Newsletter 41

Following the announcement last week that parcels carrier Amtrak had gone into administration, we have confirmed with the joint administrators, Ernst & Young, that the company has ceased trading, and is not currently operating as a going concern. There is no indication at this stage if any other carrier or white knight is likely to step in with a rescue plan, though staff wages are reported to have been guaranteed up to the end of August.

Deliveries of some consignments caught in the system at the time were reportedly handled by Business Post, and Amtrak’s web site is currently directing would-be customers to that company.

Amtrak was rescued previously at the beginning of last year, when the original company was technically wound up and then taken over within half an hour by a new team led by managing director Alan Jones. Economy measures such as a head office move from Bristol to its Aldridge hub in the West Midlands appear not to have been enough to compensate for what are described as “challenging” operating conditions.

Amtrak has been involved increasingly in home deliveries – a market sector thought to be surviving the economic downturn better than some. Customers are understood to have included dabs.com, now part of BT. But its presence in this supposedly resilient sector appears not to have insulated it from harsh trading realities resulting from declining consumer spending.

 

The company is believed to have had a staff of around 900, up to 80 depots and about 2,000 vehicles.