Hiab Transport

The challenges of running a specialist transport operation

Owned and operated by Robin Thomas, West Auckland-based HIAB Transport has a diverse team of employees from New Zealand and around the globe. 

Operating a specialist fleet of 25 trucks and trailers servicing the burgeoning building and construction market is a complex mission. On top of this are the additional worries about where the vehicles are located, if the fleet’s road user charges (RUC) are up to date, and if drivers have received the correct dispatch information and understood it. 

The diversity of the driving team means that dispatch communications need to be clear and succinct to ensure optimal efficiency and that jobs are completed productively.

Before HIAB Transport adopted the Teletrac Navman GPS tracking system, customers sometimes contested their freight charges resulting in additional and unnecessary administration time. The dispute over the time charged caused unwarranted friction as well as lost revenue.

“Before we installed Teletrac Navman’s RUC Manager some of the trailers had often travelled more kilometres than we had paid RUC for, which led to a few administrative headaches. Now we don’t have any issues at all with maintaining compliance, everything is monitored online and is easily checked.”

HIAB Transport has been a loyal Teletrac Navman customer since 2012, using a complete fleet management system with in-cab devices. HIAB followed by implementing RUC Manager to manage Road User Charges electronically. This has allowed the business to purchase RUC licences digitally, automatically distribute to vehicles and display via an electronic reader in the vehicle.

“We have a long and valued relationship with Teletrac Navman,” says Robin. “The bottom line is the bottom line, and the Teletrac Navman product is brilliant because it just never breaks down. We have a great relationship with our account manager who supervises the smooth running of the system and the installers are just brilliant at what they do.”

Maintaining compliance, revenue and exceptional customer service

It was a ‘Eureka’ moment for Robin when he first saw the Teletrac Navman system because it solved what had become a significant issue for the company. 

“The best thing about the GPS tracking was that it solved any customer dispute over their invoice. They couldn’t argue with the timekeeping of the GPS system, and therefore we retained valuable revenue,” he says. 

Robin says that installing the system has been a win-win situation for all parties. Invoices are sent the day after the job has been completed, the billing is a much smoother operation than before, and customer’s accounts are always accurate and up to date. 

With its growing business, HIAB Transport benefitted from real-time knowledge of the fleets whereabouts is vital to maintaining operating safety and efficiency.

“Visibility of the fleet is hugely important to us so we can maximise the trucks uptime,” says Robin. “So much so that we have allowed one customer to share our Teletrac Navman screen on their computer so they can also keep an eye on where the trucks are.”

Installing Teletrac Navman’s electronic road user charges system has also solved another compliance issue for HIAB Transport.

“Before we installed Teletrac Navman’s RUC Manager, the trailers had often travelled more kilometres than we had paid RUC for, which led to a few administrative headaches. Now we don’t have any issues at all with maintaining compliance, everything is monitored online and is easily checked.

Joining the ranks of the vehicles in the fleet, was a growing team. HIAB Transport has a diverse environment of employees, so communications need to be easily transmitted and understood by all team members.

“We are a league of nations here with a mixture of local and recent immigrant drivers in the team, so the benefit of the in-cab device is that we are able to send them location and other instructions in text form which are easily read and understood,” says Robin. “We also have set up an overspeed to monitor driver behaviour so that we can have conversations when needed.”

“The best thing about the GPS tracking was that it solved any customer dispute over their invoice. They couldn’t argue with the timekeeping of the GPS system, and therefore we retained valuable revenue.”