Louie Deen
Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at ReUnion 2007.
Prior to leaving school, Louie Deen worked helping with repairs and maintenance, operating backhoes, road rollers, dozers and tip-trucks on job sites in the family business.
On his 17th birthday, he loaded his truck, an AB180 Inter with single-axle tipping trailer, and went and got his driver's licence for car, truck, semi-trailer, tractor, motor bike and bus all in one go. He has never looked back. After that, he graduated to an ex-Western Transport B61 Mack and later an R-model 6 cylinder Maxidyne with 5 speed main and 4 speed Spicer joey-box.
Louie and his brother formed Deen Bros Contracting and Demolition operating everything from D4 Case 850 Drotts to D9 dozers and self-powered scrapers as well as a fleet of Mack Superliners and cruiseliners. In 1984, Louie hit the highway doing interstate low-loader and roadtrain work. He transported a Favco 1100 tower crane and two truck cranes to Darwin for International Rigging Australia which opened a depot there. In 1987 they purchased a new Drake 6 rows of 8 steerable low-loader and started hauling the first D10 and D11 dozers to Hastings Deering in Darwin. The Deens also purchased and hauled heavy earthmoving equipment all over Western Australia. The highlight for Louie was when they purchased a Mack B1-Centenary Superliner named Henry Lawson with a 500HP V8. He was given the honour of driving this magnificent Mack.
In 1992, he left the family business and started Sailmove Pty Ltd Heavy Haulage Transport Services with 1 x R600 Mack and a Rentco Double Deck Tri Haulmark and the B1 Centenary and started moving dragline buckets and conveyor belting rolls, dozers, and all sort of specialised freight to the mines as the need arose. In 2006, Sailmove moved to new premises and today operates a diverse fleet including six trucks and prime-movers, tris, quads and dolly and 4x8 with 2x8 low-loader and dollies, roadtrain drop-decks and flat-tops, extendable flat-tops and drop-decks
Today, Sailmove has an annual turnover of $3 million and is going strong and the business employs six drivers, Terry, Louie and Karen in the office and five in the workshop.
