Hokonui Haulage co-owner Scot MacKay said while it would be nice to get his stuff back, he wanted to make other truck drivers and passers-by aware of this issue.
"If you’re driving past these trailers, go, ‘hey, what’s that dodgy looking character doing sniffing around that trailer?’," he said.
The goods were stolen from the "dog boxes" on the back of a trailer parked on Jollies Hill (SH6) last week, after 4pm, while staff were working 100m away.
The items taken included straps and ratchets used to tie down loads as well as twist locks, which were used to lock-in shipping containers and were worth about $200 each.
"It’s not a huge amount of cost, but, you know, we’re a small, 100% family-owned business. So anything that sort of goes awry sort of hurts us."
The items are specific to their trade and probably do not have great resale value, which is why Mr MacKay thinks it was an "opportunistic" thief.
"Most people wouldn’t have a use for it," he said.
"There’s just generally no reason to take the stuff unless you are a transporter and you need it for yourself."
He had been contacted by a local farmer who had seen a suspicious looking vehicle in the area that day.
The witness shared a photo of the vehicle with Mr MacKay and said he later saw the car driving with bright red straps attached, similar to those that were stolen.
The transport operator had spoken to others across the country who had experienced similar theft and he wanted to remind those leaving trailers unattended to stay vigilant.
"Transporters all across New Zealand park trailers on the side of the roads and up driveways while they do a job and they’re unattended while they do the job," he said.
He said most of the others reporting robbed trailers never got their stuff back, and priceless goods were often dumped.
"The guys that take it are pretty good at hiding themselves," he said.
His father started the business under another name in the ’70s and Mr MacKay said they were fortunate to not have previously been the victim of much theft.
Most of all, he said he was just "pretty p ... .. off" someone had ripped off their trailer in broad daylight in a very public area.
