As a second-generation Scania customer, Rick Steadman, the owner of Harper Jack Haulage, had already been convinced that the Scania product was perfectly suited to his business model. After starting with the integration of some trucks not on the Scania repair and maintenance program, Rick soon saw repair costs spiking.
When it then came to merging a new acquisition’s assets into his existing fleet, the financial benefits of the Scania Repair and Maintenance contract once again shone through.
“The Scania R&M is a fixed cost. You know what each truck is costing you every year, your cost per kilometre, your cost per day, your cost per month, whatever,” he says.
“You don’t get any nasty surprises, plus the Scania Retarder is a big help reducing your brake servicing costs.”
The last time Rick can remember Harper Jack Haulage having a truck in for repair that wasn’t on Scania’s R&M program resulted in a cost of $7,000 – nearly the entire fee that Rick pays for Scania’s R&M program for a year. The financial benefits quickly stacked up, with Rick deciding to recycle his older trucks for new ones all the time to ensure his fleet remains covered by Scania’s program.
“We run trucks over five years on the Scania R&M program and then turn them over with around 400,000 km on them, so there’s still plenty of life left in them,” he says.
“One of the other key elements is, if you know what your costs are per day, you know what the cost is of having a truck off the road for a day, and that’s before you even consider the impact on your customers and the business.”
Rick started off in the trucking industry working with his dad. When his dad retired alongside his brother, the family operation had roughly 10 trucks. Following his dad leaving the industry, Rick chose to take his own path with Harper Jack Haulage. Now, the operator has 26 trucks, 23 of which are Scanias.
“Dad and I started off with Scanias and we just never really looked at anything else,” he says.
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“I know the equipment and I know the truck – if there’s something wrong, I generally know how to fix it or what to do.”
Nowadays, Harper Jack Haulage moves containers from the wharf to its new distribution centre in Camellia, New South Wales, before then moving them out to customers. The company moves about 150 containers per day, largely picking up new business through word-of-mouth.
While Rick knows Harper Jack Haulage may not be the cheapest option in the market, the company prides itself on delivering the best service, and Rick likes that his customers respect that.
“People come to us generally because of our service – they’re happy with what they’re getting from us, and they’re not receiving calls from upset customers,” he says.
“Our customers are happy that we deliver them happy customers.”
Rick says he also gets calls daily from drivers looking for work.
“We have no problem with drivers. We just pick the good ones, give them a trial and set a high bar. It’s attitude as much as being able to steer,” he says.
“We haven’t had a high turnover of staff at all. I think once you’re offering good, clean equipment, they’re keen to stay.
“We offer a really good atmosphere, there’s plenty of work, and many of the drivers live close by. Many of our newer drivers are Indian, and they’re so polite, they don’t take sickies, I think they’re fantastic.”
Currently, Rick is running a day shift with 26 drivers and seven people in the office who may also run the reach stackers. The Harper Jack Haulage fleet includes a wide range of Scania trucks, from new R and G-cab Supers in 460 and 560hp to R-cabs with V8 engines up to 620hp, as well as some older R and G 540 and G 450s. Rick admits the fleet works hard in stop-start traffic, with one client in the ACT requiring Rick to send an A-double out every day.
“We tend to keep one driver in the truck, which helps ensure they’re really well looked after,” he says.
“The drivers are responsible for how clean and tidy they are inside, and we’ll look after the outside. You can look in any truck and it will be spotless.”
Rick says the efficiency provided by Scania trucks is enhanced by finding trailer solutions that build on these savings. HJH has recently acquired three split-quad axle side-loader trailers that allow them to carry a heavy load directly to the customer without needing to send a second truck to manage the offloading.
“The split quad is a relatively new idea, and there’s not a lot of them around in Sydney,” Rick says.
“They run on PBS permits but deliver us and our clients a huge advantage. They can cope with about one-and-a-half times the weight of a container that can be handled by a standard side-loader, with a maximum of 34 tonnes, which is handy for imports of pavers or other dense materials. It means our customers can fill up their containers more by volume than weight, helping reduce their shipping costs.
“Now we don’t have to send two trucks to a job for an overweight container. A standard side-loader can cope with a 22-tonne gross container, so when we have a 26-28-tonne load, we had in the past to put it on a flat-top and send a side-loader to lift the container off, whereas now we can avoid that. We’ve now got two Hammars and one Steelbro split-quads – our Steelbro was the first on the road and it was the unit on display at the last Brisbane Truck Show in 2023.”
HJH is on the move, literally, having shifted from a depot of 5,000sqm to a new location that is four times as big in 2022, but the small business mentality continues to permeate the way Rick thinks about his customers.
“We’ve gotten bigger, but we still have that small business attitude. We like to be personal with our client base – my phone is on all the time,” Rick says.
“If anybody has a problem and they can’t get hold of the office, they know to call me and we’ll get the problem sorted. I’ve made a point of speaking to clients and going to see them, especially if there’s been a problem, I want them to know that I want to know what the issue is so we can resolve it.
“I like the size we’re at now – if you are going to grow, you should grow step-by-step and don’t jump from 25 to 50, but instead take small steps.”
Dealing with Scania Preston’s sales manager Kaashief Boonzaier, Rick simply has to call when he needs a truck before being sorted by the team.
“Scania has always helped us, even from back in the days when Scania was at Chipping Norton. The (R&M) programs have tidied up a lot of things and the branch’s communication is fantastic,” he says.
“When we send a truck in for a service, within a couple of hours we’ve got an email to let us know if they have identified any other issues that need to be fixed.
“Kaash always picks up the phone, even at seven o’clock at night he’ll answer, because he knows you don’t ring him at that hour unless it’s urgent. I think that Scania’s aftersales service really helps keep me as a customer.
“With the R&M, the tow truck service and the 24-hour Scania Roadside Assistance hotline, there’s always a step-by-step process that we follow. If it’s towable, we’re straight onto the hotline and they’re there quickly.”
Despite this pristine service, HJH switched to working with Scania Easton Creek once the site opened, due to its closer proximity.
Scania NSW sales manager Kaashief Boonzaier says HJH is a perfect example of an efficiently run business that is careful controlling its costs and managing its growth.
“We have been very pleased to be a partner with HJH in its growth over the past few years,” Kaash says.
“Rick has a firm, process-driven operating strategy, and he’s benefited from the Scania Repair and Maintenance contracts to take the worry out of ensuring his fleet uptime, as well as compliance with roadworthiness.
“His vehicles are more than just well maintained – they are also well driven and looked after, which gives them extra appeal when he comes to swap them out for newer models.
“We look forward to working with HJH into the future and watching their continued success.”
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