Old School trucks: D.T. King & Co—Part 3
To conclude our series on D.T. King and Co, we take a look at four rural Southland transport companies that D.T. King acquired over several decades
The first of these was Otautau-based Western Haulage, purchased by D.T. King in 1996. Western Haulage was renowned for running Mercedes-Benz trucks and was a rural-based transport company that also ran loggers. The old Western Haulage Otautau yard still remains the current depot for D.T. King and Co to this day.
The next three companies had two things in common: they were all Riverton-based and were all acquired in 2013.
TSK White Limited could trace their roots back to the horse and cart days and in more recent times were well renowned for their preference of running some cool ERFs.
Bates Transport Limited also had an extensive history and their depot was actually on the same street as TSK White. On my first visit to Riverton in the ’80s, Bates had a preference to the International brand, which included a classic International S-Line named ‘Wal’ after the Footrot Flats character. TSK White purchased Bates Transport in the late 2000s but continued to run as two separate companies prior to the D.T. King buyout in 2013.
By comparison, Riverton Transport was a relatively new company that was formed in the early 2000s. The fleet was varied and grew to more than a dozen trucks, which were predominantly livestock trucks, tippers, and spreaders at the time of sale in 2013.
There have, of course, been many other acquisitions over the years and the D.T. King brand continues to grow from strength to strength. Today, D.T. King has grown to become one of the biggest transport operators in the lower South Island and now have many divisions, including depots in Pukemaori, Otautau, Riverton, Tuatapere, Invercargill, and Dunedin.
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