FH16 750 IN NEW ZEALAND
(^66) Summer 2019 Truck & Driver
us blankly. “I don’t even lock my
external locker,” he says.
On the road again, it’s not
long before we’re dropping down
the other side of the Pass, which
proves far less eventful than the
climb up. The powerful retarder
gives us a perfectly controlled
descent and our brake lights
don’t illuminate once.
I-Roll... frequently
The road flattens out on the final
leg of the drive up to Christchurch
and the rugged landscape is
replaced by flat agricultural land.
I-Roll frequently engages now,
and this is our chance to improve
our fuel figures. Then again, with
diesel costing NZ$1.65 (87p) per
litre at the pumps, who cares –
apart from environmentalists, of
course – about consumption?
We tip in an industrial estate
just outside Christchurch and,
after a little advice from Damien
and a couple of shunts, we
manage to get it into position
without too many problems. The
simple rule of thumb is, every
time you add a point of
articulation you change the way
you turn the steering wheel. So,
with two points of articulation, if
you want the trailer to go to the
right, it’s right hand down. Were
we in Australia, however, where
B-triples are all the rage, it would
be left hand down.
So, our discovery that it is
possible to reverse one of these
leads us back to the question of
whether or not a similar
configuration could work in the
UK. And we reckon it might.
This year the UK is
commencing an £8.2m
platooning trial, which in our
opinion is a waste of money.
Daimler has recently pulled the
plug on its platooning trials,
having failed to make the
technology work on North
America’s big open roads.
So why then do we think it
has potential on our crowded
island? Instead of linking trucks
wirelessly, doesn’t it make more
sense to go down the same route
as New Zealand and join them
mechanically? Of course, we’d
need to invest in infrastructure
and training – and that £8.2m
would be a good place to start!
● Watch the video of Will driving
in NZ at truckanddriver.co.uk/
VolvoFH16NewZealand
Temuka
strikes gold
In 1967 Rowdy and Margaret
Aitken, and three others,
purchased the ailing Temuka
Transport business and
began transforming it into a
major transport and logistics
operation. Today, headed up
by their son Garry, it operates
a 90-strong, predominantly
Volvo fleet. Specialising in
moving agricultural products,
it prides itself on offering a
‘paddock to port’ service.
The FH16 seen on these
pages, complete with special
livery, was purchased two
years ago to celebrate
Temuka’s 50th anniversary.
Two-year-old FH16 750 8x4 rides on air and is shod with low-profile rubber