Last week
I attended the Ministry of Transport’s Revenue Programme Stakeholder Reference Group, which is engaging the industry and road user representatives on the transition to universal RUC.
We also hosted the Petroleum Industry Transport Safety Forum in Wellington. Along with the Log Transport Safety Council, these are groups that in my view are shining lights in terms of getting on with doing stuff that needs to be done within their specific sector. Fuel tanker trucks include a lot of specialist systems to manage the risk of explosion, and those systems fall outside of road-going matters. In effect the petroleum sector manages its own in-service maintenance and compliance regimes for these systems. The Forum also listened to a presentation from the National Transport Commission to see how we might be able to leverage off recent changes to the Australian Dangerous Goods Code.
Recently there has been a fair bit of commentary about what others could do for the industry, but I think the above are great examples where the industry could just get on doing things it needs.
On Wednesday, Billy and I met with Minister Scott Simpson to discuss Fleet Saver, port fees and the code of practice being developed for payment terms. It was promising to see that the Minister is well aware of the risks, and perhaps even sceptical, about the emergence of low-impact safety schemes. The Minister instructed ACC officials to ensure we are involved in future developments.
The highlight of the week was a 3-day road trip with Keith McGuire, our Waikato based Membership Manager, and being able to spend some quality one–on–one time with over twenty of our members across the Bay of Plenty and Thames-Coromandel.
Our sector includes a wide range of activities, and equally as diverse as these activities are the management structures underpinning them. However, my observation is that there’s one very common element – a strong focus on customer service. This focus appears to be a key part of businesses being able to successfully ride out the current tough times.
The trip culminated in attending the 25th Anniversary Celebration event of Tranzliquid. I feel lucky to have spent a significant part of my career in fuel transport, so I know it well and it was an honour to join that occasion. It reinforced to me that, apart from good customer service, businesses will be much better placed to succeed if you have good leadership and you embrace innovation and change.
Farewell and thank you Aratere
After 26 years of service the Aratere had its final Cook Strait crossing on Monday.
Like any long-lasting relationship there’s been some ups and downs, but I’d like to acknowledge and thank all the people that have crewed her. As with most operational teams in road transport companies, I’m sure those people went to work every day hoping it would be a good day. Hundreds of thousands of people have benefitted from the many journeys it completed plying the Cook Strait.
The loss of capacity will heighten the risk of increased expense and delays to freight operators and customers, which is why I’ve been so critical of ongoing delays in purchasing replacement vessels. It will also mean rearranging schedules to best use the remaining capacity. I hope our members’ customers will be appreciative of these impacts.
I envisage the retirement of the Aratere will show that rail-compatible ferries are quite capable of servicing freight across the Cook Strait. Dramatic statements about a lack of roll-on rail capacity crippling the rail network and supply chain were always unhelpful hyperbole. A blind commitment to rail-enabled vessels is what got KiwiRail into the iReX mess – the Government can’t afford more expensive mistakes.
Transporting New Zealand is frequently in contact with KiwiRail and Minister Peters’ office so we can provide updates to our members. Therefore, it was no surprise that on Thursday we received a letter from Minister Peters. He has told us that proposals from shipyards are currently being evaluated and Ferry Holdings remain on track to complete negotiations later this year.
Similarly, all seems to be going swimmingly well portside. Minister Peters says this no-nonsense ferry solution will save the taxpayer billions compared with iReX. I hope it does, but time will tell.
Celebrating success and Board elections
The dinner following our AGM and North Island Seminar on Saturday 11 October is a night to celebrate success in the road freight industry. There are awards presented in several areas, and these are often hotly contested!
More information about the categories and submitting nominations is here.
We will also be holding elections for our officers on Friday 10 October. There is a huge amount going on in our industry, and being a Board Member of Transporting New Zealand is a massively valuable opportunity to lead our industry and ensure it remains successful in the future. If you’re interested in standing for Board election, please contact kelly@transporting.nz.
