Based in Athy, Co. Kildare, ’A’ Transport Ltd is a third-generation family-run business providing transport solutions to many different sectors. These sectors include bulk, curtainside, tipper, container, refrigerated and specialist waste and recycling transportation, as well as warehousing.

The company was established in 1948 under the name of IVI Transport by Leslie Anderson and is still going strong nearly 70 years later. Leslie, who is now 84, handed over the reins in 1973 to his son Roger who renamed the company ‘A’ Transport Ltd a year later. For the past number of years, Roger has been joined in the business by his son Callum, who is one of eight full-time drivers employed.

“The company’s original name was taken from the old IVI Foundry in Athy,” Roger explains.

“We changed it to ‘A’ Transport in 1974, with the ‘A’ standing for Anderson. My father, who still takes a keen interest in the company, started out working for Bord na Mona and that link has been maintained to this day. The business has grown over the years and we now offer a wide range of services to cater for nearly every aspect of transportation.”

‘A’ Transport is perhaps best-known for being a specialist in the haulage of bulk combinable crops, dry feed materials / ingredients and compound animal feeding stuffs. In this regard, local company Boortmalt – formally Minch Malt – is its biggest customer. The company’s association with Boortmalt goes back to the 1950s when it collected barley from local growers and delivered to Minch Malt in Athy.

Nowadays, ‘A’ Transport draws malt from the Boortmalt facility to the Guinness brewery in Dublin and Cooley Distillery in Co. Louth. Operating from 10 locations throughout Europe, Boortmalt is the second largest producer of malt in Europe and the fifth largest globally. Its goal is to produce high-quality types of malt to meet the specific demands of its worldwide clientele of brewers and distillers.

In addition, ‘A’ Transport hauls raw materials such as gluten, maze and soya from Dublin Port to animal feed stuff producers such as Charles R Wynne in Athy, Grennans of Rath and Quinn’s of Baltinglass Ltd. Also ‘A’ Transport were involved in hauling  feed stuffs from the UK for Glanbia during the fodder crisis of 2013.

In the interest of maintaining traceability of assured combinable crops after they have left the farm, ‘A’ Transport is a member of TASCC (Trade Assurance Scheme for Combinable Crops). TASCC was developed because farmers and end users wanted to be sure that crops of grain, oilseeds and pulses were treated responsibly once they left the farm. That includes wheat processed by flour millers and malting barley for the brewers and distillers in the drinks industry. It provides independent verification that the trade is meeting food safety laws.

The scheme is audited and certified by an independent certification body, in accordance with the internationally recognised standard EN45011. This means that the certification body is itself independently assessed every year to ensure that the standard is implemented and administered consistently and fairly.

The scheme dovetails with UFAS (Universal Feed Assurance Scheme) and with the UK livestock assurance (Red Tractor) schemes which the major supermarkets make a requirement for the home-produced livestock products they buy.

Farm fertilizer and plastics transportation are other mainstays of the family-run business which prides itself on providing a reliable, efficient, safe and cost-effective service. A Transport holds waste collection permits which allows it to transport waste and recycled material. The company also offers a groupage service between Ireland and the UK.

Roger runs a fleet of eight modern trucks and 25 trailers. Six of the trucks are DAF along with one Scania and one Renault. Earlier this year, he took delivery of a brand new DAF 105 510 from DAF Distributors in Dublin. Despite reducing the size of his trailer fleet in recent years, Roger still operates an extensive range of bulk, refrigerated, curtainside, container and tipper trailers.

‘A’ Transport employs a team of experienced, reliable and courteous Irish drivers who have contributed greatly to the company’s growth and success down the years.

All maintenance and repair work is carried out in-house. “We have our own mechanic who ensures that the fleet is kept well-maintained. The trucks and trailers are serviced regularly in order to avoid any unnecessary breakdowns. The advantage of running a modern fleet is that breakdowns are few and far between,” Roger says, who also avails of his son Aidan’s panel-beating and spray painting skills to keep the fleet in top condition.

Last March, ‘A’ Transport relocated to a new state-of-the-art premises at Gateway Business Park in Athy. It had originally operated from Ardrew before spending nine years in Barrowford.

“We don’t know ourselves in the new premises!” Roger smiles.

The new premises has an office, workshop, warehousing, wash-bay and tarred parking area… all we could really ask for.”

‘A’ Transport has been a long-time member of the IRHA (Irish Road Haulage Association). Roger is full of praise for the organisation, which is the recognised national representative body of the licensed road haulage industry in Ireland.

“Without the IRHA, we’d have nobody to fight our corner,” Roger maintains.

“The IRHA is currently lobbying the Government for a reduction in road tax, which is a huge issue facing all truck owners. It costs €4,000 to tax a truck for a year in Ireland compared to just £700 in the UK.

“If this continues for much longer, I can see many Irish hauliers relocating to the UK, resulting in a massive loss of revenue to the Irish government. Already, 30 per cent of Irish trucks are being outsourced to other countries.

“Another issue the IRHA is keen to tackle is how to get more young people involved in the industry. The average age of the Irish truck driver is 55. If the age profile doesn’t drop, there is going to be a shortage of drivers in a few years’ time. The big problem is that there is no recognised subsided course to encourage young people to become truck drivers. This isn’t the case with other trades.

“Also, I think it’s wrong that we should have to pay £10 road levies when we use roads in Northern Ireland and the UK. They don’t have to pay levies when they come into this country, so that leaves us at a serious disadvantage straight away.”

Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 2 No 7, December 2014