Fleet Focus

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’... ... 

Forty, fifty years back, Cates Brothers was this little trucking business in Titoki – out northwest of Whangarei, on the road to Kaikohe.

Local farmers Colin and Bill Cates had three or four trucks – carting metal from the quarry they operated on a nearby farm.

Fast-forward to 2023….and Cates Bros is now a 21-truck business – running all tippers, except for one transporter unit (to shift a couple of diggers they also run). 

Where Colin and brother Bill used to be the owners, now it’s two of Colin’s four sons – Snow and Scally.

So it’s not too difficult to imagine that this is one of those family transport businesses that have simply, seamless... ...