Latest acquisition sees Hawk Logistics well placed for further growth

It was back in 2014 that two friends who had met at university and drove trucks part time, decided to take a huge leap of faith.

Amrit Paul and Harmanpreet ‘Harry’ Singh, both 39 years of age, came to Australia from Punjab in India in 2006, with less than a few thousand dollars to their names – and big hopes and dreams of a better life.

While studying, they began working for a laundromat, delivering linen to hospitals and nursing homes. They decided to pool their money together and buy their first truck, an 8-pallet rigid, to do the same line of work as sub-contractors. Amrit would drive it in the day and Harman would take over for the night run.

From that one contract, they soon secured others, sub-contracting for a number of big transport companies. And with that, Hawk Logistics was born.

The company operates from nine sites located across four states. Image: Truckspotting Ararat

As Hawk Logistics CEO Miguel Vitug told Big Rigs, “Those early years, from 2014-2018 were the formative years of Hawk Logistics – and probably the hardest years. Up until then it was all sub-contractor work for companies like Linfox and Toll.

“Then in 2018, Amrit and Harry were fortunate enough to secure contracts directly with customers – the first one being with a family owned meat business. They had bought a refrigerated trailer to help procure that contract and to this day, that meat business is still a customer of ours, which is quite humbling.”

[L-R] Hawk Logistics Fleet Manager Glenn Rochester; Head of Finance Michelle Cheng; CEO Miguel Vitug; Director Amrit Paul; and Derek Watt. Image: Hawk Logistics

Miguel continued, “Then from 2020-2023 were our foundational years, where we were really able to expand. Amrit and Harry invested in good talent and were able to scale their business. Through providing great levels of customer service, they started landing bigger contracts.”

According to Miguel, 2023 was when the business began investing heavily in trying to attract and upskill staff. A restructure in January 2024 saw Miguel employed as CEO. “I’ve been in supply chains my whole career. I was with Linfox for nine years and before that was at Toll for nine years,” he said.

“What attracted me to the company was the vision of the two directors. They’ve been true to their word on investing in people and being agile in the industry. Our people are at the head of our success. Now we have a team of managers driving the business forward.”

Hawk Logistics currently employs around 550 people, who work across its nine locations: four sites in Victoria, which is where it all started, and sites in Brisbane Sydney, Griffith, Tamworth and Adelaide.

“Hawk Logistics started out in Truganina and we’re currently building a brand new head office and 30,000 pallet storage warehouse in Laverton, about five minutes down the road,” revealed Miguel.

“The company is also building a 15,000-pallet warehouse in Sydney, and we have a few land investments we’re going to develop too, along with other business opportunities we’re working on now.”

A great shot of these Hawk Logistics’ trucks travelling through Truro, South Australia. Image: Hawk Logistics

Part of Hawk Logistics’ growth has also been through acquisitions, with the first major deal happening in December 2023, where it took over AR Logistics – including over 100 vehicles and a depot in Adelaide – allowing the business to expand into South Australia.

“There were smaller acquisitions before AR, but that was our biggest. It was a strategic acquisition that cemented our presence in Adelaide,” added Miguel.

More recently, in December 2024, Hawk Logistics acquired Farragher Logistics, a family business with over 90 years in the game.

With the sale comes 14 prime movers and 22 refrigerated trailers, which will be rebranded as Hawk Logistics.

“Our strategy is to build brand equity, so the more red, white and blue trucks and trailers on the road, the more brand awareness it creates,” said Miguel.

The trucks and trailers acquired through its most recent acquisition will be rebranded in this Hawk Logistics livery to match the rest of the fleet. Image: Truckspotting Ararat

He also revealed that the majority of truck drivers employed at Farragher have since come across to Hawk Logistics. “So we’ll have the same driving team,” he said, however Hawk Logistics won’t operate out of any of the Farragher sites. Instead, it has transferred these operations to its existing facilities.

This brings the Hawk Logistics fleet up to roughly 850 assets – including around 400 trucks and 450 trailers.

Miguel revealed there’s currently a pipeline of about 20 new orders, including Kenworths, which he says have been instrumental to the company’s growth in recent years. Hawk Logistics currently looks to replace its trucks every five or so years.

Commenting on this latest move to acquire Farragher, Miguel said, “I’ve been familiar with Farragher for some time, through my dealings with their managing director Rory Farragher. They have great equipment and great drivers and a small pocket of loyal customers they were serving – so it just fit. We’d been working on this for three or four months and came to terms last November.”

Looking ahead, Amrit and Harry are hoping to expand the reach of Hawk Logistics into the Northern Territory. “It’s in our strategic pipeline to expand into that corridor, and having a depot in Adelaide will help us to facilitate that.”

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