Teletrac Navman Fleet Focus

In 2005 New Zealand Truck & Driver profiled a fleet that had the distinction of having been incorporated as a charitable trust.

Tinwald-based Wilson Bulk Transport had been set up in the 1960s by local farmer Trevor Wilson and his brother, primarily to handle bulk grain harvested by their agricultural contracting business from farms in the mid-Canterbury area.

After the partnership was dissolved in the late 1960s, Trevor carried on as sole owner, adding fertiliser spreading and stock cartage to the services he offered his rural clients. He was also deeply involved in community activities, and after being diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1990, he made the ... ... 

Nelson is New Zealand’s only major centre that has never had a rail connection to the rest of the country. So, the region’s road transport industry developed in its own unique way during the years when road freight was heavily regulated for the benefit of rail.

Motueka’s Barry Westrupp has seen a lot of the region’s trucking evolution during his 60-years in the industry.

Barry recently celebrated his 80th birthday and although he jokes about first thinking about retirement back when he was 55, he has finally stepped back from an active daily role in the Westhaul Motueka operation he founded.

Since July his youngest son Karl owns and runs the busines... ... 

The fabrication of a modern vehicle tyre is an insanely complex process.

Basically, it involves melding a range of largely incompatible materials into a hard-wearing and stable whole. A typical tyre can have up to 12 different compounds of rubber, both natural and synthetic, plus around 24 other components – reinforcement in the form of high tensile steel (both as woven belts and wires) or textiles (rayon, nylon, polyester and aramid fibres), plus fillers including carbon black, silica and chalk.

In addition, there’s a Mad Scientist’s lineup of chemicals to help keep mixtures plastic, or aid vulcanisation, or delay ageing.

Given that the bulk of a tyre’... ...