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OBITUARY - Jerry Kiersey RIP “While Jerry has left us physically, his energy is still undiminished and all around us”
Most people in the transport sector find a niche for themselves, but not Jerry Kiersey, a leading figure in the industry, who passed away suddenly on 4 May. Jerry was a road transport operator, industry advocate and representative, a commentator, political activist and a volunteer for many charities and good causes. Up to the time he died, he was still active in all of these sectors. Bet that during his last swim - a passion of his - he would have been planning and organising the next move for his many projects. He was very good at compartmentalising his life, however, one thing did not always follow another. In spite of all this work and commitment, Jerry’s family trumped everything and were the most important part of his life – his wife Helen and children Ben, Nick and Rachel. At her father’s funeral service Rachel said: “when writing this piece the hardest thing to think of was where to start, as describing Jerry’s life would take forever”- an understatement for sure. Jerrys life began in Enniskillen, in close proximity to the railway station, where he gained his first interest in transport. Although he left school at the age of fourteen, he never lost
FLEETTRANSPORT | JULY 2022
Staff at Green Tiger Express wishing Jerry a Happy Birthday in April of this year
his appetite to learn, and was always embracing new challenges. Having spent a number of years at sea, he returned to live and work in Dublin. In a piece he wrote some years ago, Jerry described the next stage of his life as becoming ‘a man with a van’. That was 1973, and soon his new firm was expanding, moving to a warehouse on the Naas Road, operating three trucks. Not long afterwards he formed the now legendary Blueflite Nationwide Distribution business. Having always focused on personal relationships, ‘marketing’ was one of the keys to his success - even if, according to himself, he did not have a name for it at the time. When Blueflite was formed, there were no overnight
distribution companies operating in Ireland. One of his first customers was Lego, with Arnotts the largest retailer of the Danish toy company back then. It was around this time that his close working and personal friendship began with David Delaney - described by Jerry’s son Ben “as beyond flesh and blood”. In a few short years Blueflite went from being a transport company doing set routes around Ireland to specialising in overnight distribution. Never standing still, Blueflite mainly focused on car parts delivery, and by 1990 was operating over 40 trucks, had a network of regional agents and delivered over 60% of automotive spare parts nationwide. There were many aspects to the Blueflite operation that were innovative and original. One was the introduction of draw-bar trailers. It allowed a rigid truck to become a trunk vehicle at night. In addition, Blueflite was also one of the first transport companies to achieve the
