Moving in the right direction

September 25, 2026 | James McDevitt

Where’s Dom?

Dom has spent the week on the road, attending the Bus & Coach Association conference in Auckland before heading to Invercargill for the Road Transport Hall of Fame Gala Dinner in Invercargill. That means I’ve been handed the pencil for this week’s blog.

Minister is listening on heavy vehicle reforms

One of the most positive developments last week was a lengthy meeting with Associate Transport Minister James Meager on the heavy vehicle productivity reforms.

A number of people across the sector have commented on the effort the Minister has made since taking responsibility for this work, and I think that engagement deserves recognition. It is clear he understands that the reforms are not just a technical rule review. Done properly, it presents an opportunity to unlock meaningful productivity gains across the freight sector at a time when fuel costs remain high and supply uncertainty continues to linger.

My view is that we should focus on changes that make a real difference to freight productivity, rather than tweaks around the edges. The proposed changes for overdimension vehicles and some agricultural activities will be beneficial for those operators directly affected. However, from a wider freight and supply chain perspective, the gains are likely to be relatively modest.

The bigger opportunity lies in changes that allow the existing fleet to move more freight, more efficiently and with fewer trips. Those sorts of improvements have been discussed with NZTA and the Ministry for many years and have been a key part of our work with Government.

The encouraging thing is that the Minister is listening. There’s still a long way to go and nothing is guaranteed, but there seems to be a genuine willingness to understand the industry’s concerns and consider where meaningful productivity improvements might be achieved. We were heartened that he took some of our recommendations away to raise with officials for the pending third phase of consultation. Given the economic and fuel challenges facing the sector, I think the time was well spent.

Pressure in refining

We joined an MBIE briefing this week on the international fuel situation and the Government’s response. The main message was that the biggest pressure in the system is not the supply of crude, but in refining capacity. Refineries are operating hard up against their limits and now that means maintenance outages could now be a potential risk to supply.

The good news is that current diesel stocks and supply lines remain healthy, and diesel continues to flow. However, the outlook could get challenging. As the Northern Hemisphere moves into winter and the Southern into summer, global demand patterns change and create additional logistic pressure on supply. For that reason (and a few others), fuel prices will probably not return to previous levels in the short term. If anything, there remains a risk of further upward pressure.

So a reminder also that if you believe Fuel Adjustment Factors (FAFs) are not being applied fairly, or you are unable to recover legitimate fuel cost increases, the Commerce Commission remains the avenue for raising those concerns.

Better data should mean better regulations

I joined the Road Freight Safety Group hui on Thursday, and my main takeaway was that NZTA and Police are getting serious about collecting and using data to guide their decisions. This is great to hear.

One of the best stats shared at the hui was that Commercial Vehicle Safety Centre (CVSC) data shows non-compliance is trending down. To me, that suggests the investment in CVSC was justified. Heavy vehicle drivers continue to have a lower oral-fluid (drug) test failure rate than the wider driving population, although Police noted some significant regional differences. I was also pleased to hear from the Police that heavy vehicle drivers have generally been supportive of the testing regime. Some attendees noted that the weigh-in-motion scales are generating occasional false positives. Police confirmed they are aware of the issue and are continuing to calibrate the system. If your vehicle is flagged as overweight but you are not directed into a CVSC to clear up the issue, please let us know and we can raise it with Police on your behalf.

NZTA have been busy developing a Commercial Transport Regulatory Roadmap. The aim here is to make the Agency easier to comply with on the regulations and rules it’s responsible for. Like the Police, the Agency is putting data at the heart of its thinking and has committed to taking an iterative and consultative process for the roadmap. Let’s see how it develops, but the direction of travel is right and I’m looking forward to working with NZTA as this work progresses.