Swedish truck brand Scania has revealed that a family-run regional logistics provider with specialist dangerous goods capability, has broadened its business model by adopting the brand’s safer and more reliable trucks.
Morrow’s Logistics is a family run company with a fleet of more than 40 trucks and Scania claims that it is on track to become the sole truck supplier to the company which supports regional transport, specialised freight, and dangerous goods delivery operations from its base at Keysborough in Melbourne’s south-east.
David Morrow along with partner Robyn, has led the family-run firm since it was established in 1963, building it up from the one man-one truck Morrow’s Freightlines with a couple of clients, to its current position as a significant player in the regional and cross-border logistics across Victoria, with a strong foundation in dangerous goods and chemical transport.
“I was thrust into the business at age 17 after my father passed,” Morrow said.
“Today we have three locations at Keysborough, Noble Park and Ringwood, but our reach is as far as the outskirts of Adelaide in the west and Sydney in the east.
“While we established ourselves as dangerous goods experts for chemicals delivery, over the past 20 years we have expanded into infrastructure, energy and broader freight movements, including transporting transformers, cables and insulators for the Victorian power network, alongside introducing warehousing capability.
“Today, we deliver a more complete, end-to-end solution for 
our customers,” he said.
“One of the key things that we’ve sold our customers on is that we’re here to protect their brand, so safety and reliability have been super important in our marketing and in our service model,” he added.
Scania says it has driven the company forward since its earliest years , and Morrow’s long-standing affinity for Saab cars morphed into the purchase of his first Scania trucks, 34 years ago.
Morrow started with the iconic 3-series, then moved on to 4-series, PGR and more recently the current NTG and Super series.
The current Morrow fleet is a mix of prime movers and rigids, some of which have been imaginatively configured by bodybuilders to Morrow’s specifications.
As far back as 2002 Morrow built an 8×4 Scania rigid that was configured to deliver exceptional efficiency as an example. The twin steer Scania was fitted with a short tautliner section for palletised goods, and an open deck for larger freight, such as a cable drum or a mini-container, as well as having a tail-lift fitted for easier loading.
This set-up provided enhanced flexibility for the freight services, especially when visiting more remote locations.
Despite the variations in the roles the trucks are set up for, having identical cab layouts means Morrow’s dangerous goods drivers feel immediately at home if they hop from truck to truck.
“It gives them a sense of confidence,” Morrow said.
“We’ve developed a template for the specification of our Scania trucks and our account manager, Tevfik Onguc, has helped us set the fleet standard, from the huge array of Scania options,” said Morrow.
“For me it’s about finding functionality that is durable, comfortable and safe for the drivers,” he said.
There are 36 Scania trucks in the fleet today, with more on the way as older trucks, mostly lighter-duty Japanese brands, are retired.
Over the years the business has acquired more than 100 new Scania trucks.
Morrow’s has traditionally held its trucks for around seven years, with some clocking up to 170,000 km annually, which means that by the time they are replaced Morrow is looking at selling them to parts breakers, although during Covid, even high-mileage trucks were in demand.
“It’s a conservative model, but it works,” he said.
“We’ve had many Scanias that have done two to three million kilometres,” he said.
“For servicing we like to keep things in house, we have four diesel technicians and a workshop to do all the regular services, and the technicians are as passionate about the Scania product as are the drivers.
“The workshop is really important to us because if something small goes wrong, you can fix it straight away, and you’re back on the road and drivers are happy. And you can do it any time of day or night,” Morrow said.
“We keep good service records, and we believe in preventative maintenance, so our guys do everything from regular service to replacing turbos or refurbishing engines and gearboxes.”
Morrows remains a family-led business. David’s wife, Robyn, previously served as general manager and continues to support the business in a leadership capacity, although she no longer holds the formal GM role.
Two of the couple’s sons are also involved: one as a fourth-year diesel apprentice and the other within operations.
To support the company’s next growth phase, Morrows has appointed Valentin Teles as general manager of transport and warehousing.
“We are now delivering a bigger solution for our existing customers and attracting new business as well,” Morrow said.
“While transport remains at the core of our business, the addition of warehousing has allowed us to deliver a more complete supply chain solution.
Dangerous goods transport brings with it a holistic focus on safety, and Morrow and the team have eagerly embraced Scania’s safety innovations as they have become available. The latest acquisitions are fully equipped with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), and a genuine desire to provide the company’s drivers with the safest trucks available.
“Comfort, safety, reliability are the key elements that kept us loyal to Scania, but also, post-Covid, we adopted Euro 6 as a company standard, to make a statement that even in the chemicals industry you can play a part in reducing emissions,” Morrow said.
“We run a fairly stable driving group, and they love their Scanias, and they wouldn’t drive anything else,” he said.
“The trucks are generally uniquely set up for their jobs, and the drivers are familiar with their regular routes and are great ambassador for the business and our brand, and we take driver training seriously and have just employed an in-house driver trainer. There’s a lot to learn with the new Scanias with the safety gear and the new dashboards.
“It’s not really training, they know how to drive and they’re DG drivers, so they’re pretty switched on, but it’s getting the best 
out of the vehicle, reducing the wear and tear, and making sure that we get the best possible efficiency in terms of fuel consumption and longevity,” Morrow said.
“We have had MT Data and Seeing Machines safety systems in place on the trucks for some time and we closely monitor the exception reporting,” he said.
“Blind spot Monitoring is a great help, and we have always ticked every safety option from Scania. As each new safety system is implemented, I sleep a little better,” he added.
“Each year we try to bring on something new, so last year we spent a fair bit on the Australian-designed Spotto (blind spot monitoring), and the year before we updated every reversing camera, so each time we try to do another step.
“Features such as Advanced Emergency Braking help to protect our brand, and you can’t put a price on that,” Morrow said.
“Presently with fuel prices escalating we have been able to hold our prices, because we bunker our own fuel, but that will have to increase as the new deliveries arrive.
Fuel economy for our fleet is a focus, and we have seen around seven per cent improvement in economy with the latest Scania trucks, which is a meaningful improvement,” Morrow said.
“Typically, we will run fully loaded to customers at around 40-tonnes and then return empty, though we are trying to change this by returning power equipment from the field, for instance.
“Because we deliver to farms and smaller rural communities there are possibilities to load their goods to backload to the major centres, and in some locations there are no other transport options,” he said.
With the broad-based development of wind and solar energy generation around Victoria, more poles and wire routings will be needed, providing a natural extension of Morrow’s broader logistics capability across infrastructure, energy and regional supply chains.
