Motor Transport – Fastest growing Top 100

This year’s Top 100/Fastest Growing list shows just how much the industry has changed in the past year. New names dominate the first four positions. Exel was purchased by the German post office and has become DHL Logistics. Kuehne + Nagel now occupies the third position after it bought ACR Logistics. It was previously 9th in our listing. ACR itself was formerly Hays Distribution. And even more remarkable is the rapid rise of UPS in the UK in the number four slot, up from 6th after the purchase of Lynx Express. TNT Logistics is in 5th place, up from 7th and was purchased by venture capitalist Apollo Management.

There are just so many changes. Fast growing Innovate first purchased Grampian Country Foods and has now snapped up Corby Chilled. The assets of MacFarlane were purchased by Stephen Cooke who formed MacFarlane Transport Holdings. There was a management buy-out at NFT Distribibution, and Feige Merlin became Harrier and is now no more. United Freight Distribution purchased part of Sandy Bruce Trucking in August.

Add to that Wincanton snapping up the Lane Group and RDL and 2006 comes to an end showing considerable change. The long expected consolidation of the industry is now taking place. The big companies are getting bigger but smaller companies are also successful. Companies that have come through the years of steady increases in fuel prices and have survived are now well placed. To be successful you have to pass the cost increases on to customers. And the successful companies have succeeded in doing just that.