CHALLENGES accepted. That is the motto of Alan Moody and his transport company Haulmore Trailers, which celebrated its 50 year anniversary last Friday, November 3.

The celebration was enjoyed by Mr Moody, his employees and several long-standing customers who have business ties with Haulmore dating back to the company’s inception in 1973.

“We have four people that we are currently doing business with, right now, that we were doing business with 50 years ago. Now I think that’s pretty fantastic,” he said.

Raised in Guildford since he was a boy, Mr Moody and his then business partner Les Troughton both took out a loan of $4000 each to start the transport company Mr Moody would man the helm of for the next 50 years.

When it began, Haulmore Trailers mainly provided heavy vehicle sales, services and repairs to the agriculture industry, mining industry and transport industry, as well as building equipment for motor vehicle dealers throughout the state.

The company still provides these services to this day but on a greater scale across the state, including its rental fleet of more than 100 units.

He said the competitive industry was hard going in the early years, but when he got knocked down he’d always get back up.

“It was tough, very tough. You could turn over a lot of money and still make no profit, so it was very, very hard,” Mr Moody said.

These hard years continued until the economic crash in 1987, which caused the company to enter voluntary receivership.

After the crash Mr Moody continued alone, but always the fighter, pushed on and thrived.

The premises Haulmore still resides at 7 Tipper Court in Hazelmere, was purchased just three years later in 1990.

Over the past 50 years, Haulmore has trained hundreds of apprentices, who Mr Moody said are highly sought after in the industry and many of whom have gone onto managerial positions.

“Even in our small state, we have to do every type of work, and because we have the ability to take on a range of different types of tasks. The apprentices trained by us are trained to a very high level, and they are always in high demand as employees,” he said.

Mr Moody believes the reason his business has not just survived, but also thrived over the years, is because the company conducts work with integrity and provides a good product that suits the conditions of Western Australia.

“The economy right now in WA is as good as I’ve ever seen it, it’s on fire.

“We’ve got more work than we can ever handle, and it’s fair to say the rest of our industry is in the same situation,” he said.

Mr Moody still runs Haulmore on a full-time schedule, turns 80 on February 3 next year, and said he won’t be slowing down anytime soon.