Comment / Great Scott! A cold wind blows through Australia’s logistics industry

28/02/2023

Scott’s Refrigerated Logistics (Scott’s) entering into voluntary administration will have significant implications for Australia’s transport industry.

A fraught decade

Scott’s is Australia’s largest integrated cold chain provider, supplying national temperature-controlled logistics services for both transport and warehouses. It is a consolidation of four separate businesses – Scott’s, Rand, Harrison and JAT, which was created through Automotive Holdings Group’s (AHG, a national car retailer) acquisition of the company in 2014.

An unsolicited offer from China’s HNA in November 2017 for the cold chain ...

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chris dunphy
February 28, 2023 at 8:21 pm
Well-writ; the graveyard of fridge operators is full of well known luminaries. Wily operators like Fox & Finemore stick to dry cargo as they know where the money isn’t.

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- Alessandro Pasetti
  March 01, 2023 at 4:16 am
  Thanks for your comment, Chris, great feedback.
  
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  - chris dunphy
    March 10, 2023 at 11:27 am
    The other point (clearly missed) by the AU journalists is that the financiers used by Anchorage @ Scott’s = Gordon Brothers & Scottish Pacific, precisely the SAME asset based lenders that Allegro used to fund the TOLL purchase from JP. It’s also worth noting that Allegro already have form when it comes to putting under-performing businesses into Administration ~ retailer Harris Scarfe being the most recent. SO despite all of Ms Holgate’s virtuous PR I’d expect that the Scott’s collapse will have numerous unintended consequences…
    
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    - Alessandro Pasetti
      March 11, 2023 at 4:28 am
      Thanks, Chris. Great feedback. Passed it on to Mr Joy, who’s been working on a follow-up piece in recent days.
      
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Neil [email protected]
March 07, 2023 at 2:48 am
Contracts have to be renegotiated or terminated.

Hard to believe large retailers would see it in their best interests for a major strategic service provider go bust and then try and pick up the pieces with whoever gets the assets at auction.

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