Double Coin Imaging Awards

There is a wave of black, blue and silver on the move around New Zealand, becoming one of the most recognisable colour schemes on our country’s highways. And among the fleet of modern Booth’s Transport trucks, the S730 Scania Highline of owner driver Blair Boyd’s rates as one of the standouts.

The Booth’s Transport we see today with a fleet of over 300 trucks was started by Graham Booth in the small rural settlement of Opiki in the Horowhenua district. Graham’s first truck was a humble potato farm support truck with yellow and red livery but by the early 1990’s, due to service and reliability issues with outside transport operators, a single truck was deployed to cart produce to the markets in Auckland. 

In a short time other farmers in the area decided to start using the service and the business started to grow. The growth led to a greater presence on the highways of the North Island which gave the company more exposure and therefore attracted customers wanting a wider array of freight transported. As the business evolved into linehaul, the farm operation split away and the blue and black livery was the result of the family’s children, including current directors, drawing designs at the kitchen table. This has evolved to what it is today, but it has always kept true to its origins.

Some of the large customers who came on board remain customers to this day and have helped springboard the growth of Booth’s, which is now operated by Graham’s sons Craig and Trevor. The 19-branch operation enables the company to transport goods the length of New Zealand.

Flat deck work was one area Booth’s Transport hadn’t really touched in the past, but with high demand for that configuration Blair Boyd was seen as an ideal fit for the company with his existing 2020 S730 Highline Scania flat deck truck and trailer unit. 

Blair learnt about the industry from Spencer Golden, Johnny Fraser and his father (who has a tow truck and panel beating business) and this has held him in good stead travelling the country’s roads.

An offer was made to Blair to join the Booth’s Transport team which meant the 2020 S730 Highline Scania had to be repainted by Quintin Butcher and his team at Henderson Road Panel & Paint. The next step involved Cliff Mannington and his team at Truck Signs working their magic with the signwriting. “They both did an outstanding job” says Blair.

Blair’s S730 Highline Scania runs a Scania DC16 Euro 6 730 horsepower engine which produces 3500Nm of torque and works with a Scania Opticruise gearbox. The truck runs 385/55 22.5 sized tyres on the front steerers, 275/70R 22.5 on the drives and 265/70R 19.5 tyres on the trailer. Built by Fruehauf, the truck deck is 7.250 metres in length while the trailer is 12.200 metres and is fitted with SAF Intradisc axles with Wabco ABS/EBS. 

Travelling the length of the country at times means Blair is often away from home, so the Scania has all the bells and whistles. The interior features the Scania leather package, twin fridge/freezers, a coffee machine, microwave, night heater/cooler system, Scania premium stereo system, TV/DVD player, swivelling passenger seat and an extendable bed and extra red interior lighting.

The truck is fitted with accessory amber Hella marker lights and side lights along with blue background glow lights. The stainless work was done by 2J Engineering in Palmerston North and Road Runner in Bulls did the toolboxes.

The Scania has currently clocked up 285,000 kilometres on the country’s roads with fuel usage (depending on load weights) generally sitting around the 2 kilometres per litre.

Booth’s Transport have since purchased a fleet of Scania G540 8x4 tractor units which will tow a mixture of trailers offering nationwide coverage for customers requiring flexible transport solutions.

Earlier this year Blair’s Scania made an appearance at the Alexandra Truck Show in Central Otago loaded with a couple of smaller Booth’s Transport curtainsider trucks. The image used for the poster of Blair Boyd driving his Scania was taken in the Cromwell Gorge after the show. It’s moments like this that make me realise why I have a passion for truck photography.