A multi-generational rural carrier who might just own the trophy for the country’s most isolated transport operation. In the modern era, Hari Hari’s T A Arnold Transport has been built on the back of IVECO trucks, and that says something huge about the machines because they are one incredible family, and this is one incredible story.

Harking back to mid-winter last year, it was only fair our first encounter with IVECO’s majestic S-Way was in an environment most would associate the model with – running the linehaul corridors of the nation in curtainside trim delivering all that keeps our citizens momentarily content. Being one of the ‘big seven’ brands saturating the arterials of Europe, it came up trumps on its first outing in New Zealand Trucking magazine’s June 2023 issue in the hands of proud new owner Titus Transport. No real surprises there.

This time, though, it was all about the S-Way operating in its new home in a guise you might argue is exclusively ours in 2024 global trucking – the classic 8×4 and five-axle trailer, lift- out sider. We weren’t stopping there either – we wanted a location where no quarter was conceded to the truck’s youth in our market. That said, we’re not unreasonable folk, and chose a region where the marque has a rock-solid reputation among a people who wrote the book on being difficult to impress. A people who would rebuke shonky products and those who pedal them via the age-old duo of tar and feathers if they were still allowed. Yes, we’re on the West Coast of the South Island … and, believe it or not, it gets even better. Firstly, we’re in South Westland, a place we’ve not been in my time at New Zealand Trucking magazine, and second, this S-Way is a fourth- generation IVECO in what must be one of the most tenacious family-owned rural carrying businesses in the country.

True boffins will already know we are at T A Arnold Transport, based in the wee hamlet of Hari Hari, and we were about to be taught a lesson in character, community, and above all, customer service in the face of anything … and we mean anything.

…and we mean ‘anything’

At this point it’s essential I put readers in the picture on the circumstances surrounding this story.

We arrived in Hari Hari on a Saturday night to the news that Judy Arnold, the wife of company patriarch Tommy, and mother of Ryan and his sister Laurie, had passed away unexpectedly only the night before. Of course, we offered an immediate postponement, which was met with a resounding “No – we’re trucking on” from Ryan. More than that, both men fronted for work on Monday as customer commitments needed to be met, particularly in light of the weather break that had availed following an incredibly wet spring. Fertiliser had to be ferried to on-farm silos and pre-booked helicopters, and cattle all over the region were in need of supplementary feed, sourced from wherever it could be found.

As resolute as the instruction to proceed had been, we were understandably stunned and initially felt a little awkward. However, we were swept up in what needed to be done, taken to the pub on the Sunday evening for a great yarn, and made to feel incredibly welcome by the family and locals. Witnessing the resilience of these people changes you, and even amid the solemnity of the time, they found light-hearted humorous moments in our racing around and goings-on while collecting this story.

For us, it was a lesson in friendship and community, and one family’s commitment to that community. It’s why companies like T A Arnold Transport are able to measure their tenure in generations rather than merely decades, and why imposters touting for business are invariably met at many farm gates with a blank stare.

Is this the spot?

Think of isolation in New Zealand and Haast will appear in the thought process almost immediately. But that’s probably a little premature. Haast itself is not that far from Wānaka in all reality. Run along SH6 past Hawea, through the narrow neck between Lakes Hawea and Wānaka, down the Haast Pass, along the side of the Haast River, and you’re there. A mere 143km. Where things start to get a tad lonely is heading north from Haast, finding the point on SH6 where the distance north from Haast and the distance south from Hokitika realise the two largest numbers. By our calcs, ‘X’ is a little way south of Whataroa, the tiny settlement where the Arnold family business story began. Over Mt Hercules (what a name) to the north by about 30km is Hari Hari, home of T A Arnold Transport’s head office today. The Arnolds might just be – probably are – New Zealand’s most isolated carrier. What an accolade.

It goes without saying then, there’s no room for unreliability in the Arnold operation. It’s a long way to the nearest service centre – Hokitika is 75km north, Greymouth 110km, and the garden city 323km to the north and east. A lot of daily maintenance and repair work is therefore done in-house by Tommy, Ryan and the team around them. As S-Way’s driver Greg Harding says, “It makes you always think through everything because anything that gets damaged is going to be expensive, both in terms of money, and equally important, lost time”.

Those who paved the way

The new S-Way(s) at T A Arnold Transport is the stuff OEMs dream of. A brand new model arriving through the front gate on the strength of performance its predecessors delivered, sold by a salesperson with integrity, and aftersales support that prompts someone as straight-barrelled as Tommy Arnold to tap a parts invoice laying on his desk and say “NZ Trucks are bloody good to deal with, too”.

“And ‘Strauny’ [Straun Syme – NZ Trucks salesman for the West Coast], he’s a bloody good boy. He’s Mr IVECO over here. He’s been doing it for a long time and does a bloody good job. He’s a big part of the reason IVECO are so strong on the Coast.”

Anyone who knows the New Zealand trucking scene would agree Straun is a big reason for the brand’s presence on the coast, but you can’t sell anyone something that doesn’t actually work. Birchfields, Aratuna, Arnolds, are all IVECO strongholds here and that’s before the odds-and-sods floating around. The reality is the Cursor 13L engine in its various incarnations is likely the most common engine crossing Arthur’s Pass on a daily basis – read into that whatever you like.

“Old No.1 is up to a million kilometres and still does a good day’s work. I drive that mostly,” says Ryan. “It’s had a camshaft and is on its second transmission – the splitter was worn out. Just the constant stop/start of bobby calves as well as crossing the hill [Arthur’s Pass].

“The first Stralis had a batch fault in the pistons, and they were replaced at 330,000 and then it ran to 840,000 and is currently for sale, traded on the S-Way. I see so many Cummins being rebuilt at 700,000km and no one blinks. If we couldn’t get a million from an IVECO, we’d be shocked.

“There was an agency in Greymouth for a while, but now it’s Christchurch, although they will send someone over if we need it.”

“Old No.1” is not actually the first IVECO at Arnolds, but has been around the longest and is certainly the first truck in Ryan’s full-on tenure in the business. The original was a Cummins- powered Eurotech only a couple of years old when the 2004 sale to Aratuna happened (see sidebar – Bullish and broken legs). But “Old No.1”, a 2004 Eurotech MP4500 with a Cursor 13L motor and AMT transmission, is certainly the machine that’s blazed the trail, and won the confidence of its owners. There has been two Stralis 8×4 units bought new into the business in about 2013, which meant X-Way never made it to Hari Hari, it was straight from Stralis to S-Way.

One common thread through the lineage of trucks in the business from the earliest of days is the family’s approach to presentation. There are no shabby carriages in the albums that document their vehicle journey through the decades, and few would argue the S-Ways have lifted the bar to whole new level.

Diverse and durable

Yes, not just a metaphor for the company. The Arnold S-Way is the first of two coming to the company; it’s part of an evolving master plan to optimise asset utility at a whole new level. Extracting maximum fleet utilisation has been in the family trucking DNA since the Whataroa Motors days, simply the result of market size and the variance in products to cart. The lift-out side combination epitomises deployment diversity in New Zealand road transport, enhanced further in the new trucks via the pin and saddle body mount system, popular in the South Island. Initially one will be a lift-out sider and the other a stock unit, but they’ll be identical in terms of chassis packaging and mounting points so they’re completely interchangeable. Looking even further down the road, the ability to set up two optimal stock units, or two optimal lift- out side units is the goal.

“It’ll even pay dividends in the event something happens to one of the trucks and we have to swap bodies to keep things running,” says Ryan

The pin and saddle system is so slick you can swap bodies quicker than breaking down and staging the sides, then fitting the crate. It is literally a 15-minute job.

The key to ultimate success is to ensure your body and trailer builder understands the master plan and the Arnolds were adamant there will be no worries there. The S-Way is fitted with a TES (Transport Engineering Southland – Invercargill) 7.3m body (1.2m sides) and 9.8m trailer (1.3m sides), and longitudinal demountable covers.

“They are our preferred supplier, definitely,” says Ryan. “The trailer behind the Stralis is a Keast [Stephen Keast – owner of TES]. It’s done just on a million kilometres with next to no issues. Looking at this one, we can see little things he’s done to develop the product. Both inner and outer rails are solid for example, and the slightly heavier tare is the stabiliser in this one. This is going to be a million-kilometre trailer absolutely no question, and we’re legal with a 30-tonne payload at 50MAX.”

Elegantly rural

It’s a stunningly good-looking unit and has attracted a lot of interest in the wider industry since bursting onto the scene a few months back. It’s probably the best visual advert for the new S-Way model since its launch.

We met our truck and its driver Greg Harding on a clearing, bluish, crisp spring morning in the vacant lot just down from where he lives in Hokitika.

The first conclusion looking at the truck is S-Ways absolutely need a painted, or somehow enhanced, grille. The almost cyber truck visual flatness of the standard black grille does an unembelleshed S-Way few favours. On the Arnold machine, greying the grille bars and centre of the bumper ties it nicely into the grey cab stripes, which then draws the eye along the beautiful TES-built sides, covers, alloy and polished highlights. It’s a combination you can’t help taking in as a whole – and signage maestro Andrew Geddes at Timaru Signs and Graphix has cleverly taken you on that awesome visual journey, starting at the truck’s riskiest aesthetic feature – the grille. Of course, blue and white is a glorious base combination for a motor vehicle.

Greg checked over the load of baleage he had on-carted for the farm of Paul and Debbie Ryder on Poerua Valley Road, about 85km south.

After a stunning drive down the coast and across any number of bridges, crossing countless rivers, we pulled into the Poerua Valley and headed about five or so kilometres up along a narrow but sealed road. Turned in, and up the race to an ample turnaround, we were there – bovine meals on wheels had arrived.

“They’re the hard-case farmers in Hari Hari,” said Ryan later. And he wasn’t wrong. From the moment we arrived there were high jinks and cheek from this senior husband and wife comedy duo – Paul was carrying a grease gun and offered to grease the Canon and lens within moments of arriving. They would be just the same on the other two occasions we crossed their path. Absolute characters who appeared to love life, farming, and the community they call home.

But they also brought something else to the fore, something that spoke to so much. They, and everyone we encountered first-hand, were proud of the new S-Way, like it was something they knew would serve the community well for years to come. Something that signalled investment back into the Coast after so much over the years has been taken from these amazing down- to-earth folk. “Oh, yes, you’re here to do the story on Ry’s new truck,” said Debbie. “Isn’t it beautiful? He’s so proud.”

Greg had the bulk of the straps away by the time the last bales came off the unit and we were ready for mission No.2 – into the depot and pop the sides on, then back up SH6 48km to Ross, and a load of lime from the West Coast Farmers Lime Co-op, to Jock and Kirsty Blackburn’s in Whataroa, 82km south. Ryan was on hand at the depot on Wanganui Flat Road, and in a jiffy, the tail doors were in. Then Greg pulled alongside a stage in their drive-through shed for a tag-team side installation. An internal drive-through staging area for the sides – handy when your annual rainfall is measured in metres.

The IVECO is fitted with Tauranga Canvas longitudinal covers that are fully removable. Side-to-side or front-to-back systems, it’s both an operator choice and task-driven decision. In situations like Arnolds, where the sides are not fully or partially removed too often mid-workflow, the side-to-side system is quicker and cleaner, and easier to roll across from the outside. Fantastic additions like the catwalk on the front of the TES trailer make it all that much easier still.

Lift-out side work in the full rural setting really does require the full gambit of skills. Being a Sunday, there was no loader driver at the lime works. Greg was ‘it’. By the time you’re even competent in this type of work, you’ve well surpassed a full trade certificate level of skills and knowledge and the sooner we formally recognise that, the better. Greg was well beyond competent, he is a craftsman; the whole two days with him looked so easy … the key word there being ‘looked’.

Loaded, we headed for Mt Hercules, the physical barrier that separates the catchments of the Whataroa and Wanganui Rivers, and therefore Whataroa and Hari Hari. It’s not a huge crossing like Takaka, probably a cross between Mt Messenger and the Hundalee Hills. It’s certainly not short on low speed switchback corners, however, and caused plenty of issues back in the day. There used to be a shared carriers truck in a shed at the foot to assist loaded trucks in need of additional encouragement.

Of course, in 2024, the S-Way barely notices it. IVECO extracts 425kW (570hp) and 2500Nm (1850lb/ft) from the 12.9L Cursor 13 in this latest Euro-6 Step-E incarnation. That’s not the top-of-the-torque tree, but is certainly right up there in the power stakes. Torque peaks from 1000 to 1600rpm and hands off to peak power between there and 1900rpm. It’s a lovely set of vitals.

Behind the horse is the Hi-Tronix 12 TX 2640 TD (an IVECO tuned ZF-TraXon) and behind that Meritor MT23-150/D single reduction drive set with diff lock on eight-bag ECAS tidy up the main specs. Under the front are two IVECO 5890/D ON axles on air suspension. Brakes are disc, with all you’d expect in the way of modern safety accoutrements. The lane departure warning is unlikely to suffer RSI in the Arnold truck because the core prerequisite for being able to alert the driver of an unscheduled lane departure, is of course a full-width lane.

“It’s an incomparable truck to the Stralis,” says Greg. “That was an honest truck, being only 500 [horsepower], it lacked a bit of oomph, but this is good. It’ll climb the steepest parts of the Arthur’s loaded in fifth at just on 20km/h and with the four-stage engine brake/Intarder combo, it comes down in the same gear with just a couple of minor feathers on the brakes at Pegleg and bottom of the viaduct. The new gearbox is far, far superior. It’s a 12-speed compared with the 16 in the Stralis, but a much smoother and better piece of kit. It’s such a different truck, so much better in every way.”

Across the expansive Whataroa Flats and we arrive at another easy accesses delivery point. Greg is incredibly smooth, cautious and methodical. Nothing is rushed and if he were a chippy, you know he’d be the archetypal ‘measure twice, cut once’ kind of bloke. We’re reminded of his comments about the business’ isolation instilling a double-checking hard-wire in the subconscious mind. The IVECO is about three months into its life, and it’s already seen plenty of gnarly access points, yet there’s not a mark on it. It says a lot.

The west of the South Island has much the same trait of the east. If you’re heading due north or south on the main arterials, there’s not a lot in your path. Between Haast in the far south and Karamea at Westland’s northern extremity, there are the Fox Hills, Mt Hercules, and the Karamea Bluffs. If you’re staying coastal, the run up through Punakaiki has its moments, but aside from that, there’s plenty of long flat or mildly undulating running. In the South Island, it’s east/west transits that deliver the punch.

After a memorable evening at the Hari Hari Hotel with Ryan and family, meeting and enjoying the company of the locals, we came away with a restoration in faith that small community New Zealand is alive and well. We also concluded if Paul and Debbie Ryder are the funniest people in Hari Hari, then Dan Dennehy is most certainly the funniest man in Whataroa.

The next day was a doozy. We met Greg at Ravensdown Hokitika, an immaculately clean site run by Tony McKay, who, incidentally, everyone we spoke to held in high regard. The front air suspension in the S-Way allows axle group weight readouts ex-factory and the trailer displays through the dashboard a gross weight. The high AS cab means Greg backs under the chute rather than drives through. “Yeah you just have to be aware of it – farm trees and all that.”

The load in and placed perfectly, our destination was Martin O’Brien’s farm, inland up the Waitaha Valley about halfway back to Hari Hari. There we would meet pilot Fletcher Anderson and his Squirrel B2 helicopter from local icon Anderson Helicopters, a business started by his parents Kevin and Sandra in 1989, and based in Hokitika.

We launched away effortlessly; you would have no idea the S-Way had 30 tonne of product on its back, the Cursor/ Hi-Tronix combo working in perfect computerised unison. Inside the S-Way is the smooth ride you’d expect, another modern Euro truck where the only thing separating the driver and his machine from the road is air, incarcerated and managed in different ways – tyres, suspension, cab, seat. The stability and surefootedness it all provides is miraculous, and Greg says it’s a much nicer machine on the road – wherever he pointed it, it went.

Fit and finish seemed on point; it actually always does in the big IVECOs, there were no rattles or erroneous ‘what’s that?’ noises. The only thing I will say, and you all know me well … black, grey, and fawn! Dear God! Where’s the splash of red, yellow, big chrome trim, or something! The aluminium flash between the seats does not count!

Another gargantuan Euro cab, there’s cavernous storage above and all around. There is a fridge, cooler, pull out drawer, cup holders, it’s all there, and double bunks in the Arnold truck also.

We rolled out past the Mahinapua Hotel (hopefully, the old fellas have the cheese under control – LOL), and we asked Greg for his comments on the cockpit. “It’s sort of the same visually, but light years ahead in placement, layout and use. It’s very easy to operate and everything is right there, and logically placed. It just works so much better.

“Big steering wheel by today’s standard eh?”

“Yeah! It is!” he chuckled. “It’s huge!”

Personally, I don’t mind that at all. When I was a kid, trucks had big steering wheels! I’ve always liked the IVECO cockpit, primarily because it has a big wrap and I’m a sucker for a good solid wrap. Like most truck people, I’m also a bit OCD, so the lack of continuity between the design language of the binnacle and wrap should make me wince, but it doesn’t really offend me and I’m trying to work out why. I will say the bit of no-man’s- land between the binnacle and wrap where the key and start button are would look cooler with three more gauges – ‘#VolvoF12vibes’ – even if you couldn’t see them. It’s a cool workstation, and like the rest of the S-Way, wants for nothing: infotainment, smartwheel, a trailer control, paddle shift, good ergonomics … maybe a fraction plasticky in places, but all the Euros suffer from that!

The spring rain had been relentless and even the locals were lamenting the amount they’d endured (that’s saying something). Getting ground-spreading equipment anywhere near the paddocks was the stuff of pipedreams, so if you’ll excuse the pun – Andersons were ‘flying’ during this forecast momentary break in the weather.

Up off the road, through the narrow gate under the Macrocarpa branch, then around the tight gap between two sheds, and into position. Greg backed the rear axle of the trailer up on blocks so Jason Burnett on ground operations for Andersons could load the hopper on his JCB telehander directly from the grain door in the trailer. He then ran it to the chopper about 50m away. Again, tech to the fore in 2024 – Jason could load to the kilogramme via the scales on his machine.

We were extra lucky on our day there because Sandra Anderson herself was assisting on ground crew duties, in charge of fuel. We had the best time yarning with her on everything to do with life in their wonderful ‘whirly-bird’ world while Fletcher and Jason ‘squirreled away’ gettig the fertiliser on the ground.

Once the trailer was empty, it was the same procedure with the truck. What a smooth operation with a bunch of people who all knew their roles to the tee. It was all unloaded and spread in an hour and a half. Just a spectacular scene.

You do you!

Fear, it’s the thing that holds us all back the most; fear of the unknown, fear of what others will think, fear of being wrong. But all that can be overcome with self-belief, the sage that is experience gained, and a willingness to consider good advice from people we respect.

The Arnolds are testament to all that, even in the face of odds stacked against them – imagine being 24 years old, standing in the Haast court facing pompous lawyers trying to rip you to shreds in an effort to stop you purchasing the right to work your arse off for yourself and your community (see sidebar). But you ignore it all and on the advice of a savvy solicitor, alter tack and end up making it 10 times better for you and 10 times worse for the opposition.

Then there’s the experience gained and knowledge learned through generations of Arnolds in business in South Westland. This is one tough mother of a place to do business; you won’t find extravagance and waste here – if it doesn’t contribute, it’s not happening.

Which brings us to the presence of the IVECO product, not just here in remote Hari Hari, but in the west of the South Island generally. Yes, Straun Syme and NZ Trucks have served their product like few others have ever served an OEM, but their effort is matched by the obvious contribution the product makes to the businesses that run them. The return business rate speaks so clearly to that. Over the past decade, IVECO has shaken off its hollow deriders and shown so many who have handed over the money, the truck it really is – remember Jono Cloke and the X-Way (New Zealand Trucking magazine, November 2019) – “Don’t say they’re too good, they’ll put the price up.”

In S-Way, there’s nothing to suggest the IVECO hasn’t built on a proven recipe, and if you want two glorious examples, beacons for what the brand really represents in 2024, then you’ll find them with one of our most courageous and hard- working industry families, in the remotest trucking corner of the country – T A Arnold Transport, Hari Hari!

Acknowledgements

We are always hugely grateful for the people who willingly give us time with their trucks and staff in order to put our cover stories together, and then give their own time to share their own story in transport. On this occasion, we are truly lost for words.

To say a mere thank you to the Arnold family for the level of cooperation they willingly gave us under the circumstances seems hopelessly inadequate. Yet, in the end, simple is always the most sincere. Therefore, to the entire Arnold family: thank you.

To Greg Harding – thanks for an action-packed, varied and immensely enjoyable two days in the most scenic trucking backdrop imaginable.

To Erwin, Straun and the team at IVECO – as always, when we come knocking, your unfailing support in everything we do is always so appreciated.

SPECIFICATIONS
IVECO S-Way 8×4 rigid – AS High Cab