The story
ACTS Nederland BV was founded in 1989, and developed systems for transloading of containerised waste from road to rail without the use of cranes. In 1997 the ACTS container service were discontinued by NS Cargo. Subsequently, ACTS gained a license to operate as a railway company, and on 16 March 1998 began to operate waste container trains between Groningen and VAM in Wijster, becoming the first private Dutch rail company. In 1999 the company began transporting ISO Containers for Vos Logistics.
In 2004 Husa Capital BV obtained a majority of shares in ACTS, Ir John Hoekwater, ACTS's founding director was replaced by Rob van Gansewinkel. By 2004 ACTS had acquired a 7% market share of rail freight in the Netherlands.
In the summer of 2006 ACTS in association with the Dutch railway infrastructure authority ProRail operated test trains on the Betuweroute. In January 2007 ACTS obtained certification to operate on the German rail system.
By January 2008 Husa Capital's stake in ACTS had risen above 90%, and at the beginning of the same year ACTS was reorganised into independent operating companies with rolling stock leasing being taken over by RailMotion AG (Basel, Switzerland); the company inherited over 300 intermodal wagons. On the same date rolling stock maintenance was split into the company The Rail Factory BV based at Apeldoorn and Amersfoort, and specialising in the maintenance of locomotives. A business sub-unit Portfeeders was also formed, to concentrate on 'feeder operations' (shunting) in the Port of Rotterdam.
On 23 January 2008 ACTS obtained certification to operate on the Belgian railway network from the national railway network company Infrabel.
In January 2009 Husa Capital BV renamed itself Husa Transportation Group.
Husa Transportation Deutschland was formed by the acquisition of Rent-a-rail GmbH (railway construction locomotive leasing) and SRS RailService (rolling stock broker) in May 2009.
De Vries Transport Services, based in Veendam was acquired in September 2009 after bankruptcy, and renamed InterModal Solutions Veendam (IMS-Veendam). The company undertakes road transport, and operates terminals in Veendam and Leeuwarden. Bulk cargo handling (powders and granules) is carried out at Veendam, and warehousing at the Groningen Railport intermodal terminal in Veendam.
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In January 2014 the company announced it was to exit the rail freight transportation business, citing uncompetitive infrastructure access costs. The subsidiaries HRTS Nederlands and HRTS Süd were to be offered for sale, whilst rolling stock leasing company Rail Motion, and container shuttle business Shuttlewise were to remain in business.
From Wikipedia’s article on Husa Transportation Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4