New Zealand Trucking shows you how the economy is travelling via key metrics from the road transport industry. From time to time we‘ll be asking experts their opinion on what the numbers mean.

Summary of heavy trucks and trailers first registered in March
This information is put together from information provided by the NZ Transport Agency statistical analysis team and through the Open Data Portal.

Vehicle type
This summary includes data from two heavy truck classes and one heavy trailer class.
A goods vehicle is a motor vehicle that:
(a) is constructed primarily for the carriage of goods;
and
(b) either:
(i) has at least four wheels; or
(ii) has three wheels and a gross vehicle mass exceeding one tonne.

Note: vehicle classes are not the same as RUC vehicle types or driver licence classes.

A table of all vehicle classes can be found in Table A of the Land Transport Rule Vehicle Dimensions and Mass 2016 Rule 41 001 /2016
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/resources/rules/docs/vehicledimensions-and-mass-2016-as-at-1-june-2019.pdf

First registration of NB, NC and TD classes for March year on year

First registration of NB and NC classes for March 2020 by major manufacturers

First registration of NB, NC and TO classes year to date

First registration of TO class heavy trailers for March 2020 by major suppliers

RUC purchase for March 2020, all RUC types
A description of RUC vehicle types is available at https://www.nzta.govt.nz/vehicles/1icensing-rego/road-user-charges/rue-rates-and-transaction-fees/ Please note data may differ from that reported for the same period previously due to adjustments made to the base data supplied to us.

Total value and distance of all road user charges purchased
between 01 January 2018 and 31 March 2020

RUC distance purchased for RUC Type 1 vehicles
RUC Type 1 vehicles are powered vehicles with two axles (except type 2 or type 299 vehicles. Type 299 are mobile cranes). Cars, vans, and light trucks that use fuel not taxed at source, i.e. diesel fuel, are generally in this RUC type.

Rolling trend month-on-month purchase of RUC during 2019 – 2020

The top eight RUC type purchases, other than type 1 in descending order

RUC purchases year to date (end of March 2020) for selected RUC types

RUC purchases March 2020 for selected types

The red dots represent the cost of RUC purchased for that RUC type for the year to date March 2020 only, thus for RUC type 6 vehicles, powered vehicles with three axles, (except type 308, 309, 311, 399 or 413 vehicles), the higher value results from the high cost of RUC for these type vehicles above 12 tonne.

RUC purchases Year to Date (YTD)
Year to date: January to March

By comparing distance purchased year to date with the same period for the previous year, any trends in changes to activity will become clear.