Winstones - Leading the Way With NZs First EGR

As one of New Zealand’s most successful motor racing drivers Brett Horrobin is well aware of the importance of having the best equipment for the job, and his attitude is exactly the same when it comes to running the country’s biggest fleet of bulk metal trucks.

“Whether it’s to win on the track or to be successful in business, to give yourself the best chance you have to buy the right gear,” he says.

As National Transport Manager for Winstone Aggregates, he determined that the “right gear” for the newest trucks in his fleet were the country’s first fuel-efficient Detroit Diesel Series 60 EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) engines, under the bonnets of Freightliner CST120 trucks.

After winning the national junior karting title as a teenager in 1980, Brett became one of New Zealand’s top speedway drivers, winning the New Zealand midget car championship in 1989, 1991, 1992 and 1994, representing his country in the national midget car team and racing successfully on the tough tracks in the United States.
Now Brett runs a fleet of 65 truck and trailer rigs – and he admits that operating trucks in the present economic environment can be as tough as winning on the racetrack.
That, he adds, makes it doubly important to make the right business decisions. A division of Fletcher Building, Winstone Aggregates operates 22 quarries, sand and gravel plants throughout the country.

However the company’s roots are in transport – it started in 1869 as a carrying company and coal merchant, expanded into quarrying in the 1960s, listed on the stock exchange in 1964 and became part of the Fletcher group in 1984.

When planning the purchase of 16 new trucks for the Winstone’s fleet this year Brett Horrobin’s primary objective was low tare weight.

“That directly affects the rig’s ability to earn,” he explains. “So we went for the lightest eight-wheeler available, and that was the Freightliner C120 CST120."

“The second objective was low fuel consumption and the Detroit Diesel has a history of good economy,” he adds. “We hadn’t run Series 60s before, but the closest engine is the MBE4000. We have five of them and they’re head and shoulders above anything else in our fleet for fuel efficiency.”

Winstone Aggregates has embarked on a company-wide energy programme and won the 2008 Aggregate & Quarry Association award for energy efficiency.

The 16 new Winstone’s trucks are the first in New Zealand with the Series 60 EGR engines, which meet the Australian ADR 80/02 emissions standard, the equivalent of Euro Four and not mandatory in New Zealand until next year.

“However we want to be leading the field as far as emissions go and if we could have got Euro Five we would have,” Brett Horrobin says.

Detroit Diesel, which launched the Series 60 as the first electronic diesel truck engine in 1987, is world leader in EGR technology, having built 200,000 EGR engines since 2000. The latest 14-litre Series 60 features sixth-generation DDEC electronics, a variable geometry turbocharger and new dual solenoid injectors.

In the Winstone Aggregate trucks the engines are rated at 475hp and 1650ft/lb and are fitted with Jake Brakes.

Brett says that along with low tare weight and fuel efficiency the leasing costs of the trucks were primary considerations.

“We can’t extract much out of tyres, and the drivers cost us the same whichever trucks they’re in,” he explains. “But we also place a lot of emphasis on safety and driver acceptance and in terms of ergonomics the Freightliner is one of the few trucks that ticks all the boxes.”

Driver welfare was also a consideration in his choice of AutoShift automatic gearboxes behind the Series 60 EGR engines, although the automatics have already proven to be more fuel efficient and lower in maintenance costs than manuals in the Winstone’s fleet.

Eight of the new Freightliners are fitted with Transport & General alloy bodies and pull four-axle trailers from the same Hamilton manufacturer. Four have been assigned to Whangaripo, near Matakana, and service the hilly Hibiscus Coast and Albany areas where the frugal Detroit Diesel engine are expected to pay dividends. One is based in Napier and one in the Waikato, while the other pair operate a night shift carting aggregate from the Winstone’s Hunua quarry to Auckland concrete plants.

The other eight truck and four-axle trailer rigs are fitted with Transport & General Bisalloy high-strength steel bodies, specially made for a new contract carting bulk lime rock from the Wilsonville Tikorangi quarry to Golden Bay Cement’s Portland works at Whangarei.

All the new Winstone Aggregate rigs have airbag suspensions and disc brakes on all axles for optimum safety on the road.