Timeline
For over 80 years, the Wettenhalls Group has been 'moving forward'. From one man and one truck all those years ago, to a fleet of over 180 trucks, 300 trailers and a staff of over 500 people around Australia today, Wettenhalls will continue to 'Keep Moving Forward'. Please click on any of the years below to see more information and images.
- 1925 - Amezdroz & Menzies (A&M) partnership formed
- A Reg Amezdroz & Rod Menzies buy a truck and commence contract cartage
- First customers Bulla Cream Company and Hayden Bros Timber Mill
- John Hayden (CEO of AKD Softwoods) is the son of one of the Hayden Bros
- Operates from a small depot in Bromfield St Colac (now a fruit and vege / liquor store site)
- Reg A was a boiler attendant at Bulla Cream Co and Rod M was a local dairy farmer
- First truck was a "Reo Speed Wagon"
- Reo Speed Wagon spec - 25HP, 4 speed Crash gearbox (non synchro) and mechanical brakes on rear wheels only
- trucks: 1
- staff: 1
- 1932 - Amezdroz & Menzies Pty Ltd (A&M) formed
- 1935 - TRB (Transport Regulation Board) formed
- 1938 - First GMC branded truck purchased
- 1939 - WW2 starts
- Government introduces fuel rationing to ensure adequate fuel reserves are available to support the War effort
- Innovation - A&M fit gas producer units to their trucks, that burn coal to make gas
- Vertical Integration - A&M builds / commissions own charcoal kilnat Deans Marsh
- Charcoal used in gas producers fitted to power trucks
- Typically Colac to Melb trucks topped up charcoal in Geelong, then Melb, then Geelong to complete round trip
- 1941 - First semi trailer purchased, A&M relocates depot in Colac, A&M wins CDC firewood contract
- Semi used for carting meat from Colac abbatoirs to North Melbourne Meat Market
- Semi trailer length was 7.6mts (22ft), smaller than the rigids of today
- Semi load capacity 8 tonnes approx. (less than today's rigid trucks)
- GMC prime mover used
- A&M moves from Bromfield St to corner Dennis & Hesse St Colac
- Dennis St depot's previous life was a horse stable, then the local Ford Dealership
- A&M wins contract to supply firewood to CDC (Colac Dairying Co) to fuel their furnaces
- CDC eventually bacame part of Bonlac, which became part of Fonterra
- A&M establishes a camp at Irrewillipe for their team of woodcutters to live at during the week.
- Irrewillipe is only a 15 minute drive from Colac in today's era
- trucks: 4
- staff: 8
- 1944 - Change of shareholders
- 1945 - WW2 ends, Mini "road trains" introduced, Major fleet upgrade
- Railways cannot cope with the demand created by the Nations war rebuilding program
- State Govt allows road transport to cart goods normally restricted to the railways to increase freight capacity
- Frenzied "hand to mouth" demand for farm machinery and building materials takes place
- Trucks go directly to wharves to pick up farm machinery, which gets delivered to farmers the next day
- A&M grows to 25 truck fleet
- A&M start to run 14ft dog trailers behind their semis to cope with the increased freight demand
- A&M buys low mileage ex Army vehicles to upgrade their fleet used during the war years
- trucks: 25
- staff: 40
- 1951 - Government Regulation decimates A&M
- Govenrnment reintroduces legislation to protect government owned railways
- Road Carriers restriceted to carting commodities that rail could not handle (perishables / fragile goods etc)
- Road Carriers could service routes that rail could not service eg. Logs from forest to timber mill
- A&M fleet reduce from 25 trucks to 3 trucks
- Major heartache experienced for Reg A in the driver retrenchments / & resultant unemployment of loyal workers
- trucks: 3
- staff: 6
- 1956 - Fleet upgrade to Ford
- A&M buys first Ford F600 prime mover
- Semi trailers go to an unheard lenth of 34ft (10.3 mts)
- trucks: 4
- staff: 8
- 1963 - Change of shareholders
- 1965 - A&M buys first diesel powered truck
- 1968 - A&M buys first Kenworth prime mover, A&M establishes new company to start "border-hopping" service
- Kenworth specification GM 6V71 engine, 12 spd Spicer gearbox
- Victorian transport companies begin to exploit Section 92 of the Australian Constitution
- Section 92 allows free trade between the States
- Carriers servicing regions close to the VIC border establish depots and companies in NSW
- Carriers cart freight over the border, then bring freight back into VIC with their NSW company trucks
- Almega Freightlines Pty Ltd established and incorporated in NSW to commence border hopping arrangement
- Depot (paddock with Almega Freightlines sign) set up in Moama
- Almega truck painted in reverse colors to A&M trucks
- A&M / Almega grow again with general freight they lost through the rail protectionism legislation
- 1972 - A&M commences refrigerated services
- 1975 - Government abolishes rail protectionism legislation
- 1982 - Brett Amezdroz starts employment with A&M
- 1984 - Amezdroz & Son (A&S) incorporated, Interstate services commence
- Bill Amezdroz passes away & Brett Amezdroz buys his shares from Brett's Aunt (Pam Amezdroz)
- Alice Amezdroz transfers her shares to Ned & Brett to form 50/50 shareholding
- Commenced interstate work to utilise fleet during Bonlac's "off-season" between February and June
- Two trucks set up to do interstate work for K&S and other majors
- 1986 - A&S relocates to site new site in Wallace St Colac
- A&S outgrow existing site in Colac. Colac Water Board buys Dennis St property
- trucks: 6
- staff: 11
- turnover: $810,000
- 1987 - A&S commences bulk tipper operations, A&S appointed as a distributor for Boral Bricks
- Bulk tipper used to cart woodchips from local mills to Laminex Ballarat
- Customers included Victree and AKD (Victree later taken over by AKD)
- Commencement of long-term relationship with AKD
- Boral Bricks relationship involves selling and transporting bricks throughout Western Victoria
- This forms the foundations of our National current day brick transport operations
- 1990 - A&S buys first refrigerated curtain-sider trailer
- A&S introduces trailer to Bonlac for refrigerated cartage of butter products
- Trailer incorporated innovative use of double-racking system to improve load capacity
- trucks: 8
- staff: 14
- turnover: $1,324,000
- 1992 - Quality Accreditation AS3902
- 1993 - Fleetcom vehicle monitors fitted to A&S fleet, DECA Driver Training Program introduced
- Fleetcoms used to measure fleet operating performance and driver compliance (road speed / hours etc)
- Fleetcom was a forerunner to the GPS units now fitted to Wettenhalls trucks
- All company drivers complete 5 day Defensive Driver Training program at DECA Shepparton
- 1994 - A&S commences brick cartage for CSR PGH, A&S wins Colac Business Award, A&S buys adjoining property in Colac, Dawson Consulting assists A&S with Bonlac proposal
- PGH eneter the Victorian brick market, supplying bricks from NSW & SA
- A&S bring the very first load of sample bricks to VIC for PGH
- Sample bricks are used to set up displays at the HIA Home Show at the Melbourne Exhibit Building
- Colac Business & Retailers Association (COBRA) - Winner: Best Service Business
- A&S buys Forrest St property to accommodate growth in fleet size and establish new workshop
- Chris Garschagen assists Brett A with formulating a "transport opportunities" document for Bonlac Foods (Fonterra)
- 1995 - 5 year business plan developed, A&S commences softwood logging operations, A&S joins RTF "Team 200" Quality Std Program, A&S wins Australian Freight Industry Award
- Dawson Consulting (Chris G) assists A&S with building a 5 year business plan
- Business plan forms basis of direction, and road maps actions needed to build growth platform for A&S
- A&S re-starts logging operations
- First log truck goes into service - Volvo NL12 and single log skel
- Softwood logs ex Otway region to Midway Timber Products in Geelong (for export woodchip)
- RTF (now ATA) had 200 industry participants in a quality program for vehicle maintenance stds / driver health / training
- Winner - Country Operator of the Year
- trucks: 15
- staff: 26
- turnover: $4,406,000
- 1996 - First B Double enters service, A&S wins CSR Gyprock Linehaul Contract
- Kenworth K100 prime mover, with 34 pallet flat top trailer combination
- Used primarily for interstate general freight work for CSR
- Contract to transport 35,00 tonnes Gyprock plasterboard annually between VIC and SA
- Major foudation in growing CSR relationship and A&S interstate operations
- 1997 - A&S purchases R A & S Wettenhall, A&S commissions first b double walking floor combination, A&S commences services for Buttercup Bakeries
- Wettenhalls was a small interstate operation based at Dunlop Ct Bayswater
- Basis of purchase was to provide work for our existing fleet during Bonlac's low-season (Feb to June)
- Wettenhalls customers included Nylex, Dunlop Industrial, Hunter Douglas, Bristol Meyers Squibb, B&D Doors
- Innovation - walking floor b double that does not require uncoupling of trailers to unload
- 41 tonne payload with lightweight specification
- Provide linehaul services from Clayton to Lara DC, 7 days per week
- Foundation of Sunicrust relationship (Goodman Fielder acquired Buttercup in 1999)
- 1998 - A&S purchases M & F Brunt
- Bonlac encouraged the purchase, to assist in the rationalisation of their transport supplier base
- Fleet increased by 15 trucks
- Overnight A&S's dairy volumes tripled
- AKD volumes also increased substantially
- 1999 - A&S purchases Nelsons Transport, A&S wins 5 year contract with Bonlac, A&S purchases depot in Canterbury Rd Bayswater, A&S opens first Sydney depot
- Encouraged by Bonlac to rationalise their supplier base to one supplier for Western Region
- Nelsons operated 4 trucks, servicing Bonlac's UHT tetra-pak plant at Bonlac Camperdown
- Ian "Bushy" Kerr joins A&S
- Service Agreement covers all volumes (refrigerated and ambient) ex Western VIC
- Combines work serviced by A&S / M&F Brunt / Nelsons Transport
- Wettenhalls outgrows the Dunlop Ct site and relocates to the Canterbury Rd site
- A&S sub-leases a property from Gregory Transport located at Chipping Norton
- Dallas Habersely appointed as Wettenhalls first NSW State Manager
- Up to his stage, Sydney had been serviced through various Agency arrangements
- 2000 - A&S open Adelaide depot
- A&S buys property in Bedford St Gilman
- Brian Liston appointed Sate Manager, and recruits staff / subcontractors
- Agency arrangements were used in Adelaide prior to starting our own operations
- trucks: 41
- staff: 115
- turnover: $21,333,000
- 2001 - A&S wins Adelaide Brighton Cement (ABC) Contract, Altona Depot / Branch is established
- We win contract to linehaul / warehouse and distribute bagged cement ex SA to Victoria
- 75,000 tonnes per annum
- Gives great impetus to Adelaide Branch for backloading Melbourne trucks (7 - 8 b doubles per day)
- Lease site in Ajax Road to warehouse product
- Rocky Greco appointed Manager of site
- First e2e business offering is realised
- 2002 - A&S wins contract for refrigerated linehaul services to Bega NSW, A&S purchases Geelong Liquor Warehouse (GLW)
- Bonland (Fonterra) enters Licencing arrangement with Bega Co-operative in NSW
- Licencing Agreement creates linehaul task for 28,000 tonnes into and out of Bega per annum
- A&S provides innovative & cost effective solution to Bonland
- 5 lightweight b double combinations service the task
- John Denning appointed Account Manager and relocates to Bega NSW
- GLW was A&S's entrance to the Geelong market
- GLW provided warehousing & distribution operations for Fosters / CUB throughout Geelong region
- Geelong depot is established
- 2003 - Matthew Blizzard joins A&S
- 2004 - First Brisbane depot / branch opens, Rebrand A&S trucks to Wettenhalls
- A&S leases part of the AWH Rocklea woolstore as it's first Brisbane depot (budget premises)
- Agency arrangements were used in Brisbane prior to starting our own operations
- Launch Wettenhalls brand in Western VIC (previously only used for interstate operations)
- Brand launch purpose was to promote Group as a consolidated / integarted business
- 2005 - Renfrey Transport Geelong purchased, Wettenhalls wins Sunicrust VIC linehaul Contract
- Establishes Wettenhalls as a major transport provider in Geelong
- Australian Wool Handlers (AWH) customer relationship commences
- 24x7 linehaul ex Clayton to all VIC country Sunicrust depots
- 8 dry freight semis purchased to service the contract
- Brett Hayes has major invilvement in tender process and roll-out of service
- trucks: 94
- staff: 262
- turnover: $67,952,000
- 2006 - E & Notley Transport purchased, Wettenhalls opens Harcourt Road facility, Wettenhalls provides ambient e2e solution for National Foods, Wettenhalls wins Sunicrust linehaul Contract for Riverina & ACT
- Commence contract with HVP (Hancock Victorian Plantations) for softwood logging transport ex Nth East Vic region
- 5 trucks and trailers purchased from Notleys
- New purpose built 4.1 hectare site
- Fully integrated e2e solution (inbound / storage / order pick / despatch / customer delivery provided
- 3 trucks purchased to service contract
- Covering Albury/Leeton / Griffith / Wagga / Tumut / Tarcutta regions
- 2007 - Wettenhalls wins Rays Outdoors e2e Contract, Change of ownership
- 2008 - Wettenhalls acquires Marchetti Transport, Wettenhalls acquires WRL Logistics
- 2009 - Wettenhalls wins Sunicrust NSW linehaul Contract
