Fleet Focus

Forty, fifty years back, Cates Brothers was this little trucking business in Titoki – out northwest of Whangarei, on the road to Kaikohe.

Local farmers Colin and Bill Cates had three or four trucks – carting metal from the quarry they operated on a nearby farm.

Fast-forward to 2023….and Cates Bros is now a 21-truck business – running all tippers, except for one transporter unit (to shift a couple of diggers they also run). 

Where Colin and brother Bill used to be the owners, now it’s two of Colin’s four sons – Snow and Scally.

So it’s not too difficult to imagine that this is one of those family transport businesses that have simply, seamless... ... 

One thing that’s not rubbish about Rubbish Direct is its service. In fact, that’s the one thing that sets this company apart from its competition in the waste collection game – the quality of its service.

Rubbish Direct’s attention to detail is evident in the cleanliness and uniformity of its Auckland-based  fleet of 45 compactor rubbish trucks. They look very neat lined up and while that’s not how most customers will see them, their clean and tidy appearance isn’t going to drag down the tone in their frequent visits to high-end apartment buildings, restaurants, hotels and commercial buildings.

While it might be hard to accept at face value, Rubbish Dire... ... 

Veteran Auckland transport operator Mark Grey reckons he’s one of the last of a dying breed….

That is, he’s a survivor of the days when Auckland’s metro freight scene was dominated by owner-drivers.

He started Mark Grey Carriers in 1983, buying a four-year-old TK Bedford from an OD working for bedmaker Sleepyhead – and taking over the work and the goods service licence that went with it.

He thus became one of “a whole bunch” of owner-drivers working fulltime for Sleepyhead.

Those were the days, says the 60-year-old, “when Auckland was covered with owner-drivers, you know. There were bloody hundreds of us….I don’t think there’s many left now.”... ...