NZ’S NEWS SOURCE FOR ROAD TRANSPORT, LOGISTICS & HEAVY EQUIPMENT INDUSTRIES MONTHLY MAGAZINE FOR WWW.TRANSPORTTALK.CO.NZ – VOLUME 7 | ISSUE 8 | MARCH 2019 Commercials Southpac racks up hold steady two straight wins onstant growth and attention to detail Care just some of the contributing factors to Southpac Trucks’ success over the years. The company was recently named Kenworth Dealer of the Year 2018, winning the award for the second consecutive year against a field of more than 25 dealers across he total number of vehicle im- Australasia. ports are down in February but The accolade is hotly Tcommercials are holding steady, contested and is awarded NZ Customs motor vehicle statistics to the dealership with the show. highest ranking across five main Southpac is majority owned by The total number of all vehicles areas including truck sales, overall NZX-listed The Colonial Motor hitting the wharves, including trucks dealer performance, parts sales and Company and is the New Zealand and buses, was 20,227 for the month. customer support. distributor for Kenworth and DAF This compares to 24,397 in January. The award was presented at Pac- heavy duty trucks under the USA- Commercial vehicle imports im- car’s annual dealer event held in based Paccar organisation. proved slightly for February with the Queenstown last month. Recent half-year results saw total number of truck and van arrivals Paccar Australia managing direc- Southpac grow the heavy vehicle for the month up to 3407 compared tor Andrew Hadjikakou presented segment and increase its market the award to Southpac Trucks chief share with its two truck brands. Continued on page 4 executive Maarten Durent. “It has been among the top five dealers in the network for the last INSIDE few years and it all comes down to Skills training shakeup p3 the team’s hard work, passion and New boss at Coda Group p6 dedication,” Durent says. Focussed on commercials p12 “We’ve got an outstanding sales, Reducing transport risk p15 6 12 Continued on page 4 FOUNDATION SPONSORS Transport Talk acknowledges the support of our foundation sponsors SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE SHOW YOUR INDUSTRY SUPPORT FOR THE TRANSPORT INDUSTRY BY BECOMING A TRANSPORT FOUNDATION SPONSOR Talk to Chris KensleyBY about BECOMING theTalk benefits to Chris Kentsley A of becoming about the benefits a sponsor of becoming a sponsor FOUNDATIONPhone: 027 530 5194 SPONSOR • Email:Phone: [email protected] 027 530 5194 Email: [email protected] Talk to Chris Kentsley about the benefits of becoming a sponsor Phone:INDUSTRY 027 530 5194 Email: [email protected] SUPPORTERS RECOGNISED BY MULTISPARES TRUCK PARTS 2 | TRANSPORTTALK.CO.NZ | MARCH 2019 The way to reach the entire heavy vehicle and contractors’ equipment industries Potential skills www.transporttalk.co.nz TRANSPORTTALK EDITOR Nigel Moffiet training shakeup 022 018 0998 [email protected] ‘a step too far’ for BUSINESS MANAGER Chris Kentsley 027 530 5194 some in transport [email protected] ASSISTANT BUSINESS MANAGER industry Sophie Song [email protected] housands of trade shake-up intends to bring owned and apprentices, includ- the Industry Training Organi- governed RECRUITMENT/ Ting those in the heavy sations under one roof with Industry PRODUCTION diesel and automotive sec- a co-ordinated approach. Training SPECIALIST tor, could soon see radical It also aims to extend the Organisa- Fran Da Silva Josh Williams changes in skills training, and leadership role of industry tions (ITOs) 021 933 279 not everyone is on board and employers, and a unified to a single [email protected] with the plan. funding system, Hipkins says. government-owned organisa- The government is pro- “We would also ensure tion will destroy the appren- GROUP posing to merge 16 polytech- there’s strong regional influ- ticeship system, he says. GENERAL MANAGER nics around the country into ence in the New Zealand “We intend to ask our one national entity called Institute of Skills and Tech- employers and industries if Deborah Baxter the New Zealand Institute of nology through the pro- they would prefer that their 027 530 5016 Skills and Technology to ad- posed formation of regional training organisation is taken [email protected] minister all students, appren- leadership groups which over by a single government- tices and industry trainees. would identify the needs owned institute. MANAGING EDITOR Under this structure, of the local economy and “For every $1 million in- Richard Edwards the national institution become a key link between vested in the tertiary sector, 021 556 655 would take over the current local government, employ- ITO-arranged training quali- [email protected] 145,000 apprentices and ers, iwi and communities. fies 300 skilled workers. By trainees and 25,000 employ- “The development of comparison the polytech- ers, plus the existing 110,000 courses and programmes nics currently qualify 50. PUBLISHER polytechnic enrolments. would be consolidated, “To meet our future Vern Whitehead It follows a period of crisis improving consistency and workforce challenges, we 021 831 153 for the training sector where freeing up resources to need to be investing much [email protected] the government has spent expand front-line delivery. more heavily in work-based $100 million in extra funding There will be more sharing of learning. Industry itself is for four struggling polytech- expertise and best-practice, best placed to the determine nics over the past year. and more use of online, dis- the training arrangements Education minister Chris tance, and blended learning” to meet its needs, including Hipkins says the current mod- Hipkins says. commissioning vocational el is “broken” and it’s time to Public consultation on providers to deliver relevant “reset the whole system and the proposal is open until courses and programmes. fundamen- March 27 and feedback will “The big opportunity of tally rethink be “carefully considered”, this reform is to build on the the way Hipkins says. success of our work-based we view Industry Training Fed- system, because that is how Published by: vocational eration (ITF) chief executive we can address skills short- Auto Media Group Limited education Josh Williams is not a fan of ages, and get the right skills PO Box 105010, Auckland and training, the proposal. in the right place at the right Ph 09 309 2444 Auto Media Group Limited makes every endeavour and how it’s Shifting responsibility for time. to ensure information contained in this publication delivered”. workplace training and ap- “We are looking for a is accurate; however, we are not liable for any losses or issues resulting from this use. The Chris Hipkins prenticeships from industry- Continued on page 11 TRANSPORTTALK.CO.NZ | MARCH 2019 | 3 NEWSTALK Southpac racks up two straight wins Continued from page 1 network. service and parts teams, The Hamilton facil- and we continue to invest ity includes five service in facilities, equipment and bays plus a rebuild and training to provide excep- cleaning area. There is an tional customer service. extensive showroom, with “There is no one event a large parts holding along that has contributed to our with training facilities at success but incremental the front of the premises. shifts over every department “Hamilton really lifted in the way we improve. Not our profile in the Wai- a year goes by without some kato … it’s an expanding form of growth or expansion growth region that need- for the company,” he says. ed additional support and This includes five com- our truck population is pany-owned locations in growing there rapidly,” Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Durent says. Christchurch and Palmerston It helped lift the com- North and another 19 inde- pany’s delivery to around pendently owned parts and 50 trucks a month com- service dealers around the pared to around 30 per country. month a few years before. Palmerston North was Another focus at Southpac’s most recent Southpac is making sure expansion with a new stan- staff have the right train- dalone parts distribution ing and resources to get centre. the job done. From left: Andrew Hadjikakou, Maarten Durent, Graeme Gibbons and Paccar Meanwhile, its $6.5 mil- “We put a lot of resourc- sales and marketing director Brad May lion, 2200 square metre es and time in that activity covered truck dealership in and we put a lot of effort in spanning more than 30 ship with Kenworth is a the industrial hub north of terms of recruitment and years. “really positive, collaborative Hamilton opened in 2017. ongoing technical training. “Focusing on the most approach, and a culture of Building the Hamilton “On top of that, I’m important factor in the busi- doing the right thing for the dealership was a case of us- constantly looking at our ness, the customer, South- customer, whatever it takes”. ing the knowledge the com- premises and service facilities pac Trucks, has again shown “It’s what our business pany has accumulated over to see what we can do better the highest standards of is built on. Maarten and the years. Durent and several to make it a more enjoyable service, professionalism and his team have an absolute dealers took a trip around job,” Durent says. excellence,” Hadjikakou says. dedication to doing the right Australia to pick up ideas and Southpac is one of Paccar Colonial Motor Company thing for the customer and it concepts they could apply Australia’s longest serving chief executive Graeme is supported by the factory,” to their New Zealand dealer dealers with a partnership Gibbons says the relation- Gibbons says. Commercials hold steady Continued from page 1 to 3349 in January. 3500kg saw 389 imports. compared to 20,941 in Janu- pared to 13,479 the previous New truck and vans made The total number of buses ary.