STEELY TRADITIONALISTS

Illawarra-based Metal Transport Industries (MTI) finds value in holding onto and maintaining its Kenworth fleet for the long-haul.

From its beginnings in 1979, MTI serviced the scrap metal industry almost exclusively for the best part of 25 years before pivoting toward the direction of heavy equipment haulage in search of increased business opportunities and profit margins.

Brothers Dave and Kev Murada are MTI’s co-managing directors. Dave gives OwnerDriver an insight into how the business began 42 years ago.

“The old man had machinery, bulldozers and the like and then got involved with excavators in the scrap game. It was Dad that got myself and my two brothers, Kevin and Peter, involved in the scrap metal transport game,” Dave says.

Under the MTI banner, the three brothers (triplets by the way) began carting scrap metal for companies such as BHP, Metal Recyclers and Simsmetal, first with one truck then, shortly after, increasing in size to four trucks.

“In those early days we did everything ourselves, from organising the loads, driving along with all the maintenance and breakdown work. It was just what we had to do,” Dave explains.

“It wasn’t until we got big enough to employ a mechanic that I found