Coastal Transport Services, based in the Central Coast of New South Wales, is a leading logistics provider that specialises in transport and warehousing across NSW and Australia.
The business opened its doors 38 years ago in 1986 and was privately owned by founder, Ray Graetz, up until November last year when a deal saw its ownership change hands to the existing management team of Managing Director, Graham Ryall, and Director of Operations, Kyle Elphinstone.
Coastal Transport Services now boasts a total of 116 trailers, 60 trucks and a just over 100 staff across the company’s head office in Warnervale and its second location in Wetherill Park.
“We do a bit of everything, but we predominantly do a lot of general freight and B-double work,” Kyle says. “We transport mostly construction-based materials such as pre-cast concrete tilt panels and we’re probably the biggest transport company in Sydney when it comes to that.
“So, we do a wide range of freight, and we also do a bit of warehousing with two warehouses at both of our sites.”
Following its latest fleet investment, Coastal Transport Services has put four drop deck mezzanine B-double combinations and four straight deck Titeliners from Vawdrey into action.
The trailers were purchased to service a new three-year contract the business gained on the Central Coast, while bolstering its existing Vawdrey fleet at the same time.
As a result two of the B-double mezzanine drop deck combinations have been dedicated to the contract, with the remaining two drop deck combinations and the four single Titeliners transporting general freight between Sydney, the Central Coast and Newcastle with the rest of the trailers in the fleet.
“We pride ourselves on trying to have the most up-to-date and attractive fleet across the coast,” Kyle says. “All of our trucks are four-and-a-half years old on average, and that’s pretty similar with the trailers. So, half of the new Vawdrey trailers are for our contract and the other half updated our existing fleet.”
Operating 24 hours a day and six days a week for the contract, the trailers travel routes from Berkeley Vale to Warnervale and between Warnervale and Sydney. Kyle says the trailers, being put to the test non-stop, do the job effortlessly.
“They are very busy bits of equipment that just perform the task at hand,” he says. “I couldn’t be happier with them.”
The biggest benefit of the new trailers, Kyle says, is that the fleet has been able to increase its productivity significantly thanks to the greater capacity of the mezzanine floor units.
“We’ve come from straight deck B-double sets to these, so our pallet carrying capacity has doubled,” he says. “The ultimate goal across the industry is to have as much freight as possible on one combination and therefore have less trucks on the road. The more you can put onto one trailer and get down the road, the more money you can make. It’s better for operations, the roads, fuel, carbon emissions and everything.
“Taking delivery of the four B-double drop decks has allowed us to go from six straight deck combinations to four drop deck combinations, so we’re essentially gaining the efficiency of two whole B-doubles. Having that extra capacity with the mezzanine floors has made our operations so much better. Our customers are loving them and we’re loving them.”
Coastal Transport Services has maintained a close relationship with Vawdrey since it bought its first trailer from the OEM in 2015.
The latest trailers join around 50 other Vawdrey units in the Coastal Transport Services fleet, consisting of a mixture of 48’ drop deck Titeliners, standard 45’ flat tops and B-doubles.
“I couldn’t fault any of them,” Kyle says. “They’ve been great, and they’re the reason why we keep going back to Vawdrey.”
Throughout each delivery, Kyle says his business has gained from Vawdrey’s “unreal” support and impressive turnaround times.
“Vawdrey has been, without a doubt, our predominant supplier since we bought our first trailer from them,” he says. “They get all of our builds. The turnaround times on their deliveries has been impressive – they really pump units out for us, which is great.”
On top of that, Kyle says Vawdrey’s service and representation within the Central Coast has been exceptional.
“It’s great to have them near us to provide assistance,” he says. “It means we don’t have to go to Sydney all of the time.”
Kyle explains that this service is replicated across the entire Vawdrey business, and it’s why he has chosen Vawdrey for so long.
“What I thoroughly enjoy about Vawdrey is how they cater to us,” he says. “You don’t just go to them and say, ‘I want this trailer, can you build it?’ They really try to understand your business needs.
“They can build you a trailer that might suit you better than what you had in mind. They’re always pushing the envelope in terms of getting more cubic capacity on a trailer, so just their background in the industry, how innovative they are with their designs and how they push the limits on capacities is what’s great and meshes well with our business.”
