Three of Australia’s largest livestock transporting companies have joined the national chapter of the Australian Livestock and Rural Transporter’s Association.

The ALRTA has six state state associations and added a national chapter in 2013 to enhance its engagement with the most successful and influential operators in the rural transport sector, association president Kevin Keenan said.

The new membership of the National Chapter, who together operate several hundred trucks right across rural and regional Australia, will meet for the first time in the week before the ALRTA’s National Council meeting in Toowoomba on February 16.

“The Chapter operates much like our six state associations and is entitled to representatives and voting rights at all ALRTA National Council meetings,” Mr Keenan said.

“Collectively the Chapter now brings more than 200 years of experience to the table.

“These exceptional operators know what it takes to build successful road transport businesses from the ground up.  The ALRTA National Council welcomes the opportunity to cooperatively address the unique challenges facing rural, regional and remote road transport in Australia”.

The National Chapter members:

Ross Fraser AM:  A former Chair of the ATA and Past President of ALRTA, Ross Fraser would like to see clear guidelines on effluent control. Managing Director of Frasers Livestock Transport, based in Warwick, Queensland, Ross has been in the transport since 1961 heading the family business founded by his parents, Charlie and Edna Fraser, in 1944. Frasers now run a fleet of more than 50 prime movers and 150 trailers servicing the eastern states of Australia.

Gavin O’Sullivan: Gavin started out with one truck in 1969 and now operates over 60 prime movers. He considers driver training and maintaining good staffing levels to be one of the major challenges facing the industry over the next decade.

Robert Cavanagh: Robert operates Stockmaster out of Tamworth, NSW, and goes everywhere.  He is passionate about maintaining drivers’ high skill levels required to handle livestock and keeping paperwork to the highest possible standards while removing unnecessary red tape. Robert is a former ALRTA National President.

Joe Sepos: Joe is based in Newcastle and operates a fleet of livestock and bulk vehicles right across the country. He reckons that rural roads need better funding.  Joe is a former President of the LBRCA (or NSW Livestock Transporters Association as it was then known).

Jason Thornhill: Jason operates Trans Australian Livestock from his home base in Murray Bridge, SA, and specialises in carting livestock and other farm produce. He considers that managing fatigue is one of the major issues for both drivers and operators and is keen to contribute to improving safety across the industry.

Source: ALRTA