F Scott Fitzgerald once said there were no second acts when it came to American high society. The team behind the Brisbane-based transport company Rise of the Phoenix, as the name suggests, are not one to be limited by first acts.
At least not in Australia where it has become a leader in its segment. It was in the days leading up to Christmas 2013 that John and Froniga Riani decided it was time to get out of Melbourne.
Wanting a sea change and, at a minimum, some warmer weather, they uprooted their lives for the Gold Coast.
From the proverbial ashes they have built a family juggernaut floating heavy vehicles around the country.
A partnership with truck dealer CMV was where the business started to take off. Froniga, who is a lawyer by trade and serves as Managing Director, recalls they were initially happy being a small five truck fleet.
“We took pride in being trustworthy and dependable and clients picked up on that to the point they invited us to tender,” she says of VGA in the early days.
Content to stay in their “little lane” they, however, declined. But the offers kept on coming. Eventually, as John recalls, they accepted.
“We tendered for a lot of things under the impression ‘we’re not going to get it anyway,’” he says. “We ended up winning all of the contracts that we’d thrown our hat in the ring for.”
All of a sudden, the business was in a position in which it needed to grow quickly. That soon meant accumulating equipment.
An engineer by trade, John designs all of the fleet’s trailers for the unique format in which they carry trucks. It also gives them a distinct advantage not being stifled by downtime of having to wait for a third-party to design and manufacture their equipment.
One of John’s previous businesses specialised in building car carrying equipment and the cab frames for the subcontractors who worked for all the majors in the segment including Prixcar, CEVA and Autocare.
That background facilitated key connections with sales managers and dealer principals and invaluable inside knowledge of the industry.
“John understands the trailers on a different level because we’re using the trailers in practical applications that we design and build,” says Froniga.
“I don’t think we would have had the same head start had we not had John doing most of the work himself.”
She adds, “That really helped us to grow very quickly.”
Then COVID hit. And so did the truck sales boom to meet skyrocketing transport needs.
The business doubled, each year, over the next three years.
With its head office in the Brisbane suburb of Richlands, Rise of the Phoenix now runs 40 prime movers and 100 trailers with 14 additional trailers scheduled for deployment before Christmas. Last year the business began working for truck dealer CJD in Western Australia.
For their heavy combinations it was decided they would evaluate the new DAF XG, having been given an opportunity to trial the demo truck. They promptly ordered two units.
PACCAR Australia undertook extensive testing on the new DAF XG platform. Being involved in that process had parallels with how Rise of the Phoenix also approaches operations.
“It’s very much the same,” says John. “We’re always improving on what we have today. Bringing the units up to speed makes life easier for the driver and operations and for the freight.”
The fleet has taken delivery of the first of two new DAF XG660s with another two to be purchased before the end of the year once they arrive at a target spec. For the moment, John says the 3200Nm of torque delivered by the PACCAR PX-15 engine is sufficient.
“We tested the DAF XG on a couple of long trips. Bearing in mind that they are spec’d for Tautliners and tankers running 100 kilometres an hour and our operations are very different,” says John.
“There were some tweaks made to ratios to give us that little bit more.”
The DAF XG came with a 3.4 diff ratio and John had it modified to 3:93. They also went to a 3:78 ratio on a new DAF XF because it was shouldering smaller loads.
“They’re very good, DAF, at trying to find the right truck and application for us,” says Froniga.
“When we were ready to buy some trucks, they advised us to wait for the XG. They’ve been absolutely brilliant.”
The new truck made an immediate impression on John.
“The driver comfort on the few runs it performed for us was awesome,” he says.
“The windscreen is very big. We were impressed by the vision out of it. The interior is well appointed.”
As the first batch of cabs were built to 2.5 metre widths, the new ADR permitted dimension of 2.55-metres now enables for a super single tyre out of the factory.
“Our PBS favours the super single,” adds Froniga. “We’re already tweaking before we get the next one.”
Working for VGA allowed the business to expand into cabovers where previous to that they had been mainly running Macks. The majority of the fleet is cabover because it needs the length.
“Every metre we can take, we use it to carry one of the longer trucks,” says John.
Gross combination mass is, more surprisingly, not the primary consideration of the fleet when moving these large combinations interstate. Wind drag is. This one factor limits the entire fleet to running at 90km/hr.
“Our wind drag is phenomenal,” says Froniga. “It’s like having a big parachute out back. Our load is by extremes very different to any other out there on the road.”
At the minute they provide a B-triple solution for carrying up to four trucks at once.
Very soon they will be able to carry six trucks at 42 metres predominantly for their Perth run.
The new quad quad tri B-triple with hydraulic decks is slated to debut later this year. While the NHVR have been good to deal with, individual road managers are not always, especially, Froniga explains, as her fleet needs to get every new unit approved, turn by turn, given anything over 4.6-metres high is no longer gazetted.
“It’s an onerous process and it’s not for the light-hearted that’s for sure,” she says.
“The hardest part for us is the legal side of things.”
Their longest wait time for a permit was 460 days. That prompted a 180 degree adjustment in philosophy that resulted in giving precedence to trailer designs to prompt faster access.
“We went away from the 30-metre four truck carrying combination and we started managing so many different combinations” says John.
“Now we have designs for up to 800 different units because we have to pivot from access delays.”
Having what can be best called a sui generis spec also provides the OEMs a unique platform to test out their best new vehicles.
Not only is it an opportunity to capture datasets that no one else is likely to replicate but they are getting first crack on prototype trucks such as the DAF XG660, Volvo FH780 and the Scania R770.
This in turn assists Rise of the Phoenix organise customisations for future trucks. John likens it to breaking the ice for the next combination.
“It’s good R&D for both of us,” adds Froniga. “Because we float massive trucks that no one else can and we float at capacity four prime movers we need to educate our partners in the increased floating potential as we’re so different.”
One of their policies is to purchase trucks for their fleet from their customers where possible.
They are now carrying for a growing client base and most of the major OEMs in Australia including DAF, Kenworth, Volvo, Mack, Isuzu, Daimler and Scania as well as some of the body builders.
“On occasion we might have a Volvo rocking up to deliver something into CJD but it’s fine at least they know that we’re buying their product for their corridor,” says Froniga. “We want to make sure that we’re taking and giving in equal parts.”
John admits it would probably be easier to use one brand even just for maintenance and PBS approvals.
“We initially wondered why carriers stick to one brand and now we are growing I see why they do that,” he chuckles.
“But all of our trucks are under gold contracts with a complete bumper to bumper warranty. We try not to put a spanner on our trucks.”
The business is now interested in expanding its niche to enter the oversize market. In order to better utilise the equipment they are also carrying heavy plant equipment to consolidate productivity to remain within the boundaries of what they know.
Having extra capacity on the trailers is not lost on some of the bigger fleets, who are engaging with Rise of the Phoenix as a measure to reduce their emissions.
“Because we carry more on less, we have a lower footprint obviously by considerable amounts compared to taking one unit at a time,” says Froniga.
“That has made it quite beneficial for us. If we’re utilising our units completely in both directions, then that helps our client as well to have their quotas met for their CO₂ and emissions targets.”
This has led subsequently to recent requests to transport whole quad dog combinations out of Melbourne. Quality service at a reasonable price point is, as a blueprint for continued success, no secret.
For companies in pursuit of sustainable growth like Rise of the Phoenix it’s attached a level of prestige that they are understandably proud of.
“Some people get FOMO and ask our clients who their carrier is, and we meet people along the way,” says Froniga.
“If we take an odd truck delivery to a place we don’t normally deal with and they get to know us, they tend to invite us back. That’s how we’ve grown organically over the years — but very fast.”
Article reproduced courtesy of Prime Mover Magazine (September 2025).