CEO of Fred’s Interstate Transport, Danny Borg, joined the family business at the right time, as they began renewing the fleet with the introduction of B-doubles.
“From day one it’s always been Kenworth,” Danny says. At least, when Fred’s started getting them into the fleet 10 years into their operation in 1988.
Before that there were models from Mack, Iveco, a significant number of short-bonneted Western Stars with Stratosphere cabs, and a handful of Dennis Eagles.
But looking at the fleet now, it is dominated by Kenworths, which Danny says is for good reason, including securing the long-term interest of the business.
“We went Kenworth for a number of reasons,” he explains.
“Our view here has always been you enjoy a bit better resale value. You’re paying for that to a degree. That has changed a bit today too.
“If you look at a new product, Volvo or Western Star, they’re all in line with each other. Those three, the ones that we look at, are certainly priced very similar.
“The resale end as I say is where it’s not relative. You’ll see that difference and they’ll only continue to get more expensive.”
In terms of engines, the Fred’s fleet are almost entirely running Cummins, with Meritor on the drivelines.
That was another adjustment though from the early days of the ’80s or ‘90s, when they had to shift towards where the market was leaning.
“Early ‘90s to mid ‘90s we ran a lot of Caterpillar stuff alongside the Cummins product,” Danny says.
“Those engines in singles back then were an awesome product, the best engine I’ve ever run in terms of longevity, fuel and drivability. C15 and C16 was in B-doubles.”
Bringing in the Kenworths was the first big challenge for the Fred’s fleet. The next was refreshing it decades later.
Danny had dozens of new trucks to purchase, get delivered and then get moving across a period of only a few years. It only worked as well as did due in big part to how organised the Fred’s workshop and front office is.
“We bought something like 65 new prime movers, all Kenworth, a combination of K200, 610 SARs in small and big cabs, T909 in 36 and 50 inch, and some specific customer stuff,” Danny explains.
“There’s a bit of PBS stuff in the fleet too, our blue and white 909s and the rest in our traditional all-green colours.
“They’re all decked out, fridges, TVs, microwaves, air conditioning when the engine is off. We want them to be the home away from home for our drivers.”
One of the benefits Fred’s has is the ability to maintain and prepare its fleet, both trucks and trailers, completely in-house.
This is so much so that Danny reckons that some of the oldest trailers they’ve got look like they were delivered yesterday.
This is thanks to the extensive workshop, where the Fred’s mechanics are working on at least a handful of bits of equipment every day.
Danny’s son even did his mechanical apprenticeship within the four walls, before setting off to cut his teeth outside of the family business.
“We refurbished the trailer fleet ourselves here,” Danny says.
“They were stripped, refurbished, resprayed, mechanical, electrical, new lights. The facility always has a trailer getting refurbished. It’s all designed to be able to do it in house.
“It gets very time-consuming when you’re running them around for outside work. It was built with that process in mind.
“We’re into a strong pattern of turning equipment over. The trailer fleet we’ll just continue to maintain. The next cycle becomes the maintenance turnover.
“The last six years have seen a lot of work done, but that’s behind us now.”
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