TRUCKING

NZ

EDITORS LETTER
Too many ports?
In mid-February I spent a couple of days at the New Zealand Transport Summit. It was a high level summit mostly discussing the roles of aviation, shipping and rail in transport; a significant factor was the almost complete omission of road freight. There was no obvious reason why road transport was not represented at the summit, but there were some good insights that we can learn from when planning for the future. International Transport Forum Secretary-General, Jos Viegas gave a standout address explaining many of the issues that European ports had faced over the last decade or so. As ships have got bigger the number of ports has reduced and individual ports have specialised in a narrow band of freight. Many of the European ports have massive cities around them, and in some cases the cities have rejected the ports, perhaps this is what Auckland is doing now. Growing ports typically could not increase their land area and had to handle the increased freight volumes more effectively. Improvement in the transport of freight to and from the port has been a key part of the answer. In some instances dedicated underground roads or rail tracks have been installed to get the freight moved without the added problem of inner city traffic congestion. It was made clear that we have too many competing ports in New Zealand. The Managing Director of Maersk New Zealand, Julian Bevis spoke of the consequences of upsizing ships and ranked the Port of Tauranga well ahead of Auckland in effectiveness. Questioning the value of our ports drew some interesting responses. Two I recall clearly were; the number of ports is necessary because if one was inoperable, for example due to an earthquake or strike action, the others were needed to take up the slack. The second response was that the road and rail infrastructure was inadequate for transporting freight to ports if they were fewer and further apart. Both naive arguments for such a high level group of delegates. Coastal shipping is obviously suffering significantly. There were a number of reasons mooted for their problems the government is not supporting them (they wanted an exemption from ETS charges and didnt get it), road and rail are getting government supplied tracks and roads to move freight, and international vessels (that do not pay ETS levies) are free to take freight between New Zealand ports. Its unlikely that any government would take a retrospect step and intervene to make this commercial sector more profitable. International shipping isnt profitable either, returning a mere one percent profit per annum on average over the past decade. Excess capacity and high fuel prices, combined with low freight volumes have forced ships to call at fewer ports where possible and steam at slower speeds to reduce fuel costs. This means long freight delays and disgruntled customers, especially in New Zealand where we are so far from the markets. Interestingly there appeared to be a reluctance to form alliances, both within a mode and at an inter-modal level. The road transport industry has already gone through some significant changes and is probably ahead of other transport sectors when it comes to improved service. We are comfortable using rail, air and coastal shipping when they are practical options. There are obviously synergies available and these need to be explored. All that aside, the general outlook of the conference was one of optimism for New Zealand, our position and products combined with our relationship with Australia and our ever increasing trade in Asia are signs that we will do well in the future.

Macksimum loyalty
When Macks current line of trucks first poked their snouts out the kennel, those that had a soft spot for the brand gave a sigh of relief. Mack was back. The French influence had been culled out of the breed, and now Macks Trident looks as staunch as. However, an automated transmission, AdBlue tank and other features show that Macks pooches havent been killing time by sleeping on the porch.
BY BRYCE BAIRD

Macksimum loyalty
When Macks current line of trucks first poked their snouts out the kennel, those that had a soft spot for the brand gave a sigh of relief. Mack was back. The French influence had been culled out of the breed, and now Macks Trident looks as staunch as. However, an automated transmission, AdBlue tank and other features show that Macks pooches havent been killing time by sleeping on the porch. BY BRYCE BAIRD

The word loyal has never been quite the same since the ocean yacht racing crowd hogtied it to their advertising campaign during the glory days of the Americas Cup. However, down in the lower half of the South Island it still means something other than the contrived manipulation the word has been degraded to. Down south loyalty is earned, not created during a brain-storming session in an ad agency. In the lower half of the South Island there are plenty of companies that are either brand heavy or brand absolute, thanks to loyalty. Those salesmen that had the energy to throw on a thick coat, chuck the snow-chains in the boot of the HQ Holden and head south to cold-call and hard-sell products that were at the time unknown, found fertile ground in the south, where once a product proved itself, and they got to trust the salesman, loyalty was an unspoken part of the deal. Mack was one of those unknown brands once upon a time believe it or not. Apart from the recollections of war veterans whod seen the Yanks use them in military applications around the globe during both World Wars, they were once as rare as a Ferrari seven-tonne side-tipper on our shores. The small number of Macks that ended up here after the war were used mainly in heavy haul or house-shifting, but apart from those old war horses, the brand was just a big question mark for those first few intrepid buyers. However, there were plenty of operators in the South Island that could see the potential in the brand, and the lower half of the island became a bit of a Mack Mecca by the time legendary truck salesman Ron Carpenter had finished with it. Stan Francis of North Otago Road Metals could see that these big burly Yank rigs were just the ticket for the work his companies were engaged in, and that they were a huge improvement over the British gear hed started with back in 1955. The N.O.R.M. R-series Macks eventually became legendary down south, and together with the other brand they took a shine to, Volvo, the die was set. The company has since changed its name to Road Metals, however their loyalty to the brand has never wavered. In a great example of synchronicity, their two brands of choice eventually became entwined, as Volvo now owns Mack, which is reaping the benefits by having an increased amount of Volvo technology built into its trucks. Current Road Metals managing director, Murray Francis, (Stans son) knows the strengths of both brands and their place in his fleet, but you dont have to scratch him very hard to find that his favourite brand has a pup bolted to the bonnet. Having said that, he still gets misty-eyed when talking about the Leyland Octopus he spent three and a half years driving

for his dad, when he was barely out of his teens and working on some of the think-big projects of the day at Twizel and Manapouri in the seventies and eighties. The Road Metal boys take great pride in that pup on the bonnet so it was almost inevitable that a Trident was going to appear in the colours after a long run of R-series, CHs, Visions and then a Granite. Road Metals went all out with this Trident, blitzing it with chrome and accessories and making the Christchurch based truck a standout rig in a city that probably has one of the highest densities of bulk truck and trailer rigs working in the world at present. Road Metals runs 23 mainly truck and trailer Mack combinations in the operation that includes four Volvo FM series and a couple of Mack eight-wheeler MC models converted to water trucks, and a crane truck. They have 68 employees spread between their Christchurch and Oamaru bases, and have three quarries in Christchurch, one a joint venture with Isaac Construction, and another 214 hectare (500 acre) quarry about to open at Rolleston, making four in the area that should provide 100 years of resource Murray says. Its been an expensive process that has taken three and a half years in the environment court and $1.5 million in costs that Murray says, aged me ten years I reckon! I wont see much benefit from this, but the next generation and the one after that will thank me for it! he predicts. Murray has a great sense of history and brand loyalty, and Road Metals long term plans for the future will probably mean good things for Motor Truck Distributors. The company have had most of the range of Mack conventionals over the years as well as COE Qantum and MC versions under their colours. Murray admits that hes been very happy with the Granite, but he thinks the Trident has more to offer his operation. Weve got three now, and we like the better cooling and think they are a stronger truck for the job and we probably now prefer the Trident over the Granite to be honest. Compared to the Granite, you get a bigger, harder, more capable tool for the job with the Trident, it can be specd with a GCM of 131 tonne whereas the Granite only gets 106 tonne. The Trident gets a power boost and a stronger spec if you need it too. That suits Road Metals as they are air-horn deep in the Christchurch deconstruction and rebuild work and know there is plenty of work for the rig over the next few decades.

Mack have increased the rating of their MP8 powerplant to 535hp and have gone to SCR to meet Euro 5. The cockpit is classic Americana with lots of woodgrain, buttoned lining and silver bezels giving the cab a plush feel. The lack of a gearstick on the floor opens up the cab as well giving more room for the operator.

Murrays son Dan Francis, the third generation in the company, was happy to throw a bit of bling at the truck when he specified what they wanted, as its going to be around for a long time and much is going to be asked of it over the next few decades. The attention to detail on this rig is impressive, such as the Ali Arc bumper, stainless air-intake caps, and even white aerials to better match the company colours! Quenton Cattle, who at 39 has ticked off a lot of boxes on his driving wish list, is plenty thrilled to be entrusted with Road Metals new flagship. We caught up with Quenton at dawn on a typical day at the coal face that would see him scooting around the city carting aggregate from quarry to wherever it was needed, but the main focus at the moment for the Mack is a massive new subdivision on Prestons Road north of Christchurch, that is being readied for a couple of thousand new houses. It has to be said that Quenton didnt want to be put on the truck in all honesty, Murray claims, he liked the CH he was on and it was hard to get him out of it. Quenton had a couple of reservations, the prime one being that he didnt really want to be put into a truck with an automated transmission, but he had grown fond of the old Mack. He says that when he drives manual transmissions, I dont use a clutch, and Murray said, well you wont mind the auto then! Damn hes got me I thought! His dedication to the job and his attention to detail and how thoroughly he prepares for and carries out his tasks is quite something to behold and it didnt take us long to see why Murray wanted Quenton on the Trident, as he treats this rig like it was his first born. Quenton considers that hes found a good workplace, he says, thats what I love about this company, they have a real passion for trucking. Road Metals drivers have long been regarded as amongst the best on the road down south and their level of professionalism and how well they present their gear is bordering on legendary. Its probably unfair to single anyone out from the old brigade, Road Metals still have five of the original dozen drivers they had

in the Twizel days on the payroll, but Billy Sergeant is probably the best known of that team down south and itd be fair to say that Quenton is carrying the torch that Billy lit when he jumped into his R-series Mack back in the seventies. In fact, Quenton said that the only drivers hed like to see in this truck if he took a break would be either Billy or Murray. And we suspect Murray would only be allowed a drive because he owns it! Quentons passion for trucking was ignited when he worked at a local garage at Washdyke, where some of the customers were truckies. His first experience behind the wheel was in a TK Bedford artic which he used to cart urea between Ravensdown and Timaru Port when he was working for Bob Merhtens. He progressed to driving Hino FS and Nissan CW330s for City Care on landfill cartage in Christchurch, shuttling between the refuse facilities at Bromley, Styx and Parkhouse and the Burwood landfill carting rubbish and green-waste. But he had ambitions to drive bigger gear and hopped over the ditch to Perth where he attended a driving school attaining the credentials to drive road trains. He achieved a 99 percent pass rate which gave him his MC (multi-combination) rating, and then started working for West Australia Freightliners in a K104 Aerodyne B-double doing a Perth-Brisbane-Sydney run twoup. Eventually the work overwhelmed him, with the distances and time on the road burning him out and he returned to New Zealand and started driving for Neta New Zealand on a 450hp Nissan Diesel which he specd with extra lights, air-horn and other items. He was hunted down by Steve Laing in Oz who convinced him to come back and drive again and he stepped into pocket-sized road trains of 90-tonne all up carting from Iron Knob for BHP Steelworks. After a spell in a C-15 powered Sterling B-double in Wollongong, he eventually found himself running a crushing plant in Queensland. Hed rented a place for two and a half years that came with a German Shepherd dog, Heidi, as part of the deal. He moved on and to cut a long story short, he found out a few

Classic trucking .
From the Mercedes-Benz LK to the new Arocs More than 110 years of construction sector experience.

Classic

TRUCKING
From the Mercedes-Benz LK to the new Arocs More than 110 years of construction sector experience.

Virtually every second construction vehicle in Germany boasts the three-pointed star on its radiator grille. The sectors traditional links with the three-pointed star date back many years: Mercedes-Benz these days has 110 years experience in the construction field behind it. In the early days of the truck it was the brickworks and breweries that recognised its advantages in defiance of the general air of scepticism that surrounded this technical upstart. As early as 1897, just one year after the invention of the truck by Gottlieb Daimler, the Daimler Motor Company launched a vehicle that would carry a payload of five tonnes. The arrival of what became known as winched tippers in 1904 subsequently paved the way for the transport of heavy bulk goods. With the help of a crank and a toothed rack, it was now possible to tilt one side of the load platform upwards. With the correct crank ratio, two people could easily deal with a five tonne load with just two winches per truck. Things were still being done this way well into the 1920s, when the hydraulic lift ram began to take over from manual labour as a means of tilting the platform. At this point the three-way tipper was born. With the hydraulic ram as the driving force, bulk goods could now be tipped off in three directions instead of just two, as had been the case until then. The dedicated tipper however, as seen working on construction sites to this day, did still not exist. The structure used back then as a chassis by both the building industry and disposal companies was technically pretty much the same as that used for road vehicles with a shorter rear overhang or certain modifications to the suspension and frame to differentiate it. Nevertheless, even that very first Daimler truck anticipated the planetary axles that are still used on construction vehicles today. The belt transmission transferred the engine power to a shaft mounted at right-angles to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. At each end of this shaft was a pinion that gripped the sprockets on the inside of a gearwheel, which in its turn was securely connected to the wheel being driven. In the years running up to the war, tipper payload was

gradually increased by Mercedes-Benz to ten tonnes, as carried by the three-axle LK10000 of 1937. Also known as the Reichsautobahn-Strassendienstwagen (or state highway services vehicle) it featured a double-drive rear axle (6x4 configuration). From 1949 onwards medium-sized conventional bonneted trucks such as the LK3250 and LK3500 came into their own as tippers working on post-war reconstruction. Heavy duty two-axle tippers then rejoined the range in the mid-1950s, but it was not until the 1960s that Daimler-Benz once again built a three-axle model for the construction sector. By the time those first heavy duty three-axle models, with their 6x4 axle configuration, came onto the market in 1964, they found themselves up against established competition from a variety of sources. Such vehicles bore the name Bssing, Henschel, Krupp, Magirus or MAN; all brands already offering a 6x4 or 6x6 by the time the short-nosed Mercedes known as the LK or LAK2220 appeared on the scene. That these vehicles would ultimately become such firm favourites with drivers, above all in the Middle East and Africa, that they would go on to be used for a good 30 years, was something that very few people back then would venture to have predicted. Robust concept: quality wins through The LK2220 of 1963 was designed from the outset to deal with the extraordinary challenges that it would go on to face all over the world. Not only did it feature a 154kW (210hp) engine that, in its day, was the most powerful ever fitted in a three-axle construction vehicle, but also a generously proportioned six-speed constant mesh transmission and an exceptionally robust frame. The drive axles were configured to carry an axle load of 13tonnes each, even though the legal maximum in Germany was eight tonnes per axle on road and no more than ten tonnes in off road use. Trucks you can trust was a motto that was lived up to even then. A whole range of further refinements ensured that this new three-axle model was ideally suited for work in extreme terrain. The backbone of the vehicle was pro

Classic
TRUCKING
From the Mercedes-Benz LK to the new Arocs More than 110 years of construction sector experience

Virtually every second construction vehicle in Germany boasts the three-pointed star on its radiator grille. The sectors traditional links with the three-pointed star date back many years: Mercedes-Benz these days has 110 years experience in the construction field behind it. In the early days of the truck it was the brickworks and breweries that recognised its advantages in defiance of the general air of scepticism that surrounded this technical upstart. As early as 1897, just one year after the invention of the truck by Gottlieb Daimler, the Daimler Motor Company launched a vehicle that would carry a payload of five tonnes. The arrival of what became known as winched tippers in 1904 subsequently paved the way for the transport of heavy bulk goods. With the help of a crank and a toothed rack, it was now possible to tilt one side of the load platform upwards. With the correct crank ratio, two people could easily deal with a five tonne load with just two winches per truck. Things were still being done this way well into the 1920s, when the hydraulic lift ram began to take over from manual labour as a means of tilting the platform. At this point the three-way tipper was born. With the hydraulic ram as the driving force, bulk goods could now be tipped off in three directions instead of just two, as had been the case until then. The dedicated tipper however, as seen working on construction sites to this day, did still not exist. The structure used back then as a chassis by both the building industry and disposal companies was technically pretty much the same as that used for road vehicles with a shorter rear overhang or certain modifications to the suspension and frame to differentiate it. Nevertheless, even that very first Daimler truck anticipated the planetary axles that are still used on construction vehicles today. The belt transmission transferred the engine power to a shaft mounted at right-angles to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. At each end of this shaft was a pinion that gripped the sprockets on the inside of a gearwheel, which in its turn was securely connected to the wheel being driven. In the years running up to the war, tipper payload was Mercedes-Benz has been building construction trucks for many years: the biggest tipper in the pre-war era was the three-axle LK 10.000.

gradually increased by Mercedes-Benz to ten tonnes, as carried by the three-axle LK10000 of 1937. Also known as the Reichsautobahn-Strassendienstwagen (or state highway services vehicle) it featured a doubledrive rear axle (6x4 configuration). From 1949 onwards medium-sized conventional bonneted trucks such as the LK3250 and LK3500 came into their own as tippers working on post-war reconstruction. Heavy duty two-axle tippers then rejoined the range in the mid-1950s, but it was not until the 1960s that Daimler-Benz once again built a three-axle model for the construction sector. By the time those first heavy duty three-axle models, with their 6x4 axle configuration, came onto the market in 1964, they found themselves up against established competition from a variety of sources. Such vehicles bore the name Bssing, Henschel, Krupp, Magirus or MAN; all brands already offering a 6x4 or 6x6 by the time the short-nosed Mercedes known as the LK or LAK2220 appeared on the scene. That these vehicles would ultimately become such firm favourites with drivers, above all in the Middle East and Africa, that they would go on to be used for a good 30 years, was something that very few people back then would venture to have predicted. Robust concept: quality wins through The LK2220 of 1963 was designed from the outset to deal with the extraordinary challenges that it would go on to face all over the world. Not only did it feature a 154kW (210hp) engine that, in its day, was the most powerful ever fitted in a three-axle construction vehicle, but also a generously proportioned six-speed constant mesh transmission and an exceptionally robust frame. The drive axles were configured to carry an axle load of 13tonnes each, even though the legal maximum in Germany was eight tonnes per axle on road and no more than ten tonnes in off road use. Trucks you can trust was a motto that was lived up to even then. A whole range of further refinements ensured that this new three-axle model was ideally suited for work in extreme terrain. The backbone of the vehicle was pro

During the 1950s, the classic post-war model L 6600 also proved its worth as a tipper vided by an exceptionally robust fish-belly frame with riveted cross members, which was somewhat wider towards the front than in the rear. Two lower and one upper control arms on each side bore the brunt of the driving and braking forces from the rear axles, which meant that the leaf springs had only to cope with the transverse and load forces. Strategic realignment in the 1960s The relatively late arrival of this short-nosed heavyduty tipper on the market was not only due to the very thorough testing to which the new construction vehicles were subjected, but this period between the late 1950s and the early 1960s saw the Mercedes-Benz brand experiencing something of a reorientation phase as far as its truck strategy was concerned. The cab-over concept was still being eyed with some scepticism and the company was making only cautious advances into the very heavy segment. The broad direction, however, was clear: the objective that Mercedes-Benz had set itself for its truck business from the mid-1960s onward was to become a high-volume generalist. And so it was that, one after another, segments that had until now been neglected were gradually appropriated for the brand. Gaggenau at that time the plant responsible for the heavy duty models was in the mid-1960s producing both cab over engine (COE) models (the LP series with cuboid cab introduced in 1963) and the short-nosed models that had first appeared on the scene in 1959. In parallel to this, the Mannheim plant was building medium duty COE and short nosed models, while the new plant at Wrth had taken up manufacturing the light duty LP608 COE model as a completely new product. Only a very short run-in period was to prove necessary before both the novices in the product range the very

The short-nosed L 2220 was the first post-war three-axle model for construction site use. light duty as well as the very heavy duty had worked their way up to become the market leaders in their respective disciplines. Broad portfolio with increasing specialisation The product portfolio of Mercedes-Benz was thus not only growing horizontally, but also vertically, as it were: that is to say in the form of increasing specialisation, as was now being seen more and more with the construction vehicles. Special tipper variants had been available for virtually all post-war truck models. But in terms of the actual construction specification, this generally quite simply included, as had been the case since the early days of the truck, a shortened rear overhang, modified frame and adaptations to the suspension. The move to the three-axle truck with a double drive axle represented a first cautious step in the direction of a purpose-built specialist tipper as we might understand it today. There was however, for example, as yet no direct output shaft between the two rear axles. Instead, on the LK2220, each of the two rear axles was connected by a separate shaft to the transfer case, which could if required also drive the front axle via a third shaft, so turning the LK2220 into the all-wheeldrive LAK2220. The drive axles of these early three-axle models did still not operate as planetary axles but instead worked according to a sort of precursor principle known as spur gear hub drive. This same engineering approach and the same direct injection engines as for the short nosed models were also used in the first COE construction vehicles, with cuboid cab and 6x4 axle configuration, which took over from the short nosed models in 1963. Debut for a new family of components Planetary axles, still widely used on construction vehicles today, arrived on the market from 1971 onwards. They made their debut not in the short nosed models, but in the COE trucks. Pre-empting the subsequent New Generation vehicles and, reflecting the requirement for eight horsepower per tonne, Mercedes-Benz introduced the new V10 engine in 1971. This truck had an output of 320hp and featured the new planetary axles as well as a tilting, cuboid cab. Synchromesh transmissions were standard with these new variants, as well as a direct output shaft for the tandem planetary axle of the LP2232 with its typical 6x4 axle configuration. There were still two things missing in the product range at this time. On the one hand a COE vehicle with all-wheel drive, and on the other a short cab for the COE units. The heavy duty LP, was only available with a medium-long or long cab. Although the LP was due to be replaced soon afterwards, an unusual interim solution was found that meant that it could be adapted for all-wheel-drive use; the COE vehicle built by HanomagHenschel, which had recently been taken over by the company, was quickly fitted with Mercedes-Benzs own V engines, transfer case and planetary axles. Axle configurations 4x4 and 6x6 were now also represented among the cab over models, until the New Generation of 1973 heralded the arrival of a completely new and logically structured range of models in the hitherto rather bewildering field of the heavy duty trucks. It was perhaps somewhat unusual that the construction trucks should be the first vehicles in a new model series to be introduced, but there was a plausible reason for this approach, the manageable numbers of construction vehicles meant that production in the Wrth plant, which had gradually been taking over building the heavy duty range since 1965, could begin in a calm and controlled way. Modular system for the New Generation

For many years the so-called spur gear hub drive was the conventional two-stage transmission system used on the rear axle of heavy-duty construction trucks.