Teletrac Navman Fleet Focus

Veteran Auckland transport operator Mark Grey reckons he’s one of the last of a dying breed….

That is, he’s a survivor of the days when Auckland’s metro freight scene was dominated by owner-drivers.

He started Mark Grey Carriers in 1983, buying a four-year-old TK Bedford from an OD working for bedmaker Sleepyhead – and taking over the work and the goods service licence that went with it.

He thus became one of “a whole bunch” of owner-drivers working fulltime for Sleepyhead.

Those were the days, says the 60-year-old, “when Auckland was covered with owner-drivers, you know. There were bloody hundreds of us….I don’t think there’s many left now.”... ... 

An old Isuzu Elf and some after school and weekend jobs around the rural Hauraki Plains were the humble beginnings for KT Cartage nearly 15 years ago.

Kelvin and Emily Fitzpatrick have been together through the growing pains and hard knocks of gaining a foothold in the transport industry. And they provide a hard-working inspiration for other young people to follow their business dreams.

The couple went to high school together at Hauraki Plains College. Both now 30, their Kerepehi-based KT Cartage operation has grown to comprise six trucks and specialises in Hiab/crane work – the more unusual and challenging the better.

 Kelvin spent his childhood a... ... 

Some fleets are born out of business ambition. More often, a sheer love of trucks is the primary impetus, but in the case of Timaru-headquartered Coolpak Coolstores it was frustration at not being able to offer customers the level of service he thought they needed that prompted owner Sid McAuley to invest in in-house transport.

And though the company’s now 18-strong fleet is small by most fleet standards and represents a minor part of overall investment, it plays a crucial part in offering customers an extra layer of flexibility.

Adding a transport component to the coolstore business wasn’t too much of a challenge to Sid, because he had previously owned Hilto... ...