QS Commodities is a grain trading company which operates across the East Coast and South Australia, carrying bulk agricultural products – predominantly grain such as wheat, barley sorghum and chickpeas. As a result of investing in tippers from Bulk Transport Equipment (BTE), the QS business is doing better than ever.
“Every grain that we buy has to go on a truck, so 12 months ago we decided to start purchasing our own equipment, instead of relying on sub-contractors, to keep as much transport in-house as we can,” says QS Commodities Director, Nick Slipper. “In doing so, we ended up partnering up with BTE. We’ve just got the one depot, but the trucks go everywhere week-to-week. Our trailers travel everywhere from far north Queensland through to Adelaide, and everything in the middle.”
In addition to competitive pricing, it’s what BTE brings to the table that sealed the deal for Nick. “At first we were focused on the price point but very quickly I realised everything else with BTE, from the customer service to the warranty work, has been wonderful.”
The aftersales support that BTE provides, according to Nick, has been very reliable and beneficial to QS’ operations.
“There’s never a task too big or small, and for us we find we need to keep our trucks on the road day-to-day,” he says. “So, normally our trucks come back towards Toowoomba or Oakey to our depot on a Friday afternoon, and we’re always able to swing into BTE and have any running repairs done as required. We’ve been over the moon with the aftermarket service as well, which was an unknown fact when we went into it. There’s always spares and stock on hand to repair any issues that we’ve got, so we’ve found that part of their business to be brilliant.”
Nick’s experience with BTE trailers have been very smooth, as he explains there haven’t been any problems for him and his business at this point.
“In the sense of what we’ve experienced, we’ve had no dramas at all,” he says. “Anything we need to have manufactured in regards to safety, it’s never a drama. They’re built for purpose for what we’re trying to achieve.”
The latest BTE A-double to join the QS fleet features tri-axles across the whole unit.
“The trailer design enables us to run Performance-Based Standards (PBS) routes which is giving us access to capital cities and export markets,” he says. “The team at BTE are building a solid product and it’s holding up to the work we’re putting it through, and we’re looking forward to continuing that relationship.”
Fast Fact
All Bulk Transport Equipment (BTE) chassis are manufactured from Strenx 700 grade steel which is underpinned by a five year structural chassis warranty and the body design also carries a two year structural warranty.
