More than 200 jobs lost after Deben Transport collapse

Deben Transport was unable to save itself despite taking cost-cutting measures. This left it with no choice but to cease trading with the loss of more than 200 jobs, its administrator has said.

In a statement, Mark Upton and David Scrivener of Ensors, which were appointed as administrators of the firm earlier this week (13 April), confirmed the Felixstowe head-quartered container-specialist had suffered a fall in turnover from a high of £34m, with losses recorded in the last two years.

Deben Transport’s most recently published accounts, the year to 31 December 2013, record a pre-tax loss of £658,135 from a turnover of £34m. Last year, Deben said this was due to its rescue of stricken Elite Transport in 2013.

The haulier had eight sites in total and employed 224 people.

“Management had attempted to put in place a recovery plan and had recently taken cost cutting measures in an effort to turn the business around but it became apparent that ongoing losses meant that the company could not meet its commitments to creditors and the director had to take the decision to place the company into administration.

"Once the financial position became apparent there was no option other than to cease trading immediately. Efforts were made to assign certain of the company’s contracts but this proved not to be possible and regrettably the majority of the workforce had to be made redundant once administration was inevitable,” the statement said.

Ensors said it was too early to predict what the financial outcome for creditors would be.

• Both Deben’s MD, Paul Dawson, and finance director, Charles Davies (who joined in in July 2014), quit their roles at the company in March, according to filings at Companies House. Director Steven Jones, who was appointed in May 2014, stepped down as a director in November last year. This left Rachael McCall, who joined in June 2014 as commercial director but had since taken the reins as CEO, as the sole director of the business. The operator is listed as being 50% owned by Deben Transport Holdings and 50% owned by J Nort Investments. However, on closer inspection, J Nort actually has 50.003% and the controlling stake in Deben Transport. Its ultimate holding company is Redburn (Holdings), which changed its name from Deben Transport Holdings in February 2015. It's majority shareholder - with more than 90% - is listed at Companies House as Dawson.