With major HEB Construction projects rampingup across the country, the company’s Heavy Haulage division has recently acquired some new muscle so it can deliver big machinery to the right place at the right time.
One of the newcomers is Nightcrawler, a Volvo FH16 700 6x4 tractor unit which is purpose-built to 180t heavy haul specification.
The Volvo works throughout New Zealand driven by Whakatane’s Rex Stephens, who has already clocked up 24,000km while shifting cranes, dump trucks, and bridge beams using a variety of trailer combinations.
Nightcrawler is the sole Volvo in the HEB fleet which also includes six Macks (one Titan, one Superliner and four Granites), a Western Star, and an International ProStar among its bonneted ranks while the Volvo and a new Scania duo complete the recently added cab-over Euro choices.
It earned the X-Men inspired name because it does most of its work at night, but for this occasion, the team arranged a daylight run from the fleet’s base in Mount Maunganui up to Auckland.
This is the third European cab-over to join the fleet. The Volvo FH16 700 purpose-built heavy haul unit follows two Scania models in the predominantly bonneted HEB fleet. I must say I like the subtle changes the HEB team has made to the colours and graphics of the European trucks to suit the cab-over models.
Today’s job is to transport a 58-tonne Liebherr crane up to just south of Auckland. The team plans to start early the next morning to complete the run into the Auckland waterfront, as it would be almost – if not – impossible to get up through the heavy haul route into Auckland city on a Friday afternoon.
