Southpac Legends

Based in the ‘Naki, Sandfords Rural Carriers has been in business for nigh-on a century.

This is obviously something of a monumental feat all by itself, however, what’s more impressive is the family run business has also remained under the control of the founder’s direct descendants throughout. It’s for this reason, plus the loyalty they have amassed in the Auroa area and wider South Taranaki, that Phil Sandford is this month’s Southpac Legend.

Sandfords as a transport company started with a single truck in 1923, when Phil’s grandfather, Mr E.F. ‘Ebby’ Sandford began carrying general goods upon returning from the Western Front in World War I.

“Ebby’s fi... ... 

It’s been said that ‘dreams are for those that sleep’. Martinborough Transport’s founder Trevor Hawkins would beg to differ. Not only did Trevor set his sights on owning a transport company but his hard work and diligence is proof that dreams can in fact become a reality. It’s for that reason (plus a few others), that Trevor is this month’s Southpac Legend.

“It was always my dream as a young kid to get into trucking,” says Trevor and this goal grew to owning one of the region’s biggest transport companies at that time, Martinborough Freighters. Ultimately Trevor managed to achieve both objectives, but his success certainly didn’t happen overnight.

“I left sch... ... 

Ken Holmes is a familiar name to many in the forestry industry for his work as a harvesting contractor. However, in the past decade he’s also gained a well-respected reputation for the trucking business he’s created.

Ken’s trucking endeavours started with one logging truck and grew to 120 trucks at one stage, servicing forestry customers in the central North Island and Northland. Today, Holmes Group has a head office in Whangarei and a fleet of 50 trucks operating around Northland.

“I bought my first truck off Noel Galloway from Murupara back in the `nineties, when we were still logging in Kaingaroa,” says Holmes.

“It was a Mack off-highway double, and ... ... 

Having spent over half a century carting on and around the notorious roads that cover NZ’s Coromandel Peninsula, ‘simply surviving’ is arguably justification enough for being a Southpac Legend. However, when you add to this an earnest desire to inspire young minds, a keenness to expand NZ’s driver network, and a heartfelt love of trucks, the true picture of Puriri based trucker Graeme ‘Gunner’ Wright of Graeme Wright Transport Limited, really begins to emerge.

Graeme says that it was his father that gave him the ‘Gunner’ nickname due to the fact that he was always ‘gonna do this and gonna do that’, and although he says that it was a moniker that he found initially ... ... 

If you’ve spent any time around the Tokoroa region and the forestry industry, Alan Forbes is a name you’ll be familiar with.

Not only did this Southpac Legend grow a large and successful log transport business from humble beginnings, but he was also there when the LTSC (Log Transport Safety Council) was formed and continues to ‘learn’ with the TOL (Tour of Learning) group. 

As with many transport operators Alan developed a keen interest in trucks through his father.   As a young fella, he used to go to work with his dad, going out with the trucks and helping with the material handling. 

“I just liked machinery and trucks so I used to go w... ...