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D ublin Docks has become something of a magnet for hauliers

19th September 1996
Page 41
Page 41, 19th September 1996 — D ublin Docks has become something of a magnet for hauliers
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in the past two years. Not only is the Irish Republic's growth rate so good that it makes the rest of Europe seem sickly, but Dublin Docks has long since shaken off its reputation for poor industrial relations and inefficiency.

New ferry crossings have boosted the port's attraction and introduced a competitive edge into the cost of crossings. More and more hauliers are basing themselves there as the North starts to lose out to the Republic's economic buoyancy.

Among them is O'Reilly Transport, which has moved lock, stock and barrel from Dundalk to a gleaming new purpose built £2m depot in Dublin. It is not short of company: last year Belfast haulier Woodside took a 99-year lease on a site at the port, while Newtonabbey-based Montgomery has opened a 2000m2 storage site on the dockside.

But O'Reilly is the port's biggest catch yet, with its fast expanding fleet which currently includes 70 tractors and 250 trailers, all of which are now based in the dock's Promenade Road.

Business journey

For Eugene O'Reilly this is the latest stage in a personal business journey that started in Newry in 1972. Like many self-made hauliers before him O'Reilly started as a driver—for BRS in Stafford—before moving back to Ireland.

He is a man who likes to be in control of his own business from start to finish. As well as O'Reilly Transport he also controls three groupage companies, and he's just taken over a firm specialising in distribution to supermarkets.

One of his guiding business principles is that if O'Reilly Transport needs a service, then it probably makes sense to set up a company to provide it. So when he needed computer software to run his companies' systems he didn't just buy in the expertise, he set up his own company, Eternal Computer Solutions. It not only sorts out O'Reilly Transport's needs but generates income by serving a string of other Irish hauliers. Prohaul, the company's software package, is now used by hauliers at 25 sites throughout Ireland.

Given this solve-it-yourself approach it is hardly surprising that when he was organising the construction of O'Reilly's new base in Dublin Docks, the plans were very much hands-on. When Eugene and his wife Virginia, who plays a big part in the business, give conducted tours of the new depot, it is with the pride not only of proprietors, but of designers as well.

As Virginia O'Reilly out lines the lay-out of the recep tion area, the position of the 0showers and the precise type

and position of windows it E becomes clear that the archi8 tect had a very full briefing

indeed. The O'Reilly's knew E what they wanted and made sure that they got it, from showers for the staff to a truckwash for the vehicles. The architect may have known about buildings but the O'Reillys knew about haulage.

This self-reliance has obviously worked over the years. O'Reilly Transport's expansion has been by turns steady and spectacular as the company shifted its base further south with each successive move.

For its first five years, from 1972-77, O'Reilly did no work outside Ireland, setting up in business with two Atkinsons and doing much of the driving himself. Then the firm began driver-accompanied work across the Irish Sea before switching to unaccompanied trailers and increasing the number of loads.

In 1983 O'Reilly left Newry for its first jump south, to Dundalk. By this time it was operating 10 tractors and 20 trailers. The expansion process speeded up in the late 1980s with the establishment of three groupage companies: McGrath Freight Team, Bradford; Consolidated Express, Dublin; and Groupage Freight, Heysham. Eugene O'Reilly is the managing director and majority shareholder in all of them and also owns the freight forwarder Freight Centre UK.

Customer base

The move to Dublin was logical for a number of reasons, including the large customer base that O'Reilly Transport has built up in the city. "More and more of our customers are Dublin-based so it made good sense for us to be here," says O'Reilly. "We also use Merchant Ferries' service to Heysham for a lot of our cross-Irish Sea business so when they switched from Warrenpoint to Dublin that was another reason. Dubl also attractive because there was dm available here to put up our own pt built depot, which obviously efficiency. The move has preservi competitive edge and we are very p with the way the new depot is workin: To the extent that O'Reilly relies oi companies at all, it is in the 15% of that goes beyond Britain to the Coro where, arrangements with local opt including Norbert Dentressangle spread its network further. But mos companies that deal with O'Reilly bi are owned by O'Reilly himself: "It's a of control. We prefer to do the job ow because then we know we can guarant ability," he says.

The company works exclusively in tl freight sector. Merchant Ferries tak bulk of its cross-Irish Sea freight but 15% goes on Belfast Freight Ferries an on the Sea Ferries service from Warrei Heysham.

The company should be well beddt its new depot by the time O'Reilly Tra and its 100 or so employees celebrate it ter century next year. It is a celebration Eugene O'Reilly will be able to enjoy good deal of satisfaction—he's come way since climbing into his Atkinson embark on that first contract in 1972. IT by David Harris


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