In recent years, the game of mergers and acquisitions has thoroughly reshaped the landscape of the Belgian transport sector. But this time the top of the rankings has been completely shaken up: Xwift has displaced Renewi and H.Essers, the traditional rivals for leadership, from the top spot.
In 2018, Xwift had a fleet of 120 trucks, and people were already talking about “unstoppable growth”. During that period, it was mainly about internal expansion, but the Nazareth company has completed more than ten important acquisitions in recent years. His hunger was not yet satisfied at the end of 2024: the fleet doubled in just twelve months, after the takeover of Jetcar, TTC, Delletrans, Hermos and Transport Vercauteren. Since H.Essers’ fleet has shrunk further and Renewi’s has stagnated, Xwift is today by a wide margin the largest fleet with a Belgian registration. Another notable move this year is the takeover of Transport Michiels by Distrilog, which moves up to third place in the rankings.
Bankruptcies play into the hands of others
Other strong increases are also the result of acquisitions: STEF (which took over the refrigeration activities of TDL Group), BD Logistics (with the integration of smaller players such as Top Speed, Dymar and Taxi Ver Boven Vracht), Gosselin (which took over Delcatrans), Gheeraert (with the takeover of De Rudder) and, on a smaller scale, Nandrin-Galet (which incorporated Euro Famenne) and Cubecold (which took over Transport Herve).
Less spectacular, but certainly worth mentioning, are the companies that grew organically, such as Gheys, Getax, One Eagle, Sud Fresh, Galliker and C&G Trans. New names such as Transport Robbyns and Jivé also appear in the list of companies with more than 50 trucks.
At the same time, the Top Fleet rankings have never seen so many bankruptcies: Nirotrans, Dalga Trans, Supreme Transport, Group De Wolf and Eurosped Belgium, among others, disappeared from the scene. These bankruptcies played into the hands of other transporters, such as Transport Martens from Turnhout, which today drives around with material from De Wolf.
