It was a gesture to the planet. Between 2020 and early 2022, Dupuy Transport in Alsace gradually converted its fleet of trucks to liquefied natural gas (LNG). target? “Ride cleaner. » But rising gas prices following the war in Ukraine defeated this strategy.
“The liquidation was announced at 10am today.” Through the Strasbourg Commercial Court, family transporter boss Laurent Dupuy announced. “We are being asked for an ecological transition but we realize that no one really cares. »
The entrepreneur was unlucky with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which led to an increase in gas prices from the beginning of 2022. However he based his calculations on a gas price of less than one euro per kilo (equivalent to one liter of fuel). Laurent Dupuy predicted prices would explode to 4.5 euros in 2022.
Although prices are currently back at 1.65 euros per kilo, the company is heavily in debt and had to file for receivership last year. The only buyer in the running threw in the towel, causing Dupuy to liquidate. 19 of its trucks will be auctioned, while 44 of its employees will lose their jobs.
The 57-year-old business manager, who invested 3 million euros in his latest generation fleet of heavy goods vehicles, said he was frustrated by the lack of support from public authorities. “In France, there is no price shield or one-stop shop: all the administrations have sent us packing,” he laments.
