News

Today, Peter Stoitse Transport has announced that it will be leaving the dairy industry and that McColl’s has agreed to take on its responsibilities with respect to people, sites and equipment.

We have great respect for the contribution that Peter Stoitse Transport has made to the dairy industry over several decades. The Stoitse family will continue with its general freight business in Gippsland and we plan to work together in the future, sharing sites and towing tankers to meet industry needs.

We are confident that combining Peter Stoitse Transport’s resources with ours will ensure continued first-class customer service and create further opportunities for the industry and its people.

The transition will take several weeks to complete and the final shape of the combined business – including the people that transfer to McColl’s – will be dependent on securing customer support, which we will be working towards over the coming days.

McColl’s goal is that transferring employees of Peter Stoitse Transport transition as seamlessly as possible. The company will preserve the entitlements and conditions of transferring employees. In most cases people will remain in their same roles, using the same equipment in the same locations as they are today. We have a lot of new equipment arriving over the next few months which should help to make operations run more smoothly over time. We ask all McColl’s employees to make new members of our team feel welcome and part of our family.

To make this work will require a few weeks of intensive effort in the lead up to Christmas. I ask everyone to be patient while we work through the details. We are determined to make this a success for everyone.

On behalf of McColl’s, I extend a warm welcome to the people of Peter Stoitse Transport who will be joining us, and a thank you to those that have contributed to that business over many years. It’s an exciting time for McColl’s as we invest in modern equipment, infrastructure and people, and we look forward to continuing the journey with our new team members.

Simon Thornton
Chief Executive Officer

A new state of the art, 26m Tieman road train has been delivered to the Farm Milk Division in Tongala enhancing our current PBS fleet and with steer axels on all 3 combinations providing greater access to local dairy farms. The new tanker is one of several that is being added to the fleet, supporting growth to the business and ensuring that our drivers have access to the best and most efficient equipment available.

The new combination provides 2 x 30,000 litre barrels making it a perfect fit for large scale dairy farms that produce significant volumes of milk on a daily basis. ‘Improvements are continually coming through for both access and mass, these combinations deliver increased payload and modernizes our current fleet’ said Roger Robilliard, General Manger, Dairy Division.

Including safety features such as EBS braking for superior stability and braking, auto-greasers for both trailers and the dolley and ease of driver usability via link hose which allows single point unload.

Since its arrival at the start of June the new addition has been servicing new contracts in the northern Vic region.

Insights into consumer trends, the impact of Covid-19 and global economic drivers were key items on the agenda at the 2021 McColl’s Annual Industry Day in Northern Victoria.

Around 60 representatives from transport and food production organisations, including Fonterra, Lactalis and Saputo, heard Michael Harvey, Senior Analyst, at RaboBank share data insights on market trends across Australia and the world.

With Dairy Australia set to release an industry report on environmental factors on Monday, analysis showed that focus remains on sustainability and environment, driven by regulation and industry leaders.  Many attendees agreed that reducing emissions in the supply chain was an important issue, however the cost of mitigating CO2 remains a barrier.

John Droppert, Industry Insight Manager at Dairy Australia, reported that the combination of strong farm gate prices and increases in pasture growth led to strong returns for the year.  However, at this stage dairy production volumes have not risen.

The discussion moved to ways that Australia can return to previous higher milk production levels.

Robust domestic consumer demand and population growth continue to provide positive signals for farmers.  Participants expected that longer term pricing contracts between processors and farmers would lead to herd investments and production volume increases.

McColl’s Transport recently showcased its commitment to innovation as it implements a new form of telematics tracking throughout its Milk Division.

McColl’s has recently partnered with ORBCOMM, a leader in Asset Tracking, Monitoring and Control. ORBCOMM provides the ability to track unpowered assets across the country, whether they are transported via chassis or rail. The tracking system is solar powered, and can not only track the asset, but monitor the temperature of the product being transported, and notify users of any door activity.

“Our commitment to technology innovation has been an integral part of McColl’s growth and scalability for more than 60 years, and ORBCOMM’s leading IoT technology is the best choice for helping us take our business to the next level of productivity and efficiency,” said Peter Shearer, McColl’s Transport Bulk Food Grade General Manager.

The devices are currently fitted to 18 ISO tanks within the Milk Division, and with the added benefit of customer portal integration, McColl’s is offering its customers more visibility over their products.

WA based chemicals driver, Hannah Hughes has been named Driver of the Year in the inaugural Women in Trucking Australia competition in recognition of female truck drivers.

The awards shine a light on the work of resilient and inspirational heavy vehicle drivers who are not afraid to roll up their sleeves and get the job done. Hannah who was nominated by her partner Benn and fellow workmates at McColl’s, shows an uncompromising work ethic and is a well-respected member of the BCD team. Her ability to overcome any obstacle using her own initiative, drive in remote locations in hazardous weather conditions and work with dangerous chemicals on a daily basis makes Hannah an extremely valuable asset at McColl’s. “Hannah does a great job for us in one of our most remote locations under some of our most testing conditions. She contributes a lot to our organisation over and above her ‘day job’, and is very highly regarded by our tight-knit team in WA. Fantastic effort Hannah!” said BCD General Manager Mick Mulraney.

Winning the WiTA awards means the world to Hannah, “I am very humbled and taken aback by how much support there is out there for me, driving is what I love doing and its fantastic to be recognised by the industry” she said. Hannah who was up against 21 other inspirational women from varied backgrounds, ages and levels of experience, believes just being nominated was an honour and is simply grateful for the opportunity McColl’s have given her to be behind the wheel. “It’s a great testament to Hannah to be recognised for this award, we pride ourselves on mutual respect so having Hannah appreciated by her fellow drivers as a part of International Women’s day is a terrific achievement’’ said Simon Thornton, McColl’s Transport CEO.

Hannah not only contributes to the company as a driver, but by participating in health and wellness initiatives, contributing stunning photographs to the annual company calendar and displaying a high level professionalism and pride in her vehicle and what she does. ‘As a woman in trucking, you have to work so much harder to take away the doubt that you can do the job just as well as the men’ says Hannah, who comes from a family of truck drivers and is the first to put her hand up for long trips to Cape Preston, Telfer and Wiluna.

Keeping our drivers and the community safe are top priorities for McColl’s which is why we have invested $9m in new fleet over the last financial year.

The fleet modernisation includes prime moves from Kenworth, Freightliner and Volvo and tankers from Tieman, Byfords and Marshall Lethlean.

McColl’s operates 200+ prime movers, over 650 tankers/trailers throughout Australia.

We are very excited to have a new truck in our fleet!

The Freightliner Cascadia 126 (pictured left) is operating with a B-double milk tanker and is powered by a 16-litre Detroit engine and a 12-speed automated manual transmission. It is equipped with all the modern safety features, is fuel efficient and comfortable.  The safety features that are not normally seen on conventional trucks in Australia include an automatic emergency braking system, pedestrian detection, collision avoidance and other systems that use radar sensors and cameras to survey the truck’s surroundings.

Safety First is at the top of our company values, so we are especially keen on these new features being introduced with the Cascadia.

McColl’s Group Holdings was acquired, in May, by an investor club known as Friesian. The club includes new CEO Simon Thornton and Chairman Mark Mentha – both familiar faces at the company.

“It is great to be back in the driver’s seat at McColl’s,” Mr Thornton said.

“A lot has happened in the five years I was away. The industries we serve have changed dramatically, with new owners and new priorities. Some of our previous customers no longer exist and new ones have arrived with big plans for the future.”

McColl’s new board members include James Macdonald, a partner in law firm Piper Alderman.

James specialises in commercial law and had previously served McColl’s in negotiating customer contracts.

Friesian’s plans are long term; the club intends to invest in McColl’s over time to see what kind of company it can grow into.

“This is the first time in 12 years that the company has not been for sale,” Mr Thornton explained. “We plan to develop the company over the next generation.”

“We have new employees arriving all around the company. We are hiring new drivers and trainers; there are also new graduate business analysts, compliance, safety, operations and financial people.

“The Dairy Division is commissioning 10 new pocket road trains to cope with its extra work. The Bulk Food Grade Division and Bulk Chemicals Division are also expecting new tankers and prime movers to arrive in the next few months.

“The 2018 financial year was a good one for McColl’s. We are looking forward to cementing productive partnerships with our existing clients and forging some new ones.”

On a cool winter’s day in June, 80 people from McColl’s and many of its customers gathered at Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium to hear about changes to Chain of Responsibility (CoR) legislation.

COR specialist Michael Crellin led the briefing session; with over 25 years of investigative experience from the Queensland Police Service, Department of Transport & Main Roads and the national Heavy Vehicle Regulator, Michael shared his wide knowledge of the new legislation.

Throughout the workshop, there was lengthy discussion about the implications of the law changes, followed by scenario role-play to ensure that everyone was in tune with the changes and the different expectations of each individual in the chain. It was an informative and enjoyable afternoon with everyone taking away an increased awareness of the changes ahead.

We introduced the McColl’s CoR App as a way to engage people along the supply chain in their responsibilities. You can find the app here: safechain.com.au

It was great to see so many of McColl’s business partners eager to work together to make our shared logistics operations safer for our people and other road users.

WA driver Phil Pidgeon is being applauded after a life-saving encounter.

Late one February afternoon, while metal detecting for coins at Brunswick Junction, Phil noticed a man collapse by the roadside.

Retiree, Andy Gross, had suffered a heart attack as he walked to dinner.

Andy’s wife Louisa said “Phil, the good Samaritan, ran over and gave Andy CPR until the ambulance arrived. If he hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have Andy. I’m 100 per cent sure.”

Andy spent about 10 days in hospital and has had heart surgery.

“Andy has an internal defibrillator now and is very tired but he’s home and recovering,” Louisa said. “We’re very grateful to Phil!”