Danny, as CEO, and brother Grant as CFO represent the second generation of the Borg family working at Fred’s Interstate Transport, taking over the business in the stead of Fred, who passed away in 2022.
Reflecting on his time with the family business, it was never really going to be anywhere else for Danny, with some of his earliest memories in the trucking game.
While he admits he needed a break after the past six years of organising the logistics of basically buying a whole new fleet of trucks and trailers, it has been what he has known as his career for more than 30 years.
“I’ve always been here,” Danny says.
“I would have taken off and done my mechanic apprenticeship, but that would have been cars, not trucks. I always spent time here after school, I was drawn to the mechanical side and the truck side of it.
“My work was workshop stuff early days, then operations, fleet maintenance, warranty, purchasing, sales, a bit of everything. Every facet of the business really.”
While Danny now primarily spends a lot of time in the office, handling operations and logistics, he also made the most of getting his hands dirty when he could.
“I was rebuilding engines in the workshop, a little bit of driving,” he says.
“Really later on I was running the workshop and the maintenance and purchasing side of new equipment. That for me started in earnest in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s.
“1993-94 in particular, I was speccing the B-double fleet to change it over. I still do it now. At the same time I was also heavily involved in operations, running the maintenance side of it.
“I’m just not quite as involved as I was once was, but I have been for the past six years, sanding trailers like an idiot.
“I had that bit of a breather afterwards for 12 months and freshened up. We’re into third generation Borgs now on my brother’s side.”
Jye Borg is one of those third-generation workers, the son of Danny’s brother Grant. He’s now the Operations Manager for Victoria and SA for Fred’s.
His path into the transport world wasn’t quite as crystal clear, tipping his toes in the world of real estate but eventually returning to the family business.
“I was a year younger when I finished Year 12, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do with myself when I graduated,” Jye says.
“Dad told me to go learn somewhere else new first. I did that, got my real estate agent licence but then came back here.
“I worked through the office, did accounts receivable/payable then did some work with clients, and then operations now for seven or eight years.
“I enjoy it, every day is different. I found paperwork a bit repetitive. It’s been more problem solving.
“Some people enjoy it but I’d prefer to be on the phone. I’ve been here ever since.”
It’s clear that family has always been important to the Borgs, and the team at Fred’s makes sure to make a point of it.
One of the standouts of the fleet is a particularly special Kenworth, which bears a mural on the back honouring the late Fred, recognising one of the legends of the transport world in Victoria.
The mural is on Fred’s 150th Kenworth, marking a special milestone, but it wasn’t even planned to be that way.
“It took forever to get it out of Kenworth,” Danny laughs.
“It was getting fit out for nine months. Then we had to get it here. Throughout that process Fred passed away, and he ended up on the back of it.
“It was originally just going to be the 150th Kenworth. It just so happened that way.
“Our signwriter got a connection to come up here and get it done in nine hours. It’s come up really nicely now.”
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