Generational SA transport business keeps growing

It says much for the quality of LiuGong machinery that a veteran of the transport industry feels confident in using the manufacturer's equipment for its expansive operation.

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John Hamilton was born and bred in trucks and years of viewing different equipment operating in the agricultural industry has allowed confident fleet decisions for his family's business.

John has been behind the wheel for about 50 years in the Hamilton's Transport business, which is based at Minlaton on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia, and his father, Bill, aged 84, is still driving.

John also runs the business with his brother, Andrew, and his sons are now getting involved as well, including Myles (18), Mitchell (16) and Maxwell (13).

Hamilton's Transport carts bulk materials including grain and fertiliser, as well as hay, and it operates a grain receival site and storage depot for a grain trader. There are now three 32-metre by 70m sheds at the Minlaton site, also providing storage for about 1500 large hay bales.

The hay is carted to loyal clients in Queensland, up to Alice Springs and over to the Riverland in SA.

The business has five prime movers and, in recent years, it has upgraded to two LiuGong wheel loaders to cater for larger material volumes after chalking-up more than 1000 hours in an older LiuGong 842 wheel loader.

Their journey with LiuGong commenced after viewing the manufacturer's loaders in operation at various sites, including by grain handler, Viterra Australia.

"We have done a lot of grain work in and out of Viterra, and they had a lot of LiuGong loaders," John said.

"We saw a lot of them working and they were never broken-down. We didn't hear anything bad about them.