Deals On Wheels #454

Working DEALS
once they
drive
the Scanias, most
attitudes start
to change
L
ike so many family transport businesses
in every part of the country, Warners
Transport & Distribution in the Perth
industrial suburb of Forrestfield, grew
from humble beginnings on the back of
hard work mixed with ample loads of
self-belief.
Typically, it was an inauspicious start for
Len Warner and wife Denise. The mid-90s
saw Australia finally breaking through ‘the
recession we had to have’, and also saw Len
put life as an interstate owner-driver behind
him as the couple developed a small local
distribution and storage business with a
modest line-up of second-hand rigid trucks.
In time, opportunities would arise to
expand the company’s horizons and there
was no shortage of willingness to diversify
into other transport fields, including longdistance
runs into Western Australia’s
burgeoning north and beyond.
Yet as fate can sometimes cruelly decree,
Len didn’t live to see the company grow to
its current standing as a significant player
in Perth’s container haulage, logistics
and warehousing operations, as well as
moving loads into regions much further
afield. His legacy, however, is well and truly
entrenched.
In fact, in the hands of twin sons Paul and
Shane, Warners Transport & Distribution
has evolved over the past two decades far
beyond the small local distribution and
storage company started by their parents.
“It is still very much a family business,” says
operations manager Geoff Underdown, who
has been with the company since its earliest
days, and is now part of the family himself.
With Paul and Shane out attending to
other commitments, it’s Geoff who explains
there are essentially three elements to
the business: port logistics, specialising in
container haulage to and from the Fremantle
port and Kewdale railheads; a modern
warehousing, storage and distribution
centre in Forrestfield; and last but by no
means least, a road freight fleet operating
on the confident premise ‘we can get
anything, anywhere.’
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