KS Easter, a prominent Brisbane-based haulage company that has been in business for 48 years, holds the importance of safe equipment close to heart. The business, created by Ken Easter who started out as a single truck owner-operator, was founded in 1976 originally in Newcastle, New South Wales, until he decided to move its operations to Brisbane in 1988.

From a carrier of predominantly refrigerated, general and express freight, it has since developed into a linehaul specialist carting time sensitive goods and express freight nightly between Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, with the ability to transport anywhere else around the country as well.

Today, the fleet continues its freight tasks around Australia with an extremely high emphasis on safety and the wellbeing of its drivers and the general public. Only now, it has JOST equipment standardised across all of its units.

Ken’s son, Kenny, who works in the role of General Manager, says KS Easter has been using JOST products exclusively for 20 years and counting.

“We have over 100 trucks and roughly 300 trailers all fitted with JOST equipment as standard,” he says. “We go to them for our turntables, kingpins and landing legs. All of our JOST gear runs to the east coast of Australia on time-sensitive linehaul work. They’re reliable and they stand the test of time.”

Over the last two decades of dealings, a bond between JOST and KS Easter has developed which has allowed Kenny to completely place his trust in the OEM. The relationship, he says, has also given him opportunities to trial new products in his own applications.

“We have a very close relationship with JOST,” he says. “Knowing how much product we have of theirs in our fleet and how long we’ve been using them for, JOST will let us know if there’s something new coming along that we could trial to see if it works for our business.

“On top of that, JOST also comes around to our site once a year and does a training course with our workshop staff on any updates or improvements in products and processes that we might benefit from.”

In recent years, KS Easter has trialled JOST’s Loc-Light sensor system on its fifth wheels as an extra preventative for insecure coupling. Kenny says the trial came with great success, and because of that, he is now making the sensor system standard fitment on all new equipment which enters the fleet.

“We’re always happy to jump on board and see what we can do to make the job safer and easier for everyone involved, whether it be drivers, businesses or other motorists on the road,” he says. “When you drop a trailer, everyone looks for excuses for why it happened and ways to prevent it from happening again. We think this is a major step forward into helping reduce those issues.”

JOST’s innovative Loc-Light system, featuring a dual sensor monitoring setup and LED illumination, ensures secure and reliable couplings by reducing the risk of errors.

The system is integrated with what JOST calls a ‘Go’/‘No-Go’ indicator light (green/ red) near the handle. When the handle and kingpin are properly locked, the light turns green which signals that the trailer has been coupled correctly. However, if the handle or kingpin is not locked correctly, the light flashes red and begins beeping.

“It takes out some of the concerns with coupling,” Kenny says. “You’d like to think that your driver is going to complete all of the proper steps when coupling their own trailer, but for those that take shortcuts or those that have an issue with getting underneath trailers to inspect the turntable, this just helps indicate to someone whether the trailer is connected properly or not.”

Additionally, the LED illumination automatically activates and shines directly into the fifth wheel’s throat, providing a clear view of the lockbar for pre-trip inspections. As Kenny explains, this secondary step helps with the visual inspection by simplifying the process, saving time and improving accuracy.

“When the driver hooks up a trailer and plugs in the electrical lead, it turns on the light that is at the base of the turntable and lights up that surrounding area,” he says. “Having that green light there not only tells the driver that it’s right, but anyone that might be walking by can make sure that the driver is actually checking everything and can see that it’s okay.”

This ultimately saves valuable time during pre-trip inspections and allows businesses like KS Easter to gain enhanced safety, increased efficiency and peace of mind on every journey through its use. 

“We were retrofitting lights to turntable plates so drivers could check their kingpins visually when they were hooked up, but now they’ve got this indicator light which makes the job even easier,” Kenny says. “The drivers have found it fairly good. It’s pretty new in the fleet, but I expect there will be a bit of commentary going around as more drivers use it.”

Based on his experience with the sensor so far, Kenny believes Loc-Light could be a solution for the greater transport industry. “For the cost of having it, I don’t know why any new truck wouldn’t come out with it,” he says.

“For what it can save you in terms of dropped trailer costs for damaged legs, floors, fuel tanks, toolboxes, or even upsetting the customer, I don’t know why you wouldn’t fit it.

“I think it will be a market leader. It’s simple and user-friendly, and it’s another innovation to help with safety in transport. It’s a good product, and I know it’s something that our customers will be excited by as well.”