Peter Carter was just 17 years old when he got his truck licence and began driving at his father’s sawmill, hauling timber and logs, from behind the wheel of an International, powered by a V8 petrol engine.
A lot has changed since then, with Peter continuing to roll with the times, through the highs and the lows. He spoke with Big Rigs about making the difficult decision to walk away from the industry he’s been part of for his entire working life.
“I’ll be 70 this year, that’s why I reckon it’s time to give it up,” he told Big Rigs. “The industry is in a fair bit of hurt right now and there’s a lot that transport operators are having to go through.”
One particular issue he noted was the difficulty operators are having with finding good truck drivers. “People just can’t get drivers. That’s been an issue for a couple of years now. I had a number of drivers who were with me for 20 years or more. We had good drivers who stayed with us. Now there are a lot of young people who just don’t want to work. It’s hard to get people in. So many want to get their truck licence and go straight into a B-double. They don’t realise you need to work your way up to that.”
Based on the Sunshine Coast, Peter spoke of how he came to establish Peter Carter Transport in 2000, a successful transport operation with a fleet of 38 prime movers, 74 trailers and 16 rigids – operating from three depots (Coolum Beach on the Sunshine Coast, Rocklea and Townsville).
During the 1970s, he worked by his father’s side for six or seven years, until he closed the sawmill. “Then I went carting for Bells Transport for four years. I got out of that and went back into sawmills for another 16-17 years,” he explained.
Peter had been running his own sawmill; harvesting, and carting timber and logs with his small fleet of trucks.
“That was until 2000. The Greens had been pushing to stop logging in various forestry areas around the state, so the Queensland government shut down my sawmill due to the Regional Forest Agreements.”
At that moment, Peter had to choose which of two career paths he wanted to take. “I had to decide if I wanted to keep sawmilling or move into trucks.”
Peter chose the latter, keeping two of his trucks to form Peter Carter Transport. “When we started up, we were doing recycled cardboard into Brisbane; and recycled glass, bricks and alcohol out of Brisbane,” he explained.
A family business through and through, Peter credits his wife Kate for helping to get the business to where it was. “Behind every good man is a good woman, and my wife has been there since we started this business. We wouldn’t have gotten to where we are today without her, and my son Trent and his wife Kaicee,” said Peter.
“When we started this business, Trent came back from Broome in WA, where he was driving trucks. He came into this business and we continued to build it from there.”
In the early days of Peter Carter Transport, growth was slow and steady, with the fleet growing to four or five trucks by 2004. That was when an opportunity came up to acquire Morgans Suncoast Freighters, bringing another nine trucks into the mix. Along with tripling the size of the fleet, this move also saw the business expanding into general freight.
Asked about his biggest career highlight, Peter nominated the move to the purpose built Coolum Beach facility eight years ago. “It was a huge decision to make that move and make such a big investment in the space. We were previously based at a 3000 square metre facility at Kunda Park and went into a 10,400 square metre space at Coolum Beach. From there we ran the transport operation and a separate cardboard baling business. The day we moved was a really big highlight for me.”
However, it certainly hasn’t always been smooth sailing. “We have had our run of ups and downs. Our Rocklea site was flooded in 2011, then we had a fire at the cardboard baling facilities at Coolum Beach in 2018 and another flood at Rocklea in 2022,” said Peter, admitting those moments were tough to get through. “Sometimes when things like that happen, you wonder how to get past it, but you’ve got to keep on going.”
And that’s exactly what he did, continuing to grow the business into the respected player it is today.
With Peter and Kate both ready for the next chapter of their lives, their business was sold to Blacks Transport Group, with the acquisition announced in early March.
“It was a difficult decision and took a lot of consideration but we knew it was time. Our staff were our biggest concern when we sold. We wanted to make sure that our staff were looked after, as well as our customers – and Blacks Transport were happy to do that, taking on all our staff,” explained Peter.
Like Peter’s business, Blacks Transport Group is also family-owned and operated. It was started in 1995 with a single truck and has been built up to a fleet of over 150 trucks and trailers, predominantly servicing south-east Queensland, the Burnett/Wide Bay Region and North Queensland.
As part of the transition, Peter Carter Transport has now been rebranded as Carters Transport Qld, operating as a division of Blacks Transport Group.
Peter revealed his decision to sell to Blacks also came down to timing. “We didn’t actually have the business on the market but were looking to retire and Blacks Transport Group was looking to expand.”
He added that it was great to know his staff and customers would be looked after by another family owned and operated business.
Blacks Transport Group has depots in Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Maryborough, Bundaberg and Rockhampton. The acquisition of Peter Carter Transport will add a company-owned depot to Townsville; along with an additional depot on the Sunshine Coast.
Managing Director at Blacks Transport Group, Bruce Black, told Big Rigs, “The acquisition will give us depots right along the east coast of Queensland, with our agent depots located across the rest of the state.”
Asked about the attraction to Peter Carter Transport, Bruce commented, “We were looking to expand our business further. The Carters business has a lot of the correct freight profiles, that complement the freight profiles we already had, so we believed it would be a good blend.
“It will allow us to further improve our services and provide additional services daily.”
With the acquisition, Blacks Transport Group now has a fleet of around 125 trucks.
While all transport operations will now fall under Blacks Transport Group, Peter has retained his cardboard baling business that operates from the same site at the main Coolum Beach depot. “I have someone managing that for me. A man has to retire but he can’t have nothing to do,” laughed Peter.
Looking ahead, now that he has more time on his hands, Peter is looking forward to doing some travelling. “Kate and I are going to get in our motorhome and travel around Australia. We’d also like to take a few overseas trips too,” he said. “I’ve got to keep the wife happy!”
hi guys, can sameone tell me when there is acute shortages of truck and coach drivers in Queensland and in Australia why u cant find a job . idriven coaches trucks for 19 years in New Zealand and sit my HR / DA in Queensland did internal pre employment medical checks applyed to 2 companys and was rejected. The part i dont like is there dont give u a indication why u missed out and u wait a average 3 months before u get a mail. And on top of this there are the internet sites u have to go tru first and there are super hopeless. Thats half the problem u have in Australia and New Zaeland and around the world. Shame on this system iam doing what Mr. Peter Carter said in his interview enjoy the time off travel and keep bussy so u wont get bored. Sincerely Reinhard Rusche Wellington NewZealand Drivers without borders