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Corey Burnett joined the Board of NRC in 2021, he has spent over 23 years in the transport industry and runs Burnetts Transport, an earthmoving and transport business located in Riverhead, West Auckland.
Corey is a third-generation transport operator, his grandfather and brothers were partners of Tuakau Transport after the second world war, and his parents had school buses in the early 1980s before getting into vacuum loading trucks. Corey learnt his trade as a diesel mechanic at Cummins, before moving on to drive logging trucks and working for the family business, before starting out in his own business on 1 April 2000 with a single truck and trailer. Burnetts Transport has now grown to roughly eight truck and trailers alongside a similar number of earthmoving machines with the earthmoving and transport sides of the business working in a complementary fashion for clients.
Corey believes that the people you meet and work with, the challenges you face, the satisfaction gained from a hard day’s work are what makes the transport industry stand out. Every day running a transport business presents new challenges. Operators must meet deadlines and budgets to secure jobs, adapting equipment and thinking outside the square to beat competitors on a daily occurrence.
NRC has gone from strength to strength with the right people joining the organization and ensuring the voice of the industry is heard by government and authorities on the issues that matter. The team has made great in roads in terms of cross-industry collaboration, and we are now working together on a range of initiative to influence legislation and establish better roading and infrastructure planning, frameworks and outcomes.
Increasing operational and regulatory costs, deterioration of the roading network, implementation of alternative fuels and electric vehicles, and the economic storm brewing in our economy are critical issues that need tackling head on by NRC. Fortunately, the transport industry has long been made up of creative, intelligent, savvy operators, that have innovative and logical solutions to our future challenges.
When not busy driving trucks and earthmoving Corey can be found at the beach, fishing, or travelling. He also enjoys spending time with family, he has his son away in the army and daughter is away at university in Wellington.