Justin’s Transport Minute – 24/03/2023
This week saw us have a great working session with WorkSafe who told us that
in their view the commercial transport industry has not been doing a great job
of telling a cohesive story about how important we are to the fabric of the
country – and how the major challenges faced by the industry are placing the
economy’s supply chain capacity at risk.
Justin’s Transport Minute – 17/03/2023
They say a week is a long time in politics. This week’s “bonfire of the priorities”, as the latest jettisoning of unachievable policy goals has been called, shows the truth of this age-old adage.
Common sense has prevailed, even if its hand was forced by mother nature.
Justin’s Transport Minute – 10/03/2023
Late last month the NRC Transport & Logistics Advisory Group had its
first meeting of 2023 and top of the agenda was industry response to the
devastation caused by Cyclone Gabrielle. Having Simon Bridges chairing the
Advisory Group gave us a head start, with his insights as the former Minister
of Transport bringing a unique perspective on how to get government to set the
rebuilding and resilience of our critical highways as the number one priority.
Justin’s Transport Minute – 03/03/2023
This week got off to a flying start with our announcement that NRC has formalised our working relationship with NZ Trucking Association (NTA). We’ve been working together since 1988 and have delivered some great collaborations for members including the Trucking Industry Summit, Trucking Industry Show and HARMfree Transport.
Justin’s Transport Minute – 24/02/2023
Nearly two weeks on following cyclone Gabrielle, the adrenaline of the event
is wearing off and reality is starting to set in.
For those in the trucking industry, that reality is ranging from “I’ve just
lost my entire yard, 30 vehicles and life’s work” through to dealing with major
detours on delivery runs.
Justin’s Transport Minute – 17/02/2023
Around the country we are all catching up with the enormity of what we are seeing unfold in Hawke’s Bay and East Cape, on top of the already extensively damaged Northland, Auckland and Coromandel regions. Watching the news last night was a heart-breaking affair, seeing how the lives of our fellow kiwis have been upended.
Justin’s Transport Minute – 10/02/2023
With all too frequent regularity a large part of New Zealand’s trucking
community finds itself preparing for yet another spell of road closures and
disruption.
Justin’s Transport Minute – 03/02/2023
RUC should be left for building roads, not political capital
Confusion reigned this week for RUC purchasers, when a few short hours after the discount was removed at midnight on January 31, the new Prime Minister announced it would be re-introduced until June 30.
Justin’s Transport Minute – 27/01/2023
Happy New Year, and for those members in the Auckland region – happy anniversary weekend!
After a well earned break the team at the NRC offices have been off to a busy start signing up new members, taking lots of support calls for existing members, and even shifting furniture round the office just to mix it up.
Justin’s Transport Minute – 16/12/2022
Sitting down to write Justin’s Transport Minute today it’s hard to believe it is the last one for the year already. And if you think you missed last week’s, you didn’t. Unfortunately I brought back an unwelcome present with me from my last trip to Wellington for the year – Covid
Justin’s Transport Minute – 02/12/2022
We’ve all managed to take a bit of a breath after a hugely successful TMC Trucking Industry Show which saw nearly 40,000 people check out what was on offer on Saturday – pretty much double what we had anticipated. And a really fantastic result for the industry – well done to NZ Trucking Assn for running such a great event.
Justin’s Transport Minute – 25/11/2022
This week’s TMC Trucking Industry Show promised to be a ‘complete trucking festival’ and boy did it deliver. I’m writing this on day one of the Show, and I have to say it looks like tomorrow is shaping up to be even bigger day which is awesome.
Justin’s Transport Minute – 18/11/2022
This week NRC have been preparing our response to Waka Kotahi’s Interim State Highway Speed Management Plan consultation. We’re working closely with the NZTA managers and are highlighting that one of the biggest underlying contributors to road safety is well-maintained roads. Every day we see evidence that road maintenance has been underinvested in, and bad weather is accelerating damage while maintenance is already well behind. Diverting of roading funding away from roads to support climate change initiatives is just adding to the problem.
Justin’s Transport Minute – 11/11/2022
With COP27 filling the headlines this week, my thoughts naturally turn to what this means for New Zealand’s road transport sector.
Justin’s Transport Minute – 04/11/2022
This week’s member road trip saw me head to the sunny North! I started my trip by continuing my tour of our ports, followed by member briefings and one-to-ones with operators.
Justin’s Transport Minute – 28/10/2022
Over the last week I’ve managed to visit both the Ports of Tauranga and Auckland. In Tauranga I spent time with Manager Terminal Operations, Grant Wilson and the team, who gave me insight into how critical expansion of the wharves will be to allowing the Port of Tauranga to grow and meet the future needs of the community over the next 30 years. It was impressive to see up close the efficiency of the trucking operation at the container terminal, and how well transport operators and the Port work together.
Justin’s Transport Minute – 21/10/2022
This week we launched our new partnership initiative ‘Snap Send Solve’. Speaking to members over the last couple of months the number one concern I’ve heard is the state of our roads, and that the number of potholes and other serious hazards have sharply increased, putting road users at risk.
We felt it was important to act urgently on this issue as road safety is critical. NRC met with the team at Snap Send Solve who have a really easy to use mobile phone app where you can post problems on the roads direct to your local council. Snap Send Solve provides one central location for issues to be recorded and councils to be alerted so they can take immediate action. They can send reports to every single council and roading authority in New Zealand.
Justin’s Transport Minute – 14/10/2022
This week, New Zealand almost unanimously voted for change in the country’s local body elections with new mayors elected in many of our major cities and a sharp tilt to the political right being felt across the board. With many councils welcoming a number of new councillors, many who may be unfamiliar with the transport industry, our priority now is to make sure we are connecting with the relevant transport infrastructure sub-committee’s or transport leads in each council. While they work through this period of change, our focus is on offering assistance on the key transport issues and ensuring they know who to reach out to at NRC.
Justin’s Transport Minute – 07/10/2022
Another week of some extreme weather across the country, which means more high-profile road damage and potholes to be fixed. NRC members in Northland are all too familiar with this. State Highway 1 has nearly 40km closed in the Mangamukas, and there are serious questions whether some parts will ever be rebuilt. Down the road the Brynderwyns are down to one lane, causing over one hour waits.
Justin’s Transport Minute – 30/09/2022
This week, appropriately enough given its Mental Health Awareness Week, I’ve had my first taste of the realities truck drivers face on the road all too often. One of our members called me for a chat, and dropped into the conversation that they’d recently been first to arrive on the scene at a major road accident, sadly with fatalities. Confronting doesn’t begin to describe what he saw. When I asked if he was alright, there was a pause, and then a simple “no, I’m not”. This honest and completely human response impressed me, and made room for a chat to make sure he was taking steps to get looked after. Thankfully he’d already reached out for support.