STL Linehaul shareholder Edward Fairbrass announced the freight company’s closure earlier this week and said the news was devastating for everyone involved.
The Christchurch-based company was established in 1956 and, since then, had grown to 60 trucks, 100 trailers, and 64 employees spread across eight depots in New Zealand.
The Dunedin depot was only for pick-ups and drop-offs, and was not manned.
In an online message to clients, he said the company had been unable to secure funds to keep the company going, and it had closed with immediate effect.
"Effectively, the market is hugely down.
"I think it’s the worst market downturn for freight in New Zealand on record.
"There’s been a significant fall in freight volumes across the whole of New Zealand."
Mr Fairbrass believed the downturn was caused by the present state of the economy.
"There’s high interest rates — I mean, the economy’s just terrible.
"Someone told me the other day that every time GDP [gross domestic product] goes up 1%, freight volume goes up 3%; and every time GDP goes down 1%, freight volume goes correspondingly three times as hard.
"The economy is in a very bad state."
Other freight transporting companies around the country were also "on edge" because of the present economic conditions.
Mr Fairbrass announced the closure with "much sadness and a heavy heart" because the company had worked hard to overcome these significant financial hurdles.
"It’s a terrible situation. We’ve done our best to try to recover and keep the company going.
"We’ve done everything properly and tried to do our best by everybody.
"It’s devastating for creditors, for shareholders, for staff."
Customers who still had freight in transit were now being called and asked to come and collect it, he said.
