Germany and France are the main home countries for important logistics service providers, Denmark and the United Kingdom hold two of the top 20 companies each and Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands have one each. The biggest logistics companies have a wider international activity. The EU, as a common economic zone, promotes the development of international transport and logistics businesses. Big companies consequently develop into new markets and some have strong positions in various countries. In some Member States, the biggest logistics service providers are not necessarily national companies.
Aside from the top list of logistics service providers in the EU, the study also reports the top 15 biggest service providers per country. Figure 2.5 shows the composition of the most important (top 15) logistics service providers per country. The bars in dark blue indicate the number of national companies, while the light blue bars indicate foreign logistics providers working within the country.
Eight Member States have more than ten national service providers among the top 15 (see the dark blue bars on the left-hand side of the diagram) and the market is shaped by national players. Eight further countries have more than one half of companies from their own national base (see the bars for the nations from France to the United Kingdom). In this case, international companies challenge national competitors for market shares. In seven countries more foreign competitors than national companies make the top 15.