The number of transport companies going bust rose 13.1% in the second quarter of 2007 compared with the same period last year, according to business information specialist Equifax. This reversed the first-quarter trend, when Equifax reported a 19.1% fall in business failures.
Neil Munroe, Equifax external affairs director, says this reversal in the industry's fortunes might have been influenced by interest rate rises and the poor weather.
"The services, transport and manufacturing
sectors have all seen how quickly fortunes can change," he adds. "Quarter 2 shows a turnaround from the small drop in failures seen in Quarter 1 businesses of every size should be taking all precautions possible to avoid bad debt."
Equifax follows Insolvency Service practice by listing haulage firms under the 'Transport and Communications' category. It reports 258 failures in the second quarter, against 226 last year, with 461 failures in the first half of 2007, compared with 479 in the same period of 2006.
Munroe says many of these failures are due to customers going bust: "It is crucial to recognise the catastrophic effect the failure of customers or suppliers can have."
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