Trucking through – the Power of Three

By Chris Cassels

The number “3” is often seen as a special or lucky number _ so it was clever of Carol and

Trevor Hawkins to produce three sons: the perfect number to take over the family trucking

business when Trevor retired in 2009. 

Daniel, Jared and Josh, each with different but complimentary skills, have expanded the operation significantly since then. Daniel runs the service workshop, Jared the trucking operations and Josh the business/finance side.

The name, Martinborough Transport, doesn’t begin to describe the scale of their operation though, with more than 30 trucks covering the country from bottom to top. The logistics are complex and to manage this they have added three more depots, one at Waingawa and two in the South Island (Ashburton and Waikaia). There’s a constant search for efficiencies and they’re proud to have massively reduced the fleet’s fuel emissions over the years.

The giveaway that this is a family operation is the hawk painted on each truck (hawk – Hawkins!). If you’ve owned your own business you will knows it’s never a 9-to-5 job and sacrifices are part of the deal. 

If you aren’t working, then you are thinking about it. Employees and their families depend on you. Your customers depend on you. Your own family depends on you. When your customers are farmers it’s a 365-day a year, 24-hour-a-day operation.

The pressure is huge and having a good team is critical.

The brothers recognise the drivers are vital to their success. It’s tough work with long hours

and a lot of time away from home. There’s expensive equipment involved and often tricky

driving conditions. 

They work really hard to keep these staff happy, providing purpose-built accommodation on site, helping them gain higher licence categories and providing top line trucks to drive. The luxurious cabs include (almost) all the comforts of home.

They also employ school children to clean the trucks and help those who are interested get their licences and eventually become drivers too.

Being totally invested in the rural sector, the business faces many of the same challenges facing  their customers: for example, droughts leading to massive stock movements around the country and the impact of land use changes such pine plantations and dairy conversions.

Road closures like the Manawatu Gorge and other natural disasters such as Cyclone Gabrielle add massively to travel time, distance and cost. Closer to home, the Hinekura Road slip added 1.5 hours of driving time to the coast and involved tricky driving that really tested the drivers’ skills. They are grateful to SWDC councillor Aiden Elims for his help with resolving this problem.

15 years on, thanks to loyal staff, a powerful work ethic, excellent business skills and a strong sense of responsibility, the three have weathered the storms together to become a significant and progressive operator in their sector.

Will there be a third-generation of Hawkins at the helm? We will just have to wait and see.