Tony and David McCarthy worked hard to rebuild Eugene McCarthy Transport after losing a lucrative Tasmanian contract 15 years ago.
Tasmanian brothers Tony and David McCarthy learned the importance of diversity the hard way when Eugene McCarthy Transport’s lost a lucrative express freight contract in 1999.
The McCarthys were devastated. The family had carted express freight for Ipec for 35 years.
Tony and David briefly considered relocating their five trucks to the mainland, but within months they attracted enough Tasmanian freight to begin rebuilding.
Today Eugene McCarthy Transport employs 15 drivers and has 10 trucks moving containers, furniture, grain and meat throughout the state. David manages the Hobart depot and Tony controls the company’s busy northern operation from Longford near Launceston.
Tony says he is now wary of the danger of relying too heavily on any one client.
“We like having a lot of smaller customers and that’s what we’ve concentrated on,” he says.
Recently they established a base at Devonport in response to increased demand on the north-west coast.
Throughout this period of growth and change, the brothers have endeavoured to retain the family business’s values, culture and reputation.
They inherited their work ethic from their late father, Euguene McCarthy, and are proud to see a third generation of McCarthys working at the business.
Tony says his strong relationship with David helps the family business run smoothly.
“We don’t sit down and count the dollars. You’ve got to have trust in a business, and there’s 100 percent trust between the two of us,” Tony says.
Tony’s wife Dee-Anne manages the busy Longford office; David’s wife Anne and daughter Kellie invoice from Hobart; and David’s son Matthew drives a truck from Hobart to Burnie and back each day.
“For the business to work everybody has to be putting in,” Tony says.
“You can’t have one person working against the other, can you? That’s what it’s all about – working as a team.”
Read the full interview with the owners of Eugene McCarthy Transport in the February edition issue of Owner//Driver. Click here to subscribe.
Photography: Tamara Whitsed