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Martin Murphy Transport
Page 52
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INTERNATIONAL HAULIER: OWNER-DRIVER ONE VEHICLE LOCATION: Kenagn, Co Longford FOUNDED: 2001 CONTACT: Martin Murphy FLEET SIZE: 95XF DAF, two fridge trailers CONTRACT: Refrigerated meat transport to
the UK and within Ireland In 20011he impending retirement of his employer of 12 years gave Martin Murphy the impetus to set up his own haulage company. "I always wanted to be my own boss," he explains. 'Frank O'Hara gave me the start by selling me a lorry and two refrigeration units."
While Murphy's lob with O'Hara involved a lot of Continental trips, he focused primarily on UK runs when he set up on his own, delivering pork for Glanbla Meats on his outward trips and bringing back hazardous goods such as aerosols and firelighters for United Global, a Birmingham-based groupage company.
Initially, he was making three trips a week in a schedule that usually involved leaving home on Sunday evening and returning the following Saturday.
Recently, however, he has started to handle local work for a Dublin-based company, which has enabled him to reduce his number of trips to the UK to one or two a week.
One of Murphy's priorities is maintaining high quality equipment, which he believes is particularly important in the refrigeration sector "I bought a second-hand fridge, but it's only a couple of years old,' he says. "I bought a new lorry last year.
'It looks better for the company to have a nice fleet and to keep it clean and tidy.
"I'd upgrade every three to four years After four years the lorries tend to have high mileage and lots of little things going wrong with them,' he adds.
Because of the cost of diesel and difficulties employing drivers, Murphy says he is quite happy to remain a one-rnan operation. "It's very difficult at the moment so I've no plans to expand. I'd rather be on my own," he explains