The Port Adelaide-based family logistics outfit recently found a special way of celebrating a milestone as it continues to excel in the SA transport game
How does one celebrate a 150 year anniversary? While many people and businesses have had experience over the years paying homage to decades, half-centuries or the full century mark, 150 years is a rarer feat to achieve. With that comes the need to find an extra special way of recognising the many moments that goes into achieving 150 consecutive years of success.
When the 150 year anniversary began looming on the horizon for operator Symons Clark Logistics last year, James Clark sat down with cousin and CEO Jason Clark to brainstorm a different celebration. An expanding partnership with a growing international truck brand proved the catalyst for the assets and facilities manager’s plans.
“We thought we should do something special that not many had done before,” James told OwnerDriver.
“We hadn’t ever put unique stickers on any of our DAF trucks in our fleet, so we chatted to the team at Panagraphix about unique designs we could put on some new DAFs.
“When sitting down with Jason, I thought why not try and get the name of everyone who has ever worked for the business onto the truck? It’s definitely unique.”
Over 150 years, there have been a hell of a lot of people to walk through the doors of the Port Adelaide-based operator. Roughly 1,100 names were uncovered as part of the project, with the result being DAFs bearing the names of all people to have worked for Symons Clark Logistics over the past 150 years.
“Once we brought it to the yard, everyone gravitated to the truck to see if they could find their name or someone in their family,” James says.
“When driving past the truck on the road, it really stands out and you can see it coming.”
For James, the celebration was personal. His grandfather Alby, with the unwavering support of wife Loraine, bought the business off of the Symons family in November 1981. Instead of completely rebranding the business to suit the Clark family, Alby blended the names together to create Symons Clark Logistics.
“The Clarks have been running the business for nearly 50 years after we bought it off the Symons family, who used to run the operations with horse and cart back in the day,” James says.
“When my grandfather was in his 40s, he put his money on the line and the family took a big risk. He bought the business off of his accountant and thought it would be a good idea to keep the Symons name as it was well known in the Adelaide market.”
Before the Clarks took over, the business was a transport operator that had emerged since Thomas Symons founded a small blacksmith shop in Rosewater near Port Adelaide back in 1875. The business expanded, with Thomas and his son George launching Thomas Symons and Sons Carriers in 1916 to transport grain, timber and flour. Another son, Jack, joined the operator, with the sons rebranding the business to JT Symons Carriers after Thomas sadly passed away and moving to Lipson Street in the heart of Port Adelaide’s wharf district. Jack and his daughter Jan ran the business until the Clarks came along and took a well-known family business to the next level.
“My grandfather started with one or two trucks and didn’t own a brand new truck for at least the first 10 years,” James says.
“My father David and uncle Ricky, Alby’s two sons, then came into the business. My father was a diesel mechanic and did his apprenticeship before joining, while Ricky was a sparky by trade and got more into the transport side.”
From a staff of seven drivers, one secretary and a timber yard supervisor, Symons Clark Logistics expanded in the Port Adelaide district to the point that it had outgrown its Lipson Street homes by the early ‘90s. Alby found an old timber yard on 100,000sqm on the nearby Francis Street to shift the business to.
“Alby brought his two boys down to the yard and asked them what they thought – they said he was crazy and would never fill the yard, but Grandpa was a big thinker and had a vision.
“However, they still bought the property and built the business with mainly container transport work. It was our bread and butter then and still is a significant part of our business today.”
The Francis Street location is still the home of the massive logistics business, with the 28 acre depot conveniently located near South Australia’s major shipping and intermodal hubs while also remaining close to Adelaide Airport. When Alby unfortunately passed away in 2014, the second generation of Ricky and David took over the business, with third generation members Jason and James soon joining.
“Jason came in a touch earlier than me after working as a chartered accountant for a few years outside of the business,” James recalls.
“He’s now our CEO and has taken the business to a completely new level with the backing of David and Ricky. He took a punt at the bulk haulage sector and started our tipper transport game, buying Bee Jays Haulage.”
While the business quickly gained traction, James says many long-term employees still work with the company. He says one employee in particular has been at the operator nearly as long as Ricky, having worked for the business for nearly 50 years due to being good friends with Alby.
Nowadays, Symons Clark Logistics has around 50 sets of tippers and a major truck and trailer fleet that works across a variety of applications. The container business is still the brand’s primary focus, controlling nearly a quarter of wharf movements at Port Adelaide and holding anywhere from 2,500 to 3,500 containers in its yard at once. Recent additions has seen Symons Clark Logistics expand its container capabilities, completing unpacking, packing, fumigation and repair for Border Force, as well as complete relines and resprays for customers.
“We also have a big warehousing sector for general warehousing like barrels and cans to solar panels depending on customer requirements,” James says.
“We also have our own auger onsite to load our own bulk bags of cement that we put into our own pneumatic tankers.”
Recent contract wins has seen the family business increase its demand for vehicles. After securing the contract last year with BHP and Aurizon to support the state’s copper operations for the next decade, the operator brings copper in before packing it into its own containers and moving them to where they need to go.
“It’s been a successful start to a long-term partnership with Aurizon and BHP. We’ve continued to develop the structure and safety systems as the business grows.
“Initial wins allowed us to tender for the larger contract with Aurizon and BHP last year that involved 45 new prime movers and around 160 new trailers. We won and had to then hire more than 100 employees to cater for this new business.”
Being both the first and last point of contact for the copper trade has seen Symons Clark Logistics expand its capabilities in Port Adelaide. Combine this with a linehaul business division that has grown rapidly and the family business has needed plenty of new trucks added to the fleet in recent years. This is where the Clark family turned to DAF.
“We were previously biased towards getting Kenworths, but we were lucky enough to test a new DAF XG in Australia,” James says.
“The fuel data was really impressive and our drivers loved it – the truck was quite roomy and comfortable, like driving a car. It also packed a fair bit of torque, so we didn’t hesitate at buying two straight off the bat.
“It was instant – once they got on the road, the fuel savings and comfort shone. Old drivers who hadn’t driven DAFs before really took to them.”
James says the business loves DAFs to the point that they would consider replacing their main wharf carriers with a fleet from the European OEM. It’s this infatuation with the badge that led James and Jason to turn to DAF when it came to celebrating the business’ 150th anniversary.
The 150 years DAF follows in the business’ footsteps of producing special trucks for milestones. An old SAR Legend has been done up in original Symons Clark colours, while two trucks are still running and paying tribute to Alby and Loraine. The two bulk haulage tippers have their own unique designs – Loraine’s is a blue and grey colour, while Alby’s is red and grey. It’s clear the logistics giant is still all about family.
“We’re a proud family and we’re still very family orientated as a business to this day,” he says.
“There’s not many businesses where you can walk in the door and speak to a director, but our family thrives on that. We want to do our grandfather proud – we wish Alby could see how much it’s grown.”
With roughly 400 employees, the goal is to continue growing from its Port Adelaide base. With contract wins and milestone trucks comes a drive for the Clark family to continue partnering with DAF to expand the family empire in the coming years.
“We’re thankful to be able to carry on our grandfather’s legacy, and growing a business honours that.
“It’s not about being the biggest – we want to be known as the best in our field that puts our people and customers first and we won’t stop in our pursuit of that.”
Article reproduced courtesy of Owner Driver Magazine (April 2026).
Writer: Sean Mortell