For the Shaw family’s Townsville Mini Loads, it was a case of seeking out the best solution from a trusted name. Going with a renowned brand is a necessity for this Townsville haulier that prides itself on its motto of ‘no project is too big or small’, and that is now firmly established as a market leading outfit.
Starting out in the 1970s as a local sand and soil delivery business, Townsville Mini Loads has grown to be well known throughout north Queensland as a reputable transporter of large and small quantities of landscaping supplies, quarry supplies and bitumen.
“My grandfather had a sand and soil business in Townsville and then Dad got into truck hire and transporting earth moving equipment as a contractor,” says Townsville Mini Loads Transport and Admin Manager, Mark Shaw. “We purchased this business in 2004 when my grandfather retired and merged all the operations together.
“We now do landscaping supplies, truck hire, contracting, bitumen quarry work and general public deliveries for the landscaping industry.”
Townsville Mini Loads has since grown a solid reputation for its truck hire operations. But the need to innovate arose when the company was hit with a costly mishap.
“We had end tippers and we had one fall over,” Mark says. “We then saw the live bottom trailers around and thought we should give them a go.”
The company’s primary concern with looking at a new trailer was safety. So, it made perfect sense to approach a name with a proven track record of safety and precision-built products. The answer was Haulmark Trailers, a national trailer manufacturer that had been going strong since 1963, which was renowned for making heavy-duty transport equipment designed for big loads, such as road trains.
After a discussion with Haulmark Trailers’ Townsville Branch Manager and the offer of an extensive demonstration, Mark and his team were convinced that the OEM’s live bottom was the answer to their need for a new trailer.
“We found that the demo was quite user-friendly, and it had all the features,” Mark says. “It was good to try before we bought it.
“We felt happy to get the understanding of what Haulmark’s trailer was like and to give them feedback on it.”
After a thorough two-week trial of the model, for Townsville Mini Loads, the benefits of a live bottom trailer stood out.
“We ended up buying one,” Mark says. “Safety was the biggest thing. We knew it wasn’t going to fall over and that it wouldn’t hit power lines.
“Live bottom trailers are in high demand and they also allow you to tip in places that you wouldn’t necessarily be able to tip or unload in a normal, conventional tipper.”
Townsville Mini Loads has been highly satisfied with the result of its Haulmark Trailers live bottom trailer which, since its deployment, has been operating in a road train combination with an end tipper behind it.
“We decided to go with the Haulmark branded trailer because we liked their design,” Mark says. “It’s a little bit stronger as well.
“It’s operating with an end tipper behind it at the moment, but it can run with our other moving floor trailer as well to give us maximum payloads.”
The Haulmark Trailers base model which Mark and his family opted for is made up of a Gincor Werx Hardox 450 steel plate body with fully insulated walls. It also features a two-ply conveyor belt system which can empty products with ease and Haulmark Trailers running gear and componentry. It is the same trailer model that Haulmark Trailers launched at the 2025 Brisbane Truck Show.
Mark can see the appeal to a wider audience for this innovative trailer model.
“Everyone likes to see what they look like and how they operate,” he says. “A couple of the people we work with have said it looks quite good, and they were quite interested.
“If someone’s never seen a moving floor before, they want the driver to show them what it looks like and how it works. Everyone’s always interested because it’s a new thing.”
Townsville Mini Loads now proudly operates its bespoke version of the live bottom trailer – a general moving floor trailer featuring a weatherproof and remote tarp among other features.
“It has a ladder on the side which is a good feature if you do need to climb up in the bin,” Mark says. “We also like the shape of the bin as it allows for less hang up on the sides because it’s more tapered.”
Then there is the renowned insulation and temperature control configured into this model. This is due to the fully insulated body which is designed to keep asphalt, bitumen and other products heated in transport.
“The insulation and insulated panels are very good for when we’re doing asphalt,” Mark says. “They keep the product very hot for about eight hours.”
The current configuration of Townsville Mini Loads’ Haulmark trailer is as a road train with a Gross Combination Mass (GCM) of 81 tonnes, resulting in a payload of 52 tonnes. When using it as a single trailer, the fleet is able to get an impressive 26-tonne payload out of it.
Mark and his drivers are happy to discover the performance benefits of the live bottom trailer system.
“It’s terrific and there have been no dramas,” he says. “It’s just ‘turn the key’ and off you go.”
Simplicity, effectiveness and reliability are definitely the keys to success with the new unit, given the routes and kilometres it travels throughout Queensland.
“It does asphalt work between Townsville and Cairns and work between Townsville and Mackay,” Mark explains. “We carry hot mix to feed pavers for Boral, Fulton Hogan and RPQ, and we also do general quarry work, so it does a far variety of things.”
With such glowing reviews, the team at Townsville Mini Loads are well on their way to becoming diehard supporters of this new line of Haulmark trailers.
“They’re slightly lighter than the others, and you can unload them wherever, which is great,” Mark says. “If a tipper falls over, you can lose up to $100,000 before it comes back on the road. I’ve been down that road before and there’s a lot of downtime.
“With the live bottom model, you don’t have that issue because they don’t actually tip up in the air.”
With Haulmark Trailers maintaining branches and service centres in Townsville, as well as Darwin and Adelaide, Mark is happy knowing his new purchase will be well-maintained for the company’s further expansion throughout Far North Queensland.
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