Comment: New man at the helm
The Road Transport Forum Board of Directors recently appointed Tranzliquid’s Greg Pert as RTF’s new board chair
Greg is well-qualified for the role and is already a board member of NRC. He also sits on the Petroleum Industry Transport Safety Forum (PITSF) and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT).
Having first become an owner-driver 35 years ago, Greg has a long history and affection for the industry. From those humble beginnings, Greg and his partner Jackie have built Tranzliquid Logistics into a major fleet delivering fuel or fuel-related products throughout the North Island.
Greg is what I would term a bit of a progressive in our industry. He’s a lateral thinker with a modern view of the world. Tranzliquid has long had a reputation as a great company to work for and I know that much of that comes from Greg’s attitude to people.
Greg understands just how important good people are to this industry and with workforce an ongoing challenge, his experience and insight as a well-regarded employer will be invaluable going forward.
Like all parts of the New Zealand economy, road transport is experiencing serious fiscal uncertainty and it’s important that through our advocacy functions, RTF helps support operators to get through it.
Greg replaces Neil Reid, who has been chair for the past six years and will remain on the board as a director.
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Greg Pert
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Neil is the ultimate gentleman and has been a real pleasure to work within my time at RTF.
I am thrilled he’s staying involved, as his experience and wisdom will be vital to the industry as we address the variety of challenges we have facing us.
Recognising service to NZ trucking industry
While a lot of industry focus understandably goes on the importance of encouraging young people into transport jobs, RTF and our associations are also making an effort to recognise those who have shown dedication to road transport throughout their careers.
This has led to the creation of long service recognition awards.
The first of these is the Outstanding Contribution to the Truck Driving Profession Award.
This is intended for drivers who’ve driven heavy vehicles for 30, 40, or 50 years of accumulated time in the industry. This means that the recipient could have driven for just one employer or multiple different employers, as is likely to be the case. The award is to recognise a driver’s contribution to the industry as a whole rather than for a specific operator.
The second is the Outstanding Contribution to the Road Transport Industry Award. This is intended for personnel that have been working in the road freight transport industry for 30, 40, or 50 years but not necessarily in a full-time driving position. As we know, those who undertake the critical tasks back at the yard, in the office, or at a distribution centre are just as important in making sure the freight task is completed. Without the dispatchers, marketers, administration, store workers, trainers, or health and safety professionals, there’s no way that our logistics sector would run as efficiently and as smoothly as it does.
Unfortunately, because they are not on the front line, it’s not uncommon for these people to go unrecognised.
All operators know just how important it is to have good, experienced staff that know their customers, know the routes, and know how the business works. These awards are available to help our industry recognise those people.
Employers or colleagues can make nominations by emailing forum@rtf.nz. Just put ‘Long Service Recognition’ in the subject line then state the name of the recipient, their length of service to the industry, and which award they are being nominated for.
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