SEQH faces the future with VGA

For transport business South East Queensland Hauliers, adapting to changing conditions and capitalising on emerging technology and trends isn’t just preferable, it’s essential to its continued success – and it says it's helping realise that success with Volvo Group Australia.

The business has built an enviable reputation in the Sunshine State in the import/export freight sector, and has been at the cutting edge of both the development and implementation of PBS A-double combinations.

According to owner and Managing Director Brett Plummer, finding and developing long-term business relationships has been key to SEQH’s ongoing growth, and the firm’s ties with Volvo Group Australia are a great case in point. Leveraging VGA offerings such as Volvo Financial Services and contract maintenance plans allows him to fully focus on the immediate task at hand.

“We like to form strategic partnerships,” he says.

“To get economies of scale and efficiencies you’ve got to have the same supplier, so we tend to identify what we think is the best option and buy that. We get those economies of scale by having those large numbers.

“Having 50 different things is a lot more difficult to manage than 50 of the one thing.

“Typically, relationships like the one we have with Volvo Group are positive, on-going and productive relationships, so that any issues are easy to sort. There’s respect on both sides of the table.

“Now our whole fleet is made up of the Mack and Volvo product. By focusing on the one supplier we get to understand the product a lot better, and if we have issues we can reach deep into the organisation to find solutions. If we do have a problem, it is easy to get a resolution. And we’re also involved in the process of where the brand is going and how we can improve the product.”

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Plummer says that remaining at the forefront of technological change is crucial in the modern business environment, and so is partnering with organisations that adopt the same ethos.

“As the future of transport technology changes you want to identify a partner to align yourself with who will lead the market there, and I’m pretty confident that Volvo Group is going to be a the forefront of that process,” he says.

“Being aligned with a group that understands what is going on and is prepared to put their money into research dollars to drive change, that’s important, and I’m looking forward to it. Especially the first electric trucks; I hope we’re a part of it.

“Our tagline as a company is that we innovate for the future; if you stand still and fall asleep, you’ll get your lunch eaten. You have to innovate and stay relevant to your customers. If you don’t innovate, don’t change, there’s only one way to go and it’s not up.”

The Performance Based Standards scheme typifies this sentiment, says Plummer, who recalls that SEQH identified the trend towards 40ft containers as far back as 2006.

“Forty-foot containers restricted us to a single trailer, so competitively I could see we were behind the eight ball,” he says.

“Carrying two 40ft grain containers at a time from Toowoomba down delivered huge efficiencies for us. We got our first A-double on the road in 2010 and now we’ve got 30 A-doubles on the road.

“The basis of innovation is a problem; it’s hard to innovate if you don’t have a problem to solve. As a business partner, Volvo Group has worked with us to innovate, to meet the challenges, to solve problems, and our business is all the better for it.”