‘Failure not an option’ at Con O’Connell Crane Truck Hire
19/05/2025
Operating out of Clonakilty, Co Cork, Con O’Connell Crane Truck Hire specialises in crane hire and transport service, providing lifts of up to 20-tonne and a reach of 33-metres for its customers. Irish Trucker spoke with Mark O’Connell to hear more on the company which was founded by his father 25 years ago.
2025 marks a quarter of a century in business for Con O’Connell Crane Truck Hire and, so far, the year has been going according to script for the Cork-based crane hire and transport service specialists.
Still headed up by Con O’Connell himself, the company is a two-man show which sees Con and his son Mark working alongside one another in order to ensure their customers’ requirements are met week in, week out.
Based in Clonakilty, Co Cork, Con O’Connell Crane Truck Hire provides a crane hire and transport service throughout the Munster region, and across its borders for those that require the company’s services further afield.
Irish Trucker touched base with Mark O’Connell recently to discuss the ins and outs of his father’s operation – from its origins to the overall state of business at the moment.
“What we specialise in here is the crane hire as such. Crane hire is our main business first and foremost and we do whatever comes with it in haulage,” he outlined.
“We do a lot of different things and tricky stuff that, I suppose, some people wouldn’t like to do. So, we specialise in the lift work, as we call it, and we do work with flat trailers, low loaders and stuff like that as well. Nothing too mad, I suppose. We travel most of the country – wherever we need to go.”
Along with its impeccable crane hire service, the company also buys and sells containers to and from different clients down south.
It’s another string to the company’s bow and one which Con himself has been doing since the turn of the millennium when he first took the decision to go out on his own.
“The containers would be another side of things that we’re doing and we’d be at that from when we started here. It keeps us busy all year and definitely helps to fill a lull,” Mark said.
When Con first set-up the business in Clonakilty, he did so with just a single truck and grew things from there.
Always adopting the motto ‘Failure is not an option’ (even to this day), Con O’Connell Crane Truck built up its customer base to the point where it’s at today; as busy as perhaps it has ever been.
It’s all a far cry from where Con started out in this line of work many years ago now.
“He was in England for a couple of years working on sites and stuff like that. He came home and bought his own truck,” said Mark.
“He bought a Volvo FL and that was the first new Volvo he got. He kept it for two years and then brought another Volvo FM rigid then.
“He would’ve started with a Renault Midlum. That was his first go at it and it so it just kind of grew from there, I suppose, but we’ve always had Volvos since then. We like our Volvos here.”
A second generation daily business, the memory of Gavin O’Connell who passed away at the young age of 22 in 2020 will never diminish. “My brother Gavin he would of been involved in the business too but unfortunately died in 2020 from cancer,” explains Mark
Right now, the fleet at Con O’Connell Crane Truck Hire is made up of three Volvo trucks and two trailers.
Mark hinted at a bigger crane jump being added to the equipment in the yard at Knocks lyre in the future but, for now, the company’s fleet is staying as is.
Should business continue on the same current trajectory, it would be no surprise to see the O’Connells adding more machinery to their fleet again soon.
“Last year was a good year for us and this year again we’ve started off busy, so it’s all looking good for now. We’ll see how it goes,” said Mark.
So, all of that considered, the clear question is what has been the secret behind Con O’Connell Crane Truck Hire’s success to date?
How has a small start up grown into what is now very much a thriving business that holds an excellent reputation amongst its customers?
The way Mark sees it, it has always been about doing what’s necessary for the customer to get the job done right and, of course, always in a safe manner as well.
“I’d like to think that we go the extra mile for our customers to get it done. Failure isn’t an option. We like to get on with it, and just make it happen whatever it takes,” he stated plainly.
Looking ahead to the coming months, the Cork native is very much optimistic for the business and says that further growth is something very much on Con O’Connell Crane Truck Hire’s radar in 2025.
“We just want to push on and make it happen. We want to try and expand another bit as well if we can,” he concluded.
Con O’Connell Crane Truck Hire
Clonakilty,
Co Cork.
Mobile: 086 270 5694
Email: [email protected]
First published in Irish Trucker magazine March/April 2025, Vol 28-2
