The trucks have come and gone, the stands have been taken down, and the exhibitors have packed up and gone home. But the first Road Transport Expo (RTX) Northern Ireland has left a lasting impression on both visitors and those businesses who exhibited at this year’s show.
Over 60 exhibitors, including major manufacturers Scania, DAF, Volvo, MAN, Iveco, Mercedes-Benz and Renault Trucks and a host of other major local and UK businesses descended on the Eikon Centre for the two day show in mid-April, and the feedback has been positive, with businesses talking about the ‘quality’ of visitors to their stands and having enough decent conversations and enquiries to make their attendance at this first show in Ireland to be more than worth their while.
The Eikon Centre, Lisburn was the perfect venue for this trade show which is most definitely ‘all about the truck’. And as well as the many trade stands RTX also brought its ‘Knowledge Zone’ conference programme to Belfast, which ran over both days and tackled a range of highly relevant issues from driver safety to debarbonisation.
Each day also had a ‘Big Debate’ which involved a number of prominent professionals from the local transport and logistics industry – and this proved to be a real draw for the crowds at the show.
The Eikon Centre, located just 8 miles outside Belfast, has room for both inside and outside stands and a couple of manufacturers decided that they wanted the room and flexibility of being outside.
And while the weather may not have played ball on Wednesday, the rain stopped and the sun came out on Thursday morning and those outside, including Mercedes Benz and Scania Road Trucks reported a higher footfall, and better business on the second day.
There was also a ‘Ride and Drive’ event running throughout the two day show which proved a big draw – with one manufacturer reporting they had 150 test drives during the course of the show.
Road Transport Expo (RTX) Northern Ireland was organised by Road Transport Media, who already run the successful RTX at Stoneleigh in Warwickshire each June, and who also introduced RTX Scotland last November.
In 2026 they wanted to bring the already successful trade show format to Ireland, and to bring this to fruition the Road Transport Media team joined forces with Export & Freight and Fleet Transport trade magazines, who brought their local knowledge and expertise to the event.
Instead of just one Irish show, the plan is to create two shows – running alternate years – so in 2027 the industry can look forward to RTX Ireland, with RTX Northern Ireland returning in Spring 2028.
