| 87 facing the tranport industry The Milnes Transport fleet. RURAL SERVICES » Milnes Transport be unfair to say the transport minister and his advisers have never run a transport company and have probably never even been in a truck. I ask the question, how are they qualified to govern the transport industry when they don’t even understand what is required to be efficient and sustainable? I could save the country millions and millions of dollars by advising the Government on how to make the transport industry more efficient without compromising safety. I’d just about do it for nothing.” Peter reckons the silver bullet for the transport industry is to make it easier for people to get Pleased to support Milnes Transport Alan Macdonald Jack Perniskie Erin Howes Caleb Macdonald WVTWinton Vehicle Testing 03 236 8702 BOOKINGS: 03 236 8701 wintonvehicletesting@xtra.co.nz 35 Winton-Lorneville Highway, Winton 9270 Proudly supporting into the licensing system and give the industry more credit for the new drivers it trains. “You’re looking at $800,000 to $900,000 to put a brand new stock truck on the road, we’re not about to put an 20-year-old behind the wheel without sufficient training. We’re going to train them in a small stock truck, then a slightly bigger one, then when they’re ready we’ll put them in the big truck, probably along with another experienced driver. The age where you can get through the classes quicker while gaining experience needs to drop to 20 instead of 25, which opens up a whole new market for people wanting to get into the industry. Don’t forget we not only value the safety of the truck, we value the safety of the driver and the other people on the road.”When Peter started his driving career at the age of 18, he sat his heavy vehicle license in the same way we all sat our restricted car licenses, in a truck, doing a hill start, reversing a trailer, and coming straight out of that with his Class 5. Today’s trucks are bigger and more powerful, but they are also easier to drive, with mostly automatic transmissions, great breaking systems, and plenty of driver visibility. The acute shortage of drivers means drivers who are any good are naming their price, and Peter doesn’t begrudge them a red cent of it. “I’ve always thought truck driving was underpaid, the hours are hard and the family time is hard. Truck drivers are earning good wages now but the industry has to be able to sustain that.” Not an easy call when big customers like freezing companies are withholding payments for sometimes up to 90 day, and rates have not kept up with the increase in cost structures. “When we were being paid properly, stock cartage was the cornerstone of our business and everything else fitted in around it. Now, it’s practically non-viable. We can only provide an efficient service if we’re being paid to. If not, the service is going to drop off.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=