The 3G Shutdown Is Coming – Is Your Fleet Prepared or in the Dark?
Nothing goes together quite like driving and music. New Zealand has a long and rich transport history with land freight playing a major part in the success of our primary industries and international export prowess.
Exactly when the first motor truck was imported into New Zealand is not known, but the usefulness had been well established by 1912, when it was suggested in Parliament that motor-buses and motor wagons should be used instead of light railways.
Today the road freight industry plays a vital part in New Zealand’s thriving economy and the technology utilised in the industry makes for an exciting future.
1918 - The first electric truck is imported . This milestone looks to be around 80 years too early, but it’s true! The Christchurch City Council imported their first Walker Electric Truck in 1918. Manufactured in Chicago, the half-ton truck was engineered to reach a top speed of 22kph and had an “optimistic” range of 65km. The song to play whilst motoring that year was Tiger Rag by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. Although the drivers would have had to wait until they were home to play the vinyl.
New Zealand’s first electric truck
1964 – NZ reaches 150,699 trucks on the motor vehicle register . The growth of the national fleet of commercial vehicles is a significant event of New Zealand's economic history. World War One advanced the efficiency and production of motor vehicles, and many returned soldiers were experienced in driving and servicing them. In ’64 The Beatles were everywhere, but ahead of them touching down in NZ, a Christchurch band called Ray Columbus & the Invaders scored an instant chart hit with She’s a Mod.
1983 – Sir Russell Pettigrew is knighted for services to transport, community and sport . Russell Pettigrew was a former trucker and the man who started what’s now known as Freightways Express. During Russell’s time spent on the notoriously poor Napier-Taupo road, he had made numerous trips to the capital advocating a better road. The new Napier-Taupo road was officially opened in 1972. In 1983, the first year of Pettigrew’s Knighthood, Sharon O’Neil from Nelson made waves here and across the ditch with Maxine .
1988 - The New Zealand Trucking Association begins . And ever since has been actively representing and supporting trucking related businesses. Their members range from small owner operator businesses through to large corporates. This was a milestone year for NZ music too, with Dave Dobbyn bringing us arguably NZ’s biggest hit Loyal .
1995 – NZTA introduces the National Road Safety Plan . By 1995, NZ’s annual road toll was close to 600 and international comparisons of road deaths ranked New Zealand’s driving a record 14th out of 24 OECD nations. The main causes were drink-driving, speeding and not wearing safety belts. Other driving errors that contributed were; drivers not giving way, not stopping and not keeping left. Rock legendsShihad released Bitter in 1995 – which would’ve been on the set list when they took the stage at the Big Day Out in 1996.
2004 – Over 20,000 million tonne-kilometres are transported by road . Since then, the industry has continued to grow, carrying around 90 percent of all domestic freight. Road freight has been a huge asset to NZ’s agricultural industry with large volumes of meat, wool, fruit and dairy being transported across the country by road. If you were trucking long-haul that year, chances are you’d have heard dreaming by Cantabrian Hip Hop artist Scribe.
2015 - Louise Marriott becomes first woman to win the Volvo trucks Asia Pacific Fuelwatch challenge. Marriott was also the first representative from New Zealand to attain the top prize at the Fuelwatch Challenge. From here she took on the stunt driving challenge for the Volvo truck The Flying Passenger video. Louise plays a starring role - driving at speed through the steep Dinaric Alps in Croatia, towing a paraglider through a narrow tunnel in a world-first attempt. With the same go-getter attitude, Six60 topped charts three times in 2015 – a major hit being White Lines . Pretty good for a Dunedin band born out of a student flat at 660 Castle Street.
2017 – Teletrac Navman tracks 100,000 vehicles and assets across NZ and Oz . The beginnings of Teletrac Navman trace back to Auckland in 1986. Today we track everything from powerful freight trucks to SPCA Auckland’s rescue vans, and zippy Domino’s Pizza delivery vehicles to tradies’ tool-laden utes. Like us, Lorde started in NZ and has gone global. And in 2017 her hit Green Light is topping charts both in Aotearoa and around the world.