On the night of 13 February, in the worsening conditions of Cyclone Gabrielle, the Prestige Building Removal team, made their way across the Napier-Taupo Road. On the move, that night was one of the company's Kenworth T610SAR tractor units, paired with a near-new [FURL=https://www.trt.co.nz/trailers/low-loaders/platform-trailers/electronic-steering-system/]TRT four-axle ESS house-removal trailer.[/FURL]After disconnecting the trailer in the pouring rain, out of fear for the unit being blown over, as sustained gale-force wind gusts were predicted to hit the exposed Hawke’s Bay coastline, the team made for Napier to warm up and rest.
The following morning, the news was sobering. The Esk Valley had been hit hard by extreme flooding in the wee hours of the morning. The team immediately headed into the disaster zone to check on the trailer and load. Their worst fears were realised; the new ADH house was all but completely gone, with the trailer half buried in silt, laying on its side entwined within what was left of the railway line.
The Trailer was taken back to TRT's head office and manufacturing facility in Hamilton, where the trailer's condition was fully evaluated. The Trailer was fortunately deemed repairable, in which the process took the TRT team just under three months, with no stone left unturned.
Now fully re-commissioned and delivered back to PBR, GABBI, as the TRT ESS house-removal trailer has become affectionately known, is again an active member of the fleet, and no time has been wasted getting her straight back to the coalface doing what she does do best – effectively and efficiently transporting homes.
About TRT
Tidd Ross Todd Ltd (TRT) is a privately-owned, family business, specialising in the design, manufacture, sales and delivery of products and services within New Zealand and Australia’s road transport and construction industries.
Their key business areas include manufacturing, design and engineering, [FURL=https://www.trt.co.nz/truck-trailer-parts/about-parts/truck-parts-hamilton/]truck parts at their Hamilton facility[/FURL], truck and trailer mechanical service and repair, crane sales and service, trailer sales and heavy transport and equipment design and manufacture. More recently TRT has become the NZ Distributor for Hiab equipment and services and KOBELCO crawler cranes.