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From Thomas Möckel
In the fall of 2021, a company began producing in Pirna that was unparalleled in the surrounding area. It had only recently moved from Kreischa to the "An der Elbe" industrial park. The "Palosa Paletten Logistik Sachsen GmbH & Co. KG" specialized in repairing wooden Euro pallets and producing new ones. The company in Pirna initially started off with a machine that repaired used wooden goods carriers. This unit was specially built according to the wishes of the then Palosa Managing Director Thomas Müller.
A year later, the second machine went into operation, this time one that could produce new Euro pallets. Everything ran fully automatically, with an employee inserting a stack of boards on one side and the finished pallet coming out on the other. In single-shift operation, the capacity was 10,000 new Euro pallets - per week.
However, the company ran into financial difficulties shortly afterwards and Palosa ultimately became insolvent, with the management filing for insolvency on April 11 of this year. The insolvency court at Dresden District Court then opened provisional insolvency proceedings and Franz-Ludwig Danko from Dresden was appointed insolvency administrator. He initially gained an overview and examined the options for restructuring the company. But the situation, as Danko initially assessed, was not easy. But now there is good news: Palosa Palettenlogistik has been saved.
All employees will continue to be employed
According to a spokesperson for the insolvency administrator, the Pirna-based company has a future again. Danko has agreed a takeover with an investor. "With the takeover, the Pirna site once again has good prospects under the umbrella of a strategically and economically well-positioned group of companies," says the insolvency administrator.
He is particularly pleased that all employees will be taken on. The corresponding contracts have already been signed. According to Danko, the actual takeover of the business operations, the so-called "closing", is planned for the beginning of July. Until then, the company's creditors still have to approve the takeover.
According to Danko's spokesperson, the investor is Deutsche Paletten Logistik GmbH, headquartered in Soest in North Rhine-Westphalia. The investor will continue to operate the Pirna site in full and integrate it into its group of companies. All 15 employees will continue to be employed. According to the insolvency administrator, Deutsche Paletten Logistik GmbH is one of the leading providers of pallet management in Europe and offers pallet logistics services at over 30 depots throughout Germany. The company also offers pallet repair services.
Price pressure on the market became a problem
Paletten Logistik Sachsen GmbH & Co. KG" specialized in manufacturing Euro pallets from sustainably sourced wood. It also serviced and repaired used wooden goods carriers. According to the insolvency administrator, the company had invested in an ultra-modern and efficient site in Pirna in recent years.
But then came the economic problems. In the end, the company ceased operations and production had already come to a standstill when the management filed for insolvency in April. According to the insolvency administrator, the reason why Palosa got into financial difficulties after such a short time in Pirna was the current prices. Price pressure in the pallet processing market is currently extremely high. This is a major problem for smaller suppliers, even if they - like Palosa - have state-of-the-art production facilities. Orders have fallen sharply as a result. In addition, the increased energy costs are causing the company problems.
Palosa was initially based in Kreischa. Thomas Müller joined his father's company in 1999 and then took over the business from him in 2010. The business developed rapidly and the number of orders increased as global supply chains demanded more and more Euro pallets. Because the business in Kreischa could not be expanded, a special deal was finally struck with Stadtentwicklungsgeschäft Pirna (SEP): SEP built a 2,000 square meter hall and office wing on an 8,500 square meter site in the "An der Elbe" industrial park for two million euros. Palosa rents the hall from SEP.
