When there are really big jobs to do it’s not a bad idea to call in a big dog to get them done. Or in this case 1BGDOG.

The Mack Titan with the 685hp variant of the 16.1-litre MP10 six-cylinder ranks as the most powerful conventional (bonneted) truck available in the New Zealand market. The Queensland-built Titan is just as well suited to Kiwi heavy haul and over-dimension tasks as it is to a prime mover role across the Tasman.

Palmerston North-based PTS Logistics have become one of the major operators in the heavy haul sector and in late-2023 it added this new Titan to its fleet.

Driven by Mike `Big Boy’ Haycock, the 685hp Titan named and registered as 1BGDOG went to work in late-November. It’s an addition to the PTS line-up with its predecessor moving to take on expanding work for the company around the South Island.

There’s no better test for a brand than when you take its top-of-the-line model, put the biggest engine on offer under the bonnet and put it to work in heavy haulage. That’s exactly what we are doing this month with the Mack Titan.

Kitted out with its 16.1L MP10 engine pushing out 685hp, this is the highest horsepower bonneted truck that you can get out of factory in the Kiwi market.

We catch up with the PTS Logistics heavy haul crew at the fuel stop in Waiouru where they have brought a Sumitomo SH450 digger up from Whanganui. The rest of the run will take us to the top of the Kaimais as the digger is off to the Port of Tauranga and then onto Fiji.

All up the new Titan, the `two rows of eight’ dolly, the `three rows of eight’ low loader and the digger on the back we are just under 80 tonnes.