industry logistics founded 6 march 1978 headquarters auckland new zealand key people bruce plested chairman & founder neil graham onzm founder don braid managing director carl howard smith general counsel director bryan mogridge independent director richard prebble cbe independent director simon cotter independent director products transport logistics freight forwarding revenue nz 2 054.3 million 2015 number of employees 6 277 2015 subsidiaries daily freight nz carotrans worldwide owens au nz chemcouriers au nz wim bosman eu slogan special people special company website www.mainfreight.com mainfreight limited is a new zealand logistics and transport company . it began its operations in auckland in 1978 . founded by bruce plested who started the company with just nzd 7000.00 and a 1969 bedford truck . he was later joined by neil graham . when the company was founded it entered a highly regulated transport market . a licence from new zealand railways corporation was needed to carry freight over 150 km . when deregulation of land transport occurred in 1982 mainfreight quickly took advantage of the opportunities presented and won a large share of the freight market . contents 1 mainfreight distribution 2 mainfreight international 3 owens takeover 4 target logistics acquisition 5 see also 6 references 7 external links mainfreight distribution edit the firm s australian domestic freight and logistics division mainfreight distribution began operations in 1989 with an operation in sydney . this operation was expanded with depots in melbourne and brisbane . it now has nine company depots in australia and relies on agents and third parties in the northern territory tasmania and regional australia . mainfreight international edit mainfreight international was mainfreight s first international sea and airfreight business and was started in 1984 by bruce plested s brother gerald . they established agencies in the early days with australian pacific island and united states freight forwarders and the established agents in most major trading partner countries of new zealand . with the takeover of australian freight forwarder iss express lines in 1998 they established the australian international freight business . with the takeover of the owens group in 2003 they purchased owens international australia . in 2006 the new zealand mainfreight international and owens international businesses were also merged to make mainfreight owens international ltd now mainfreight international . in 2007 mainfreight purchased halford international formerly halford young to increase their airfreight abilities and strengthen their global network . mainfreight has international operations in the usa through its carotrans international inc and most recently mainfreight international inc businesses after the 2007 acquisition of target logistics in asia nine branches in china one each in taiwan singapore and hong kong . citation needed owens takeover edit in 2003 mainfreight bought owens group limited one of new zealand s largest trucking firms . this takeover was in response to the purchase of tranz rail by australian transport firm toll holdings . target logistics acquisition edit in 2007 mainfreight acquired target logistics a u.s. based forwarder with 34 u.s. offices and an extensive agent network . in 2008 the u.s. locations were re branded as mainfreight usa see also edit transport in new zealand references edit external links edit mainfreight website v t e nzx 50 companies of new zealand as of september 19 2016 a2 milk company air new zealand anz argosy property auckland international airport chorus coats contact energy ebos fisher & paykel healthcare fletcher building fonterra shareholders fund freightways genesis energy goodman property trust heartland bank infratil kathmandu kiwi property mainfreight mercury energy meridian energy metlifecare metro performance glass nuplex nzx new zealand refining orion health group port of tauranga precinct properties property for industry restaurant brands ryman healthcare scales skycity entertainment sky network television spark stride property summerset tower trade me trustpower vector vista vital healthcare property trust the warehouse westpac xero z energy former nzx 50 companies partial list affco amp apn news & media cavalier diligent corporation fisher & paykel appliances goodman fielder lion nathan michael hill oceanagold pacific edge pgg wrightson pike river coal pumpkin patch rakon skellerup steel & tube telstra tourism holdings retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title mainfreight & oldid 732938384 categories road transport in new zealandcompanies based in aucklandtransport companies of new zealandcompanies listed on the new zealand stock exchangehidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from april 2015 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk 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