NZTD News

The Drug Detection Agency (TDDA), New Zealand’s largest workplace drug testing provider has launched its Q1 Imperans Report, a quarterly workplace drug trends report. The report empowers New Zealand employers to engage in proactive workplace risk management. It provides them with an analysis of drug and alcohol usage trends, combining results from across the country.

In Q1 2026, 3.0% of screens conducted by TDDA indicated the presence of drugs. While this is down from 4.0% in Q4 2025, what is concerning is changes in t...

Investment into improvements for State Highway 2 in Wairarapa continue, with a road rebuild at Clareville due to start from Monday, 4 May until end of May.

It follows the completion of similar work in Carterton in March.

Contractors will be rebuilding the highway, just north of the Hughes Line intersection. 

Here the road pavement has reached the end of its working life and needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. This will make the drive between Carterton and Masterton noticeably better, as it will be ...

The extended closure of State Highway 3 (SH3) cutting off Taranaki again highlights the importance of resilience investment, says National Road Carriers Association (NRC). 

Severe weather on Saturday along the SH3 Awakino Gorge road has caused multiple massive slips between Mokau and Piopio with mud still pouring down through the trees.

NRC Commercial Transport Specialist Paula Rogers said NZTA’s contractor Downer is working long hours to clear the road and plans to continue working over Anzac weekend. Engin...

The government has announced changes to light vehicle inspections, including a reduction in test frequency for a range of light vehicles according to their age, bringing our test frequency more into line with other jurisdictions.

The changes mean that most light vehicles under 14 years old will move to two-yearly WoF inspections (up from annually), while new vehicles will go four years before their second WoF. Older cars and motorcycles manufactured before 2000, but under 40 years of age, will move from 6-monthly to an...

Fuel stocks update

On Wednesday MBIE reported diesel stocks were confirmed as 45.4 days cover, down from the 49.1 cover reported earlier in the week. MBIE noted the departure of “one small ship” has been delayed. Fuel companies confirmed the supply chains continue to operate, but noted that these kinds of delays are likely to become more common. 

Fuel Response Plan Phases

Some media coverage has called for a move to Phase 2 of the Fuel Response P...

One of the key takeouts for me from last week’s Fuel Pricing & Supply Seminar was fuel market expert Steve West’s observation that “we have a fuel price crisis, not a fuel supply crisis”. He noted there had been no shortage of supply of engine fuels to NZ, but that we had been victims of commodity market speculation which had seen refined fuel prices shoot up, with diesel in particular being double that for petrol, and three times that of crude oil. 

His analysis illustrated that the Asia Pacific region had been p...