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Freight company goes bust

Mar 8, 2005 4:59 PM

Nationwide freight company Phoenix Freight has gone into voluntary liquidation, with the loss of more than 140 jobs.

A number of owner-drivers have also lost their contracts.

Liquidator Jeff Meltzer says the owner acquired the business in 2003 and it had some problems at that time. He says it recently lost a number of contracts and as a result decided it had to go into liquidation.

Meltzer says he believes there are about 1,000 creditors and he will have a better idea by the end of the week how much money is owed.

Owner-drivers left in the lurch after the collapse are crying foul over the way they have been treated.

Christchurch owner-driver Brian Terris says he is owed more than $20,000 and is one of seven in Christchurch in a similar situation. He says the drivers agreed to a 7% pay cut last October, to help the struggling company survive.

But he says there was no notice that the company was about to collapse. Now he says he is not optimistic about getting the money that's owed to him.

Terris says Phoenix Freight is the fourth company he's worked for that's gone out of business. The drivers say they were promised a month's wages last Friday, but that has not happened.

The Road Transport Forum says intense competition and rising costs are to blame the firm being forced out of business.

Tony Friedlander of the Road Transport Forum, says the industry is experiencing strong growth, of at least 7% over the last 12 months. However he says margins are tight and some companies are faced with the rising costs of fuel, labour and business compliance.

Friedlander says most of those who have lost their jobs should be able to find employment elsewhere in the industry very quickly.