As of the end of the first quarter of 2025, in Italy there were 98,277 haulage companies actively operating, slightly over one hundred thousand when including those registered but currently suspended. The 1.04 percent decrease from the end of 2024 reflects a marked imbalance between company openings and closures. In the first three months of the year, only 909 new businesses were registered while 1,828 ceased trading, leaving a negative net balance of 919. The number of suspended companies rose to 1,930, an increase of 6.22 percent, highlighting a grey area of operators at risk of being struck off the Albo Nazionale degli Autotrasportatori unless they regularise their position. This is the picture that emerges from the regular survey conducted by the Albo Nazionale degli Autotrasportatori in cooperation with the Ministry of Transport and published by the register’s own magazine, Tir.
The contraction varies depending on business structure. Single-vehicle operators declined from 21,912 to 21,816, a slight decrease of less than half a percent. Micro-fleets operating between two and five vehicles showed the sharpest contraction, down 1.90 percent to 31,725. The segment operating six to twenty vehicles also saw a modest decline from 19,310 to 19,237, a drop of just 0.3 percent, suggesting relative stability. The resilience threshold is shifting upwards. Companies operating between 21 and 50 trucks increased from 5,453 to 5,485, a rise of 0.59 percent, while those with more than one hundred vehicles grew from 989 to 998, an increase of 0.91 percent. Meanwhile, the mid-range category of 51 to 100 vehicles shrank slightly by 0.52 percent to 1,538. The market is thus continuing to shed smaller and single-vehicle operators, consolidating instead those able to field larger fleets.
This same polarisation is reflected in the total vehicle mass. Firms operating vehicles under 1.5 tonnes, typically used for last-mile deliveries, declined from 1,217 to 1,182, a drop of 2.55 percent. The next weight class, from 1.5 to 3.5 tonnes, also fell slightly from 16,245 to 16,169, a decrease of 0.47 percent. Declines were more moderate in the mid-light range from 3.5 to 7 tonnes, which dropped by 1.97 percent to 1,342 companies, and the mid-heavy segment from 7 to 16 tonnes, which fell by 0.78 percent to 8,731 companies. Vehicle volumes above 16 tonnes appear stable. Companies operating trucks between 16 and 44 tonnes decreased by just 0.15 percent to 51,924, while those using vehicles over 44 tonnes fell by only six units, from 1,457 to 1,451, a 0.41 percent drop. At the same time, there remain 17,478 operators registered with no vehicles at all, a large group that continues to belong to the sector despite having no wheels on the road.
The Register also monitors two specialised segments of haulage: the transport of hazardous goods with ADR certification and the transport of temperature-controlled goods with ATP certification, both of which present a more nuanced picture. In the first case, the number of certified companies rose slightly from 6,299 to 6,331, a marginal increase mirrored by a 0.83 percent rise in ADR-certified vehicles, now totalling 50,075. The scope of temperature-controlled transport is significantly broader, with company numbers increasing from 63,933 to 64,067, a modest 0.21 percent rise, while ATP-certified vehicles grew by 2.44 percent, from 167,986 to 172,083.
The overall picture confirms a slow but steady process of selection. The market is shedding less capitalised operators while rewarding those able to expand in size, invest in heavier vehicles, and operate in technically specialised niches. Fewer companies, therefore, but on average more resilient and focused on high value-added services.
