The Hard Way

Much can be condensed into four short years for a business just starting out.

Especially the last four years. Conditions, it must be said, have not been kind.

That’s why the sudden ascension of JCT Transport, a crane truck specialty outfit based out of Epping in Melbourne, is a success story worth telling.

Arrayed against it in that passage of time have been material shortages, contracting markets, skyrocketing fuel and energy costs, and apocalyptic inflation.

Just as these surroundings have certainly unsettled some less fortunate small businesses to the point of closure, JCT Transport has thrived.

In 2021, its first year, JCT Transport turned over $600,000. It did $6 million in the second. That coincided with Bunnings, their first major account, coming on board.

This led to its first significant order of seven Isuzu trucks adding to the four crane trucks it started out with. The tightknit team have history together.

Shaun O’Connor, JCT National Transport Manager and Managing Director Sukhdial Jhanji have known each other for 15 years, at various transport companies with Shaun nominally in operations and Sukh a multi-vehicle crane truck operator.

They worked out of a lounge room for part of the first year as the dreaming, as Shaun refers to it, was put into concept and eventually a solid plan.

“Whilst there was no shortage of established crane truck operators, we saw that they were all fitting the same service profile,” he says. “Which is, they were either project work orientated or on-demand in the retail side of things.”

At the time the retail application for crane trucks was serviced mainly by owner-operators.

As a niche segment, it was wide-open. The plan was to take their vast knowledge and acumen gathered from the general freight game and apply it to crane trucks, in order to provide clients with a specialised and tailored service.

“We entered the market knowing full well that transport is a cutthroat competitive industry,” says Shaun.

“General freight is probably the go-to sector, especially for new entrants into transport. We identified quickly looking at statistics that over 90 per cent of transport startups fail within their first 12 to 18 months in general freight.”

Another crucial part of the approach was a decision to run quality equipment.

That was key. From a compliance perspective JCT Transport were going to sell the fact that they were beyond best practice.

From a driver perspective they needed to have the best operators from both operation of the cranes to the heavy vehicles themselves.

“We wanted to do it right and we knew it wasn’t the easy way to do things,” recalls Shaun. “It’s been a hell of a ride.”

In no rush to go out and establish a portfolio of 100 customers, the team’s approach was to preference quality over quantity. Then came the watershed moment in the company’s short history.

It landed an account with Bowens, the Victorian-based timber and building supplier. At the time the fleet consisted of ten trucks.

A chance visit to a nearby Bowens branch, its busiest as luck would have it, yielded immediate results. They needed two trucks for a job early the next morning.

Despite having every truck in the fleet allocated already Shaun made it happen by hiring two vehicles.

“Bowens for us are not just a customer, they’re a partner,” says Shaun.

“We have a great relationship at all levels from the upper managerial right through to the branches and we’ve learnt a lot from them. They have mentored us in a way. The culture they have there is fantastic. You will not meet a Bowens staff member who is not excited to be there.”

Bowens have 20 branches. All of which are located inside Victoria. Bowens, as the lynchpin to its formidable growth arc, is even recognised by JCT Transport with trucks wrapped in its distinct blue branding.

The fleet today fast approaches 50 units — significant growth by any measure, especially in the crane truck segment.

In conjunction with the wraps, each of the vehicles have been fitted out with the latest telematics and dashcams from EROAD to provide another layer of safety.

Fuel use, braking and driver performance are all being monitored.

“It’s a good system, great technology and easy to use,” says Lucas Lopez, JCT Transport Commercial Manager, who actioned the rollout.

“Those are reports we can give back to our customers. I’m pretty sure no one in the crane truck industry has that technology in their vehicles.”

JCT Transport’s customer retention stands at 100 per cent. The portfolio has expanded to include reputable brands like Reece, Kennards, Big River Timber and Stramit, with the latter contract assisted by DHL.

“Everything we’ve done is through proof of service,” says Shaun.

“With Bowens they had existing carriers. We went in there with the attitude we weren’t going to cut anyone’s lunch. We didn’t want to take work away from anyone.”

Shaun laments the fact that too many carriers are aggressive in chasing work by eroding margin at every opportunity, in doing so effectively diminishing quality drivers.

“All these distasteful things become fair game,” he says. “Early on we adopted a policy, having been truck drivers ourselves, that anyone who works here should have experience out on the road.”

A slogan the company abides by was born from this: ‘Built by drivers, Driven by Excellence.’

“Where many transport companies go wrong is they underestimate the value of the driver,” says Shaun.

“If you have a good driver group who you look after and you take the time to train them properly and give them the support they need, make efforts to make them feel appreciated, what you get as a result is a committed and loyal, dedicated operator who is going to take pride with the job at hand and go the extra mile for the customer.”

The original driver group that the business began with is still with JCT Transport today, headed up by fleet manager Adam Trimble and operations supervisor Lovepreet Kaura with Karan Tandon overseeing the JCT Driver Hire division.

Shaun and the team have pushed for top heavy investment in driver management, training and development. Having good equipment, he acknowledges, is only one half of the equation.

“Being ex-truck drivers, we put a huge emphasis on training drivers,” he says.

Drivers are on the front lines of any transport business. They are your face.”

The business, what’s more, has been prepared to run at a loss, on previous occasions, to sustain a high quality of care for the driver group.

JCT Transport uses Makesure, a subsidiary to pre-employment screening service Ratify, to build courses and refresher materials for the drivers to read and stay on top of applying their skills.

In 2022, Shaun invited WorkSafe to their premises. The Northern regional heavy plant inspector was asked to help them go further than the normal legislative standards of which they were already competent. They spent several days going through the compliance suite.

Crane trucks, as high-risk equipment, are something to lean into when it comes to risk assessment and not something to shy away from according to Shaun.

“If you don’t take every possible step for safety and compliance with cranes things can go horribly wrong,” he says.

“It’s imperative that you work tirelessly to that effect to protect your team. They’re all of the highest value.”

A proactive approach from the get-go has helped the business maintain an immaculate safety record.

Every single truck has a folder detailing the risk assessments, safe operating procedures and also a dedicated device that runs the client’s operating delivery system.

The other half of the equation in the segment of course is equipment. Heavy rigid trucks sell for well north of $450,000.

A mounted Hiab crane retails at around $200,000. This is even before factoring in slings, pads and other accessories. There are three prime movers in the fleet — two Volvos and a Mack Granite, the sole semi-crane.

The remaining 90 per cent of the vehicles are Isuzu heavy rigids with the majority being the F Series variant. Sukh anticipates this will be 100 per cent Isuzu by next year.

“Mid Coast Trucks look after us very well,” he says. “Sales Manager Brad Southan has been an exceptional resource for our fleet.”

In the wake of the turbulent COVID period, serious shortages were hampering material supply.

This, by chance, was the time JCT Transport urgently needed seven new trucks — Isuzu FYX 240-350s.

“It was all very pessimistic from some of the dealers we reached out to,” recalls Shaun.

“We were hearing 12 even 18 months for delivery. Brad made it happen. Mid Coast got us four and they went to alternate dealers for the other three. They think outside the box. Mid Coast deserve a commendation.”

An Isuzu F Series that produces 221kW of power through an Allison 6-speed automatic gearbox, is the most prominent truck at the business.

These latest models feature Electronic Stability Control, an Anti-lock braking system and also an Anti-skid regulator. A chief selling point is the six-year warranty Isuzu offers.

“No truck is perfect, but Isuzu gets damn close,” says Shaun. “In terms of a fleet maintenance point of view the bills from Isuzu are very rarely heartbreaking because they are built that tough. The reliability is there.”

As these trucks are not moving in and out of distribution centres, they need to be.

“Our trucks are going into regional areas, construction sites, rough terrain,” says Shaun.

“The areas we have to go into, especially in the winter months is often boggy.”

For a customer like Stramit the Isuzus are frequently asked to travel far and wide within the state. JCT Transport has permanent trucks based at Phillip Island and Warragul also for this purpose.

A recently announced partnership with Tas Connect Logistics will see JCT Transport providing transport services to help with their local pickup component. Initially it involves taking trailers to the sea freight terminal bound for Tasmania.

Through its client base, JCT’s newly created freight management division will give Tas Connect work, mainly consolidating loose pallets, destined for Tasmania. Unofficially, it prefigures JCT’s entrance into the freight management sector.

Tas Connect Logistics are also one of many carriers, all specialising in their own niche whether it’s parcels, pallets, or oversize freight, that JCT is bringing onto a booking platform called Machship, launching this month.

It will be headed up by Commercial Manager Lucas Lopez alongside Sales Manager Theo Hronopoulos with Lambrini Lopez taking care of admin and customer service. “We’re attacking the general freight market even further for clients who are sending freight not just locally but interstate as well,” says Lucas.

Seldom does building a business from the ground up, like JCT Transport has done so impressively, come without sacrifices. Especially in such a condensed period of time. When seen through this lens Shaun is philosophical.

“It’s been one incredible journey,” he says. “The great thing is we’ve done everything the right way which is the hard way. But we hold our heads high having done that.”