GOLD DIGGERS - CablePrice

TRACK & WHEEL
From left: Karl Relph (CablePrice),
Peter Ellett (Retko Haulage),
Tony Hodge (Fruehauf Trailers),
Shane Ward (TR Group), and
Jeff Mear (Fruehauf Trailers)
influencing factors for selecting its vehicle of choice.
Retko has run Scanias since 1982, and Peter says
“they’re a great fleet truck that the drivers love. You
can’t beat the retarders. Nothing can touch Scania
going down the hills. They’re brilliant.”
Peter goes on to say, “CablePrice has always provided
us a really good service.”
So with 99 percent of the company’s line haul
fleet already Scania, it comes as no surprise the
new high productivity sign, a black H on a yellow
rectangular background, would be mounted above a
distinctive Scania grill.
CablePrice’s national sales manager for Scania, Karl
Relph, says “We’re delighted Retko chose to continue
the long-established relationship with CablePrice as
part of their venture into the new high performance
motor vehicle programme. Scania’s focus towards safer
vehicles for safer roads makes it a perfect match when
considering longer and heavier vehicles.”
The 7.87m curtainsider body with
Zepro tail lift and 10.65m, 20-pallet, fouraxle
trailer, running BPW disc brakes and
EBS braking system, were manufactured
by Fruehauf NZ Limited of Fielding. The
combination comes with split mezzanine
floors across the truck and trailer, and the
finished product has Peter’s approval.
“The boys at Fruehauf NZ have done us
proud. They worked tirelessly for us to get
the permit and we’ll definitely be using
them again in the future.”
According to Fruehauf NZ Limited sales
account manager, Tony Hodge, “The truck
and trailer combination is the first HPMV
specification we’ve manufactured and our
first time working with Retko Haulage.”
The delivery of the two over-length
combinations symbolises Retko’s
move to leasing all of its gear from
the country’s largest truck and trailer
lease company, TR Group. According to Peter, TR
Group has been great to deal with, proving to be
very engaging when Retko wanted to venture into
the new over-length specification. “They’ve made
the switch from just leasing trailers, to the total
package, seamless,” he says.
The ability to build out to the new HPMV lengths
has created efficiencies for Retko that Peter, along
with his business partners Ian Tulloch and Rob Covich,
say will help Retko consolidate its fleet and more
efficiently manage its contracts.
The two Scania R 470 HPMV combinations will
be carting plastics between Palmerston North and
Whangarei daily, running virtually 24 hours straight.
While Peter says they could have done the new run
with B-trains, he believes the new set up is much more
efficient, and not just because they can cart more.
“The shift into the over-length specification means
we’re definitely going to get a lot
more cubic in them,” he says, but
They’re
a great fleet
truck that the
drivers love.
You can’t beat
the retarders.
Nothing can
touch Scania
going down the
hills. They’re
brilliant.”
Peter Ellett, co-owner
Retko Haulage
by selecting the 8x4 curtainsider
configuration and setting the
Scanias up with a tail-lift, “the
trucks can drop off their trailers
and then go and do deliveries”,
thus eliminating the need for
Retko to have an additional
delivery vehicle at the other end,
and reducing double-handling.
According to Peter, the
collaboration between Retko,
Scania and CablePrice, TR Group
and Fruehauf NZ Limited during
the permitting of the new HPMV’s
vehicles “has seen us put a couple
of great-looking units on the road”.
He also believes it has been a good
litmus test for what is likely to be
a steady increase in interest for
HPMV configurations.
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