Linehaul road transport – it is without doubt one of the toughest business gigs in which to succeed, so you have to be impressed every time you see it done well. To do any business well, you must have total clarity on four key things. First, what is it you do? Second, who do you do it for? Third, what is your ‘why’? And the fourth – and most important – where are your boundaries in regards to the first three.

With his signature relaxed, short- gaited stroll, Guy Knowles walks across the back lawn at his home base on the southern outskirts of Palmerston North. At the other end of the grass is a wee gate, entrance to the yard with an immaculate three-bay shed as its centrepiece. The building is 24m long with a 4.5m high roller door front and rear of each bay; suffice to say it can accommodate three of the five bounty-green and red ‘children’. At the apex of the front gable is a Kenworth bug. It’s all about finishing touches here.

It seems a far cry from an excited young Child Freighters owner-driver leaping into his first truck. Decades of endless toil with life’s ups and downs under his wheels since then, today Guy Knowles Transport is one of Australasia’s instantly recognisable road transport brands, a must-see for any of the globe’s visiting truck spotters.

Crossroads

“It’s not that everything goes perfectly all the time, far from it. Shit no, this is a hard industry to stay in, but it’s all about your attitude, you know. Just take a moment, have a think and a cuppa, make a plan, and you’ll be all-good, driver! You know? Make a plan, driver.”

Although the Manawatu capital was home as a young bloke growing up with mum Lois and two siblings, in his teenage years Guy was sent north to the Waikato for some ‘sort out’ time with his father Trevor, a Melbourne Cup-winning race horse trainer.

Work as a stablehand didn’t yield the ‘shekels’ his mates were earning in the nearby Te Rapa dairy factory, so he jumped on board there and stayed for four years, working in packing and eventually processing. In typical Guy Knowles fashion, he says, “It was a bloody good job and place to work. I really enjoyed it.”

A one-year spell in Western Australia driving agricultural tractors and trucks for Southern Cross preceded a return home to Palmerston North with no fixed plans on what next.

It was his mother who suggested local transport company Child Freighters due to the inquisitive interest in machines and trucks he’d always shown.

“I went for an interview and started on town and around the next day. As you did then you worked your way up to linehaul, on an F86 and then a G88 Volvo. Eventually I grabbed the bull by the horns and took on a linehaul owner-driver position on an ex-Bob Laing F-model Mack. A flat deck with straps and covers at the ready, that’s how it was mostly done then. I was in my late 20s I think.”

Then of course, the first V8 Ultra-Liner, Razor Sharp. “That was big gear back then, driver.

“Thirteen years I did at Childs in total, just a wonderful place to work and a tragedy it fell victim to the Transpac shambles.

“As things deteriorated, I got to the stage where I was owed a month’s income. About then, Morrie Selwyn [Keveys Transport] told me it wasn’t going to end well and I should get out.”

Guy took heed of someone he says was a great mentor, and moved across to Keveys. Therein lay the origins of bounty-green and red, a livery he took an instant liking to, green being his favourite colour.

A succession of trucks under the Keveys and then Selwyn Road Freight banners ended after a hard life lesson in human nature with the new company owner.

“It was a fantastic company, it truly was, and I had eight great years there. Great people and great work, I learned a hell of a lot.”

Here he was again, at another set of crossroads. It was early in the new century and time for something really brave. Following encouragement from a number of parties that included customers, the Knowleses made the colossal leap of faith in themselves and set up as sole account operators in 2003.

“The best thing we’ve ever done. The support we got from the customers … just unbelievable.”

Of course, as much as many operators like us to keep the details of who they work for veiled, that’s not really going to work with Guy Knowles Transport as he devotes a fair amount of curtain livery to one of his anchor clients, the New Zealand success story that is Palmerston North-based Steelfort.

“Just a wonderful Kiwi company to do business with, and we try and be the same for them. They’ve been bloody good to us, as have a number of others in the horticulture and food processing industries.”

When John Murphy wrote a cover on Guy’s K108 in 2011, the fleet sat at three and today that’s snuck up by two – a reflection of success in key accounts. However there is certainly no desire to be big.

“Our philosophy has worked so far. Keep close to customers, staff, and operations. It’s how we want to do it, and we love what we do.”