New Zealand company TR Group is acknowledged as a world-class heavy transport lease and rental company with a strong vision and culture throughout the organisation.

Andrew Carpenter formed the company in 1992 as a 21-year-old, when he and his father, New Zealand transport industry icon Ron Carpenter, bought a small trailer hire business from CHEP.

The fleet comprised 65 used trailers, none being under eight years old.

Thirty-two years later, TR Group has some 9000 commercial trucks and trailers across New Zealand and Australia, a fleet that will no doubt grow as the Australian arm of the business builds on the company’s reputation as a quality provider of customer-focused lease and rental solutions.

“We don’t get distracted by cars, utes, vans or machinery. We’re a specialist heavy vehicle rental and lease company,” says TR’s national sales manager Shane O’Grady.

Targeting Australia

TR made its move into Australia in 2019, acquiring Semi Skel Hire in Melbourne, a business with 1200 trailers, mainly skeletal units. Perth Axle Truck & Trailer Rental was acquired in 2022, while Southern Cross Rentals in Adelaide was brought into the group in 2023.

Today, TR has a fleet of around 600 trucks and 1800 trailers in Australia, managed by branches in Brisbane, Newcastle, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth which offer fully maintained operating lease options. High profile customers include Qube, Australia Post, Toll, K&S Freighters, Coles and Woolworths.

In New Zealand, TR has created enduring relationships with key customers and suppliers since its modest beginnings in 1992, and today boasts the country’s largest commercial vehicle fleet with 4500 trucks and 2000 trailers supported by 10 branches.

TR’s comprehensive service offering has one clear focus – ensuring that’s its vehicles are always ready for work and backed by 24/7 support.

Leasing sees a specialist TR team involved. “We develop the spec, buy the truck on behalf of the customer, have it painted in the customer’s fleet livery, and take care of the maintenance all the way through,” says O’Grady.

Specialist driver training is provided with each new leased vehicle, as is downtime cover as a contingency. TR’s rental fleet can also provide backup support as well as extra capacity to cope with seasonal spikes.

“The cornerstone of our business is ensuring that our customers have best experience, that we are helping them be at their best,” says O’Grady. “Maximizing uptime and minimising disruption is the most important thing we’re selling.”

TR’s relationship with suppliers is critical to achieving this goal. “One of our key differentiators is the strength of our relationships with suppliers like Cummins,” says O’Grady. “Without this we’d just be another finance provider, we wouldn’t bring anything additional to the table.”

Cummins support

The premium end of TR’s fleet is where Cummins Inc.'s industry-leading branch and dealer network across New Zealand and Australia is critical to supporting the TR business and its customers, keeping a fleet of several hundred Kenworths at high utilisation levels.

All routine servicing and maintenance is carried out to Cummins’ recommended schedules.

“It’s all about driving customer value,” says Lyndon Maffey, TR’s national maintenance manager. “We have an excellent relationship with the people at Cummins. It’s not just transactional, we catch up regularly on a face-to-face basis to maximise how we do things at TR.

“If we are working well together and understanding each other, our customers’ trucks flow in to a Cummins branch or dealer, the work gets done without any drama or red tape, and they’re back to work quickly.

“All our team are from the transport industry. We have more than 20 maintenance managers across New Zealand and Australia with an average of over 20 years’ experience, creating relationships, guiding repairs, handling any problems that arise.

“Success for us is at the end of a customer’s lease and the customer acknowledges the value of what has been achieved and takes another lease with TR.”

Fuel agnostic

Decarbonisation is high on the TR agenda.

“We are very active is this space,” says Maffey. “In fact, it would be fair to say we’re leading the industry in trying to decarbonise and we’re taking a few risks that others probably can’t.

“There’s going to be a blend of technologies and to decarbonise 100 years of what we know is no small task. Technology is moving so quickly and the cost involved is huge.

“We’re excited about Cummins’ fuel agnostic natural gas and hydrogen internal combustion engines and have customers who are keen to get their hands on them. The technology is awesome and we need to be getting as much experience with it as possible.

“We know we need a loud voice to get traction, and work through right pathways with global companies. We want to be learning and trialing the different technologies and be at the forefront of decarbonisation.”

He points out that TR has a hydrogen fuel cell truck operating successfully with New Zealand Post, has an NZ-built fuel cell truck in the final stages of commissioning and also is working closely with global fuel cell truck manufacturers to bring 20 fuel cell 6x4 prime movers to NZ, all of which have strong interest from customers

“Importantly, we have Hiringa Energy building green hydrogen production and refuelling infrastructure across New Zealand,” he says.