The Belgian-Luxembourg Jost Group is strengthening its presence in German transport by acquiring Ctj Janssen, a road haulage and logistics company based in Grevenbroich, North Rhine-Westphalia. The companies have not disclosed the value of the transaction. The Bundeskartellamt (German Federal Cartel Office), Germany’s competition authority, has already approved the deal, while the customary closing conditions still need to be met before it is finalised.
Founded in 1985 and now in the second generation of the Meyers family, Ctj Janssen has been active for more than 40 years in road transport, logistics and warehouse management, with a customer base concentrated in the food, beverage and fast-moving consumer goods sectors. The company employs about 650 people and generates revenue of around €135m. It operates its own fleet of about 400 tractor units and more than 500 semi-trailers, alongside subcontractors and spot requests. Taking all these resources into account, Ctj manages around 650 commercial vehicles every day. For logistics, it uses a 5,000-square-metre warehouse dedicated to storage, picking, repackaging, relabelling and returns management.
For Jost Group, which is based in Büllingen in Belgium’s German-speaking region, Germany has so far been only a marginal market. Its only direct presence in the country was through the German subsidiary of Kuijpers Cargo Service, acquired in 2017, with about 40 locally registered commercial vehicles. With Ctj, the Belgian group is significantly increasing its scale. Once the transaction is completed, Jost will employ almost 4,000 people and have a fleet of 2,100 tractor units and 4,500 semi-trailers, with more than 800,000 square metres of storage space across ten countries in Europe and North Africa: Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Tunisia.
Ctj’s location in the Rhine-Ruhr area is a strategic element of the deal. Roland Jost, managing partner of the group, said the acquisition forms part of its long-term growth programme, stressing that Ctj has built a strong position in the German market over the years thanks to operational efficiency, established customer relationships and experienced staff. That view is shared, albeit from a different perspective, by Olaf Meyers, managing partner of Ctj, who described Jost as a long-term partner capable of ensuring continuity of development while maintaining the service levels and commercial relationships built by the company over the years.
In an interview with German newspaper DVZ, Meyers explained that the sale was due to health reasons, adding that his son, who is not yet of age, is interested in continuing the family business but is not currently in a position to take over its management. Meyers also provided some operational details about the company: an on-time delivery rate of between 99% and 100%, a driver workforce made up mainly of Polish staff employed under German contracts, and a commercial vehicle fleet powered entirely by HVO100 biofuel, consuming around one million litres a month. The handover will take place gradually: Meyers will remain at the helm of the company until the end of 2026 to support the appointment of a second chief executive with commercial responsibilities, before taking on an advisory role within the group.
P.R.
