Mammoet maintains top spot in IC Transport 50 Index

Allelys Heavy Haulage moves a transformer over the Orwell Bridge in the UK

A palpable sigh of relief is felt around the office when the International Cranes and Specialized Transport (ICST) table totals arrive and are higher than the previous year. While the IC Transport 50 Index ranking has fared better in earlier years than over the past 12 months, there is still some good growth. And that is despite the 2021 listing being under Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, to varying degrees of severity, for the entire period.

The total number of entries is up by three from last year to 82 companies. NessCampbell Crane + Rigging, one of four new or returning businesses, is in 49th place while Entrec is a notable absence following the 2020 sale of its US operations.

The total Index of all the 82 entries was up 1.5 %, to 1,993,109 points (from 1,962,828 in 2020). Focusing on the top 50 companies, the 2021 IC Transport Index total was up 3.5 % to 1,848,104 points (from 1,785,805 in 2020).

Mammoet remains in first place, having once again further increased its lead by this year growing organically by 11.8 per cent year-on-year.

Second-placed Sarens increased its capability by 3.5 %. The gap between the two giants, however, has increased by 17.3 % from 2020. Two years ago Sarens’ fleet was around 60 % the size of Mammoet’s while in 2020 it was around 40 % but in 2021 it is 37 %.

Positional changes in the top 10 over past year are confined to exchanges. Fagioli (no.3), who increased its capability by just under 1 % swapped places with All Erection and Crane Rental (no.4), who decreased its fleet, from the 2020 rankings. NTC (no.7) , who added nearly 9 % to its total, gained one place to displace Barnhart (no.8).

Also maintaining their places in the top 10 were the trio of USA-based companies namely Landstar, holding no.5 spot since 2016, Daseke (no.6) and ATS Specialized (no.9). It is the second year in the top 10 for US giant Maxim, which retained its 10th place.

Lift and Shift India moves a 2,300 tonne reactor

Looking in more detail at the ups and downs, the modular trailers and SPMT fleet total was also up, albeit by less than 1 %, from 1,141,590 to 1,150,871 tonnes. There was a surprisingly large 10.7 % decline in the capability of the specialized trailer fleet total from 763,884 tonnes to 681,866 tonnes.

UK-based Allelys Heavy Haulage moved closer to cracking the top 30, climbing three places to no.32. With Lift and Shift India (no.41) also edging upwards this year, the business covers Bangladesh, India, the Middle East, southeast Asia and Sri Lanka.

The largest percentage decrease was in the number of depots, down by 33.9 % from 2,381 to 1,574. Presumably this is at least partly a temporary decline with closures remaining in place due to the virus. Also down was the number of employees from 47,784 to 46,598 (a 2.5 % decrease), with the decline following two years of strong increases. Also up was the number of tractor units in the top 50 from 24,317 in 2020 to 24,763 (up 1.8 %).

New or returning entries to watch out for in future are Singapore’s Tiong Woon (no.53) as well as the two USA businesses of Buckingham Transport (no.59) and ProLift Rigging (no.72).

IC Transport 50 Index
This is calculated using the total carrying capacity in metric tonnes of all specialized transport equipment in a company’s fleet, divided into the two main sections of specialized trailers and modular trailers and SPMT.

As a work in progress that largely relies on the submission of entry forms completed by the companies listed, we are always interested to hear from companies that have not yet entered the Transport 50 Index.

If you would like to enter for the 2022 IC Transport 50 Index, please visit the KHL Group website during Q2 2022 for entry forms and-or contact us for details.