ONE of the biggest growth stories of this year’s top 25 livestock transporters feature is Cloncurry-based Curley Cattle Transport.

The Curley family has been operating trucks in North-West Queensland for more than 40 years, with the livestock haulage business launched in 1982 by brothers Mick and Robert Curley. In 1996 Mick and his wife Dawn bought-out Robert’s share in Curley Brothers Transport to focus solely on the trucking operations, while Robert and his wife Jacqueline continue to operate the well-known Gipsy Plains station today.

Curley Cattle Transport has continued to grow under the management of its second generation, with Mick’s son Stephen Curley as the company’s managing director.

Since the 2013 feature, Curley’s has doubled its fleet of prime movers with a mix 51 Kenworth 509s and 659s. Primarily operating triple road trains, the company has 155 Haulmark trailers with a total deck capacity of 305.

Curley’s now has depots in Cloncurry, Charters Towers, Normanton, Georgetown, Boulia, Blackall, Winton and Mount Isa.

Acquisitions of other companies have been a large part of Curley’s expansion, with four significant purchases in the last 10 years.

In 2016, the company acquired Batts Transport in Blackall. In 2018, it acquired two road trains off David and Sarah Mitchell of Mitchell Livestock Transport in Cloncurry. The next year it acquired Grants Livestock in Winton, increasing the fleet by five and opening a Winton depot. And in 2023, the Curley’s purchased Brennan’s Cattle Transport in Mount Isa, expanding the fleet by another five trucks.

Along the way, Curley’s has purchased a further ten road train units to cater for client growth and to acquire more work.

Stephen Curley said the growth of the company has followed the growth of its clients and an increased demand for trucks.

“We have strategically grown our business and acquired other key depot locations around Qld, making it more cost effective on how we deliver to the market,” Mr Curley said.

“Other external factors that have contributed to our expansion are the changes in how people market and move their cattle.

“The expansion of land holders and migration away from sheep in Western Qld are also major factors.”

As a family business that has some of the most livestock trucks on the road, Curley’s is at the coal face of some of the industry’s biggest issues. Asked what he thought the biggest issues were, Mr Curley said rising operational costs.

“We are in a unique industry where our clients are price takers not price makers. They do have options when they market their stock, however they are still limited to the market pricing,” he said.

“We as an industry can’t just keep rising our prices and extending those prices on to our graziers. We are absorbing a lot of the costs ourselves, and this can only continue for so long.”

Contact

Stephen Curley – 0427 909 175