A lasting legacy
31 March 2016
Spratt Transport Services is an exceptional bonded warehousing and transport company
The late Paddy Spratt literally built Spratt Transport Services up from scratch. Today, his sons Pady (MD) and Sam (Transport Manager) are proudly overseeing the business and are determined to keep things moving forward with purpose as a tribute to their father. We touched base with Pady to get an update on this extraordinary family business. Spratt Transport Services is an exceptional bonded warehousing and transport company based in Santry, Dublin 9, adjacent to Dublin Airport, specialising in handling and stripping incoming freight / cargo shipments from groupage LCL and FCL containers and trailers from all over the world. They hold, store and deliver for their customers as well as offering daily distribution throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland. For distribution, they collect and deliver next day to all 32 counties, covering a full range of pallet distribution air, sea and road freight – every day. No consignment is deemed too large or too small from a parcel to a full load.
Meanwhile, for freight forwarding customers, Spratt Transport Services covers Dublin Airport every morning and evening for collections and deliveries for both import and export shipments around the world. All drivers are airfreight security trained and the warehouse boasts airfreight known cargo status to hold freight ready for shipping. Since its inception in the early 1990s, Spratt Transport Services has delivered a professional and dedicated service to companies, collecting and delivering parcels, pallets, groupage loads, full loads and pretty much any type of cargo that one would care to mention. The business has gone from strength to strength since moving into its own 12,000 sq ft bonded warehousing and distribution centre in Furry Park in February, 2009. This spacious facility is ideally located for the freight industry as it is just minutes from Dublin Airport, the Port Tunnel, the M1 and the M50. Contained within its own secure, fenced compound complete with CCTV and an alarm system, the warehouse allows Spratt Transport Services to provide a fully-bonded warehousing and distribution, road haulage, transport and handling service throughout Ireland.
Spratt Transport Services offers a full logistics service to customers from collection to holding stock, picking orders, preparing goods for distribution and putting shipments out for delivery. With a complete supply chain in place under one roof, they can take care of all their partners transport / logistics needs with a minimum of fuss. From nothing, the vision and hard work of Paddy Spratt Snr. developed Spratt Transport Services into one of Ireland s premier bonded warehousing and transport providers. Decades of blood, sweat and tears finally saw Paddy fulfil his lifelong ambition of operating a thriving family business, serving many of Ireland s biggest companies from a prime location, using a state-of-the-art fleet of vehicles. Needless to say, Paddy s untimely passing in October. 2014 came as a major body blow to both the Spratt family and the business. Bravely, his sons Pady and Sam have vowed to keep the show on the road and they have set about the process of driving the business forward in memory of their late Dad. It certainly hasn t been the way Pady Spratt – managing director of the family business at just 23 would have envisioned things but he is determined to do his father proud:
He was the driving force behind the business. He joined BenAir after doing his Leaving Cert and worked in an office handling general operations before they closed down two years later. He took a few of their customers and basically started off himself with a Mini Cooper. He used to have freight strapped to the top of the Mini and he built up his customer base slowly but surely.
Eventually, he replaced the Mini with his first van and built it up to five drivers in total. Around 09, he started dealing with a lot of bigger customers and that coincided with our move into the current premises here in Dublin 9. He now had the capacity to provide an even bigger and better service and things really started to take off. Even though the economy wasn t at its best in 2009, he grew the business through the downturn and we now have eleven full-time employees as well as subcontractors and part-time staff.
A wide range of services is provided to an ever-expanding customer base. At present, we operate four rigids (two Scanias, one DAF and one Isuzu) and one van. We offer a domestic warehousing and distribution service throughout the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. We also have a network to cover Europe and provide a worldwide personal effects shipping service.
We use very carefully-selected partners to guarantee the best distribution service possible throughout Ireland. We d serve Dublin and surrounding counties ourselves but have complete coverage of the 32 counties using our carefully-chosen partners. An upturn in the economy has coincided with Pady assuming control of the business and this has resulted in a welcome upsurge in business. Towards the end of last year and so far this year, it has really taken off, Pady confirms. Our customers are getting busier and, as a result, we are getting busier too. We have so much work at the moment that we will have to consider building a new warehouse. We are not restricted by opportunities, but we are restricted by our capacity and that s why we ll take a look at expanding. We ll look at that this time next year. Pady has been thrust in at the deep end as MD of the business but he s a level-headed and capable young man possessed with a real passion to succeed. He has accumulated great experience of the business from working alongside his father down through the years and is single-minded in his desire to progress Spratt Transport Services further as a tribute to Paddy Snr.
It s a good learning curve to take over the business at such a young age and you should come out the other end of it a better person, he comments. Dad got us to where we are today, having come from a very poor background. He built the business from nothing, with the sweat of his brow. He was the first man in and the last man out every day and we are very fortunate to have had him. We will do him proud. It s a family business first and foremost and our sister Kelsey will be joining us soon as well that has always been part of the plan. Our cousin Sonia also currently works in our accounts department.
Our goal now is to get bigger and stronger; to make the business as successful as we possibly can going forward and to do Dad proud. We appreciate that we are very fortunate and privileged to be in this position. We have been handed a great opportunity here and we intend to grab it with both hands.
We work hard and we are dedicated to this business. You think about work non-stop. Even when we are at home, we talk about the business and how we are going to improve it. You never stop.
Like father, like son
Spratt Transport Services is in good hands and, with Pady Jnr. and Sam at the helm, the future looks very bright for this proud family operation.
Spratt Transport Services (part of Spratt Logistics Ltd),
Unit C1 Furry Park Industrial Estate, Santry, Dublin 9.
Tel: 01 8527100 Fax: 01 8527102
Email: info@sprattrans.com
Web: www.sprattrans.com
Taken from Irish Trucker & Light Commercials magazine, Vol 18 No 5, July 2015