Welshpool transport business WA Freightlines Group is about to expand its long-haul interstate freight-forward coverage with a $2.5 million move into the Perth-Darwin route.
Welshpool transport business WA Freightlines Group is about to expand its long-haul interstate freight-forward coverage with a $2.5 million move into the Perth-Darwin route.
The company will open a terminal in the Northern Territory capital and will launch its new Perth-Darwin-Perth overland road-train service on May 1.
WA Freightlines currently operates two return services a week from Perth to all capital cities in the eastern states, departing Tuesdays and Fridays.
WA Freightlines Group managing director Craig Jolly said the introduction of the new service allowed the company to offer a truly national service.
“The Darwin service complements what we are doing for our existing customers in eastern states capital cities and enables us to present a complete transport package,” he said.
The new ‘GOLD Ribbon Service’ for Darwin has been the subject of extensive research and market analysis, including an evaluation of existing customers’ future needs and testing market demand from the Darwin economy.
“The Perth-Darwin route is under-serviced and the economy is strong, and unlikely to change in the next two years. The freight business is a good indicator of this, so we think this is a good time to launch the service,” Mr Jolly said.
“Initially there will be higher volumes moving between Perth and Darwin than the return leg, but the Northern Territory is growing and the imbalance will be addressed by a sales and marketing campaigning.”
WA Freightlines’ Darwin terminal will take its first freight bookings from Monday May 1 and the first service on the Perth-Darwin corridor, using new trucks and triple road-trains, will leave Perth on May 2.
The Perth-Darwin route will operate on the same twice-weekly, three-day service as the group’s other interstate routes.
WA Freightlines is a Western Australian owned company established in 1991 with the aim of providing interstate transport services for WA companies and WA branches of national companies. In January 2004, it integrated Jetstyle Express and Jollys Transport Services into the business to become the WA Freightlines Group of companies.
The WA Freightlines Group operates as three businesses and provides an overall logistics network that services customers’ specific and total transport requirements.
WA Freightlines Pty Ltd is the interstate freight-forward arm of the group, which operates the terminals in each capital city and ensures freight is moved to and from the capital city destinations.
Jetstyle Express operates a local metropolitan area courier and taxi truck service for pick-up and delivery of goods. Jolly’s Transport Services provides the plant and equipment and is responsible for actually moving the freight from terminal to terminal.
It subscribes to the ‘Trucksafe’ national accreditation scheme that ensures safety in the long-haul industry is managed within strictly agreed guidelines.
This includes the use of two drivers on long-haul routes.
The group has an integrated process that uses Jetstyle Express for the pick up of goods direct from customers, which are then put together with other parcels in a ‘consolidation’ process at WA Freightlines terminals and loaded onto long-haul trucks, which Jolly’s Transport then delivers to the interstate destinations.
The same process is then used in reverse, with the goods ‘deconsolidated’ and delivered to the end recipients by Jetstyle Express.
