JAMES QUINN - FOR AWKWARD CARGO TO DIFFICULT PLACES

Once upon a time in the early ‘80s, a young man with a refrigerated truck packed it with fresh meat and hauled it off to Europe. That man was James Quinn and, even if he didn’t know it then, that journey was the first step in the evolution of James Quinn/JWQ European Transport. Plant and Civil Engineer talks to James about the specialist haulier his company has become.

To begin with, James Quinn’s business was haulage, plain and simple, although, right from the start he operated on an Irish and European level. That focus has continued, although the loads carried are altogether different. Today, the business revolves around the movement of long, wide, heavy, high and awkward cargo across the island of Ireland, and anywhere between here and the Russian border and from as far north as the Arctic Circle to the South Sahara Desert in Morocco.

“The company gradually developed both the tractor and trailer units to handle heavy haulage and it was an element of the business that interested me,” says James. “The decision to focus on the niche market for out-of-the-ordinary cargo came after the economic meltdown in 2009 and the subsequent recession.”

Specialist Branding

James Quinn established relationships with permit providers and held the TÜV (Technischer Überwachungsverein) certification necessary to secure permits to deliver tailored solutions for the transport of out-of-gauge equipment to many European destinations. The company also had an excellent fleet of suitable vehicles and trailers.

As James saw it, a well-communicated rebranding was what was needed to bring the business to the next level.

“The task of building a brand is all that more difficult when all your trailers are open and lack the advertising platform of a sided trailer. It was therefore vital that the message on my trucks accurately reflected our speciality”, James explains. “The phrase ‘for awkward cargo to difficult places’ came to mind while loading a tracked digger at -20 degrees in the far end of Poland late one evening. It describes exactly what the business is about.

“A new, branded vehicle arrived in 2015, followed by another one in 2016; both topof-the-range Scania tractor units, plated to operate at 80,000kg plus. These vehicles, combined with the purchase of two new max-low loaders and one new max ultra-low loader, broadened our capacity to service clients in the pharma sector, where exports of stainless steel vessels and platforms have become a vital part of what we do.”

The rebranding exercise proved to be a success, garnering enquiries from people who had seen the ‘Quinn’ vehicles and their livery on European roads, motorways and factories, leading to new business in new market sectors.

A Case In Point

A prime example of work ensuing came from a client who requested the provision of OOG (out of gauge) equipment to cope with 134 x 13.6-metre trailers to a destination in The Netherlands. The contract involved the sourcing of a warehouse close to the project, shipping all stock to the warehouse and managing deliveries to the site within a precise timeframe. In addition, the contract required the supervising of the assembly of additional equipment and delivery of the same from the warehouse to the site. Express driver-accompanied deliveries from the Dublin warehouse to the Dutch warehouse, and additional raw materials were also provided at short notice. In all, this contract required 777 trailer movements, all completed in the specified four-month timeframe - a significant achievement for all concerned. A repeat order followed for a similar job in the same destination.

Equipped For Any Challenge

Today, the James Quinn fleet is tailored specifically to the needs of abnormal loads. It comprises 13.6m flats and Trombone trailers with posts and twist locks, low decks and Wafer deck trailers extending to 17.5 metres, an extendable low loader, several extendable semi-low loaders, Euroliners, Tautliners and bulk tipping trailers. All of this is simply equipment and requires experienced hands to plan, implement and operate a project. James Quinn has a team of 25 drivers, escort vehicle drivers and a team of professionals with the combined expertise and experience to oversee, plan and execute the specialist heavy haulage that the company now does daily on a pan-European basis. It is this combination of the right equipment and the right team with expert market and operational knowledge and connections Europe-wide, that has made James Quinn a name to reckon with in abnormal loads across a whole continent. The company is a trusted partner in infrastructure and pharma projects including The Shed Distillery in Ballinaboy, the new Guinness brewhouse, the recent Intel extension of the Jenzyme Operation in Belgium, GSK Belgium, GSK Spain, the new power generation plant in Aghada, to name just a few.

Niche Excellence

In short, James Quinn’s acuity in seeing the niche market for abnormal loads and developing its potential has paid dividends.

James says, “Standard in-gauge cargo over long distances has become such a commodity market that some Irish and English hauliers have been squeezed out by the many Eastern European hauliers currently operating around Europe. It has become a race to the bottom and we made the right decision to specialise as we have. “What’s more, in a niche field, no two days are ever the same and the variety of challenges we face daily makes it a very interesting field of endeavour.”

WATCH…

The engineering and manufacturing of the world’s leading modular data centre. With special thanks to the Silent-Aire Team in Dublin Ireland, An Garda Siochana Roads Infrastructure Ireland. James Quinn International Heavy Haulage, SISK & CHL Crane Hire Ltd.

https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=QWMCHHRucrk