MACKsimum BULLDOG

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CRUSIER COLORADO TRUCKING IN FRANCE

COVER

3. EDITORIAL 4. MACKSIMUM LOYALTY

EDITORIAL
TO MANY PORTS?
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, shipping 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, Jos 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 individual 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 handle the increased freight volumes more effectively. Improvement in the transport of freight to and from the port has been a key part of the answer. In some instances dedicated underground 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 interesting responses. Two I recall clearly were; the number of ports is necessary because if one was inoperable, for example due to an earthquake 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 obviously suffering significantly. There were a number of reasons mooted for their problems the government is not supporting them (they wanted an exemption from ETS charges and didnt get it), road and rail are getting government supplied tracks and roads to move freight, and international vessels (that do not pay ETS levies) are free to take freight between New Zealand ports. Its unlikely that any government would take a retrospect step and intervene to make this commercial sector more profitable. International shipping isnt profitable either, returning 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 disgruntled customers, especially in New Zealand where we are so far from the markets. Interestingly there appeared to be a reluctance to form alliances, both within a mode and at an inter-modal level. The road transport industry has already gone through some significant changes and is probably ahead of other transport sectors when it comes to improved service. We are comfortable using rail, air and coastal shipping when they are practical options. There are obviously synergies available and these need to be explored. All that aside, the general outlook of the conference was one of optimism for New Zealand, our position and products combined with our relationship with Australia and our ever increasing trade in Asia are signs that we will do well in the future.

10. POSER 12. CLASSIC TRUCKING 18. LAW

Brice Baird finds a dog lover at Road Metals 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

John Murphy

BRYCE BAIRD

Macksimum Loyalty
When Macks 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 Macks Trident looks as staunch as. However, an automated transmission, AdBlue tank and other features show that Macks pooches havent been killing time by sleeping on the porch.

The word loyal has never been quite the same since the ocean yacht racing crowd hogtied it to their advertising campaign during the glory days of the Americas Cup. However, down in the lower half of the South Island it still means something other than the contrived manipulation the word has been degraded to. Down south loyalty is earned, not created during a brain-storming session in an ad agency. In the lower half of the South Island there are plenty of companies that are either brand heavy or brand absolute, thanks to loyalty. Those salesmen that had the energy to throw on a thick coat, chuck the snowchains in the boot of the HQ Holden and head south to cold-call and hard-sell products that were at the time unknown, found fertile ground in the south, where once a product proved itself, and they got to trust the salesman, loyalty was an unspoken part of the deal. Mack was one of those unknown brands once upon a time believe it or not. Apart from the recollections of war veterans whod seen the Yanks use them in military applications around the globe during both World Wars, they were once as rare as a Ferrari seven-tonne side-tipper on our shores. The small number of Macks that ended up here after the war were used mainly in heavy haul or house-shifting, but apart from those old war horses, the brand was just a big question mark for those first few intrepid buyers. However, there were plenty of operators in the South Island that could see the potential in the brand, and the lower half of the island became a bit of a Mack Mecca by the time legendary truck salesman Ron Carpenter had finished with it. Stan Francis of North Otago Road Metals could see that these big burly Yank

rigs were just the ticket for the work his companies were engaged in, and that they were a huge improvement over the British gear hed started with back in 1955. The N.O.R.M. R-series Macks eventually became legendary down south, and together with the other brand they took a shine to, Volvo, the die was set. The company has since changed its name to Road Metals, however their loyalty to the brand has never wavered. In a great example of synchronicity, their two brands of choice eventually became entwined, as Volvo now owns Mack, which is reaping the benefits by having an increased amount of Volvo technology built into its trucks. Current Road Metals managing director, Murray Francis, (Stans son) knows the strengths of both brands and their place in his fleet, but you dont have to scratch him very hard to find that his favourite brand has a pup bolted to the bonnet. Having said that, he still gets misty-eyed when talking about the Leyland Octopus he spent three and a half years driving for his dad, when he was barely out of his teens and working on some of the think-big projects of the day at Twizel and Manapouri in the seventies and eighties. The Road Metal boys take great pride in that pup on the bonnet so it was almost inevitable that a Trident was going to appear in the colours after a long run of R-series, CHs, Visions and then a Granite. Road Metals went all out with this Trident, blitzing it with chrome and accessories and making the Christchurch based truck a standout rig in a city that probably has one of the highest densities of bulk truck and trailer rigs working in the world at present. Road Metals runs 23 mainly truck and trailer Mack combinations in the operation that includes four Volvo FM series and a couple of Mack eight-wheeler MC models

converted to water trucks, and a crane truck. They have 68 employees spread between their Christchurch and Oamaru bases, and have three quarries in Christchurch, one a joint venture with Isaac Construction, and another 214 hectare (500 acre) quarry about to open at Rolleston, making four in the area that should provide 100 years of resource Murray says. Its been an expensive process that has taken three and a half years in the environment court and $1.5 million in costs that Murray says, aged me ten years I reckon! I wont see much benefit from this, but the next generation and the one after that will thank me for it! he predicts. Murray has a great sense of history and brand loyalty, and Road Metals long term plans for the future will probably mean good things for Motor Truck Distributors. The company have had most of the range of Mack conventionals over the years as well as COE Qantum and MC versions under their colours. Murray admits that hes been very happy with the Granite, but he thinks the Trident has more to offer his operation. Weve got three now, and we like the better cooling and think they are a stronger truck for the job and we probably now prefer the Trident over the Granite to be honest. Compared to the Granite, you get a bigger, harder, more capable tool for the job with the Trident, it can be specd 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. Murrays 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 its 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 Metals 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 Prestons Road north of Christchurch, that is being readied for a couple of thousand new houses. It has to be said that Quenton didnt 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 didnt 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 dont use a clutch, and Murray said, well you wont mind the auto then! Damn hes got me I thought! His dedication to the job and his attention to detail and how thoroughly he prepares for and carries out his tasks is quite something to behold and it didnt take us long to see why Murray wanted Quenton on the Trident, as he treats this rig like it was his first born. Quenton considers that hes found a good workplace, he says, thats what I love about this company, they have a real passion for trucking. Road Metals drivers have long been regarded as

amongst the best on the road down south and their level of professionalism and how well they present their gear is bordering on legendary. Its probably unfair to single anyone out from the old brigade, Road Metals still have five of the original dozen drivers they had in the Twizel days on the payroll, but Billy Sergeant is probably the best known of that team down south and itd be fair to say that Quenton is carrying the torch that Billy lit when he jumped into his R-series Mack back in the seventies. In fact, Quenton said that the only drivers hed like to see in this truck if he took a break would be either Billy or Murray. And we suspect Murray would only be allowed a drive because he owns it! Quentons passion for trucking was ignited when he worked at a local garage at Washdyke, where some of the customers were truckies. His first experience behind the wheel was in a TK Bedford artic which he used to cart urea between Ravensdown and Timaru Port when he was working for Bob Merhtens. He progressed to driving Hino FS and Nissan CW330s for City Care on landfill cartage in Christchurch, shuttling between the refuse facilities at Bromley, Styx and Parkhouse and the Burwood landfill carting rubbish and green-waste. But he had ambitions to drive bigger gear and hopped over the ditch to Perth where he attended a driving school attaining the credentials to drive road trains. He achieved a 99 percent pass rate which gave him his MC (multicombination) rating, and then started working for West Australia Freightliners in a K104 Aerodyne B-double doing a Perth-Brisbane-Sydney run twoup. Eventually the work overwhelmed him, with the distances and time on the road burning him out and he returned to New Zealand and started driving for Neta New Zealand on a 450hp Nissan

Mack have increased the rating of their MP8 powerplant 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.

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