A new name in milk transport

7R Logistics is a new name in South Australian dairy industry transport, but the company has been transporting milk in Queensland since 1969.

7R Logistics has recently taken on the Bega farm collection contract for the South Australian collection area and a portion of the Beston collection work. The company specialises in providing reliable transportation solutions for milk, sugar, and natural gas, and operates throughout South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.

Operations Manager Rick Waugh said 7R Logistics was in a growth phase, with a new management team and two new depots – one in Virginia and one in Mt Gambier – with around 30 new drivers and 16 tankers operating in SA, which are a mixture of B-Doubles, A-Doubles and Singles.

“We’re now contracted to Bega, Fonterra, Norco, Lactalis, VRA, Udder Delights and Beston, so the business is growing,” Rick said.

In terms of milk testing and calibration, 7R Logistics engages a licensed national management institute calibration certifier who has been licensed to perform calibrations for more than 10 years.

“We have our own equipment and a dedicated calibration certifier who does all of our calibrations every six months, to ensure the information we’re supplying to farmers is correct,” Rick said.

“And the same personnel do the calibrations for almost every milk transport company in Australia, which ensures consistency. Our calibration certifier travels around the country, taking care of all calibrations.

“As we are paid by the litre, the same as the farmer, we need tankers calibrated as accurately as possible. All processors have delivery flow meters that we need to match up to as well, so these must be accurate at both ends of the supply chain.”

7R has an Australian designed, built and patented metering system on every tanker. “It’s touch screen operated and as easy to use as a smart phone and ensures accuracy of data as no critical data is entered by drivers, virtually eliminating errors on farm,” Rick said.

“These systems geo-locate the farm and the driver only has to verify the location and pump the product, no other driver input data is required. We then have instant visibility of the location, volume and temperatures from all collections on each tanker.

“And we have a farm vat monitoring system that advises the farmer if there are cooling or other issues and gives us access to volumes to enable better visibility when scheduling.”

This is also an Australian product, designed and patented by Smartaindustrial.

7R Logistics is also environmentally proactive. The company has recently entered into a collaboration agreement which will see 7R enter a new phase of green and carbon free transport by introducing hydrogen powered prime movers for its milk fleet in Tasmania.

Find out more about 7R Logistics here