Flood drives Hawke’s Bay truckies south

Seven Hawke’s Bay truck drivers struggling for work due to flood-wreaked roads have taken up the offer to cart logs for a Richmond company until their region is back on its feet.

Brodie Drummond from Stuart Drummond Transport invited truck drivers via a facebook post to head south for work and says the phone calls poured in.

Four trucking operators sent seven trucks south with drivers and Brodie says there was plenty of work available carting logs for the logging industry, so it has been a win-win for everyone.

“There was just no work for them up north because the roads were shut and some of their families were affected. One had a daughter’s house written off and one of the guys said that whatever you see on the news – double it.

“The logging industry is pretty up and down but this year we’ve started with lots of work, and when the floods happened it was an opportunity to help some of the people and help some of our customers.”

Ray Beale has a fleet of 11 trucks based in Hawke’s Bay and his depot was “pretty much under water” during the flood and many roads were unusable, leaving little work for the company and its drivers.

“We’ve got a good community in the industry and Brodie said they had spare trucks down here if drivers needed jobs or bring your own trucks. That is a huge thing for him to do and huge for us as well. If we didn’t get that offer, we’d be parked up with no work. The guys wouldn’t have jobs.”

Though some normality is returning to Hawke’s Bay, Ray says the Napier-Gisborne road will be closed for a long time and it was essential for their work.

He says some trucking businesses have closed for good because Covid-19 challenges and then the flood has made it too tough for them.

Others have left the region; many heading to the Central Plateau to work on the million tonne of forest that fell over in the cyclone.

“A lot of owners have already pulled the pin – we’ve lost 30 to 40 trucks from Hawke’s Bay.”

He expects his team to continue working for the Richmond transport company until the end of April.

“They’re so busy and they’ve been so good to us that we’ll stay until then. In years to come, Nelson might have a major weather event and we’ll be able to repay the favour.”

Nathan White from Dannevirke has also made the trip south after his boss teed up the job.

He brought his International Prostar south for contract work with Stuart Drummond Transport and says he is loving his first trip to the South Island.

“I’ve never been to the South Island and I’m loving the scenery and feeling like a paid tourist.”