Hall’s History

The Hall’s story started in the 1950s when Ian Hall began to operate meat trucks on night deliveries for the Auckland abattoir, Hellaby Meats and the country’s first Foodtown supermarket at Otahuhu.

Hall’s Meat Transport was officially incorporated in August 1969 and from the 1970s operated under new owners Peter Walker, and Bevan Weir.

At the time New Zealand’s freight network was heavily regulated. There were limits on the distance trucks could transport goods. Carriers also had to be licensed for specific types of freight within particular areas, which protected established companies from up and coming operators like Hall’s.

By 1986 the Government had ended the licensing system and removed the limits on long-distance trucking.

Deregulation was the start of Hall’s growth period and began the slow demise of many of the old companies who found the new competitive market tough.

In 1987 Hall’s was proud to expand to the South Island, winning a major account for delivery of chilled yoghurt to NZ Dairy Food outlets nationwide.

The business began to grow through acquisition.

New branches were established from 1987 in Napier, Gisborne, Wanganui, Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill. Halls Meat Transport changed its name in November 1990 to Hall’s Refrigerated Transport to signal the focus on the transport of chilled and frozen goods.

The Spartan Road site at Takanini was purchased from New Zealand Post in 1992 and developed as Hall’s new head office.

Vehicles, equipment, staff, property, turnover, client base and management structure all grew along with the company’s reputation for efficiency, reliability and quality service.

The Madill family became part of the Hall’s legacy from 1995 when Garry Madill bought the business and that began an exciting new era that would help transform not only Hall’s but also the temperature-controlled logistics industry in New Zealand.

The following two decades have seen the redevelopment and upgrade of our network with a refreshed fleet, modern, well-designed cold stores and an expansion of services to include rail, coastal, and storage.

Purchases have included Translink Refrigerated (2005) LCL Transport (2007) Roadways and Easy Logistics (2010) and Icepak (2016).

Significant investment has been made - all with the efficiency and integrity of the cold chain in mind.