Advocating for heavy haulage and oversize

Image: Transporting essential resources to the State Highway 5 repair sites in cyclone-stricken Napier. Photo by Ben from Hick Bros Heavy Haulage.

The celebration of 60 years representing the heavy haulage and oversize sector during our conference in Wellington in 2024, was time to acknowledge where we have come from, but also look forward to where we are heading.

Over the last 12 months we have lost a number of stalwarts of our industry, who over the past decades had built up individually a unique industry knowledge in their respective fields. While remembering these people at our conference, this was also a celebration of what they have achieved and the legacy that the industry needs to keep moving on with.

For the oversize transport sector the combined mantra of challenging the standard rules, never accepting what bureaucracy says, and always looking for a positive way to solve a problem in face of adversity, are what our members and our association as a whole takes forward into 2025.

Over the course of the past few months we have been working on a safety video for the general public and heavy road users around oversize loads while also raising the profile of our industry and the role of load pilots. We look forward to releasing it soon.

The house moving sector is  also raising its profile with the third season of ‘Moving Houses’ on network television, which features a number of members involved in relocating houses for clients. These shows often cover many of the safety issues that operators face in transporting oversize loads.

To keep transport rules ahead of the game involving traffic flows and changing behaviours from general road users, led the association to develop a list of requirements we need. Most of these are in the Vehicle Dimension and Mass Rule, and last year we have met with Simeon Brown (then Transport Minister) and the Ministry of Transport to discuss these requirements in detail.

One specific change we seek is ‘as of right’ access to toll roads for oversize loads. This was a specific subject of the meeting with the Minister and we are optimistic that we will get a commonsense solution. It is, however, just one of a number of changes that will be required to VDAM, and it will  take some time to go through the consultation process and we intend to work with the Ministry and NZTA through 2025 to achieve this.

Roading maintenance

It is expected that as the Government rolls out the development of the new Roads of National Significance and the subject of ‘tolling’ it is important that we get ahead of the game, and we look forward to engaging with the project designers to ensure they cater for oversize loads. Our past experience has proved this is not the main design alignment, but accessing on and off interchanges, and how they connect with the local road network, are key to getting the design right.

The roll-out of road maintenance on State Highways will take greater form through the new IDM model of delivery that replaces the NOC arrangements that are now coming to an end. Aside from the acronyms changing, it is clear that there will be more coordination, improved auditing, and better communication with the NZTA, which will be a more active partner in this maintenance process and how it is delivered. However, increased funding for highway maintenance means we are likely to face more significant interruption on the routes used for transporting oversize freight.

This process has been evident in the SH1 Tirau to Waiouru Accelerated Maintenance project that started in September 2024 and will continue throughout this year. This has caused issues for our freight sector and required planning alternate routes, and where these are not suitable for oversize loads, access through the worksites has been arranged. With more large maintenance projects of longer duration, the cost to road users and the greater risks using  alternate routes needs to be factored into the mix. We look forward to engaging with the NZTA more on this.

Compliance challenges

The Association is always striving for ways to reduce and simplify complex compliance rules, whether this is through commonsense changes, easier ways to apply for and receive permits to travel, and the use of technology to make these everyday processes easier.

Often compliance issues change at a very slow pace, but engaging with the various regulatory authorities to get them to see the ‘value’ in easing compliance is the best way forward. For example, knowing the locations of planned road works in advance of travel is the best way to explore alternate routes,  and for providing advance notice to roading worksites that oversize loads will be coming through. We will continue to work with technology providers to explore options for bringing the information together in an App format to make is easy to access planned roading works.

A small, but crucial, part of our membership includes the heavy recovery operators who specialise in the recovery of trucks and other heavy vehicles that have broken down, or have been involved in accidents. We are planning to improve documentation and update various rules, procedures, and requirements for working in this sector over this year. This is necessary to benefit both our member operators and the police in the future.

Working together

The NZ Heavy Haulage Association has a wide range of sectors, operators, and individuals involved in our industry, and what is clear is the ‘passion’ all our members bring to their operations and to our industry as a whole.

We expect this to stand us in good stead for the next 60 years of advocating for our industry.