Many western English-speaking countries have severe truck driver shortages, and actively look for immigrants to fill those gaps. One country that is a desirable destination is New Zealand. New Zealand has a pleasant climate, plenty of sunshine and open space, and a good standard of living. It also has plenty of jobs for truck drivers.
Truck driver training is essential because New Zealanders drive on the left and the rules are followed by drivers, and enforced by police.
Let’s take a look at common English words related to driving a truck in New Zealand so that if you’re applying for trucking jobs there, you are already familiar with the terminology.
- Cab or cabin – this is where the driver sits.
- Sleeper cab – a cabin with a bed and facilities to sleep overnight
- Day cab – a cabin with no bed which is only used during the day or for short journeys
- Semitrailer – a trailer with wheels at the rear and legs near the front. It has a kingpin to connect it to the towing vehicle via the fifth wheel
- Fifth wheel – a greased plate that locks around a semitrailer’s kingpin to connect the tractor unit with the semitrailer. Sometimes they are called turntables (mostly by Australians)
- Tractor unit – this is a truck that pulls a semitrailer. Sometimes they are called a prime mover (mostly by Australians). A tractor unit can be ‘cab over’ or ‘conventional’. Conventional tractor units have a bonnet that covers the engine, whereas with a cab over truck, the engine is underneath the cab.
- Reefer (short for refrigerated) – a semitrailer for carrying chilled or frozen goods
- Fridge truck or chiller truck – a truck for carrying chilled or frozen goods
- Truck and trailer – this always means a large trailer that’s not a semitrailer. These trailers have a drawbar which connects to the towing truck. Usually this is called a Ringfeder, but that’s actually a brand name.
- Full trailer – this is a trailer that has wheels at both the front and rear and is towed using a drawbar. It’s also called a pull trailer and, in Australia, a dog trailer.
- Linehaul – truck driving that tends to be between cities, where the driver might sleep in a motel or a sleeper cab and be away several days
- Logbook – a book where your working hours are logged. Police may want to see this at checkpoints and weighbridges
- Weighbridge – a place where you weigh your truck to make sure it is not overweight
- Waka Kotahi – the New Zealand Transport Agency’s Maori name
- SH – this means State Highway and will have a number after it, e.g. SH1
- Transporter – a flat deck trailer usually used for transporting large machinery. It often has fold-down ramps
- Servo – slang for a fuel station. This is even more common in Australia. It is short for ‘service station’.
- RUCs – this is pronounced ‘rucks’, and it means the road user charges paid to Waka Kotahi by heavy vehicle drivers
- Sideloader – a type of vehicle that has two cranes for lifting a container on and off. These are common in New Zealand and Australia
- Curtainsider – a type of truck or trailer that has curtains to protect the freight. These can be slid back so that a forklift can load freight from the side
- Hardsider – a type of truck or trailer that has rigid sides. These vehicles are loaded from the rear.
- Mezz deck – also known as mezz floor or mezzanine deck, these are a metal floor placed half way up in a curtainsider so that fragile freight can be stacked there rather than being crushed.
- Suzi leads – also called suzi cables, these are the coiled leads that provide electricity and air from the tractor unit to the trailer.
- PPE – personal protective equipment in New Zealand is important. The vast majority of truck drivers will wear (at minimum) a high-vis vest and steel-capped boots. This is because health and safety at work is policed efficiently by WorkSafe, the government agency for overseeing safe work practices
- CoF – this is the certificate of fitness. A heavy vehicle must have a current CoF, which can be obtained by passing a mechanical inspection
- CoL – this is the certificate of loading. It is two small tickets that explain the maximum weights permitted on the truck or trailer’s axles, and the type of truck
- Rego – this is pronounced ‘rej-oh’ and is short for registration. All vehicles must be registered.
- TSL – this is the transport service licence which must be in the truck when operating a transport service business.
- DGs – this is short for dangerous goods. When dangerous goods are carried, the appropriate DG placard must be displayed on the front and rear of the vehicle.
- Tail lift – a platform that can be lowered and raised at the back of the truck
- Stock truck – a truck and/or trailer used for transporting livestock
- Truck loading code – the document that covers the laws for transporting items on a heavy vehicle
- Freight – the items you carry on your truck
- Skeletal trailer – a trailer used solely for transporting containers – it’s little more than a chassis with twistlocks for connecting the container. These are also called semi-skels or skellies in Australia.
- Quad – a semitrailer with four axles at the rear
- Crane truck – a truck with a crane. Note that this is different from a mobile crane. A truck with a crane can still be used as a flat deck truck, whereas a mobile crane can only ever be a crane.
- HPMV – high productivity motor vehicle, a vehicle that can carry more than the usual maximum load, but only on restricted routes. Sometimes they are called 50MAX (the maximum weight is 50,000kg, not 44,000kg).
- Step deck – a transporter or curtainsider with a two-level deck
- B-train – a tractor unit towing two semitrailers
- Class 1 – drive vehicles with trailers up to 6000kg, gross combination mass (i.e. total maximum theoretical weight)
- Class 2 – a medium rigid vehicle licence – drive rigid vehicles with a gross vehicle mass (GVM) of up to 18,000kg
- Class 4 – a heavy rigid vehicle licence – drive rigid vehicles with a GVM over 18,000kg
- Class 5 – a combination vehicle licence – drive a truck and trailer or semitrailer
- Endorsement – an additional skill you can get on your licence such as F (forklift), D (dangerous goods), W (wheeled special vehicles) and T (tracked special vehicles). This enables you to drive those vehicles on a public road.
There are a great many more words that you’ll learn when you’re in the business, but the above list is a great starting point as it explains common trucking terms.