More than 360 transport operators, industry representatives and government officials descended upon the newly opened Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre in Christchurch on 30 July. The NZ Trucking Association and National Road Carriers Association joined forces to show the industry it’s better to work together and organise the 2022 Trucking Industry Summit.
A discussion document was established and circulated, setting the tone for the presenters to focus their presentations. Over the next few years, the industry’s big issues include a workforce shortage, decarbonisation, safe roads, Road to Zero and productivity. The under-investment in roading and increasing compliance costs were a focus, but there was recognition that finding solutions would not come quickly.
Conversations were had around infrastructure and regulation – all of which need to work hand-in-hand to ensure that the New Zealand economy can prosper now and in the future. Looming large is the fact that New Zealand has a target to reduce emissions from freight transport by 35% by 2035, while at the same time, the national freight task is set to increase by 40% by 2052.
Industry and the government recognise that the status quo is not working. Despite increased investment and funding, the roads are in an increasing state of disrepair – mainly because the capacity to deliver the work is just not there. And this is being exacerbated by global issues, such as inflation forcing the cost of everything up and significant labour shortages. There is no silver bullet to solving the degrading transport infrastructure across New Zealand. A collaborative public-private partnership approach is needed to solve these significant challenges, and the National Road Carriers Association and NZ Trucking Association are working together on behalf of the industry to help make that happen.
It was great to hear from the Minister of Transport Michael Wood that he recognised some of the industry’s challenges, especially regarding some of the supply chain vulnerabilities exposed by the pandemic. In terms of climate change, it’s recognised that New Zealand is always going to be shaped by the response of other countries, that we have a growing population and competition for land use, and the international and geopolitical landscape is increasingly difficult.
“The theme of collaboration remained with discussion around the regulatory ownership of solutions sitting with industry, especially in terms of harm- prevention programmes and compliance monitoring. Empowering thoughts for the industry,” said Simon Bridges.
Brett Aldridge from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency said: “Commercial transport must be successful for New Zealand to be successful,” which was closely followed by “the only way we will achieve the outcomes we all need is by working closely together in partnership”. Powerful words that are 100% on the money.
The summit allowed the associations to showcase some initiatives on which they are working together. Updating the Road Safety Truck to install the SafeT360 virtual-reality road-safety programme and refurbishing the graphics and interactive activities are coming together and will soon be on the road. The new Careers Transport programme is coming together and will launch later in the year with proposed pilots of the scheme in early 2023. The Careers Trucking showcase event at the TMC Trucking Industry Show in November is a great opportunity for companies to get involved.
Rebecca Dinmore gave an update on the TMC Trucking Industry Show and explained that a record number had booked space for the show. Further display space has been added for exhibitors. TR Group Driving Competition heats in Auckland are happening on 15 October, and there are steady bookings. And the Palfinger truck-mounted crane competition has attracted a lot of entries. This will be the first time this competition has taken place. The NZ Forklift Association has joined in and is holding a national forklift competition. Rebecca urged people to make sure they purchase their tickets for the Teletrac Navman prize-giving and the awards function on Saturday night or they might miss out.
Kelly McLuckie from Success Formula (NTI) announced an exciting new initiative. She has been part of a collaborative group that includes the associations, Autosense and Fit for Duty, to design and implement a transport health and wellbeing programme. An announcement is pending.
The Trucking Industry Summit was designed to connect people with regulators and government and start conversations. It achieved all that and more.
The sponsors enabled some very enjoyable networking, including the Teletrac Navman Legends lunch, Mito morning tea, Z Energy networking function and the Marsh/ BP/Castrol pre-summit social event. Also, thank you to Summit sponsors TR Group, Hiringa Energy and Waka Kotahi.
