Superload move a world first

This local heavy haulage specialist recently transported a 170-tonne transformer across three states, using a new and innovative trailer that’s been two years in the making.

A specialist in complex oversize and over mass loads, Ares Group has delivered over 10,000 loads to date, including more than 500 complete wind turbines.

One of its latest moves however, was a first for the company, debuting its innovative M500 modular platform trailer – which took around two years to design and then nine months to build.

Two Kenworth C509s were used to transport the superload. Image: Ares Group

Built exclusively for Ares under licence, by Kennedy Trailers in Bairnsdale, Victoria, the trailer was a joint effort between the manufacturer and Ares owner and managing director Jason Millar, 44, who is also an engineer.

While Ares is no stranger to transporting transformers – having moved many previously – this latest one, weighing in at 170 tonne, is definitely the biggest.

[L-R] Ed and James Wilson who operate Wilson Transformer Company, with Ares owner and managing director Jason Millar. Image: Ares Group

Along with transporting complex loads, Ares is also a project management company, coordinating every piece of the puzzle; including the full logistics process, from feasibility, planning, design and approvals to transport, lifting, offloading and escorts.

Its head office is located at St Kilda Road in Melbourne, with yards in Port Kembla and Parramatta in New South Wales, and Bairnsdale in
Victoria.

“Ares is basically a project management company which also has in-house equipment capability,” Jason said. “It’s more about engineering than transport.

“We spent a year planning for this transformer move and then we moved it in a week and a half.

“This sort of heavy haulage work is very complicated. You get different weights on your trailers, it’s different in different states, for different trailer types and different widths.

“It’s really complicated and that’s why not many people want to do it.”

The huge 170 tonne transformer was manufactured by Wilson Transformer Company in Glen Waverley, Victoria.

The transformer took two years to build and is worth millions of dollars. Image: Ares Group

Ares was tasked with transporting it approximately 2700 kilometres from Melbourne to the Stanwell Power Station in Queensland – located around 30km west of Rockhampton.

It departed from Melbourne on September 8 and arrived at its final destination on September 24.

“The transition to renewables has seen a massive spike in transformers in the last five years. The biggest transformer we’d moved prior to this one was about 120 tonne,” said Jason.

“This will be used as a back-up transformer at the Stanwell Power Station. They haven’t had a transformer this size moved up there for a while, so transformer moves of this scale don’t come around that often.”

For the move, Ares Group debuted its innovative M500 modular platform trailer. Image: Ares Group

Typically, these sorts of moves would be done using a beam trailer set, however by using its new M500 modular platform trailer, Ares was able to complete the journey far more efficiently.

The entire combination used to deliver the transformer measured nearly 62 metres long, complete with two Kenworth C509s, with three drivers involved: John Kelly, David Pancino and Liam Khan. All up, it had a gross vehicle mass of 312 tonne, and measured 4.4m wide and 4.7m high.

Jason explained how the concept for the new M500 trailer came about, “Before we designed this trailer, we would’ve used a beam set, which weighs around 100 tonne. It’s a much more complicated, cumbersome, slow and very expensive way to transport these transformers.

“We were approached by Wilson to see if there was another alternative to transporting a transformer. We worked with them for about a year to develop a solution, and then worked with Kennedy Trailers. A lot of people in the industry were saying it wasn’t going to work. But we did it.

“The trailer itself is about 35 metres long and there’s no bend in the middle, so we were within millimetres of barriers and traffic lights – we knew it was going to be tight, but it actually went even better than what we’d planned. The trailer has fully independent steering on every axle, so every axle steers. It means we can get it into places you wouldn’t expect.”

The load moved across borders, through Victoria, NSW and into Queensland. Image: Ares Group

As Jason continued, “The length of this unit hasn’t been done before, and at that weight, nothing like this has ever been done anywhere in the world.

“That transformer is worth millions of dollars and took about two years to build, so if we damaged it during the move, the repercussions would have been enormous. For Wilson Transformer Company to put their trust in us took a lot of faith, because this has never been done before. So I want to say a big thank you to James and Ed Wilson, who are the brothers who run the company.”

While Ares has many unique trailers in its fleet, including custom made modified platform trailers with cut-outs, innovative bookend trailers and more, Jason says there’s nothing quite like the M500.

For the transformer move, the trailer featured 14 lines of axles and a drop frame, however because of its modular nature, the M500’s uses reach far and wide.

“The M500 trailer is like having a giant LEGO set.

“We have 30 axle lines built so far, with another 100 coming,” revealed Jason. “They can be used with a 3×8 low loader with a normal goose neck, right up to a four-file platform that can cart 500 tonne. The pieces can all connect together, front to back, side to side and can have different goosenecks put on them. We can swap out the gooseneck with a drawbar, and we can hook them up to our SPMTs.

“These trailers are kind of the envy of the industry. If we only had our modular stuff, there’s nothing we can’t transport with it. It’s an expensive way to move things though, so we use it for the more complex stuff,” added Jason, who started Ares in 2016.

His expertise in heavy haulage, however, goes back much further.

“I’ve been in transport for about 25 years. My father had a transport company too called Millar’s Transport, doing mainly cotton and paper in B-doubles. He had trucks since the 80s.

“I started working for Dad when I was about 22, in the office. I wanted to be an architect, so my background is engineering. I started to do engineering design and stuff like that, then that turned into heavy haulage and it all evolved from there.”

The team involved in the move celebrates the successful 2700 kilometre run. Image: Ares Group

Jason merged his first heavy haulage company with Toll in 2012, and stayed with the business until 2016, before going back out on his own and launching Ares.

When his father retired last year, Jason took over Millar’s Transport. And more recently, in August 2024, purchased another business called TJ Clark & Sons. Across his three businesses, Jason runs approximately 40 trucks (including 11 Kenworths at Ares) and 70 trailers.

While wind turbines have become Ares’ core business, accounting for about 60 per cent of its revenue, Ares has several more transformer moves in the pipeline too – with four transformer moves taking place throughout October, and two big transformer moves coming up in January.

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