GOLD DIGGERS - CablePrice

TRACK & WHEEL
Scania HPMV set to
bring efficiency gains for
Retko
Two of the earliest new
high productivity vehicles
permitted under the May 1,
2010, amendments to the
2002 Land Transport Rule
governing dimension and
mass limits for vehicles operating on New
Zealand Roads, have recently been put to
work for Auckland-based general freight
company Retko Haulage (2007) Ltd, to
fulfil a new contract carting plastic goods
across the North Island.
Upon delivery of the two 44-tonne,
22m length permitted truck and trailer
combinations, co-owner of Retko Haulage,
Peter Ellett, said, “With the new contract,
we needed to get some big units put on
the road as quickly as we could”.
According to a 2008 NZ Freight study,
New Zealand’s freight volume is forecast
to increase by 70 to 75 percent over
the next 25 years. While all transport
modes will carry their share, the nature
of freight means that a lot of it will be
carried by road. NZTA says, “There are
significant productivity gains to be
realised by allowing high productivity
motor vehicles [HPMV] to operate
outside the current mass and dimension
limits by using fewer trucks to carry the
same amount of freight without reducing
the safety of road users.
“We were keen to look at it, and keen to
definitely do something,” says Peter, “and
with a new cubic metre-based contract
coming up, it made sense.”
For its HPMVs Retko specified two
Scania R 470 8x4 rigids from CablePrice,
choosing to lease the trucks and trailers
from TR Group. Peter cited comfort,
driver acceptance, reliability and overall
driving performance as the company’s
22 CablePrice