Novandi, the group behind DP World Liège Container Terminals, and diversified Groupe Dufour are taking a majority stake in Avelgem Container Terminal. Transport company One Way Trucking is also involved in the deal.
Avelgem Container Terminal (AVCT) was the first inland terminal in Flanders in 1990. The terminal was founded by Cees Groenenboom and Alain Zielens, who died suddenly a few years ago. Today, the terminal is run by his son Charles Zielens.
“Novandi and Groupe Dufour acquire 51% of the holding over AVCT in which the Zielens family and the Dutch transport company De Groene Boom are the other shareholders,” explained Johan Gemels of Novandi. “The transport company One Way Trucking, owned by the Zielens family and the Dutch transport company Overbeke, will be acquired along with it. Novandi and Dufour each have half the shares.” The acquisition marks the Walloon group’s move into Flanders.
Management of the terminal remains in the hands of the Zielens family.
Novandi, a Liège-based group that has been active in intermodal transport and intermodal logistics for 90 years, is the largest intermodal player in Wallonia. Among other things, they operate DP World Liège Container Terminals and Liège Logistics Intermodal.
Groupe Dufour is a diversified group with around a thousand employees and several branches in Belgium and France. The company has been in existence for more than a hundred years.
Avelgem-Pecq
AVCT handles some 30,000 teu a year on a 2-hectare site. The new owners want to expand capacity. “As the expansion possibilities in Avelgem are limited, we are looking at Pecq, 10 kilometres away, where Dufour has a new quay. In the future, we would then speak of Avelgem-Pecq,” Johan Gemels concludes.
