Slot Machine

The rich alluvial soils around the central-Victorian city of Shepparton combined with the copious amounts of water available via the irrigation schemes in the Goulburn Valley and Riverina regions have been the foundation upon which the district’s industries have been built.

The thriving dairy and grain sectors combine with crops such as stone fruit, apples and pears.

The agricultural products need to be transported to market for domestic consumption or to a port if the intention is export, both of which create opportunities for operators such as Kreskas Bros Transport, which to date has involved three generations of the Kreskas family and has grown to be the dominant road carrier of shipping containers between regional Victoria and the Port of Melbourne, from where the agricultural products sourced in the Goulburn Valley are exported to the world.

Operating even today from the same property the family bought as an orchard farm in 1954, Kreskas Bros Transport was officially established in 1968 and evolved from carrying fruit produced on the family’s own farm to market in Melbourne, which was soon leveraged into transporting neighbouring farmers’ produce as well.

Today, Kreskas Bros Transport is a sophisticated refrigerated and ambient temperature container transport specialist.

In the early days the fruit was packed at the farms into wooden cases which were hand loaded onto the trucks and carried to the Melbourne markets.

The family company grew to be the biggest carrier of agricultural products in the Goulburn River valley, concentrating on the Melbourne and Sydney destinations, and utilising contractors for the Adelaide and Brisbane routes.

Equipment at the time involved converting tautliners to refrigerated capacity and acquiring some chiller van trailers.

The interstate side of the business was sold in the 1990s and the Melbourne fresh produce sector was sold in 2000 to allow the company to concentrate on container transport, as well as dairy products.

The first Kreskas truck was a venerable Chev Maple Leaf, followed by a Dodge with a, for then, innovative lazy rear axle which allowed for a higher payload.

As more neighbouring farms turned to the Kreskas family for reliable transport of their own perishable freight, the fleet grew with the acquisition of such iconic trucks as the 1968 Mercedes-Benz 1418 and International S-Line models.

Currently the dominant brand in the 48-strong truck fleet is Kenworth, supported by several Mercedes-Benz Actros prime movers. Freightliner Coronado’s were also successfully utilised prior to the local availability of the Freightliner Cascadia.

The Kreskas Brothers relationship with the Freightliner Cascadia goes back to the time before North America’s biggest selling heavy-duty truck was even available in Australia in a right hand drive configuration.

Commencing in July 2018, Daimler Trucks industry veteran and good friend of the Kreskas Brothers’ team, the late John “Johno” McCarroll, drove one of the two assessment Cascadia’s in B-double tanker combination five days per week for 18 months based out of the Kreskas Brothers’ Shepparton depot.

The original “winter soldier” camouflaged Cascadias must have made an impression and it was no surprise that a Freightliner Cascadia 126 in Kreskas Bros livery joined the fleet just a few months after the Cascadia was officially launched in Australia in late 2019, mainly operating as an A-double between Shepparton and Melbourne.

That initial truck with its spacious and well-appointed 48-inch sleeper cab has since been joined by six more Cascadias powered by 16-litre Detroit DD16 engines rated at 600hp and 2050lb/ft of torque.

The Cascadia 126s are ideal for the Kreskas Bros Transport’s PBS A-double skel trailer configurations transporting shipping containers.

The Cascadias’ suite of standard safety features, such as the radar and camera-based Advanced Emergency Braking System are an important factor in the Kreskas buying decision process of these Freightliner models.

The Cascadias are on five year management contracts through the local Tristar Daimler truck dealership.

The Cascadia’s use GPS and topographical data to maximise fuel efficiency and minimise trip times, making them the most fuel efficient trucks in the Kreskas Bros fleet.

A major contributing factor in the fuel efficiency of the Cascadia is its ability to manage the Detroit DT12 automated manual transmissions’ gear selections according to the load and upcoming terrain.

This can include disengaging the driveline and allowing the truck to coast in appropriate circumstances. Integrated safety systems including radar-based Adaptive Cruise Control and the Lane Departure Warning System add to the inherent safety and Electronic Stability Program and the driver airbag also help to make the Cascadias among the safest trucks in the fleet.

Kreskas Bros Transport operates its own very well equipped workshop with three qualified mechanics, as well as a machine shop with two fitters.

The team can handle most requirements from minor smash repairs to comprehensive driveline rebuilds.

Operating across its multiple container handling sites throughout the Goulburn Valley, Kreskas Bros Transport utilises the latest in transport and warehousing management software to maximise logistics efficiency and provide the highest possible level of customer service.

Transporting chilled fresh and potentially perishable produce has its own unique challenges so the refrigerated containers are temperature-monitored 24/7.

The Kreskas Shepparton depot is equipped with 120 three-phase electrical outlets to ensure every trailer and container maintains the correct temperature while being held prior to sending to the Port in Melbourne where the company is classified as an A-class carrier and provided with priority time slots.

This makes the reliability of the truck fleet even more important as these valuable ‘slots’ cannot be missed.

The Kreskas operation also provides local heavy container lifting and loading equipment as well as container-based services including pack, unpack, warehousing and container storage for both general and refrigerated units. Kreskas Bros’ AQIS-registered facility offers both ambient and refrigerated LCL storage.

Although the local fruit cannery may not be as strong as it was many years ago, the Kreskas operation has grown significantly over the past three or four years as other customers have grown including in the dairy sector.

Kreskas Bros Transport has also secured additional work associated with the expansion of the solar electricity sector in the region as many new solar ‘farms’ are constructed.

The use of refrigerated shipping containers revolutionised the transport of agricultural products and Kreskas Bros Transport continues to be at the forefront of this extremely efficient method, currently moving at least 50,000 TEUs per year, which translates to the equivalent of 50,000 twenty foot shipping containers per year.

Containerisation also lends itself to bulk items such as grain or even potatoes and Kreskas Bros Transport is widely acknowledged as the largest road carrier of shipping containers between the Port of Melbourne and regional Victoria.

The Kreskas family commenced trucking in 1967, and the underlying strength of the company established in 1968 by Greek immigrant brothers George (deceased) and Arthur Kreskas (who turned 90 in early 2025) was always about integrity and service as well as contributing robustly to the wider community, whether it be supporting local charities or being one of the driving forces behind Shepparton’s Museum of Vehicle Evolution (MOVE) where the family was inducted into the exclusive Avenue of Legends in 2022.

Arthur and George are also both recognised in the Shell Rimula Hall of Fame at the National Transport Museum in Alice Springs.

“Just give good service and get along with people,” is Arthur’s philosophy which has been instilled into his sons John and Les, and now his grandsons Josh and Bayley who have been assuming the overall management of the company’s operations since 2023.

Cousins Josh and Bayley have grown up in the family business and have experience in most sectors of the multi-faceted operations, providing them with a comprehensive understanding of what will continue to make it a successful business long into the future.