‘From little things, big things grow’ adorns the fleet of vehicles owned by Mick Johnson of Cooma, and it sums up nicely the evolution of his family’s company, which has grown from a two-man operation in 2006 to one which today runs a number of trucks and employs 14 people.
Running under the banner of Monaro Milk and Juice, the company trucks cover the Snowy Mountains and South Coast regions of New South Wales, with the terrain covered some of Australia’s most picturesque and challenging for road transport.
With a number of his fleet on show late last year at the bi-annual Cooma Motorfest, Mick gave Big Rigs a run-down on his company and in particular how the last few years has seen the business, and fleet, expand.
“We bought a business called High Country Wholesale with two trucks, and in the last 4-5 years with the Snowy 2.0 project coming on we look after the essential food services for them – anything consumable we cart into the work sites including Lobs Hole and Tantangara,” Mick said.
“Over that time, we have gained five new rigids and four prime movers as well. In addition, the company also services the ski resorts of Perisher Valley and Thredbo along with the South Coast towns of Bermagui, Bega, Merimbula and Eden.”
With the Snowy 2.0 construction in full swing, it makes for a busy work schedule for the fleet, said Mick.
“Cooma is the hub with our depot at Polo Flat. Our rigids are 8-10-14 pallet units and with the semis we run slider-sides and pans.
“Carting into the work sites we run about four semis a week plus the rigids – generally we will have one truck in there a day so from Monday afternoon through the rest of the week it’s full on.
“From our association with that work we also cart all the fruit and vegetables out of Sydney and the meat up out of Wodonga.”
Operating a fleet of trucks in the alpine environment year-round has its own set of challenges, most notably in winter and with the Snowy project work continuing through the snow season.
Future Generation, who is overseeing the construction of the Snowy project on behalf of Snowy Hydro, also has a high priority on safety and compliance with Mick making the investment in equipment that is up to the task.
“If the winter weather is too bad Future Generation won’t have us going on site. [The year] 2022 was a big winter and if our trucks have to go into Thredbo or Perisher they have to fit chains, so in the last 12 months we have had a couple of trucks fitted with RotoGrip chains.
“We try and use one of these trucks on the Perisher run and the chains do a great job. We also update the drivers each year with fitting the chains – we have been lucky with our driver base; we have some really good staff.”
Mick said the Monaro operation has worked for Snowy Hydro for 18 years and they keep an eye on everything.
“Our trucks are tracked, which is handy as you don’t have to hassle drivers, you know where they are. Compliance has helped us get where we are today, as a lot of customers expect that now as a matter of course and you have to have the right gear for the right job.”
The Johnson fleet is primarily PACCAR-oriented, running Kenworth K200s and a T909 along with DAF CF and LF rigid units across a variety of configurations.
With a MAN also part of the fleet, Mick has worked on standardisation across the fleet to keep maintenance costs on track.
“We have looked at getting everything in the one stable, all vehicles bar one have the same tyre size and so forth. With our work out of Wodonga we can get the trucks serviced there (Twin City/KenworthDAF Wodonga) and Monaro Trucks here in Cooma are really good to us with tune ups and so forth,” he said.
For Mick, the wheel has pretty much turned full circle. A lifelong Cooma local, he has been around transport all his life with a family association with both trucking and the original Snowy Mountains Scheme which was built between 1949 and 1974.
“Dad did a lot with the Snowy – he used to cart fruit and vegetables off the train to all the work sites – Eucumbene, Island Band, Cabramurra – I can remember as a kid there wasn’t much time off! We have always had trucks.”
Coming off a stint in logging, Mick took on the High Country Wholesale operation in 2006 and it has been all go since then.
“Our accountant looked at it and said, ‘People need milk all the time’ and here we are today, we started with two guys. It was only meant to be four-days-a-week and now it’s a seven-day-a-week operation – we subbie a bit of stuff out as the work doesn’t stop.
“There’s a couple of good transport companies we work with such as Murphys at Bombala, and we have good relationships with our suppliers, and we all work in together.”
Sitting at Mick’s home is the first truck he bought, a C-Line International which is being restored as time allows.
“It was at a mate’s place for about 10 years, and we have been getting it going with a few parts – my wife Debbie bought it back for me. I have had a couple of panel beaters and so forth looking at it but for its age its pretty good.”
For Mick, the last few years have been busy ones and with the Snowy project ongoing it appears the Johnson trucks will be a regular fixture throughout the Snowy Mountains and South Coast regions for some time yet.
Mick reckons the investment made and the ongoing work means a bright outlook for the future.
“We have upgraded our fleet in the last three years, and we have spent a lot of money getting to where we are now, but you have to have good gear to do the job. (Snowy 2.0) has certainly been a positive thing for our business.”