Clear International reports that the UK’s largest trailer manufacturer SDC and CIMC of China have agreed terms for the huge Chinese conglomerate to acquire the Northern Ireland based manufacturer.
The European trailer industry is dominated by three German firms, Schmitz, Krone and Kögel. Behind these three comes Wielton, Schwarzmüller, Tirsan and SDC all currently on similar levels of output and well ahead of the rest of the competition.
CIMC has been working on a market entry strategy for Europe for many years and already owns a Dutch company but recently abandoned a plan to build a new trailer plant in Germany. A plant in Poland opened in October 2015. CIMC is already the largest trailer manufacturer on a global basis and has plants in China and the USA.
SDC has enjoyed considerable success since the GFC, more than doubling its output between 2012 and 2015.
Background
77% of all goods in Europe are moved by road and most of that proportion is transported in a trailer.
The West European Trailer Market Report (June 2016), with forecasts to 2020, can be obtained from CLEAR using the contact details below. A new report for the East European market was issued in April 2016. A Global Trailer Database was published in July 2015 and will be update shortly.
