A highlight of last week was performing my duties as Secretariat for the Petroleum Industry Transport Safety Forum (PITSF). It was a highlight because given my days at Z Energy, it’s almost impossible to lose my passion for and interest in the transport of fuel. It’s also a good way to keep in touch with some friends and colleagues. 

The PITSF is also a great example of the value industry brings by leading itself, and it’s not the only one. The Log Transport Safety Council, the National Livestock Transport and Safety Council and the NZ Intermodal Transport Safety Group are others that spring to mind, and I’m sure there are more. 

There are a few common characteristics across these groups which in my view are key to their success; one being they tend to take an eco-system approach. In other words, they involve as many parts of the supply chain as they can. For example, with fuel, the thinking involves companies importing the fuel, the bulk storage terminals where fuel is stored, and the hauliers that get fuel to customers.  

Another characteristic is because they are the people doing the work, they understand the operational activity and requirements to manage the task and risks. The levels of personal expertise and institutional knowledge across these groups is quite inspiring.

A third common characteristic is that they “leave their rugby jerseys at the door”. Obviously, discussions can’t be of anti-competitive nature and company politics are put aside. The respective groups focus on doing what’s best for getting the task done safely and efficiently.  

Fuel tankers have a lot of specialist equipment and safety systems, particularly to ensure they don’t lose product to ground when loading or unloading. These can be complex and are outside of foundation vehicle systems such as brakes, steering, and suspension covered by the CoF regime.  

The industry maintains and manages a “Safe Load Pass” system to routinely check these safety features. It also develops technical guidelines, shares emergency spill response equipment, and openly discusses learnings from incidents, here and overseas. PITSF is also working with FENZ to ensure that in the event there is an on-road incident involving emergency response, specialist knowledge and experience held within the sector is best considered to keep everyone safe.  

Industry sectors leading themselves is incredibly refreshing and effective. I compare this to a meeting I attended this week with a range of industry representative groups to discuss Phase 3 VDAM changes. Despite us approaching a decade since the VDAM Rule has had any significant change, the current proposed changes don’t do much. I wasn’t the one that said it, but it was roundly agreed! It’s bizarre that despite all the rhetoric about improving productivity, the proposed changes deliver little to any substance. 

So to all the operators and other stakeholders involved in these specialist industry groups, take a bow. You’re contributing and making a much bigger difference and improvement than what you might think.

Electrifying the fleet  

I read some quite startling numbers in an opinion piece from our friends at Drive Electric.  

In the year to July, New Zealand sent $12.1b importing petrol, diesel and other fuels. That’s $2.3b more than the previous corresponding period, and that’s because the price increased, not because we’re using more.

That increase is pretty frightening when you compare it with our entire goods trade deficit which sat at $5.2b in the year to July. Or if you compare it with the deficit for 2025. For the full calendar year of 2025, New Zealand recorded an annual goods merchandise trade deficit of NZ$2.2b (with exports of NZ$80.7b and imports of NZ$82.9b). 

We are lucky to have so much renewable energy available in NZ which provides an opportunity to reduce the fuel bill and thereby improve the trade balance, our energy resilience, and reduce the cost of living.  

Electric trucks won’t be the answer for all our members, but we still need to think about energy demand, cost, and doing what’s best for our country and our people. 

Getting serious about how we power our transport could keep billions of dollars in New Zealand every year. We’re with Drive Electric in its call for a long-term plan around this to fix some of the big issues we’re facing. 

Dom Kalasih, Chief Executive of Transporting New Zealand