CRIF AG has looked at what has been happening in the logistics sector (excluding air and sea freight) over the past six years. This sector has grown slightly since 2014: from 8,662 active businesses to 8,899 in 2020, which is equivalent to an increase of 2.7%.
A look at the portfolio of companies by individual sector reveals that most of the companies operating in 2020 were involved in forwarding freight by road (5573). However, their share of the overall business has fallen by 3.6% in comparison with 2014. The highest level of growth was reported by the segment involved with transport for relocation, which increased by 55.9%.
Company start-ups and liquidations
The largest number of new companies was set up in the transport sector in the canton of Zurich (937), followed by the canton of Aargau (409) and the canton of Bern (374). A comparison between the numbers of start-ups and liquidations revealed that the canton of Basel-Stadt reported more company liquidations (155) than start-ups (130).
The largest number of company start-ups involved the forwarding of freight by road. However, this segment experienced negative growth in the years 2015, 2016 and 2019, when there were more liquidations than start-ups. A look at the individual cantons shows that the cantons of Zurich and Vaud reported the highest growth, with 25 new businesses. On the other hand, liquidations outnumbered start-ups in the cantons of Bern (-31), Basel-Landschaft (-18), Basel-Stadt (-14), Valais (-12), Freiburg (-11), St. Gallen (-7) and Ticino (-5).
50% of companies disappear after one year
Many of the newly set-up companies in the transport and logistics sector went out of business again within a short period of time. 50% of the companies disappeared after as little as one year.
About the survey process
In this survey, we took account of all those businesses in the transport sector (excluding air and sea freight) that were entered into the Commercial Register for the first time during the period from 2014 to May 2020, or deleted from it during the same interval.
The full analysis can be requested from presse.ch@crif.com.
