The Tribunal des Activités Économiques de Lyon (Lyon Economic Activities Court) on Thursday 2 July approved the request submitted by Lamberet Sas, the long-established French bodybuilder of refrigerated industrial vehicles, to open redressement judiciaire proceedings. The observation period will last six months and is intended to ensure continuity of production while an industrial solution is sought. Redressement judiciaire is the French insolvency procedure for companies in difficulty but still operating, allowing production to continue while a restructuring plan is drawn up under the supervision of court-appointed administrators.
The company, which has operated in temperature-controlled transport for more than 90 years, employs around 1,000 people. According to the company, its plants will continue production and orders in the backlog, which Lamberet says remains substantial, will be fulfilled as normal. The Comité Social et Économique (Social and Economic Committee) issued a favourable opinion on the opening of the proceedings, a step that, according to the company’s account, reflects a shared willingness to safeguard jobs and industrial continuity. Lamberet has been led since July 2025 by chief executive Stefano Chmielewski, who replaced Cyril Abegg and was appointed with a mandate to restore the company’s financial balance. “The Court’s decision does not represent an end, but a tool in support of our industrial project,” he said. “Our priority remains to preserve the company, protect jobs, enhance our expertise and create the conditions for a sustainable future.” Over the next six months, the work of the administrators appointed by the Lyon court will be decisive in shaping Lamberet’s path forward. The company has said it will maintain constant dialogue with employees, customers, suppliers and commercial partners on the development of the procedure.
The Lamberet case is not an isolated one in the French industrial bodybuilding sector: Durisotti and Aubineau Constructeur have also recently opened redressement judiciaire proceedings, signalling fragility across the refrigerated bodybuilder segment. The broader picture for French transport and logistics also shows mounting pressure. According to Altares data, the sector recorded 857 insolvency proceedings in the first quarter of 2026, up 12.9% year on year. Road freight transport, taken on its own, shows a less clear-cut trend, with business failures down 5.3% at 443 cases. The overall figure has been driven mainly by the interurban segment, in which Lamberet also operates as a vehicle supplier, which rose by 12%, while local transport benefited from a 17% improvement.
Among the most frequently cited causes of the deterioration is the energy shock linked to tensions in the Middle East. Since the end of February, professional diesel has risen by around 40%, with the average price reaching €2.30 per litre in mid-April, exceeding the record levels seen in 2022. Fuel, which already accounts for more than one fifth of the operating costs of an articulated lorry, has translated into a 9% increase in overall operating expenditure. On 30 March, the French government introduced emergency aid of 20 cents per litre for small and medium-sized transport companies, later extended in May. However, industry federations such as Otre considered the measure insufficient; in late March, Otre organised blockades and go-slows on several motorway routes. Major cases in recent months also include the court-ordered liquidation of Ziegler France, ordered on 31 March by the Tribunal de commerce de Lille (Lille Commercial Court) and affecting around 1,500 employees, and the case of Pedretti Distribution, a Savoie-based company with 390 employees that was placed in redressement judiciaire in December 2025 before being converted into court-ordered liquidation on 16 March 2026.
Massimiliano Barberis
