With numerous decades under the belt, family operator QMR has decided to showcase its business in an exciting way courtesy of an eye-catching new DAF delivery
“Us in the family are always moving around between Queensland and WA to help the business,” Jackson told OwnerDriver.
There’s something special about a family business. Siblings working together each day. Joining forces with parents, aunts and uncles, sometimes even grandparents. Once the day is done, returning back to the family home for dinner, and surely more conversations about work and the state of the business.
Since 2003, the Chambers family has been living this dream. It was then that Nick Chambers founded Queensland Metal Recyclers (QMR), starting with offices in Rockhampton and Yatala. In the years since, Nick’s family has also taken to the business, including his son Jackson.
As one of four brothers, the entire suite of Chambers boys work at QMR, with the other three over at the brand’s Western Australian operations.
“We remain involved in both sides as it still is the one company. I remember my father starting the business with a small rigid truck, a few bins and a paddock to start buying and selling metal.
“From a young age, I’ve been involved in collecting scrap metal from car wreckers through to manufacturing businesses.”
While Jackson remembers helping Nick in the early days of the business, QMR has now grown to become a sizeable transport operator. As Nick and his band of boys have scaled the company, he has evolved from a sole operator to the leader of a group of 60 staff.
As the family has evolved the business, this has led to the operations conducted in Queensland to constantly change. The main office in Yatala has grown to take in and process all transfers made from the Rockhampton branch in central Queensland.
“Rockhampton is a satellite yard where the metal comes in – there’s no processing – and it’s loaded into bulk tippers before being brought to Yatala,” Jackson says.
“From here, it gets exported. We’re doing around 500 tonnes of metal each month in Rockhampton, running singles and B-doubles for the better part of 20 years.”
As these daily runs have progressed over the years, QMR has looked at ways of making its operations more efficient. Around two years ago it started talking to manufacturer Tefco Trailers about developing a road train combination that would get approved to run up Australia’s east coast on the Bruce Highway.
The idea has been to try and gain as much weight and payload as possible. During this conversation, QMR started also talking with Smedley’s Engineers, with a preliminary assessment assessing the operator could run vehicles at 79.5 tonnes gross.
“Our motivation to order these trailers was all about efficiency and max payload,” Jackson says.
“After ordering the trailers, we started looking at what trucks we could use to pull it. We wanted the truck to do two return trips to Rockhampton each week, five a fortnight and 10 a month.
“This formed the basis of our analysis – we looked at the trucks we had and decided we needed a new or near new truck that was fuel efficient, pulls strong weights and allows our drivers to pull up at the end of the day without feeling beaten up so they could drive again the next day comfortably. We want to look after our staff.”
With these changes come the need for top-notch equipment that is innovative, safe and efficient. On the fleet side, QMR has found the right partner by choosing early to closely align with dealer Brown and Hurley to get the latest and greatest Kenworth and DAF truck models.
“Our fleet is predominantly made up of Kenworths and DAFs,” Jackson says.
“Our very first prime mover was a DAF that was purchased by one of my brothers in 2014. The DAFs in our fleet have been terrific – having driven them myself, I find them to be quite comfortable as you can have a conversation on the phone easily in the cabin.
“Everyone loves the Kenworths and the big trucks, but I find that when it comes to driver comfort and how you feel when you pull up, DAFs are second to none.”
This personal preference led Jackson and the QMR team to take the new DAF XG 660 for a test drive at the local Brown & Hurley dealership. It was enough to convince them that the DAF product was the ideal truck for QMR’s latest needs.
“The truck was excellent to drive and we’re very excited to see it up and running now that it’s been delivered,” Jackson says.
“We just drove the stock model and we were happy – we thought it was terrific.”
With the DAF set to become QMR’s flagship truck in its fleet, a bit more effort than normal was put into the final design of the truck’s exterior. After seeing a special DAF truck on display at the Brisbane Truck Show in May, Jackson wanted to create a similar look that was eye-catching on the highways.
Working with Brown & Hurley, Jackson looked over the colour schemes, deciding to emulate the business’s black colour base while adding streaks of green and silver throughout.
“We wanted to go the extra mile with bells and whistles to create a truck that makes a statement on the road,” he says.
“It’s all about the image of our company on the road. I’m satisfied that this is one of the best looking scrap metal trucks out there – I may be a bit biased but I just love looking at it.”
While the outside of the new DAF certainly lives up to QMR’s lofty expectations, the internal is also packing plenty of surprises. A range of creature comforts ensure drivers can enjoy the space and quietness of the truck while out on the roads.
“One of our drivers is six foot six and he could almost jump in the cabin – that’s how high it is,” Jackson says.
“We compared it to other trucks and came back to this DAF as the model we wanted.”
The truck, which was delivered in late July, is QMR’s fourth DAF to grace its prime mover fleet. Now out on the road, it provides a statement truck that leads QMR’s logistics-driven endeavours throughout Australia.
With QMR’s operations growing to now include Performance Based Standards (PBS)-approved vehicles that run to and from the Port of Brisbane, the DAF fits in with a variable fleet. Outside of trucks, a plethora of floats, material handlers and excavators also aid in the process of end-to-end metal recycling.
“We handle a lot of different things and we have a range of various trucks and trailers,” Jackson says.
“Having new gear that is under warranty and is well-serviced has made a huge different to our operations – knowing a truck is capable and safe gives us peace of mind, and this DAF is no different.”
Throughout this growing assortment of machines, the latest DAF prime mover stands tallest in Jackson’s eyes. Much like the family business, the newest DAF model shows signs of evolution.
With more DAFs on the way, the QMR family is preparing to continue growing behind the newly delivered statement truck that is making a mark on Australian roads.
“We want to continue selling our older equipment and buying newer models, like we have with this DAF,” Jackson says.
“We’ve got another 36m road train in a production slot for our WA operations, and we’re potentially looking at having another DAF truck pulling that too
“We’re excited to have this beautiful truck going down freeways so that our customers and the industry can see it. We’re a family business that is very driven, and this DAF makes us so excited about the future and our journey.”
Article reproduced courtesy of Owner Driver Magazine (September 2025).
Writer: Sean Mortell