Raher Transport hits quarter century milestone
04/06/2024
Based in Lemybrien, Co Waterford, Raher Transport Ltd is a highly-regarded farm-to-factory bulk haulage transport business that operates with six Scanias in its fleet. Irish Trucker caught up with company owner Mark Raher to learn all about the company – from its origins to the state of business at the moment.
This year marks 25 years since Raher Transport Ltd put its first truck on the road and today business is perhaps as good as it has ever been for the Co Waterford concern.
Operating with six full-time staff (and four part-time), the company provides a top-class milk collection and delivery service for Tirlán all throughout the Deise County.
Formerly known as Glanbia, Tirlán supplies Raher Transport with their milk collection tankers, and Mark’s trucks are kitted out in Tirlán colours while the tankers are designed to reduce milk collection times on farm and automate the secure transfer of information needed to pay farmers for the milk collected.
Irish Trucker got the lowdown from Mark himself after catching up with the Co Waterford native in the early part of 2024.
“All of the work that we do here is with Tirlán. My father (Larry) took on a couple of lorries and I was only getting my licenses back in ’99 at that time,” outlined Mark, who runs the business along with his mother Ann and wife, also named Ann.
“He was always with the Co-Op. He drove milk for them directly and, when they privatised the haulage in ’99, he took on two lorries for them. That’s kind of where it started and we’ve driven on since.”
After being set up by Larry Raher, it wasn’t long before the company’s name became synonymous with high quality milk transportation from farm-to-factory. Larry, who passed away in 2010, worked for Waterford Foods for more than three decades and when it was privatised, he decided to go out on his own.
He would deliver milk to Waterford Foods until they amalgamated with Avonmore to form Glanbia, whom Raher Transport have been working for ever since, with Glanbia having changed its name to Tirlán in 2022 following a vote of its shareholders.
Despite the name change, it still remains one of the most successful companies in the nation with some 6,000 employees and a presence in 34 countries around the world.
As for Raher Transport, its steady growth has continued in that time as well to the point where it now has a superb six-lorry fleet which is operated by a team of highly-skilled, professional, friendly and reliable drivers.
In early February, one of Mark’s lorries featured on national television after TG4 had shot some footage in the area. In the interview clip, Raher Transport’s Scania draped in the custom Tirlán colours could be seen plainly in the background and marked a good piece of advertisement for both parties.
Right now, of course, there are challenges for everyone in the transport game but, with a couple of recent new additions made to the fleet in Lemybrien, the signs are looking quite positive.
“With inflation it’s tight, but we’re surviving. I don’t see anything coming down, everything seems to be rising with it but that’s just the way it is,” said the company’s Managing Director.
“We’ve six Scanias on the road now at the minute. I added one new Scania (S 660) last year and I’ve actually three coming in the early part of this year. They are a 770 S, a 660 S and a 660 R and we are hoping to have the three of them ready for the start of February.”
Raher Transport’s yard consists of lorries with state-of-the-art technologies such as GPS supplier recognition, data transfer by satellite and GSM. They can also pump up to 60,000 litres of milk per hour and have the capacity to carry 28,500 litres.
It all makes for an excellent service which has helped to keep the show on the road for the Rahers for a quarter of a century now.
Reflecting on the success of this family business, Mark credits his late father massively for laying its foundations and building up its good name which is still proudly holds today.
“This kind of work is what I’ve been reared on, really” he stated. “As a young fella, we had cows at home and I just liked the industry. It’s hectic in the busy times alright, but you get a bit of time off then in the winter to do things as well.
“Tirlán are a good company to work for. You battle for your contract and you get paid for what you do, and you can afford nice machinery underneath you and, after that, it’s easy to attract the staff then if you know what I mean.”
Looking towards the months ahead for Raher Transport, Mark is as optimistic as ever and says, ultimately, that they’d like to have an even better year than 2023 down in Lemybrien.
“The hopes for the business this year are to keep going and make a profit like normal. We’d be hoping that we can have a better year than last year,” he concluded.
Here’s hoping.
Raher Transport Ltd
Lemybrien,
Co Waterford
Mobile: 087 631 3354
Email: [email protected]
First published in Irish Trucker magazine March/April 2024, Vol 27-1
