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Inland freight water transport

Current registrations 884division 50: 1,246
Starters, 12 months 475.3 per 100 · Belgium 8.9
Bankruptcies, 12 months 77.9 per 1,000 registrations · Belgium 6.2
Employment (FTE) 59735 employers · latest accounts
Median age 19.0 yearsBelgium 8.1 years
E-invoicing via Peppol 84.2%744 of 884 companies in the Peppol Directory · Belgium 85.0%

Filed accounts

NACE 50400 · financial year 2025 · 180 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
45.3%
division 42.7% · Belgium 46.1%
Median net result
€24,250
division €21,145 · Belgium €16,492
Median equity
€478,644
division €351,427 · Belgium €98,323
Loss-making
30.6%
division 31.7% · Belgium 26.7%
Negative equity
10.6%
division 14.7% · Belgium 12.4%
Median return on equity
8.0%
division 9.8% · Belgium 15.9%
Median liquidity
1.92
division 1.71 · Belgium 1.66
Filed late
41.8%
financial year 2024, 184 filings · division 40.8% · Belgium 38.4%
Missing or 90 days late
6.6%
of 197 companies with annual accounts · division 7.0% · Belgium 5.4%
Per financial year202020212022202320242025
Median solvency 29.1%32.6%34.1%40.4%42.0%45.3%
Median net result €16,407€24,070€35,872€22,995€24,837€24,250

Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies, 5 years, still registered
11
1.24% of the registrations · Belgium 1.68%
Running bankruptcies
10
11.3 per 1,000 registrations

Recent bankruptcies

Date Company
09-10-2026 Afrika World Services
BE 0786.468.971
08-10-2026 BVS Scheepsservice & Crewing
BE 0785.359.114
21-09-2026 DESIREE
BE 0876.755.482
06-07-2026 VISHU SERVICE
BE 1005.088.066
03-07-2026 MACHOU TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS
BE 1004.474.788
09-04-2026 Apers, Kevin
BE 0556.997.556 · sole trader · Antwerp
19-01-2026 JEMA
BE 0443.012.856
15-10-2025 Ras, Edgar
BE 0679.844.294 · sole trader · Antwerp

Every bankruptcy in division 50, last 90 days

Spread across the country

by region and province · 291 of 884 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat
  • Flanders 255 · 87.6%
  • Wallonia 30 · 10.3%
  • Brussels 5 · 1.7%
  • Abroad 1 · 0.3%
fewer moremax 198

Largest employers

NACE 50400 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts
  1. 1 DB CARGO BELGIUMAntwerp 240 FTEfinancial year 2025
  2. 2 EUROPORTS INLAND TERMINALSLiège 69.2 FTEfinancial year 2025
  3. 3 BCTN MeerhoutMeerhout 63.7 FTEfinancial year 2025
  4. 4 SOMEFLiège 47.8 FTEfinancial year 2025
  5. 5 GITRAWijnegem 15.1 FTEfinancial year 2025

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 55 companies
  • 139 Inland shipping 38
  • 226 White-collar workers in international trade, transport and logistics 23
  • 140.03 Road transport and logistics for third parties 6
  • 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 5
  • 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 2
  • 124 Construction 2
  • 140 Transport and logistics 1
  • 209 White-collar workers in metal manufacturing 1

Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.

Division 50: Water transport

Related activities

3 other activities
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Water transport50200 215 15 1 574
Water transport50100 96 7 0 131
Water transport50300 67 9 0 58

Bankruptcies per year in division 50

Per year201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Bankruptcies1459643465565
Jobs lost3851464381276105

2026 through September. Every bankruptcy, also of companies that have since left the register. Source: Statbel (Directorate-General Statistics), NACE classification of 2008.

Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 50

85 employers
Median
€95,900
Belgium €61,400
Middle half
€70,500 to €123,900
half of the employers lie between
Place among sectors
1 of 78
sectors with a median staff cost per FTE, highest first
By size class
SizeMedianMiddle halfEmployers
fewer than 10 FTE €96,200 €70,500 to €113,900 57
10 to 49 FTE €90,200 €68,600 to €111,500 22

Foreign control in NACE division 50

533 registered companies

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number
  • Flemish subsidies €2.1m awarded 54 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Subsidies in het kader van leerling-, student- en instellinggebonden ondersteuning
  • Federal transfers 2.0m amount as published 1 recipient · 2024 · largest: Gecombineerd en verspreid vervoer(cf. art. 2.33.2 van de algemene uitgavenbegroting)
  • EU budget €728,456 attributed share 1 recipient · 2022 to 2024 · largest: Horizon Europe
  • EU research €765,500 EU contribution 2 recipients · 2018 to 2023 · largest: Horizon Europe

Explore every recipient in this sector

Insights on Inland freight water transport

Balance sheet and result. Return on equity of 8.0% is below Belgium's 15.9%. The median net result of €24,250 is above Belgium's €16,492. Liquidity of 1.92 is above Belgium's 1.66.

Bankruptcies. In 12 months, 7.9 of 1,000 companies went bankrupt, against 6.2 in Belgium. That is more than in 78% of the 88 NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.2% is below Belgium's 0.2%.

Inflow and structure. Half of the companies are younger than 19.0 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. 67.1% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. In 12 months, 5.3 of 100 companies started, against 8.9 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 67% of the 87 NACE divisions.

Staff and filing. The 5 largest employers hold 435 of the 597 FTE: 72.9%.

Direction. Median solvency rose from 29.1% in financial year 2020 to 45.3% in financial year 2025. The median net result rose from €16,407 in financial year 2020 to €24,250 in financial year 2025.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 10-11-2026 05:30.

Method and sources

Every company registered today counts under its main activities in the KBO. Establishment units do not count. Staff counts once, under the employer's first main activity, from its latest accounts and only where it fits the staff costs. The count follows the NACE 2025 classification, the version in which code 50400 exists.

The bankruptcies over five years count only companies still registered today, because the activity of a company that left the register is not kept. So they are fewer than the bankruptcies of those years, and the figure is not a probability for the future. Over twelve months the count is nearly complete, because a bankrupt company stays registered while its bankruptcy runs. A company with more than one main activity counts in each of those sectors.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other NACE divisions rests on an overview of every division, counted again each night. Each division is counted in the version of the NACE classification in which it exists. A standing such as "more than in 80%" compares with the other divisions that have the figure. A division's bankruptcy probability is the median over its companies with a score. Belgium here counts the 1,276,421 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 699,557 registrations publish no activity.

Each median is the value of the middle company, computed over the annual accounts of financial year 2025, and is shown only from 30 accounts. A share (loss-making, negative equity) counts that year's accounts with that trait. Accounts are late when they are filed after the statutory deadline. The direction per financial year follows the companies still registered today. Missing or 90 days late counts the companies with accounts missing today, or whose latest were filed more than 90 days after the deadline. The dossier follows the same rule.