The Border Watch, Allan Scott Tribute, Page 2

Allan Scott

e t u b i r T 1923-2008

It began 56 years ago BY GRAHAM GREENWOOD

OUNT Gambier was where it all began. He moved to Mount Gambier in August 1952 with one truck – a 1948 160 International – and initially as a driver, he started to build what was to become a multi-million dollar empire. His story and life-long association with the trucking industry is well documented. He arrived in Mount Gambier, initially to visit former army buddies and perhaps with a view to start a business. He drove to the local Elders agency to inquire what type of work was available in the area. He asked to see the Elders manager Bob Clezy. Allan Scott guessed he might have some opposition to his plan to start a stock transport business and was undeterred when one of the staff told him there were few opportunities in the livestock cartage business. Then Bob Clezy stepped out of his office and convinced Allan Scott of the excellent opportunities in Mount Gambier. It was the beginning of the Scott trucking empire and a friendship with Bob Clezy that lasted until Clezy’s death in 1995, at the age of 83. Clezy became Allan Scott’s mentor and closest friend and it was often reported the pair saw each other almost every day during that friendship. While his business began as a livestock carrier transport operation it quickly developed into other areas including hauling fuel, wine, milk and various types of general freight, refrigerated goods and timber in and out of all states of Australia. Allan Scott was also an innovator and in his early days as a livestock carrier he designed and had built the first tripledecker stock crate to enable him to transport bigger stock consignments. It was the first of many innovations Allan Scott and his company developed over future years. By 1959 Allan Scott established his first fully incorporated company, Scott’s Agencies Pty Ltd, which later struck up a trading partnership with the Vacuum Oil Company Ltd, now Mobil Oil Australia. He also developed a fuel agency and distributorship with Mobil Oil, hauling fuel for Mobil out of Portland (Vic) and into various parts of South Australia and Victoria. The Scott Group now owns five bulk fuel depots in Mount Gambier and Millicent in South

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Australia, Alice Springs in the Northern Territory and Hamilton and Ballarat in Victoria. Scott’s also owns numerous service stations, roadhouses and distributorships in South Australia, Northern Territory and Victoria. As the business developed he moved into the Northern Territory in 1977 and extended the operation on the eastern seaboard, operating out of every major city and into most regional centres. At one stage the group secured the world’s largest milk run for Malanda Milk from Townsville in northern Queensland to Tennant Creek and then on to Darwin in the NT, a distance of 2536 kilometres. In 1972 Allan Scott, in partnership with Softwood Holdings, purchased Mount Gambier’s other major transport operation, Kain and Shelton, later to become K&S Corporation. In 1988 K&S went public, with Allan Scott retaining a 65pc controlling interest and became company chairman – a post he held until he retired from the position in 2004. One of the many strengths of Allan Scott’s business was its diversification and by the 1990s the company was hauling everything from fuel, wine, beer, milk to wood chips. One of the key elements in its growth was the excellent rapport Allan Scott developed with business partners and his willingness to look at new markets. From the start Allan Scott believed the basis of a successful trucking business was built around quality service and delivering on time. Allan Scott developed a business from an owner-driver operation to the huge empire it is today, built around quality service. Some clients have been with the company for more than 50 years, indicating the depth of loyalty that developed between Allan Scott and his clients. He was always looking for new markets and was prepared to transport almost anything, anywhere, making it a key success factor for the company. A recent business venture was carting wood chips from the South East of South Australia to the Port of Portland for export to Japan. If Allan Scott did not have the trucks or rigs to do the job – he built them to ensure it allowed the business to grow and expand. This was the case with the wood chip cartage contract. He had containers modified and rebuilt and put on the back of his

26 - The Border Watch, Friday, October 31, 2008

❐ ABOVE: Trucking magnate and businessman Allan Scott poses with some of his truck fleet. ❐ LEFT: Allan Scott with life-long friend Bob Clezy, who was instrumental in convincing Allan to start business in Mount Gambier. ❐ BELOW: One of Allan Scott’s early Commer trucks, outfitted with his first triple deck stock crate, which Allan Scott designed and was built in Mount Gambier. The driver is Eric Kenny.

transports allowing the wood chips to be loaded and offloaded in record time. Another of the success stories for Allan Scott in the past decade was the growth of warehousing with major warehouses in Mount Gambier, Gawler, Victoria and the Northern Territory. • Continued next page

❐ ABOVE: Allan Scott shares a moment with Mount Gambier orthopeadic surgeon Barney McCusker.