Culture is an avowed bellwether at the best of companies. At Dardania Logistics it’s considered a strength.
This year the business celebrates turning 30. Like many medium-size operations to have survived the caprices of industry and economies over three decades its origin is humble.
The first calling for the farming family was fresh produce.
Transport was a means of moving freight from Sydney’s west to the markets and some businesses directly associated with it.
In the early days Jimmy and Hysni Dardania steered the business founded by their father. Later on, a third brother, Adam, joined them.
The transition to transport took place in the mid ‘90s and by 1996 the business was a fully-fledged transport operator. Trucking by then was lucrative enough to increase the scale of operations.
Ever since it has flourished from strictly a produce carrier to a complete logistics operation delivering into majors with a client portfolio just as impressive for its longevity as it is the names: Coles, Woolworths, Aldi, Metcash to name just a few.
In the quick turnaround temperature control area pertaining to Sydney metro distribution Managing Director Tim Dardania confirms a number of Dardania Logistics’ long-term clients have got customers who have been with the business for over 25 years.
“Our top ten are probably all over ten years’ service with us,” he says. “People don’t stick around unless you’re doing the right thing. That’s usually the way.”
Being the youngest in the family, Tim had the benefit of attending university, where he studied economics, and a few other pursuits such as the Army Reserve, before returning to the family business. That was in 2007.
His return was a catalyst for the company to embark on a new direction.
“In a way it helped sway us to make decisions based on the numbers rather than emotions,” he recalls. “I saw trucks as a tool more than a toy and they could be used to chase profitability.”
At that stage the business had started servicing several clients outside the Sydney markets. The path into freight management and goods delivery by then was well underway.
Come 2015 it was a fully-fledged logistics provider in the temperature control sphere offering warehousing, cold storage and refrigerated transport.
The Sydney-centric business excels in point-to-point inbound deliveries to distribution centres carrying chilled and dry goods.
While it does handle general freight as a niche, customised solution for most customers, it prioritises fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) such as produce and confectionary.
“That was one of things that I pushed hard for during the time,” recalls Tim. “Instead of doing everything, we just needed to focus on what we do well and do it well enough and stick to that and make money from that.”
Recently Dardania Logistics took over a temp-controlled facility of almost 20,000m² in Eastern Creek which has allowed it to gear up its operations and capability, significantly.
Being in the geographical centre of western Sydney’s industrial heartland the site is within a ten-kilometre radius of all the major food chain distribution centres.
The business works around the clock with three active shifts. Fleet utilisation, because of this, takes precedence.
“Trucks are like aeroplanes. You’ve got to keep them moving otherwise they are just costing you money,” says Tim.
“That’s always been a big thing for me. At the end of the day it’s going to be costing you insurance and registration while it sits there for 12 hours so you probably should keep moving it, keep utilising it.”
On that front, the company maintains strict fealty to Penske Australia, more specifically MAN trucks from which it operates nearly 40 prime movers.
The fleet has always revolved around European trucks. But in the last 15 years Tim says they have migrated the entire fleet to MAN in the heavy range.
“The MAN TGS 26.540 has been the backbone of our fleet. In recent years, we have spec’d our range closer to the larger end with TGX510, 540s, 580s and recently the 640-flagship,” he says.
“We have a combination of the TGS and TGX larger cab variant which we use for longer distance jobs. We don’t do a lot of linehaul but when we do, the TGX is deployed as it offers better driver comfort.”
In the main part these longer trips might involve direct farm pickups to the mid north coast of NSW or out to Bathurst, Orange or Canberra.
That’s essentially the perimeter of daily operations notwithstanding the odd job down to Melbourne or up to Brisbane. For the main part it’s the quick cross-docking distribution model that Dardania Logistics excels.
They have 12 MAN 26.540 prime movers with two more on order. Tim likes the midsize cabin as do his drivers.
“Drivers seem to be very happy with their performance and turn around and from a business point of view we’re very happy with their economy,” he says.
“It’s our go-to workhorse in that the 540 gives you the best of both worlds — the easier single trailer stuff and the heavier B-double work. It kind of marries us up perfectly that range.”
That versatility makes it something of a poster child. In any event, that’s how Tim likes to describe it to Penske.
“You can throw a 540 at both ends of the application without sacrificing fuel or power in a way,” he says.
“The lower cab makes it easier to climb in and out of and the drivers love the combination of agility and power.”
With the truck spec centred around high volume, quick turnaround applications the vehicles are still rated to 90-tonnes GCM. The two latest additions in the fleet are a pair of MAN TGX640hp powered by an inline six-cylinder engine displacing 15.2 litres.
These come in a high-cab GX sleeper spec with an array of creature comforts to look after the driver when they are away from home.
The cab offers a maximum standing height of 2,150mm and lower bed length of 2,000mm. Dardania Logistics is running the 640s on a B-double linehaul application up and down the east coast.
“While the largest powerplant we operated before them were 580s, the extra power is certainly not going to waste,” he says.
“We also believe they will prepare us for additional PBS combinations.”
On the opposite end of the spectrum, a new MAN TGS 26.440 has been deployed for locations that are typically hard-to-reach for heavy vehicles like the Cruise Ship terminal in Circular Quay.
The upfront cost of a truck is the number one factor ahead of a purchasing decision closely followed by total life cost. Generally, a prime mover at Dardania Logistics enjoys a life cycle of between four and five years.
“We don’t clock up large kilometres that other fleets do. So that time span is our sweet spot to maximise the value of a trade in or the secondary life of the truck,” explains Tim.
“Those are probably the three main metrics: the initial purchase price, the overall cost and obviously the fuel economy the vehicle offers. Labour and fuel being the two main cost drivers followed closely by maintenance costs.”
The MANs are serviced to the OEM recommendation of 70,000km/annual intervals. Penske has provided On-site servicing, which Tim says has been helpful in reducing downtime and added a very convenient benefit to its servicing regime.
They deal with Chipping Norton Penske in Sydney.
“Gordon Taylor looks after us along with his team — they are very responsive to our needs and requests. Gordon is pretty much everything you want in a salesperson,” says Tim.
“He’s got that old school customer service about him. He will pick up the phone. He delivers what he promises. He won’t tell you stories along the way. People like that these days are hard to find.”
So too are experienced truck drivers and high calibre trained personnel, but Tim has noticed improvements over the last 12 months.
It’s a good time of year to have key staffing roles filled as the business navigates the peak period that will last until March looking after large multinationals like Unilever, Aldi and Ferrero, who it still counts as clients after more than a decade.
That’s the Dardania Logistics point of difference according to Tim — its agility and commitment to 100 per cent DIFOT (delivery in full on time).
“We’ve always retained strong customer loyalty and they’ve come to expect it in return,” he says.
“My biggest selling point these days when I’m sitting in front of a new customer: ‘Here’s my top ten and this is how long they’ve been with us. Make of that what you will.’”
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