From our humble beginnings in 1963 with a Guy Warrior dedicated to hauling livestock around Ireland to the present day. Here at Whitten Road Haulage we have always prided ourselves on our exceptionel customer service and the satisfaction our services provide to the customer. We now consider ourselves to be at the forefront of the Heavy Haulage Industry being trusted time and again with ever more challenging projects.
1960s
As stated above the company started in 1963 with Frank purchasing his first truck a Guy Warrior. Legend has it the business was started on the day J.F.K was shot. At that time he was focused on servicing the local agricultural industry, hauling livestock, sugar beet and grains etc.
1970s
The 1970's saw the start of our long term partnership with Banagher Concrete as the haulage company for their goods. This partnership has been mutually beneficial and helped us at Whitten Road Haulage to wet our feet in the abnormal loads industry. Business expanded and with this the fleet grew. We continued to service our local agricultural community and started to offer storage facilities for the local mills during the winter.
1980s
Throughout the 1980's as the name grew and business picked up the fleet continued to expand. It was in the early 1980's that we purchased our first Scania from our long time suppliers Delaney Commercials. We purchased our first set of 'Bogies' for the transport of Banagher's loads which continued to grow in length. We picked up more and more clients across the engineering industry and started to venture into the UK market. We became the premier haulage company when it came to Iarnród Éireann and their upgrade of their fleet of carriages and engines. We also started to dabble in the world of boat haulage, with the purchase of a crane lorry. Throughout the 1980's Frank and his close friend George Dennison worked together to innovate and have trailers created to meet the increasingly varied workload
1990s
The 1990's saw the start of the massive investment in the Irish Roads network. The construction of the Motorway network saw massive investment in our fleet and the purchase of our first fully steering trailers in order to carry Banagher's beams as the weight started to get beyond the capacity of the 'Bogies'. Iarnród Éireann also kept us busy with various rail projects. We also notably started to carry many more heavy loads to the UK with the Leeds Bypass in particular seeing massive workloads. Towards the end of the 1990's we had installed a lorry full time in the UK to keep up with the massive volumes of loads that we were required to bring over and back. We bought our first HiAb crane lorry and Frank became almost entirely involved in the haulage of boats etc with the crane lorry. The end of the millennium saw us transport the Millennium Bridge from Carlow to Dublin.
2000s
The early 2000's saw along with the continued roads network expansion, projects such as the Dublin Port Tunnel which helped to keep us busy along with working on the Croke Park expansion. The company had to invest in a second larger HiAb crane lorry to keep up with the demand. The fleet continued to expand and the trailers continued to diversify as more and more work came our way. With the closure of the beet factory in Carlow an industry we had served since our establishment was finished in Ireland. In the mid 2000's the time had come for us to invest in our first modular equipment to carry what were at the time the largest precast beams ever manufactured in Ireland or the UK the 42m loads for the Limerick Bypass. This particular trip saw the trucks having to reverse 10km to then drive forwards and proceed onwards to and through Birr. In 2007 Frank passed away and the company passed to the second generation. Management was from then on conducted from within by employees who had worked with Frank for years.
2010s
The 2010s saw some readjustments as the recession took hold. The company through some astute management came out through the recession stronger, more resilient and fortified. Our fleet of trailers had grown to include the largest selection of extendable steering trailers in Ireland and boat trailers that can be loaded lower than anyone else in Ireland. In 2017 we bought our second set of Modular Trailers, we also purchased the first of their kind 4 axle Dennison trombones and in 2018 we upgraded our crane lorry. The company moved into serving the European market with trucks working in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain moving cranes, boats and other oversized loads. We also moved several power transformers and wind turbine blades. Some notable projects we were involved in included Glanbia in Waterford, a Boeing 767 that was moved from Shannon to Enniscrone in Sligo and the movement of the boat "Thunderchild".
Present Day
The 2020's have just started and Franks three grandsons have just taken over management. So far they have had to invest in DVS equipment, have attained a FORS Silver accreditation and are in the process of attaining ISO accreditation's, they have continued to invest in fleet overhaul and replacement, have added the ability to perform swept path analysis and have purchased our first 250 Ton rated lorry. They have also moved the largest precast beams ever made in the UK and Ireland at 50m and 155 Ton as well as a 103 Ton Rotor and have also recently added Denmark to the list of countries we have served. They have also been able to assist in the movement of a 240Ton Steel barge in Derry. The future is bright and we will keep you updated.
