Van Gend & Loos was a Dutch distribution company. It was established in 1809, and was purchased by DHL in 2003.
History
Van Gend & Loos was established by the Antwerp-based innkeeper and carriage driver Jan-Baptist van Gend. He had married a woman from the Loos family in 1796. When Van Gend's brother-in-law Petrus Josephus Loos died in 1809, his diligence company was merged with Van Gend's company to form Van Gend & Loos.
The De Algemeene Postwagen Onderneming J.B. van Gend & Loos (General Postal Carriage Company J.B. van Gend & Loos) gradually expanded its network of diligence services, to transport passengers, goods and money. The company remained active in the Low Countries (and beyond) when Belgium became independent from the Netherlands in 1830.
Van Gend & Loos had trouble keeping up with competition from rail transport. Diligence services between places that also had a railway connection, had to be abandoned. Van Gend & Loos did offer a connection to places where a railway hadn't yet been constructed, but the number of such places declined with the expansion of the railway system. Disestablishment of the company was even considered in the 19th century.
Van Gend & Loos was purchased by employee Hipolyte Colignon, who revitalised the company. He abandoned passenger transport, and focussed on the transport of break bulk cargo from and to railway stations.