Reporters in Norway have discovered that bankrupt Lithuanian-owned haulage company Vlantana Norge, who were found guilty of labour-law violations last year, have resurfaced under the name of D4Dxpress.
Back in February of last year, Norwegian police investigating suspicions of employee exploitation by Vlantana Norge searched the Lithuanian-owned haulage firm’s premises, froze its bank accounts and seized seven trucks.
The Norwegian Public Roads Administration, the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority, the Tax Administration, the police and the independent audits carried out by clients all came to the same conclusion – there had been systematic manipulation of timesheets and significant underpayment of the drivers employed by the company. Preliminary estimates indicate an annual gain of between 28 and 39 million kroner as a result of the offenses.
As many as 52 drivers are still battling to receive compensation from Vlantana Norge (Vlantana’s separate Norwegian entity), which has now gone bankrupt.
However, not long after Vlantana Norge went to the wall, another interesting change took place in the Vlantana Group. According to FriFagbevegelse, two subsidiaries of Vlantana UAB in Lithuania, Vlantana Transport and Vlantana Spedition, changed their name. The first, called VAS Transport, currently has little activity in Norway. On the other hand, the second, D4DXpress, seems to be growing its presence in the country.
Reports in Norway state that D4DXpress trailers are now a common site at 24-hour rest areas in Norway. Photos published by FriFagbevegelse also show that the old Vlantana logos are still visible above the windscreens of some D4Dxpress trucks. Moreover, some employees have also reportedly been seen wearing Vlantana-branded clothing.
The connection between the two companies is nonetheless ignored on the websites of both D4Dxpress and Vlantana.
If I had unsuspectingly bought transport services from this company and then found out that it was actually Vlantana, I would have been pissed off,” says Geir A. Mo, CEO of the Norwegian Truck Owners Association (NLF), who recently spoke to Norwegian news website FriFagbevegelse.
The individual listed as the director of D4DXpress on Lithuanian corporate search sites, also appears on LinkedIn as the director of Vlantana’s accounting department. On top of that, the contact person listed on the Norwegian-registered foreign company database for D4DXpress is Tomas Stonys, CEO of Vlantana in Lithuania.
AS FriFagbevegelse puts it, “D4DXpress is good old Vlantana in new packaging.”
The Norwegian newspaper says it has reached out to both Vlantana and D4Dxpress on several occasions for comment. However, at the time of publication, they have yet to receive a response.