The container in which the 13 asylum-seekers were discovered was one of the last of eight containers of furniture to be delivered to Wexford Business Park after arriving in Belview Port near Waterford last Thursday night.
Up to six of the containers were delivered to their destination - a new office building at the business park - on Friday, but purely by random chance the one containing the asylum-seekers was not delivered until Saturday.
Mr Jerry Hallissey, the owner of the Eagle Transport company which picked up the container at Belview on Saturday morning, said there was a possibility that it could have been picked up the previous day.
"But equally, I have seen containers waiting on a quayside for six months. They're designed for long-term storage and let's say, for argument's sake, there was a delay in the construction of the factory and they decided not to take delivery of the furniture until after Christmas, no one would have been taken alive from it."
Mr Hallissey said it was such blatant disregard for human life that convinced him that those who arranged the victims' journey should be brought to justice.
"It's the people who actually put these poor unfortunates into a steel shipping container that need to be found. I've heard it said around that they deserve the return journey and that's how I feel.
"Whatever about putting people into a road container - a screw or a nail or a sharp piece of timber will be able to cut a way out - but putting them into a steel shipping container? They had no way out. The ventilation holes are not designed for people."
Mr Hallissey, whose company has been declared by garda∅ to be "completely innocent" in the tragedy, said the driver who made the discovery was "upset but fine". Reports that he had required hospital treatment were untrue, said Mr Hallissey, although he had greatly appreciated the sensitive way in which garda∅ had dealt with him.
Mr Hallissey said he had never had any incidents of stowaways before, mainly because his company handled shipping freight and most immigrants were placed in road containers. He sympathised with road hauliers who were having to deal with the problem on an ongoing basis. He called for a greater effort to address the issue.
"These people must have been fleeing something desperate to give up everything and climb into a container in the hope of making it to a better life. We can only hope and pray that it doesn't happen again."