Ares Group moves oversized cargo around Australia and streamlines its multi-million dollar projects with the help of ICN NSW.
Australian business Ares Group specialises in oversized logistics, moving a huge range of cargo all over the country.
The business’s team travels to the most remote corners of the country as well as delivering goods in urban areas. No item is too large or heavy for Ares Group; it has delivered over 10,000 OSOM loads, including over 500 complete wind turbines, along some of Australia’s most demanding roads.
A recent commercial contract involved the transportation of wind turbines to the Flyers Creek Wind Farm, which is located near Orange in central-west New South Wales. Ares Group’s involvement required the movement of 38 wind turbines, with nine major components per turbine, from Port Kembla on the east coast of NSW to their final destination six hours inland.
Deliveries started in October last year, but the company needed the support of suppliers and contractors in specific locations to help plan and organise the task.
Finding contractors with ICN NSW
Moving oversized wind turbine components several hundred kilometres involves a lot of tricky corners and difficult-to-access roadways.
As Ares Group General Manager Davorin Jeleca explains, “For this particular project, we needed to do road modifications at one point, to make sure the components could make their way past roundabouts and turns. We needed a competent civil road designer who knew the local authorities and councils where we were passing through, so we reached out to ICN NSW, who was able to provide a list of suppliers. We then chose a small independent operator to do the design work.”
The next task was the removal of a power pole, which Davorin explains was only temporary, but was a lot more difficult than it looked. “We thought it would be straightforward but it ended up being several weeks’ worth of work.” Davorin contacted ICN NSW again to find the right people to help get the job done, including certified electrical contractors and other operators.
“The people we contacted were local and able to do a site visit,” says Davorin. “This saves our team from having to get on a plane and travel to the site from Melbourne or somewhere else in Australia.”
Having the right contractors ready to go makes a huge difference to the financial outcome of a project. “If we are working with a project worth, for example, $8 million,” says Davorin, “And we lose one day of progress and don’t deliver, this is upwards of $40,000. If we had taken an extra month to find the designer we needed, the costs would have added up. This really shows why finding local contractors with the help of ICN NSW is critical.”
Davorin has worked with ICN NSW many times over the years. “I worked with them a number of years ago on a different project. They were very helpful then and one thing I love about using them is that they have great knowledge of local suppliers almost anywhere. We may be working, in WA and then in Melbourne or out past Yass in Central NSW. For us, it can be challenging to find local contractors. This is where ICN NSW comes in very handy.”
The ICN NSW representative Davorin liaised with for Ares Group’s most recent project was Geoff Reardon. “I spoke to Geoff and he gave me some insights into some of the candidates,” he explains, “It’s great that they can give you more than a phone number.”
Davorin is happy to recommend ICN NSW to other major contractors. “Some small businesses don’t have an online presence or they are hard to find through a Google search. ICN NSW is worth their weight in gold to help get hold of some of these contacts.”
