News

German trailer giant Kögel has filed for insolvency, citing "drastic market distortions in the logistics industry".

The Bavarian manufacturer, which posted a turnover of €440m (£373.9m), said that like the entire industry, it has had to fight since the onset of the credit crunch in September of  last year, which eventually turned into recession, but had seen a "demand breakdown" of 90%.

Filing for insolvency will affect approximately 1,150 workers, including 830 based in Germany. Its sister company in France, Jean Chereau SAS, is not affected.

It is understood that the insolvency practitioners that have been appointed is looking for an appropriate way for the business to continue trading.

In March, when Kögel unveiled its most recent set of financial results, it said it had experienced a sharp fall in incoming orders, even though it believed it was not to the same extent as other manufacturers.

In an interview with Commercial Motor earlier this year ('Staying afloat', CM 22 January), Alexander Tietje, Kögel's chairman of the board of directors, said: "We have prepared ourselves for a very difficult 2009."

The company expects to sell between 1,500 and 2,000 units this year, resulting in €50m (£42.5m) in revenue. It sold approximately 24,000  units, earning €540m (£459m) between July 2007 and June 2008.

With its Big-MAXX trailers, Kögel has been instrumental in the further adoption of longer semi-trailers through tests in a number of European countries, and says that one in every eight artics could be taken off Europe's roads if longer semi-trailers were used more widely in other EU states. The Department for Transport has commissioned a study into the possible adoption of LSTs in the UK.