Hauling more than 60 state-of-the-art residential suites to a new cabin park in South Australia is one of the many freight tasks Bentley Group will be assigning its new purpose-built Freighter Drop Deck Semi. Manufactured by MaxiTRANS, the multi-purpose trailer is later planned to make its way around the company’s other business divisions, providing great versatility for its varying operations.
Following the success of its Port Pirie venture, Bentley’s Cabin Parks will soon be opening its new fully self-contained accommodation park at Port Augusta. Part of the Bentley Group, the cabin park division was first set up in 1995 when Hayden Bentley, founder and Managing Director, set up four cabins inspired by his travels around Australia with his family.
Bentley Group is a diversified business that is involved in farming, hospitality and construction. The new cabins for the Port Augusta site are being built at the company-owned construction yards based in South Australia. To transport those cabins, Hayden recently invested in a new Freighter Drop Deck Semi with ramps, from MaxiTRANS.
“We have bought aluminium tippers from MaxiTRANS previously and in February we picked up a new multi-purpose Freighter Drop Deck Semi trailer,” said Hayden. “We had the trailer purpose-built to suit our specific needs.
“The cabins we transport with the trailer are one or two-bedroom, with the longest of them around 10.3m long, so we wanted the base of the deck to be 10.5m so the cabin could fit on it. Its bi-folding ramps were made removable to make it easier to put the cabins on and off. We even had it colour-coded to match our new prime mover so it looks nice on the road as well.”
Although this trailer was made to suit the specific purposes of Bentley’s Cabin Parks, it is a general-purpose trailer as well. As a result, it will also be used to transport various types of loads including heavy machinery for the company’s other farming and construction equipment such as bulldozers, loaders and graders.
The Freighter Drop Deck Semi-Trailer is capable of delivering low tare weight and carrying high loads, machinery and silage. Featuring a short, extra-strong gooseneck, it can be engineered to optimise pallet capacity and spacing on both upper and lower decks, based on specific freight requirements. The wide-spaced main beams combined with low profile frames, deliver complete stability and centre of gravity. Meanwhile, the use of durable cross members provides a more robust and reliable trailer. Hayden chose to include the optional pull out ramps to allow the load to be driven between the lower and upper decks.
“The quality of the workmanship is fantastic,” he explained. “Unlike some of the other trailers with ramps that we have used in the past, the ramps of the new Freighter trailer have shown no signs of rusting or physical damage. We have had good experience with MaxiTRANS before – we bought aluminium tippers from them and we’ve been very happy with them. It was an obvious choice for us to go to them again. We knew we had to stick to what we trusted and what we knew, so going with the Freighter Drop Deck Semi was an easy decision.
“We have been using products from MaxiTRANS for nearly 10 years and it was good to work with them again. They made the trailer exactly like how we wanted. The finished product is excellent. They’ve thought of everything and finished it on time. We trust Australian manufacturing and we like quality. We understand that cheap is not always the best so we are willing to pay for quality.”
Boosting manufacturing to meet demand
MaxiTRANS is the largest supplier of locally manufactured, high-quality heavy road transport trailer solutions, including trailer repair and service, in Australia and New Zealand. In August, despite the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had had on many industries, the company moved ahead with plans to increase production to support an uplift in demand for its leading semi-trailer brands. In addition, the company sought to fill approximately 60 roles across its Victorian and Queensland manufacturing facilities to meet market demand and support this growth.
“The support of our customers during these challenging times has been fantastic, while there will still be difficult times ahead, it is great to see confidence in and support of local manufacturing show positive signs of growth in the short term,” said Dean Jenkins, MaxiTRANS CEO and Managing Director.
While Government support programs have allowed Australian businesses like MaxiTRANS to keep operations going, the increased demand for new equipment is a demonstration that there is an increased confidence from some sectors of the economy. This in part has come off the back of improved rainfall across many parts of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, which has acted as a catalyst for increased demand for tipper product across these regions.
“It is fantastic to see many regional and rural areas, which have been ravished by extended drought over recent years, seeing better rainfall in the lead up to this year’s harvest season,” said Dean. “We have had a number of our customers discuss their tipper needs much earlier than usual to ensure they have the equipment they need, which really shows a boost in confidence for the agriculture sector.”
Despite the challenges that the ongoing pandemic is presenting for many industries, especially when Melbourne entered tougher Stage 4 restrictions, MaxiTRANS looked to keep up with the overall increase in demand by filling approximately 60 roles across two of its manufacturing facilities – in Ballarat, Victoria, and Richlands, Queensland. Of these, approximately 70% were at the Ballarat facility, which was a real positive for jobs in this rural Victorian community. The varied roles and employment opportunities the company sought to fill included qualified welders, painters and labourers. The recruitment drive also presented the opportunity for up to 15 apprentices to join the company’s apprenticeship program.
“We have already been able to fill a number of roles within the manufacturing business, which is especially great as some of these roles were filled by people who had been recently displaced due to COVID-19 restrictions,” said Dean. “This latest recruitment drive is another demonstration of our ongoing commitment to our customers and the wider transport industry. Our customers can have great confidence that we are here to support them as much as they are here to support local Australian manufacturing.”
While MaxiTRANS has been adding more people to its team, the company has also sought to reassure new employees that it places great emphasis on the safety of all of its people and has been following strict COVID-19 guidelines to maintain the health and wellbeing of all members of the MaxiTRANS family.
“I would like to take this opportunity to again thank all of our customers, employees and suppliers for their ongoing support throughout what has really been a challenging year,” said Dean. “While there are still tough times ahead, we have seen just how important this industry is for our community and Australian manufacturing.
“At MaxiTRANS, all our employees pride themselves on knowing they play a vital role. Particularly at this time. It is about providing the support and access to equipment our customers need so they can get on with doing what they do best and delivering the needs of the nation.”