Kilburn-based Railroad Transport has been placed in voluntary liquidation with more than 100 staff around Australia made redundant.
Liquidator Tarquin Koch said the amount owed to them would be “north of $2.1 million”, but employee entitlements are covered under the federal Fair Entitlements Guarantee Scheme.
Although the company made slight losses on annual revenues of around $35 million in the past couple of financial years, there are no reports yet on exactly why the company has folded.
All its social media and web presence has been taken down and staff who are still answering the phone are directing all queries to the liquidator.
According to one report, company documents show the company’s shareholders voted that it be “wound up voluntarily” at a meeting held on Tuesday.
An archived copy of the website boasted of 51,000sq m of storage space across its depots in Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne, and that it operated a large fleet of vehicles.
“Our impressive fleet can deliver freight of any kind or size, including food, oversized loads, machinery and cars, along with most special requirements,’’ the website said.
“Our transport machinery includes: road trains, – B-triples and B-doubles – semi trailers, side loaders, prime movers, delivery trucks, 30 tonne straddle carriers, 2.5- to 45-tonne forklifts including container handlers, 25-tonne hook-lift trucks, rail and shipping containers, 45,000-litre tankers and 100-tonne low loaders.’’
It reportedly bought Hopper Transport, which had depots in Sydney, Brisbane and southeast Melbourne, in mid-2019.
The two directors of the company are Craig Hammond and Glen McMahon, and the two shareholders are companies owned by Hammond and the Glen McMahon Family Trust.
Glen McMahon was the founder of G.F. McMahon Transport, which started operations in 1957, and expanded into demolitions in 1974.
The company’s website said the business had been in operation for 64 years.
“Beginning in 1957 as a family-owned business, director Glen McMahon began local and interstate haulage operations from Port Vincent to Adelaide, under the banner G.F McMahon Transport,’’ the website said.
“Under the passionate management of Glen, the business flourished and became Railroad Transport, established in 1990 with co-owner Craig Hammond.
“Railroad Transport now provides transport services to all major Australian cities, and attributes its growth to the longstanding relationships built over many years of dedicated service.’’