Mainfreight Limited is a
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
logistics and transport company headquartered in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
. Mainfreight commenced operations in Auckland in 1978 and is one of the largest freight companies in New Zealand. It has been listed on the
New Zealand Exchange
New Zealand's Exchange (), known commonly as the NZX, is the national stock exchange for New Zealand and a publicly owned company. NZX is the parent company of Smartshares, and Wealth Technologies.
On 30 August 2020, the NZX had a total of 1 ...
since 1996.
History
Mainfreight was founded on 6 March 1978 by Bruce Plested who started the company with just
$7,200 and a 1969
Bedford truck. In 1979, Bruce Plested partnered with Neil Graham, with Graham based in Christchurch and Plested in Auckland.
When the company was founded it entered a highly regulated transport market. A licence from
New Zealand Railways Corporation
New Zealand Railways Corporation (NZRC) is the state-owned enterprise that owns the land beneath KiwiRail's Rail transport in New Zealand, railway network on behalf of the Crown. The Corporation has existed under a number of guises since 1982, wh ...
was needed to carry freight over 150 km. When deregulation of land transport occurred in October 1982, Mainfreight quickly took advantage of the opportunities presented and won a large share of the freight market. Whilst describing the foundation of Mainfreight in 2000, Plested said to the ''
New Zealand Herald
''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...
'', "We moved all our freight by sea between Auckland, and
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
and
Dunedin
Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...
, and we worked weekend shifts to make sure we loaded and unloaded the ship using the whole of the seven days - we found that was faster and more reliable than our big competitors."
[
]
Subsidiaries
Mainfreight Australia
The firm's Australian domestic freight and logistics division, Mainfreight Distribution, began operations in 1989, with an operation in Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
.[ This operation was expanded with depots in ]Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
and Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
. It now has 22 company depots in Australia and relies on agents and third parties in the Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
, Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
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, subdi ...
and some of regional Australia.
Mainfreight International
Mainfreight International was Mainfreight's first international sea and airfreight business and was started in 1984 by Bruce Plested's brother Gerald. They established agencies in the early days with Australian, Pacific Island and United States freight forwarders and the established agents in most major trading partner countries of New Zealand.
Mainfreight USA
Mainfreight has international operations in the United States through CaroTrans International and most recently Mainfreight International businesses after the 2007 acquisition of Target Logistics, in Asia (nine branches in China, one each in Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong). In 2007, Mainfreight acquired Target Logistics, a United States based forwarder with 34 offices, and an extensive agent network. In 2008, the United States locations were re-branded as Mainfreight USA.
Mainfreight Asia
After the full acquisition that took place August 2007, Mainfreight Asia quickly gained momentum in the Air and Ocean sector, driving business in China and Southeast Asia. With well-established locations that include China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan and Korea, the Mainfreight global network continues to expand year over year. Mainfreight’s newest regions, Asia, Europe and The Americas (spanning from Canada to South America), are expected to grow exponentially as the world trade shifts towards other developing countries.
Acquisitions
Halford International
On 11 June 2007, Mainfreight 'signed a call option deed' to purchase the entirety of the shares of Australian-based Halford International. Formerly Halford Young, Halford is a private logistics company and freight forwarder with operations and networks in Australia and New Zealand, Japan, Germany, throughout Asia and the United States.
Owens Group
In 2003 Mainfreight bought Owens Group, one of New Zealand's largest trucking firms. This takeover was in response to the purchase of Tranz Rail
Tranz Rail, formally Tranz Rail Holdings Limited (New Zealand Rail Limited until 1995), was the main rail operator in New Zealand from 1991 until it was purchased by Toll Holdings in 2003.
History
The New Zealand railway network was initially ...
by Australian transport firm Toll Holdings
The Toll Group is an Australian-based subsidiary of Japan Post Holdings with operations in transportation, warehousing and logistics in road, rail, sea and air. It has two divisions; Global Forwarding, Global Logistics.
History
In 1888, Al ...
. With the takeover of the Owens Group in 2003 they purchased Owens International Australia. In 2006 the New Zealand Mainfreight International and Owens International businesses were also merged to make Mainfreight Owens International Ltd (now Mainfreight International).
Wim Bosman Group
In March 2011, Mainfreight entered the European market with the acquisition of Netherlands-based company Wim Bosman Group for €
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...
120 million; or $227 million.
Headquartered in 's-Heerenberg, The Netherlands
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, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, Wim Bosman is privately held and operates more than 1,000 transport units, manage more than 275,000m2 of cross-docking facilities and warehouse area, and employ roughly 1,414 staff within 14 branches located in The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Romania, Poland, and Russia.
Within its announcement, the Mainfreight sad, ''"Wim Bosman is a well respected, profitable organisation which will provide Mainfreight with a significant European presence and opportunity to further grow its supply chain logistic services throughout the world."''
In June 2013, Mainfreight launched a lawsuit seeking €11 million or $18 million against Wim Bosman Group's former owners. The lawsuit claimed that Wim Bosman, the former owner, had prior knowledge of a large client, Giant Bicycles
Giant Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (commonly known as Giant) is a Taiwanese bicycle manufacturer, recognized as the world's largest bicycle designer and manufacturer. Giant has manufacturing facilities in Taiwan, the Netherlands, China, and Hungary.
H ...
, intentions to end corporate ties with the group. In August 2013, Mainfreight and the family of Wim Bosman reached an out of court agreement for compensation to the tune of €8.2 million or $14 million.
Since 2011, Mainfreight, under the Wim Bosman name, have opened new branches in Bergen op Zoom
Bergen op Zoom (; called ''Berrege'' in the local dialect) is a municipality and a city located in the south of the Netherlands.
Etymology
The city was built on a place where two types of soil meet: sandy soil and marine clay. The sandy soil ...
in The Netherlands, Cluj-Napoca
; hu, kincses város)
, official_name=Cluj-Napoca
, native_name=
, image_skyline=
, subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County
, subdivision_name1 = Cluj County
, subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status
, subdivision_name2 ...
in Romania, Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
and Gelsenkirchen
Gelsenkirchen (, , ; wep, Gelsenkiärken) is the 25th most populous city of Germany and the 11th most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher River (a tributary of the Rhine), it lies ...
in Germany, London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
in United Kingdom, and Poznań
Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...
/Luboń
Luboń (german: Luban) is a town in Poland, situated on the Warta River, in the Poznań metropolitan area, in the Poznań County in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. It has 29,301 inhabitants (2010). The town was created in 1954 by the merger of 3 ...
in Poland. Mainfreight also renamed Wim Bosman branches in the countries France, Poland, Russia and Ukraine under the Mainfreight name.
Others
Lep New Zealand
Between 1994 and 1997 Mainfreight started acquiring former competitors, such as, Daily Freightways and Chem Couriers in 1994, a 75% shareholding in Lep New Zealand in 1996, and Combined Haulage and Senco Haulage in 1997.[ In 1998, Mainfreight acquired Australian freight forwarder ISS Express lines, subsequently establishing an Australian international freight business.
In April 2007, Mainfreight announced its intentions to sell its Pan Orient Project Logistics business and its 75% interest in Lep Australia and New Zealand to global logistics company Agility Group for A$83 million. The transaction was completed on 6 June 2007.
]
Target Logistics
In September 2007, it was reported by Business Wire
Business Wire is an American company that disseminates full-text press releases from thousands of companies and organizations worldwide to news media, financial markets, disclosure systems, investors, information web sites, databases, bloggers, s ...
that Mainfreight had signed a merger agreement with NYSE American
NYSE American, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), and more recently as NYSE MKT, is an American stock exchange situated in New York City. AMEX was previously a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was known ...
-listed Target Logistics for $2.50 a share; for a total of US$54 million. Target operate domestic and international time-sensitive freight-forwarding and logistics services through its wholly owned subsidiary, Target Logistic Services. Target has offices in 35 cities throughout the United States and an international network of agents in over 70 countries.
CaroTrans South America
In May 2011, Mainfreight established a CaroTrans branch in Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...
, Chile. This endeavor launched the first permanent investment into South America. In 2020, CaroTrans Chile was re-branded as Mainfreight Chile.
DCB International
In November 2014, Mainfreight acquired a regional air and sea freight company located in Dunedin. Founded in 1969 as Dunedin Customs Brokers Ltd, DCB International provides international air and sea freight services from Dunedin. DCB had a staff base of five employees on the date of acquisition, however, staff was expected to rise to seven employees.
References
External links
Mainfreight website
{{NZX 50 companies
Companies based in Auckland
Companies listed on the New Zealand Exchange
Road transport in New Zealand
Transport companies established in 1978
Transport companies of New Zealand
1978 establishments in New Zealand