The UK’s biggest finished vehicle transport provider BCA has bought rival car haulier ECM for an undisclosed sum, which will give the carrier one of the largest fleets in Europe.
The takeover means BCA’s fleet of car carriers will increase to around 1,500, by far the biggest fleet in the UK. It represents a significant consolidation in the UK finished vehicle sector, even in light of the recent increase in buyouts, as the sector deals with volatile production and outbound flows, high fuel costs and a severe shortage of drivers.
ECM, which operates a fleet of around 450 car carriers according to industry sources, does not own any vehicle compounds so the takeover only effects road transport services. As well as road transport services for new finished vehicle deliveries, including storage and compound management, BCA provides fleet management, vehicle remarketing and auction preparation services.
The takeover of ECM is subject to review by the UK Competition and Markets Authority and the companies will continue to trade independently until the review is complete.
Prior to the Covid pandemic BCA had been steadily buying up rival transport and logistics providers in the UK. That included taking over Paragon Automotive, Ambrosetti and Stobart Automotive.
There has been a trend in the finished vehicle sector over the last five years, with CMA CGM buying Gefco, Groupe Cat buying STVA and Mosolf Group taking over Autokontor Bayern. Also, in September last year, online used car retailer Cazoo bought SMH Fleet Solutions, one of the UK’s leading vehicle preparation, logistics and storage businesses.
BCA now counts all major carmakers in the UK as customers and earlier this year the company began distributing the DFSK EC35 electric van, which is produced in China by DFSK Motor and imported through Portbury Docks in Bristol.
Automotive Logistics will discuss trends in finished vehicle logistics with the release of the latest results of a global finished vehicle logistics survey during a livestream on August 31.
Register or watch the finished vehicle logistics livestream here
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