Motor Transport's most read stories of 2018

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This year's most read was dominated by the sad demise of national haulier Canute, which never recovered from the end of its long-term contract with retailer Wilko last year.

The contract was picked up Wincanton and represented more than 30% of Canute Group's revenue at that time - a staggering £30m.

Reports that Canute had been late paying staff surfaced in the spring as did eight O-licences in the name of Almtone. The O-licences named Canute’s Gamston depot as Almtone's location as well as Canute director Glenn Marshall as transport manager.

Although Canute MD Noel Marshall stated the equivalent of nothing to see here! in a letter to staff, MT began to receive call after call from frustrated creditors that hadn't been paid by the haulier, in some cases over many months.

In May - and our fifth most read story of the year - Canute Group went through a pre-pack administration and sale to new owner Almtone, which was connected to the previous company via director Glenn Marshall.

Creditors were left some £5.3m out of pocket according to administrator FRP Advisory, and although 800-plus jobs were saved via the move, the group's reputation was damaged beyond repair and our most read story of the year, was confirmation that the business would be closing its doors for good days ahead of Christmas.

stobart

Eddie Stobart had a year of high profile success, with its deal with Cemex our second most read, and exclusives about its Britvic contract success - Wincanton must have loved the firm dearly this year - and Tarmac's shift to a regional distribution model, which saw Eddie Stobart join the fray.

Eddie Stobart's swoop for The Pallet Network (TPN) in the summer was the talk of the town around the annual Motor Transport Awards too.

EmergeVest's move for CM Downton was our eighth most read story and lead to the creation of EV Cargo later in 2018, a venture that will no doubt feature increasingly throughout 2019.

A pre-pack involving Bedworth Haulage featured twice in our top ten of most read stories as the industry took an interest in the rescue deal and subsequent details that emerged.