The go to specialist courier

29/08/2024

Established since 2000, Callanan Couriers offers its customers a bespoke same day delivery and collection service from their base in Kilkenny, covering all of Leinster and throughout Ireland. Irish Trucker caught up with co-director Don Callanan to hear more about what the company specialises in, its impressive fleet and the overall state of business at the moment.

Callanan Couriers is an award-winning company which provides its clients with a same day delivery and collection service throughout Leinster.

Operating with 10 full-time staff (and five part-time), the business is headed up by brothers Don and Daragh Callanan whose parents Michael and Ann founded the company together 24 years ago.

While the co-founders are officially retired but still involved in the business, the second generation of Callanans are now running the show, with Don’s wife Natalie also involved in the family business.

Irish Trucker touched base with Don recently to discuss the ins and outs of the Co Kilkenny-based business and its hopes moving forward.

“The company is established since 2000,” he outlined. “My father was an Agriculture Contractor originally and wanted to exit that game. He went and bought one van and took it from there.

“Right now, we have 10 full-time staff and five part-time. There are guys with us there 13 or 14 years, so we have a very low staff turnover. The staff we have, are our biggest asset, there not just fantastic workers but their knowledge of the road network is second to none.

“Basically, we’re a bespoke courier and we deal in a lot of high-end essential item deliveries. Be it Legal, medical, hazardous  r even just a passport… we’ve done it all.

“It’s stuff that can’t be trusted with normal couriers if you know what I mean. Mostly it’s items usually of high priority or importance where a delivery time must be met. Reliability and punctuality are so important in our business.”

It’s a company which specialises in sensitive goods and confidential document delivery and, since ‘Day One’, is has built up a very impressive, enviable client portfolio.

“We do a lot of work for the HSE as well, so we’re on call for them 24/7. With them, it could be sample delivery, blood samples, scans or documents. Its very important we can provide a 24/7 service as many of their jobs van be life or death quite literally.”

Callanan Couriers also provide a specialist medical delivery service of samples to clinics and labs in Dublin from various Waterford, Carlow and Kilkenny clinics and hospitals six days a week and are on call 24/7.

“That’s just one major side of our  business. The trucks would be another crucial aspect of what we do. We’ve four lorries on the road at the moment and we do a broad range of work with many sectors and industries. A lot of our work would be based in Dublin. We work with nearly all the major paper merchants and plastic suppliers looking after deliveries all over Leinster.

“We’d also do a lot of construction-related work, which would be a lot of site deliveries around Dublin and Leinster.

“An ever-growing sector we facilitate also is freight. We do a lot of work with many different freight companies around Dublin. Basically, pallets or crates arrive in mainly from the UK into a hub in Dublin, we would take that and distribute it all over the South East of the country and Munster for many different freight companies. This is an ever growing sector and one in which I would like to grow throughout 2024.”

In order to provide these specialists services, Don, Daragh and the team need to have quality and reliable vehicles at their disposal and, right now, they are operating with a fleet of 13 (nine vans and four lorries).

“It’s mainly all Mercedes Sprinter vans we operate and find them excellent and very reliable. They arer good on diesel and we get good milage out of them. Key to this is that they are very well maintained mechanically. We usually change a vehicle every couple of years or when an opportunity arises.

“We bought a new Mercedes Citan only last year. We were always a VW caddy customer but got a great deal on a new Citan and so far we find it an excellent van. It has already passed the 60,000 kilometres mark with no issues so far,” said Don.

“We’re looking to maybe buy a new Sprinter van this year as we do find them an excellent van.”

In November gone by, Callanan Couriers saw its excellent service recognised at the prestigious Kilkenny Business Awards where it had been up against very some tough and esteemed competition.

Held at the Lyrath Estate Hotel on November 25th, the memorable night saw the company winning ‘Family Business of the Year’ award and, needless to say, the team were absolutely delighted with the feat.

“It was a truly fabulous night and we weren’t expecting it at all.  To be recognised amongst your peers was a real honour especially when we are just a small family business that work tremendously hard,” said Don on the award success.

“We won a similar award back in 2015 as well, but we’re a small fish in a big pond and it was great to win something like that. We were up against very stiff competition, and it was wonderful for morale and great for our fantastic staff.  The following Monday morning we were on cloud nine.”

So, everything considered, the burning question is what has been the secret behind the overall success of Callanan Couriers to date?

How has a small start-up, which began with just a single van on the road, blossomed into a go to specialist bespoke courier which now provides a nationwide service and holds a golden reputation amongst its regular clients?

“Reliability is a huge part of it,” Don pointed out. “We very rarely advertise and our repeat business with customers is huge. We’ve built up invaluable relationships with customers over the years and made great friends while doing so. We provide a service that cannot be matched and deliver it in a professional manner day in, day out!

“It’s mainly word of mouth that people ring us and we have people coming from other counties on a daily basis looking for us to help them out.  A lot of this stems from them getting terrible customer service from rival Courier companies and are in need of a skilled operation that won’t let them down.

“Another feather in our cap is that we are also a specialist Haz courier. We are licensed to carry Dangerous goods by road throughout Ireland.

“We have highly trained and qualified professional drivers available to transport dangerous goods by road. This qualification is valid throughout the EU member states and beyond. The Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport issue an ADR licence to qualified drivers after some very tough exams so it’s no easy feat to gain this licence.

“We charge a premium for carrying Haz as do all similar qualified couriers. It’s a bold statement but we’re the go to courier for ADR in the south east at the moment.”

Looking at the months ahead for the business, Don says he’s eager to see further growth down the line and knows there are numerous ways for the company to achieve it.

“The hopes are to grow and expand the warehouse that we have as well. We do a bit of storage, so hopefully we can expand on that as that is a side of the business that can grow dramatically if done correctly.

“I also want to train up a couple of new truck drivers as well as good ones are like hens teeth.

“I’d be hoping maybe train up a couple of my van drivers on to the trucks in 2024 - 2025.

“Obviously, growing the business is the number one priority and this can only be achieved if we are all singing from the same hymn sheet. Luckily so far,  we are strumming away nicely,”  he concluded.

Callanan Couriers
Ruthstown,
Ballyfoyle,
Co Kilkenny

Email: [email protected]
Tel: 056 776 7501
Mobile: 086 388 1072 (Don)
Mobile: 086 453 8338 (Daragh)

First published in Irish Trucker magazine June 2024, Vol 27-3