The emergence of Ausway Transport is immensely meaningful, with roots far beyond Australian shores. What has become one of the most reputable transport companies in Australia today first began stirring on the other side of the world more than half of a century ago.
It was in 1962 when Gurdev Sooch founded a farming and transport operation within northern India’s Punjab region. He then commenced operations in the rapidly modernising town of Bombay, which later become Mumbai, the most populated city in the nation. Gurdev had just served in the Indian Army as a tank commander and the decisions he made in the years following caused a flow-on effect which continues 64 years later to this day.
After migrating to Australia in the 1970s, the Sooch family set its sight on transport once again. In 2003, Gurdev’s son, Bill, followed in his father’s footsteps by establishing Ausway Transport in Melbourne, Victoria, an organisation that is now a major freight logistics company predominantly servicing the eastern seaboard and beyond.
“We have grown considerably from the one truck my family began with in 2003,” says Ausway Transport Managing Director and third generation of the family, Bobby Sooch. “We now have close to 140 semi-trailer combinations and we operate out of Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. We specialise in general freight and refrigerated products, as well as a lot of parcel freight for Australia Post, DHL, Mainfreight, StarTrack and FedEx.”
Ausway Transport has been growing at a steady pace each year. In 2022, for example, it began heavily investing in refrigerated trailers with several new Vawdrey 34-pallet FRP B-double vans. This area of the business remains a key priority to this day due to its ample growth opportunities.
“This was a major development which required a fair bit of equipment from Vawdrey,” Bobby explains. “We’re still running these units as part of Ausway Transport, but we’ll be separating them into two divisions – refrigerated and general freight – in the near future.”
Ausway Transport has also been expanding its fleet of A-double, B-double and B-triple curtainsider trailers significantly. This began three years ago and continued in recent times with a new delivery from Vawdrey.
“We took delivery of six B-doubles and one Performance-Based Standards (PBS) B-triple from Vawdrey last year,” Bobby explains. “We have another two PBS B-triples coming next month as part of the same order.
“We love how the latest B-triple has been performing. We’ve been running it in shuttles to Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, and it executes its freight task effortlessly.”
Bobby says the new high productivity Vawdrey B-triples will be critical to the operation of the fleet’s new Perth corridor.
“Our customers are growing with additional legs, and we’re trying to provide better flexibility by covering more areas than just the eastern seaboard,” he says. “Our expanding B-triple fleet and Perth corridor will cater to this demand.”
The new B-triples are made up of three double drop deck trailers with 12, 12 and 22 pallet spaces respectively. Each body is fitted with mezzanine floor units for maximised capacity and protection of freight in transit.
“The journey with B-triples has been both successful and interesting,” Bobby says. “We’re looking to grow our fleet with triples and PBS more in the future, and Vawdrey will play a big part in that.”
Vawdrey has long been the premier trailer builder of choice for Bobby’s bloodline. More than 75 per cent of Ausway Transport’s fleet has been manufactured by the OEM since the Sooch’s arrival into Australia – a choice made due to the extreme quality of the product.
“Vawdrey trailers were always my grandfather’s favourite,” Bobby explains. “He liked their design as well as the attention to detail put into them.”
The engineering of Vawdrey’s Titeliner model in particular is one that stands out to Ausway Transport. Bobby praises the trailer’s flexible roof design which ensures additional support to run into the roof, as well as the mezzanine decks which evenly distribute weight across the chassis and prevent issues with cracking and therefore unnecessary repair costs.
“The trailers are presented really well, and they do stand out,” he says. “Moreover, the B-triples have allowed us to move more freight with less trucks which helps with emissions and being more efficient as a transporter.”
For Ausway Transport, collaborating with Vawdrey has become critical to maintaining the overall strategy and values set up by Gurdev and Bill many years ago.
“Vawdrey is a really important part of our team,” Bobby says. “They are very valuable to us because of the support they are able to provide both before and after the sale.
“We’ve been dealing with Vawdrey for the last 15 years, and we won’t be moving. We have a very tight-knit relationship with Vawdrey, and that’s what matters most to us.”
As Managing Director of Ausway Transport, Bobby foresees the business establishing a remote presence throughout several other states in Australia in the near future. Plans over the next five to 10 years will also include investing in additional company depots and more fleet equipment in a bid to grow both the refrigerated and general freight sides of the business, while expanding Ausway Transport’s offering to the likes of cross-docking services and more.
As trailer manufacturing and technology continues to advance, Bobby looks forward to allying with Vawdrey further across more projects and trailer deliveries.
“We have a lot of meetings with Vawdrey throughout every year,” he says. “We’re very open with them about our plans and what we’re hoping to achieve in our builds, and they’re really helpful with showing us what we can do differently to get there.
“When it comes to trailers, it’s not the product that sells itself. It’s the service that is provided afterwards. That’s why Vawdrey works really well for us. Everyone there does their best to perform to our needs.”
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