JOhN DEERE 850J JOhN DEERE 850J - CablePrice

TRACK & WHEEL
TRACK & WHEEL
Marsden
Transport
Solutions
As most transport operators know, logging is
a tough business. In fact, in the New Zealand
transport industry, there are few applications
more demanding on gear than hauling logs.
Operator of Marsden Transport Solutions,
Glen Curran, who owns the business with his
wife Suzie, knows he needs the right equipment to keep his
business ticking over efficiently — a business that is built on
smart decisions as well as durable equipment.
There are seven Scanias already in the eleven-strong Whangareibased
MTS fleet — one R500, three R560s and three R620
models. All have been purchased through the Whangarei branch
of CablePrice. Now-retired rep, David ‘Smithy’ Smith sold the
original five to Curran and Mark Nurse is now MTS’s contact
for the remaining trucks. Curran has also ordered a fourth
R560 through Nurse, expected to be on the road in early 2013,
indicating just how much he respects the Swedish brand.
“We’re pretty happy with them all right,” he says. “They’ve
been pretty good for us.
“Logging’s a tough business. It’s all about having the right gear
and it needs to be reliable and be able to handle the knocks.”
All the MTS trucks are fitted with trailers and bolsters from
Patchell Industries in Rotorua, including one of the most
impressive combinations in the fleet — an eight-wheeler truck
coupled to a four-axle Patchells trailer, hauling 20m poles for
local merchant, Croft’s Poles.
The R560 produces 2700Nm at 1000-1400rpm from its Euro-
5-compliant 16 litre V8 engine — more than enough to haul the
awkwardly long load.“There aren’t that many trucks up here
that can cart that length of timber,” Curran says.
Riding on hub-reduction axles and fitted with an integrated
retarder and exhaust brake, the trucks work in a ‘convertible’
capacity, hauling normal-sized packs of logs when not being
used for carting poles.
When hauling the long timber, the telescoping drawbar
slides out, the rear bolster on the trailer is folded flat and the
stanchions of the front bolster on the truck folded down. The
remaining bolsters on both the truck and trailer are then slid
into position for loading, using air-rams to move them along
slides on the chassis.
To convert it back again, those bolsters are moved, the other
bolsters are lifted up and the drawbar telescopes in to form a
standard eight-wheeler truck and four-axle trailer.
The remainder of the fleet – which can rise to as many as 25
trucks per day with contracted owner-drivers called in — tends
to run to the local port in single-driver shifts, almost always
running close to the 44 tonne legal maximum on delivery trips.
“The port does reasonable hours, so we don’t need to doubleshift
the trucks,” says Curran.
“We’re mostly running loaded one way — about 75% of the
time. Occasionally we’ll pick up something to take back.”
The trucks travel, on average, between 500km and 600km per
day, five days a week with all returning fuel economy figures
over 2km/litre — one of the reasons Curran has chosen the
majority of his Scanias in the 560-620hp bracket.
“We went for the higher horsepower for better fuel economy
and because it’s also easier on the driver at the end of the day.”
Drivers are an area of the MTS business that is important to
Curran — not just for the way they manage their workload, but
also for the way they look after the equipment.
“You tend to attract a better class of driver having gear like
this, and if you get a good driver, you know they’re going to look
after the trucks,” he says.
Curran has also worked servicing and routine R&M of the MTS
Scanias into his business budget by using CablePrice’s six year
Scanplan Max 24 servicing contract.
“They’re all on this plan, which is the biggest you can get,”
he explains. “We own the trucks, but we pay per kilometer for
servicing. It’s a great way to budget because it’s a fixed price and
cost for each truck and there are no surprises.”
This is important as unwanted surprises aren’t welcome in the
logging game — it’s a tough enough job as it is.
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