JST Services Group (JST) is a logistics company operating in the port services sector and particularly active in delivering assetbased logistic solutions to the forest sector throughout the UK and Ireland. Its core activities are mobile port handling; floating piers; coastal shipping; and timber haulage.
JST Services Ltd was founded in May 1993 as a haulage company by John Scott. In 2002, JST built and put into service its first ‘in forest’ low-ground pressure vehicle and in the following year the company acquired its first Liebherr port handling mobile cranes and developed the unique Doll system for moving them quickly around the UK.
In 2005, JST’s shipping division began with a full-time charter on the MV Red Duchess, launching a timber shipping service running along the west coast of Scotland and across to Ireland. In 2007, JST (Floating Piers) Ltd was incorporated and this saw the assembly of the company’s first of three mobile floating piers.
In 2020, Richard Jennings led an MBI of the business alongside Shard Credit Partners. Three years later, in 2023, JST acquired the management of Fishnish Pier on the Island of Mull, as well its timber and general haulage activities.
JST’s innovative mobile floating piers have allowed large-capacity cargo ships to berth directly adjacent to remote forests. With a network of three floating piers, JST’s technology has created economies of scale that enable Scottish logs to move from estates in the remote Highlands to markets in the central belt, the Republic of Ireland, and South Wales.
JST’s floating piers are part of the broader drive towards Net Zero, with each cargo ship loaded at one of the piers removing some 200 HGV truck journeys from Scotland’s rural roads.
The Ayrshire-based company has recently been honoured with a King’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation.
“As a service business, receiving the Kings Award for Innovation is an absolute honour for the company and a huge testament to our employees, partners and customers,” said Richard Jennings, managing director of JST Services Group.
