ATN #418

for Big W, Baiada Poultry and
Ampol, and has just won a new
contract with Aldi, running out of the
Goulburn depot.
Telling in the company’s success is
how often the contracts are renewed,
five times since 2005 in the case of
Primary Connect.
RECRUITMENT CHALLENGE
“We could take on 70 drivers
tomorrow,” is Parry’s blunt
assessment.
“We need people across our
operations area and admin and
finance. Our workshops have taken
five people on as apprentices this
year, and we’ll take another five next
year. There are opportunities all over
the business.”
The opportunities might be there,
but, like many regional industries,
transport and logistics is struggling to
find enough workers.
Road freight is increasing in volume
each year and the supply of drivers
can’t keep up. Couple that with an
aging population of current drivers
(many of whom are due to retire in the
next decade or so) and it becomes a
situation needing urgent attention.
Over the last year, RFT has had
times when trucks have sat idle for
lack of drivers – a frustrating situation
for a business that prides itself on
productivity and fleet utilisation.
Parry said young people starting
out in the workforce could have
an outdated perception of the
transport and logistics industry,
not realising how cutting edge the
technology now is.
“This industry has as many
opportunities as any,” he said.
“If you sit in the Mercedes-Benz
trucks we have, today, it’s the same as
sitting in the equivalent car.
“We’re working with artificial
intelligence, machine learning and
robotic processes. Gone are the days
of trucks with all the gears, manual
loading and tarping your trailer.”
We do what we do and we
try to do it well
RFT is using innovative methods to
get the message out there, including
using social media to connect with
young people and talking directly to
school leavers.
One young person who has
embraced those opportunities is
18-year-old Damon Phegan, an
apprentice heavy diesel mechanic
who started in Wodonga with RFT six
months ago.
Phegan said he’d always been
interested in working with engines, so
when an opportunity came up at RFT
he leapt at the chance.
“I’ve learned a lot in the time I’ve
been here and I really love it,” he said.
“The technology is always
being updated, always getting
more high tech.”
Phegan said employment
Opposite: Ron
Finemore
Top: Cruising the
country roads of
northern Victoria
Above, L to R:
Lined up and
ready to go
at Wodonga;
Managing
director Mark
Parry
FULLYLOADED.COM.AU July 2021 ATN 39