For North Islanders it’s been the big wet. 

Summer events have been cancelled, highways blocked and even washed away. City streets and buildings flooded.

The rain in the north pre-dates the soggy summertime headlines. Many parts of the country also had an unusually wet winter and forestry operations in some remote regions experienced significant difficulties in access and operation.

The new XT model Scania G 500 8x6s being introduced by Pacific Haulage Ltd in the Gisborne region are an effort to keep the wheels turning when the forest conditions become marginal.

In a joint venture between Pacific Haulage and three of the Eastland forest owners it works alongside, five of the new Scania’s began working in the PHL fleet last year with five more due in the second quarter of this year.

It’s well known that if you really want to test a truck in the toughest conditions Gisborne is one of the best places in the country to go.

So, when we heard that Pacific Haulage Ltd had added Scania XT 8x6’s to its fleet our interest peaked. After a discussion with Campbell Gilmour from Pacific Haulage about the Scania’s new role in the fleet we could not wait to test these trucks.

Campbell explained that these trucks (10 in total with five at work so far) have been brought in to take on some of the most challenging forestry roads in the area and also help the forest owners with their roading programmes.

We catch up with the Pacific team at their impressive yard for our day out with the Scania where we meet regular driver Paul Rice. It’s been raining overnight and we are told the skid site we are going to is not the easiest and that some trucks have not been able to get out on their own.