Fraser Dunlop, who started his own haulage company that evolved into a leading lift and shift business, has passed away after a short illness aged 80.
His family announced the news on Facebook, which has led to many tributes from across the industry.
Last year he received the Transport News’ Lifetime Achievement Award for recognition of his 57 years in the industry.
Known as a forward thinker and instinctive problem solver, he epitomised the dedicated, hardworking, and entrepreneurial spirit that is a defining feature of many of the successful hauliers from his generation.
He was just 23 when he started his eponymously named haulage business out of Carnwath, Lanarkshire, with two lorries on aggregates before diversifying in 1980 into lift and shift.
In 1988, he kitted out his first truck with a crane; a Scania twin-steer with a 44 tonne-metre ™ Effer.
Speaking to Transport News in 2023, he recalled how he switched from tippers and flatbeds to lorries fitted out with cranes: “Companies would have to hire a lorry and a mobile crane; we thought if we could do all that on our own with a truck-mounted crane it’ll save people money and maybe we could make some; that is how I got involved.”
In fact, he was still building crane lorries right up to 2020.
Throughout Fraser Dunlop Ltd has been a family business run with his wife Rosemary, their three daughters Sandra, Heather and Linda, and Fraser’s brother-in-law Rennie Angus.
He is survived by his wife, three children and two grandchildren.
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