R&K Bulk Haulage thrives with BTE PBS A-double tipper fleet

Based in Jondaryan, Queensland, R&K Bulk Haulage is a family-owned and operated transport company which, since being founded in 2005 by Russell and Karen Strasburg, has grown into a much-trusted transport company within Toowoomba and Queensland.

The business specialises in the transport of grain, cottonseed, fertiliser and cattle feed for the agricultural and farming industries, and with a modern, up-to-date fleet of highly reliable Bulk Transport Equipment (BTE) trailers, R&K Bulk Haulage can maintain service and support in transport 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

It was in 2019, when BTE first arrived on the scene in Toowoomba, that R&K Bulk Haulage made its first purchase with the trailer builder.

The business decided on a BAB-quad road train which made the ultimate first impression for Russell and his wife who then decided to carry out all of their future orders with BTE.

“We thought we’d give them a try, and we were very impressed,” Karen says. “They did a fantastic job, so we kept going back. We’ve been going to them for every set since the first one in 2019 and we get a new set every three months.”

Since then, R&K Bulk Haulage has accumulated an additional 15 sets of A-double drop deck tippers from BTE which have been deployed to cart grain and fertiliser all over Australia.

The units are all Performance-Based Standards (PBS) approved and have been set up exactly as the fleet requested with low tare weights and high payloads.

The trailers, Karen says, are vital to the business.

“We only cart grain and fertiliser, so we need them,” she says. “We chose BTE for the weight factor and because you can cart more freight with them. They put everything on them that we ask for, plus, they’re PBS so we can run them straight in and out of Brisbane without unhooking them.”

Operating day-in and day-out, R&K Bulk Haulage has had a flawless experience with its BTE fleet.

“The trailers perform great,” Karen says. “Their durability is really good, we’ve had no dramas with them.”

BTE’s chassis tippers are built tough and to last. While the company produces a standard range of trailers, many of its special application designs incorporate features such as Domex 700MPA high strength chassis rails, reinforced rear uprights to swing tailgates, stock feed trailers, waste equipment and its signature range of rigid and dog tippers.

In addition, it also offers a range of floor thicknesses and utilises QuickSilver liners where necessary. Other features such as remote-controlled steering systems are also included to allow better access to the most difficult sites for some of the specialised equipment they manufacture.

And, although BTE offers five-year warranties for its chassis tipper builds, Karen says the trailers have been so reliable that R&K Bulk Haulage hasn’t needed to use it.

“They’re pretty good trailers,” she says. “They haven’t caused any problems for us at all.”

R&K Bulk Haulage is very passionate about promoting awareness for causes close to the business, and this is something that BTE has also helped the company with. It did this through one of its A-double combinations which was built around promoting breast cancer awareness.

“BTE did a fantastic job with it,” Karen says. “People on the road are always commenting on it. We get good feedback all the time.”

Since BTE first opened its Queensland manufacturing site in Toowoomba in 2019, it has been able to further service the growing national market with increased production and workforce capabilities ever-expanding.

Now, it will be building on this with the launch of a new Toowoomba facility which will effectively double BTE’s manufacturing capacity in Queensland and streamline the trailer builder’s final finishing process by dedicating a separate warehouse for it.

The new facility will also allow BTE to increase its turnaround times even further to get products into the market quicker, and on top of that, will look to double the company’s workforce within the location over the next six months.

Having gained significantly from BTE’s already impressive turnaround times, the new facility will benefit R&K Bulk Haulage which is awaiting on the arrival of another A-double tipper combination as well as another five on order for the rest of the year, which are all set up in the same spec as the present 15 in the fleet.

“BTE’s turnaround times are pretty good,” Karen says. “They tell you when the trailers are going to be ready, and they’re always being delivered when they say they will be – sometimes they even before then.

“We have a great relationship with BTE. Their aftersales service is very good and it’s a great company to deal with.”