I recently learnt all about the fast-paced world of trucking journalism on a trip to Auckland.
On a trip to Thames at the end of last year I was lucky enough to head out with the New Zealand Trucking magazine’s Gavin Myers and Dave McCoid who were working on a cover story.
The cover story is an article that focuses on the truck on the cover of the magazine each month. Gavin and Dave will head out with a driver and an exceptional truck, travelling one of its usual routes, where they find out facts about the truck, how it performs, its usual jobs, information about the company it is attached to, as well as the driver’s background in the industry.
These noteworthy stories consist of an article and pictures from throughout the journey. They contain many technical details that are particularly interesting to truck enthusiasts. When I was offered the opportunity to accompany these truck journalists ‘on the job’ and learn from the best, I couldn’t say no!
I quickly found out there is plenty of planning behind a cover story before it can happen: contacting the company and asking for permission to head away with the driver, then arranging dates and times for the actual journey and for an interview with the company’s owner.
The cover story job I was invited to join was on an Iveco T-Way from Metal Solutions in Kawerau.
Gavin, Dave, and I arrived at the Whakatane Transfer Station where we met up with driver Shannon de Vos, who had a load of scrap steel and aluminium that was destined for the Metal Solutions yard in Kawerau.
After introducing ourselves to Shannon he set off, while we jumped in the car and raced ahead, in order to pull over on the side of the road and get pictures and videos of the truck in its natural habitat.
This is an important practise on road tests to get content that illustrates the truck in action. After we arrived at the scrap metal yard, while Shannon unloaded, Gavin, Dave and I met with the owner of Metal Solutions, Dave Fretwell. Meeting with the company owners is another central part of crafting the cover story’s content as it gives Gavin and Dave background on the company, its history and current achievements. We found out that Metal Solutions deals in scrap metal within the central North Island region, buying all types of scrap metal and selling it on for export and recycling.
When we finished the meeting, we headed back to the Iveco to record the specifications of the truck. This involves using a series of cameras and videoing equipment to gather content that shows the truck up close; this will not only be put in the magazine article but also will be compiled in a video that accompanies the magazine article and is posted online.
It often takes two to three days to gather all the information, photographs and footage needed, so we were up the next morning ready to follow the Iveco to Auckland where it was delivering a load of aluminium chip sheets to Metal Man. Gavin went in the cab with Shannon to gather a driver profile on him that is also used in the article.
Dave and I took over the photography and raced ahead to get some action shots on the top of the Kaimais. We then worked on getting some tracking shots on the highway that turned out to be epic once we reviewed them.
As we arrived in Auckland, we discovered that unfortunately Gavin was not able to go into the Metal Man yard due to safety rules, so we said our goodbyes to Shannon and headed back to Thames.
Over the next month, Gavin crafted the story into an article that would spread over several pages for the magazine, which would describe the journey we went on and include the relevant and interesting information researched about the truck, and the company associated with it. As well as this, he chose and organised the pictures that would be used in the article, while the various video clips were sent away to an expert to be edited into a video that also shows the truck in action. It was an awesome and insightful trip to go on and I was able to get some insider information on what it is like to be a full-time truck journalist.