Acquisitions and mergers are commonplace across the transport industry. And those strategies played a part in the growth of Southland’s D.T. King & Co and [from 2013] D.T. Kings Transport.

But a move in the opposite direction saw the transport operations of the company separate into four entities over the summer of 2022-23. Not through crisis or conflict, but because the shareholders decided the tidiest succession plan for the business was for each to play to their respective strengths and serve their local clients.

The separation of a company that had nearly 200 trucks, and 160 staff, has created two rural carriers each focused on a home region, a log transport company, and a mechanical servicing operation. Each is owned by shareholders of the former D.T. Kings Transport but now operate as four independent businesses.

The split turned out to be a natural progression for the company according to Paul Balneaves, the former general manager of D.T. King & Co who oversaw the creation of the transport company and continues to run D.T. King Holdings and its lime, gravel and rock crushing activities.