Business Central February 2021

| 61 Heinz Wattie’s Trial of a new beetroot cultivar. Heinz Wattie’s is a significant contributor to Hawke’s Bay and New Zealand’s GDP. Big enough to deliver – small enough to care Owner of Agnew Transport, Willie Agnew, understands his customers’ needs like no other. Willie started his career as a fruit and vegetable farmer and to this day is still in- volved in the industry as an orchard owner. “Coming from this background, I needed trucks to come and cart my own produce. I understand the importance of having a reliable carrier who can pick up and deliver produce in the best possible condition, on time and at a reasonable rate,.” This led Willie to purchase a truck for his own carting needs. He soon expanded and carted for other growers, establishing Agnew Transport Services Ltd. “My relationship with Heinz started 20 years ago as a grower, supplying them with tomatoes, corn, butternut, pumpkin and beetroot. Ten years later I decided to con- centrate on my transport and contracting business and retire from being a cropping farmer. “We are proud that Agnew Transport is to- day Heinz’s main transport service provider for carting fresh produce, which including tomatoes, corn, beetroot and fruit from the elds to the factory. Our transport dispatchers are focused with helping all our customers, including working with Heinz, to maintain the constant supply to a facto- ry 7 days a week and 24 hours a day.” Agnew Transport offers a eet predomi- nately to service the horticulture sector but also has suitable equipment to do other commodities, including fertilizer, aggre- gate, silage, hay and general freight. “To support the transport division, we have diversi ed the business with two divisions, namely the earthworks/civil and the agriculture contracting divisions. This has enabled us to assist our horticulture clients with their new green eld develop- ments and any redevelopment within their orchards and vineyards. This has been a huge help to assist with our staf ng requirements with work all year round, as the harvest season happens in a very small window of the year.” As a smaller local company Agnew Trans- port takes pride in offering customers the personal touch a larger corporation cannot deliver resulting in the company catch phrase: big enough to deliver, small enough to care. Willie says that as Agnew Transport is an established local business it offers an excel- lent knowledge of the area. Competitive pricing and exible hours are other hall- marks of the company to meet customer needs. This is especially important as every year Agnew Transport carts large volumes of fruit and produce to various packhouses and processing facilities. “We have the systems and people in place to gear up to manage peak season re- quirements for our clients. Our experience means we understand their business and we know how to deliver what they need when they require.” PRODUCTION