Starting a transport business is no mean feat in itself. Long hours are a necessity to establish the brand, from logos to administration processes. Finding customers and securing those crucial first few contracts involve plenty of stress and doubt. Then try balancing rates, fuel and maintenance costs and the other monetary pressures that come with running a business and it makes for a rich mixture of factors to consider.
Add in moving from another country and starting a transport business becomes very close to impossible. Not for Hakam Gill, who has now been at the helm of Gagan Warehousing and Transport for more than two decades in Australia since starting the company.
“I started Gagan Warehousing and Transport back in 2005 in Melbourne after my background was working in transport in Auckland,” Hakam told OwnerDriver.
“When I arrived from New Zealand and started the business in Australia, I had only the one small tray truck. I started by delivering timber to construction sites.”
Like any enterprising member of the local transport industry, Hakam had the foresight to not stay with just the one small truck for long. In just two years he expanded the business into the general freight sector courtesy of using tautliner trucks – by the end of 2007, Gagan Warehousing and Transport consisted of just under 10 trucks.
How does one do this so quickly in a country they’ve just arrived in? Hakam says the answer isn’t pretty, as it’s wrapped in layers of hard work, perseverance and hope.
“After years of running general freight and timber for construction sites, I decided to start the crane truck hire side of the business in 2009,” he recalls.
“That has since made work easier for the company compared to solely unloading steel and timber off our trucks. We now provide crane truck hire services for major warehousing brands like Bunnings and Mitre 10, while also continuing store-to-store and other residential deliveries.”
As this rapid expansion continued in the late 2000s and only escalated in the 2010s, a new element entered Hakam and Gagan Warehousing and Transport’s lives that would shape its future. DAF Trucks. After 15 years of tireless work and growing into the crane truck hire space, Hakam came across the DAF brand courtesy of Hallam Truck Centre and Muza Syed.
“I bought my first DAF truck in 2021 – it was my first prime mover and I bought it from Muza,” Hakam says.
“It was a DAF XF 530hp that I ordered in March 2021. I liked it so much that in the same year I bought another DAF model in the LF 290hp with a flat tray and crane on the back.”
These initial DAF deliveries signalled a milestone shift for Hakam and his team at Gagan Warehousing and Transport, as the operator had grown to the point that it was buying only cranes and tray trucks instead of tautliners. This spurred the business on, as DAF proved central to Gagan Warehousing and Transport buying more and more crane trucks in the early to mid 2020s.
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By this year, the fleet looks remarkably different from what it was five years ago. Nowadays Hakam says nearly 80 per cent of the fleet is made up of the DAF badge, with recent deliveries taking his collection of DAF trucks to beyond 20.
“With these new trucks coming, I will have 22 DAF trucks in my fleet,” he says with a smile.
Unlike many operators who find one model and tend to stick with it, the diversity of Hakam’s operation means he has had the luxury of buying a variety of DAF trucks. He boasts that he now owns every available DAF model in Australia, from prime movers to crane and tray trucks.
“I’ve bought all the models – I have LF trucks, CF models in the twin steer and prime mover options, three XF models that are 530hp rated and I’ve now bought one XG 660hp,” he says.
“I’ve also bought three LF 290 models. My DAF trucks are mostly rigid trucks with cranes on them – mostly all trucks I’ve bought in the past few years have been through DAF and Hallam Truck Centre.”
This quick ascension means it’s quite common to spot a Gagan Warehousing and Transport DAF roaming the various highways and roads of Melbourne, transporting supplies to any timber yard one can imagine. Whether it be construction sites, warehousing giants or residential projects, Gagan Warehousing and Transport is often there in one of its many DAF trucks to get the job done.
These trucks are also now doing interstate jobs, carting large building materials and helping build Australia’s future with his fleet of DAFs. Hakam says DAF has been central to this growth due to their numerous benefits.
“I like DAF trucks as they’re very quiet and fuel wise they’re good – I love driving them,” Hakam says.
“The XF and XG models are my favourites as they’re both comfortable and fuel efficient. Overall, buying DAFs has allowed me to grow my business into being one of the largest building material suppliers in south-east Australia’s residential and building materials sector.”
From Muza’s perspective, Hakam and Gagan Warehousing and Transport form one of his oldest and best customers that he’s had at Hallam Truck Centre.
“He’s the best person to deliver trucks to, and whenever he visits us at Hallam Truck Centre he brings an incredible positivity to the room,” Muza told OwnerDriver.
“He’s very good at what he does and he’s done a wonderful job at expanding the business, while he’s loved by all of us here as he always has a smile on his face.”
This positivity is made even better by the origin story of Gagan Warehousing and Transport. When Hakam first decided to start the business in Melbourne, he was already committing to a lifestyle of grinding work with no guarantees of success. Through his constant joy and passion for the industry, he’s created a flourishing transport business in Australia’s south-east, helping build the nation through his fleet of DAF trucks. He has no intentions of taking his foot off the pedal.
“My plans are to keep growing, and DAF will be central to this,” he says.
“I don’t know where we’ll end up, but my priority is providing great service to our customers in order to become the best transport operator in Australia.”
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