Celebrating 110 years of Van Eck Trailers with Open Days

Since 1912 the leading innovative transport solutions provider Van Eck is a reliable partner of the logistics industry with sustainable and lowest TCO transport solutions. The originator of, the now industry-standard Twindeck trailers, Van Eck has the longest history of developing LHV trailers and is the only manufacturer to produce their own roller bed systems that differentiate their Air-Cargo vehicles.

Celebrating its 110th anniversary in 2022, Van Eck Trailers continues to be passionate about delivering innovative and sustainable logistics solutions with a strong customer-oriented approach. Each Van Eck trailer is designed and built with uncompromising quality with the aim of getting an increased return for Van Eck’s customers. As a result, Van Eck maximizes the load factor while providing smart loading and unloading systems to eliminate operational lags and inefficiencies.

Today, Van Eck Trailers stands out with its sustainable solutions reinventing modern road transport as well as its leading role and collaborations in the EU projects.

Van Eck proudly celebrated its 110th year anniversary with Van Eck Open days held on the 10th and 11th of June in its factory in Beesd. Van Eck customers and stakeholders had the chance to inspect production and state-of-the-art vehicle exhibition in conversation with the Van Eck expert team.

Van Eck Open Days vehicle exhibition showcased, Aircargo Curtainsider featuring Van Eck’s own production higher ease and safety roller conveyor systems; the example of Van Eck’s expertise and longest experience in LHV, a combination of standard trailer, Dolly, and Twindeck vehicles, Van Eck’s load factor maximization example of Air Cargo Platform trailer with drive-assisted landing unit, FNA certified air cargo box vehicle with side doors and Van Eck’s signature Twindeck vehicle with the movable floor for loading efficiency.

Our legacy is innovation

In 1912, Johannes van Eck started a bodywork company at Kortenhoevenseweg in Lexmond. With a constant search for innovation, Van Eck started its first Reefer Box production in 1962. Since the family business was set up, Van Eck’s whole organization has focussed on developing innovative vehicles which give its customer a head start in their logistics services.

Van Eck introduced its first airfreight trailers with five and seven main-deck-pallet-loading capacity in 1983. And with the replacement needs of a fire station, Van Eck moved to its current location from Lexmond to Beesd in 1986, where Van Eck held its 110th year anniversary. Van Eck Trailers become a reliable partner and a household name in the air cargo transportation sector as the only manufacturer to produce its own rollerbeds that are fully compliant with the Lufthansa Technical Specifications.

Van Eck’s Eckspress series for air cargo transportation are FRC and FNA certified and is the perfect choice for temperature-sensitive air-cargo transportation with its insulated upper body that has been produced with the wet-in-wet method.

The originator of today’s industry-standard Twindeck, Exhibited at Open Days

In December 1995, van Opijnen from Deventer asked Van Eck to build a never before made trailer with an extreme height of 3485mm. The resulting trailer for Ten Kate Flowers to carry palm trees upright is the first milestone in Van Eck’s now industry-standard Twindeck Trailers. Van Eck introduced the very first Twindeck that offers %60 more volume in 2002.

Built with exceptional quality and high functionality in every detail, Van Eck Twindecks is the most efficient way of cargo transport for you and the environment. With every operation, the Twindeck vehicles enable its customers to carry 54 pallets and thus decrease CO2 emissions by 40% for the environment.

At the Open Days exhibition Van Eck Twidenck vehicle with a moveable floor was presented demonstrating the automatic as well as manual operations of the movable floor, enabling easy and efficient loading of 56 trolleys on the upper floor, and 39 trolleys on the bottom floor, reaching 60% more loading capacity than a standard trailer.

Exhibition Vehicles Demonstrate Product range full of innovation

Van Eck’s product range currently includes Eckstreme, Eco Co2mbi, Eckcellent, Eckspress, and Eckspert Series.

Supporting green logistics, Van Eck Twindeck within the Eckstreme series is a ready-made solution for meeting the challenging CO2 targets now. A Twindeck trailer saves 55.935 kg of CO2 equivalent to 2.578 trees as a result of its unique construction, which offers 60% more loading capacity. Van Eck is the only manufacturer that can offer a Twindeck vehicle with a moveable floor, also exhibited on the Open Days, enabling you to load directly to the 2nd deck of the Twindeck, presenting ease of use and more loading scheme opportunities.

Thanks to the independent wheel suspension, the special design enables an extremely low floor and a second loading floor, corresponding to a high loading space of up to 1.830 mm on each floor, and additional space between the wheels. Van Eck Twindeck vehicles can hold up to 54 euro pallets, resulting in a 40 percent reduction in CO2 emissions. When it comes to loading factor optimization and CO2 reduction, Van Eck Twindeck cannot be beaten by any regular trailer in the market.

Producing its first Long Heavy Vehicle (LHV) in 2004, Van Eck’s Ecko Co2mbi series enables sustainable transport by decreasing CO2 emissions by 40 percent. Within Ecko Co2mbi Series, Van Eck can build any LHV Combination, including LHVs with twin decks. The Open Days exhibition customer vehicle demonstrated the combination of a standard trailer with Dolly and a Twindeck.

Eckspress Series Aircargo Vehicles is the company’s reliable solution for airfreight and airline companies by offering an in-house developed and manufactured Roller Conveyor System that enables safe and reliable road freight services and has a double-deck system to increase load factor. In Open Days, Van Eck exhibited Aircargo Curtainsider featuring Van Eck’s own production higher ease and safe roller conveyor systems; Van Eck’s load factor maximization example of air cargo platform trailer with drive-assisted loading unit, FNA certified air cargo box vehicle with side doors customized upon customers request.

Eckcellent Series Distribution Vehicles offers tailor-made transport solutions for both day and night operations. Eckcellent Series are built with a reinforced upper structure for product longevity.

In Eckspert series Van Eck designs and manufactures very special vehicles that completely address the very special transport challenge of its customers.

An Expert in Load-Optimized Trailer Design

In alignment with the company vision, Van Eck Trailers not only manufactures the most sustainable trailer solutions but at the same time participates in EU Research Projects to enable the transport industry to meet its sustainability goals.

A fine example of one of these projects is Transformers, focusing on “Configurable and Adaptable Trucks and Trailers for Optimal Transport Efficiency.1” As a member of the international consortium in the EU Research Project, Transformers, Van Eck designed a load-optimized trailer that features an electric roof height adjuster, a load volume sensor, and a double floor system. If the maximum permissible mass of the trailer is reached without its volume being fully utilized, the roof can be lowered to reduce the aerodynamic drag.

Furthermore, Van Eck Trailers has been a member of Clusters 2.02, a Horizon 2020 project leveraging the potential of European Logistics Clusters for a sustainable, efficient, and fully integrated transport system. Clusters 2.0 relies on an Open Network of Logistics Clusters operating in the frame of Ten-T and supporting local, regional, and European development while keeping neutral the local impacts such as congestion, noise, land use, and local pollution levels. As a member of the Clusters 2.0, Van Eck Trailers has been developing NMLU, the New Modular Load Unit which has won the Trailer Innovation Award 2021, in the environment category.

Van Eck’s Accumulated Knowledge in Action for Longer and Heavier Vehicles

Next to its expertise in load factor optimization, Van Eck makes a difference with its extensive experience in LHV as well.

Van Eck approaches each LHV as a unique challenge depending on the country-specific regulations and the cargo and route and its LHV vehicles have been on the roads of the Netherlands since 2004. With its extensive experience and expert team, Van Eck has become a solid partner of the Aeroflex Project, with the goal to develop and demonstrate new technologies, concepts, and architectures for complete vehicles with optimized aerodynamics, powertrains, and safety systems as well as flexible and adaptable loading units with advanced interconnectedness.

Within the Aeroflex project, Van Eck contributed to the development of the Aerodynamics of LHVs as well as the development of the e-dolly.

Van Eck contributed to the European Commission-backed Transformers project and helped further the development of the advanced aerodynamic structures of the LHV that is optimized for the best aerodynamic performance. These different new aerodynamic designs showed great success in the wind tunnel tests and the project was concluded in 2021.

Van Eck also contributed to the EMS-2 vehicle within the European Commission-backed AEROFLEX project. For this design, an e-Dolly was needed to recuperate the energy and feed it back to the vehicle. EMS-2 prototype is subjected to an extensive test plan in line with green logistics solutions development.

Van Eck continues to reinvent modern transport with its Twindeck trailers meeting your carbon emission targets today as well as the most experienced LHV solutions each customized to the specific regulation and your business operations and an active and leading role in EU research projects.

Kässbohrer Outlook: Together to the Next 125 Years

Leading semi-trailer manufacturer Kässbohrer highlights ‘together to the next 125 years’ in 2022, underlining the importance of a wide ecosystem of innovation and partnerships to advance the trailer industry towards sustainability.

Continuing its sustained success achieved together with its customers, meeting their needs together with the focused localized organization all around Europe, competent R&D, ever-expanding after-sales network as well as finance solutions with leading leasing companies, throughout the year Kässbohrer proceeded with Enginuity to meet its customers’ unmet needs.

Kässbohrer launched new vehicles for city, general cargo, intermodal, construction, agriculture, and liquid transportation and won 2nd place at the Trailer Innovation 2023 Award in the category ‘Safety’. Kässbohrer also continued to digitalize its business operations.

“Continuing to be one of the top choices of the logistics sector”

Thanks to its engineering competence and customer-centric ingenuity Kässbohrer meets the needs of its customers in more than 55 countries while expertly supplying efficient, safe, high-quality, long-lasting, innovative vehicles to all logistics sectors, together with its strong local teams.

The leading semi-trailer Kässbohrer is among the overall Top 3 choices in the Netherlands and Sweden. Kässbohrer is among the top 3 in tank and silos in Germany. For heavy haulage, Kässbohrer is the market leader in low beds in Poland, among the Top 3 in France with Platforms. With its strong local organization, Kässbohrer is rapidly meeting its customers’ needs in Italy by doubling its sales and in Spain tripling its sales.

“Vehicle Launches continuously meeting the transformation of logistics industry”

Ms. Türken highlighted the innovative spirit of Kässbohrer with 18 new vehicles with over 50 innovations presented to the industry including 9 new vehicles presented during the IAA Transportation 2022 fair.

“Kässbohrer proudly presented its newest innovations for increasing efficiency in intermodal operations, liquid transportation as well as heavy haulage transportation, taking its customers’ operations to the next level. Kässbohrer while working for the needs of the future, continues to provide solutions for today’s need for transformation.

With Enginuity, Kässbohrer will keep developing new vehicles and services to meet the unmet needs of its customers as well as addressing sustainability goals.

“Continuing its Tradition, Kässbohrer is the proud winner of the Trailer Innovation Awards 2023”

Adhering to its motto „Enginuity”, the combination of “Engineering” and “Ingenuity”, Kässbohrer constantly invests in its competent R&D and engineer products and services to take its customers’ business to the next level together the next 125 years.

With its widest range of innovations, Kässbohrer has competently innovated in all categories of the most prestigious Trailer Innovation Awards, respectively; Body, Chassis, Components, Concept, Environment, Safety, and Smart Trailer, winning a total of 6 awards.

Continuing its tradition, in Trailer Innovation 2023 Awards, Kässbohrer won 2nd place in the category ‘Safety’ with its Integration Protection Device alongside its two nominations with its Augmented Proactive Driving Support in the category ‘Concept’, and 360 Degree Experience of Digital Twins in the category ‘Smart’.

“Kässbohrer invests further in services & digitalizes its spare parts operations”

Kässbohrer keeps investing and developing its services to meet the needs of its customers Europe-wide.

Kässbohrer after-sales services are audited competent service points, 97,6% of which can perform maintenance and repair work on all general cargo, bulk and liquid goods, intermodal as well as construction, and heavy haulage sectors. The network reached 668 competent service points in 2022.

In spare parts operations, Kässbohrer continues its infrastructure and digitalization investments. The main spare parts depot for Northern Europe, Goch has been expanded, serving 156.000 parts. As individual customer care is a priority at Kässbohrer, dedicated spare parts teams handle all requests making also use of updated EPC (Electronic Parts Catalog)

Ms. Türken highlights the developments of EPC ” Taking care of every request personally & digitally, Kässbohrer’s spare parts team improved its Electronic Parts Catalog with a total of 12 developments as feedback from its customers. Kässbohrer accordingly launched its new user-friendly interface in 2022. Together with the new personalized interface, the Goch, Ulm, and Lyon spare parts warehouses are seamlessly integrated, and our teams can fulfill our customers’ requests much more efficiently.

Kässbohrer’s K-Finance, providing competitive financing options on all its product ranges has developed in 2022 as well. Already existing collaboration with BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions in France and Spain has extended to Germany in 2022. Kässbohrer works with EFL in Poland and with Unicredit in Italy to present competitive financial solutions to its customers.

“Fully competent in all sustainability transformation needs and working together with all stakeholders”

İffet Türken further elaborates on the importance of more efficient and sustainable vehicles for the future: “As the transport sector welcomes the new European climate law, committed to at least 55% carbon emission reduction by 2030, an ambitious transition awaits our industry pending further legislation. In this time of transforming the transport business, Kässbohrer is equally competent in all technologies and vehicle developments to work with our customers for their unique need for transition.

Addressing multiple carbon emission-reducing solutions at the same time by working closely with our customers, stakeholders, associations, and universities in a wide ecosystem of innovation, Kässbohrer continues to develop, the next generation of higher capacity vehicles such as already on road  32m combinations in countries where the transport is permissible, as well as Super Eco Combi developments, innovation award nominee 14.98m curtainsider, it’s unrivaled intermodal range as well as investing further in smart technologies for future digital integration.”