Illawarra based family operator Ross Transport has issued a plea to the industry to ensure no more longstanding operators are forced to shut doors in the wake of Ron Crouch Transport entering voluntary administration.
After hearing of the news, Ross Transport took to Facebook to share its thoughts. The operator has been proudly family owned and operated since 1975, running a fleet of more than 70 trucks and 120 trailers.
The operator says the industry is witnessing something “deeply saddening and profoundly unsettling” in an industry that has been built on hard work, sacrifice and generations of dedication slowly collapsing under pressures that it says “no honest family business should ever have to endure”.
“Every week – sometimes every single day – another trucking company announces administration or liquidation,” Ross Transport says.
“Businesses that have carried this country for decades are closing their doors. Companies built by families who poured their lives into them are suddenly gone. And it isn’t because these people lost their drive or their commitment. It’s because the pressures bearing down on them have become simply impossible to survive.”
The operator says constant government demands, “crippling taxes” and fast shifting regulations are all reasons for this trend, with low rates also a key issue.
Throw in a nationwide labour and skill shortage that is leaving trucks and workloads parked up, and Ross Transport has reasons to raise the alarm.
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“For so many, coming to work every day has become an exhausting uphill climb. The spark that once kept these family businesses going is being smothered by obstacles they had no hand in creating,” Ross Transport says.
“And let’s be clear: these are not just companies. These are family legacies. They are built on early mornings, late nights, missed holidays and sacrifices that most people will never fully understand. For 50 years, 60 years or more, these operators have stepped up for Australia – through fires, floods, pandemics and every challenge thrown their way.
“But now? They’re weary. They’re drained. And for the first time, many are saying, “We can’t keep going like this”.
“So I ask the question that echoes across this entire nation: When will the government finally recognise what these family trucking companies do for Australia? When will they acknowledge the essential role we play, the pressures we’re under and the simple truth that without us, this country cannot function?
“It is heartbreaking to watch long-standing companies – businesses that have survived economic downturns, industry changes and decades of challenges – shut their doors not because they want to, but because they feel they have no alternative left.
“Every closure isn’t just a business lost. It is knowledge lost. Jobs lost. Community lost. It is another piece of our industry disappearing right before our eyes.
“We deserve better. Our families deserve better. Our industry deserves better. It is time – long overdue – for our leaders to step up, listen and act before the very foundation of Australian transport is eroded beyond repair.
“Because once these 50-year family companies are gone, they are gone forever. And Australia will feel the loss in ways that cannot be fixed.”
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