News / MSC subsidiary Medlog buys UK's biggest haulier, Maritime Transport

The UK container haulage sector is set for a shake-up after it was announced today that MSC’s overland subsidiary, Medlog, has acquired the country’s largest haulier, Maritime Transport.

The price of the acquisition remained undisclosed, but according to Maritime Transport parent Maritime Group’s latest filings with Companies House, the haulier posted a turnover of £404m ($530m) in its latest financial year, ending 31 December 2023.

Operating profit [Ebit] for the period was just over £20m, and Loadstar Premium’s DeskOne head, Alessandro Pasetti, estimated that the sale price was likely to be between £300m and £500m.

He explained: “Given prevailing multiples in the sector, our estimate of the target is an enterprise value of about £400m as a base case, given net debt balances.

“That would imply a 1x trailing multiple for sales, with the end of 2023 reported revenues of £404m, and based on the 2023 reported Ebit of £20m, the implied take-out Ebit multiple is around 20x, based on the aforementioned assumptions,” he added.

Maritime Transport operates 1,600 trucks and employs around 3,000 staff, and also operates daily intermodal train services – largely in cooperation with GB Railfreight – out of the country’s major ports and inland rail freight terminals.

“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,” said Maritime Group executive chairman John Williams.

“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 confirmed that Maritime’s management team, including Mr Williams, “will remain with the business and continue to run the company uninterrupted, with new investment support from Medlog, under the Maritime brand”.

Medlog chairman Giuseppe Prudente said: “We are delighted to be expanding our logistics footprint in the UK. The wealth of knowledge within Maritime, coupled with the investment and expertise from Medlog, will power continued innovation into the UK’s logistics infrastructure…in a manner that’s aligned with our values and the respect we hold for the environment.”

While the extraordinary expansion of MSC’s container shipping fleet has made headlines, the growth of Medlog has been much more under the radar.

However, recent years have seen a series of deals that have beefed-up its presence in European overland markets: its rail freight arm, Medway, was formed after the acquisition of Portuguese state-owned rail freight operator CP Carga in 2016; last year it became a 50% owner of Spain’s state-owned rail freight operation, Renfe Mercancias; and later last year it formed a joint-venture with Italian state-owned rail operator Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS), to “expand the freight logistics network between Italian and European ports”.

Additionally, the key factor in MSC’s bid to purchase a 49% stake in Hamburg port operator HHLA is understood to stem from a desire to integrate HHLA’s Metrans intermodal subsidiary into Medlog to create one of the largest pan-Europe overland container transport networks.

In the UK, Medlog won a contract to operate the iPort Rail terminal in Doncaster last December.

However, the effect of this latest deal could have far larger ramifications for the market – Maritime Transport serves a variety of container line customers, and it remains to be seen how comfortable they will be with using an operation now owned by the world’s largest shipping line.