Business Rural Winter 2021

| 97 Scarcity of skilled drivers a concern Fertiliser spreading, stock and bulk cartage form the bulk of SVT’s work. Sue Russell T wenty minutes north-east of Gore is the settlement of Wendonside and home to rural transport contracting business Switzers Valley Transport. Led by Murray Maslin, the company offers a range of services to the sector, including regional and nation-wide livestock cartage, general bulk and fertiliser cartage and GPS fertiliser spreading. Murray established the company in 2009, hav- ing formerly been a business partner at Andrews Transport. “My plan then was to look at operating five to seven trucks but today we have grown the business to 13 trucks with two more on the way,” Murray says. He acknowledges the growth in demand for his services was initially surprising, given it was simply through contacts and word-of-mouth, as is often the case in this industry. “Being known in the Valley has a big part to play with it as well, but especially it’s the good work of my staff.” Switzers Valley Transport cart stock all over the South Island, and occasionally up into the North. The stock transport division of the company is run by Andrew Sharp, Murray’s business partner, while Murray looks after the bulk and fertiliser cartage business. There’s a strong rhythm and flow to the year, with general cartage being a seasonal operations mainly through to May. June and July are quieter months and then the work-pace picks up again by August. Spreading the fertiliser is done on Scania ma- chines, which Murray says have always performed well. The company’s bulk trucks are a Mack Super- liner, a Freightliner and a Mack Trident. Murray says the quality of the company’s driv- ers behind the wheel is second-to-none and he also acknowledges it is difficult to attract the next generation of drivers. RURAL SERVICES » Switzers Valley Transport “I have sower, bulk and stock drivers and each of them works hard, long hours at times. They understand that level of commitment is needed to succeed in this industry and it’s hard these days to find that enthusiasm toward hard work in the younger generation coming through.” Up to about two years ago Murray says he didn’t really experience much difficulty finding drivers. There’s a real commitment you make when taking on a young driver, as Murray explains. “We trained a young man through to getting the start of his license and he is now a Class 5 driver. To attain all your tickets is basically a four year period. You have to do so many hours at each level of grade and all up a heavy traffic licence sets us back $3500 plus.” Murray also puts some responsibility on schools, who don’t necessarily have an understanding that truck drivers have to be highly skilled operatives to work successfully in the industry. He’s also aware that the rigs these days aren’t getting any smaller. There’s a lot of skill involved in driving a 58 tonne vehicle on the open road. Switzer Valley Transport’s multi-purpose units that take care of transporting both stock and bulk. Stock is generally moved from November right through to the cows shifting home late May/early June. And Murray admits, at 64 years of age, he’s keen to step back from a leadership role, into more of a support person, but again, this hasn’t been easy to manage. “We did have someone with us who took over the role I have but it didn’t work out, so I stepped back in about 14 months ago.” With two more trucks soon to join the fleet, Murray says any plans to grow even larger need to be carefully thought through. “It puts a lot of pressure on your dispatchers the more trucks you have. With our two dispatchers we can manage these two trucks in terms of volumes, but any more would require taking on another person organising orders.” Murray feels the company has created a good situation for itself. There are larger corporate trans- porting companies operating, however he’s found that just concentrating on providing existing clients with the best possible service has given Switzer Valley Transport a positive position in the industry. (03) 208 8110 24 hour on call service | 25 Ashton Street, Gore For all Commerical and Agricultural tyres, Car & 4WD tyres. Car and 4WD Wheel Alignments. Suppliers of all brands for all budgets. PROUD TO SUPPORT SWITZERS VALLEY TRANSPORT SLINK SKINS Waikana, 4RD Gore 9774 Ph (03) 203-7012 Email: newtons@farmside.co.nz LTD NEWTON “We trained a young man through to getting the start of his license and he is now a Class 5 driver. To attain all your tickets is basically a four year period. You have to do so many hours at each level of grade and all up a heavy traffic licence sets us back $3500 plus.”