Fleet Focus

Suddenly noticing just how many trucks on the nation’s highways now wear the distinctive black Mainstream livery has given many people the impression the firm has come from nowhere. 

However, says founder and managing director Greg Haliday, the firm is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and it has been there all along, just ‘in hiding’. 

It has been steadily expanding its network by acquiring other trucking firms, bringing them into the fold to extend its reach and to provide the service standards Mainstream demands for its customers.

“We just didn’t bother to rebrand everything that was there because the cost would be millions — I thi... ... 

The decarbonisation of freight movements will be a major contributor to global sustainability and climate change targets.

One of the world’s biggest logistics players has a clear timeline for achieving carbon neutrality across its broad range of activities and is spreading the net wide to gather early experience with alternative energy sources and technologies.

DB Schenker is a 100% subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn and since 2002 has been the logistics arm of the state-owned German rail operator. The company’s history goes back much further however and in 2022, DB Schenker has been celebrating its 150th anniversary.

To reach its ambitious declared goal of cl... ... 

While family ownership is pretty much the norm for rural transport companies, mid-Canterbury’s Ellesmere Transport breaks the mould somewhat. Murray Righton, who along with sons Mark and Paul is one of the company’s three director/shareholders, began there 60 years ago simply as an employee, before progressing to management positions, then minority shareholder and ultimately to outright ownership.

Ellesmere has a strongly rural profile, with just over half of its around 40 trucks dedicated to livestock work. They’re backed up by a dozen spreaders, half a dozen bulk units and four flat decks. Truck brands are primarily European, split between Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Scania.