Former CEO blames bankruptcy on inadequate warehouse

Last week you could read on Made in Limburg that the Coastair company was declared bankrupt by the court in Liège. The service provider in the air freight sector was honored a year ago as Ambassador of the Trends Gazellen in Limburg. The company’s former CEO, Pascale De Mieter, is happy to explain what went wrong at her previous employer: “Not the policy, but circumstances beyond our control and serious errors by third parties.”

Pascale De Mieter emphasizes that as an employee of the company she has been pulling the weight for many years and has helped make Coastair great. Before starting a new professional chapter (so she no longer works for Coastair), she insists that the true facts of the bankruptcy emerge: “First of all, our revenues were strongly affected by geopolitical tensions, which reduced demand for our services ” she says in response. “In addition, inflation led to significantly higher operating costs, especially in energy and personnel. But the most destructive element was our new project, the 10,000 m² warehouse, which was intended to be a valuable asset to our customers and our company. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a financial nightmare due to serious construction errors, causing us to suffer enormous losses.”

“The warehouse suffered from several problems, such as water leaks, a gas leak, and structural errors, all of which seriously hampered our operational capacity. We no longer even have the financial resources to legally challenge the client for these catastrophic errors. I can provide a detailed present an expert report on this matter (see photo).”

Regarding the lack of an external partner, the former director says: “We had serious interest from investors, but as soon as they arrived on site and saw the condition of the warehouse, they withdrew. This is a scenario that I have encountered in my 23 years have never experienced in the industry.”

And De Mieter concludes: “It is of the utmost importance that this story is reported correctly, so that companies that are committed to their employees and communities are not unfairly harmed. In 2022 we even won third prize for best employer in the transport industry. and logistics sector. Coastair’s bankruptcy was not the result of poor policy, but rather circumstances beyond our control and serious errors by third parties.”