Bees keep Hino busy

Bees keep Hino busy.

The bee industry uses a multitude of Hino’s light and medium duty trucks, so it makes sense that the truck brand has joined the nation’s beekeepers at the New Zealand Apiculture Conference that’s on now in Taupo and running untilThursday 25 June.

Beekeeping and organic honey products are experiencing a popularity boom, with hobby keepers to the larger commercial operations helping to pollinate our horticulture industry while contributing to the economy.

“Vast in size and business models, the industry’s work environments can include bush tracks, vineyards, kiwi orchards and farms”, says Hino Distributors (NZ) Ltd sales engineer, Dave Jackson.

Hino’s 300 series 615 through to their 500 series GT 4x4 are particular models of choice. Some are fitted with rear-mounted cranes to assist with moving hives, depending on their operation and the terrain they work with. “Hino’s Euro 5 compliant engine options provide optimum fuel injection, fuel efficiency and low emissions, and our selection of models suit their application, providing the traction control they need”.

Hino’s light-duty trucks were the first on the New Zealand market to make VSC a standard feature, providing optimal traction in cornering and stability under braking. Four-wheel ventilated disc brakes, ABS braking and electronic brake-force distribution complements additional passive safety features such as double SRS airbags and pretension seatbelts.

With 20,000 hives across New Zealand, Arataki Honey produces honey for the local and export market and provides pollination services from their Hawke’s Bay division. In spring hives are loaded on to trucks and transported to orchards, where the bees are used to pollinate stone and pip fruit crops. In summer they are transported back to the farms, where the honey is extracted and delivered to their Havelock North site for packaging.

Arataki Honey has recently added two Hino 300 series 917 XL-Longs, fitted with flat decks, to their fleet. Arataki Honey’s General Manager, John Walsh, says they were purchased for their price and reliability. “We sometimes take our trucks offroad and Hinos perform well in the farm paddocks our hives are in”.

ENDS

© Scoop Media