Dorset haulage firm goes into liquidation

AET Transport Services Ltd, which was based in Holton Heath Trading Park between Wareham and Poole, went into voluntary liquidation last week. 

Documents from the family-owned firm’s last full accounts submission said it employed 47 people, including two directors, as of August 2022. 

They also show the firm posted a £177,264 loss in the year to August 2022 - the last accounts submitted to Companies House. 

However, the accounts also showed creditors were owed £2.492m in August 2022, rising from £1.621m the previous year. 

Founded in 1977, AET Transport had a 95,000 sq ft distribution centre in Andover, Hampshire, which includes a 10,000 sq ft warehouse. 

According to the haulage firm’s website, the company boasted a fleet of more than 60 trucks including cranes, hiabs, low loaders, flatbed trucks and vans. 

Meanwhile its Andover branch dealt with national, big-name companies such as Waitrose and Atkins & Potts. 

Eaton, a Poole-based freight arm within the company, dealt with companies such as Sunseeker and Rolls-Royce. 

It also described itself as “the leaders in global logistics” offering a “reliable and valuable service to their global client base”. 

However AET Transport’s website was taken down in recent days, with a “new website under construction”. 

Rachel Hotham and Ruth Gilbert of Milsted Langdon have been appointed as joint liquidators. Ms Hotham was also instructed to wind down Yellow Buses in the summer of 2022. 

The Bristol-based firm has been approached for more details. 

AET Transport was previously bought by Blackburn-based Kenyon Road Haulage in 2021 before the latter went bust in March 2023. 

In an administrator’s report, AET Transport is named as a creditor and being owed £10,500 as of May 2023. 

In 2009, AET Transport was devastated by an arson attack that destroyed six lorries and five trailers, costing £1m. 

The firm formally went into liquidation on Tuesday, February 13. A report into the company's finances and who is owed what is being written.

A spokesperson said there were no redundancies from AET Transport and staff were offered employment with one of the director’s other companies last year.