Maritime Transport has been bought by Swiss giant MEDLOG for an undisclosed sum, becoming the latest British transport operator to be acquired by an overseas corporation.

The deal sees Maritime’s current management team, headed by group executive chairman John Williams, remaining with the business and continuing to run the company, with new investment support from MEDLOG, under the Maritime brand.

Announcing the deal John Williams said: “We are really pleased to have secured the long-term future of the business as part of an independent, global logistics organisation capable of providing the continued investment to help us with our exciting plans to develop the company for all our stakeholders.

“In MEDLOG, we share a common heritage, culture, values and understanding and we look forward to their support in realising the full potential of Maritime and our commitment to our valued employees, customers and suppliers.

“We will continue to develop practical, technology-driven, infrastructure-led, supply chain solutions and setting a high bar for service performance in the UK with new battery electric trucks on order and our rail terminals operating on an open access basis for existing and new customers,” he added.

MEDLOG chairman, Giuseppe Prudente, hailed the acquisition as an important milestone. He said: “We are delighted to be expanding our logistics footprint in the United Kingdom. MEDLOG specialises in intermodal transportation, providing solutions in more than 80 countries.

“The wealth of knowledge within Maritime, coupled with the investment and expertise from MEDLOG, will power continued innovation into the UK’s logistics infrastructure for the future, in a manner that’s aligned with our values and the respect we hold for the environment.” 

Founded in 1988, MEDLOG is an independent logistics operator and a specialist in intermodal transportation solutions with over 10,000 employees.

It has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and is the cargo business of MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, the world’s largest container carrier.

Felixstowe-based Maritime Transport was launched in 2001 by John Williams and remains a family-led firm. It provides integrated road and rail freight logistics as well as container transport and storage, domestic distribution, warehousing, freight management, and truck sales.

The company employs around 3,000 staff across 41 sites and operates a fleet of 1,600 trucks as well as operating 36 daily rail services.

Over the course of this year it has invested heavily in its intermodal offering, expanding its terminals at Liverpool, Northampton and East Midlands Freeport and investing £30m investment in the company’s fleet renewal programme.

The company is also a key player in the government funded Zero Emission HGV and Infrastructure Demonstrator (ZEHID) programme which will see Maritime integrate both electric and hydrogen fuel cell trucks into its operations across its network from 2025.

Maritime Transport recently unveiled its latest annual results which showed pre-tax profit almost halving in 2023, which the firm put down to the normalisation of post-pandemic trading supply chain challenges.

The company reported a £78m fall in revenue to £404m (2022: £482m) in the year to 27 December 2023, with pre-tax profit spiralling to £20.7m (2022: £40.1m) in the period.

Maritime Transport’s sale to an overseas buyer follows a growing trend. In April this year Wincanton was acquired by US giant GXO, just over a year after GXO bought Clipper Logistics.

Other UK companies snapped up over the past 12 months by overseas investors include Abbey Logistics, bought by Belgian group Sitra in November last year, Kent-based Perishable Movements Limited bought in July 2023 by French group Seafrigo, and County Durham-based supply chain specialist NFS360 Connect which was acquired by French logistics giant DESLOG in August this year.

Requests for comment from both Maritime and MEDLOG have yet to receive a response.

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