Venerable Queensland operator succumbs to market downturn, administrator says
Regional Queensland trucking operation Kurtz Transport and its holding company is likely to have its fate sealed late Friday with an administrator pleased with the suitors so far.
Kurtz, which had been closing in on a century of operation, fell into the arms of Ernst & Young administrators Justin Walsh and Duncan Chubb on September 12, with Walsh telling ATN that it, like others in Queensland and Western Australia, fell foul of mining and energy boom’s end.
“It was predominantly caused by the market downturn,” he says, pointing to the firm being caught between a drop off in revenue and a fixed cost base.
For now, however, it was “business as usual” for the firm and Wash is “quite happy” with the level of interest shown.
Up for grabs is a business boasting annual revenues of about $20 million with a “modern and versatile fleet” of 16 prime movers, 25 rigids, 63 trailers and 23 light vehicles.
Strongly accredited, its linehaul branch network encompasses central and southern Queensland and northern New South Wales, plus national services.
Its profile was raised earlier this decade due to its effort to help tackle blindness in indigenous communities
and when it became the victim of overzealous policing with an anti-hoon law used to impound one of its trucks.
Last year, it featured in a WorkCover Queensland profile focused on a return to work strategy for an injured employee.