MaxiTRANS was a staple of the Australian freight industry and for years grew market share as a transport solutions provider.
Hailing from regional Victoria, the company was founded as Freighter Industries in 1946, before being purchased by Maxi-CUBE Ltd and renamed MaxiTRANS in 1998.
Now, 26 years later, the company’s identity has come full circle, by adopting the Freighter title once again to consolidate its corporate image and history, which has been dispersed across a variety of acquisitions and business ventures.
According to Greg L’Estrange, Executive Chairman of Freighter Group, the concept of rebranding the company has been a long time coming and works to both achieve continuity and differentiation within its operations.
While wishing to distance itself from the existing MaxiPARTS brand as it embarks on a new venture in the parts business, Freighter Group also seeks to establish continuity among its services—a paramount decision to establish further customer connection and loyalty—by calling on the Freighter brand’s legacy in Australia.
The execution of this concept had been underway for roughly a year prior to its announcement during an event at Freighter Group’s Ballarat site in October, where it showcased its recent $50 million advanced manufacturing upgrade.
“We started planning for the name change this time last year and the last couple of days leading up to the event had been a culmination of that plan,” Greg says.
“The Freighter brand was established in 1946. In Australia, it’s symbolic of freight and fits our company vision. And it fits with Ballarat. It’s been a major Ballarat business and facility since the early ‘70s. All of that goes together with where we are today and where we see ourselves long into the future as a national company with dealerships around Australia. We’re going into a more modern era of the business.”
Freighter Group’s new venture into the parts business comprises two segments — one that will service and provide genuine trailer parts designed by the company for its own products, and one that will supply ancillary parts for more general attachments on a trailer, which will be known as Hitcher Parts.
This business undertaking is just one of Freighter Group’s many revitalised approaches to the transport industry.
The company is also collaborating with German-based trailer manufacturer Schmitz Cargobull to roll out the new Freez-R line of refrigerated trailer units, also unveiled at Freighter Group’s Ballarat event.
Schmitz Cargobull CEO Andreas Schmitz sees this cooperation and creation of the new product line as the latest in the company’s two-decade long relationship with the Australian market, as well as a chance for the manufacturer to aid Freighter Group in its consolidation process, something that stands to benefit Schmitz Cargobull greatly.
“Freighter Group has done a great job, together with us, to turn their production around,” Andreas says. “I think they are a better manufacturer because of it. The turnover is not insignificant in terms of our group, either. It is important.”
The Freez-R refrigeration trailers are equipped with the industry’s latest technology to make them indispensable assets to cold chain logistics fleets. Marking an evolution from the previous refrigerated unit designs offered by MaxiTRANS, Freez-R features the hallmarks of a reimagined approach to design and construction.
“These units have been designed holistically for performance,” Greg says. “We’ve taken all matters and designs into consideration to maximise thermal capability.”
Some aspects of the trailers’ new design include composite construction floors to create a high thermal efficiency, a steel skin with a direct foamed core, and a notable absence of fibreglass for insulation.
Instead, the Freez-R trailers utilise Schmitz Cargobull’s Ferroplast product, world-renowned insulation technology.
Excited to break away from using fibreglass insulation, Andreas outlined the particular benefits that Ferroplast will bring to the Australian market.
“Good insulation significantly reduces the running costs of a refrigerated trailer,” he says.
“Having a metal sheet comes with lots of advantages, notably repairability. Repairing glass fibre is not the most pleasant thing to do, it’s itchy and there are lots of little particles in the air that you don’t want to have in your lungs. In that way, I think Ferroplast is a better, healthier product for the people that have to work with it.”
For Andreas, the expected accelerated growth of this technology in the Australian market is a testament to Schmitz Cargobull’s strong business partnership with Freighter Group; together, the two businesses have sought in their partnership to upgrade the transport technology available in the country.
“We have a very good relationship in terms of bringing our technology into the Australian market,” he says.
“Freighter Group sees this as a real benefit for refrigerated technology. This is a good way for them to embrace these technologies.”
In addition to these innovative design choices, the Freez-R trailers come standard with TrailerConnect.
The telematics system is capable of recording and communicating driver routes, monitors temperatures, tyre pressures, fuel levels, all EBS data and control the fridge unit on refrigerated trailers to name just a few of the many other functionalities.
In turn, these owners can use this data to boost the efficiency of their operation.
On top of these attributes, the Freez-R trailers also boast a certain level of customisability in order to meet the many needs of customers.
“Some people want a Christmas tree on their trailer, and we can provide that,” Greg says. “Some want a single temp or a multi-temp. There’s a number of variations. Customers have the choice between a Thermo King, Schmitz Cargobull or Carrier Transicold fridge unit for their trailer. We can give the pros and cons for all three of these, but the customer has the final right to make their choice. We can’t dictate that.”
This approach to customer choice has also been extended to Freighter Group’s Ready Range which has been developed to help streamline the specification process for customers.
The company’s Ready Range of trailers is specifically designed to meet the varying needs of the industry, allowing customers a greater breadth of usage.
“Freighter Group has put considerable thought into the new Ready Range,” Greg says.
“All Ready Range trailers have been pre-engineered to be selectable to what a customer wants. It makes the process easier for the customer this way. We’ve got all the specs pre-selected within our system. The Ready Range is the result of Freighter’s broad industry experience both designing and manufacturing trailers for the Australian market. The range has been expertly designed and packed with inclusions suited for a wide array of applications, allowing customers to enjoy the benefits of faster turnaround, while knowing their product is built for the task at hand.”
By attempting to distinguish itself from what is becoming an increasingly competitive market, Greg has high hopes that Freighter Group will, with time, increase its market share. But this is hardly the time for complacency.
“We’ve heard a lot of people are very positive about this,” he says.
“They see the direction we’re heading, and they see that none of our competitors are heading that way. We hope this gives us some more loyalty, but we’ve got to pull all our other ventures together to earn that as well. We’ve got to be competitive, have good lead times, and offer a quality product. You can’t miss any of those and expect customers to be loyal to you.”
The company has been building to this moment ever since September 2021, when the MaxiTRANS trailer business was purchased by a group of local private investors.
The focus during the last three years including a $50 million advanced manufacturing upgrade to its Ballarat facility has very much been geared toward long-term sustainability.
The investment in a range of state-of-the-art equipment and an expansion of the overall footprint of the facility has transformed it into a modern manufacturing environment according to Greg.
“We set about embarking on a significant transformation journey when we purchased the trailer business, with the aim of creating a new era for the future of the company and the trailer manufacturing industry in Australia,” says Greg.
“The completion of the upgrade of our Ballarat site puts the business in a position to be able to continue to evolve with the changing needs of our customers long into the future.”