An old head on young shoulders
Every owner drivers dream, out on the highway making a mile.
First published March 2009
By Simon Vincent with the assistance of Craig McCauley
Much has been said and written about the younger generations who are now infiltrating the trucking industry, in many cases, the infiltration is much to the dismay of the older hands. On the whole, not a lot of good is spoken about these newer members of our fraternity and it is becoming less and less frequent that we come across individuals with the same drive, determination, skill, and a genuine work ethic we experienced when we were younger.
Richard Johnston
Refreshingly, Richard Johnston, owner of the single truck operation Johnston Trucking Ltd, stands out from this much maligned crowd. He proves that there are still some excellent new operators prepared to not only give it a go, but to show a level of maturity and ability far beyond their years.
Launching in 2005
Richard may have only launched his own business back in December 2005, but during the intervening years, has been able to significantly strengthen his financial position, update his truck and develop an extremely strong alliance with his most important supplier clients, Four-D-Freight Ltd, Wool Logistics Ltd, and AgriTranz Ltd.
And whilst many in the industry might choose to malign freight companies such as Four-D-Freight Ltd, Wool Logistics Ltd or AgriTranz Ltd, Richard’s association with them has not only grown stronger, it has a developed into an extremely close working relationship. A relationship which significantly benefits both parties, and is not the typical one-sided arrangement as so many contractor/principal arrangements tend to become.
It is a credit to Richard that he has been able to achieve so much in such a short time, but it must be remembered that it has been his strong dedication, effort, long hours, and personal sacrifice that have allowed his business to prosper. At only 29, there is plenty that some of the younger generation could learn from Richard. But it hasn’t all been easy.
Starting as a builder
Today Richard is a thoroughly professional transport operator, a far cry from the young lad who left school at 16 to become a builder’s apprentice back in the nineties. Not much interested in higher education, when the school’s woodwork teacher offered Richard the choice of an apprenticeship or staying at school a further year, Richard downed books and headed straight for a hammer.
For the next eighteen months he worked with a Canterbury building firm until tightening economic times (sound familiar?) saw the company keen to shed four of their current workforce. None of the men were laid off immediately, the four were tapped on the shoulder and asked to find alternative work as quickly as possible.
Job on the line
After a visit to the local, one Friday night, Richard found himself sitting around the kitchen table with his mate Nathan Stewart at Nathan’s parent’s house lamenting the imminent demise of his job. Cathy Stewart said they had a friend with a building business and that she would see if she could get Richard a job there.
This proved profitable as Richard was able to transfer his apprenticeship to the new firm and was soon enjoying work for there. Unfortunately, six months later, this firm began to experience difficulties and Richard was fast looking to be headed for the dole queue. Once again, talk around the Stewart’s table resulted in another job offer, this time within Vance and Cathy Stewart’s own metal and battery recycling business, Dominion Trading Co Ltd.
To drive a truck
Richard had only used his time in the building trade to wait until he was old enough to pursue his real passion, to drive trucks, unfortunately he was still a few months shy of his eighteenth birthday... He started with Dominion Trading cleaning batteries, draining the acid and neutralising it before preparing the batteries for transit to the North Island for recycling.
As a consolation, Richard was allowed to drive the company’s five trucks out of the yard in the morning to park them on the street and then back them all into the yard at the end of the day. This allowed Richard the opportunity to start learning to handle and back the company’s semi trailer unit (they used a forklift to manoeuvre the two axle pull trailer in).
Truck licence
After a few months of working in the battery division of Dominion Trading, Vance offered Richard the chance to get his truck licence, which Richard snapped up quickly. A few days later, with truck licence in hand, Richard was sent out in a Hino rigid to begin collection of batteries and scrap around the Christchurch environs.
Things were progressing nicely, when the driver of the Isuzu EXZ artic quit suddenly Richard was offered the opportunity to take over that truck. It was down to Lancaster Park’s (AMI Stadium now) car park, quick smart, to learn to back the trailer properly. Richard was told not to come back until he felt confident with the unit.
A trip to remember
After a quick trip to the testing station, and with a nice new trailer licence in hand, Richard was over the moon – his first trip out would be to the West Coast that Sunday. What an experience that would turn out to be.
Fresh faced, and green as they come, Richard proudly set off for the Arthurs Pass, a great learning experience was in the offering. Back then the Arthurs Pass still had the formidable Devil’s Stair Case, as the viaduct and flyover had not yet been completed. As Richard says, his skills with a Roadranger were still ‘developing’, and by halfway down the Devil’s Stair he had run out of brakes... Rather an inauspicious start you might say.
None the less, things improved quickly and soon he was travelling around the South Island collecting materials for recycling by the Dominion Trading Co Ltd. The Isuzu was replaced by a P113 Scania eight wheeler which added valuable extra capacity. Good as the job may have been, Richard was looking for advancement and began sending out CVs to prospective employers in the hope of landing a line haul job.
Stepping up
The first time he sent out 10 CVs and got four job offers, unfortunately they were all town delivery jobs, not exactly the result he was looking for. Undeterred, he proceeded to sent out 10 more, one was addressed to Opzeeland Transport (Hornby) Ltd, and funnily enough the very next day they were advertising for two line haul drivers in the local newspaper.
Richard made a quick call to John van Opzeeland saying he was interested in working for them and that a CV was already in the post. Applying at Opzeelands was rather a bold move, as at the time he didn’t really have a huge amount of experience, but Richard’s prospective father-in-law had dealings with Opzeelands and was offered as a reference.
Amazingly he was offered an interview, at which he offered to come in and work for the company after 5pm (once he had finished his day’s work with Dominion Trading) to help load and unload trucks so that John van Opzeeland could establish his abilities and enthusiasm.
Faltering before the start
Unfortunately, after working the evening for Opzeelands, Richard was informed that two other drivers had been offered the jobs and his application was not successful. But lady luck was smiling, as one of the drivers turned down the position after his current employer upped the ante. Richard received a call for John van Opzeeland asking how soon he could start. Success!
Richard started with Opzeeland doing short haul work to Timaru on this customer liveried Scania.
Working for Opzeeland was, and remains, one of those very sought after opportunities. But Richard was in, albeit not on line haul but yard work, local and short hops to Timaru or Oamaru or the likes. The first truck he was given was an older P113 Scania painted in Bluebird Chips colours, one of the few Opzeeland trucks not in their distinctive green livery. His propensity to work was quickly noticed and Richard was destined to move up through the ranks, each time taking on bigger and better trucks.
Moving up the ladder
Richard’s next mount was a near new R124 Scania eight wheeler curtainsider which was followed by a procession of Scanias and DAFs. Within a couple of years Richard was regularly tramping between the islands, doing the company’s regular Auckland return trips. And, unlike some of the larger freight companies, these were not point to point single drop loads, but involved pick-ups and deliveries all the way there and all the way back.
At one stage he was punting a DAF 85CF flat deck and trailer, which required plenty of tarping – Richard remembers that ‘You learned pretty quick how to cover properly.’ If you didn’t tarp your load properly John van Opzeeland would come out and undo any cover that didn’t meet his expectations. The tarp not only had to be tight and tidy but the Opzeeland name had to be straight. If it wasn’t straight you had to start all over again.
Best learning experiences
Richard credits his time at Opzeelands as one of the best learning experiences he has ever had. Working there, and travelling long distances, taught Richard how to appropriately manage fatigue, the work may have been hard but it was certainly rewarding.
Change was inevitable, especially as Richard’s girlfriend of long standing, Aimee, was due to return from a six month OE and Richard had decided it was time to settle down and get married. Richard met Aimee off the plane at 11-30pm having finished in the yard only 20 minutes earlier.
Inter Island with its regular nights away was not going to be suitable for family life, so Richard proceeded to secure more localised work so that he could be home every night.
Luck on his side
Once again luck was on his side, his first approach to Alexander Petroleum was rebuffed as he had not quite reached their minimum five years line haul experience criteria (only by a couple of months – his Dominion Trading days could not be counted). But shortly thereafter, Dave Ching, Alexander’s driver trainer was on the phone again saying an opening had appeared and he better get his A into G and get around there.
Working for Alexander’s proved to be far less challenging than Richard had expected. Initially he was put onto one of the Scania P124 in the yellow Shell livery delivering town and around. But it wasn’t long before he moved onto one of the stunning Freightliner Argosy 8x4 in the blue Alexander paint scheme to do the out of town deliveries.
Supposed to be the dream job
This was supposed to be the dream job, with trips all over Canterbury and the West Coast, but an unfortunate incident, elsewhere in the company, resulted in deliveries being restricted to five drops a night to the largest Shell retail sites within the Christchurch City boundary. Now he was at the extreme opposite end of the scale, Richard was only covering 500kms per week, which was not exactly the ideal position for driver used to the rigours and pace of a busy line haul run.
Chatting with his mate Mark Amer (who was by that time driving for Randy Caulfield at East Coast Bays Holding Ltd), over the back fence at Alexander’s whilst giving his truck a scrub, Richard learned that Charlie Lloyd, a contractor for ChemCouriers, was looking for a driver.
Mark offered to suss out the job and soon Richard was around seeing Charlie, where he quickly secured a job doing a Dunedin swap every night. Back to reality at last. Richard was enjoying tripping backwards and forwards to Dunedin every night, the biggest bonus was that he was home in the early hours every morning.
Stepping in to fill the gap
Around this time Charlie secured a job selling Western Star trucks, and as this was taking up the majority of his time, Richard stepped in to fill the gap left by Charlie running the trucks. Richard says, that soon he was pretty well running Lloyd Haulage, dispatching the trucks and controlling the work, all from the seat of the cab.
Work was going well and everything was looking rosy, Richard welcomed the opportunity of taking on the semi managerial position, he was gaining valuable experience dealing with clients, overseeing the night-runs, as well as maintaining his driving, delivering containers in one of the company’s Western Stars during the day.
Managing a larger operation
As time passed more trucks were purchased with other contracts and suddenly there was quite a sizable small fleet of trucks working for a number of larger clients, not only in the South Island, but Nationwide. Richard had learnt to manage the larger operation but was certainly enjoying the challenges involved, however it definitely took up a considerable amount of his time.
One of Charlie’s clients was Four-D-Freight Ltd, and when one of Four-D’s contractors Dalenex, owned by Frank Van Der Broek, wanted to shed a couple of trucks, Richard’s interest was immediately sparked. He went right through the process of investigating the company but just couldn’t justify buying and running both trucks.
Lloyd-Johnston Ltd
He approached Charlie and it was agreed that together they would buy the trucks under the Lloyd-Johnston Ltd banner, with Richard still responsible for running the trucks. This all looked great, the trucks were working and Richard had finally gained an interest in a trucking business, something he truly wanted.
Unfortunately this new venture was not destined to endure for the long term. As happens so regularly in transport circles, circumstances changed and Richard withdrew from the partnership at the end of November 2005, taking the Kenworth T401 and its six-axle B-Train with him. Fortunately he was able to retain the Four-D-Freight Ltd work the truck had been involved with as a basis for starting out.
The road to self sufficiency
So, in December 2005, Richard and Aimee together began the road to self sufficiency. After several months of struggling, the business finally began to find its feet. Richard continued to put in the hard yards, but this time, he and Aimee were reaping the benefits from his effort. As Richard points out, they have never missed a payment (for anything) during their time in business. Their commitment to ensuring everyone is paid every month is a significant achievement, especially given the vagaries of the transport industry.
The business was beginning to flourish when Todd Kraiger (Speirs Finance’s new Christchurch rep), popped up with the suggestion that maybe Richard could consider updating his truck. Working with Steve Herring (Southpac Christchurch) and Todd, a deal was achieved for Richard to trade in his T401 Kenworth for a brand new T404S.
At that time finance rates were favourable and the cost of the Kenworth was within Richard’s grasp. But like all the best laid plans, disaster was not far off! Richard’s new Kenworth was in New Zealand, having the turntable and guards fitted, when the CAT engine in the old T401 let go at the top of Lookout Point, on the way into Dunedin.
Bitter pill
This was a bitter pill to swallow, with the new truck just days away from delivery. However, when the chips are down, it can be surprising just what help comes to hand. At this stage, Richard wasn’t quite sure how he could pay for the engine rebuild and the new truck all at the same time.
Without being asked, Garry Baty from Goughs, to his credit, stepped up and offered to spread the bill evenly over the following three months to help ease the financial burden. There is no doubt this helped Richard out of a very large hole, allowing him to get back onto an even keel without crippling his cashflow or his business.
Performing admirably
Since March 2007 the new T404S Kenworth has performed admirably. The new Kenworth is also powered by a Caterpillar, a C15 rated at 500hp (but able to be tuned up to 550hp). Richard specced the truck with the heavy duty gearbox, driveline and diffs in a bid to increase the appeal of the truck, in addition to potentially aiding the resale value. Goughs have also ensured the truck is under their CAT Extra programme to ensure that he gets a better run out of this engine through their stringent maintenance regime.
Richard is now well on the way to paying the truck off and is looking forward to the day when she is freehold. At that stage the Kenworth will still have plenty of life left in her and will be an ideal prospect for someone wishing to have a crack at being an owner driver. Otherwise, Richard can continue to run the truck and extract additional value.
His careful driving style ensures that tyre life is exemplary, achieving late 100,000kms for both drive and steer tyres. His trailers have also cost precious little to run, with over 800,000kms, the brakes still have in excess of 80% wear remaining. Tyres (all virgin) have also been extremely hard wearing with the centre axles hardly showing any appreciable wear.
Richard has exploited the potential value of curtains by using them to promote one of AgriTranz Ltd’s major clients. Currently they are in the vibrant blue of PGG Wrightsons.
Acutely aware of relationships
Richard is acutely aware that relationships are the key to success within the transport industry. And this is borne out, not just in his relationship with his major clients, but, also with the relationship he has with the many clients that he is working for on behalf of for Four-D-Freight Ltd, Wool Logistics Ltd and AgriTranz Ltd.
As a result, at many of the locations where he picks up or delivers, Richard can often be found loading or unloading himself to ensure a speedy and accurate service for these clients. He is sure his ability to take over even some of the smallest of tasks, therefore freeing up the customers’ staff, pays dividends.
Such wisdom
It is not often that such wisdom comes from one of such tender years. Richard is proving that there is still hope for the younger generation. Hard work, and the ability to learn quickly, coupled with determination have been able to carry him this far. But as many experience, the road to success can definitely have some pitfalls along the way, it is how we chose to deal with them that points to our success or failure.
And if that wasn’t enough, he already has the next step in his career path beginning to appear in front of him. Given time I suspect we will see Richard holding a significant role in transport, but for now we will have to sit back and watch.
Photos: Simon and Alex Vincent, Andrew Geddes, Craig McCauley, Johnston Trucking collection.
it is not shiny ALL the time! Just most of it
Some people are absolutely fastidious about their gear, Richard definitely falls into this category. Funnily enough however, Richard was unusually philosophical about the fact that we were taking pictures of his prized rig in less than pristine condition. Given the appalling weather during February, Richard went as far as carrying his water-blaster for a couple of days, to clean his truck before we took these photos, just in case the sun shone. At least he says, people can see it is not shiny ALL the time!
Four-D-Freight Ltd
Four-D-Freight Ltd is a family owned freight operation based out of Rangiora, just north of Christchurch. Owned by the Bourke family, the company operates very successfully using a combination of sub-contractors consisting of owner operators and general carriers. The company operates on a very similar basis as many of this country’s larger freight companies, owning no trucks but securing ample work to ensure sufficient volumes without losing the personal client relationship, an area they say as being lost by some of the big boys.
“I have heard comments about companies like those I have aligned with, but given that Four-D operate in a transparent and principled manner it is hard to see why anyone would criticise their methods,” say Richard. “They don’t actively target clients of their supporters (sub-contractors) unless invited directly or by tender, usually because the incumbent is failing to provide service.”
Generally, those who make the most noise about these types of company are those looking for loads out of areas with little in the way of return loads. When they are offered a load at the going rate as a back load by companies such as Four-D-Freight, they may not like the rate paid but are receiving the market rate on a level playing field, everyone is treated equal.
Richard has nothing but praise for the organisation. When he is given loads they are always full both ways and at a rate significantly better that contracting for one of the major freight companies.
Last year, when fuel prices were going through the roof Richard approached Four-D-Freight, with cost figures in hand. Four-D-Freight, who had already recognised the need for increases to ensure suppliers (contractors) survived, was actively negotiating rate increases to protect their supporters. This, according to Richard, is typical of the commitment they have to their operators.