Success through versatility

From fresh produce to carpets, plants and everything in between, Exodas Transport is a diverse business that requires flexibility in its equipment. Vawdrey Australia’s ability to engineer customised trailer solutions is paving the way for increased efficiencies within the business and supporting its continuous growth.

From humble beginnings in 2001, owner and Managing Director of Exodas Transport, Brett Tynan, started out with a single truck, sub-contracting for a nearby general freight transport business. A second truck came less than two years later and introduced him to the field of nursery work. A willingness to seize opportunity and an ability to adapt to the needs of its customers has seen Exodas go from strength to strength.

Through diversification, the business has experienced significant growth. Among the biggest game changers was the purchase of Malin Refrigerated Transport in 2017. Though Exodas had already been offering refrigerated transport services for several years, this acquisition increased this division of the business significantly, with up to 80 per cent of the fleet now made up of refrigerated trailers.

Today, Exodas operates a fleet of over 120 dry and refrigerated trailers – the vast majority built by Vawdrey. It transports freight nationwide and operates out of its four depots – Yatala, Townsville and Mareeba in Queensland, and Warnervale in New South Wales.

“We’ve expanded together with our customers,” Brett says. “As they’ve gotten bigger, we’ve grown too. A lot of our expansion has resulted from our existing loyal customer base.”

The fleet is as diverse as Exodas’ operations. In the past six months alone, it has welcomed 28 new Vawdrey trailers into its fleet. These have included freezer vans, fridge vans, double drop deck curtain-siders with mezzanines and drop deck trailers with ramps. While some of these were purchased to replace older trailers, most were to accommodate business growth.

Vawdrey’s high levels of service, coupled with its ability to develop innovative solutions, have resulted in the business becoming Exodas’ preferred trailer supplier. Since purchasing his first trailer from Vawdrey in 2006, Brett says he hasn’t had the need to look anywhere else.

“Since then I’ve only really bought Vawdrey. the staff at Vawdrey have been so easy to work with,” Brett says. “We tell them what we need and the engineers come back to us with what they can deliver. Vawdrey’s high levels of service make it a really great company to deal with. Whenever we need something done, they do it. We know we’ll always be looked after by Vawdrey. The service I get is second to none. Vawdrey offers a competitive price and can also help in any way they can when we need something done or anything fixed.”

As an example, the fleet’s customised flat deck tautliners, designed for carpet transportation, are longer than a standard trailer so that Exodas can fit the maximum amount of carpet rolls within a B-double combination.

“This allows us to fit an extra stack of carpet,” Brett says. “Instead of four stacks, we can fit five stacks, which makes a big difference. All of our carpet trailers are now set up this way for increased efficiency.”

 Included in Exodas’ recent trailer purchases was an order of 16 Vawdrey refrigerated vans, with the last of these delivered at the end of April. Uniquely engineered, they can be coupled up to the company’s refrigerated mezzanine trailers for use as a B-double. The B-double sets feature split systems with twin evaporators in the rear so that they can be used for fresh produce, chilled and frozen freight.

“These vans have been designed so they are interchangeable with our mezzanine trailers, which allows us to use them as part of a B-double combination,” Brett says.

“Vawdrey’s engineers needed to change the positioning of the turntable to ensure we weren’t over length and change the settings of the lighting on the rear bumper to ensure we had the right swing clearances. “That sort of flexibility is essential for us with the different types of freight we run. It gives us the option of putting different combinations together depending on our needs.”