quenton used to drive CX Appeal and Just Magic II, a CH, but the Trident has won him over. However, he still reckons that it’s too early to tell if this will be one of the great models. After all, he drove a CH so he’s got high expectations!
On paper however, there’s not much to prove and plenty to
Road Metals went all out to make their latest Trident standout and ‘Leader of the Pack’ has had plenty of bling added to give it visual punch, including dual fuel tanks, and sharp eyes will spot the AdBlue rear tank on this side of the rig.
Compared to the Granite, you get a bigger, harder, more capable tool for the job with the Trident, it can be spec’d with a GCM of 131 tonne whereas the Granite only gets 106 tonne. The Trident gets a power boost and a stronger spec if you need it too. That suits Road Metals as they are air-horn deep in the Christchurch deconstruction and rebuild work and know there is plenty of work for the rig over the next few decades. Murray’s son Dan Francis, the third generation in the company, was happy to throw a bit of bling at the truck when he specified what they wanted, as it’s going to be around for a long time and much is going to be asked of it over the next few decades.
The attention to detail on this rig is impressive, such as the Ali Arc bumper, stainless air-intake caps, and even white aeri-als to better match the company colours! Quenton Cattle, who at 39 has ticked off a lot of boxes on his driving wish list, is plenty thrilled to be entrusted with Road Metal’s new flagship.
We caught up with Quenton at dawn on a typical day at the coal face that would see him scooting around the city carting aggregate from quarry to wherever it was needed, but the main focus at the moment for the Mack is a massive new sub-division on Preston’s Road north of Christchurch, that is being readied for a couple of thousand new houses.
“It has to be said that Quenton didn’t want to be put on the truck in all honesty,” Murray claims, “he liked the CH he was on and it was hard to get him out of it.”
Quenton had a couple of reservations, the prime one being that he didn’t really want to be put into a truck with an auto-mated transmission, but he had grown fond of the old Mack. He says that when he drives manual transmissions, “I don’t use a clutch, and Murray said, ‘well you won’t mind the auto then!’ Damn – he’s got me I thought!”
The transmission controller is simplicity personified. You’ve got a R, D and M button, for Reverse, Drive and Manual, and large plus and minus buttons for when you are in manual. It can’t get any simpler, and Quenton said he finds it easy to use in the real world of quarry trucking despite his initial reluctance to an electronically controlled transmission. He has turned into a believer already.
“I don’t think you can find harder driving than in Christchurch at the moment,” he reflects, and reckons the auto helps nego-tiate the endless obstacles that rebuilding a city throws up in the way of roadworks, traffic jams and inconsiderate drivers.
Having the auto has made the day easier Quenton reckons. “I think Volvo have done their research and, as for fatigue at the end of the day, I don’t go home tired. I would be at home with either [manual or auto] but for the nature of this job I don’t think you can fault it. You do feel you have a lot more control.”
His last truck was a Vision, and as you’d expect, “this truck eats the Vision for dinner. Its performance is impressive, espe-cially when pulling away at the traffic lights. The auto gives a nice flow of power, but it’s the sheer horsepower that makes the difference. The Vision was slow off the mark and wouldn’t start pulling until it was in the high box,” he says.
Quenton used to drive CX Appeal and Just Magic II, a CH, but the Trident has won him over. However, he still reckons that it’s too early to tell if this will be one of the great models. After all, he drove a CH so he’s got high expectations!
On paper however, there’s not much to prove and plenty to like.
This latest evolution of the new Mack range has become
even better than its predecessor with a power upgrade to 535 horses from the 12.8 litre MP8 engine, which now features SCR to meet Euro5 (ADR80/03). It achieves 1920lb/ft of torque (2603Nm), which is a nice improvement over the 1770lb/ft (2400Nm) in the last Granite we looked at in late 2010. While it has slightly The transmission controller is simplicity per-sonified. You’ve got a R, D and M button, for Reverse, Drive and Manual, and large plus and minus buttons for when you are in manual. It can’t get any simpler, and Quenton said he finds it easy to use in the real world of quarry trucking despite his initial reluctance to an electronically controlled transmission. He has turned into a believer already.
“I don’t think you can find harder driving than in Christchurch at the moment,” he reflects, and reckons the auto helps nego-tiate the endless obstacles that rebuilding a city throws up in the way of roadworks, traffic jams and inconsiderate drivers.
Having the auto has made the day easier Quenton reckons. “I think Volvo have done their research and, as for fatigue at the end of the day, I don’t go home tired. I would be at home with either [manual or auto] but for the nature of this job I don’t think you can fault it. You do feel you have a lot more control.”
His last truck was a Vision, and as you’d expect, “this truck eats the Vision for dinner. Its performance is impressive, espe-cially when pulling away at the traffic lights. The auto gives a nice flow of power, but it’s the sheer horsepower that makes the difference. The Vision was slow off the mark and wouldn’t start pulling until it was in the high box,” he says.
Quenton used to drive CX Appeal and Just Magic II, a CH, but the Trident has won him over. However, he still reckons that it’s too early to tell if this will be one of the great models. After all, he drove a CH so he’s got high expectations!
On paper however, there’s not much to prove and plenty to The transmission controller is simplicity personified. You’ve got a R, D and M button, for Reverse, Drive and Manual, and large plus and minus buttons for when you are in manual. It can’t get any simpler, and Quenton said he finds it easy to use in the real world of quarry trucking despite his initial reluctance to an electronically controlled transmission. He has turned into a believer already.
“I don’t think you can find harder driving than in Christchurch at the moment,” he reflects, and reckons the auto helps nego-tiate the endless obstacles that rebuilding a city throws up in the way of roadworks, traffic jams and inconsiderate drivers.
Having the auto has made the day easier Quenton reckons. “I think Volvo have done their research and, as for fatigue at the end of the day, I don’t go home tired. I would be at home with either [manual or auto] but for the nature of this job I don’t think you can fault it. You do feel you have a lot more control.”
His last truck was a Vision, and as you’d expect, “this truck eats the Vision for dinner. Its performance is impressive, espe-cially when pulling away at the traffic lights. The auto gives a nice flow of power, but it’s the sheer horsepower that makes the difference. The Vision was slow off the mark and wouldn’t start pulling until it was in the high box,” he says.
Quenton used to drive CX Appeal and Just Magic II, a CH, but the Trident has won him over. However, he still reckons that it’s too early to tell if this will be one of the great models. After all, he drove a CH so he’s got high expectations!
On paper however, there’s not much to prove and plenty to The transmission controller is simplicity personified. You’ve
Compared to the Granite, you get a bigger, harder, more capa-ble tool for the job with the Trident, it can be spec’d with a GCM of 131 tonne whereas the Granite only gets 106 tonne. The Trident gets a power boost and a stronger spec if you need it too. That suits Road Metals as they are air-horn deep in the Christchurch deconstruction and rebuild work and know there is plenty of work for the rig over the next few decades. Murray’s son Dan Francis, the third generation in the company, was happy to throw a bit of bling at the truck when he specified what they wanted, as it’s going to be around for a long time and much is going to be asked of it over the next few decades.
The attention to detail on this rig is impressive, such as the Ali Arc bumper, stainless air-intake caps, and even white aerials to better match the company colours! Quenton Cattle, who at 39 has ticked off a lot of boxes on his driving wish list, is plenty thrilled to be entrusted with Road Metal’s new flagship.
We caught up with Quenton at dawn on a typical day at the coal face that would see him scooting around the city carting aggregate from quarry to wherever it was needed, but the main focus at the moment for the Mack is a massive new subdivision on Preston’s Road north of Christchurch, that is being readied for a couple of thousand new houses.
“It has to be said that Quenton didn’t want to be put on the truck in all honesty,” Murray claims, “he liked the CH he was on and it was hard to get him out of it.”
Quenton had a couple of reservations, the prime one being that he didn’t really want to be put into a truck with an automat-ed transmission, but he had grown fond of the old Mack. He says that when he drives manual transmissions, “I don’t use a clutch, and Murray said, ‘well you won’t mind the auto then!’ Damn – he’s got me I thought!”
Compared to the Granite, you get a bigger, harder, more capa-ble tool for the job with the Trident, it can be spec’d with a GCM of 131 tonne whereas the Granite only gets 106 tonne. The Trident gets a power boost and a stronger spec if you need it too. That suits Road Metals as they are air-horn deep in the Christchurch deconstruction and rebuild work and know there is plenty of work for the rig over the next few decades. Murray’s son Dan
Francis, the third generation in the company, was happy to throw a bit of bling at the truck when he specified what they wanted, as it’s going to be around for a long time and much is going to be asked of it over the next few decades.
The attention to detail on this rig is impressive, such as the Ali Arc bumper, stainless air-intake caps, and even white aerials to better match the company colours! Quenton Cattle, who at 39 has ticked off a lot of boxes on his driving wish list, is plenty thrilled to be entrusted with Road Metal’s new flagship.
We caught up with Quenton at dawn on a typical day at the coal face that would see him scooting around the city carting aggregate from quarry to wherever it was needed, but the main focus at the moment for the Mack is a massive new subdivision on Preston’s Road north of Christchurch, that is being readied for a couple of thousand new houses.
“It has to be said that Quenton didn’t want to be put on the truck in all honesty,” Murray claims, “he liked the CH he was on and it was hard to get him out of it.”
Quenton had a couple of reservations, the prime one being that he didn’t really want to be put into a truck with an automat-ed transmission, but he had grown fond of the old Mack. He says that when he drives manual transmissions, “I don’t use a clutch, and Murray said, ‘well you won’t mind the auto then!’ Damn – he’s got me I thought!”
The transmission controller is simplicity personified. You’ve got a R, D and M button, for Reverse, Drive and Manual, and large plus and minus buttons for when you are in manual. It can’t get any simpler, and Quenton said he finds it easy to use in the real world of quarry trucking despite his initial reluctance to an electronical-ly controlled transmission. He has turned into a believer already.
“I don’t think you can find harder driving than in Christchurch at the moment,” he reflects, and reckons the auto helps negotiate the endless obstacles that rebuilding a city throws up in the way of roadworks, traffic jams and inconsiderate drivers.
Having the auto has made the day easier Quenton reckons. “I think Volvo have done their research and, as for fatigue at the end of the day, I don’t go home tired. I would be at home with either [manual or auto] but for the nature of this job I don’t think you
