Paul Murphy was reared in the poultry industry so diversifying into egg transportation was a natural progression for him. Today Paul Murphy Logistics operates a fleet of six vehicles and he counts Noble Foods among his list of satisfied clients.
Noble Egg Innovations has grown over the last 50 years to become one of Britain’s leading providers and they place their trust in Paul Murphy Logistics to help them meet their transport needs.
“I set up the transport company four years ago,” Paul revealed in conversation with Irish Tractor & Agri. “I got in with Noble Foods, one of the top food companies in the UK and Europe, after they set up in Northern Ireland. We currently running 16 loads per week from Northern Ireland to mainland UK on behalf of Noble Foods. We have the eggs in the UK the next morning at 10am ready for packing.”
Despite just being four years in existence, Paul Murphy Logistics has experienced rapid growth in that short space of time. They have quickly developed a name as a leading provider of transport & logistics services to the egg sector.
“The business is growing all the time. We started off with just one lorry and now we have six. I can see the size of our fleet growing further going forward. We’re looking into carrying out additional logistics work for other companies in mainland UK. We’re starting to tap into that market and beginning to reap the rewards.
“There’s definitely room for further expansion. We’ve installed a plastic tray wash this year which helps us to keep the system moving. We have the capacity to wash 6,500 trays per hour which means there is no downtime, everything is kept moving. That takes the pressure off when it comes to packing the eggs in the UK because they are already washed.”
Paul inherited the family poultry business from his father Kieran five years ago.
“We were with Moy Park for 30 odd years before making the switch to Noble Foods,” he revealed. “Our poultry business is run on two different sites – MP Poultry Ltd (39,000 commercial layers) and Sluggan Farms Ltd (16,000 layers). We have plans to install a new shed at Sluggan Farms to double the number of layers to 32,000.”
Noble Foods are accredited to supply British Lion Quality Standards egg products, so their customers are assured of the highest standards of traceability and consistency of supply– all their birds lay on farms with the finest welfare standards.
Paul, his wife Martina and their team of four full-time and part-time drivers are dedicated to meeting the high standards that Noble Foods set at all times.
“We pride ourselves on our delivery and service,” he pointed out.
“We work very closely with our customers and poultry farmers. Our drivers have built up good relationships with the farmers. The same driver collects from the same farms and I think that personal touch is something that is appreciated by farmers.
“Bio-security is also of paramount importance to us. Of the seven days of the week, two are spent washing and disinfecting our vehicles. We have high bio-security standards to prevent disease being spread between farms. In the last four years we have had no incident of disease. Attention to detail is everything in that regard.”
Despite the positivity, there is no escaping the uncertainty that currently hangs ominously over the sector north and south of the border.
“Like practically everyone else, I’m not too sure what’s going to happen with Brexit but the one thing I do know is that the uncertainty is a cause of concern for egg producers.
The outlook for the transport sector is good but there is a shortage of drivers out there and I think the haulage industry is walking blind into a huge problem three or four years down the line.
“The price of eggs is also challenging, there are too much eggs about, along with high costs, feed prices for example.
All you can do is keep the head down and work your way through it. Hopefully, the good times will be back in a few years,” Paul concluded.
Paul Murphy Logistics
Pomeroy
Dungannon
Co Tyrone
BT 70 2UP
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: 0044 7715993023
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 7 No 4, August 2019
