Ezi does it, with Scania V8 power

Scania is helping to drive the growth of one of New South Wales’s more entrepreneurial transport and logistics newcomers.

Ezi Loads Australia’s directors Jason Ajdani and Isaac Alameddine were friends working in the transport industry who saw a gap in the market in 2019, starting their business with a small number of trucks, doing taxi work and partial loads before the tsunami of Covid 19 washed across Australia.

The resultant boom in demand for transport under the essential services programme during lockdown exploded demand for the young trucking company’s services and also spawned a further demand for labour, prompting Jason and Isaac to establish Ezi Recruitment Services on the spot.

“One of our biggest customers at the time asked us for 80 staff, for pick & pack and forklift driving, and overnight we identified and supplied the labour, and they have been with us ever since,” Jason says.

“When Covid happened, we were worried. We had put our whole life savings into the business. But within a number of weeks, it turned into the best thing that happened to us,” he says. “The Covid lockdowns put a lot of growth into the business. We picked up a lot of new work. We were at full capacity during Covid. We bought a lot of trucks just to keep up with demand. We had started doing local taxi truck work, and contracted logistics. And then we were doing full truckloads, both regional and interstate,” he says.

“A lot of our customers were reaching out. We were delivering a lot of toilet paper for one of our customers who had a project with a supermarket chain. We were doing almost 200 stores across NSW Wales, delivering their special buys, running close to 150 trucks a day for them, many of the trucks were sub-contractors because we just didn’t have that capacity then,” Jason recalls.

Luck in business is often referred to as being in the right place at the right time, and the Ezi Loads team seem to have cracked that recipe. After just seven years they have close to 100 trucks on the fleet, 35 of them are Scania V8 prime movers. In addition to their organic growth to keep their truck fleet moving, the team has plans for warehousing on the horizon.

“Our key point of difference is that we really care about our customers and what their needs are. We really do pride ourselves on going above and beyond,” says Jason.

“We talk to them to understand how their businesses are running and how we can provide them with value and service. This has been the driving force behind our success.

“Rather than treat our customers in a transactional way we see them as partners. We look at their goals and do everything we can to help them achieve them, to help them grow.

“And we're only at the beginning. We want to be the biggest and the best at what we do,” Jason says, mentioning his plans to grow organically and multiply the company’s turnover over the medium term.

Then of course there are the Scania V8s which unsurprisingly have found favour with the Ezi Load drivers for their power and performance but also the safety features fitted.

“Safety is a top priority for us but also for our customers. Some of our trucks and trailers are liveried in the colours of our customers, so safety, and being seen to do the right thing is critical,” Jason says.

The Scania V8s are pulling a 34-36-tonne payload, largely eastern seaboard interstate work, but with some regional running included.

“The Scanias will do between 100,000 and 150,000 km a year and they are serviced and maintained by Scania through their five-year Repair and Maintenance contracts. This gives us full transparency on costs, and we can budget accordingly. Importantly this means there are no surprises or shocks if something goes wrong with the truck.

“The fuel consumption is good too. We’re seeing about a six percent improvement with the R 590 Euro 6 V8 over the previous R 620 Euro 5 trucks we ran, which does make an impact on the bottom line,” he says.

‘The drivers love the Scanias, and they help us to attract and retain drivers,” Jason says.

“Our relationship with Scania, through NSW State Sales Manager Kaashief Boonzaier and NSW Dealer Director Lionel Saunders has grown stronger. We've bought a large number of trucks from them and we're continually buying. We really appreciate what Scania do for us because they help us grow as well,” Jason says.

“The trucks get serviced efficiently and if we have a breakdown for whatever reason, no matter what time of day or night, Kaash is on to it and gets the truck fixed or sorts us out with a replacement, so we don’t let our customers down,” he says.

“We're very big on safety and compliance, it's very important in our business,” Jason says. “We spend a lot on technology, tracking and driver behaviour systems, adding Seeing Machines and cameras to the trucks inside and out.

Jason and Isaac are the powerhouses behind the growth and expansion of the business, and with more effort soon to be directed at Victorian and Queensland markets, the Ezi Loads Australia business management team is expanding.

“We want to replicate what we do in Sydney in Melbourne and Brisbane in the next 12 months,” Jason says.

“We’re not just a two-man show,” says General Manager Ben Bailey who has recently joined the team. “We have an experienced group of guys, such as Nick Cerne, National Operations Manager as well as our own app developer Bob Bahadorifar who has come up with an in-house transport management system. There’s real depth in the business,” Ben says.

“Ezi Loads Australia is a real go-ahead business and one we are proud to support with our V8 prime movers,” says Kaashief Boonzaier. “They have a lot of energy, and they are focused on delivering the best possible service to their customers and understanding their customers’ business to see what more they can do. That’s almost an exact replica of how Scania operates. That’s why Scania and Ezi Loads Australia work so well together, because we understand each other. They know and trust us to deliver the right product and the right level of service to them, so they don’t need to worry about what is happening with their heavy trucks.

“Our Scania Repair and Maintenance contract means Jason and Isaac know for the next five years what their trucks will cost them to keep them running at 100%, and so they can focus on expanding their business and delivering for their customers. It’s a real win-win for them,” Kaash says.