Package delivery delays and disruption after parent company of Fastway Couriers enters receivership

Some 300 jobs are at risk as the parent company of Fastway Couriers enters receivership. It is expected that delays and disruptions to deliveries will follow.

The Nuvion Group, which includes Parcel Connect, Fastway Couriers Ireland, and Nügo, has announced it has entered receivership, and around 300 direct jobs are under threat.

Hundreds more subcontractor and franchisee roles could also be affected.

Nuvion is blaming inflation, rising costs, and market pressures for its collapse.

In a statement, it said delays and disruption are envisaged and the receivers will work with retailers to minimise any delays.

Haulage industry statement

The Irish road haulage industry have said that the closure of Fastway couriers this morning, with the loss of hundreds of jobs, is a direct result of a government policy that has focused on heaping taxes upon taxes on a haulage and transport industry that is close to collapse.

Irish Road Haulage Association president Ger Hyland said that the Fastway closure is only the beginning and it won’t be long before there are hundreds of haulage companies entering receivership leading to thousands of job losses, undelivered goods and a devastating impact on the Irish economy.

Mr Hyland said Irish rural hauliers are now owed thousands of euro - which will be almost impossible to recoup - because of the closure of Fastway couriers.

“This government gave us nothing in last month's budget. We sat down with party leaders and explained what would happen if we did not get support. So this government cannot say they were not warned about what happened today with Fastway.

“Government policy is to continue to impose higher fuel costs, ignore supports to help us transition to green HVO fuels, impose more taxes and crippling regulations on a transport industry that cannot cope.

“We are the wheels that make the Irish economy turn but those wheels are coming off now. I hope that when the media are interviewing politicians about the hundreds of job losses at Fastway and the knock-on impact on rural Ireland, they will ask the government why they didn’t listen to the haulage industry who warned of impending closures."

Mr Hyland pointed out that the Fastway courier closure will have an enormous impact on Ireland’s rural economy, where small businesses pay for packages to be delivered to customers in advance.

“This is only the beginning of the chaos. More haulage and transport companies will be forced out of business by the policies of this government. At this point in time, there are any number of small businesses that have paid for packages that are sitting in depots. Will customers get their products that they paid for? Will hauliers get paid for the work they have done?”

He called on the government to provide an immediate support package to the transport and haulage industry to try and stave off the worst of the impending closures.