EROAD held its ninth annual Fleet Day event at Hamilton’s Mystery Creek on Wednesday with more than 1200 fleet industry professionals in attendance who are estimated to be responsible for around 100,000 vehicles on New Zealand roads.
This year’s Fleet Day was the largest yet with the conference taking place at Mystery Creek for the first time along with around 57 exhibitors.
With support from major sponsor Waikato Regional Council, it featured an impressive line-up of more than 15 key speakers headlined by former New Zealand prime minister Sir John Key.
Around 15 other speakers took to the stage, including former professional racing driver Greg Murphy and PwC sustainability, climate, and nature partner Andrew Jamieson. Key insights focused on fleet safety, sustainability, and efficiency.
Other speakers on the day included Steven Jones, road policing supervisor for North Western Waikato, Jonathan Parker, chief executive of Thundergrid, and Soumya Puri, senior product manager at EROAD.
The agenda was packed with content tailored to both light and heavy fleet operators. Two dedicated stages offered attendees the flexibility to choose sessions that best matched their interests.
Along with speakers sessions, vendors and industry experts enjoyed a day of browsing vehicles, networking, plus a vehicle crane drop to simulate the forces at play in an 80km/h car crash vs 120km/h.
“Fleet Day has grown from a small regional event, to one of the leading fleet management events in the country,” co-chief executive David Kenneson says.
“Providing a platform for industry to build valuable relationships, share best practices, and collectively contribute to advancing industry‘s goals of safety, efficiency, and sustainability.”
Driving remains the number one cause of workplace fatalities in New Zealand. And for heavy fleet operators, the focus was geared towards how the industry can shift the dial on safety.
A group panel session, which featured experts from NZ police, Fonterra, NZI, EROAD and Greg Murphy, discussed the recent speed limit rollbacks and the potential impacts, as well as the role of technology in keeping drivers safe.
Elsewhere, the big ideas for light fleets centred around the evolving state of the EV market, and how businesses can successfully reduce vehicle emissions.
“At EROAD, we’re committed to helping businesses run safer, greener, more productive fleets,” Kenneson adds.
“The decisions made by the 1,200 people in attendance at Fleet Day have the potential to significantly influence the future of our roads, our communities and our economy. Coming together enables us to learn from one another, and leverage that collective experience so we can get there faster.”
