Everything the trucking industry in general must deal with, so too must the heavy-haulage sector. The difference is the effects are magnified at these lengths and weights. From the drivers and their gear to the road condition and the times of operation, everything in heavy haulage needs to be thoroughly considered and carefully approached to get the job done safely and with minimal disruption to the public.

A simple discussion with Simon Ross and transport manager Andrew Stevenson about the TRT Four-Rows-of-Eight ESS Widening Low Loader led to insight into the challenges C & R Developments, and others in the industry, face daily.

“… when we took the trailer for a test run with TRT, and we saw it go around a roundabout, I thought, ‘Wow, that was easy.’ No going out wide or taking the oncoming lane. It doesn’t rip out the road with tyre scrub. We save a lot of money on tyres with the steering trailers,” Andrew says, opening two points of discussion.

“We don’t measure tyre life by the kilometre, but by the day. With non-steerable trailers, you could change tyres every two or three weeks, depending on what it’s been carrying. They ruin tyres. They roll over on themselves and scrub in corners. The steerers extend the life of the tyres immensely. They still wear, but nowhere near the same.”

Simon picks up on the issues of roundabouts. “They’re getting harder and harder to move around, especially with our big gear. Some of the designs are getting ridiculous.”

One look at the tyre tracks around the inner kerbing of modern roundabouts indicates they’re not just tight for oversized units; some are too tight for common nine- axle units.

“We had them put another metre on the Hautapu roundabout,” Andrew adds. “Soon as we’d start winding it around with something on the back, we couldn’t get around. The drivers had to take the oncoming side.”

Raised crossings, too, are an obstacle to a heavy-haul unit. “They’re not ideal,” says Andrew. “We have to slow right down and, running low anyway, you’re scraping. With the old fixed trailers, we’d have to virtually stop before crossing them. With the ESS double-acting suspension, it’s not so bad, but still not good – you start loading up axles, and you get one axle in the middle that takes the point loadings. It’s hard on the vehicles at the weights we’re running already.”

Simon adds that being able to raise the suspension also helps when crossing bridges. “Some of these old one-lane bridges with concrete sides … you can barely get across them. There’s a bridge on the road to the Whitehall Quarry that’s been there since the 1940s. The road either end of the bridge is at different angles, so to get it lined up …”

Continues Andrew: “Yeah, you get it straight but when you go over first with the tractor unit and the dolly, the trailer’s coming straight and you have to turn it to get off … It can be challenging. We are waiting for the bridge to break one day. They know it needs to be fixed.”

“A lot of these bridges are the lifeline to the quarry. If they go down and we’re responsible for the damage, that’s bad. We’ve got one outside the Brookby Quarry, you near have to pull the machine apart to cross it. Now, at least, we can just raise it,” says Simon.

“Our problems are the same as the rest of the industry, just bigger,” Andrew reiterates. “Many of the heavy-haul guys struggle with roads that are not ideal. Take the heavy-haul route through Auckland – once you get to Greenlane, it can take you three hours to get through to the [Johnstones Hill] Tunnels.

“Going through the middle of Orewa on a Thursday evening and asking everyone sitting outside enjoying their night to move as we come through … They ask why are we coming this way, ‘There’s a perfectly good road up there’ … Yeah, we know!”

It’s often no easier once out on the state highway network, especially with new median barriers, says Simon. “Some of them come in too narrow. If you have a problem, a popped tyre or whatever, you have nowhere to pull off. Even considering tail swing, the boys have trouble getting through places like Dome Valley.”

“We had a machine through there the other day that we had to take up the wrong side right from the bottom to the top, about 6km. It still was not easy, but the bit of extra room on that side of the road is miles to us,” Andrew adds, noting that the new expressways are making the job a little easier.

“The Brynderwyns is still a problem … people get irate when we stop them at the top from coming down while the machine is moving up.”

As we notice each time riding with an oversized vehicle, the average motorist is almost oblivious to the purpose and operation of pilot vehicles. “Yeah, that’s an issue. And the abuse from motorists made to wait … We’re doing it for their safety; it’s 30 seconds at the most,” continues Andrew.

“Then, we do a lot of this at night, and you never know who you’ll meet on the road and what they’re out for at those times,” says Simon. “We’ve said to our guys, we don’t care how long it takes you to get through, as long as everyone is safe and the machine gets through with no damage. If you have issues and it takes longer, it’s fine.”