Transport Vervaeke is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. In addition to the festivities that belong to such an anniversary, the family business from Zellik harmonizes its brand by giving the two companies it has taken over in the Netherlands in recent years.
In 1935 Michel Vervaeke founded a company that specialized in the transport of agricultural products in Spiere, West Flanders. Seventeen years later, Vervaeke started transporting sulfuric acid in bulk for UCB. At that time, this type of products was not transported much on the road. This was the start of an increasingly further specialization in the transport of dangerous goods, with increasingly advanced tanks. In 2000, for example, Vervaeke was the first to develop a tank with which the driver could operate all loading and unloading work from the ground, without having to climb on the tank. These efforts in the field of safety are a common thread in the recent history of Vervaeke.
In 1985, Vervaeke employed around 90 people, mainly at the head office in Zellik, which was opened in 1960. Since then, the company has constantly grown: in 2008 a subsidiary was founded in Luxembourg, followed by a subsidiary in France (Lille) in 2014 and the takeover of the Dutch transport company Van der Lee in 2017. This acquisition gave an extra boost to the growth of the company, which also took over Jan Dohmen two years later, another Dutch transporter. On the occasion of his 90th anniversary, Vervaeke rename these two companies to Vervaeke Nederland and Vervaeke Deutschland on the one hand and Vervaeke Multimodal on the other.
“The various divisions of our group have worked very closely in recent years. We have integrated teams, systems and values across borders. This name change underlines the unit that we have built together. For our customers nothing changes. Our promise remains the same: quality, safety, innovation and service,” said Frédéric Derumeaux CEO. The Vervaeke group today has 13 branches and 950 employees. The fleet has more than 1000 tankers and 900 tank containers.
