1950’s
- In 1950 K&S pioneered the use of refrigerated vans in Australia.
- In 1954, realising the importance of being self sufficient, K&S opened its first Ampol fuel agency.
- In 1955 K&S established depot operations in Melbourne.
The 1960’s
- Throughout the 1960’s, K&S opened terminals in Sydney and Adelaide.
- 1967 also saw K&S enter the rail market.
The 1970’s
- In 1972 the business was acquired by AA Scott and Softwood Holdings. Both businesses were in a substantial growth path.
- Over the next eight years K&S diversified its operations and opened its Brisbane terminal in 1978 and Perth terminal in 1979.
- In that same year revenues grew to $5m per annum.
The 1980’s
- In 1982, in recognition of K&S’ national capability, we changed our name from K&S Lake City Freighters Pty Ltd to K&S Freighters Pty Ltd.
- By 1986 revenues had reached $50m per annum. At that stage K&S was primarily operating in the road based transport area operating a fleet of single articulated vehicles, and also a number of rail containers.
- 1988 saw the public listing of K&S on the Austalian Stock Exchange.
The 1990’s
- In 1991, K&S started operating the first B Double combination in Victoria. This concept, well regarded for its efficiency, was soon operating on all of our national routes and by 1993 revenues had risen to $150m per annum in our core linehaul and express businesses.
- 1991 also saw the start of our first true customer partnership. K&S, in conjunction with Border Express and Finemores, established Smart Distribution in support of Australian Newsprint Mills.
- Recognising the need to complement our services with a more complete range of service offerings for our clients, K&S purchased the Geelong based Blakistons Transport Group. This was our first move into the provision of total logistics services. The business was soon renamed K&S Integrated Distribution.
The 2000’s
- In 2000, K&S sold its Express Division and concentrated on its core commodity based businesses.
- In the same year we expanded our geographic coverage to include Central Queensland by acquiring the Brisbane based FH Transport. This also gave us access to the Port of Brisbane through the Fisherman Islands facility.
- In 2001 K&S acquired Stepnell Transport, and in 2002 we expanded into the New Zealand market supporting Fletcher Forests.
- In December 2003, K&S acquired Cochranes Transport in New Zealand, which gave K&S access to a number of strategically important industry sectors and an important infrastructure base.
- In August 2004, K&S Central Queensland was renamed K&S Bulk. This change recognised the unique nature of transport operations in Central and North Queensland. The re-branding has allowed K&S to market bulk services on a national basis.
- September 2004, the Rocklea depot was sold and a new Coopers Plains Depot acquired.
- 2005, acquired McCarthy Transport and North Eastern Transport in New Zealand.
- 2006, acquired DTM Transport.
- 2007, opened our new state of the art depot in Truganina, Victoria.
- 2008, acquired Brookes Transport, which extended our coverage to the South West of Western Australia.
The Present
In January 2010 K&S acquired the business of Pacific Transport which was focussed on the Perth to Broome and Derby regions of Western Australia.
In July 2010 K&S acquired the business of Perth-based Regal Transport Group, being focussed on the Perth to Pilbara region, with depots in Port Hedland, Newman and Karratha.
In January 2011 K&S opened its new depot in Kewdale (WA) and further aligned itself to the exploration and mining industries.
On 31 October 2012 K&S announced the acquisition of Bunbury-based, Collare Transport further consolidating the expansion into Western Australia. The Collare based business has a complimentary customer profile, lane mix and equipment base to the Dardanup business formerly known as Brookes Transport.
On 24 February 2014 K&S completed the acquisition of Scott Corporation. This was completed by way of an off market takeover bid. Scott Corporation is a national courier with expertise in the transport of bulk solids, liquids and explosives. Scott Corporation has four operating divisions being Bulktrans, Energytrans, Chemtrans and Hyde Park Tanks.
On 3 March 2015 completed the acquisition of the business and assets of Northern Territory Freight Services (NTFS). With a customer base predominantly in the FMCG sector, NTFS is one of the largest rail freight forwarders on the Adelaide – Alice Springs – Darwin corridor. NTFS also provides road linehaul services between Adelaide and Darwin.
On 2 November 2015 K&S announced the acquisition of the business and assets of Aero Refuellers. The acquisition of Aero Refuellers allows K&S to expand its current transport operations into the aviation sector. Based in Albury, Aero Refuellers was formed more than fifteen years ago and supplies, manages and/or operates a number of aviation refuelling facilities, predominantly at airfields in regional New South Wales and Victoria. Aero Refuellers also supports aerial fire fighting activities in several states including New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
On 30 January 2017 K&S completed the acquisition of Scotts Transport Industries (STI). STI was established by the late Allan Scott AO more than 60 years ago and was one of Australia’s largest privately-owned transport companies. STI operates a general freight division and a fuel cartage division and has a number of blue chip customers in the manufacturing, FMCG and fuel sectors. The transaction was an excellent opportunity to further expand the K&S Energy division through the addition of significant fuel cartage operations and will also provide additional volume to K&S Freighters existing intermodal and contract logistic divisions.