New eastern-state giant formed with fleet of 800 in Queensland and NSW
With a view to increase services on the east coast, Queensland’s Followmont Transport today announced it has acquired New South Wales-based Towers Transport.
The move sees an extensive network expansion for both providers, benefiting customers with a personalised inter- and intrastate service offer throughout Queensland and New South Wales, Followmont says.
While Towers Transport will continue to run as a separate operation in the short term, the companies have joined forces to improve current offerings until the final merger, the value of which was undisclosed.
The pair will focus on upholding their outstanding delivered in full, on time (DIFOT) statistics and personable customer relationships.
Followmont says its decision to venture further into the New South Wales market forms part of their strategic goal to increase network reach and provide a better experience for customers.
Followmont MD Mark Tobin says identifying the right partner for the merger was the most important factor.
“Towers Transport have a great reputation in the industry and share our commitment to providing the best possible service,” Tobin continues.
“At the end of the day, everything we do comes back to the impact we have on our customers business.
“Like Followmont, Towers has been built from a family foundation and maintaining that personal touch is what sets us both apart from the bigger corporations. For us it’s personal, not commercial.”
Followmont and Towers, both family-owned businesses, were established in the early 1980s.
The companies say that staying true to family values, they place a high importance on the people of their organisations to create a culture where people want to come to work.
“Our people live by our values and it’s that passion that drives the business,” Tobin says.
“We work collaboratively to build the future of our workplace and create a culture we can feel proud to be a part of.”
Towers Transport MD Barry Towers sees the move as an exciting milestone for the business.
“Bridging the gap between our states will have such a positive affect for our customers and it’s great to be creating this alliance with a company that mirrors our values,” Towers says.
“We set out to be a business that has heart and we are confident this sentiment will continue through Followmont Transport.”
Followmont currently operates through 18 owned Queensland depots and a network of dedicated agents.
With Towers Transport running a similar platform of branches and local agents, the merger results in a significant footprint increase and coverage to “every town, every night across both states”.
Creating this opportunity to leverage their combined networks, provides customers with a service based option that aims to reduce cost through consolidation and ease transport pain.
The Followmont-Towers Transport combination results in a fleet of more than 800, a workforce of over 780, 25 depots and more than 60 supporting agents.