Mainfreight – Team Newsletter December 2023
MAINFREIGHT
TEAM REVIEW
NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2023
MAGAZINE
DIRECTORY
Welcome to our year-end Christmas
edition of our Team Review – our
newsletter written by our team for our
team.
What a wonderful collection of the
latest news and positive business
stories about our business.
Our people around the world have
experienced some of the most
significant freight and logistics
volume surges ever experienced in
our industry – well certainly in the
memory of some of us who have been
around for a few years.
The congestion created by
extraordinary volumes of freight
across Air & Ocean trade lanes,
in Warehouses, and across our
Domestic freight networks during
2022 and 2023 placed everyone
in a very difficult environment as
we looked to meet and satisfy our
customers logistics requirements.
Only on reflection do we now
appreciate the enormity and affect it
had on our network.
To the credit of every single
Mainfreighter, we were able to deliver
and therefore we have managed to
grow a bigger and better business.
While we navigate our way through
these last six months, the magnitude
of our performance is no more evident
when comparing our six month results
this year compared to the same period
last year. Whilst still with plenty on, our
results saw Revenue decline 21.6% to
NZ$2.36 billion and Profit before Tax
decline 42.1% to NZ$124.55 million –
a very credible effort considering the
economic conditions we have faced.
No matter this decline, we continue to
see further growth opportunities as we
continue to attract new customers to
our network, and we are experiencing
great support from our customers
looking to extend their trading with
us. This increased trading can be
seen across more domestic and
international trade lanes, and in a lot
of circumstances, out-sourcing their
warehousing requirements with us.
We continue to invest our hard-
earned profits into increasing our
capacity in new cross-docks and
warehouses and expanding our
network across the 27 countries
where we are now located, or finding
those new countries that will assist
our geographical expansion. We
have opened in Mumbai, India. Ajay
and his team are confident of the
opportunities that front us across
India, and we look forward to seeing
our growth to and from this exciting
country and market.
We remain extremely proud of our
ever-increasing global network and
more importantly, the team of people
using that network to deliver for our
customers.
To our team, thank you for all you do
on behalf of our customers.
We continue to be positive around
the future for Mainfreight. Despite
geo-political tensions and on-
going economic malaise, our
strong customer verticals provide
us the opportunity to develop
further. It is incumbent on all of us
to delight our customers with high
levels of customer service, great
communication, and to be servicing
new business opportunities at every
encounter. New business sales, and
developing business with our current
customers, is the foundation for more
growth and a stronger business.
N O T E
F R O M
DON
03
Australia
14
New Zealand
26
Europe
34
Asia
42
Americas
52
Technology
56
Training & Development
61
Bereavements
63
Service Achievements
64
Long Service Legends
66
Photoboard
69
Feedback
Team,
One of our key guiding principles is that we always
intend to have better financial performance this
year compared to the same period last year. Most
of the time, we manage to achieve this. This year,
for the first time in many years, we were off at the
half-year mark, with profits being behind by nearly
23% and sales down approximately 9%. Admittedly,
we are comparing to an incredibly strong year. Still,
nonetheless, this result is chastening and a reminder
that we need to be ever-vigilant and guard against
the complacency that can creep in when times are
good.
Managing overhead costs is always critical,
especially when things tighten up. This is when great
businesses come to the fore. Our team’s superior
performance becomes the differentiating factor in
our ability to weather tougher times because our
people have proven to be the best at doing more
with less.
In an unusual way, economic slowdowns are vital
now and again to help us remain focused and hungry
to keep on top of those things that would otherwise
stop us from achieving our targets.
Our service performance from last Christmas
improved significantly over the previous year due to
much better planning for the peak season. Volumes
for this year’s peak season may spike less than in
some past years, but it will still be massive. Again,
this year, we have put an enormous amount of
planning into ensuring that our peak season service
performance is the best it can be. Irrespective of
which part of our business you are in, we are judged
heavily on how well we move our customers’ freight
on time and intact, and this remains our primary
function. This is the reason we all come to work each
day.
We have opened several new branches over the
last few years as we continue to grow our network.
Our challenge is ensuring those branches become
profitable quickly and provide great services to the
local areas they represent. Our regional branches
can only be profitable if they are actively out and
about winning outbound business, and we must all
help them wherever possible to be able to grow. Our
pace of network expansion will be crimped if we are
too slow to build profitability in our newer branches.
AUSTRALIA
MAINFREIGHT AUSTRALIA
Rodd Morgan
FIVE THINGS TO DO BETTER IN
2024
Guard against hypocrisy. Hypocrites should be
avoided and ignored at all costs.
Be good enough to take responsibility for your
actions – good and bad.
Try to remain hungry and ambitious. Complacency
will lead to mediocrity and rapidly ruin us.
Be aware of what you can do to help our regional
branches grow and expand.
Demand breathtaking presentation from our
business. We have no hope of long-term success
without it.
These points above are particularly relevant at
the moment because, as we predicted last year,
2023 has indeed seen a slowdown in our broader
economic environment. This will likely continue
well into 2024, but we hope our economy will show
the resilience it has shown many times before. As
we have often said, it is and always will be, about
quality – only great quality will ensure we see off all
challenges.
Thanks to those team members working through
the Christmas and New Year period, and for those
taking a break, have a great time.
Merry Christmas and enjoy your hams!
Best Wishes,
Rodd.
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
Let us all be an ambitious bunch of
so-and-so’s. It will be a heap of fun
for us all.
Have a great Christmas, take time for
family, friends, and yourselves.
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
Delivery performance. We are consistently achieving
the expected level. This is a daily discipline. Please
ensure that we have the capacity to deliver to this
standard as freight volumes increase.
Training. As the business has grown, so has the
team. Ensure that our depot systems are understood.
Time invested in good training upfront will avoid the
time lost on managing challenges downstream.
Presentation. Never walk past rubbish on the floor.
The immaculate presentation of our vehicles,
facilities and team is a non-negotiable (It is even
more important when we get busy). If we look tidy,
we will play tidy.
Communication. We will inevitably encounter
challenges early during this peak period. Give
the bad news early. As time ticks away, so do the
opportunities to fix the issue.
Take ownership of every problem; don’t just hand it
off to someone else.
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
Thank you team for the great year. You should all
be justifiably proud of your contribution towards
delivering exceptional service for our customers.
Together, we have made significant improvements
to our service quality. Please remember that quality
comes first. Quality to us means delivering the freight
on time, in full, and in good condition. Quality means
doing this while having an immaculate presentation.
Our service will be better if our people, vehicles and
facilities are presented brilliantly. Quality means
safely doing this in our branches and on the roads.
Finally, quality means looking for ways to do it better,
and there is no better way to do this than an effective
Positive Action Team meeting.
This year, we have moved into three new world-class,
purpose-built facilities in Adelaide, Melbourne and
Gold Coast. We built these sites to a high standard to
give the team every opportunity to deliver exceptional
quality for our customers. They all have substantial
solar, battery and water capture facilities. Alongside
our sustainable facilities, we have a growing number
of electric trucks, forklifts, and hybrid and electric
company cars.
We recognise team members who have passed in
the bereavements within this newsletter. However,
we all have several important lessons when talking
about this team member. Ray Burgess sadly lost his
battle with cancer. Ray was a Mainfreight legend who
approached every day with passion and discipline.
This could be seen in the immaculate way he
presented himself, the forklift he drove (which was
treated more like a company car), the customers he
managed and the accuracy with which he carried out
every task. He was a well-respected team member
and a trusted advisor to our customers. Ray’s
contribution to Mainfreight Australia’s success in the
beverage sector cannot be overstated. We will miss
you, Ray. You have inspired many of us throughout
our careers and will not be forgotten.
We are looking forward to a busy peak season. We
appreciate all the effort that goes into preparing for
this. Your planning will pay dividends when freight
volumes increase, and we can demonstrate our
agility by maintaining our service quality.
CHALLENGE OURSELVES TO
DO THE FOLLOWING BETTER
I hope you enjoy the below contributions from our
Australian Transport team.
Thank you for a special year and your enthusiasm to
make this one even better than the last!
MAINFREIGHT TRANSPORT
Simon Hart
CLAIMS PERFORMANCE
If your branch is below the Total Company number, then you are below average.
Make sure you and your team members work hard this year to be above this line.
Branch
To Sep
2023
To Mar
2023
To Sep
2022
Branch
To Sep
2023
To Mar
2023
To Sep
2022
CCA DANDENONG SOUTH283421854514702MFT ALBURY4296042883739
CCA ADELAIDE952657893344CCA DANDENONG SOUTH428662629218314
CCA EPPING95151470812101CCA ADELAIDE15971167280
MFT DUBBO907000MFT GOLD COAST786651923337
CCA BRISBANE64311068916837MFT CANBERRA659531221836
CCA PRESTONS503949303841MFT BRISBANE621021411768
MFT NARANGBA495717882331MFT PERTH596636433987
MFT DANDENONG SOUTH454440943062MFT TOWNSVILLE5920802010216
MFT TOWNSVILLE453428452237MFT BUNBURY590800
MFT ALBURY419118993036MFT BENDIGO563659463943
MFT NEWCASTLE405839064769CCA PRESTONS501878316510
MFT GEELONG3808925512346Total Company500537613357
MFT ADELAIDE333133544932MFT DANDENONG SOUTH494375735523
CCA PERTH297281338334CCA BRISBANE489046583691
MFT CANBERRA293024581802MFT GEELONG4464100180
MFT TOOWOOMBA26621133951MFT EPPING432922661752
Total Company264822432023CCA EPPING4151
1109211364
MFT TAMWORTH251833282361MFT NARANGBA395827611610
MFT BALLARAT248728622902CCA PERTH377154926273
MFT EPPING222018281792MFT MACKAY365026720
MFT BRISBANE213414981547MFT PRESTONS315521491931
MFT PRESTONS175820071830MFT DUBBO275414550
MFT MACKAY173300MFT NEWCASTLE264829933776
MFT GOLD COAST13681108988MFT ERSKINE PARK247424492009
MFT TRARALGON132014731295MFT ADELAIDE244124103034
MFT PERTH1097741774MFT WOLLONGONG1920531011141
MFT ERSKINE PARK772964664MFT ORANGE143358190
MFT WOLLONGONG52213211577MFT TRARALGON099439727
MFT ORANGE50530040MFT BALLARAT027221902
MFT BUNBURY2174380MFT TOOWOOMBA000
MFT BENDIGO000MFT TAMWORTH26434643
Outward Consignments Per ClaimInwards Consignments Per Claim
Branch
To Sep
2023
To Mar
2023
To Sep
2022
Branch
To Sep
2023
To Mar
2023
To Sep
2022
CCA DANDENONG SOUTH283421854514702MFT ALBURY4296042883739
CCA ADELAIDE952657893344CCA DANDENONG SOUTH428662629218314
CCA EPPING95151470812101CCA ADELAIDE15971167280
MFT DUBBO907000MFT GOLD COAST786651923337
CCA BRISBANE64311068916837MFT CANBERRA659531221836
CCA PRESTONS503949303841MFT BRISBANE621021411768
MFT NARANGBA495717882331MFT PERTH596636433987
MFT DANDENONG SOUTH454440943062MFT TOWNSVILLE5920802010216
MFT TOWNSVILLE453428452237MFT BUNBURY590800
MFT ALBURY419118993036MFT BENDIGO563659463943
MFT NEWCASTLE405839064769CCA PRESTONS501878316510
MFT GEELONG3808925512346Total Company500537613357
MFT ADELAIDE333133544932MFT DANDENONG SOUTH494375735523
CCA PERTH297281338334CCA BRISBANE489046583691
MFT CANBERRA293024581802MFT GEELONG4464100180
MFT TOOWOOMBA26621133951MFT EPPING432922661752
Total Company264822432023CCA EPPING4151
1109211364
MFT TAMWORTH251833282361MFT NARANGBA395827611610
MFT BALLARAT248728622902CCA PERTH377154926273
MFT EPPING222018281792MFT MACKAY365026720
MFT BRISBANE213414981547MFT PRESTONS315521491931
MFT PRESTONS175820071830MFT DUBBO275414550
MFT MACKAY173300MFT NEWCASTLE264829933776
MFT GOLD COAST13681108988MFT ERSKINE PARK247424492009
MFT TRARALGON132014731295MFT ADELAIDE244124103034
MFT PERTH1097741774MFT WOLLONGONG1920531011141
MFT ERSKINE PARK772964664MFT ORANGE143358190
MFT WOLLONGONG52213211577MFT TRARALGON099439727
MFT ORANGE50530040MFT BALLARAT027221902
MFT BUNBURY2174380MFT TOOWOOMBA000
MFT BENDIGO000MFT TAMWORTH26434643
Outward Consignments Per ClaimInwards Consignments Per Claim
Tribute to Ray Burgess
Ray began his journey with us in October 1996.
He was Prestons Warehousing’s standing team
member, having worked at Milperra and Prestons.
Two of Ray’s sons also worked here for a period,
and it was clear he was proud to have them here
working at the company he loved.
Ray worked on the Brown Forman account for many
years until the warehouse expanded. Ray decided
it was time to move out into the yard to load and
unload daily. Here, he began to take great care of his
forklift, painting and cleaning it weekly with his name
proudly displayed on the side.
Ray still worked very closely with the account,
always assisting with stocktakes, helping to pick
the damages for destruction orders and labelling
inventory, which he did most Saturday mornings.
This showed us his dedication to Mainfreight and
the Brown Forman account by giving up part of his
weekend to be here.
Ray was famously known for attending the gym daily,
sometimes even twice. This was clear to us all when
he would decide to start doing push-ups randomly
throughout the day, sometimes even one-handed.
Ray loved the beach, where he volunteered as a
lifesaver on the weekend. One year, Ray dressed up
in his life-saving attire for a Halloween celebration,
much to the surprise of us all.
He put everything into Mainfreight, and anyone who
crossed his path will forever be grateful they had.
– Riyaz Jordan.
Ray Burgess, Mainfreight Legend, 27 years
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
DRIVER APPRECIATION
WEEK AROUND THE COUNTRY
Showing our drivers how much we appreciate them is
something that our team really enjoys doing.
Branches nationwide came up with some inventive
activities to celebrate our drivers and show our
appreciation for all they do.
This time, we had lucky-dip games of chance,
personalised hi-vis vests, plenty of tyres being shined,
hair cuts and beard trims, special lunches, gift bags
and coffee vans.
Driver Gurdeep Singh,
Narangba, with his win from the
Wheel of Fortune
Max Walker, Narangba,
shining up some tyres
Driver Adam Khammo, Erskine
Park, playing Pop the Balloon
The Toowoomba team Stanley Grubb, Jason Tuautu and Jackson
O’Brien presenting gift bags to drivers – Usama Ahmad, Richard
Briel, Rahul Suresh and Anuj Murali
Bobby, Willy, Phil & Yousef from Transport and
Metro Epping enjoying the coffee van
BREASTSCREEN NSW
Jayden Leigh Tasev,
Sales Manager, Transport Albury
In March, Transport Albury won the tender
and was awarded the contract with the NSW
Government for storing and transporting their
two mobile mammography vans throughout
regional NSW. BreastScreen NSW is part of
the national BreastScreen Australia program,
which the Commonwealth, State and Territory
Governments jointly fund.
BreastScreen aims to improve the survival
rates of women with breast cancer by providing
free screening mammograms to women aged
40+. The objective of the service is to detect
breast cancer early before it has a chance to
spread. Early detection of cancer increases the
treatment options available and improves the
chance of survival.
These vans provide vital screening services
to regional communities in NSW that would
otherwise have no access to this kind of
healthcare. Each van screens between 30
and 60 women per van per day. Seeing our
Owner Driver with his brand new Mainfreight
prime mover towing these trailers around these
communities is quite a sight.
CONVOY FOR THE CURE,
TOWNSVILLE
Joel Nikeller, Branch Manager
Mainfreight Townsville participated in the Convoy for
The Cure in May of this year.
A record 245 trucks and 85 motorbikes participated,
with $90,000 raised to help find a cure for paediatric
brain cancer.
Thousands of people lined the streets along the route
to wave and cheer, and in return, the truckies honked
their horns to acknowledge the overwhelming support
of the Townsville community.
Our very own Keith Abrahams taking out the prestigious
‘Horniest Man in Townsville’ award - I don’t think he
lifted his hand off the horn for the entire convoy!
They travelled a total of 19km during the convoy, which
was the largest event in the North Queensland capital
that day. It was estimated that the convoy was at least
5km long. Next year, we plan on doing it even bigger
and better!
Convoy for the Cure in Townsville
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The most dangerous phrase in the language is
“we’ve always done it this way” – Rear Admiral
Grace Hooper.
As 2023 comes to a close, the supply chain network
continues to experience challenges posed by global
market fluctuations, increased e-commerce demands
and unexpected disruptions. One particularly evident
area was congestion within our warehouse operations.
It’s pleasing to see the strength of our team as we
worked collectively to address and mitigate this. By
addressing the congestion challenges proactively,
we have implemented solutions that address the
current challenges and future-proof our operations
against upcoming disruptions.
This year has been marked by numerous milestones
and achievements that wouldn’t have been possible
without the dedication of our team. 2023 saw
the introduction of five new warehouses across
five states. These state-of-the-art warehouses
include sustainable infrastructure, technology and
design that reduce our environmental impact and
operational costs. These warehouses have bolstered
our storage capacities and significantly improved our
operations to ensure that our customer’s products
are stored, handled and transported with the utmost
quality and care. The integration of these new sites
was seamless, thanks in large part to the dedication
and commitment of our team.
“Delight customers with speed and quality”.
Quality has always been at the forefront of our
operations; this year was no exception. This year,
we took a significant leap by introducing Lean Six
Sigma training and 5S organisational workshops to
our team members. This training has amplified our
operational efficiency and provided team members
with invaluable tools to excel in their respective roles.
This initiative also aims to refine our processes,
minimise waste, and ensure that every facet of our
operation is tuned to deliver the utmost value.
With the changing demands of our customers and
the constantly moving dynamics of the supply chain,
it was imperative that our communication processes
remain clear and efficient. By emphasising
improvement in the timeliness and clarity of our
communication at every touchpoint, we have
reduced errors and accelerated our response time.
This has enhanced our service quality and further
strengthened our trust with customers.
We want to thank each team member of the
Mainfreight family and our valued customers for
their contribution to making 2023 a success. We
value your trust, support, and collaboration and are
optimistic about our development for 2024.
WAREHOUSING
Riyaz Jordan
Never accept the status quo.
Understanding our customers – Knowing our
customers is more than just a handshake. It is
necessary to clearly understand their needs.
Take pride in our space – Taking a few moments
each day to maintain our space allows us to take
pride in our surroundings. This also allows us to
work in a ready environment.
Better decision making – Manage by walking around
(MBWA), be close to the front line, identify and
address potential challenges before they escalate.
Environmental responsibility – Make eco-friendly
choices in your daily life, such as reducing waste,
conserving energy, and supporting sustainable
practices.
GOALS FOR THE YEAR AHEAD
Again, thank you for all your hard work and dedication
throughout the year. We are incredibly fortunate
to have you on our team. Wishing you all a Merry
Christmas and a relaxing holiday season.
Thanks, Riyaz.
DEXTER DRIVE WAREHOUSE
GETS A FACELIFT
As we approach the peak end of another busy year,
we are excited to reflect on the incredible journey the
team and the warehouse have been through. Our
foremost priority has been restoring our branch’s
presentation to its highest standards, allowing us to
take pride in our workspace once more. Returning
to the basics and giving attention to the finer details
has yielded significant improvements in the quality
of our work. This improvement has enhanced our
customers’ perception and instilled a strong sense
of commitment within our team to maintain and build
upon this progress.
We want to thank our dedicated team for their
hard work and commitment to this transformation.
None of this would have been possible without their
dedication.
As we look ahead to the coming year, we are excited
about the possibilities that await us. We will continue
to strive for excellence and work toward making
Dexter Drive Warehouse the best it can be.
Our Dexter Drive Warehouse ready for the coming year
MAINFREIGHT
WAREHOUSING KENWICK
Nick Marshall
There have been some exciting times in Western
Australia, none more so than receiving the keys in
June to our new purpose-built facility in Kenwick.
Our new facility, shared with our mates at Mainfreight
Wharf and Air & Ocean, boasts a 21,000m2
warehouse, which includes 1,000 pallets spaces
of temperature-controlled storage. Our food grade
and dangerous goods capabilities, to name a few,
will bring together our two warehousing teams from
Kewdale and Perth Airport.
Other than now having our kitchen on site for the
team to enjoy, the team and our customers will
reap the benefits of the operational efficiencies we
will gain – a prime example of this is the benefit
of being on a shared site with our Wharf team,
providing direct access and faster turnaround times
on inbound containers.
As we approach our first peak period operating from
our Kenwick warehouse, our focus on delivering
quality service to our customers remains the top
priority. A big thank you to all the team involved in
moving over the past 3-4 months. Your efforts and
commitment have been fantastic.
22 December 2022 – Structure going up
24 July 2023 – Final Touches
06 May 2022
MOOREBANK INTERMODAL
LOGISTICS PRECINCT
– BENEFITS OF RAIL
NETWORK
Karl Rutherford
Mainfreight is extremely excited to be at the forefront
of achieving new benchmarks in sustainability for its
customers through the utilisation of the Port Botany
to Moorebank Rail connection. Our customers’ goods
will travel directly from Port Botany via rail to the
Moorebank Intermodal Logistics Precinct. Containers
will then be transported from the ‘stack’ by straddle
and positioned at our Mainfreight warehouse docks
for unloading. Our team will have full visibility of
incoming containers, allowing for efficient receipt of
goods.
Rail freight transport is broadly acknowledged as
cost-effective and environmentally sustainable,
thanks to its capability of enabling economies of
scale and reducing pollutant emissions. Moorebank
Intermodal Precinct is Australia’s largest intermodal
logistics precinct, offering unparalleled supply
chain benefits. Rail freight produces 16 times lower
emissions than road freight per tonne per kilometre.
Besides emission reductions, the shift to rail will also
ease road congestion, reduce wear and tear on our
roads and reduce fuel consumption.
Moorebank Intermodal Precinct
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
AIR & OCEAN /
CAROTRANS AUSTRALIA
Grant Draper
We are investing a lot of our hard-earned profit from
last year into our business, enabling us to produce
even better service quality for our new and existing
customers in the years ahead. Many of our Air &
Ocean branches around the country are so proud
and grateful to have been able to move into new
offices and depots recently. We were outgrowing
some existing sites because of our solid growth over
the last few years.
The list below indicates investment in the future for
our team and customers.
Air & Ocean Adelaide - brand new office and
canteen based in the new transport depot.
Air & Ocean Perth - brand new office and canteen
based in the new warehouse depot.
Brisbane Air and Perishables - brand new office
and purpose-built cool chain depot.
Brisbane Sea Freight - new, larger, temporary
leased office and kitchen until Mainfreight Wharf site
is built.
CaroTrans Brisbane - new, larger, temporary
leased office and kitchen until Mainfreight Wharf site
is built.
Air & Ocean Gold Coast - brand new office based
in the new transport depot.
Air & Ocean Geelong - refurbished office based in
the existing transport depot.
Sydney Sea Freight - refurbished office including
new carpet and canteen added.
Melbourne Sea Freight - new carpet throughout.
Around the global Mainfreight network, our Air &
Ocean teams have adopted the term 1MF to describe
a regular LCL service of a consolidated export or
import unit or container for sea freight or airfreight
moving between two of our branches worldwide.
Every week, our branches are searching for ways to
grow our 1MFs with more and more countries and
ports. This LCL freight feeds our global Air & Ocean,
Transport and Warehousing network. FCL sea freight
containers are always a very big part of our business.
However, we see there are huge opportunities for us
to grow much bigger in LCL for air and sea, so please
do your best to use LCL and our 1MF services to
help our new and existing customers in the cities and
regional areas move their freight around the world
quickly and easily.
01.
02.
03.
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05.
Find LCL opportunities to feed and grow our 1MF
services.
Good presentation of ourselves and our branches is
a visual sign of quality; we must have it.
Regular weekly airfreight enables better services
and effective use of our sites. Do what you can to
attract these customers to us.
Export air and sea feeds our network; please search
out these exporters and show them how we can help
them get their products easily into the international
markets.
Communicate well and work closely with our fellow
Mainfreighters here and overseas to provide a
seamless service to customers. Warehousing,
Wharf, LCL Transport and the global Air & Ocean
teams.
THINGS TO FOCUS ON:
NEWCASTLE 1MF
Luke Chance
2023 was our target to get our own 1MF Consol,
‘Newyzealand Consol’, from Newcastle to New
Zealand, and we did it. We gathered the attention of
Hunter, Central Coast, and Northern NSW customers
with a market bulletin for our upcoming export pack
to New Zealand, and it worked. We send a lot of LCL
to New Zealand for our local customers; it is sent to
Sydney and loaded there for export. From there, it was
our time to shine and create our own FCL 1MF pack.
All pallets are loaded here on site by our transport
brothers and sisters, secured and strapped in. Then
the container was trucked to Sydney, sailed across
the Tasman and arrived in New Zealand unpacked
and delivered to all receivers with no damages or
shortfalls, which was a great outcome for our branch.
As Heath Ledger (The Joker) famously said, “If you
are good at something, never do it for free”, so we
did it again; the second ‘Newyconsol’ was sent to
Angola, Africa. Now we know how to do this, we want
more of these export packs.
A superb effort by all involved. The 1MF Newconsol
evolution is up and running. Now, for an import
consol, where do we begin?
I hope you all get a chance to relax and have a
break over this time, that your Christmas and holiday
period is a merry one, and we all have a happy and
prosperous New Year.
Newcastle team L-R: Ben King, Luke Chance,
Clay Wilson-Halford, Julia Brogi
‘Newyzealand Consol’ packed and ready to go!
GOLD COAST AIR & OCEAN
TEAM LOVING THEIR NEW
DEPOT
Jade Fogwell
In the land of sun, surf, and sensational logistics,
Gold Coast Air & Ocean and Transport are riding
the wave of growth! Off the back of this growth, both
teams moved into a bigger and better purpose-built
depot in the Gold Coast.
Our growth has come from a simple formula: Sales,
Sales, and MORE SALES!
Our winning strategy? Uniting our sales teams in a
dynamic partnership between Air & Ocean and our
Mainfreight Transport mates. We work hand in hand,
capitalising on each other’s strengths to drive growth
and seize every opportunity that comes our way. And
there are lots of them.
The Air & Ocean team outside their new home. (L) Vanessa
Halim, Renee Duemmer, Sydney Stevenson, Raymond English,
Jade Fogwell, Legan Nyabenda, Amber Scott, Clare Tunks,
Grace Stewart
As Christmas and the holiday period approaches
us, I want to thank you, our team, for your hard
work and effort during the last six months. We have
been cautious and understanding of the uncertain
economic environment in Australia and around the
world, and we have pushed through this successfully
due to your efforts.
11
10
MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
BRISBANE SEA 1MF
BANGKOK
Aiden Maxwell
The Brisbane Exports team is excited to announce
the launch of our new fortnightly 1MF service to
Bangkok, Thailand. This is a significant achievement
for our team, and we are proud to have worked hard
to make it happen.
The idea for this new service came about after
extensive collaboration between our Brisbane team
and Bangkok team. We saw an opportunity to provide
our customers a more efficient and cost-effective way
to ship goods between the two cities.
To ensure the success of this new service, we
conducted a productive cold-calling session and ran
a marketing campaign to increase visibility among
our existing customers. Our cold-calling session
targeted key sectors such as automotive accessories,
electronic components, and food products. This
proved a huge success, reiterating our three-pillar
belief that “profit comes from hard work, not talk”
is true. We also worked closely with our brothers
and sisters in Bangkok to ensure all the necessary
arrangements were in place.
We are proud of the success of this new service,
and we are confident that it will continue to grow in
the future. We are grateful to our customers for their
support and look forward to continuing to provide
them with the best possible shipping experience.
In true Mainfreight style, we celebrated this
achievement by organising a Thai-themed lunch
featuring authentic dishes like green curry, pad thai,
and penang curry. We are excited to continue growing
our business and expanding our services. We are
confident that this new 1MF service to Bangkok is
just the beginning of many more successes to come.
MAINFREIGHT WHARF
AUSTRALIA
Mike Reid
As another year comes to a close, I would like to
thank everyone in the Wharf team for their dedication
over the past six months.
Financially, we have had a very slow start to our
year. We need to ensure we continue to grow and
that the sales team have a good pipeline to work
on. The team is working hard to get the growth we
desperately need and keep the momentum going,
as we have seen a huge shift in the current market.
We continue building a great foundation amongst
our team by having a good mix of experience, youth,
and energy. In the past six months, we have seen
many changes within our team structures, with team
members leaving us to explore new ventures or
welcoming new team members to the Wharf team.
I believe we will continue to build a stronger team
overall.
Education and cross-training will play a huge part in
our success. We all need to understand each ‘cog
in the wheel’ and the importance of doing each part
of our job properly. It is important not to stay in our
comfort zone and only do what we know. We are in
an industry where we must ‘think outside the square’.
Understanding what happens two steps before and
three steps after! Your role is vital to our businesses
continual growth and improvement. Our focus needs
to be on quality and implementing a “do it right the
first time”, “not taking shortcuts” and “getting back to
doing it by the book”.
With many exciting developments around the
country, we continue raising the bar for quality in the
container transport sector.
By being at the forefront of innovation and quality,
our competitors will lag. Our entire team needs to
commit and contribute, not be a passenger. Without
the whole team on board, we will be seen as just
another container operator.
We need to continually evolve as each day brings
new and varied challenges. We need to look at our
locations and the types of equipment being utilised
and ensure we have the best people as part of our
team.
Thanks to our team and their families; we are grateful
for your support and efforts as we look forward to the
final part of 2023.
NATIONAL SALES MANAGER
REVIEW
Jaan Ilhan
The road ahead is painted Mainfreight Blue, and
our trucks are making waves on the streets. It’s an
electrifying sight!
I want to extend a massive shout-out to our Wharf
sales team. Your dedication over the past six months
has been truly commendable.
Let’s dive into the nitty-gritty. Financially, this year
started on a slow note, but we’re not the type to let this
break us. It’s all about growth, and our sales team is
on point, relentlessly building a robust sales pipeline.
With the current market throwing us curveballs, we
need our game faces on, adapting and hustling like
never before.
We’re not settling for the ordinary; we’re here to
challenge the status quo. Our team embodies a
dynamic blend of experience, youthful drive, and
unbridled determination. Over these past six months,
we’ve witnessed shifts in our team dynamics and
welcomed fresh faces into our sales teams who have
hit the ground running.
Continue to remember that we’re not passengers
on this journey. We’re the ones to drive, hustle, and
make things happen. It’s about pushing boundaries
and overcoming challenges.
As we gear up for 2024, we’re excited about the
changes and challenges ahead. It’s all about staying
in control, being adaptable and expanding.
To the Wharf Sales team, you’re the heroes of this
story. To our Owner Drivers, Operations, Customer
Service, Warehouse, and Administration teams,
you’re the backbone of our success. Together, we’re
not just another container operator; we’re a force to
be reckoned with. Hustle on!
Rebranded Mainfreight Wharf Trucks - Sydney
OUTWARD BOUND
EXPERIENCE IN
NEW ZEALAND
Jaimie Collyer
The nerves had started to set in
from the day I saw my name on the
list of team members nominated
for Outward Bound. The nerves
intensified after hearing rumours of
past trips and the fact that I am not
the most active candidate, on top
of the outdoors being outside of my
comfort zone. With only a few weeks
to prepare, plus a few injury concerns,
I wasn’t sure if this was something I
could do. However, when nominated
for Outward Bound, you shouldn’t
say no to a life-changing experience!
To prepare myself for this adventure,
I joined my local gym and went crazy
shopping for all the supplies I would
need. Saying goodbye to my family
wasn’t easy when you know you are
about to embark on a big journey all
on your own without any idea what’s
ahead.
The night before the adventure
began, the Outward Bound group
had dinner together, getting to know
one another and helping each other
calm the nerves. What I will say is
what was probably one of the most
challenging weeks of my life was
probably the most rewarding. Our
group (we were called Huria) became
family – we laughed together,
supported one another, and grew
stronger as a team. My personal
growth has surprised me, from
keeping up with my fitness regime
to giving myself more confidence to
take on new experiences.
Since my return from the trip, my
mind has been clearer about how
to grow my branch and become the
best possible leader for them. Thank
you to Mike Reid for believing in me
by placing my name forward along
with everyone else in the team to
back me up. I encourage anyone
that gets nominated in the future – to
take on this challenge. It is not very
often we get the opportunity to spend
so much time working on ourselves
with zero distractions – it really is an
opportunity of a lifetime.
Our team values: #Courage
#Teamwork #Humility
L-R: Jeremiah Phillip, Luke Belpatronne,
Kristie Mckenna, Aidan Maxwell
13
12
235467958100932795999297
235467958100932795999297
As we head into our traditional Christmas season,
firstly, a big thank you to everyone for all of your efforts
in what was another year full of opportunities and
challenges, and as per usual, the teams throughout
the country have stepped up. It is pleasing to see
the planning that has taken place across all teams
for this coming peak season, and as we always do,
being over-prepared for what the silly season may
bring has always served us well, ensuring that the
experience for our customers and teams is positive.
This year, we have seen an ongoing reset across the
network in New Zealand, with the teams focusing on
adjusting every day as supply chains have continued
to settle in this current economic environment. As
we have seen many times before, our teams are the
best at playing what is in front of them, pulling the
necessary levers throughout the branch network,
working closely with the other divisions, and showing
we are truly One Team working together.
The teams have focused on cross-training this year,
developing their skill sets to allow us to pivot where
necessary within the branches and across divisions.
This year, there have been many examples where
branches have shared resources where possible,
both administratively and operationally, including our
Owner Driver teams going ‘On Tour’ and working at
other branches requiring additional resources. This
is what we are all about and shows the strength of
our culture.
It has been pleasing to see the energy from across
the network with the Sales teams and Branch
Managers focused on being out in the marketplace,
in front of new and existing customers, ensuring we
are delivering what we say we will, and onboarding
new customers to our Warehousing, Air & Ocean
and Transport teams. We are fortunate to have an
ever-growing global network where our customers
in New Zealand and afar enjoy the experience
and consistency of dealing with Mainfreight teams
in 27 countries and more than 300 branches. The
ability to provide our local customers with origin and
destination solutions continues to be a focus.
We have continued network development, with
our new Cambridge Transport cross-dock (south
of Hamilton in the Waikato) due to open before
Christmas and new properties in Auckland due for
completion in the first quarter of 2024. We will also
see the expansion of our New Plymouth transport
facility, with existing sites under design in the
Hawke’s Bay, Blenheim, Nelson and Warehousing
facilities in Christchurch. We cannot underestimate
the commitment of the business to provide our
customers and teams world-class facilities to ensure
ongoing quality.
To our teams, Owner Drivers, and our very loyal
customers, thank you for all the support again
this year. Our Whanau at home plays a big role in
allowing us to do what we do – thank you. We wish
everyone a wonderful Christmas and hope you see
the New Year in style.
NEW ZEALAND
MAINFREIGHT NEW ZEALAND
Carl George
A FEW THOUGHTS
Standards and presentation are all our responsibility,
even if it is not directly associated to your branch.
Don’t be shy to speak up if something needs
addressing.
In challenging times, always focus on getting the
basics right first. Doing this consistently has always
served us well.
Always have projects to do outside of the normal
day-to-day stuff, and get the team on board to help
improve and grow what you do in your branch.
Whilst we are all responsible for bringing new
customers on board, we must continue to delight and
grow our offerings with our loyal existing customers.
Make sure you are developing and challenging your
team every day – they are the future, and we must
provide a great environment for everyone to grow.
Take the time to celebrate the wins when they
happen. There are plenty of great things every day
which happen and we should acknowledge.
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
We were recently privileged to have blessed Favona
Road, our largest Warehouse facility in New Zealand.
Traditionally, we bless all our new branches in New
Zealand before we start operating. The blessing is
intended to provide spiritual guidance and create a
positive and safe space for our team working there
and the operations taking place within the walls of
the facility.
We had Jeff Lee from Te Aakitai Waiohua come and
facilitate the blessing, in conjunction with our own
Kaumatua Branch Manager Travis Hari and his
recently assembled team, welcoming all involved in
this fantastic development.
FAVONA ROAD WAREHOUSE
OPENING
L-R: Stuart Renata and Jeff Lee (Te Aakitai Waiohua)
L-R: Tara Sargent and Mandy Waldin (Goodman),
Travis Hari, Julie Slessor, Kirk Simpson
Favona Road team
Another 12 months have absolutely flown by. It’s hard
to believe we are heading into another Christmas
and a New Year! Before we launch into another year,
it’s great to quickly reflect on what has happened in
another action-packed year.
The start of this year certainly tested the resolve
and resilience of the network and our teams, with
adverse weather and road closures disrupting
services daily. Our drivers and teams had to deal
with many road closures, flooding, and cyclones
across the network, particularly Gisborne, Hawkes
Bay, Coromandel, Northland, and Auckland. The
way our network pulled together to find solutions
and support was extremely humbling to be a part
of. The teamwork and support offered through these
times were amazing – thank you all. The year has
also introduced many factors we don’t have much
control or influence over (economic factors, climatic
conditions, and global market conditions). While
we need to adapt and acknowledge these, it also
presents a great opportunity for our business to
flourish and hustle solutions.
We have had a catch phrase of ‘control the
controllable’ across the Transport business –
basically, everything we can influence/control we
must do better. We have introduced weekly quality
transport dashboards to create Above/Below the
line branch targets to lift the quality across key
performance indicators across operations, transport,
and financials for every branch. As we keep
expanding our network and business, we must think
and work smarter across our network to maximise
our service offerings, brands, and the network
to provide our customers with the best service
experience. Committing to our proven depot systems
and looking after your mate through quality loading,
communication, and freight flow management will
provide our customers with the best service and
experience.
We have introduced some great new disciplines
and improvements to the business over the past 12
months. We will be an even stronger, fitter business
if we hold onto these along with the sales intensity
and hustle. We continue to find exciting opportunities
to expand our offering to customers across many
industry verticals.
NEW ZEALAND FORWARDING
Nic Kay
15
14
MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
Whatever team, brand, or service you are a part of,
we all need to understand the influence you have
over our customers experience and perception.
• Mainfreight - LCL, Port Operations, Metro,
Mainfreight 2Home, FTL
• Chemcouriers
• Daily Freight - LCL, Agriculture Services
• Owens - LCL, Tankers
• Specialty Services - Cross-dock, Driver
Academy, and Chilled Freight
With the vast amount of transport services and
the network continuing to grow, this creates many
career developments to challenge yourself in 2024,
expanding knowledge, skillset, and leadership
aspirations. Reach out to your Branch Managers so
we can help with a career pathway and stimulate
your learning and growth in this fantastic business.
We celebrate our service legends in the business
throughout the year across our team and drivers.
Every year, the number of legends we acknowledge
across the business amazes me. We appreciate
the commitment, loyalty, and passion they have
contributed to the business. It’s important that all
legends share knowledge, stories, and learnings
and mentor our newer team to set them up to be the
successors and the service legends of the future.
A big thank you to all Owner Drivers, a massive part
of our team and service offering. We appreciate
the investment you have made into the business,
along with the professionalism, presentation, and
work ethic you bring every day. As we continue to
grow our market share in our Warehouse and Air &
Ocean divisions, the support and freight volumes
you provide our domestic branches and drivers are
greatly appreciated. We wish you all a well-earned
break.
Team, thank you for the commitment, passion, and
energy you bring daily to ensure our service and
customer experience are delivered! We thank you
for making a difference and the support that you
and your families provide. Wishing everyone a great
Christmas and New Year.
Best wishes for 2024,
Nic.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT:
Customer Experience – honesty, integrity, and
consistency across all services.
Network Business – lift quality across every branch.
“Don’t be the weakest link.”
Sales – we are a growth-focused business where
everyone is a salesperson.
Take opportunities – step up and take the opportunity
to develop your career.
Our image is everything – protect it by ensuring
our buildings, fleet, and team look the best! The
standards you walk past are the standards you set.
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
CLAIMS PERFORMANCE
If your branch is below the Total Company number, then you are below average.
Make sure you and your team members work hard this year to be above this line.
Some of the unique features we have at our new
facility:
• Ninety thousand litres of rain harvesting water
storage onsite, with both non-potable for grey
water/truck wash functions and potable water
for drinking.
• A solar power grid on the roof with a 100 KW
inverter with the capacity to power a variety of
loads, including lighting, HVAC, and machinery.
A continuing increase in Mainfreight’s energy
independence will reduce our carbon footprint
and create a greener future for New Zealand.
Mainfreight Cambridge will increase network
intensification, placing us closer to customers and
reducing our reliance on congested arterial routes.
NEW CAMBRIDGE FACILITY
Our newest branch in the Waikato region
– Mainfreight Cambridge
To SepTo MarTo SepTo SepTo MarTo Sep
Branch202320232022Branch202320232022
Metro Christchurch41,343 7,316 5,410 Hastings15,473 1,544 1,503
Metro Auckland8,039 7,416 11,163 Masterton13,114 8,450 9,075
FTL South Island6,68500Chem Auckland4,353 2,406 3,336
Gore3,371 693 1,078 Metro Auckland4,289 4,563 4,721
Hastings3,165 714 968 Whakatane3,732 3,701 7,086
Chem Auckland2,364 2,534 2,178 Whanganui3,235 2,125 1,886
Seaview1,997 1,134 909 Levin3,058 1,865 2,735
Oamaru1,314 887 1,596 Christchurch2,935 2,692 2,772
Neilson Street1,230 118 121 Oamaru2,636 2,525 3,901
Masterton1,135 1,048 801 Rotorua2,420 1,689 1,673
Greymouth1,120 609 796 Wellington2,139 1,613 1,403
Rotorua1,106 1,068
1,064 Metro Christchurch2,109 3,708 4,016
2Home Christchurch1,090 1,343 1,240 2Home Auckland2,018 2,762 3,457
Timaru1,068 699 592 Auckland1,773 1,013 932
Whanganui1,063 553 537 New Plymouth1,732 1,426 1,566
2Home Auckland1,056 1,193 1,335 Gore1,718 2,422 2,103
Levin991 872 1,847 Seaview1,618 2,657 2,323
Invercargill884 565 645 Thames1,601 899 734
Hamilton852 609 705 Greymouth1,560 701 1,092
Gisborne765 787 1,697 Hamilton1,560 1,009 944
Dunedin762 782 963 As
hburton1,535 1,391 3,004
Napier749 680 721 Timaru1,533 1,599 2,006
Mobile Hire730 897 0Dunedin
1,501 1,516 1,501
Tauranga721 657 710 Napier1,441 1,228 1,149
Owens Auckland718 440 375 2Home Christchurch1,433 961 757
2Home Hastings7133,9170Owens Auckland1,409 1,366 1,193
New Plymouth674 737 1,022 Total Company1,408 1,178 1,200
Total Company666 603 636 Hobsonville1,399 864 0
Hobsonville628 534 0Taupo1,398 1,756 1,458
Wellington618 623 780 2Home Levin1,31800
Auckland581 584 603 Palmerston North1,316 943 716
Whangarei564 556 584 2Home Wellington1,262 416 391
Palmerston North551 833 874 Tauranga1,256 1,404 1,609
2Home Levin52100Invercargill1,247 988 1,226
DF Christchurch507 496
490 2Home Hastings9733,8750
Christchurch504 548 639 Blenheim960 821 906
Owens Christchurch504 510 608 Owens Christchurch918 913 1,187
Blenheim489 470 557 DF Auckland868 937 1,110
Thames460 431 461 DF Christchurch849 778 707
Nelson448 306 403 FTL South Island7817,4200
Whakatane438 375 3,330 Whangarei605 859 906
Kaitaia434 196 389 Gisborne565 710 813
Ashburton424 634 1,
249 Nelson539 370 398
Taupo363 280 222 Kaitaia521 536 934
2Home Wellington348 211 385 Mobile Hire140 100 0
DF Auckland298 338 343 Neilson Street78 106
133
Cromwell0513 1,069 FTL North Island3110
FTL North Island014 5 Cromwell01,648 2,044
Metro Wellington000Metro Wellington02,139 0
Mobile Auckland0510 768 Mobile Auckland0164 386
Outward Consignments Per ClaimInwards Consignments Per Claim
To SepTo MarTo SepTo SepTo MarTo Sep
Branch202320232022Branch202320232022
Metro Christchurch41,343 7,316 5,410 Hastings15,473 1,544 1,503
Metro Auckland8,039 7,416 11,163 Masterton13,114 8,450 9,075
FTL South Island6,68500Chem Auckland4,353 2,406 3,336
Gore3,371 693 1,078 Metro Auckland4,289 4,563 4,721
Hastings3,165 714 968 Whakatane3,732 3,701 7,086
Chem Auckland2,364 2,534 2,178 Whanganui3,235 2,125 1,886
Seaview1,997 1,134 909 Levin3,058 1,865 2,735
Oamaru1,314 887 1,596 Christchurch2,935 2,692 2,772
Neilson Street1,230 118 121 Oamaru2,636 2,525 3,901
Masterton1,135 1,048 801 Rotorua2,420 1,689 1,673
Greymouth1,120 609 796 Wellington2,139 1,613 1,403
Rotorua1,106 1,068
1,064 Metro Christchurch2,109 3,708 4,016
2Home Christchurch1,090 1,343 1,240 2Home Auckland2,018 2,762 3,457
Timaru1,068 699 592 Auckland1,773 1,013 932
Whanganui1,063 553 537 New Plymouth1,732 1,426 1,566
2Home Auckland1,056 1,193 1,335 Gore1,718 2,422 2,103
Levin991 872 1,847 Seaview1,618 2,657 2,323
Invercargill884 565 645 Thames1,601 899 734
Hamilton852 609 705 Greymouth1,560 701 1,092
Gisborne765 787 1,697 Hamilton1,560 1,009 944
Dunedin762 782 963 As
hburton1,535 1,391 3,004
Napier749 680 721 Timaru1,533 1,599 2,006
Mobile Hire730 897 0Dunedin
1,501 1,516 1,501
Tauranga721 657 710 Napier1,441 1,228 1,149
Owens Auckland718 440 375 2Home Christchurch1,433 961 757
2Home Hastings7133,9170Owens Auckland1,409 1,366 1,193
New Plymouth674 737 1,022 Total Company1,408 1,178 1,200
Total Company666 603 636 Hobsonville1,399 864 0
Hobsonville628 534 0Taupo1,398 1,756 1,458
Wellington618 623 780 2Home Levin1,31800
Auckland581 584 603 Palmerston North1,316 943 716
Whangarei564 556 584 2Home Wellington1,262 416 391
Palmerston North551 833 874 Tauranga1,256 1,404 1,609
2Home Levin52100Invercargill1,247 988 1,226
DF Christchurch507 496
490 2Home Hastings9733,8750
Christchurch504 548 639 Blenheim960 821 906
Owens Christchurch504 510 608 Owens Christchurch918 913 1,187
Blenheim489 470 557 DF Auckland868 937 1,110
Thames460 431 461 DF Christchurch849 778 707
Nelson448 306 403 FTL South Island7817,4200
Whakatane438 375 3,330 Whangarei605 859 906
Kaitaia434 196 389 Gisborne565 710 813
Ashburton424 634 1,
249 Nelson539 370 398
Taupo363 280 222 Kaitaia521 536 934
2Home Wellington348 211 385 Mobile Hire140 100 0
DF Auckland298 338 343 Neilson Street78 106
133
Cromwell0513 1,069 FTL North Island3110
FTL North Island014 5 Cromwell01,648 2,044
Metro Wellington000Metro Wellington02,139 0
Mobile Auckland0510 768 Mobile Auckland0164 386
Outward Consignments Per ClaimInwards Consignments Per Claim
Cambridge’s new 4,500m2 warehouse and
freight depot is purpose-built for our customers in
Cambridge and the wider region of the Waikato. A
large Mainfreight style open plan office area, full
amenities, and a fully equipped kitchen will have the
team feeling right at home.
17
16
MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
The Tauranga Port Ops division
has recently taken delivery of
a specialised 40’/20’ B-Train
Skeleton trailer, which Hardeep
Singh of Massif Transport operates.
SPECIALISED 40’/20’
B-TRAIN SKELETON
TRAILER
In August, our Whakatane branch took on a new
customer with a very bright future ahead!
Tio Ohiwa was recently sold and brought by the new
owners, Simon and Wini Geddes from the Ngāti Awa
Whanau, making this establishment 100% Māori
owned.
Simon first approached us requesting a quote for a
barge sent from Mahurangi, just out of Warkworth to
Ohiwa Harbour. Our team met with Simon and Wini
to learn more about their requirements and to work
through the logistics of working with them.
We arranged with Metro in Auckland to bring the
barge down to our depot in Whakatane, which we
would then have our local Hiab deliver for us.
On the day of the delivery, we had their Kaumatua
and Whanau come along to our site to do a Karakia
as our team loaded the barge onto the Hiab and then
followed the convoy down to the delivery destination.
The Kaumatua concluded another Karakia as the
barge touched the water, and Simon launched the
barge to their final destination.
This was a very special moment we were proud to
be part of. The Whanau were incredible to work with,
and we cannot wait to see what the future holds for
their company.
OHIWA BARGE (WHAKATANE)
Loading on the barge in Whatakane ready for delivery
Our Owens-branded 6-wheeler truck, driven by
Gurinder Singh, aka Gavvi, delivers agricultural
products to our rural destinations in Southland,
New Zealand. This was an Antarctic polar blast
that swept through the country in July 2023,
which made deliveries on the farm particularly
challenging. However, in true Mainfreight fashion,
our Owner Drivers went the extra mile to get freight
delivered, come snow or sun.
FARM AGRICULTURAL
DELIVERY SOUTHLAND
Nothing stopping our drivers in Southland making
deliveries to our customers!
After Cyclone Gabrielle destroyed the Awatoto
bridge, cutting off the rail link to the Port of Napier,
we were presented with an exciting challenge.
We received a call from Shayne Porter, who was
enjoying a well-deserved retirement holiday in
Canada, asking if we could help with a challenge
presented to him by a potential customer due to the
cyclone. Shayne just happened to be on holiday
in the same place as a senior member of this
customer and, in typical “Shayne” fashion, jumped
on the phone to get the wheels moving, still flying the
Mainfreight flag even after he retired!
After linking us to the customer and the local team in
Ohakune, the plan was set in place. In conjunction
with the Port of Napier who brokered a deal with
Heinz Wattie’s to utilise their rail siding in Hastings
as a base to road bridge the 900 tonnes that travelled
over by rail daily, reinstating the supply chain so the
large export volumes could continue.
The train would arrive at around 9.00 pm in Hastings,
and we would have until 5.00 am to empty the train
before the link would be used again by the team at
Heinz, which meant we needed to unload and move
36 truckloads in 8 hours.
This enabled the customer to continue manufacturing
high-end pulp and avoid a shutdown. It kept the
volume flowing through the port and the team on
the port working, which is so important as these
businesses are significant employers in both regions.
It is a great example of New Zealand businesses
working together through tough times to get the
result across the line and one we take pride in
playing our part.
We started the project at the end of May, and the
bridge was completed by September 2023.
Well done, team, fantastic job!!
CYCLONE GABRIELLE
– AWATOTO BRIDGE
This combination is permitted to
run at 60T gross and can carry
a combination of 20’, 25’ and 40’
containers up to a gross combined
weight of 44T.
Hardeep will primarily be running
this unit in a ‘Golden Triangle’
loop between Tauranga, Hamilton
and Auckland, but the team can
also utilise it for local container
movements.
The primary purpose of this unit is
to add efficiency to our operation
by moving more freight with
fewer trucks. Do more with less!
The first 100% electric truck in our Chemcouriers
Auckland fleet arrived in February 2023. It has
been a learning curve, with our driver now factoring
in Fast Charge stations into his run to ensure he
can make it back to the depot! For us, the eCanter
represents both an immediate GHG reduction
and the opportunity to test and learn how best to
manage the low-emission fleets of the future.
CHEMCOURIERS ELECTRIC
TRUCK ARRIVAL
Bridge washout caused by Cyclone Gabrielle
Our trucks lined up ready to be loaded
Our new B-Train skeleton trailer running between Tauranga, Hamilton and Auckland
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“Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain,
but all the happiness and growth occurs while
you’re climbing it” - Andy Rooney, Journalist.
Embracing the opportunity to grow oneself and leave
the comfort of your current situation gives you energy
and focus. Fantastic opportunities exist right before
you; sometimes, what we seek is much closer than
we think.
Don’t be afraid to step outside your bubble to explore
possibilities. Mainfreight offers so many opportunities
to those who dare. Challenge yourself, be active, be
inquisitive, extend yourself to learn new skills, hunt
out responsibility and create your own personal
value through effort.
Invest in yourself and develop your career!
Over the past 12 months, our team and customers
have had a number of challenges thrown at them
– thank you to everyone for helping us navigate
through and making this a fun place to work.
Our continued emphasis is on our sales pipeline,
enabling us to capitalise on increased interest in
outsourcing warehouses, allowing further investment
in warehousing facilities and career growth for our
team.
Early peak season volume has arrived across
several of our warehouses, albeit at lower forecast
volumes. Our concentration remains on delivering
quality service to our customers.
NEW ZEALAND
WAREHOUSING
Brynley Riches
Growth – sales pipelines are concentrated on areas
of capacity, in line with property development at
Beach Road and Savill South.
Overhead management and costs – especially
labour, materials handling equipment.
Team development – engagement across our team,
Power Hour seminars.
Health & Safety – review of SEEN software
initiative, with the expectation of full roll-out within
the warehousing forklift fleet.
Quality – developing the habitual habits, re-auditing
those who failed to reach our base standard,
highlighting areas for improvement and engagement
with our team.
KEY FOCUS FOR THE YEAR
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
Thank you to everyone in our warehousing business
for your commitment during the recent peak season
and over the past 12 months. We appreciate all
you do and the effort you make for our customers,
business and each other.
Have a wonderful Christmas season with friends
and family.
Brynley.
Our Hamilton Warehousing team
volunteered to help DOC replace
the trackway finders and clear
overgrown branches and bushes
to maintain the walking tracks.
The sanctuary is a 3,400-hectare
reserve and one of the world’s
largest ‘pest-proof’ conservation
areas in the world. It is home
to many native New Zealand
species, including Kiwi, Tuatara
and Kakapo.
MAUNGATAUTARI
MOUNTAIN
SANCTUARY
CLEAN UP
Back Row L-R: Melanie Greenbank,
Olly Bosworth, Dylan Bartels, Archie Hazlett, Jai
Stockley, Dane Gannaway, Matthew Clarkin,
Ethan Slater, Zane Polley
Front Row L-R: Connor Campbell, Anthony
Leaumoana
Front to Back: Ethan Slater,
Melanie Greenbank, Dylan Bartels
Thank you to the team who could
attend the combined Warehousing
Community Day – over 600 shrubs
were successfully planted in the
Styx Mill Reserve.
A huge thank you to Emily
Fowler (Owens Warehousing
Christchurch) and Andrew
Christie (CCC Parks Ranger) for
organising this event – hopefully,
this will become an annual fixture!
CHRISTCHURCH
COMMUNITY DAY
– STYX MILL
RESERVE
Christchurch Warehousing team and family
Phase One
Removal of ‘Out of Town Connotes’, taking away
320,420 A4 sheets of paper in our operation, savings
as to the right top right diagram.
Phase Two
Metro Notes/Packing Slips. We are working through
this initiative now and will start in early 2024.
Transport and Warehousing Visibility
Currently implementing a change allowing more
visibility between the two divisions, will start showing
visual milestones from Mainstreet; Picked Up / on
Truck / Delivered. Also planned for next year, MIMS
to hold information getting sent back from Mainstreet:
• Delivery Estimates
• Delivery Site Areas (Smart Picking to show what
orders can be delivered by Metro/Transport)
Print By Area – MIMS+
Allows the team to allocate warehousing “Areas” that
have printers assigned to them (huge time saver).
Also, a function in MIMS+ allows the team to choose
printers on the fly.
TECHNOLOGY AND
MECHANISATION
PAPERLESS PROJECT
MIMS+
Warehousing
Efficiency
Stock Held by
Transaction on The
Gun - allows the team
to investigate stock a lot
easier on the fly, clearing
stock held and creating
counts.
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
Move-in day was a very exciting
time for our team at Favona Road.
The space we are operating in
has allowed us better to manage
our existing customer’s highly
variable product profile. We have
consolidated our Neales Road and
Plunket Ave sites into the East
Shed and are taking on cross-
dock volume to fill our bulk floor.
We moved across a total of 22,000
pallets and 5,000 SKUs, taking 12
weeks to complete both moves.
We have organised the forever
expanding product profile into
27 aisles. The pick face layout
was designed to pick like-sized
products onto the same pallet,
making it safer and easier to
pick. We are also sending out
Favona Road Move - In Day,
Tom Haliday
challenges for us, we still have a
hectic summer season to rip into!
Thank you to all involved in helping
us move in so successfully. It’s
been another massive Mainfreight
team effort to get to this point.
This build is moving along nicely
- groundworks and drainage are
nearly complete. The team are
currently working through signage
designs.
Savill South
Currently under construction, the
main office has the steel structure
in place, full-height concrete walls
also up, and structural steel on the
carpark is underway. The bunker
capacity is being redesigned to
provide a cost-effective solution
for hazardous goods storage.
Completion date has been revised
to November 2024.
Beach Road
NETWORK/
PROPERTY
more ‘transport-friendly’ freight,
which has been a historical issue
with this account. There are
currently around 3,000 level 1 pick
faces, which encourages the use
of picking on MPCs, as opposed to
man-ups. We have seen significant
cost savings on machine hire,
faster picking times, and a safer
experience for our team.
Bringing the team together under
one roof has resulted in a joint
effort to overcome the start of the
peak season. The team has worked
tirelessly seven days a week for
the past few months to get Favona
Road operational.
Moving in has truly been a ‘Ready,
Fire, Aim’ moment for our team, and
I am really proud of how we’ve come
together to get it done. Even though a
big, shiny shed solves a few
Savill South concept
Savill South construction
Beach Road construction
With another calendar year drawing to a close, it is a
good time to reflect on what has been a difficult but
exciting year. 2023 has posed many challenges for
us. A reset in international air and sea freight rates,
a global recession, putting pressure on international
freight volumes, and flooding and cyclone events
disrupting our local network. Despite these
challenges, we have performed exceptionally well,
working hard as a team to grow our consolidated
freight volume and total shipment numbers versus
last year.
Thanks for the hard work and energy you have all
put into what has been a tough year. Keeping on
top of the changes that continue to come at us in
this resetting market has been difficult, but we have
stood up to the challenge. Our growth in shipment
numbers is something we can all be very proud
of, showing that we have stayed in the fight and
continued to grow our market share despite the
global downturn in international freight volumes.
Looking ahead to next year, we must remain focused
on the sales disciplines that have served us well in
2023. We need to continue to search for those first-
time new business calls and try as much as possible
to introduce new accounts to our customer base.
While we have made great inroads in joint selling
with our Warehousing and Transport teams, we
can still do better and must actively try to get more
customers trading across all three divisions.
Less-than-Container-Load (LCL) and airfreight
growth will also remain critically important to us due
to the higher margins we earn from these products.
Cheaper Full-Container-Load (FCL) rates have put
pressure on our LCL volumes, so heading into the
New Year, we must pay close attention to utilisation
and ensure we keep hustling for freight right up until
cut off to keep our containers full and loaded “high
and tight”.
Our Mainfreight to Mainfreight (1MF) programmes
continue to grow towards our goal of running 100
weekly LCL and Air consolidation services to and
from New Zealand to other Mainfreight branches in
our network by 2026. At the time of writing, we have
41 LCL services running within our network and 27
airfreight services. We want to add more early in 2024
with the launch of Barcelona and Bangkok services,
in addition to Mumbai, India, which recently became
the newest country in our Mainfreight network.
Quality must also step up. Quality is remembered
long after the price is forgotten, so keeping our
service quality high will help in this extremely
competitive market. We are all the gatekeepers
of our 100-year vision, and we must strive to do
more for our customers each and every day. Don’t
underestimate the part you play in influencing our
quality with fast responses to customer enquiries
and maintaining tidy self, office, car, truck, and
freight handling depot presentation. We also need
to ensure the quality of the data entered into our
operating systems is up-to-date and accurate.
Thank you again for the continued effort and
dedication you have all poured into our business
this year. Your willingness to block out things
beyond our control, adapt and get stuck in has
been inspirational. I feel privileged to be part
of this amazing team and can’t thank you and
your families enough for your support. Have a
safe and happy Christmas and New Year, team!
NEW ZEALAND AIR & OCEAN
Paul Riethmaier
CHALLENGE OURSELVES TO
DO THE FOLLOWING BETTER:
Operations Efficiency – Support each other more,
standardise our daily process disciplines across all
branches and use our technology tools to their full
potential.
Increased Sales Focus – We all must support sales.
Help out by calling customers and asking them for
their bookings rather than waiting for the phone to
ring.
Sales Call Numbers – We want as many face-to-face
first-time new business calls as possible in 2024.
Data Integrity – The data we put into our systems
must be accurate and timely. This will help us extract
more value from Mainchain and Maintel and help our
efforts to work smarter with automation capability
around LCL and airfreight schedules now available.
Rate Management – Be the first to pass rate change
information to our customers. Don’t get exposed by
a competitor doing it first.
Automate our Bookings Process – Understand
and promote the benefits of Shipment Centre 2.0,
our online bookings portal in Mainchain, to all our
customers.
Debtor Collection – The world has seen many
business liquidations, and we must keep up our
discipline around cash collection and ensuring we
get paid on time.
Core Carrier Partnerships – Hit our volume targets
with partner shipping and airlines. Being true to our
word will help us grow and be remembered when
shipping and airline space tightens again.
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
0 7.
08.
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
Mainfreight Wellington was proud to support the
New Zealand Liberation Museum in moving their
museum exhibition created by Weta Workshop to Le
Quesnoy, France.
Careful planning for over a year in conjunction with
the Museum Trust and Weta Workshop resulted
in the sea freight and airfreight shipments arriving
exactly on time for the Weta Workshop team in
France to install for the opening.
WETA WORKSHOP
Weta Workshop shipment to France
RENEWABLE ENERGY
SOLUTIONS PROVIDER
Solar Farms in New Zealand
The Wellington Air & Ocean team have had the
privilege of working with a customer this past year
on several import, export, and domestic movements.
Our customer is a renewable energy solutions
provider that assists with the sustainable
development of power generation facilities across
New Zealand, the Pacific, and Southeast Asia.
With their support, Mainfreight has imported over
1,000 TEU containing solar panels and accessories,
unpacking at our warehouses domestically
and coordinating final deliveries to their sites,
directly supporting the construction of solar farms
nationwide. Our collaboration has demonstrated
the versatility and reliability of our supply chain.
This has contributed to the establishment of solar
farms in Kaitaia, Dargaville, Edgecumbe, Gisborne,
and Blenheim. These projects have been especially
rewarding, as they helped establish New Zealand’s
two largest solar farms in Kaitaia and Edgecumbe,
respectively.
Mainfreight and our customer have also worked on
exports this past year to develop their Tonga solar
projects. We have had the pleasure to export a wide
range of equipment, vehicles, and solar panels to
assist Tonga in meeting its goal of 70% renewable
energy by 2025. This project has been highly
rewarding, as with this new equipment, Tonga’s
remote islands can run off-diesel for the first time.
The team in Wellington look forward to continuing
our partnership, helping to develop Mainfreight’s
100-year vision and our global commitment to
sustainability.
SANDVIK MACHINE DOWN
In a testament to outstanding teamwork and swift
action, a remarkable sequence of events unfolded
recently, highlighting the incredible results that
effective coordination and communication can yield.
The catalyst was a call from one of our customers.
The situation became critical as an order notification
demanded the collection of freight from Sandvik
by Saturday and its expedited delivery to Auckland
before the weekend’s end.
Nadia from our Tauranga team, with a clear plan
in mind, contacted Ayasha from our Brisbane team
and was promptly informed of the urgency, while
a contingency email was also sent to the Brisbane
Airfreight team. At the same time, Chaya at our
Auckland Airfreight team was alerted to the urgent
shipment. The shipment was swiftly created, and
its number was shared with both Brisbane and
Auckland, with the Brisbane team confirming late on
Friday that the collection would happen before the
flight cut-off on Saturday.
Murray, our Customs Broker, was also looped
in to handle clearance and returned to the office
at 7.30 pm on Friday to clear the goods once the
documentation was created.
Nadia kept the client and the team informed
throughout the weekend. Chaya confirmed the
freight had arrived and was ready for the customer
to pick up on Sunday morning. Our customer was
informed that their shipment was ready for collection
from Westney Road, Auckland. A flat deck was
arranged to move the hefty cargo.
Sometimes, the universe aligns in our favour, and it
all worked out according to plan, adding a touch of
Mainfreight luck to our accomplishments.
Sandvik Machine Down
THE FIRST EVER ELECTRIC
TRACTOR ARRIVES IN
CROMWELL, CENTRAL
OTAGO
Back in November 2022, Forest Lodge Orchard,
contacted us regarding arranging the shipping of an
electric tractor from the USA – this was to be the first
of its kind to be imported to New Zealand.
Forest Lodge Orchard is the world’s first 100%
electric, zero fossil fuel orchard, based in the
beautiful Cromwell, Central Otago. Their values
of sustainability align with Mainfreight’s 100-year
vision, and we were very excited to be part of such a
milestone shipment.
Being just the 66th tractor ever made and the first to
be exported out of California, shipping arrangements
were challenging. Almost a year later, after working
through a complex shipping line Dangerous Good
approval process, we landed the Monarch Electric
Tractor at Lyttelton Port.
Delivery to Forest Lodge Orchard was made by our
Cromwell Transport Team using an electric truck.
The process was a fantastic team effort with close
collaboration between Mainfreight Air and Ocean
Dunedin, Cromwell Transport and Mainfreight Air
and Ocean San Francisco.
First imported electric tractor in New Zealand
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Life would be boring if every day were the same!
Quieter economic times have emerged as expected,
bringing with them a fresh set of challenges for our
team to tackle, and tackle them we will!
Reduced volumes through our network reflect the
pressures that many of our customers may be
feeling. Magnifying the importance of the role we
play to ensure that their goods are delivered on
time, every time, complete, and damage-free. This
is our bread and butter, so we must do it well. Our
responsibility is to be in front of our customers,
manage relationships, and contribute ideas that will
genuinely help improve their business.
Every week, more customers trust us to deliver
their goods locally and around the world. Our sales
team do not work in isolation; there is no time like
the present for us to all recognise our role in sales.
With our special culture of “no job descriptions”, we
all must keep a sales mindset always. All of us are
encouraged to find new customers and pass leads
on to your sales team, no matter your role. When
you’re out and about, look for products you have not
seen in our network and pass the leads on to your
sales team. Think of the combined power of 3,242
inquisitive Mainfreight minds channelling leads
through to our local sales team. Together, we’ll grow
faster.
We have intensified our European network, opening
branches in Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands
and extending to Romania. Our three Transport
branches in Poland – Poznań, Katowice, and
Warsaw celebrated their new buildings, each with
cross-docks. This reflects the progress made to
date and the confidence we have in this market as
we seek to pump more Polish freight through our
European network.
We opened the doors of our newest Warehousing
branch in Utrecht - the centre of the Netherlands, and
the 10,000sqm extension of our Ploiești warehouse
is complete, giving us 30,000sqm of warehousing
capacity in Romania.
Our third German Air & Ocean branch is now open
in Munich, serving our Bavarian customers and the
global network. Our third Dutch branch is underway
in Born, covering the south of the Netherlands,
sitting with our local Warehousing team.
EUROPE
MAINFREIGHT EUROPE
Ben Fitts
We have completed a full “Easy to Deal With”
roll-out for all team members in Europe. A timely
reminder that, above all else, we are here to delight
our customers. Our team are encouraged to reflect
on ‘above the line and below the line’ behaviour, the
importance of attitude, and what excellent customer
service is, both externally to customers and internally
to one another. The training was delivered in French,
Dutch, English, Spanish, Romanian and Polish,
thanks to our multilingual Training and Development
team! The training is just one part of it; your Easy To
Deal With actions are what counts.
We have focused energy on our people, network,
and technology. Our customers now have more
visibility on their supply chain thanks to our valuable
tools in Mainchain. In Mainchain, they regularly book
shipments and access spend and transit reports,
and we provide them with transparent carbon
emission data from which they drive supply chain
decisions. Mainchain is a powerful platform and one
of the reasons customers choose us. I encourage
you to familiarise yourself with Mainchain and why
it’s valuable to your customers.
We are in a challenging market and reducing costs
and having a “doing more with less” mindset is vital;
we are all accountable for this. Thank you for your
efforts to trim costs in your branches; continue to be
frugal, review your P&L’s line by line, and act quickly
to fix areas that need fixing.
Thank you for your energy and commitment to
building a stronger Mainfreight. We are one team;
we’ll win when we face these challenges together.
Your efforts are genuinely appreciated; We wish you
a safe and happy holidays.
Team,
Another calendar year is passing by. Again, a year
full of challenges. Thank you for staying committed
to our promise to delight our customers.
The Mainmove roll-out is now complete, including
the connection with Maintel reporting and our other
technology. We are ready to maximise the benefit
from it. Make sure you stay up-to-date with the latest
developments, whether you are in sales, customer
service, on the dock or any other role. Correctly
using these tools will enable us to spend more time
serving our customers.
In this newsletter, we are excited to announce the
opening of three Polish branches in one week.
A great job done by all involved in this, Dziękuję
Całemu Zespołowi (thank you to the entire team!)
These branches are well connected to the other
Mainfreight branches and our European network.
Congratulations to the teams, and good luck on
your journey. The opportunities are there; we are
confident that, with these new locations, we can
expand our network further.
All team members should be focusing on moving
freight in a cost-efficient manner. Keep to our
standards, familiarise yourself with them if needed,
and support and coach your fellow team members.
We are a bottom-up company, stay close to our
customers and understand the service they require
from us. Together with the appointed transport
solution champs in the branches, we will accelerate
on knowledge transfer as we continue to develop
our tools and services.
Developments on reducing our carbon footprint
continue. We will further invest in electric trucks
and apply renewable fuel. In this newsletter, you
can also read about solar panels on trucks. Having
branches close to our customers combined with
dense distribution routes, a result of local sales, we
will be able to reduce our footprint further.
Every one of you has an important role in
developing our Transport network. Continue
to challenge the environment that you are
working in by making it better every day. ‘If it
is broken, fix it’; find the root causes and work
on solutions. We need to keep on reinventing
ourselves to adapt to the changing environment
whilst not losing our standards out of sight.
Communicate, work closely together, and continue
to develop yourself. There is plenty of room for this!
Team, thank you very much for your passion, energy
and efforts made. Let’s work smart and enjoy being
easy to deal with!
TRANSPORT AND TRUCKS &
DRIVERS EUROPE
Frans Zuidgeest
We wish you Happy Holidays, and enjoy your time
with family and friends.
Go out to visit customers. We have a global supply
chain to offer.
Drive quality of service and information. Identify
areas of improvement with root cause analyses.
Look after our branding and immaculate image
of our assets and teams. Do not walk right past it
without noticing.
Check freight on the dock. Ensure dimensions are
correct, charged accordingly and packed properly to
reduce damage. Fix it and report it.
Initiate and implement ideas on how we can become
better at reducing costs and increasing quality.
We should be paid on time for a job done. Same as
we pay others. Invoice on time.
We are a people’s business. Avoid e-mail; pick up
the phone and talk face to face.
Keep up-to-date with the latest developments. Speak
with the transport solution champs in your branch.
KEY ATTENTION POINTS
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
0 7.
08.
As of today, our Trucks & Drivers team in the
Netherlands has 238 drivers. If we told you that more
than 10% of these dedicated drivers are women who
deliver shipments to our valued customers, would
you be surprised? This remarkable team of female
drivers not only shatter stereotypes but exemplifies
the diverse and inclusive workforce we have
cultivated at Mainfreight. We are incredibly proud to
have them as an integral part of our Trucks & Drivers
team.
EMPOWERING FEMALE
DRIVERS IN OUR TRUCKS
& DRIVERS TEAM
(Back, L-R): Britt Mennink, Anne Westerveld, Marjel Rutgers, Marloes
Wissink, Maaike Schellevis, Lenny van der Ent, Marion Boere (Front, L-R):
Stephanie Giesen, Maren van Uhm, Corine Evers, Margo van Kooten, Inge
Colenbrander, Sylvana Verheijen, Regina Riggeling
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
OPENING OF OUR TRANSPORT
WARSAW BRANCH, POLAND
We are excited to announce the opening of our new
Transport branch in the bustling city of Warsaw.
Our new branch offers a gateway to the European
transportation network via various line-hauls. Located
close to the city, the branch plays an important role in
supplying it with everyday freight. With the new facility
and motivated and dedicated team, we can support
our customers to optimise their operations.
We are proud and thankful for our team’s hard work
and dedication that made this branch opening possible.
We celebrated this opening with the local team, our
Polish drivers, and customers. The Polish Trucks and
Drivers team made sure that the opening of the three
branches was celebrated with all the Polish drivers on
the road in Europe as well.
You are all invited to explore our new Transport branch
in Warsaw.
CELEBRATING THE OFFICIAL
OPENING OF OUR KATOWICE
BRANCH IN POLAND
Recently, we’ve celebrated our official branch opening
of Mainfreight Transport Katowice.
We have moved to a new 2,300sqm cross-dock in
Sosnowiec. We have seven loading ramps and one
ground zero ramp at our disposal. It is a milestone in
Mainfreight’s development in this part of Europe.
Thanks to the new cross-dock, we can respond even
better to our customers’ needs and lift the standards
for our team members.
A major advantage of the new location is the proximity of
the Katowice metropolitan area and direct connection
to the S1 highway, the connection with the north of
Poland and easy access to highway Berlin (Germany)
– Lviv (Ukraine). The new facility will significantly
improve the handling of line-hauls leaving daily for
Romania, Spain, France, Portugal and the Benelux. In
addition, Mainfreight’s new cross-dock is distinguished
by pro-environmental energy-saving solutions and has
been built in accordance with BREEAM standards at
the ‘Very Good’ level.
Adam Romejko (left) and Frans Zuidgeest (right) revealing the rock
Our Warsaw team celebrating the official opening of their branch
L-R: Rafał Maciaszek, Jakub Warda, Paweł Skrzek, Sebastian
Łonak, Agnieszka Ratajczak, Patrycja Lach, Kamil Giza, Magda
Andrzejczak, Filip Wolanowski, Julita Kopeć, Ola Mandel,
Aleksander Foik, Dominika Kluczwajd
EMBRACING THE
RUGBY WORLD CUP
2023 IN FRANCE
We have been aware for some time
now that the Rugby World Cup 2023
will be hosted in France, and of
course, we want to make it a special
occasion.
As the proud host of this event, even
though we support our blue team,
we strongly desired to honour the All
Blacks and our New Zealand origins.
To do this, we decided to personalise
two of our trucks in the colours of the
Kiwi team.
This unique event allowed us to share
our appreciation for rugby, our roots
and our core values. As a gesture of
our gratitude to our customers, we
sent all our customers the official
World Cup keychains, not only as a
reminder of our origins but also as a
symbol of our shared values, which
are very similar to those of rugby itself:
dedication, commitment, the quest for
excellence through precision, and the
importance of teamwork. In addition
to this, our two trucks delivered
DELIGHTING OUR CUSTOMERS
FROM THIS BRAND NEW
BRANCH
We are thrilled to announce the opening of our brand-
new cross-dock facility of Mainfreight Poznań! This
expansion represents a significant milestone for us,
and we can’t wait to deliver excellent quality for our
customers from the new location.
The new cross-dock facility of 2,700sqm with three
docks and one drive-in, and 400sqm office space.
Located in Dąbrówka, Poznań’s metropolitan area,
with direct access to the highway S11 (connection
with the north of Poland), highway A2 Berlin-Warsaw
and to the city of Poznań. Our decision to establish a
presence here is based on our dedication to improving
our service network and offering our customers more
efficient solutions. The strategic location of this branch
allows us to better meet the needs of our customers in
the Poznań area and enables smoother connections to
other important regions.
To our customers, this means:
• Quicker access: Proximity to Poznań means quicker
access to transportation routes and a speedier
delivery process.
• Enhanced Services: We’ll offer an extended range
of supply chain services to cater to your evolving
business requirements.
• Personalised Support: Our dedicated team is ready
to provide customers with expert guidance and
support tailored to their needs.
Mainfreight has always been committed to delivering
excellence, and our new location proves that
commitment. We will continue to develop our tradition
of reliability, innovation, and customer satisfaction from
our new branch.
The Traditional Mainfreight rock on display at our new Transport
branch on Poznań
A JOURNEY TO THE NORTH
CAPE
“What do you think about a trip to the North Cape for a
month?” This question came from Mainfreight Transport
Paris back in January. Naturally, our Trucks and Drivers
Team ‘s-Heerenberg is always up for such adventures,
and this trip spanned over 3,700 kilometres in total.
Our special truck driver, René, who went on a journey
to Iceland previously, was enthusiastic about this unique
trip, which led him to cancel his scheduled holiday plans.
Before hitting the road, René and Antoine from
Mainfreight Paris sat down with the customer to cover
everything and to make sure all expectations were clear.
After the meeting, we prepared the necessary equipment
in our workshop to accommodate everything needed for
the North Cape adventure. The items needed were for a
very special cycling event, “The Arctic Race”.
End of July, we started this fantastic journey departing
from the Netherlands via France to the North Cape.
René’s dedication to supporting the customer was
exceptional; it almost felt like he was one of the
company’s team members. By the end of August,
René returned to ‘s-Heerenberg, having completed this
memorable trip. The customer expressed his gratitude
for our outstanding service.
equipment to the All Blacks throughout
the World Cup.
L-R: Jeremy Le Texier, Thibault Detrousselle,
Antonin Frayssinet, Laurent Janniaud, Raphael
Pidecyian
Special “All Black” Mainfreight truck
out on the streets of France during the Rugby
World Cup
SOLAR-POWERED DAF XG+
TRUCKS
Our Trucks & Drivers Team ‘s-Heerenberg recently
started a pilot with ten new DAF XG+ trucks equipped
with solar panels on top of the cabin. These trucks are
not to be confused with Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV)
but are regular diesel trucks meeting the highest EURO
6 E emission standards. These new vehicles have
fridges, stationary heating and cooling systems and GPS
tracking devices. All of this equipment consumes a lot of
power and is putting a massive strain on the batteries.
To prevent a flat or damaged battery during waiting
or resting hours, engine idling is necessary to ensure
continuous battery charging.
When our Truck & Trailer workshop team raised the
alarm about truck batteries falling short of their expected
lifespan, we looked for a solution and discovered the
GreenEnergy solar panels. By keeping the batteries
charged with green solar energy, we not only reduce
fuel consumption but also minimise CO2 emissions
by eliminating the need for idling. Additionally, this
sustainable approach extends the batteries’ lifespan,
meaning fewer batteries will be replaced.
Our drivers have expressed their enthusiasm about this
solution, and the first results are very promising, with an
average decrease in idling hours by 78.26 % compared
to the rest of our DAF XG+ fleet. In the upcoming period,
we will continue to collect data, and if these results
continue, we intend to expand the use of solar panels
on more of our trucks!
We put solar panels on our
buildings and our trucks now in
Europe
Arriving at North Cape...
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The great thing about working in the supply chain is
that you never get bored. After times of shortages,
peaks, and uncertainties, it seems that our customers’
business is returning to ‘normal’. Supply chains are
slowing down, which allows us to focus on where we
can make a difference for our customers.
Providing transparency is more important than
ever. In the next couple of months, we will need
to ensure that our reporting and customer facings
are at the level you can expect in 2024. Supporting
our customers in further optimising their supply
chain by means of our transparency is a big asset.
Understanding our customers’ expectations can
only be achieved by proper account management.
We need to get so close to our customers that we
tell them what they need before they even realise it
(quote Steve Jobs). QBRs that have an emphasis on
the future are a vital tool. Let’s delight our customers!
Quality always comes first. We have been working
on solutions to improve our picking quality further.
The pick-by-weight solution, incorporated in our
equipment, improves quality results for our Fast
Moving Consumer Goods customers. Especially
in this industry, customers expect a quality level of
99,9999%.
We continue to invest in our Warehousing network.
This year we opened two new branches. One
warehouse of 20,000sqm in Utrecht (NL) and one in
Ploiești (RO) of 10,000sqm. This is exciting for the
sales team, as they like the challenge to fill these
warehouses as soon as possible.
WAREHOUSING EUROPE
Liane Philipsen
Looking good!
Thanks, team and looking forward to 2024.
Customer facings: whether it is reporting or QBR
meetings. Use technology that is in line with what a
customer can expect nowadays.
Account management: get as close to your customer
as you can. We only want surprises on Christmas
Eve.
Pipeline: we continue to sell as if our warehouses do
not have any walls.
Culture: with many relatively new team members,
it’s important to refresh and remind everyone of our
great culture.
GOALS FOR THE YEAR AHEAD:
01.
02.
03.
04.
OUR NEW WAREHOUSING
BRANCH IN UTRECHT, THE
NETHERLANDS
We are thrilled to announce the opening of our new
Warehousing branch in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Our brand new 20,000sqm warehouse is centrally
located in the Netherlands. At Mainfreight, we value
sustainability, which shows in our Utrecht warehouse.
Not only does the building have the BREEAM score
of ‘very good’, but the sprinkler installation outside
has been turned into Europe’s largest permanent
insect hotel. We need to have a little patience before
all the plants are fully grown, but once matured, it
will also visually be a beautiful green warehouse
(of course, combined with our beautiful Mainfreight
blue).
Opening a new warehouse within a few months is
impressive and shows the strong Mainfreight team
spirit! Everyone was excited about the opportunity,
and we got overwhelming support from many other
branches by sharing their expertise, team and even
(IT) resources. There were plenty of challenges
along the way, but the ‘can-do’ attitude, flexibility and
willingness of everyone to think outside of the box
made the ‘impossible’ possible.
As with all new branches, for Utrecht, our main focus
is to create a solid Mainfreight team and generate
sales, sales, sales!
Next spring, after further Mainfreightizing the building,
we will officially open the branch and celebrate this
milestone together!
Europe’s largest insect hotel ready for guests
Our team have been working hard to fill these racks on our
new Utrecht Warehouse
A NEW BORN WAREHOUSE
To some, this picture is possibly familiar. Space has
been one of our main challenges in recent times.
From finding space to fit business coming in from
our brothers and sisters across Mainfreight to more
recent customers rapidly outgrowing their footprint.
In September this year, we expanded our branch in
Born, the Netherlands, by approximately 5,000sqm
to support our growth. This was achieved by adding
the third building from the original footprint. This
building is on the same plot as our main building and
matches the Mainfreight standards.
The first month has had a high focus on getting the
outside of the building to reflect our immaculate
image and the inside functional for our first operation
to be moved in by the first two weeks of October. The
building is now in a functional state, but we still have
a lot of smaller things to do in the coming period.
Besides offering warehousing operations, the new
building will also offer office space for our Air &
Ocean colleagues, providing a short line between
our branches, especially when it comes to ocean
freight destined for our operations offloaded at the
barge terminal across the street. We look forward to
being able to continue our service to our customers
and their growing operations.
CUSTOMER AWARENESS
WITH IMPACT
We proudly announce one of our newest customers
in Born, the Netherlands. This customer, active in
the medical industry, provides solutions for cancer
diagnosis in laboratories to ensure that tissue
analysis can be done as fast and efficiently as
possible. Presently, the existing solutions are often
time-intensive, and our newest customer is providing
a revolution in this area with innovative solutions that
can reduce the lead time of this investigation from
two to three weeks to just one week.
We are already storing and transporting their
dangerous goods and starting from mid-November,
we handle their consumables and spare parts.
Because this is not a ‘common’ product, we felt it
was even more important to ensure the team is
well-informed about what they are working with.
Therefore, we decided to invite the supply chain
director of our customer to visit our warehouse and
provide a presentation on their product to all team
members involved in serving this customer.
At the end of the supply chain, someone is waiting for
the results of their tests. Time plays a critical role in
saving lives in such cases, and the sooner the proper
treatment can be started, the better the chances are.
Hence, we are responsible for delivering completely,
qualitatively, and on time. By doing so, we actively
enhance the medical industry, which we can be
proud of.
Team members: Damian Hejmanowski, Adrian Czarnecki, Kristaps
Groms, Hicham Chemlali, Spyros Papas, Edwin Geerman, Bjorn
Hendrikx, Nico Wuyts, Anna Karnicki, Mike Lemmens
MAINFREIGHT OOSTENDE’S
FAMILY DAY
Our latest Family Day at the Warehousing branch in
Oostende, Belgium, was a great and sunny success!
For the first time, we organised
#theMainfreightChallenge: a forklift basketball
challenge!
With a team of skilled forklift drivers, we transformed
a corner of our branch into a mini basketball court.
The challenge was simple yet difficult: shot three
different basketballs as quickly as possible.
Team members showcased their precision and agility
while family cheered from the sideline. The result
was a day of friendly competition and pure fun, what
an energy!
Our operations managers took the first shots at the
challenge, clocking in at a time of 1:45. But quickly
it became clear that our warehouse team were
much better. In the end, our top 5 scored below
the remarkable 1-minute and 15-second mark.
Congratulations to Nick, Khalid, Musa, Singh and
Ghennadi.
He shoots, he scores!
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
AIR & OCEAN EUROPE
Brad Russell
Welcome to our December newsletter, and we
hope you enjoy the updates from our European Air
& Ocean team. This year’s well-publicised freight
rate reduction and global volume decrease have
motivated our 18 Air & Ocean branches to continue
growing our business and attracting new customers
to Mainfreight in Europe. Even though we are spread
widely over eight countries, this desire to keep
improving brings us together to help and support
each other.
Our network continues to develop, and we were
pleased to open our Munich branch in June this
year. The branch is located next to Munich Airport
and provides Air & Ocean services to southern
Germany’s large commercial, industrial, and
manufacturing markets. France remains key to our
European growth, and in line with improving our
quality, our Paris team also relocated to a new home
close to Charles de Gaulle Airport.
We now have six branches with GDP accreditation
(Good Distribution Practice), and we understand
the importance of extending our capabilities in the
Pharmaceutical and Healthcare vertical in order to
grow our global airfreight volumes. We have handled
some large shipments on behalf of our regional
teams, as highlighted in this newsletter, and it is now
up to us to grow our European customer base. In
addition, we have started seven new 1MF airfreight
consolidations this year on the back of increasing
volumes, including London to Perth, Toronto to
London, and Frankfurt to Houston.
Enjoy time with your family over the holiday season,
and wishing you a happy and healthy 2024!
ON THE ROAD IN
LONDON WITH THE
NEW MAINFREIGHT
BBQ
Mainfreight London took to the road
with our new BBQ and treated some
of our customers this summer. That’s
right, we fired up the grill and let
them indulge in some mouthwatering
barbecue delights. There’s something
truly special about the smoky aroma,
the sizzling sounds and the tender,
juicy flavours that come with a good
barbecue feast.
Putting all that aside, as you know,
it is also our way to thank ALL our
customers and team members that
we might not get to see or talk to
throughout the year basically, a BIG
thank you to our extended family. As
you can see from the picture and the
below feedback, they all went down
with great success.
‘‘What a great idea; you really have
made my team happy.”
“Just like your logistic service, your
BBQ skills are just as good.’’
‘‘Thank you to all involved with the
BBQ today; it was a great success.’’
Louie Skerman firing up the grill
Sales – we are all in sales and must be in front of
customers daily.
Sustainability – understand how we are reducing
our CO2 emissions and how we can help reduce for
our customers.
Technology – to keep developing our customer-
facing technology, we need greater usage of our
existing products.
Network strength – speak regularly with our global
teams, as our network is our competitive advantage.
GOALS FOR THE YEAR AHEAD:
01.
02.
03.
04.
BIG PHARMA SHIPMENT
FROM AMSTERDAM TO
MELBOURNE
In other exciting news, August saw Mainfreight
Amsterdam collaborate with our team in Melbourne
to move another GDP pharma shipment from
Amsterdam to Melbourne. The cargo comprised of
6 RKNs and required another huge team effort to
make sure things ran seamlessly. Thanks to some
long hours put in both here and in Melbourne, the
cargo cleared customs smoothly and was delivered
complete and on time - another great example of the
Mainfreight service we constantly strive for!
Gideon Lioe-ATjam checking the shipment one last time at
the local screening facility here in Schiphol
OPENING OF OUR BRANCH
IN MUNICH, GERMANY
In May, we moved into our new office alongside
our dedicated team, and just three weeks later, we
welcomed our latest team member, Nicole Höfler, to
join our Munich team.
Since then, our journey has started, and we are
experiencing remarkable and challenging times. We
gained a couple of exciting customers and established
a strong network of handling partners that help us
provide the best possible service to our customers.
Today, we proudly represent Mainfreight in southern
Germany and are sure to make a difference in front
of our competitors.
Looking back on the day I started, it’s truly remarkable
how far we’ve come. Transforming from a small sales
office to a fully operational office that handles Air &
Ocean, including five operation team members and
one sales representative.
This is just the beginning of our adventure, where we
get better and more successful than yesterday. Our
journey is ongoing, and we’re excited to see where it
takes us next.
10K ALSTER-RUN HAMBURG,
GERMANY
The Alster is a beautiful sea in the middle of Hamburg
and one of the biggest tourist magnets in our city.
Usually, you would spend your time there on a small
boat or having a drink with friends, but once a year,
sports fanatics participate in the 10K Alster-run.
For the first time, Mainfreight also participated and
showed some blue colour!
L-R: Katie Bould, Giulia Delibori, Sebastian Markowicz, Timo
García Aranda, Phoebe Churchman, Megan Scurrell, Danijela
Schmidt-Baumann
PARIS AIR & OCEAN’S
EXCITING OFFICE
RELOCATION
As of May 2023, the Paris Air & Ocean team moved
to its new 350sqm office space. This new office
is strategically located near Charles de Gaulle
Airport and close to our brothers and sisters of our
Paris Transport branch. We are located in an area
surrounded by trees whilst still being able to see the
planes crossing the sky.
Even though we share the building with financial and
IT companies, you can be sure they are all staring at
our office! With two meeting rooms, a large kitchen,
a spacious terrace, standing desks, and a cozy
lounge area, we now have plenty of space to expand,
invite customers and guests, cook delicious meals,
and make our everyday life even more enjoyable
and healthier. As we like the vibrant atmosphere of
a freight area with all those warehouses, trucks and
containers as much as the charm of the downtown city
of light, we decided to bring Hausmann buildings and
other Parisian jewels right into our office to provide
our team with a view of the iconic Eiffel Tower.
So, if you share our love for Paris, the world of
freight and cannot live without a blue carpet, you are
welcomed here with open arms!
Meet our Munich team!
On the Chair: Kaan Karaca and Matea Lazeta
Back row from L-R: Andrej Dlouhi, Omar Aurora, Sina
Haider, Nicole Höfler
L-R: Guillaume Thonet, Véronique Sabatier, Xueyu Zhao, William
Frenaison, Amy Mulder, Jean-Baptiste Frateur, David Uchenna
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
Hustle, Hustle, Hustle! has been our approach for
the last six months as volumes and bookings across
all major trade lanes in the USA, Europe, Australia,
and New Zealand continue to down trade. I want
to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank
our commercial team across Asia, who are doing
everything they can to find new business opportunities
and our customer service and operations teams for
maintaining existing business.
In the current business environment, it is important
that our customers are kept up-to-date with market
information with pricing transparency. As I have
travelled across all the Asian countries doing sales
calls, it becomes evident that customers are fed up
with what happened during the pandemic, where
many carriers were increasing prices. So, we must
keep our customers from having the same perception
of Mainfreight and our culture, be on the front foot,
and proactively communicate with our customers is
of the utmost importance.
Growing our Asia network;
Our Chongqing Sales office has become a fully
functional Air & Ocean branch with Shirley Mao, our
Sales Manager now our Branch Manager. This is
another great example of promoting from within and
growing our Air & Ocean network, with sales offices
first to grow our foundations to open a stand-alone
branch.
Our first branch in India, located in Mumbai, is now
open. This makes India the 27th country in our global
network.
CaroTrans China – new branches in Qingdao,
Tianjin, Xiamen and Ningbo.
ASIA
MAINFREIGHT ASIA
Cary Chung
Cybersecurity – be aware and always stay alert. You
are our best defence.
Margin – A healthy margin is important, and
understand where we can lift our margins.
Consolidations – pick up the phone with your sisters
and brothers across the network to grow our 1MFs.
If one is full, start the second one!
Debtors – we work hard across our branches and
must ensure we get paid on time for the work we do!
Commercial
• During the low times when our bookings have
dropped, we need our customer service &
operations teams to make calls to all customers
and proactively work with our sales team to
ensure we are aware of any missing bookings
so we can react immediately!
• All our sales team must be out making new
business calls, focusing on imports, airfreight,
1MFs and selling the network!
• Training and people development – we must
continue investing in training and developing
our own DNA.
THINGS TO FOCUS ON;
While challenging, it is always very rewarding as
we grow across Asian countries. One team member
once said we are yet to scratch the surface! We have
so much room to expand across Asia; if we just look
at the population across the countries we are in, it is
1/3 of the world’s population. We need to focus and
drive our own destiny and control more freight!
Team, enjoy your holidays, enjoy the season with
loved ones, and appreciate everything everyone has
done so far, above and beyond! Merry Christmas!
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Jacky Lam, Mainfreight Hong Kong
Multi-Country Consolidation (MCC) initiative ex
Asian to UK via HKG
Discussions have officially commenced with our
London branch to develop another Multi-Country
Consolidation (MCC) route from Asian origins to
Felixstowe via Hong Kong. The 1st trial departed
Hong Kong in October. This service opens up many
possibilities to expand our operations and enhance
services to meet the evolving needs of our customers
– By tapping into this route; we can cater to the
diverse demands of our customers across various
countries in Asia, which also allows us to strengthen
our foothold in the market and further solidifying our
position.
Sales Training (PSS) in Hong Kong
As a business, we must set our sales team up for
success with the right tools. We care for our team
members. That’s why we always seek to improve
training to ensure it’s suitable and leads to our
people’s development.
Last month, we got all the Sales Managers in Asia
together in Hong Kong for two full days of Professional
Selling Skills training. It included sales skills, problem-
solving scenarios, opening questions, and more.
We look forward to building a powerful Asia sales
team that can be the best possible partner for our
customers!
PSS Training Asia Group
L-R: Tracy Xu, Michael Li, David Zhao, Will Li
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
PSS Training Asia in Hong Kong
1st L-R: Semina Qin, Noel Kong, Tracy Xu, Rain Shan, PSS instructor,
Winnie Tong, Shirley Mao, Vennie Yap
2nd L-R: Michael Li, Will Li, Ajay Shukla, Nonika Mo, Adrian He, Dylan Ji,
Duncan Tang, Eric Peng, Thomson Teoh, Perry Lau
3nd L-R: Billy Zhang, David Zhao, Aaron Wu, Bruce Song, Dustin Kim,
Wind Zhu, SommaiT Lek, Ryan To
HONG KONG TEAM BUILDING
- DRAGON BOAT ACTIVITY
Our Hong Kong team had an exciting and joyful day
during a team-building activity - dragon boat racing.
Dragon boat racing began more than 2000 years ago
on the banks of the life-sustaining rivers in the valleys
of Southern China as a fertility ritual thought to bring
good luck to the coming crop season.
During the team-building day, we built up our team
spirit, trust, and leadership, enhanced our physical
and mental well-being, and created a cohesive team.
This activity united teams together to have great
collaboration and communication.
Hong Kong 25 Anniversary Dragon Boat
L-R: Mapy Chow, Fannie Tsang, Winnie Huen, Noel Kong, Grand Chow,
Cyan Leung, Sherman Yuen, Ambrose So, Cathy Lau, Femy Sulistya,
William Lai, Henry So, Alan Li, Ricky Tong, Miki Cheung, Winnie Tong, Elly
Fung, Duncan Tang, Clement Chong, Ming Pang, Nelson Cheng, Tony Lau,
Dan Tsui, Kiev Wong, Sofia Wong, Jacky Lam, Franklin Hui
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
HONG KONG TEAM
25
TH
ANNIVERSARY
We had an excellent celebration for the 25
th
Anniversary
of our Hong Kong branches! A celebratory dinner was
organised to mark this significant milestone. Reflecting
on our achievements, we aspire to carve out a future
as a centenary company. We are committed to
building upon our legacy, creating enduring historical
narratives, and establishing a renowned presence in
the industry.
Hong Kong team celebrating 25
th
anniversary
MALAYSIA SALES TEAM
BUILDING
This is a special year for Malaysia because we are
taking the challenge to split the country into five
separate branches. Meanwhile, our sales team has
been divided into Airfreight and Sea Freight teams
with two Sales Managers – Vennie Yap (Sea Freight)
and Thomson Teoh (Airfreight). They took this
opportunity to conduct brainstorming sessions and
set targets and goals with the sales team for the new
financial year.
The agenda included branch pledge presentations,
strategy discussions, games, and enjoying meals
together. The quality bonding time is a booster to
enhance team spirit and momentum.
GLOBAL TALENT FAIR,
KOREA
Our team in Korea participated in the 2023 Global
Talent Fair. The fair was hosted by the Ministry
of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of
Employment and Labor and organised by KOTRA,
the Korea Industrial Manpower Corporation, and the
National Institute of International Education.
We were thrilled to have the chance to meet and
introduce our company to numerous talented
individuals during the fair.
Malaysia Sales Team Building
Mainfreight Korea - Global Talent Fair
L-R: Chris Jeong, Edward Son, Tei Kwak
SINGAPORE
WAREHOUSE
OPENING
We are delighted to announce the opening of our
Singapore Warehouse in September 2023.
Our 55,000sqft warehouse is located in District
22 of Singapore, putting us in close proximity to
the new Singapore Tuas Mega Port. The Tuas
Port development plays a crucial role in creating
a world-leading maritime hub. As the biggest port
infrastructure in the world, it will provide a competitive
edge to the region. The Tuas Mega Port is still under
construction and, upon completion in 2040, will be
the world’s largest seaport, with the capacity to
handle 65 million TEUs per year. It will also be the
world’s first intelligent port, with advanced robotics
for container handling.
Our warehouse features:
• Temperature-controlled area
• Ambient temperature area
• Staging Area
• Racking area
• Six dedicated loading bays
• Own in-house WMS systems(MIMS) with EDI
integration
• 24-hour CCTV Monitoring systems
• 24-hour security
Service:
• Value Added Service
• Complex Pick & pack solutions for all
requirements, from single units to pallets
• Production Process Planning
• Inventory Storage and Management
• In-house IT EDI and System Integration
Singapore Team Photo
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Lazada Run - Indonesia Team
Lazada Run - Vietnam Team
Lazada Run - Thailand Team
NUS EMBA Team Photo
2023 SINGAPORE
WAREHOUSE WORKSHOP |
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
SINGAPORE (NUS)
Lucas Juay
This year, we are pleased to host a warehouse
workshop for National University Singapore
(NUS) Executive MBA alums. The workshop
aims to bridge theory and practice in supply
chain strategy and management. Diverse alumni
explored Mainfreight culture and values, end-to-
end operations, inventory strategies, and the role
of technology.
The positive and valuable feedback we received
suggests potential for future learning-focused
events, which will enhance the development and
networking of our team and guests. The input
from EMBA alumni is insightful as we consider
continuous business improvement and industry-
specific workshops and collaborative sessions.
We truly appreciate the contribution of the
NUS EMBA group and the Singapore team to
the success of this event. Stay tuned for more
enriching experiences.
LAZADA RUN
Most of our team in Southeast Asia joined the running
race called Lazada Run, organised by an e-commerce
platform across Southeast Asia. We were very
excited and proud of our team’s accomplishment in
completing this challenge. Participating in this activity
and running as a team improved team spirit and built
everyone’s courage to conquer all challenges. The
team enjoyed exercising together, improving their
health, getting some work-life balance, and getting
closer to getting up their steps for our Mainfreight
Asia weekly step challenge!
Lazada Run - Malaysia Team
MAINFREIGHT THAILAND
WAREHOUSE OPENING
In line with our strategic business expansion in
Southeast Asia, we are pleased to announce the
grand opening of our first Mainfreight-operated
Thailand Warehouse, KM.19 Warehouse, in July
2023.
Our Thailand Warehouse is strategically located
along the KM.19 Highway in Bangna Trad, one of the
best logistical locations in Thailand. It is very close
to two seaports, two airports in Thailand, and six
industrial estates.
The warehouse is 4,352sqm and is fully equipped
with racking systems.
Key Facilities include:
• Ambient storage
• Air Con storage
• 4 Dock levelers
• Co-packing area
• Staging area
• Own in-house WMS systems (MIMS) with EDI
integration
• RF scanners
• Sprinkler system
• 24-hour security guard and CCTV monitoring
systems
Drone shots of our new warehouse in Thailand
Mainfreight Thailand Warehouse Opening, Team Photo
Ribbon cutting at the official opening of our new warehouse in Thailand
L-R: Cary Chung, (New Zealand Ambassador to Thailand) Mr. Jonathan King,
Withanya Ceetantivech, Jiradthadit Kitthisiricharern
MAINFREIGHT
GUANGZHOU
WAREHOUSE
This year, we expanded our
Guangzhou warehouse space from
1,800sqm to 3,700sqm and is now
operated solely by the Mainfreight
team. It could carry around 1,000
pallets and 2,016 racking locations.
We are located in Zengcheng,
Guangzhou, a 40-minute drive to
Guangzhou airport and 50 minutes
to Huangpu seaport.
We have appointed our own
dedicated business development
managers, Bell Cui and Tim Hou.
With many years of industry
experience between them, we trust
they will create more and more
business opportunities for our new
warehouse.
Our team working hard at our new
warehouse in Guangzhou
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THAILAND TEAM
COMMUNITY ACTIVITY
“The Child Watch Phuket Foundation” is a
humanitarian non-profit organisation in Thailand
fighting against child abuse and exploitation. The
organisation aims to help vulnerable children in
Phuket from being abused, to live a normal and
healthy life and find the way out from exploitation.
Mainfreight Thailand is pleased to assist these
children during these difficult times. We delivered
food, medicine, and sterilisation equipment to
the Child Watch Phuket Foundation and donated
additional cash of 70,000 Baht.
This project is ongoing, and Mainfreight Thailand
wishes to thank everyone on our team and associates
who have helped make this a memorable and long-
lasting occasion. Thank you for making this happen.
Our team with the Child Watch Phuket Foundation
THAILAND BRANCH 10
TH
ANNIVERSARY
Our company is commemorating its tenth year with
friends and family. We can’t thank you enough for
helping us create such an incredible journey.
This year, we celebrated in Phuket, and our team
had an unforgettable experience.
Our team in Thailand celebrating their 10
th
anniversary in Phuket
Our team in our new Mainfreight Tokyo office.
L-R: Yohei Negishi, Ryosuke Tohma, Motoko Murata, Mami Konishi,
Nana Kaneko
RELOCATION OF
MAINFREIGHT TOKYO
BRANCH
Motoko Murata
In August this year, Mainfreight Tokyo moved
to a new location close to Tokyo and Haneda
ports. Our brand is so important to us, and our
new office has a lot of Mainfreight attractions.
The design of the new office is a manifestation
of Mainfreight’s transparency, and the space has
been transformed into a comfortable workplace for
the team. This is a big step for our team in Japan,
allowing us to spread our wings even further.
We want to take this opportunity to thank our
customers for their continued support and loyalty. We
are looking forward to future business opportunities
with you.
NEW CHONGQING AIR &
OCEAN OFFICER
We are thrilled to announce that our highly anticipated
Chongqing branch officially opened in August 2023.
Heading our new branch is Branch Manager, Shirley
Mao. Shirley joined Mainfreight in June 2021 as
Sales Manager of the Chongqing Sales Office and
has demonstrated unwavering tenacity in setting up
the sales office from scratch. She has successfully
onboarded a sales team in Chongqing, and our
business now covers Chongqing and Sichuan
province. This marks our first Air & Ocean branch
and only sales office in Western China, a significant
milestone for Mainfreight.
Chongqing, situated in the Mid-Western Region of
China, is a unique municipality directly under the
Central Government. This inland area is renowned
for its traditional transportation modes, such as
River-Ocean, Air, and Road-Ocean, which remain
popular. The introduction of new modes such as
Rail-Rail and Rail-Ocean has further enhanced
the efficiency of moving cargo to and from Europe,
Asia, and other continents. Like Chongqing, Sichuan
province presents opportunities in traditional
manufacturing, hi-tech, aerospace, and agriculture
industries. Our prospects are rooted in leveraging
these industries, unlocking their potential to drive
growth and innovation.
2023 ANNUAL DINNER IN
SHANGHAI
The 2023 Annual Dinner for China was held in
Shanghai in May. The whole team from China came
to Shanghai to attend this big celebration. Inviting our
Asia regional support team and Branch Managers to
join this event was also our honour.
Annual team dinner held in Shanghai
GDP UPDATE
GDP is a globally
recognised certification
within the pharmaceutical
industry that illustrates a
logistics company has
a high level of quality
in everything that they
do. We are incredibly
excited to announce
that Mainfreight Korea,
Guangzhou & Shenzhen
teams are now certified
GDP (Good Distribution
Practices).
Ben Chen - Mainfreight
Gunagzhou
L-R: Sanghyun Baek, Edward
Son, Tei Kwak
- Mainfreight Korea
L-R: Vincent Sun, Rolla Liu,
Vincent Lee - Mainfreight
Shenzhen
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Team,
As we quickly approach the end of another year, we
want to thank you for the hard work you’ve all put
into building a bigger and better business over the
past 12 months. We are a people business, and we
could not do what we do without you, from all of our
leadership team to every single one of you – thank
you.
Although current results have been below
expectations, there remains much to be optimistic
about. Our business has an energy and renewed
focus that excites us about where we are heading
and what lies ahead. Although current results might
not reflect this, our hard work is beginning to pay off
beneath the surface.
Volumes across our business are beginning to
trend up and, in some instances, are well up on last
year, especially for our Transport business. Whilst
freight rates continue to have an impact on revenue,
we know that much of this is out of our control and
staying focused on growing our customer base,
gaining additional shipments and volumes, and
having our customers use us across our supply
chain offering, will bring about the results we need.
In amongst all the noise out there of a slowing
economy and an impending recession, we should
remember that we are lucky enough to be building
a business in the largest freight market in the world.
We control our destiny and our ability to thrive, both
in good times and bad times, and an improving
sales performance from our sales team should give
everyone confidence that we can compete and win.
These new customers are assisting in improving
utilization levels in our warehouses, domestic line-
hauls, and Air & Ocean consolidations. With a
foundation of line-hauls and consolidations already in
place, this new business can significantly, positively,
and immediately impact our bottom line. This is why
getting our strategy right and focusing on gaining the
right customers is crucial to our long-term success.
We’ve talked about the need to focus on our
basics, in keeping things simple, and in delighting
our customers with quality, which has always been
synonymous with Mainfreight. In saying this, and
although it is essential to bring on new customers,
we’d like everyone to emphasize delighting our
current customers and ensuring they are receiving a
level of service and quality that we can all be proud of.
AMERICAS
MAINFREIGHT AMERICAS
Jason Braid
Quality sets us apart from the competition. Let’s ask
ourselves whether our quality is up to scratch or not. If
not, then let’s make the necessary changes
Keep things simple and focus on the basics of our
business; there is no need to overcomplicate things
Move with pace in all that we do. If we need to make a
change or do something different, then let’s get on with
it. Remember – Ready, Fire, Aim
We are all in sales, and we should all be in front of our
customers regularly. It’s fun, and we always learn a lot
from a sales call – enjoy it!
We’re a team – set your teammates up for success.
What goes around comes around
Return on Revenue (ROR) – This is our measure of
profit performance
Our work on deepening our culture will never be done.
Please keep turning the flywheel.
POINTS TO FOCUS ON;
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
This year, we’ve done a good job of getting on top of
our costs and bringing these back under control. Thank
you. Let’s stay vigilant here and not take our eyes off
the ball. At the same time, however, not allow this to
negatively impact our customers, as our quality sets us
apart from our competition.
As you will read in the following pages, a lot of great
stuff is happening amongst our teams and around
our business. What’s exciting to see is that there is
consistency in what everyone is focused on and where
our attention is being given. Whether we’re moving
freight via planes, ships, and trucks or having it in
warehouses, the things that make us special hold true
right across our supply chain business.
As we approach the festive season, it’s an opportune
time to take some much-needed time off, get away
from work, and spend this time with your loved ones.
It’s been a big year, and the year ahead will be just as
busy, given the amount of work ahead of us. If you’re
taking time off this holiday season, please do exactly
that – disconnect from work and be present with your
friends and family. It’s important.
Stay positive, stay focused, and trust the process – it
works. Thank you again for all you do for us, and Merry
Christmas and Happy New Year.
06.
0 7.
Quality is everyone’s responsibility.
At Mainfreight, it’s essential that we never
underestimate the importance of the small details
and doing the extra work; the difference between
success and failure can often be found in the small
stuff.
The direction of our USA Transport is changing. How
we look, our expectations and our standards will all
be driven in a new direction of an uncompromising
approach toward quality. And we won’t apologize for
it.
No one will carry you; we will help and show you the
way, but you must walk yourself.
Make your branch stand out for the right reasons.
The recipe at Mainfreight is proven. Our focus must
be on quality, developing our people and culture,
getting the right people in the right seats, and
delighting our customers.
Think about what makes a successful team;
everyone must contribute their skills and effort. And
the best news is we don’t care about the past. The
secret of change is to work together and to focus all
of our energy not on fighting the old but on building
the new.
Yes, this will take time. But let’s move forward; we
challenge you all to get involved and be part of it. It’s
time to form a solid foundation for our future.
Bring your energy, have fun, and help our team and
customers achieve the results we all deserve.
Let’s look ahead to early 2024, where our sales focus
should be on growing our pipeline. Whilst our team
is still navigating their way through a challenging
environment, everyone needs to understand the vital
role they play in delighting our customers, attracting
new ones, supporting existing ones, getting paid on
time, and making a fair return for our effort. And if
we have challenges, which we will, follow up and fix
them.
There remains plenty to do across the business,
managing and balancing risk, revenue growth,
overhead management, operational performance,
cash collection, and finding profitability in some
branches not performing whilst supporting our
leaders and team with the tools to do the job.
AMERICAS TRANSPORT
Mitch Gregor
Expectations of our leaders
– Branch Managers – Top 10 things
Quality – get it right, no excuses, just results. This
sets the foundation.
Culture – it’s what people do when you’re not
watching; it takes time, and it’s high maintenance.
Profit (achieving and exceeding your Financial
Targets set) – understand and be accountable for
all your financials, capitalism with ethics and social
responsibility.
Manage and know your costs for everything.
Audit Score minimum 80% overall plus 100% critical.
Accounts Receivables 6 weeks and over <10%.
Sales growth of 15% per annum; delight our
customers.
Contribution towards the growth of the supply chain.
Build great relationships with our Team –
Warehousing, Air & Ocean, Transport and CaroTrans.
Look after your team and provide for them and their
families a future.
Getting the right people in the right seats on our bus and
ensuring they know our standards and expectations is a key part
of our strategy
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
0 7.
08.
09.
10.
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
Key Topics across the Transport
business for the next 3-6 months:
• Reflect, review, listen and learn = get your head
in the game.
• Get your branch right first, then get the network
right.
• Work together = everyone needs to contribute.
• Increase communication = manage by walking
around (MBWA).
• Ensure we have the right approach to being a
LTL Motor Carrier.
• Get close to your key customers, and set clear
expectations.
• Don’t be busy fools; get the right return.
• Quality focus. Image. KPIs and your branch
stats.
• Look after yourselves and your team.
• Plan Ahead – be flexible and positive.
• Financials and Accounts Receivables.
• Health and Safety – get everyone home safe
and sound.
• Make sales a focus for everyone.
• Quality in all that we do. Review our recent audit
results and areas highlighted for improvement
with our team so we delight our customers.
• Work together with Warehousing and Air &
Ocean to continue growing our market share
and service offering worldwide.
Some simple goals for the year ahead. Key areas of
focus include;
Improve quality and achieve consistency for our
customers across all branches.
Achieve our profit pledge and agreed goals in each
branch for 2024/25.
Improve communication, share more, and let those
closest to the customer decide.
New customer and sales growth.
Open more branches and grow the network.
Focus on training and retention of our people.
Innovate and introduce new ideas – use technology
to increase efficiency.
Ensure we have a long-term approach to business –
win-win partnerships.
Revise our approach to commercial partnerships,
margins and risk.
Have fun and get the results we deserve.
10 GOALS FOR THE YEAR:
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
0 7.
Thank you to everyone in our USA Transport
business for your commitment over the past 12
months – especially our Drivers; we cannot do this
without you!
Thanks for being the face of Mainfreight to so many.
We appreciate all you do and the effort you make
for our customers, business and each other. Have a
wonderful Christmas season with friends and family.
NATIONAL DRIVERS
APPRECIATION WEEK
September 11
th
- 15
th
2023
Across the USA on September 11th-15th,
our team helped celebrate National Truck
Driver Appreciation Week (NTDAW), and
all business units were encouraged to
show support and participate in making
this week special. It is an opportunity to
highlight the vital role our drivers play
in our success. Some ideas the team
organized across our Branches were:
• Hiring a barber or masseur.
• Planning a BBQ or breakfast.
• Arrange for free to-go lunches to be
assembled - with a special driver’s
kit.
• Washing their truck/blackening their
tires.
• Arranging for a coffee/smoothie
truck.
• Planning a family appreciation night
at our depot to show support for their
families.
• Ride along with them and help with a
delivery or pickup.
• Hosting driver PAT meetings and
listen to/action their feedback.
Overall, the week was a fantastic success
and appreciated by all.
Ride along in Charlotte – Michael Thornton and
Anthony Ripepi for Drivers Appreciation Week
Illinois Cross-dock
– Carol Stream, West
Chicago
Our Illinois Cross-dock, which will
follow Texas, is on track for April
2025. Like our Texas site, we intend
to include the same approach to
the environment and infrastructure.
Chicago will be slightly larger given
the market, and it will also be our
home base for the USA business,
similar to Mainfreight Lane in New
Zealand.
We are also investing in new
technology and opportunities to
introduce improved handling in
these facilities; the focus here will
be ensuring freight is inducted,
clearly labelled, and does not sit
around on our docks. It will require
us to review and improve our
current operational processes. This
is being helped with special visits
to other operators in our industry
sites.
TAKE PRIDE IN
YOUR RIDE!
New Trucks Ready to Roll
in Orlando
Luke Percasky and the team in
Orlando have set themselves a goal
to deliver everything into Orlando,
Florida, in a blue truck, and you can
see already the progress they have
made in recent times with their
gear. This will not only improve our
quality, but it will help our financial
results by keeping freight in-house.
Thanks so much to our local team
of owner drivers, Oneimar Ceron,
Jaquil Cambell, Daniel Johnson
and Nunzio Guadagni in Orlando,
who have invested in new gear,
uniforms and are doing such a
great job. You guys look fantastic!
08.
09.
10.
Owner Drivers - Jaquil Campbell
Owner Drivers - Daniel Johnson
Owner Drivers - Nunzio Guadagni
Owner Drivers - Oneimar Ceron
Texas Cross-Dock
– Haslet, Dallas Fort Worth
Our first purpose-built LTL cross-
dock is progressing in Texas, with
expected completion of December
2024. This site will be equipped
with 80+ dock doors, 20+ tractor
parking stalls with future capability
for electric charging stations, over
270 trailer stalls for both 70’ &
53’ trailers, an on-site truck wash
and weigh station, solar farm
installation with battery energy
storage system which can power
electric fork lift chargers as well
as other uses. We also want to
install a building management
system, a full commercial-grade
kitchen on-site with a chef, and a
garden for farm-to-table produce.
We also intend to have a water
harvesting system with a greywater
reclamation infrastructure.
USA Transport Leadership Team 2023 – Chicago, Illinois
– Business in front and party in the back
RECENT BRANCH
MANAGERS CATCH-UP
We recently got our leadership team together from
across the country in Chicago; the plan was to have
a reset, draw a line in the sand across the network,
align our strategy for quality and agree on a simple
back-to-basics plan.
There was plenty covered, and a real commitment
was made to each other to improve our results.
Key topics for our Branch Managers Agenda
• Setting the scene for the leadership team.
• A Day in the Life of a Branch Manager.
• Quality and Depot Systems.
• Finance.
• Projects and Business updates.
• Our Owner Drivers and Gear – Motor Carrier LTL.
• Sales and Customers.
• Our People.
NETWORK/
PROPERTY
Texas Cross Dock – Haslet is
about to commence
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
We are in the process of building a bigger and
better business that will thrive in the years ahead
and continue to see opportunities around every
corner. For us, it is about positioning our business
to capitalize and continue to drive sustained growth.
Our focus remains simple by getting back to the
basics of what makes Mainfreight unique; the small
but important details matter and ensuring we do
those things very well.
Quality, quality, quality.
A refreshing reminder is that we are a service-
based business, and quality is the driving factor of
success to ensure our customers receive a world-
class experience. We have a 100-year vision, which
means we do not take shortcuts at Mainfreight. Our
branches are set up in a decentralized way where
we have the ability to address any challenges quickly
and, of course, set the foundation to scale with
increased volumes. We are establishing branches
like a small business in all markets; sales, WMS
support, account management, and operations all
working as one. Our ability to make decisions locally
is a unique point of difference that our customers
love!
We are taking stock of our current branch network
and seeing what opportunities are at our feet.
Maximizing our existing footprint in pursuit of
increased return on revenue is the objective. So far
this year, we have added 20,000 locations in racking
expansions and plan to add a further 27,000 rack
locations over the next few months.
In August, our Branch Managers got together in
Chicago to set the scene for the second half of the
year, a time to draw a line in the sand and ensure we
are working together as one.
AMERICAS WAREHOUSING
Andrew Coulton
We control our destiny; if we say we will do something,
we do it with pace!
Consistency in our business is who we are: our team,
buildings, and service need consistency for success.
Quality comes from our team; we will continue
investing in our people to ensure we promote from
within.
We manage our branches with a 100% Mainfreight
team, including a decentralized approach, with no
exceptions!
No corners cut; we follow the Mainfreight playbook
in all we do, making long-term decisions for the right
reasons.
Let’s remember to have fun and enjoy the ride; this
includes celebrating our success with the team.
KEY THEMES AND TAKEAWAYS
WERE:
Lunchrooms are a special place where we “break
bread” with our team and sit together each day. Often,
some of the best ideas come from our lunchrooms!
It is exciting to announce we have launched kitchens
with our own “in-house” chefs in Bolingbrook, IL,
and Lehigh Valley, PA, that will be cooking warm
meals for over 100 team members. It is wonderful
to provide extra support for our team, who are going
above and beyond.
Our sales pipelines remain strong as we look ahead
to next year and 2025. Our team is excited about the
opportunities that will bring as Mainfreight continues
to expand our footprint and onboard new customers
into our global network.
Thank you to our Warehousing team in North
America; whilst there are always things to do, we
continue to make progress in the right direction. Your
commitment to our business, our branches, and our
customers is what makes us special. Thank you
for your continued passion and drive in moving our
business forward.
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
Branch Manager’s group photo during our Mid-Year
Branch Manager catch-up
AROUND THE BRANCHES
Newark Warehouse
We now have our own in-house embroidery machine!
New team members will have their uniform arrive to
the branches with their names on them ready to go.
Ensuring our team is equipped with our correct team
uniform is an integral part of our culture, and now we
can make this happen even faster for our growing
business.
Northlake Warehouse
Due to excessive heat and our food-grade
customers, the team implemented an HVAC area
in the warehouse during the summer months! This
is important for storing food products, ensuring the
temperature does not exceed 70 degrees. Seeing
continuous improvements roll out and providing our
customers with unique solutions is excellent.
We have also had some changes to our kitchen.
The team has also grown to three serving over 120
meals daily.
Pictured CJ Williams (Left) and Marcus
Maria Rios is keeping busy using our in-house
name embroidery machine
Andy Herrera, Sandra Narvaez, Evelio Monegro,
Efraín Martinez, Jessica Gallego, Edmundo Flores.
Our operation team works as one pushing down
the line, completing another value-added project, a
common theme in Newark. Thankfully, we were able
to pull in team members from across the country
to ensure we completed a project on time for a key
customer.
Our Sales team is reflecting on another successful
customer meeting in Dumbo, Brooklyn. Working with
our other business units is critical in delivering supply
chain solutions to the market. A prime example is the
Newark team taking a moment to reflect and debrief
on our performance in front of a customer to ensure
we continue improving.
Team working as one!
Angelo Mendez, Jose Melendez, Luis Valencia,
Kenneth Mattei, Krhystof Sutherland
Bolingbrook II Warehouse
Bolingbrook II has invested in a smarter and more
efficient way to clean our facility. With Neo, we can
keep up productivity while allowing it to do the floor
cleaning. Neo is a fully autonomous floor-scrubbing
robot that requires very little human interaction. It is
programmed exclusively for our facility and knows
where to go. All we do is move it to its necessary
location, power it on, and let Neo do the cleaning!
Hands-free cleaning: Leave the mess to Neo
Seattle Warehouse
The Seattle team started
their 22-mile hike up Tolmie
Peak with the famous
Rainier in the background.
The team is making an effort
to get to know each other
outside of their branches,
and there is no better place
than connecting over some
of the most remarkable
hikes in the world.
Rainier and all its beauty!
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
Hi team,
We find ourselves faced again with challenges,
however different from the ones we have been
through. Rather than having an excess of freight to
book and not enough capacity to move it, we are
faced with the opposite. In these times, our sales
efforts are as important as ever. There have been
changes to the sales KPIs we track to ensure our
efforts are being focused in the proper manner. We
have also seen success in our High-Value Pipeline
management, albeit not all have started to show
through in the results yet. Positives are beginning
to show; however, we must maintain the focus and
urgency to keep up our sales efforts.
Our team and business in the Americas for Air &
Ocean continue to mature and take shape. Most
recently, we have started recognizing positive
results from our Perishables facility in Los Angeles.
In a very short time frame, we have gone from being
non-existent to being a significant operation in the
Los Angeles perishable market. We have also begun
to see our sales force take shape as more and more
team members have moved into sales roles from the
operation.
I hope you enjoy some of the contributions included
from our team.
With a great foundation, a terrific team, and almost
endless opportunities, it’s an exciting time to be part
of Air & Ocean in the Americas.
Thank you to everyone who invested time and effort
to get our business right. The results are coming.
AMERICAS AIR & OCEAN
Matt Gustafson
Live by our pillars – You may be tempted to go
outside our core values in tough times. By reflecting
on who we are and what we are built on, we will
undoubtedly return to good times. Please don’t go
for the quick, short-term wins that do not support our
100-year vision.
Continue to push and support the network – We have
made progress with keeping freight in the network
as we have seen recently committing to Los Angeles
Port Operations. Los Angeles Port Operations is
now our #1 drayage provider in the local area.
No loss-making branches – Our access to existing
and potential customers is as robust as anywhere
else in the world. We cannot accept anything below
a profitable business.
Stay hungry in our sales efforts – There has been
moderate progress on our call activity, yet there is still
an opportunity to achieve our minimum expectations
of 20 calls per week.
Quality has been and will remain our difference
maker – Put an intense focus on getting our quality
right.
Continue to develop our culture in the Americas.
Increase our consolidation utilization – The costs to
run our consolidations are already being recognized.
Each and every kilogram or cubic meter helps us
achieve a better result.
Have some fun! We are in a great time to keep
growing our business.
THINGS TO FOCUS ON:
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
0 7.
08.
CHARLOTTE AIR & OCEAN
TEAM – ADOPT A STREAM
The second year of our Adopt a Stream initiative
proved to be a resounding success! The adoption
sign is proudly displayed and visible from the main
road. Our team was divided into two groups to
maximize our efforts: one concentrated on collecting
trash along the roadside, and the other ventured to
the stream to gather any debris they could find. Both
teams made impressive hauls of garbage, sparking
a friendly competition between the street and stream
groups to see who could collect the most. After the
clean-up, the team gathered for a well-deserved
lunch to reward themselves for their hard work.
The Charlotte team doing their part in keeping our planet green
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to travel to
New Zealand to participate in the May 2023 session
of Outward Bound. Finding myself in the Huria
701 Watch, I can honestly say the experience was
nothing short of transformative. I went into the course
with a goal to push past internal boundaries, and I’ve
learned that I am the creator of those boundaries and
I have the power to eliminate them. For those who
have been on the course, I’m sure you all remember
the highs, lows and key takeaways, so I wanted to
share mine.
High:
• Being able to push through internal barriers
and overcome challenges I would have never
attempted here in the States. That feeling of
accomplishment and satisfaction is unbeatable.
Low:
• There was a point where I let a fear of heights
start to change my internal narrative and found
that I quickly began to shut down. Fortunately,
the watch had my back and helped me change
that narrative, and I enjoyed the activity that
followed when it was over. During the activity, I
just tried to get through it as quickly as possible.
I fondly remember my partner yelling for me to
breathe, to which I quickly responded, “I’m f’n
breathing. (I was not).
Key Takeaways:
• Don’t let the fear of failure stop you from doing
something great.
• Let yourself be vulnerable; with the right team
around you, they will help you succeed.
• Control your internal narrative.
OUTWARD BOUND
EXPERIENCE
Chris Michalak
Outward Bound Huria 701 Watch team
G’day everyone,
In case you have been hiding under a rock,
Mainfreight LAX is now the first perishable branch
outside of Australia and New Zealand! What a
whirlwind the first few weeks it has been, with being
fully operational since July 23rd, 2023. We have
been able to make some great strides through the
last month, with August topping out an impressive
541,000kgs of perishable cargo moved inbound and
outbound. Kudos to the team for putting in some
huge days and hours; we couldn’t do this without
you!
We have three chillers, a large dock cooler and a
freezer, which adds up to around 15,000sqft of
temperature cold storage.
Some of the commodities we have moved so far:
• Chilled & live seafood
• Chilled beef
• Fresh grapes
• Fresh cherries
• Fresh dates
• Fresh stone fruit
• Asparagus
LOS ANGELES PERISHABLES
James Blok
Los Angeles new Perishables site in action
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
Students prepared to showcase their creative musical talent
We are thrilled to share the news that four new
CaroTrans China branches have recently opened,
marking a significant milestone in CaroTrans
expansion efforts. These developments represent
a strategic investment in strengthening our network
between the USA, Australia, China and Taiwan.
As we wrap up the calendar year 2023, we are
pleased to have new branches in key locations in
Ningbo, Qingdao, Shenzhen and Xiamen. Arthur
Ho has been introduced as CaroTrans Asia’s
General Manager, and we extend our warmest
congratulations to him and look forward to working
together.
This is a thrilling announcement for CaroTrans
China, and we are already looking to expand past
China into Southeast Asia.
As pleased and excited as we are at developing our
CaroTrans network throughout China, our immediate
focus is improving our USA business and building
larger LCL volumes across our entire network.
The October Branch Manager meeting was a tough
couple of days, and we all left very focused and
committed to improving our business. Below are
some key points we are all focused on achieving
over the next six months.
CAROTRANS
Profitability across ALL branches.
Emphasizing that sales responsibility extends to
every team member.
Hire sales team members strategically across the
business.
Branch Managers must spend a minimum of two
days per week out on calls.
Leadership team commitment to going out on calls
with Branch Managers and the Sales team.
Quality is key to growth; get the quality right, and the
customer will ask for more.
Small, daily improvement items make a huge
difference to the business.
Start ASAP!
KEY POINTS WE ARE ALL
FOCUSED ON ACHIEVING
OVER THE NEXT SIX MONTHS:
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
0 7.
08.
This September, Andrew Weisse and I had the
privilege of visiting our Hong Kong and Taiwan teams
for the TPEB/WB sales campaign and meeting
Arthur Ho, our new CaroTrans Asia GM. As it was
my first time in Asia, I was eager and ready to pound
the pavement, making sales calls in a couple of
foreign cities. After the first few initial calls, it became
apparent that sales is sales no matter where you are
in the world, as customers make decisions the same
way, have the exact wants and needs, and as we
say, their perception of our service matters most.
Most know that travelling isn’t without its ‘fun’ and
on a Friday in Hong Kong, we experienced what is
called “Black Rain”, in which the city was ordered to
stay inside and off the roads due to heavy monsoonal
rain. Our meetings turned into Webex, but thankfully,
the rain stopped later that day, and we were able to
join a team dinner that night.
Thank you to our Taiwan and Hong Kong teams for
their warm hospitality and ensuring our trip (nearly)
went without a hitch. We look forward to returning
to Asia to continue the intensification of growing our
CaroTrans Asia network!
CAROTRANS SALES ROAD
SHOW
Jessica Veenendaal
L-R: Arthur Ho, Catherine LeVert, Andrew Weisse,
Cary Chung, Jessica Veenendaal, Noel Kong, Jackie Lam
CaroTrans Boston visited a major Customer,
OceanAir, at their new office this summer. OceanAir
has been a long-time customer of CaroTrans, and we
were excited to welcome them to their new building
directly across the street from our office building.
The team had a great time mingling with OceanAir
as they expanded into a new office and celebrated
40 years in the Boston area.
CAROTRANS BOSTON
Thank you from CaroTrans!
Homes event. We all received a handwritten note from
the students thanking us for the books. It was a lovely
gesture, and we are thankful for the opportunity to give
back to the community and the children.
CAROTRANS HOUSTON
– BOOKS IN HOMES
L-R: Alexander Motsinger and
Carter Viray
L-R: Maria Espinoza and
Michael Elledge
BAIRDS MAINFREIGHT
PRIMARY 30-YEAR
CELEBRATION
On Friday 8th September 2023, our long term Otara
partner school Bairds Mainfreight Primary held a
very special assembly to thank and celebrate 30
years of partnership with Mainfreight. The assembly
presented a 90 minute creative musical showcase
of this wonderful partnership and the show was a
special one for Bruce, Don and the Mainfreight team
attending. The epic and fun storytelling started from
the early beginnings of Mainfreight’s donation of sport
equipment in the 90’s to the enriched partnership
that exists today. Some of the amazing initiatives
showcased included the school computer suite,
classroom smartboards, scholarships for students in
intermediate, secondary and tertiary levels, plus the
annual celebratory excursion to Uncle Bruce’s farm.
Thank you to Bairds Mainfreight Primary for bringing
the last 30 years of this special partnership to life.
sessions in August for our upcoming move to CargoWise.
In total, 57 team members participated in this training,
either in person or virtually. These training sessions
have been invaluable in creating processes and finding
solutions to maintain our current functionality and the
service level we offer our customers. The Super Users
were sent back to their branches after their training
sessions with instructions to begin training their teams.
The transition to CargoWise will help align the global
CaroTrans Teams on the same platform and will have a
huge impact on our teams and the business.
CaroTrans is investing in IT infrastructure and moving
from the CaroTrack system to CargoWise. The project
aims to align the CaroTrans business globally onto
a single platform and improve visibility across the
CaroTrans business. The project team has been busy
and working hard to get the team ready for this change.
CaroTrans USA completed 5 Super User training
CAROTRANS CARGOWISE
TRAINING
Cutting the cake!
Students in assembly performing
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
APOLLO
Thomas Bijl, European IT Manager
TECHNOLOGY
Many, many key milestones this year! It’s been a
ride!
As we celebrate the close of 2023, it’s impossible
not to mention some of the teams’ remarkable
achievements.
Each of the five regional IT teams supports and
works closely with their business to deliver these
achievements in software solutions, infrastructure,
cyber security and IT services.
Project Apollo. This ambitious project is a source
of pride and accomplishment for the European IT
team and business. It created a global infrastructure
alignment that gives us a solid platform for growth
and agility.
The Air & Ocean business has been a large focus
with a relaunch of our Air & Ocean booking module
in Mainchain, the deployment of a new mobile freight
handling solution for our freight depots (FHT) and a
software upgrade project for CaroTrans standardising
their Global Trade Management System across the
four regions.
Improving team and customer experience has been
a big focus for the Transport teams.
Europe has also pushed hard this year to complete
their Transport Management System rollout, and the
entire region is now on a standard operating system.
We celebrated ten years of our custom-developed
Transport Management System application,
Mainstreet, which we run in New Zealand, Australia,
and the Americas.
In Mainstreet, we built a little feature with a big
benefit, the Watchlist. We have started designing the
next iteration of our Wharf Container Management
Solution. Reporting and analysis continue to be
enhanced, including refining our DIFOT reporting
capabilities. (More on these below).
We celebrated 15 years of running our bespoke
warehouse management system, MIMS, in New
Zealand, Australia, Americas, and Asia.
The Warehousing business rebuilt and relaunched
our capability with ASNs and Retailer integration,
TECHNOLOGY AT
MAINFREIGHT
John Eshuis
improving both the customer experience and
usability for the team.
Our Analytics capability continues to grow in
both depth and breadth, including the addition of
sophisticated Emissions dashboards – providing
customers and team with insights and opportunities
for supply chain improvement.
Globally, the drive for robust Business Continuity
Planning has momentum with the crisis response
team managing BCP processes, running micro
simulations in the branches and creating a focus on
learning and understanding our plan. We hope we
never need to use it!
As we have for many years, we again performed
system failover to our backup data centres as a live
test of Disaster Recovery processes.
Cybersecurity Training and Awareness.
Maintaining a strong cybersecurity posture is more
critical than ever with the increasing sophistication
of cyberattacks. Mainfreight has taken a proactive
approach to bolster our cybersecurity defences.
We understand that awareness and education
are the best way to prevent cyber threats. Our
comprehensive cybersecurity training program
for all our team members focuses on recognising
and mitigating cyber risks. We reduce the risk of
breaches by equipping our team with the knowledge
and skills needed to identify potential threats.
As 2023 draws to a close, we reflect on a year
filled with hard work, innovation, and achievement.
Our commitment to our special culture and people
continues to be the cornerstone of our success.
In the year ahead, we look forward to building on
these accomplishments, continuing to innovate,
and providing outstanding service to our team and
customers.
Thank you for your unwavering support, and we
wish you a joyful and safe holiday season.
Following an immense dedication from Mainfreight’s
European business and IT teams, alongside
invaluable assistance from IT teams across the
group, Project Apollo finished successfully earlier
this year. Project Apollo represents Mainfreight’s
most substantial IT undertaking to date, achieving
the following milestones:
• Successful migration of over 2,000 users.
• Rebuilding of 670 servers.
• Transferring 36 Terabytes+ of user data.
• Transferring 31 Terabytes + of email data.
• Transferring 51 Terabytes + of application data.
• Migration of 3,070 e-mailboxes.
• Setting up 1,970 workplaces.
• Rebuild and migration of 67 line-of-business
applications.
This monumental achievement will make the boat
go faster, propelling our business into a more
efficient, future-ready state and contributing to our
team’s professional development. To celebrate
this milestone, our European IT team joined forces
with regional management and John Eshuis for a
Mainfreight-style barbecue celebration.
European IT team enjoying a well-deserved BBQ outside the IT office in ‘s-Heerenberg
Our customer portal, Mainchain, has had a significant
update to the Air & Ocean bookings feature. With the
increased demand for an improved and streamlined
online experience by our customers, the Air & Ocean
booking feature has undergone a complete overhaul.
With Project Managers in Australia and New Zealand
managing subject matter experts in every region, this
was a truly global and collaborative effort. Leveraging
Mainfreight’s 5 D’s of development, its success shows
that our 5 D discipline works when implemented.
Discovery involved teams within each region and
globally getting together via video call to discuss their
vision and the required functionality. It gave us a clear
direction on what the business and customers want
from an online booking portal.
Behind the scenes, the product was developed using
a docker and container platform where pieces can
be reused as we refresh other booking tools. This
sharing of components will enable a more consistent
user experience and reduce development time.
The new Air & Ocean bookings feature, which went
live globally in late September, is visually more
aligned with other Mainfreight online booking tools
with a modern feel and easy-to-use interface. It has
enhanced functionality and better integration with
our Air & Ocean Global Trade Management System
(Cargowise). Initial customer feedback on our new
and improved bookings feature has been positive,
and we look forward to sharing it with more customers
as our rollout continues.
MAINCHAIN AIR & OCEAN
BOOKINGS MODULE
Michelle King,
Air & Ocean Business Solutions
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
Mainstreet’s (our Transport Management System)
latest innovation, Watchlist, is redefining customer
service. It offers a streamlined approach to follow-
up request management. Following discussions
with customer service teams in New Zealand and
Australia, it became evident that existing follow-
up management processes lacked uniformity and
efficiency.
The introduction of the Watchlist was enthusiastically
received as it simplified how teams could subscribe
to specific events and receive timely alerts. Sitting
within Mainstreet to reduce email spam, these
alerts promptly notify them of completed events or
if any items have been scanned within the network.
Furthermore, the tool incorporates exception
management to promptly flag potential issues, such
as a missed linehaul or possible delivery delays.
It also alerts team members when a note receives
any special notes or instructions (endorsement), if a
driver rejects a pickup or delivery, or if a delivery was
unsuccessful for any reason.
The Watchlist’s strength lies in its simplicity and
user-friendly design, garnering positive feedback
from users. It was the first page to be done on a new
development framework that will give Mainstreet a
new look.
The project was a good example of the different
regions working with the Group Software Solutions
team to provide a solution that works across the
board. Thanks to the teams for their involvement in
the project, including the Training Team in NZ for
running the training sessions, the 2Home Auckland
team and the Transport Business Solutions team in
Australia, who assisted with the real-world testing.
WATCHLIST: SUPPORTING
CUSTOMER SERVICE WITH
SIMPLICITY
Gary Harrington & Henry Booth,
NZ IT Team
With the increasing need to do “more with less”, we
continue to strive for easier and more efficient ways
to improve our service.
Having a simple way to understand delivery
challenges has always been difficult, but with the
introduction of Maintel, our analytics platform, it
paved the way to leverage information on service
delivery more meaningfully.
The Australian and US sales teams have begun
rolling out the new DIFOT Investigation process.
It’s nice and simple; the team now enter any delivery
challenges in Mainstreet with clear descriptions.
This information is then presented as part of DIFOT
reporting with our customers through Maintel,
providing an interactive tool (using Power BI) for
open discussion on service improvement. It can
identify where the supply chain is struggling to meet
expectations, be it delays in the linehaul, challenges
with meeting time slots due to traffic, customers not
being able to receive the freight, etc.
With all this data on hand, our next steps will be to
create a simple-to-use dashboard for our branches
within Mainstreet. These interactive dashboards will
allow the team to see key areas where focus on
improvement is required.
DIFOT REPORT
Megan MacKay,
Software Manager Australia
DIFOT Report with Megan McKay
It’s hard to believe we had only two mobile apps in
our Transport business not long ago.
Fast forward a few years, multiple new apps later, and
we can comfortably say the business has transformed
into a technologically innovative beast.
With outstanding uptake across the board on a new
way of thinking and embracing item scanning for
all its benefits, it’s time to reimagine our first-ever
application, Our Driver App.
While we are no strangers to designing and
developing new technology, we always find engaging
with the business gives us a unique insight into what
our focus should be if we want to improve continually.
And engage is what we did.
After a fantastic response to a survey provided to
all Owner Drivers, we pieced together some basic
workflows.
We ran multiple workshops with a select group of
Drivers who helped us understand what matters most
to them and our customers. Such unique insights can
further drive the message that we are only as good
as our last delivery. So, we must ensure we provide a
superior user experience for all involved parties.
As we continue to work with our team on this project,
we can’t wait to roll out the latest refresh of our mobile
technology offerings. And we thank all involved so
far. Witnessing the care and enthusiasm within our
community of drivers is truly amazing.
DRIVER MOBILE
Megan MacKay,
Australian Software Manager
Mainfreight Wharf is a business that has continued to
grow from strength to strength and is a key partner in
our supply chain offerings.
WHARF CONTAINER ONLINE
MANAGEMENT
Megan MacKay,
Australian Software Manager
Over the years, the team have embraced new
technology and strategically utilised it to its full
advantage. And with this technology growth, the team
have a clear direction on how they want to approach
the future for Mainfreight Wharf.
Container Online Management is something we want
to get right in our technology offerings. The Wharf
team have collectively engaged in workshops to
provide us with their business requirement, and in
collaboration with our software solutions team, we are
well on our way to designing a true game changer.
Reviewing Driver feedback – on Screen L-R: Henry Booth,
Gary Harrington and Pateriki Te Pou (NZ Software Solutions)
and Teamy
Maintel our Analytics platform has been a significant
development for our business, and the Australian
team has adopted it with a real drive.
The four key benefits of Maintel for the customer that
we sell are:
1. Improving operational performance.
2. Sales growth.
3. Increase profitability through better forecasting.
4. Improve productivity & reduce costs.
In 2022, our strategy with the rollout was first to
ensure that we provided training to our sales team. It
was a two-pronged training with a technical and sales
element.
The sales-based training covered:
1. How to create value for the customer & also
the value Maintel brings our team - Saving
time was the key message.
2. How to present the data in customer meetings
We then commenced our soft rollout in mid-
2022, which included teams using snippets of the
dashboard in a PowerPoint presentation. We saw
this to be a success as it helped our team present
the data in a controlled environment, which then saw
them get more comfortable using and presenting the
dashboard.
2023 saw the Australian business open the gates on
the Maintel rollout by providing access to customers
through Mainchain, our customer portal. While the
rollout began slowly and in a controlled manner, the
overwhelmingly positive feedback we received from
our customers saw us push this more aggressively
to our customers. Branch Maintel champions were
identified to facilitate customer access, making
the process quicker. We also included Maintel
rollout targets in our “Major League Play-off Sales
Campaign”, which really supercharged the rollout.
Maintel is now part of our core technology offerings
to customers. It is pleasing to see us make further
developments based on customer feedback. The
rollout of the Emissions dashboard will further improve
uptake, with sustainability conversations happening
more frequently now.
MAINTEL IN AUSTRALIA
Tohidul Hoque, Customer Solutions
Tohidul Hoque showing Paige Rigopoulos (MFT Clayton) the features of
Maintel Analytics platform
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TRAINING &
DEVELOPMENT
Martin Devereux
Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Happy Hannukkah,
Joyeux Noël, and Meri Kurisumasu are just a few
different greetings exchanged between our team
members across the impending holiday season.
These greetings also highlight the many different
regions, cultures and religions interwoven throughout
the Mainfreight global fabric.
There is no question when you see the various faces
throughout this newsletter; we are a truly diverse
family. That said, an enormous amount bonds us and
connects us as a truly global family.
The following pages will show you the variety of touch
points our Training Teams have across the business
and the effort that goes into helping our team to
succeed and delight our customers. It is easy as we
head into the traditional ‘Silly Season’ or ‘Christmas
Peak’ to forget that our brothers and sisters around
the world are also experiencing their versions of this
time of year. Take some time to think about the true
strength of our business, that being our network of
amazing people. The decision you make to do that
little bit extra today might be the difference between
your brother and sister in another region securing
further business or potentially additional margin.
For many team, the Christmas / New Year’s period
presents a great opportunity to enjoy some time off
and relax. For many, it also represents an opportunity
to reset our goals and ambitions for the following
year. In a work context, think about what you want
to achieve in 2024 and who can help you achieve
that. We have an amazing network and an amazing
foundation from which to launch. Let’s do it together.
Enjoy reading and seeing what is happening around
the business in the people and training space.
We held our very first Induction courses in Romania,
delivered entirely in Romanian!
This was a huge team effort, and we are excited
to take this step with the Romanian branches. The
overwhelmingly positive response from our team
members in Romania is inspiring. Witnessing their
enthusiasm and appreciation has solidified how
important it is to deliver training in local languages.
EUROPE
Courtney Bould
First Day of the Induction Course in Romanian.
L-R: Ciprian Curcan, Bogdan Pletosu, Valentin Curcan,
Andreea Tarara, Gheorghe Ciobanu, Irina Voivozeanu, Bianca
Spinu, Bogdan Rascol, Delia Morar, Roxana Grigoras, Carla
Grigorescu, Alexandra Fricosu, Iulian Leca, Victor Muresan
Our drivers work all around Europe, so we needed
to be creative on the location for the training for our
Romanian drivers, as they’re often not in Romania.
We’ve worked with the team to find the best solution
for them, and we now hold Induction courses for
Romanian drivers on Saturdays in the Netherlands.
Along with the fundamentals of the Induction course,
it also serves as a moment for our drivers to connect
with each other. They don’t always get to see each
other face-to-face, so it’s nice for them to be together
as one team. It’s a pleasure to see their camaraderie
and help them together to provide exceptional service
to our customers.
In September and October in Europe, we rolled out
Easy to Deal With training for all team members in
Europe. Our special service, at its core, is about
delighting our customers, and the crux of it is our
easy to deal with attitude: team members being
empowered to make decisions, being friendly,
proactive, and taking full ownership.
Romanian Driver Inductions Course
Danut Zaharia, Danuel Marasescu, Razvan Stanescu, Ionut Stoica,
Claur Ene, Cristian Ceaus, Livius Calinescu, Sorin Belcin,
Marian Anghel, Alexandra Fricosu, Ilie Costin Bostina,
Gabriel Stanciu, Mihai Sorin Goaga
The training highlights how internal service between
team members at Mainfreight is just as important as
our service with our customers.
When we all work this way, we all do better. It’s a
pleasure to come to work; our company name means
our word.
Easy to Deal With course rolled put across Europe with
our team in ANS, Anton in the Netherlands
The only thing holding us back as a business is
our ability to develop the leaders of tomorrow who
will forge our future. We are committed to growing
and developing our team members; we hold Team
Leadership Services training to facilitate this. They
are pushed outside their comfort zones, make
mistakes, and learn about the value of EQ and
effective communication.
Some of our future leaders –
Daniel Joor, Steven Duyck, Adam Rogatzky, Tobias Collatz, Tim
Stubbe, Esmee Heuvink, Natasha Linton, Sten van der Pennen
The training team dressed up as colourful as our
wardrobes would allow us to celebrate having a
new training van! Since welcoming the van to the
Mainfreight family, it’s carried some seriously precious
cargo (team members from all around the world).
The new Training Centre van is welcomed to the team in ‘style’
“Back-to-Basics”
The Americas have experienced a fair degree of
“new” in 2023, and Team Development is no different.
With the changes to our leadership team, our focus
has been a back-to-basics refresh in terms of our
culture and the everyday disciplines that make us
Mainfreight.
Supply Chain Inductions have been up and
running since April 2022, with the team enjoying
the experience, including getting to know who we
are as a business and, perhaps more importantly,
learning about the values that have sustained us
over the past 45 years. Because inductions were
on hold during COVID, quite a few team members
still need to attend. That has created a wonderful
blend of seasoned team members, gaining a refresh
of the culture and creating an environment where
anecdotal testimonies enrich the overall experience
for our newer team. In addition to running courses in
our Warehousing facilities in Carson, California and
Northlake, Texas, we’ve now begun to offer smaller
courses in Bolingbrook, Illinois. The addition of the
new West Chicago, Illinois, cross-dock will include a
shiny new training center where we can run courses
closer in size to the other regions.
THE AMERICAS
Regina Warden
In the Health and Safety space, we’re currently
conducting Wellness Checks in the branches to gain
a pulse for focus areas and offer support to ensure
our teams are as safe as possible. This is preempting
subsequent Health and Safety Audits that will be
rolled out next year. Each Health and Safety Audit
will include an Action Plan developed alongside
the Branch Manager to get the branch up to par.
Branches that score lower than 85% will be visited
for a second audit within the same fiscal year.
Induction team visiting our EW2 facility in the USA
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
The current hiring freeze has allowed us to offer
upskilling to our Branch Managers on a recruitment
front with the rollout of a mock interview process
wherein the Branch Manager reaches out as if we
were prospective candidates and works through the
interview process while receiving feedback and tips
for future hiring. The hope is that we can ensure we
are focusing on the right attributes and able to ask
pertinent questions that will give us an idea of who
the person is and what drives them outside of what is
listed in their resume.
We continue to reevaluate our Mainfreight
Development Program to provide the most apt
learning to the team in the program. For 2024, we’re
looking to focus on leveraging current strengths
utilizing Clifton’s Strength model. We hope this will
provide the team with an actionable plan to continue
sharpening their skills.
Maintrain developments are also underway with
the addition of a Pulse Board that will allow Branch
Managers (as well as auditors) an at-a-glance view
of the training required for their teams, completion
rates, and an idea of where their branch sits from a
compliance perspective.
The overall focus for 2024 will continue to be
supporting our teams by providing them with training
and collaboration around the needs of the business
in the Americas. Once we’ve got the basics right,
we’ll be unstoppable.
“Don’t Count the Days, Make the Days Count”
2023 has certainly been that for the team this year.
In addition to our regular course offerings, there have
been many projects on the go with tight deadlines to
meet. We certainly do not live in a question mark!
This year, we revisited the Easy to Deal With course.
With the addition of new team members over the past
few years, it was well overdue to deliver the course
again to the business. It was a good refresher for our
existing team and well-received with our new team
members and drivers. We had excellent discussions
and goals agreed upon with team members and
owner drivers participating together.
We added the first Australian Emerging Branch
Managers course to our Leadership suite of courses.
This course was a six-day course spread over
three months. This allowed the team to retain the
information taught and practice their learnings back
at the branch before the next month’s session. The
team received one-on-one time with their National
Manager and a panel Q&A time in the last session.
It is pleasing to see the high calibre of team we have
forging careers within our business to become the
next leaders.
The driver trainers have done an excellent job
travelling the country to assess drivers, passing on
knowledge to new drivers, improving skillsets and
sharing the Mainfreight way. This remains a focus for
the coming year.
The Career Fairs and school visits have also kept us
busy this year. Finally, back to being in front of people
instead of on a WebEx screen has been a delight.
Networking and having meaningful conversations
about our business and the opportunities available
are second to none.
We will continue to focus on quality learning in
the four-day induction and other course offerings,
particularly with the growth of the business and new
facilities opening. It is key to our business success to
grow the existing team knowledge and introduce new
team members to our business with a well-rounded
and grounded introduction into who we are and why
we do things, which in turn assists the branches to
continue to grow the team’s skillset. We also use the
four-day inductions to help with cross-training so our
team understand our full capability across the global
network.
Thank you to the team for your efforts this year. The
above is only a small example of what you delivered
this year; we know you delivered more projects
and training than we have referred to. Enjoy your
Christmas break, rest up, refresh and spend valuable
time with your friends and family.
AUSTRALIA
Shona Taylor
Easy to Deal with Course with some of our drivers held in Albury –
L-R: Luke McCluskey, Dapinder Singh, Vish Arora, Aman Singh, Ranbir
Maankatala, Parkash Singh, Davinder Singh, Yaman and Noel Howlett
Audit Updates:
This year, we have embarked on providing more
meaningful and in-depth audits by splitting our branch
audits into Operational Focused Audits and Health
and Safety Focused Audits. The feedback from the
branches, through the time spent by the auditors
on-site with teams, is that they can get into the nitty-
gritty of the expectations and use it as a time to learn
from the audit team. Being able to focus on two core
functions, the operations and how we ensure the
team get home safe each day, has been incredibly
rewarding for the audit team also.
New Site:
This year, we said goodbye to the very first training
centre. It was bittersweet to say farewell to the building
that holds so much history (19 years, in fact), but it
is time for us to move in with the wider Mainfreight
family in the new Mainfreight Warehousing Favona
Road site. It was a huge undertaking to disassemble
a large amount of dummy freight, Mainfreight
vehicles and long-term storage, but the feeling of
moving into our new premises made the hard work
all worth it. Thanks to Travis, Kaleb, Suzie, Deb and
the wider Favona team, we immediately felt right at
home! Our overflow site at 68 Westney Road has
become our main training facility; it provides a more
flexible training space and is also on-site with another
warehousing family.
NEW ZEALAND
Lizzie Judd
Final sweep before moving to...
Courses and Events:
Our first normal year post-COVID meant we went full
force into training, from Induction courses to Time
Management, Leadership Development Level 1 and
Easy To Deal With. We have been out training the
team. We were also lucky enough to host a Q&A
session with the regional managers. On top of the
45 team physically in the room, we had 77 branches
attend on WebEx from wider New Zealand, Australia
and Asia. This is what we love doing, and it’s been
fantastic to spend that time with the team across the
country.
Niraj Singh, Owens Transport Auckland, has completed his Easy to Deal
With course. Pictured with Lizzie Judd
Q&A session with our Country Managers,
held at Railway Lane
Train your Successor so that you may Succeed
- Shanghai Maritime University.
Earlier in the year, Mainfreight Shanghai partnered
with Shanghai Maritime University to give third
and fourth-year students studying Supply Chain
a glimpse into what life as a full-time professional
freight specialist could be like.
During their time at Mainfreight Shanghai, the
Training Team welcomed the 18 students and their
lecturer with some Mainfreight notebooks (that they
could later use studying) then shared more about
the supply chain world. Our Branch Managers, Joan
Ji (Mainfreight Ocean), Peter Koo (Mainfreight Air),
Sean Wang (CaroTrans) and Alan Jia (Warehousing),
took them around their branches to explain the key
functions of their teams to give students an idea of
potential career paths. The young students focused
intently as their eyes widened with the opportunity
ahead.
This was a great chance to promote Mainfreight, our
unique culture and educate the youth of our future.
We look forward to continuing this program and
getting more of our Asian branches involved!
ASIA
Winnie Tong
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Winnie Tong and Cherry Wang accompanied by a group of
students visiting our Shanghai branch
Share the Successes - China Annual Dinner
After three years of being unable to come together
and celebrate, everyone was excited to gather in
Shanghai for the China Annual Dinner. This included
every team member in China, not just Branch
Managers or the Sales team but everyone from
our customs brokers and operations team to our
receptionists.
Since 2020, the China team has grown from 200
team members to over 300. This includes our ever-
growing list of branches in China, from Beijing,
Tianjin, Dalian, Qingdao, Suzhou, Shanghai, Ningbo,
Chengdu, Chongqing, Xiamen, Guangzhou and
Shenzhen. Similar to our theme this year, “breaking
barriers”, we worked together through various team-
building activities to build towards one goal. Then, in
the evening, everyone changed from their activewear
to their best to celebrate the achievements of the last
three years. A huge thank you to each branch for
making it special!
Team building event at the Annual Team dinner held in Shanghai
Bringing words to life
As the Training Team travels to each branch for
Quality Audits, we have added a culture workshop
to the trip. It’s not every day that we get to be face-
to-face with the teams, so when we are, we want to
inject the blue-blood spirit. As our teams grow and
the market behaviour changes, our Three Pillars can
be just be words rather than “the way we do things.”
With the souvenir to each of our Branch Managers
from the Conference earlier this year, we have
incorporated Jenga as a tool to create conversation
about our culture, what’s important, what sets us
apart, what we stand for and where we are going.
This has been a fantastic way to get our teams to join
in the fun, laugh, feel reinvigorated, and discuss what
the Three Pillars is in action in their branch and why
it matters more than ever.
Culture Training in Singapore
L-R: Jasper Tee, Sommai Trakarnrung (Lek) and Elaine Chan
BEREAVEMENTS
Randeep Singh
Mainfreight Transport Sydney
Randeep Singh lost his life in a tragic truck accident. He was an
exceptional and safety-conscious driver. Randy was close to
our teams in NSW, particularly in Orange, where he would have
breakfast daily and debrief with the team. He was always happy
to help in the branch above and beyond his normal duties. It is a
tragedy to lose such a valuable team member from the Mainfreight
family in this way, and he will be missed by many.
Ray Burgess
Mainfreight Warehousing Prestons
It is with tremendous sadness we let you know about the passing
of our dear friend and brother Ray Burgess, AKA “Honky”, a 26-
year Legend of the business. In true Honky fashion, he didn’t give
up without a fight. Until his last days, he was still adamant about
returning to work so that he wouldn’t be letting the team down.
Those who had met Ray would know his reputation as a legend
within the business and how he embodied every aspect of doing
things The Mainfreight Way. The pride and passion Ray carried
was admirable and was a credit to the man he was and the values
he held. Ray will certainly be missed, now and always.
Jackie Ganther
IT Team Americas
It is with a heavy heart that we farewell to our friend and teammate
Jackie Ganther. Jackie had been part of the Mainfreight Americas
family since November 2002. Jackie was an inspiration to anyone
who came in contact with her. She hosted our monthly luncheons
and birthday celebrations for years. Jackie was always the life of the
party, bringing joy and excitement to every gathering. She headed up
our collection team when it was based in Carson before transferring
to our IT team. We are sure many of you had tough conversations
with her – but she was always very professional in her dealings with
fellow team members and customers. Jackie will be missed, but we
are sure she is in heaven and more than likely taking charge.
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
Erin Clark
Mainfreight Transport Los Angeles
Erin Clark passed away in September 2023 after a brief illness.
She joined the Mainfreight family in July of 2022. In that short time,
Erin became a key member of our Los Angeles Transport Sales
team. Her sudden loss saddens the whole team. Erin will always
be remembered for her kindness, generous spirit and wonderful
sense of humor.
Rob van Bueren
Mainfreight Transport ‘s-Heerenberg
With deep sadness, we let everyone know that our team member,
Rob van Bueren, passed away after a short-term illness. Rob
dedicated many years of hard work and passion to our company.
A commitment to Mainfreight that had no bounds. In October
2022, Rob was able to enjoy his well-deserved retirement. He
remained engaged and visited us regularly to catch up. Even in
his last days, Mainfreight held a special place in his heart. For
that reason, we arranged for a Mainfreight truck to drive past his
home. We will always remember Rob as an unforgettable team
member and an integral part of our Mainfreight family. We will
miss you immensely.
Johan Debruyne
Mainfreight Warehousing Oostende
With great sadness, we received the news that our beloved team
member Johan Debruyne passed away. Johan was part of our
Mainfreight Production Parts team from the very beginning. He
will be remembered as a passionate, hardworking team member:
always present, preferably quietly in the background, but a friend to
everyone. He was always punctual, ensuring that each shift could
start with a cup of coffee. We have lost one of our Legends. Dear
Johan, may your last journey be peaceful.
SERVICE ACHIEVEMENTS
The following members of our team have celebrated, or will shortly celebrate, 20 years or more with us:
Doug MelroseTransport Dunedin
Geoffrey HeardTransport Sydney
Joan BrinkTrucks & Drivers 's-Heerenberg
Lili DevriendtSupport Belgium
Rudi RietmanEuropean Support
Yvonne ChissellNational Admin NZ
Don BraidMainfreight
Rob RuttenTrucks & Drivers 's-Heerenberg
Ton BroekhuizenTrucks & Drivers 's-Heerenberg
Arjen MeijeringWarehousing ‘s-Heerenberg
Cindy JansenTransport 's-Heerenberg
Debbie BlackburnTransport Christchurch
Geert SteltjesCrossdock 's-Heerenberg
Greg PiperTransport Wellington
Mark VincentTransport Sydney
Paul McCrackenWharf Sydney
Theo EngelenEuropean Support
Andy VerbruggheTransport Zwijnaarde
Annette WebbAir & Ocean Auckland National
Carolyn SimTransport Auckland
Chris NijlandTransport ‘s-Heerenberg
Corey BraidNational Support Australia
Daniël Di PardoExpress Genk
Dave HuwelWarehousing Oostende
Emmanuel PeccatteTransport Paris
Freddie AnneveldTrucks & Drivers ‘s-Heerenberg
Jason BraidNational Team Americas
Lawrence PurchaseTransport Hamilton
Maria AldanaCaroTrans Los Angeles
Mark NicolTransport Christchurch
Martin HamiltonDaily Freight Auckland
Neil HardingCaroTrans CFS Auckland
Niko van UhmTrucks & Drivers 's-Heerenberg
Pasqua RiservatoWharf Sydney
Peter DecockTransport Genk
Rutger van ToorTrucks & Drivers ‘s-Heerenberg
Sally DalzellTransport Christchurch
Sander WolsinkTransport ‘s-Heerenberg
Tamara HakfoortTransport ‘s-Heerenberg
Thomas TetaiTransport Auckland
Yvonne Sommers - BöhmerTransport ‘s-Heerenberg
Years
45
Years
25
Years
40
Years
35
Years
30
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
Thank you for your loyalty,
dedication and hard work.
What an achievement!
SERVICE ACHIEVEMENTS
The following members of our team have
celebrated, or will shortly celebrate, 20 years
or more with us:
Years
20
Bart WolkenfeltWarehousing 's-Heerenberg
Brendon BeleskyAtlanta Air & Ocean
Bryce HicksAlbany Air & Ocean
Dale FooteA&O Airfreight Melbourne
Hai PhamNational Support Australia
Helen WilliamsTransport Melbourne
James FuamatuWarehousing James Hardies
Jason Hurrell2Home Christchurch
Jason KibblewhiteTransport Whanganui
Jesse JanszTransport Melbourne
Julien VievilleTransport Paris
Marco van RemmenTrucks & Drivers ‘s-Heerenberg
Maree AdamsTransport Auckland
Melanie KatuTransport Rotorua
Michelle KingGlobal Air & Ocean
Mohammed HassanTransport Auckland
Norman RidderbeekxWarehousing Born
Richie TatogluCrossdock ‘s-Heerenberg
Robin BoeijinkTransport ‘s-Heerenberg
Stephen MonaghanTransport Cromwell
Steve AndersonNational Support Australia
Theresa IamaleavaCaroTrans Los Angeles
Turoa TipeneChemcouriers Melbourne
Wilco HendriksCrossdock ‘s-Heerenberg
Wilson LiTransport Auckland
Wygle LiebrandTrucks & Drivers 's-Heerenberg
Yana HeathWarehousing Tauranga
LONG SERVICE LEGENDS
Thirty-Year Service Legends
Dan Curtis and Mike Reid with Mark Vincent, Transport
Sydney – 30-Year Service Legend
30 Year Legend Angelique Steinvoort-Remijnse
– Warehousing ‘s-Heerenberg
Paul McCracken at Wharf Sydney Branch
- 30 Years of Service
Congratulations to Mike on completing 30 Years Long Service
with the Mainfreight Group
L-R: Mike Dunn and Paul Riethmaier
Twenty Five-Year Service Legends
Pasqua Riservato at Wharf Sydney Branch
– 25 Years of Service
Rowan Preston 25 Years of Service – Warehousing Supply
Chain & Training Centre. Grant Smith and Rowan Preston
Congratulations to Katrina on completing 25 Years of
Service with the Mainfreight Group
L-R: Chris Carmichael and Katrina Nathan
Congratulations to Rena (Yasheen) Kumar for her 25 years
and Jennifer Tuhi for her 20 years of outstanding service
with Daily Freight Auckland. Thank you and your
families for your dedication to Daily Freight
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
PHOTO BOARD
A massive congratulations to Jodi Vaughan
our very own Country singer from Mainfreight
Hamilton! Jodi won the 2023 Benny Award
at The Variety Artists Club recently and joins
the ranks of Sir Howard Morrison and Billie T
James who have won it in the past
Team Basketball with Shenzhen and Guangxi
1st Row L-R: Tom He, Steven Chen, Tim Hou, Vincent Lee, Rick Guo, Sam Shen
2nd Row L-R: Carey Huang, Aster Li, Dylan Ji, Vincent Sun
Harry Davey retiring after 30+ years with
Mainfreight Wellington, all the best for
your retirement Harry!
After 29 years with Mainfreight, Noel Hughes
has said his goodbyes to the team. Noel
has been a crucial member of our operation
and takes with him an incredible wealth of
knowledge. We wish Noel all the best in his
future!
Our San Diego team recently organised a team
dinner post a few customer meetings a great
way to acknowledge hard work and results.
L-R: Luis Aguilar, Julian Medina, Tom Valentine,
Robert Crabbe, Lane Adamson, Steven
Gonzales, Christian Magaña
Friday Pie Day
Mainfreight Air & Perishables Melbourne is
supporting our Food & Beverage focus.
L-R: Jordan Mills, Ashlyn Mosedale and
Matthew Aitken
Another happy customer after our team in San Diego hosted a BBQ on their site –
Top Row: Steven Gonzales, Justin Yonkelowitz, Josh Vermillion, Matt Bloom, Michael Benjamin,
Robert Crabbe
Bottom Row: Kim Tam, Natally Guiterrez, Larizza Garcia, Kody Ichinaga, Ryan Betts
A take on Drivers Appreciation Week, we want to thank the team
for the enormous efforts they have been putting in the last few
months with a snack bag for everyone
Hobsonville team helping to raise awareness and showing support for the Child Cancer Foundation.
Back Row L-R: Monica Kelly, Priscilla Tuala, Tiffany Sio, Casey McFadden, Thomas Curtis, Alisha Chauhan, Tatjiana Fiso, Billy Garner, Caleb
Ranchhod, Krishan Bhikha, Michael Westoby
Front Row L-R:– Alex Witteveen, Shareeze Rust, Rose Mirhosseini, Melanie Joyce, Kirsty Michell, Charde Burger
Mainfreight Hamilton Daffodil Day
Back Row L-R: Armarni Muggeridge, Sam Reidy, Kirwan Carter, Jaydan Pollock, Mitch Bailey, David Wehl
Front Row L-R: Presley Purcell, Kristie Wade, Olivia Bentley, Jordyn Schollum, Sophie Reeves
Driver Appreciation Day - Auckland Port Operations.
The driving force behind our success, we thank you drivers for your hardwork
and dedication
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
PHOTO BOARD
Dandenong Sports Day
Epping Sports Day
Brisbane Sports Day
4 Air & Ocean branches across Europe (Brussels, Antwerp, Amsterdam and Rotterdam) traveled to Rotterdam to join the Harbour Run 2023.
This 10KM run includes 28 tough obstacles through the restricted port area and everyone successfully managed to reach the finish
Sports Days
Our Melbourne and Brisbane teams participated in multi-brand, multi-branch sports days.
There were dodgeball, volleyball and futsal competitions. A lot of fun was had by all – there was even a few fun costumes involved
FEEDBACK
Weta Workshop Project
Subject: Site visit Le Quesnoy
Hi Bradley
When we visited the NZ museum the gates were locked
but there were a number of team members working
on site. By waving our arms we managed to attract the
attention of Nigel Gattsche, Project Manager. Nigel
is in NZ Army and been on secondment for the past
seven months. Nigel apologised for the gates being
locked, however when we explained Liz’s cousin was
a major donor and I worked for Mainfreight, he said
“I will have to open the gates” and directed us to the
back entrance and gave us a royal tour of the site
& history. Unfortunately Weta team members were
working inside the building and we couldn’t get a
sneak preview.
Nigel told us he has had numerous conversations
with MFT team members in Wellington & The
Netherlands and the service has been First Class.
The contents of seafreight & airfreight shipments out
turn in perfect condition. Please pass on Nigel’s kind
words to team members involved with this project.
The two large airfreight pallets (refer photo) have
been collapsed and are in A1 condition. Hopefully
they can be recycled... it would cost a small fortune
to build a similar crate/pallet.
Brad, the exhibition rooms are only the size of two
average size NZ homes and some exhibits are inter
active. Tour will only last 45 mins but would be well
worth the visit.
Cheers Kevin
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
FEEDBACK
Dear Gary and team,
On behalf of Habitat for Humanity Northern and the
families we seek to serve, thank you for your support
through donated building material this year.
Your support will enable Habitat for Humanity Northern
to distribute over 5,125 Curtains, make around 15,000
home interventions for 670 families and house 20
families through our Social Rental developments
within the Tamaki Makaurau and Tai Tokerau regions
this financial year alone. We could talk for hours about
the life-changing social and health benefits that having
essential Home repairs made can make to a family,
but Raina and Takiri say it so much better!
Whangarei residents, Raina and Takiri had repairs
completed after Raina discovered a section of wet
carpet when she moved a bedroom dresser. “We
noticed too late. I pulled out the dresser and the whole
carpet was wet. A pipe had previously burst or leaked,
and the floor had rotted. Habitat came and replaced
that part of the floor and recarpeted, it made such a
difference.”
Along with having the bedroom fixed, the bathroom
was transformed with a new shower, non-slip flooring,
wall linings and an extractor fan, making the space
safer to use and will prevent future leaks and mould
forming.
Takiri said, “I had started getting stressed about the
bathroom, but I’m really happy with how it has been
done. We are more settled now because there is
no more chill in the air, and we aren’t getting sick
anymore.”
Conrad
- Habitat for Humanity Northern
Hi Mitch,
Trust all well with you.
I just wanted to thank you for putting us onto Mainfreight
Hamilton at the back end of last year in our hour of
need. This week ends our 8-month tenure at the site
and just want to pass on how grateful we were to be
offered the space but moreover the opportunity to
work with the team there. Zane and Olly and the wider
crew were all great to deal with, solution based and
really made it an easy ride.
We barely had an issue and if we did it got resolved
quickly. A big shout out to them from me and my team
here, it was a real pleasure.
Cheers, Geoff
Subject: Duane Mainfreight Driver Northland
Good Morning gentlemen,
I am writing to let you both know how impressed and
grateful I am for our delivery driver Duane. He lets
me know ahead of time that he has a delivery for me,
how many pallets and when he will here keeping me
fully updated throughout the process. He is always
cheerful and has an amazing positive can do attitude
and shows pride and care in what he does. Myself
and the team look forward to our Duane delivery
days! Staff like Duane are a real credit to your
organisation and I believe should be acknowledged.
I have worked in customer service most of my life
and know first hand all too well about complaints and
gripes and feel more people should provide positive
experiences as well. Credit where credit is due and
in this case with Duane it most certainly is.
Many thanks, Jo
Christmas Box – Mainfreight Sydney
This is now the third year that Mainfreight Sydney
has partnered with Christmas Box. Christmas Box is
an initiative that has been running in Australia since
2013. The Christmas Box is a food box that caters to
a family of 4-6 who are in need, helping supplement
breakfast, lunch and dinner meals for over a week.
This year they will be packing 13,500 boxes.
Below is a message from Toni Brown, LIFE
Community Manager
“Mainfreight plays a huge part in the success of
Christmas Box, and honestly, we would not be able
to reach the locations we can and organise the pick-
up and drop off of products and various items if it
weren’t for Mainfreight. You really are one of the
main reasons why Christmas Box is as successful
as it is each year and also why so many people are
able to have something special packed just for them
at Christmas time. I could say thank you, but I feel
this is not enough for what you actually contribute
to Christmas Box. Daniel has also been amazing to
work alongside and makes the process so easy and
smooth, as well as so easy for me to understand!”
www.christmasbox.org.au
lifeau.org/community
Mainfreight and the Christmas Box working
together to help families in need
Subject: Zoran Tomic
Good morning,
I am writing to you both in relation to Zoran Tomic,
who does our daily pick-up. I have been meaning to
do this for quite some time. We should do more to
acknowledge good people. I just wanted to say that
for all the years that Zoran has been doing our run, he
has been nothing but the consummate professional.
Over this time, Zoran has gone above and beyond
to accommodate our needs and always does what is
within his power to make sure that we are well taken
care of. His approach to his work and his knowledge
and attention to safety are unwavering and second
to none. He commands that everything is carried out
correctly, and that is how it should be.
On a personal level, you couldn’t meet a nicer guy.
He has a huge heart, and it’s been an honour getting
to know him over the years.
Last year, we were hit with a Covid outbreak early
on, and I was doing 14 hours and upwards to meet
our customers’ requirements. On one of these days,
Zoran came in and had brought a most lovely meal
in for me.
In his words, “I can see how hard you are working
and that you are a good guy”, and he wanted to make
sure I was eating properly and looking after myself. I
was blown away by his kindness and generosity, and
I wanted to mention this as it says such a lot about
his character.
Thank you for your time,
Kind regards.
Jason
Subject: Job well done
Hi guys my name is Flossie and
I just want to say how fabulous
it is to drive behind one of your
freight trucks. I just love and
really appreciate the wonderful
little messages that are
displayed on the back of them.
Everyone deserves to have a
little ray of sunshine and a smile
brought to their face.
Also noted how sparkling clean
your fleet always looks.....shows
a pride in your work.
Keep up the great work. You
guys really are a ‘Special People
...Special Company’
Thanks
Flossie
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MAINFREIGHT TEAM REVIEW // DECEMBER 2023
The Mainfreight Newsletter was printed on a carbon neutral
press and on paper certified against the Forest Stewardship
Council Standards. FSC Promotes environmentally
responsible, socially benefical and economically viable
management of the world’s forests.
ARTWORK BY:
Ruqayyah Khan
DAUGHTER OF:
Arfan Khan
Mainfreight Metro Auckland
AGE:
11
®
Data sourced from publicly available filings. Our datasets may not be complete. Automated analysis can produce errors. If you believe any data on this page is incorrect, please contact us at hello@nzxplorer.co.nz. For informational purposes only. Not investment advice.