Out of the Blue

A South Australian couple, one of whom is a long haul driver, embark on a caravan trip. The year is 1987.

They arrive in Queensland and it’s here they decide to stay.

Gary and Val Rogers are the couple. They decide to put down roots: at first the beginning of a family and then a transport business better known today as Rogers Transport.

Gary subcontracted initially for NQX and then a smaller company based out of Rocklea. It had a small fleet of five trucks. They eventually went bust but not before Gary purchased the fleet, bringing into existence the company that now bears his name.

A second major turning point for Rogers Transport occurred when it landed a contract with global paint supplier PPG.

That partnership has lasted for 32 years. Reliability springs eternal. As a testament to the company’s levels of commitment, some of its initial customers are still being serviced today.

Gary and Val’s three adult kids now all work within the business. Chantelle Rogers serves as Warehouse & Finance General Manager.

“He’s always had a philosophy or growing organically,” she says of her father. “He was mindful of not wanting to grow too big, too quick.”

As Gary secured more work he added to the fleet. Presently, there are 45 Kenworth prime movers supported by eight Isuzu FVL Series 240-300 rigids.

A tyre import business, sold many years ago, may have been the forerunner as to how they got into port cartage according to Brad Rogers, General Manager Transport.

“A sideloader was purchased at one point to shift imported containers full of tyres,” recalls Brad. “The container distribution portion of the business right now accounts for about 25 per cent.”

The warehousing segment represents roughly another 30 per cent of revenue while linehaul achieves approximately 35 per cent due in part to accelerated ROI.

The Kenworth trucks in their linehaul and container cartage operations range across the board with a W900SAR LEGEND, T610SAR, T410SAR, T408SAR, T409SAR, T409, T610s, T410, K200s, K220, T909s, K104B, T350 and T388.

The Brown and Hurley dealership at Darra and salesman Scott Coleman have delivered every prime mover in the contemporary fleet undergirding the long-term solidarity of the partnership.

“The majority of the Kenworths come in a manual transmission,” Brad explains. “You get a better calibre of driver with a manual transmission, but they are getting harder to find.”

Each Kenworth is spec’d for roadtrain detail. While none of the trucks currently in operation perform this kind of work it enhances their resale value while also providing Rogers Transport an option, should they need it, in future.

“You never know what work will pop up,” says Chantelle. “We’re in the business where we won’t say no to any opportunity if it’s something we can make work we’ll be willing to consider it.”

The other ten per cent of the business is local distribution. Five of the rigids are on contract wet hire arrangements with the same two customers they have serviced for the last 30 years.

The linehaul fleet consists of 22 units and though primarily dedicated to the east coast regularly ventures inland.

“The fleet travels all over Australia depending on what our customer needs are,” says Chantelle. “We try not to pigeonhole ourselves on just the main routes. We do a lot out in rural Australia. We also have contract work where we hire out our drivers who complete the customer requirements on a contract basis.”

Effecting a functional one stop shop model, incorporating wharf cartage to customers and back to base, in addition to unpacking and storage in the warehouse both racked or bulk, cross-dock and redeliver have been greatly optimised since the company relocated to its new facility at the Port of Brisbane last March.

Prior to the move they were in Rocklea and Lytton with some off site storage at the Port.

The whole site is 55,000m2 – just under double the size of all three depots combined previously – with 18,000m2 under cover. They also have their own workshop and truck wash facilities on site.

Consolidation, according to Chantelle, provides useful synergies.

“Obviously with the three different sites, we lost a lot of man hours moving drivers between them. With the one depot, if you’ve got a driver who has become free in your container division you can easily shift them across to your local division,” she says.

“You’re not having to run people across to different sites meaning those hours are used to service our customers instead. With the two different warehouses, sometimes you’d end up with some product at one warehouse and some at the other. In order to consolidate a load, you would have to drive from one to the other.”

The new setup greatly advantages the workshop as it no longer needs to cart parts and equipment between the sites for servicing.

“To be fair, we probably outgrew the previous sites years ago,” says Brad. “There was probably not really any opportunity for growth. That’s the biggest advantage — we’ve now got the opportunity to grow.”

The new facility enables Rogers Transport to expand its offering in both 3PL and carrier divisions.

“Medium-term, we have goals to not only grow the business but also work towards being the best business we can offer through enhancing safety measures, improving our operational efficiency and boosting our customer satisfaction as we continue to offer the same personalised service that our customers have grown to love, no matter our size,” says Chantelle.

Longer term, however, the expectation is the baton will be passed onto the next generation of the company while shining a light on Gary and Val, who have worked tirelessly to build the company.

Investments in IT and green technology are anticipated. Their younger brother Troy also works at the business in an office role. Growing up around the business, with Brad often sweeping the yard on weekends and Chantelle handling administrative tasks like filing, their parents encouraged them to seek experience elsewhere as part of their development.

“It was strongly suggested to both of us that we do something else,” Brad notes with a laugh. And he did.

That resulted in construction management studies which subsequently saw him posted in that industry for the better part of ten years before Gary asked him if he was ready to join the family business.

Chantelle, who had persisted six months at university knowing it wasn’t for her, began delivering automotive parts for Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge in a Triton ute. She loved it.

While she was on holiday in New Zealand, the replacement driver rolled the vehicle which was substituted with a “hideous” parts ute with body cage that hadn’t been used in several years.

“The doors wouldn’t open, and they wouldn’t shut. That’s when I was complaining to dad one day and he offered me a job here,” she recalls.

“I think it was inevitable anyway, but I think it helped move up the timeline.”

That was 16 years ago. More than enough time to develop a standard by which to compare present circumstances with the past.

Rates and driver shortages will, in her view, continue to vex the industry for the foreseeable future. The overarching issue is the disconnect existing between operational realities and consumer demands, which are becoming increasingly unrealistic under the “now society” as she describes it.

“Without any background into how many cogs are turning in the supply chain to meet these consumer demands, coupled with issues surrounding driver shortages, declining rates and a more heavily regulated industry to ensure the safety of our drivers, it’s certainly becoming a challenge to meet both customer demands while also maintaining the profitability of the company,” she says.

“Viability has always been important in this industry however we have seen rates on a downward trend while costs continue to rise. This means viability is now becoming more important than ever – every kilometre the truck covers needs to be running in the most optimised and efficient way possible in order to hold our share in the industry and continue to thrive.”