For many trucking operators around Australia, the range of truck shows on offer allow them to bring their workers together. With drivers often on the roads all over the country, it’s rare for them all to be in the one place at the same time.
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At Kelly Durkin Trucking, there’s one time every year the entire cohort of drivers and workers get the chance to come together and chat. The annual Tooradin Truck Show and Tractor Pull is the place.
While there was plenty of wild weather that ravaged this year’s edition of the show in Melbourne’s south-east, it didn’t stop Kelly Durkin and his team from once again reuniting to celebrate another year of success.
“Our involvement at the truck show in Tooradin came through some of our drivers years ago wanting to get the crew involved,” Kelly told Deals on Wheels.
“I have two daughters, Chloe (22) and Charlie (17), who are right into the show, and their friends are too. We try go to Tooradin every year as a team because it’s our local show – it may not be the biggest, but I think it’s one of the best.”
The dedication of Kelly and his business to Tooradin is obvious. The early months of each year tend to be the busiest for Kelly Durkin Trucking, while Saturdays are the most packed days of the week.
Except for Tooradin weekend. Instead of spending the hectic day out on the roads on show day, Kelly puts in the hard yards to ensure all drivers and trucks are made available to head to Tooradin when the event rolls around each year.
“I had to do a fair bit this year in order to get our trucks to go, but we were lucky to have all of our trucks in the show this year,” he says.
“We got subbies to do all the work that our team would normally do on a Friday night and Saturday, so we were able to take all of our prime movers, but one, down. It was good for our entire family, including our drivers and crew, to come together with eight of our vehicles.”
The excitement for this year’s edition of Tooradin wasn’t just limited to Kelly and his family. The operator’s drivers went to “the next level” to ensure they were available with their trucks for the event. He says this dedication made the weekend extra special as the wider family came together for the Melbourne event.
“We look after our drivers but most of them naturally go above and beyond to look after the equipment and drive nights so that we can come together at Tooradin,” Kelly says.
“I’m so glad to have them and have them represent us. It’s not all chrome wheels and big stacks, it’s a lot of late nights and long weekends not being home. They miss out on so many things with their kids, so it’s good to bring everyone to Tooradin for the day.”
The Tooradin excursion for the Kelly Durkin Trucking family came with a reward, as the team took home the best old school Kenworth trophy for its 1986 SAR.
On top of this, mechanic, Mitch, won the best prime mover between 11 and 16 years old award with his Kenworth 2013 T909.
“He owns and operates in Morwell and does a good job helping us out,” Kelly says.
“He was involved at Tooradin along with all of our detailers, truck washers and their families.”
Recognising the people part of the business has always been a key value for Kelly Durkin. The principal stems from a family lineage of running trucks.
Kelly first started driving interstate with his dad for Durkin Brothers back in 1994. Alongside some gigs with a few other companies over the first few years, Kelly then decided to get out of Australia and began working on the other side of the world.
Starting in the US, Kelly then drove trucks in Canada and headed to England before returning back to Australia at the end of 2000 to recommence interstate driving.
As there wasn’t a position with the family business at the time, Kelly went and worked for a friend for the next year before he decided to start his own business with his wife Mandy in 2001. Thus, Kelly Durkin Trucking was born.
“I was pretty fortunate to have a foot in the door courtesy of the family business,” he says.
“Being potato farmers out in Thorpdale near Gippsland, my family have bought and sold potatoes and more since 1946, so I was lucky to have a very good safeguard option.”
Back when he started working, Kelly had about 60 per cent of his work as his own freight. He says in that time one only needed about 50 per cent of the work to be the business’ own freight to control the rate of pay. Nowadays, he says operators need between 80 and 85 per cent of the work to be one’s own due to the rising cost of fuel, wages and operations.
“Fortunately, most of what we do have is our own business in carrying produce such as fruit and veggies,” he says.
“We do the Thorpdale season from January to June and then do other Victorian produce along the Koo-Wee-Rup swamp, Werribee and the Mornington Peninsula from September through to May. In the winter, we carry produce out of Queensland back to Victoria and New South Wales, supplying fresh potatoes to supermarkets.”
Kelly’s transport empire has three growing areas – Thorpdale, a town in NSW and then up in northern Queensland.
When Kelly and Mandy first started, they only had the one truck before graduating to two trucks in 2004, three in 2007 and now eight Kenworth prime movers with around 25 trailers.
The current fleet gets rotated around, allowing drivers to load and unload quickly so they can head back on their interstate runs. Other runs head to Melbourne’s markets every night out of Thorpdale, with Sydney and Brisbane also serviced daily with Kelly’s produce.
“It’s pretty hectic – we do other jobs for different types of growers out of season, including carrying fresh produce out of the Riverina region in Griffith and the Murray River,” he says.
“We do cart some building products and paper too, running paper out of Sydney every day.”
As was shown at Tooradin, Kelly’s focus for success is treating his drivers well. He says the operator is lucky to not have high turnover in drivers, with plenty of long-term workers staying with the business for more than 10 years. It means when someone is new, it’s unusual for the team.
Moving forward, Kelly is looking to ensure his drivers remain at the forefront of his future planning for Kelly Durkin Trucking.
“We just put on our youngest drivers this year – these people are our future and I’m more than happy to train them on the job,” he says.
“I’m encouraged by the number of young people embracing the industry, particularly through the likes of social media. There are negatives and positives to it, but the positives far outweigh the negatives
when we see young drivers coming to our sector.”
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