Move more freight with less trucks. This is the mantra powering Freight Assist Australia, one of the nation’s most dedicated and dependable bulk transport and logistics providers.
Freight Assist Australia commenced operations in 2012 and quickly evolved into a leading national linehaul and warehousing company specialising in the transport of general and express freight nationwide.
The business’ growth within the last 12 months alone is remarkable. On the back of opening a new site in Adelaide, South Australia, Freight Assist Australia took possession of the site next to its existing Altona, Victoria, depot in July which expanded its warehouse to a total of 12,000 square metres.
From there, the business relocated within New South Wales from Wetherill Park to Smithfield – strengthening its 3PL warehouse and distribution capabilities and more than doubling its Sydney operational footprint from 5,000 square metres to 12,000. In February this year, Freight Assist Australia expanded in Queensland by moving into a new state-of-the-art 7,000-square-metre facility in Willawong. Now, the business is preparing for the future.
“We’re already planning for 2028,” says Freight Assist Australia Managing Director, Dean Wrigley. “We’re trying to place the business in a position that will protect us from having to move and make major decisions in the future. It all comes down to structuring the company in such a way that protects all of our stakeholders.”
In the meantime, Freight Assist Australia is advancing in increasing productivity with less vehicles through a new trailer investment with Vawdrey.
“We’ve been trialling B-triples for a couple of years and we’ve come to the realisation that we’re getting more productivity out of them,” Dean says. “The B-triples are also the more preferred option of our drivers. Once we identified that, we decided to add more into the mix.”
Freight Assist Australia has just invested in two new Performance-Based Standards (PBS) B-triples as well as four A trailers which will be used to convert existing trailers into triples and B-doubles.
“This will allow us to move more freight on less vehicles as we’re not buying any extra trucks to add to the fleet,” Dean explains. “We ran the numbers, and they back our theory.
“We’re constantly updating our fleet and refurbishing older units as they start to age. Those trailers are getting cleaned up and repaired to keep going for another five or six years.”
Freight Assist Australia took delivery of its new order the day before Anzac Day, and the timing couldn’t have been better considering the B-triple is a commemorative combination honouring the veterans who fought for Australia in World War I.
The combination’s livery features ‘Lest We Forget’ written above the silhouettes of Anzac soldiers, with the Australian flag on the left and red poppies placed all along the bottom and right-hand side of the curtains.
Dean says the artwork is about honouring the Anzac soldiers and everything they fought for.
“My son had seen a trailer with indigenous artwork and asked if I had ever thought about doing something like that,” he says. “We spoke about it and agreed on the Anzac tribute themed livery. We thought it would work in with our current branding which represents the fact that we’re an Australian-owned and operated business.
“The message I’m trying to get out there is about remembering where we came from and the land we live on. It’s a gentle reminder that we’re all Australian – regardless of where we come from, we need to respect our country and traditions.”
The PBS B-triple features a Gross Combination Mass (GCM) of 85 tonnes with a payload of 46 tonnes. It features Freight Assist Australia’s standard spec including BPW Transpec axles and suspension, mezzanine decks, Super-Strap load restraint curtains, Vawdrey’s full height and lightweight load-rated Lift-A-Gate hanging gate system and additional lighting along the sides, rear and front of the trailer was also fitted for better exposure at night.
The Anzac B-triples combination is being used to transport general freight in Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) movements between Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide. Based on the long-term performance of the other Vawdrey B-triples in the fleet, Dean anticipates it will be a workhorse.
“We don’t have any problems with our Vawdrey trailers,” he says. “We maintain our equipment so well that we can just set and forget, and that’s one of the reasons we keep going back to Vawdrey.”
The fact that Freight Assist Australia has 60 active Vawdrey trailers is testament to this.
“My goal is to get to 100 before I retire,” Dean says. “We’re getting a good run out of our trailers. Vawdrey builds their trailers to suit Australian standards. Their product lasts, and that’s the reason they’ve got such a large amount of repeat buyers.”
Vawdrey’s commitment to Australian-made products is extremely extensive. All Vawdrey components are manufactured onsite in Australia, from side gates and toolboxes to Fiber-Reinforced Plastic (FRP) side wall panels, Iceliner freezer wall panels and more.
“I love dealing with Vawdrey. They’ve been very good to me, and I’ll support them until I decide to retire. You can’t fault their product because it’s Australian-made. They’re proud of it and I’m proud to showcase it.”
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