Sometimes it takes a butcher to know exactly what a butcher needs. The owner of Southern Refrigerated Transport relies on his meat industry knowledge and the right refrigerated trailer solutions from MaxiTRANS to help deliver significant productivity gains and ensure his customers are happy.
If anyone knows how important quality refrigerated transport is, it’s Rob Hawthorn. As a former butcher, he understands the value of the product his equipment is carrying as they make their way from various abattoirs around the country.
“We can have up to 20,000 kilograms of meat on a truck at any one time and that can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he says.
Rob’s progression from butchering to refrigerated transport evolved over time. He started with small delivery trucks and now owns road trains as the Managing Director of Southern Refrigerated Transport, which is now in its 12th year. The company, which works primarily with butchers and abattoirs, specialises in handling chilled and frozen produce.
I’d like to think that what I’ve done in the meat industry previously has enabled me to understand things like shelf life, and allows us to set a high standard,” Rob says.
“It’s the final consumer who’s the ultimate customer and it’s the end result that counts.”
For Rob, turning to MaxiTRANS for its Maxi-CUBE refrigerated trailers was a natural fit and he appreciated the broad range of equipment they could offer.
“They are a one-stop-shop for us. We can buy our A-double Dollys, flat tops and meat hangers and then we can also get full freezer vans. They’ve got the versatility there to service everything we need.”
Trailer manufacturer MaxiTRANS has been an industry stalwart, providing trailers and equipment solutions for more than 75 years. Meanwhile its refrigeration brand, Maxi-CUBE has been on offer for more than 50 years and are built locally to cater to Australian conditions.
Maxi-CUBE range varies from Dry Freight through to models that can carry frozen goods and come with a large offering of standard and optional inclusions that are designed to give customers a leading edge and help them to continue delivering industry excellence.
Southern Refrigerated Transport runs about 50 Maxi-CUBE refrigerated trailers purchased over the years from MaxiTRANS in Derrimut, Victoria, and Rob says he is impressed at both their longevity and resale value.
Southern Refrigerated trailers Maxi-CUBE Victoria
“I like to look at the second life of my equipment and how quickly can we resell them,” he says. “They don’t battle scar and are a nice clean look that presents well even with a bit of age. They keep their shine a bit longer than the others.”
opportunity to deploy Performance-Based Standards (PBS) equipment is also a huge draw, Rob says, as the A-double combination gives him extra product space.
All of our PBS A-doubles can be split up,” he says. “You get a lot better productivity on the highway from the doubles. We read that playbook and worked out that getting more volume is better than looking for skilled drivers in a shrinking pool.”
Rob says he is also happy with the aftersales service MaxiTRANS offers, getting support at any hour of the day.
“I’ve rung on a Saturday night just with mechanical questions and we got the guidance we needed and got it fixed.”
he misses butchering every day, Rob says he is now in the place where he belongs, and the challenges his job brings him, is what keeps him coming back.
We all sell cold air at the end of the day. It’s just about who sells it better.”
