On Wednesday the NRC team attended EROAD Fleet Day at Mystery Creek in Hamilton - thank you Symons Group for the great Model A backdrop! This year the themes was 'Efficiency, Safety, and Sustainability with Technology as an enabler'. With over 15 speakers, two panel discussions, and 70-plus exhibitors demonstrating light/heavy fleet models and the latest solutions the event delivered something for everyone.

A couple of highlights for me were former Prime Minister John Key chatting to the room for an hour, and Professional Racing Driver and Kiwi Legend Greg Murphy's session on reducing risk through driver training. 

John Key gave a well received talk which covered some amusing anecdotes as Prime Minister (including a fascinating view on what it's like popping into Balmoral for the weekend with the Queen), right through to the Chinese property crunch, AI and what it means for New Zealand. Broad ranging, well considered and with a strong dose of common sense, it was reassuring to hear. The question on the mind of everyone in the room was when did he think will the economy turn a corner back into growth? John Key's view was that we will see at least one, and more likely two rate cuts from the Reserve Bank this year, which will then start the longer journey of stimulus for the economy. So there is a way to go.

My own view is it's clear as day a reduction in the Official Cash Rate needs to be announced next week. Driving to work and seeing a major car dealership on Great South Rd gone one day to the next, restaurants and retailers closing forever on a daily basis and the ongoing cost of living crisis show discretionary spend is down to a trickle while people struggle to service mortgages and meet rents. The world over Central Banks are notorious for mistiming rate cuts – the Fed is famous for it. It is not entirely their fault; they are tightly bound to focus on lag indicators like inflation and unemployment. 

Two of this week's headlines: "Jobs data offers "no smoking gun" for interest rate cuts next week" and "Power prices double in three weeks, government may intervene" show how necessary and yet unlikely that rates cut is. Let's hope some of that common sense that John Key is famous for intervenes.

Luckily we had vWork helping out with their excellent session on how to reduce cash leakage on every delivery or job, route optimisation and speed to invoice – small but critical things that can make a real difference to the business bottom line.

Greg Murphy gave an excellent talk on safety, which he distilled down to one important lesson – pay attention when driving. Sounds obvious, but all of us get distracted, and tech can be our friend or foe on this one. We can do our bit to keep ourselves safe by minimising distractions such as using phones, putting us in a much better place to react to those drivers around us who aren't paying attention.  

Thank you ERoad for pulling together a much needed and well-timed day where we could all get together and enjoy one another's company, celebrate this great industry and hear some uplifting and helpful advice.

Rail Safety Week 2024

NRC is getting in behind KiwiRail this week to support 'Rail Safety Week 2024' which runs from Monday 5 August to Sunday 11 August 2024. Sadly, in the last year alone, 10 people have lost their lives in collisions with trains, and there is a worrying trend with near misses at level crossings on the rise. One second more and a near miss could be a collision – resulting in serious injury or death. 

If you would like to share the messaging with your team or on your channels then go to KiwiRail's website to download the collateral.

Justin Tighe-Umbers, CEO, National Road Carriers Assn