From left: Anthony Jones, of HW Richardson, VTNZ Supreme Contribution to New Zealand Road Transport; Mackenzie Lintern, EROAD 2023 Young Driver of the Year; Tania Breach, EROAD Outstanding Contribution to Health and Safety; Lisa de Silver, of Booth’s Logistics, Hanga-Aro-Rau Outstanding Contribution to Training; Vernia Niao, Outstanding Contribution by a Woman in The Road Transport Industry; and Chris Wood, from CR Grace, who represented the other co-winners, Martinborough Transport Ltd and Stephenson Transport in Outstanding Innovation Contribution award sponsored by Fruehauf.
Outstanding contributions to the road transport industry have been recognised at the 2023 Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand Industry Awards.
The awards, held on June 29, recognise best practice or behaviour and honour an individual, organisation, or company that has gone above and beyond in raising skills, industry awareness, safety practices, knowledge, training, innovation or expertise.
The six categories include: EROAD Outstanding Contribution to Health and Safety, Teletrac Navman Outstanding Contribution by a Woman in the Road Transport Industry, EROAD Young Driver of the Year, Fruehauf Outstanding Contribution to Innovation Award, Hanga-Aro-Rau Outstanding Contribution to Training Award, and VTNZ Supreme Contribution to NZ Road Transport.
VTNZ Supreme Contribution to New Zealand Road Transport – awarded to HW Richardson Group
HW Richardson is one of New Zealand’s largest privately owned transport companies, with more than 2500 employees in New Zealand and Australia, working in six industry sectors, with revenue of $2 billion a year.
Bill Richardson founded the company on a vision of solid values and putting people first. The multi generation group now has companies specialising in transport, concrete, petrol, contracting, and quarrying and environmental matters.
It’s even got a hand in tourism with the landmark Transport World in Invercargill, and is part of a joint venture to rejuvenate downtown Invercargill with a $183 million project.
Most recently it is driving the transport sector with its investment in dual fuel hydrogen technology.
HW Richardson says the dual fuel approach will allow the transport industry to move to hydrogen in a way that is accessible and fair for the industry.
HWR Hydrogen has the first hydrogen-diesel dual fuel truck in the Southern Hemisphere. The system injects hydrogen into the existing diesel engine to maintain all the current operations, distances and payload, while reducing carbon emissions by up to 40%.
HWR is working to build a hydrogen refuelling network with the first green hydrogen production system due to be finished in Southland in September. It’s the first stage of a major investment designed to ultimately benefit all of New Zealand’s transport operators, and the entire planet.
Fruehauf Outstanding Innovation Contribution – awarded to CR Grace, Martinborough Transport, and Stephenson Transport
The winning nomination required the demonstration of considerable leadership and management across multiple organisational levels for their trialling of an innovative alternative fatigue management approach when transporting livestock.
EROAD Outstanding Contribution to Health and Safety – awarded to Tania Breach of Clive Taylor Haulage
Tania Breach had to be dragged kicking and screaming into buying a trucking company. Now she’s a key part of its success.
Husband Andrew, aka Sooty, says they had a pretty nice lifestyle in New Plymouth but when he got sick of working on the offshore rigs, he decided to fill his time by buying Clive Taylor Haulage based in Paraparaumu.
Tania had been the operations manager for the Wood Group in New Plymouth running fire and safety training for offshore oil rig workers and she brought her high level of professionalism from that role to the company.
The firm’s now one of the biggest rock cartage firms in the North Island with 20 staff and has had some big contracts, including work on the Otaki bypass. Andrew says safety is a major way the company promotes itself when pricing jobs and it keeps the level of professionalism high amongst the team.
Tania is a big believer in giving the drivers the tools to be safety focused and has got them through training courses and MITO micro-credentials to help with their knowledge and growth.
Andrew says it’s vital to have strong health and safety processes in place to meet the terms of contracts and Tania’s hard work in creating safe operating procedures has a huge amount to do with the company doing well.
Tania has also put two young drivers through the Te ara ki tua Road to success programme and they’ve both achieved their class 5 licenses. She is looking after the current crop, and bringing through another generation of drivers.
Teletrac Navman Outstanding Contribution by a Woman in The Road Transport Industry – awarded to Verna Niao, executive director at MITO Te Pukenga
As the executive director of MITO, Verna Niao oversees the organisation that trains people on the job in the automotive, commercial road transport, passenger services and quarrying industries, among others.
With more than 4000 learners and 3000 employers, MITO has more than 70 training programmes for all those sectors.
Now part of Te Pūkenga, the New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology, Niao is a key part of upskilling people at a very local, but also a national level.
She has always had that sort of a role, having worked for the Apprenticeship Commissioner, and being involved in the creation of industry training organisations.
Niao says developing New Zealand’s workforce and helping industries grow has been a huge privilege.
She says it’s very satisfying to see a talented person make the most of the opportunities an employer gives them, and then to see them grow into being a leaders in their field.
EROAD 2023 Young Driver of the Year (under 35) – awarded to Mackenzie Lintern
Mackenzie Lintern works for NZ Crane Hire and is one of the graduates of Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand’s Te Ara ki tua Road to success training programme.
Lintern started her trucking career after leaving school in Year 12 to deliver groceries, before joining the scheme and she has done nothing but impress everyone with her enthusiasm and professionalism.
She started out as a trainee with Mackleys Carriers and the year-long course saw her do practical learning modules on her way to getting her Class 5 heavy combination vehicle license.
Peter Danilo from Mackleys says when he first met Mackenzie in August 2021 he asked her what she wanted to achieve. She said, “I want to be a driver, not a steerer.” Peter says that was the moment he knew she’d be a great driver, and her positive attitude, work ethic and determination were an inspiration.
He says Mackenzie put in a huge amount of work, achieving more in a short time than many people did in five years.
Andrew Page, from NZ Crane Hire, says within days of joining the company the most experienced drivers and its transport coordinator were highly impressed by her knowledge and her skills in operating Class 4 and 5 vehicles.
Andrew says Mackenzie’s willingness to learn and the skills she’s got through her training have provided a great foundation for her future.
She’s now also studying at Massey University towards a degree in business analytics that’ll give her a lot of options if she decides one day to have a look at management.
Hanga-Aro-Rau Outstanding Contribution to Training – awarded to Booth’s Logistics
Booth’s Logistics is a company with the attitude of making things happen.
It’s a family firm, with Craig and Trevor Booth setting the tone for the company, and the 800+ staff in its warehouse locations right around New Zealand.
To keep its staff fully skilled up, Booth’s adopted the Qualification Pathway with Te Ara ki tua Road to success to grow and develop their drivers – from Class 1 through to Class 5.
Booth’s currently has 14 drivers enrolled in micro credentials training and brings them together in groups to complete the modules, supporting peer learning and providing team support to their learners.
Booth’s are investing in the programme and see it being fully integrated into their recruitment and onboarding process for all their future drivers.
They’re also planning to use the Loading Fundamentals and Mass and Dimension micro credentials to upskill their team of loader drivers throughout the company.
Booth’s run a cadetship programme to bring team members through the business, providing training in all areas and this has been in place for a number of years and provides a real depth of skill and knowledge throughout the whole organisation.
They are leading the way in showing the role industry qualifications have to play in training and developing professional drivers, and are committed to this across the business.
