1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160 
'Not much further to fall' as fewer haulage firms go bust
Page 12
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Despite tough trading conditions, fewer hauliers went to the wall in the
ast quarter of last year than in Q4 of 2006. David Harris reports.
EWER HAULIERS went ust in the last quarter of 2007 tan in the same period in 2006, :cording to business information -iecialist Equifax.
There were 5.2% fewer iilures among transport and immunications companies, :spite the fact that most sectors iffered an increase in company :illapses. In construction, for (ample, failures were up 16.6%; services the rise was 13.8%.
Equifax spokesman Neil Eunroe says one reason for iad haulage's relatively good performance might be that it has suffered heavily in recent years:"It may be that the haulage industry has reached the bottom and does not have much further to fall."
He suggests that because so many hauliers have gone to the wall in the past few years there is more work to go around for those that remain: "It could be that the supply and demand balance has changed a little." But Munroe adds that hauliers working in sectors that have done badly might lose business if they are working for firms that go bust. Equifax cites the credit crunch and non-payment of debts as factors in the overall increase in business failures. Munroe concludes: -Small businesses are very vulnerable to bad debt. It only takes one customer to go bust to jeopardise the future of a business.
-Rigorous credit checks, supported by ongoing monitoring of changes to the financial status of customers and suppliers, are the best ways to secure the future of their businesses."
FOR MORE ON THIS AND MATED SUBJECTS www.roadtransport.comicm