Between running two large fleets, having membership of multiple industry and community groups across New Zealand and being the executive member and president of two branches of Transporting NZ, Campbell ‘Bill’ Gilmour of Pacific Haulage/Gilmour Transport fame seems to do nothing by half. But he’s also a humble guy that appreciates all the people that have helped him along the way – and for that, he’s a Southpac legend.

Campbell Gilmour was born in the deep south of Invercargill, however, grew up and did most of his formative schooling years in Alexandra. Even from an early age he says that he was obsessed with trucks.

“As long as I remember I was always mad on trucks,” says Campbell. “My father was a funeral director and mother was a homemaker and they both weren’t that keen on me being around trucks, they wanted me to do something else. But eventually they knew that’s what I wanted to do.”

He says that whenever he could he used to travel with a couple of local truckers, John Stewart, and Stan Barker [Alexandra Transport], recalling that they were always good to him.

“They used to take me every school holiday and I’m still in contact with them to this day,” says Campbell.

Inevitably, as soon as Campbell got to the age of 15, he wanted to leave school and work in transport, but Lex Thompson (manager of Alexandra Transport in those days) advised him against it.

“Lex Thompson was very good to me as well. He said `no, I want you to stay in school because you may want to move up the ladder at some point in your life’. And believe me, that was the last thing that both me and the teachers wanted to hear, that I was staying in school,” jokes Campbell.

He reluctantly stayed in school until he was 17 and upon leaving, went straight to work for Lex.

“I worked in the yard moving trucks around and driving around hay paddocks, and then got my licence the day I turned 18. I got my licence in the morning and was in a truck in the afternoon,” says Campbell.

Campbell recalls that his first truck was a 1418 Mercedes and then he worked his way up to Macks. It was then that he got his ‘Bill’ nickname too.

“I was a young fella working in central Otago, they started calling me ‘Bill’ Gilmour because they thought Campbell was too long. And some people still call me that now.”

Having remained local for most of his life thus far, Campbell became a little fidgety and decided to leave the area.

“I was brought up in Alexandra and wanted to see something else, so [at 22] I moved to Christchurch, to work for Opzeeland Transport. I did about six years there travelling inter-island, from Christchurch all over New Zealand, carting general freight and driving Scanias.”

From there Campbell started working for McCarthy and Wilshier Transport (MWT) in Rangiora on logging trucks, but the work didn’t seem to suit him initially.

“I wanted to give logs a go, but I didn’t really enjoy it at the start, I only did about 18 months and I left, went back to Alexandra Transport driving freight trucks,” he says.

Following a year stint driving three-trailer road trains from Perth to Broome and the diamond mines up towards Darwin, Campbell moved back to NZ, and worked for Normans transport in Morrinsville.

“In those days I was floating around, chopping and changing a wee bit,” he says.

After Normans, Campbell moved back to Christchurch, back at MWT in Rangiora in fact, and it was then that he got approached by Peter Dynes to buy a shareholding in the Dunedin Carrying Company.

“Dynes approached me with this opportunity, and I thought, something like this won’t come around again and I need to grab it with both hands. I didn’t want to be left wondering. I had to move to Dunedin, so it was a big jump, but turned out to be a very good career path too.”

Campbell continues; “So that’s when I came off the trucks and went into management. That was 2004. I would have been 33-years old,” he says. “I was at a point where I wanted a change, something I never thought would happen to be honest. I thought I’d be content driving all my life. I still do enjoy driving, but at that stage I wanted to move up the ladder.”

Campbell says that despite his lack of experience, he was pretty keen to make his mark with the move to management, and credits Anita, Peter and Jim Dynes for their help and assistance.

“It was good having their support, I wasn’t on my own and they taught me a lot. Peter always said to me ‘always have your facts. Learn about what makes the business tick’. In those days, there were only two of us in Dunedin, Peter and I. It was so small that Peter used to rent an office in the centre of Dunedin, and I looked after the yard. But that business has grown immensely.”

It was there Campbell got his first big exposure to Southpac too. He says that Dynes are strong Southpac people.

“I had a little bit to do with Kenworths over the years, drove a W for Warwick, and a few cabovers, but that was my real introduction, when I went into ownership. And have been involved with Southpac ever since.”

Campbell was a shareholder in Dunedin Carrying with Dynes for 10-years before he sold his shares back to them and became an employee. Then he moved back to Christchurch and set up their Canterbury division.

“I did that for five years and then in 2019 I moved to Gisborne to run Pacific Haulage for Warwick.”

In June 2021, Warwick and Campbell purchased log transporter Alan Forbes Transport in Tokoroa which was then rebranded Gilmour Transport, with Warwick and Campbell being 50/50 shareholders.

“I still run Pacific Haulage, but juggle both businesses,” Campbell says. “It’s pretty full on but I’m lucky because I’ve got very good people in both businesses.” 

He adds that he has learnt a lot from Warwick and Mark McCarthy.” They’ve both been very good to me, and I’m very appreciative of Warwick and what he has done for me.”

“Both companies run sizable fleets according to Campbell. At Gilmour Transport it’s a full Kenworth fleet of 25 trucks and at Pacific their near 83 trucks are mainly Kenworths with a few “specialised Scanias.”

While it could be said that running two large fleets is a feat unto itself, Campbell also gives back to the industry in terms of his associations involvement.

“I have been on the Log Truck Safety Council (LTSC) since 2005 and a member of the Executive since 2016. The LTSC has done a fantastic job of lifting the standard and maintaining the professionalism of the industry. Also, I am an executive member and president of two branches of Transporting NZ, I sit on the Executive of Region 2 and am also the president of the Eastland Road Transport Association.”

In addition to this, Campbell also sits on various Industry and Community groups between Gisborne and Rotorua.

Campbell says that what he likes about the industry is the people, he says this extends really across the board but particularly in the Log Safety Council.

“Everyone gets on well, we share the same problems and work together. I’ve got a lot of good friends in the industry. There’s great support, anyone’s got an issue we all go and help out.”

But he also adds that it hasn’t all been plain sailing. “The awful times are if something goes wrong and there’s an accident, they certainly test you. When I was in Dunedin, there was a big forestry contract we depended on that was potentially going to shift to rail. For almost two years Pete and I were on tenterhooks. That was a challenging time, we wouldn’t go more than a couple of days talking about the ‘what ifs. Luckily it stayed with us.”

Campbell believes that the industry has improved a lot over the past few decades.

“When I started driving it was open, with [the likes of] truck speeds and what you could do, but the industry has really shined and self-regulated. The standards are a lot higher and discipline too. Log carrying is very disciplined. Technology has vastly improved, telematics and GPS lets us know where everyone is.”

Aside from offering good advice, Campbell is also quick to praise those that have done well.

“The best part of my role is when you reward someone and they really appreciate it, there’s nothing better than that. There is a lot of loyalty in the industry and it’s good to pay it back.”

Outside of work Campbell just enjoys catching up with friends and does a bit of exercise. He’s also part of the ‘Tour of Learning’ guys, where they catch up and do local and international trips and truck shows together.

Campbell ends by saying, “I like working and like being busy. I still drive at the weekend or cover the holidays when no-one else wants to. I quite enjoy it, but I drive for fun now.”