| 47 FORESTRY PF Olsen Ltd: 50th Anniversary PF Olsen is now predominantly owned by staff and ex-staff. The company looks after 160,000 hectares harvesting 3-4 million tonnes yearly. Providing log distribution in and around the Nelson, Tasman, Marlborough & West Coast regions From one single wheel loader working for a harvesting crew back in 1977, Nelson based Borlase Transport has grown and evolved as a log transport company with a reputation for quality service. “Dad would say that our success as a log transport company has been about being in the right place/right time, and there’s truth in that,” says Steve Borlase, whose father Duncan founded the business over forty years ago. “But a large part of our growth has been about meeting customer demand and the service we provide. Borlase Transport has always prided itself on the quality of service we provide, not necessarily being the biggest in the Nelson area. We just want to be the best at what we do.” By being the best, Steve includes having highly skilled staff and holding many of what are recognised by the industry as top accreditations. “We pride ourselves on that. Because we show good roadside inspections and have a good maintenance plan our entire fleet is on a twelve-monthly COF inspection programme, where it’s typically six-monthly for commercial vehicles. The Log Transport Safety Council has a contractor certification that has a star rating from 1 – 5. Borlase Transport is one of only two operators in the country at the moment that holds all five stars. The audit process for that rating also goes through your health and safety system.” Steve says a big aspect of the Log Transport certification audit looks at what is done for staff in terms of training. “Many of our fifty-two staff are confident loader and digger operators so that they can load themselves if they need to. We have a lot of highly trained staff in that regard. Put many of our team into any bit off machinery and they would know how to operate it.” Based in Spring Grove, 25 minutes south of Nelson, Borlase Transport’s fleet of logging truck and trailer units operate throughout the Marlborough/Nelson region and into the West Coast as far as Hokitika. Carting primarily for OneFortyOne and PF Olsen, Steve estimates that his team carries a little over 800,000 tonnes of logs every year, with about half being fed to local mills, and the rest dispatched for export. “We recently diversified with the purchase of a bin wood truck to take away the debris piles from around the ground-based and hauler landings, to help our clients with their environmental requirements.” Quality service every time 196 Main Road Spring Grove RD1 Wakefield, Nelson @borlasetransport 03-541 8614
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