By Grace Renderman, Associate Editor
Before becoming CEO of Watco Australia, Gavin Bignell worked for the company’s first client down under: CBH Grain Pty Ltd., a bulk grain-handling company based in Western Australia.
From across the table, Bignell was able to witness firsthand Watco Australia’s workplace culture and “customer-first attitude,” he says. The experience helped him begin to shape the company into one that can meet and exceed its customers’ expectations, says Bignell, who has served as CEO since May 2022.
He knew he wanted to work for the rail operator after a trip to the United States he took with CBH’s operations division. The itinerary included a visit to Watco’s U.S. facilities and meetings with employees and customers, which helped him understand Watco’s global work culture.
“What was really evident was that the customer-first mantra was not just a mantra. It was very real,” he says. “I knew quite a few people at Watco Australia at the time, and I always said to myself, if ever I had the opportunity, this is an organization I'd love to work for.”
Before he’d get the chance, Bignell served as general manager of operations at Fremantle Ports, Western Australia’s largest port system, from 2019 through the spring of 2022, when he took the reins at Watco Australia, which primarily moves containerized freight, agricultural commodities and mining inputs/outputs, including ore and minerals. Founded in 2012, the Perth-based company has about 400 employees.
Trusting your workforce
Taking the reins meant Bignell could refine his leadership style, strategy and philosophy. Part of that philosophy is reinforcing the customer-first attitude at every level of the company, he says.
Bignell also believes in trusting his workforce to get the job done. As a result, he has a largely hands-off management approach.
“The role of the leader is to set their team up for success and give them the tools and skills that they need to do an outstanding job. And then let them do their job,” Bignell says.
Leading is about increasing efficiency by removing bottlenecks and red tape and making things clear and simple on an organizational level, he says. In part, it means making the organizational hierarchy clear so that teams and divisions are on the same page about what needs to be done today, tomorrow and next week.
It’s also about being flexible and understanding that life circumstances change.
“I pay people to do a role. I don't pay them to necessarily sit here from nine to five,” Bignall says. “It's all about deliverables.”
More than anything, workers want to “be part of an organization that's got a bright future,” Bignell says. So, he focuses on not only ensuring that Watco Australia is on the growth track — by acquiring new assets and clients and offering new services — but also that employees know they’re well cared for.
Meeting the customer’s needs
Watco Australia’s customers also benefit from the company’s adaptability, Bignell says. Unlike Watco’s U.S. operation, Watco Australia doesn’t own or maintain any of the track it services; instead, all track is owned by a mix of private companies and government organizations, he says.
“We're not wedded to any one fixed model,” Bignell says. “Our operation is very much that whatever works best for the customer, we'll look to do [it] — which could mean we bring the assets [or] we just operate them, or it could be a combination of both.”
Getting the most out of the company’s assets is a priority for Bignell, who believes Watco Australia can accomplish plenty for a customer without needing a lot of capital. The focus should be on looking at the business from a different perspective, Bignell says. Having been on the opposite end of the table, he has some experience with that.
Since its founding in 2012, Watco Australia has grown its client base, made acquisitions, expanded its service offerings and spread across the continent.
Today, the company serves five major customers in bulk operations and dozens of container freight clients through subsidiary Intermodal Group Pty Ltd, which it acquired in 2016. Watco Australia operates a six-days-a-week freight service running between Perth and Calgary on the western coast and multiple services on the east coast, from shunting and grain storage handling operations in New South Wales to cattle transportation in Queensland.
“What success looks like for us this year is [to] have delivered against our customer promise on the increase in the number of services we're going to run whilst continuing to service all of our existing customers really, really well,” Bignell says.
