Drivers are one of the most vital parts of HWR’s businesses. Without them, the Group would grind to a halt. It’s well-known that there’s a shortage of drivers across the entire transport industry and HWR has been looking at ways to attract more drivers to the Group. Through outreach, recruitment, staff benefits and several other initiatives.

One of these initiatives is the Accelerated Licensing Process, or ALP. The ALP programme allows drivers to go from their Class 2 licence to a Class 5 in as little as three months, when typically this would take 18 months. ALP is a joint initiative between the Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency and the road transport industry to assist the industry to train drivers and is part of the Government’s freight efficient strategy. The principle behind the programme is a person can progress quicker through the licence classes by participating in a programme, based upon the development of on job skills, supervised driving practice and assessment of competency within a workplace environment. 

HWR has several drivers currently enrolled in the ALP programme, including Logan MacLeod at Herberts Transport. Logan has been with Herberts since September 2022. After gaining his Class 2, Herberts and HWR Driver Training felt he’d be a good candidate for ALP. 

The programme requires Logan to keep a record to verify that the various training and time criteria have been met, as well as complying with the work time rule and driver logbooks. Doing the ALP has been rewarding for Logan. The process has been one with a lot of patience and help along the way from Herberts and HWR, who push him to hit his goals.

Also completing the ALP programme in Freight Haulage are Reuben Northover, Caleb Graham and Andrew Crawford.