Keith McDermott, owner of MTS Haulage, Westport was the proud recipient of the Owner Driver Haulier of the Year 2012 trophy at the fifth annual Fleet Transport Awards held in Dublin on October 3.
At a gala dinner reception held at the Crown Plaza Hotel, Northwood, and attended by some 620 representatives from the Irish road transport and logistics industry, McDermott was delighted to receive this national accolade.
It is no coincidence that Keith McDermott ended up in the transport business having spent much of his youth working with his grandfather Joe Corcoran at his quarry outside Westport. McDermott’s passion for trucks led him to purchase a new Volvo FH500 tractor-unit and low-loader trailer which he put to work in plant haulage. That early success saw him purchasing the first Volvo FH16.660 in Ireland, which he still operates. His main work nowadays is heavy haulage plus aggregate tipper work for his cousin Sean Corcoran, who now runs Corcoran Concrete, the same business that has evolved from that which their grandfather founded.
The Fleet Transport Awards, organised by Claremorris based company Fleet Publications, was established to showcase best practice in road transport and also to raise standards in the industry. Guest of honour at the awards was Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar. Other guests included Graham Smith, vice-president International Road Transport Union (Brussels ), and John O’Mahoney TD.
