Major Australian freight forwarder WorldLink International has run into difficulties with its airfreight business after an associated company went into receivership last week.
WorldLink, which also trades as FreightLinks International, apparently ceased accepting new airfreight business on Friday as a result of the closure of operations by associated company Marine International.
The two companies share premises, equipment and some customers, according to Marine International’s administrators McGrath Nicol & Partners. While Marine International focused on the pair’s airfreight offering, WorldLink focused on seafreight, with significant crossover in provision of those services to customers.
Marine International went into voluntary administration on 2 March, and stopped accepting new business on Friday after it became apparent the airfreight licence it operated under was no longer valid.
“Marine can longer operate because the licence held, by another entity controlled by the directors of Marine, has been suspended by the regulator of the airfreight services sector,” receivership manager Sam Davies told Fruitnet.com.
“We are working with FreightLinks `WorldLink` now to disentangle Marine from the shared premises and equipment arrangements. In the meantime, FreightLinks continues to operate under its own steam. We are not involved in their operation.”
While the underlying causes of the demise of Marine International are unclear, the slow trading environment over the past year for airfreighted fresh produce from Australia has undoubtedly been a contributor.
While one key industry figure told Fruitnet.com Marine International’s closure may have been linked to a significant loss to now-defunct produce exporter JAK Fruit, which itself went into receivership last year, sources within the company who declined to be named said the loss had been limited to around A$15,000, and had not materially contributed to the company’s financial difficulties.
“The company was in default with the bank, and had been for some time, and was unable to procure a refinance or equity investment into its business, having been given an appropriate period of time,” Mr Davies explained.
The two companies’ airfreight operations are currently in wind-down mode, with administrators aiming to close out on current trade in order to minimise the effects on customers.
WorldLink specialises in freight forwarding of food products and perishables, and is one of the largest freight forwarding companies in Australia.
The future of the company is at this stage uncertain; while Mr Davies stated the company was continuing to operate, sources within WorldLink told Fruitnet.com the company was itself facing closure, and staff were expecting to be made redundant by administrators by the end of the week.
WorldLink staff had apparently already been approached by another freight forwarder, but would stay with the company until let go.
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