Tranzliquid Logistics director and owner Greg Pert, from Tauranga, has been appointed chair of the Road Transport Forum Board of Directors.

Pert replaces Neil Reid, who has been the board chair for six years and will remain as a board director.

"All the directors would like to thank Neil for his excellent work unifying our industry and for the leadership he has given us," Pert says.

"For me, to be chosen as the chair of the RTF board by your industry peers is an honour and I am happy to accept this new challenge. My plan is to respect, listen to, help and appreciate all those in the road freight transport industry.

"I believe that standards, culture, and core values remain integral in all aspects of business operations."

Pert joined the road freight transport industry as an owner driver 35 years ago. In 2000 the family-owned company grew into a fleet operator with a contract with Gull Petroleum. Today, Tranzliquid Logistics is a logistics and transport operator, with a fleet of tankers delivering fuel or fuel-related products, mainly in the North Island, servicing all oil companies. It remains family owned and operated.

Pert is a board member of the National Road Carriers Association; a member of the Petroleum Industry Transport Safety Forum (PITSF); and a chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT).

"I love being part of this industry and really enjoy working alongside great people who give their time to work on governance of important industry representative groups," Pert says.

"The RTF provides the over-arching unified industry voice to government on the important matters that enable our success and I fully support a collaborative approach by the other industry associations and their membership to enable that.

"We are facing interesting times and it is vital that we explore all possibilities to reshape our future in road freight transport to ensure good businesses survive and thrive.

"Pretty much everything spends time on the back of a truck at some point of the supply chain, so we also need a viable operating environment to ensure New Zealanders can continue to enjoy their high standard of living.

"There is some tension in achieving that, which is why the RTF is so important to advancing the industry’s needs and I will be 100 percent behind that."

About Road Transport Forum New Zealand (RTF)

RTF provides unified national representation for several regional trucking associations. RTF members include Road Transport Association NZ, National Road Carriers, and NZ Trucking Association. The affiliated representation of the RTF is about 3,000 individual road transport companies which in turn, operate 16-18,000 trucks involved in road freight transport, as well as companies that provide services allied to road freight transport.

The road freight transport industry employs 32,868 people (2.0% of the workforce), has a gross annual turnover of $6 billion, and transports 93% of the total tonnes of freight moved in New Zealand.

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