“Trailer Magazine, August 2015”

Reprinted with permission of Frank Rapone

Garden Grove Haulage has grown its business over the last 33 years by branching into different areas and adding new trailer models to its fleet – including two Lusty EMS drop deck chassis tippers.

In the northeast of Adelaide in early 1982, Jim and Margaret Carraill celebrated the grand opening of Garden Grove, a small retail landscaping business. Fast forward to today, and the company has evolved into a major nursery and garden retail centre with a fleet of over 115 truck and trailer combinations servicing the whole of mainland Australia.

“Around 14 years after Mum and Dad started Garden Grove, we saw that there was a growing need for bulk haulage of landscaping supplies. So we bought our first truck and three-axle dog combination and that’s how Garden Grove Haulage started,” explains Garden Grove Haulage Managing Director, Brad Carraill.

The bulk landscaping supplies that Garden Grove Haulage transports include sand, gravel, fertilizer, grain, bark chips and firewood. With business growing, Brad chatted to Kym Penhall, Area Sales Manager, SA and NT at MaxiTRANS, about ordering another B-double tipper combination from Lusty EMS.

“Brad came to me for a tipper and I let him know that we had a new Drop Deck Chassis Tipper coming out that would give him up to 6m3 of extra capacity over a conventional tipper. Brad was the first in South Australia to use a five-axle dog, so I knew he was the type that would be interested in trying something new,” says Kym.

And he was right. Around 12 months ago, Brad took delivery of the first Lusty EMS Drop Deck Chassis Tipper in the country. Since then, the tipper has travelled all over Australia on different jobs, but it mainly runs returns from Mt Gambier in Adelaide to Melbourne. It’s also set up for road train configuration, occasionally going as far north as Darwin.

“The increase in payload from the greater cubic capacity is important, because it means we can use it for any of our grain, fertilizer and agriculture cargo. For firewood, the drop deck means we can get the weight off the centre axles and achieve legal weights,” Brad explains – adding that the trailer is performing “extremely well”.

Happy with the feedback from his staff and the performance of the new type of trailer, Brad placed an order for a second Drop Deck Chassis Tipper that was just delivered in mid-July.

“What is really important to us is Lusty EMS’ ability to turn out a new set of trailers quickly, as you need to get to work fast when new contracts come in,” he says.

Brad also adds that Lusty EMS is easy to work with if he comes across any issues with his trailers. “Things can happen with any trailer, but Lusty EMS is fast on repairs, and nothing seems to be too much of a problem. I’ve been dealing with Kym for eight years, and he’s always good to deal with.”

Both Garden Grove Drop Deck Chassis Tippers have had extras added on Brad’s request, with functional features like digital gauges, rollover power tarps and juice locks for transporting grapes, as well as extra lights, chrome rims and painted tailgate for added presentation.

“Our trailers work as mobile advertisements for the company, so we have them sign written and try to make them look as good as possible. We also try to keep them clean, having a team of guys come in over the weekends to wash all the trucks and trailers,” says Brad.

The Drop Deck Chassis Tippers join a number of other Lusty EMS trailers owned by Garden Grove Haulage, including a five-axle dog, six or seven road train set ups and B-double sliders, pulled by Kenworth 909s, 609s and a Mack Superliner.

“Garden Grove Haulage now does equipment hire as well, with a range of Loaders, Excavators and Bobcats available as dry hire or fully equipped with operators, and we also do a fair amount of work in heavy haulage and mining,” says Brad – revealing how much the company has branched out since the early days.

By spotting growth areas and not being afraid to try new things like the Lusty EMS Drop Deck Chassis Tipper, Garden Grove has evolved from its humble retail beginnings into the well-recognised transport and logistics company that it is today – while still keeping true to its landscaping heritage.