Industry led subjects announced  

This week the Minister of Education confirmed Engineering Technology as one of nine new industry-led subjects to be developed as part of New Zealand’s new senior secondary qualification system. These subjects are intended to better prepare young students, school years 12 and 13, for a vocational career rather than an academic pathway. 

The Transport Industry Skills Board (ISB) will lead the development of Engineering Technology, supported by the Energy and Infrastructure ISB, the Manufacturing and Engineering ISB, and the Electrotechnology, Information Technology, and Creative ISB.  

During consultation period we proposed that driving be one of the key skills to learn. The benefit of a skill like driving is that it is transferable to other vocational pathways and it largely avoids the risk of pigeon-holing students early in their career to one particular area.  

This announcement marks the beginning of the development process and the Transport ISB and three other Industry Skills Boards will work collaboratively with industry and other stakeholders to refine the subject content.  

It’s still early days but we will need to advocate hard to ensure driving is included as a learning skill during years 12 and 13 in schools. On the positive side, having four of the eight ISBs working together means hopefully we can also convince those other disciplines to also include driving in their curriculum. 

Vehicle productivity

This week I read with great envy the HVTT monthly newsletter written by one of my HVTT  colleagues, Dr. Alejandra (Ale) Efron.

Last month a 75-tonne Gross Combination Mass (GCM), 25-metre B-double successfully completed a challenging transport mission, delivering commercial explosives directly to a high-altitude mining site in the High Andes in the San Juan province in Argentina at nearly 5,000 metres above sea level. The trip is the first of many to come.  

That journey in the La Puna triangle is not for the faint hearted, Ale wrote: “Extreme altitude, reduced engine power output, steep inclines, unpaved, narrow mountainous passes with hairpin curves and precipices, severe erosive processes due to blistering winds, frequent and intense frosts, ice on the road and solidified narrow creeks which can alter road position and conditions on a near daily basis, with free roaming animals and tourists in light vehicles and motorbikes.” 

Ale also gave an update on what’s happening with alternative fuels in Brazil. High-capacity 11 axle, 30m long road trains, “Rodotrems” are running on 100% renewable biomethane derived from sugarcane and organic waste at 91-tonne GCM.  

I’m not suggesting that we have those vehicles in New Zealand, but these cases demonstrate how other countries recognise the value that high productivity vehicles present and the progress that is possible. 

Meanwhile, back here our current efforts are focussed on removing the need for 50MAX vehicles to have permits. However, drivers of those vehicles will still be required to produce either a hard copy or digital drawing during roadside inspection to demonstrate that the vehicle matches one of the accepted pro forma combinations, and its respective operating conditions.  

We are worlds apart with our desires and appetites on better using vehicles. We have a road agency worried about the additional road wear that slightly heavier vehicles could cause, yet road authorities in Argentina and Brazil as well as many others around the world have developed higher productivity vehicles on roads more challenging than ours. 

I joined a panel at the NZ Cold Storage Association conference in Christchurch this week and spoke about vehicle productivity. The panel included representatives from aquaculture, pet food, dairy and horticulture supply chains. A common theme was the importance of focussing on improving efficiency and productivity. Hopefully, a more collaborative across-supply chain approach to unlocking productivity will help convince officials we need faster action in unlocking vehicle productivity. 

Member consultation and engagement

This week we hosted a webinar with the Police Commercial Vehicle Safety Team presenting on oral fluid testing for drug impairment and roadside enforcement of 50MAX vehicle compliance, followed by NZTA on road projects in the Greater Wellington area.  

It was great to see the interest in these subjects with over 200 people registering. While it is still early days with oral fluid testing, the compliance rate is much better than originally thought. The fail rate for truck drivers is 1.7% which is slightly less than half the fail rate for other drivers. Earlier projections based on testing done overseas predicted fail rates of about 10%, so the early results are excellent and demonstrate how well our members are managing this risk.  

We have also recently consulted on the proposal to digitise vehicle licence labels, removing the need to display them on windscreens, and requirements for supervised driving hours for learner drivers. No surprises with the feedback on the latter, but I was somewhat surprised at the “Big Brother” concerns with digitised labelling. Thanks to all that have provided their views on these matters.