The UK is a hub for foreign investment. We drive cars made by the Koreans and Japanese, consume power made by the Germans and French, and eat American fast-food.

Logistics is no different, as the Sunday Times Inward Investment Track shows, but the scale of foreign investment in British logistics is staggering.

Germany’s DHL is the second largest foreign-owned employer in the UK, with 43,250 employees. It has a global staff of 435,000.

France’s ND is 14th in the table with 14,600 (of 37,700); Switzerland’s K+N employs 8,690 (of 63,248) and The Netherlands’ TNT Express employs 8,500 (of 65,000).

ND, who alerted The Hub to the study, is particularly proud of its British hertiage. Phil Shaw, MD of ND UK Logistics said: “ND's association with the UK goes right back to the beginning – the company started out transporting apples from France to England and bringing loads back from England to France. Our founder’s first limited company was actually established in London in 1979 and our trademark red was based on the traditional British ‘pillar box’. We still complete more than 100,000 channel crossings every year and one of our trucks was the first vehicle off the very first Eurostar, 20 years ago.

“Since then, we have grown to become one of the UK’s leading logistics and transport companies – our UK business generated around £1 billion of turnover in 2013 and represents an engine for continued growth, both here and elsewhere, as our UK-based customers expand their own geographical reach.”

Own-account wise, the USA’s Asda comes out on top, with 115,181 employees across all aspects of its business, just a drop in the ocean of WalMart’s 2.2 million employees globally.

And these figures don’t even include the likes of TNT Post (Dutch), Gist (part of the German Linde Group), Yusen (Japanese); Gefco (once French, now Russian), Geodis (French), STVA (French again) and Pentalver (part of Danish shipping giant Maersk). Ceva is floated on the New York Stock Exchange, while Culina is part of the German (but Luxemburg registered) Theo Muller Group.

Or, to put it another way, just 13% of the MT Top 100 is foreign-owned. Who says there isn’t strength in British business?