McColl's expands trucking business into Dennington with new state-of-the-art facility

The company has grown to about 50 employees since it set up in the region a year ago, and will on Wednesday showcase its state-of-the-art tanker washdown facility and a $15 million expansion of its fleet.

The company expanded into the Warrnambool region mid-last year when it took up a contract with ProviCo after it took over the site from Fonterra.

Project manager Tony Noske said the tanker hygiene facility was "unusual" in that it had the ability to wash a greater variety of food-grade products.

"It is absolutely the best in the country," Mr Noske said.

"It's fully automated. It's very sophisticated in that it heats the tankers up slowly and cools them down slowly and that stops them from cracking."

Mr Noske said McColl's now had 40 to 50 employees based out of the Dennington site.

"McColl's had nobody here before," he said.

"Its generated jobs for that many people from Warrnambool whereas previously the trucks might have been washed in Geelong or somewhere else."

Now there were 34 trucks through the site across three shifts.

And McColl's Transport group business development manager Andrew Thompson said the company was looking to recruit even more employees - both drivers and on site staff.

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"There's heavy investment not only in infrastructure, but also in our fleet," Mr Thompson said.

"We've got extra new A-doubles coming online and additional new prime movers.

"In the last three years there's been about $15 million spent on fleet upgrades and investment in new equipment."

Mr Thompson said the new washdown facility was capable of catering for double the number of trucks in half the time while saving on water.

"This is a state-of-the-art wash," Mr Thompson said.

"It's the only one of it's kind across all of our depots and it's leading-edge. It's the only one that gives us all of that technology and in that detail."

All local contractors were used during the construction. Mr Thompson said by redeveloping the unused land next to the ProviCo site, it gives McColl's a permanent presence in Dennington.

"We don't only do milk transport, we do all bulk liquids including dangerous goods," Mr Thompson said.

"There is more investment to come in the region. It's about McColl's supporting the dairy industry and local region."

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