Global Trailer November 2020

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www.globaltrailermag.com ISSN 1839-5201

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INNOVATION

BUSINESS

NEWS

Weight-Optimised JOST OPTIMA Lightweight SAF-Holland Components Edbro’s Tipper Cylinders Trailer Portfolio Upgrades

Executive Interview: Randon Group Market Report: Italy Medical Logistics Partnerships DG Supply Chain In Review

Trailer acquisitions Production Milestones People Movements US Road Train Access Update

Visualization coming into Reality Modular and Digital design

CIMC Vehicle’s modular and digital design beyond the existing design language allows customers to be unprecedentedly autonomous. Customers can be free to choose the configuration and appearance according to their needs and preferences.

www.cimcvehiclesgroup.com

COVER STORY

28

A SOUTH AMERICAN JOURNEY

44

Brazil’s Randon Group leverages a strong heritage of 71 years and balances that wisdom with the dynamic energy of a young, modern enterprise. In the past four years, the company has experienced rapid expansion in its three main divisions, Equipment, Auto Parts and Financial Services.

“WE ARE ALWAYS GUIDED BY THE PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABILITY OF THE BUSINESS, ENVIRONMENT AND SHARING THE BENEFITS WITH SOCIETY ... OUR RANDON TRAILER DIVISION IS BY FAR THE MARKET LEADER IN SOUTH AMERICA AND HAS A COMPLETE PORTFOLIO OF TRAILERS.” Sergio Carvalho,

52

IN THIS ISSUE BUSINESS

FEATURES

32 MARKET REPORT

38 JOST

South-central Europe is rife with health and economic crises exacerbated by political tensions both domestic and international.

Italy is a remarkable place that continues to defy the odds.

44 PARTNERING AGAINST PANDEMIC

Specialised transport and logistics companies are competing to deliver world class medical supply chain services in the lead-up to the launch of a Covid-19 vaccine.

52 LIGHTING A FUSE ON SAFETY

The international community has a responsibility to improve its dangerous goods practices.

Ideal for long-distance transport applications, JOST OPTIMA is a new weight-optimised landing gear designed for greater efficiency.

Randon

REGULARS

56 EVENTS

04 EDITOR’S NOTE

58 MEGATRENDS

06 NEWS

59 PREVIEW

40 SAF-HOLLAND

To make semi-trailer trucks lightweight, economical and efficient, SAF-Holland has reduced the weight of crucial components.

50 EDBRO

Nick Sandbrook, Testing Manager at Edbro, says rigorous testing during design and manufacture is crucial.

38 W W W. G LO B A LT R A I L E R M AG . C O M / G L O B A L T R A I L E R / 3

EDITOR’S NOTE

PUBLISHER

John Murphy john.murphy@primecreative.com.au

MANAGING EDITOR

Luke Applebee luke.applebee@primecreative.com.au

DESIGN PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Michelle Weston michelle.weston@primecreative.com.au

ART DIRECTOR Blake Storey

DESIGN

ON THE FRONTLINE WITHOUT TRUCKS, AUSTRALIA STOPS. This is a commonly heard phrase in our industry according to National Heavy Vehicle Regulator CEO, Sal Petroccitto. He holds the nation’s essential workers in high regard – including those responsible for keeping supermarket shelves stocked, transporting critical medical and hygiene supplies to support health workers and keeping important industries like construction and energy moving.

While it is true that this global pandemic has brought significant social, economic and logistical impacts to virtually every industry and community, Petroccitto is steadfast in his resolve to ensure Australia’s heavy vehicle sector is prepared to confront the ‘new normal’.

This preparation comes in the form of new measures for the heavy vehicle industry to operate as safely and as efficiently as possible during these challenging times. Creating a culture that embraces change, for Petroccitto, is the way forward.

He has engaged directly with government and industry to collectively progress solutions in an agile manner and has also proven

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that improved outcomes can be achieved in a matter of days instead of years.

This model of engagement should continue.

Meanwhile, the heads of eight United Nations specialised agencies have issued a joint statement designating eTIR as a key trade facilitation tool which could arguably lead the world as a means to aid freight businesses during Covid-19 recovery. The UN said that a safe and efficient intermodal transport system is facilitated by the use of UN instruments such as the United Nations TIR Convention and its eTIR system which allow for the movement of cargo across borders without requiring physical checks thus reducing contact between people. This just one example of an innovative tool gaining international interest in light of industry and government collaboration to support safe and secure transport operations while also limiting the spread of coronavirus. The most fascinating aspect of this global pandemic is being witness to how industry leaders are adapting for a better tomorrow.

Kerry Pert, Madeline McCarty

INTERNATIONAL SALES

Ashley Blachford ashley.blachford@primecreative.com.au

CLIENT SUCCESS MANAGER

Justine Nardone justine.nardone@primecreative.com.au

HEAD OFFICE

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ARTICLES

All articles submitted for publication become the property of the publisher. The Editor reserves the right to adjust any article to conform with the magazine format.

COPYRIGHT

Global Trailer is owned by Prime Creative Media and published by John Murphy. All material in Global Trailer is copyright and no part may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic or mechanical including information and retrieval systems) without written permission of the publisher. The Editor welcomes contributions but reserves the right to accept or reject any material. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information, Prime Creative Media will not accept responsibility for errors or omissions or for any consequences arising from reliance on information published.

The opinions expressed in Global Trailer are not necessarily the opinions of, or endorsed by the publisher unless otherwise stated.

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“Across the globe: JOST keeps us rolling!”

Trusting the market leader.

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NEWS INTERNATIONAL ASIA CHINA Chinese OEM, CIMC Vehicles, has published the group’s unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2020.

The group’s global development in the first half of 2020 has been further impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Sino-US trade dispute leading to additional tariffs.

“New national standards for the second-generation semi-trailers came into force in 2020,” CIMC Vehicles said in a statement. “The Chinese government has proactively promulgated a special remediation inspection on illegally modified trucks, and hence will promote the comprehensive replacement of second-generation semi-trailers.

With the resumption of production, the urban dump trucks and cement mixer trucks business that the Group has been operating will benefit from China’s strong infrastructure investments and the Chinese

CIMC releases 1H 2020 financial results.

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government’s vigorous promotion of ‘environmental protection’ as well as crackdown on ‘overload vehicles’.

Moreover, in the wake of Covid-19, the surge in demand for fresh food deliveries, as well as low-temperature transport of pharmaceutical supplies and biological products have stimulated the refrigerated van market.”

CIMC Vehicles has posted stable interim results despite Covid-19.

Revenue generated during the first half of 2020 was 11.2 billion RMB, while profit for the period totalled 696.6 million RMB. As at 30 June 2020, the Group maintained a healthy financial position with total assets and net assets amounting to 20.9 billion RMB and 10.0 billion RMB, respectively.

While return on equity was 6.9 per cent in the first half of 2020. The cash inflows from operating activities was 1.1 billion RMB, representing a yearon-year increase of 25.7 per cent.

During the period, the group sold a total of 51,056 units semi-trailers worldwide. A total of 24,580 sets of truck bodies for urban dump trucks and cement mixers and 2,345 refrigerated van truck bodies were sold in China. Revenue from the global sales of semi-trailers and specialty vehicle parts and from the components business amounted to 758.4 million RMB. “As a leading global semi-trailer manufacturer, the group is directly affected by macro-economic conditions as well as fluctuations in demand from China, North America and Europe – the three major semi-trailer markets,” said CIMC Vehicles. “The Group duly lowered its expectations at the beginning of 2020. Although the sudden outbreak of Covid-19 has had an inestimable impact on the global economy, the group’s global semi-trailer business has performed according to expectations, owing to a solid foundation built by the Group over the years as part of its ‘Global Operation’ initiative, as well as the benefit of ‘Local Manufacturing’ that its subsidiaries possess.”

In Q1 2020, CIMC employed an efficient remote office model and observed scientific management in controlling the resumption of work and production activities.

“The group actively implemented core measures to upgrade its ‘Product Module’, and continued to upgrade and improve ‘Light Tower’ Plants in China, and hence boosted the sales of tank trailers significantly in China,” said CIMC Vehicles. “Revenue from the semi-trailer business in China increased to 3.0 billion RMB, a significant year-on-year increase of 31.3 per cent, and the gross

NEWS

ASIA profit margin increased to 13.7 per cent, a year-on-year increase of 2.8 percentage points.”

The group produced and delivered a total of more than 10,000 semitrailers during 1H 2020 across North America.

“The average gross profit margin of its three principal products has reached 13.0 per cent,” said CIMC Vehicles. “The localisation of production has accelerated, with the chassis trailer production lines of CIE Manufacturing, located in California and Virginia, already commencing operation. As for the new CRTI refrigerated trailer plant located in

Indiana, it will be completed in 2020 as planned.”

In Europe, Belgium-based LAG reportedly secured a solid number of orders in Q1 2020 prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. LAG’s deliveries and sales were impacted to some extent due to work and production disruptions in Q2 2020.

“Nonetheless, with ample orders and excellent supply chain management measures, combined with production efficiency and order deliveries that gradually returned to normal following the resumption of work and production in the second quarter, gross profit margin increased

significantly,” said CIMC Vehicles.

Meanwhile, SDC produced and delivered more than 1,500 semitrailers and completed production line upgrades for its assembly plant in Mansfield, UK. The group’s sales performance of truck bodies for special vehicles has generally remained stable during 1H 2020.

“As the epidemic was brought under control, the group launched intelligently manufactured and intelligent cement mixer trucks, while maintaining a leading position in the Chinese market,” said CIMC Vehicles.

“For the urban dump truck body

NEWS INTERNATIONAL ASIA business, the supply chains of certain tractor manufacturer partners in China were impacted in the first quarter, resulting in a shortage of truck chassis. Separately, the industryleading automated coating production line located in the Luoyang plant commenced operation, representing a significant breakthrough in the upgrade of production lines for truck bodies of specialty vehicles.

The production line will significantly improve the coating of products as well as lead towards the automation and rise in intelligence of the coating system.”

Shandong CIMC, QDRV, Zhenjiang Truck Body Plant and Yangzhou Tonghua, in 1H 2020, produced and delivered a total of 2,345 refrigerated van truck bodies.

“It is worth mentioning that Shandong CIMC actively carried out new retail activities during the outbreak, thus securing sufficient orders and increasing its gross profit margin.

The gross profit margin in the first half of 2020 increased to 23.0 per cent, representing an increase of 5.9 percentage points compared with the same period of last year,” said CIMC Vehicles.

The group is committed to expanding its manufacturing plants engaged in the production of bodies for refrigerated van trucks.

It also accelerating development of new-generation product modules and production technologies, upgrading semi-trailers in China by capitalising on new marketing and retail channels and improving sales of secondgeneration trailers.

“Entering the second half of 2020, the group will more actively promote localised manufacturing of refrigerated trailers and chassis 8 / G L O B A L TR A I L E R / I SS U E 5 5

Cainiao reports progress in last mile and cross-border fulfilment.

trailers in North America,” said CIMC Vehicles. “The group will also seek to mitigate the epidemic’s impact, as well as keep its plants in operation through such major approaches as active investment in digital modelling design, upgrading of ‘Light Tower’ Plants and investment in a global supply chain management system based on EPS (electronic procurement system) among semitrailer manufacturers in North America and Europe.”

CHINA Last mile service provider, Cainiao Network, continues to improve the efficiency of its partners and China’s logistics industry via data technology and infrastructure investments.

Parent company, Alibaba Group, said in its June quarter 2020 results that Cainiao Post is seeing robust

adoption by third party logistics players to optimise their last mile delivery.

In June 2020, Cainiao Post recorded over 100 per cent year-on-year growth in average daily package volume.

The Covid-19 pandemic, according to Alibaba, has caused significant disruptions to import/export of goods by foreign businesses and organisations with operations in China.

During the June quarter, Cainiao Post reportedly enabled these businesses to use its dedicated worldwide warehouse network and Smart Customs Clearance System.

In April 2020, the United Nations World Food Programme chose Cainiao Network to provide commercial hub, customs declaration and cross-border transportation

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NEWS INTERNATIONAL ASIA

Road junction in Hangzhou, China.

services as part of its Covid-19 response.

Revenue from Cainiao Network’s logistics services, which represents revenue from its domestic and international one-stop-shop logistics services and supply chain management solutions, after elimination of inter-company transactions, was 7,713 million RMB ($1,092 million USD) in the quarter ended 30 June 2020, an increase of 54 per cent compared to 5,005 million RMB in the same quarter of 2019, primarily due to the increases in both average revenue per order and volume of orders fulfilled from our fast growing cross-border and international commerce retail businesses.

INDIA Transport and logistics company, Toll Group, has opened its fourth warehouse in Bhiwandi, India, to support rapid growth in retail and healthcare.

The new site, which opened August 2020 for a global retail client, is 10 / G L O B A L TR A I L E R / I SS U E 5 5

reported to offer a mix of warehousing (ambient and temperature control), kitting/packing and transport solutions.

A second global brand – a producer of healthcare and industrial products – went live at the same site in September.

Toll expands in India.

The Toll team in India managed to complete both transitions smoothly amid Covid-19.

“This space was very much needed as our business in India is growing steadily,” said Toll Group Global Logistics Country Manager – India, Prasad Nair.

“We’re really excited to improve our offering at this site and it follows the automation improvements we’ve made recently at another site.

“There are lots of opportunities and the team is all fired up. At the same time, we want to ensure our team is safe – this is why our office workers are still working from home as much as possible, and we ensure our operations teams adhere strictly to the pandemic precautions so as to reduce the risk of infection as much as possible.”

Toll also manages large retail, e-commerce and industrial operations out of the other three sites in Bhiwandi.

NEWS

EUROPE temperature-controlled transport of liquid loads, specifically for the chemical and food industries. The transport is mainly organised by rail, apart from short sea and road. The company is a multimodal player, with offices in Oslo, Le Havre, Milan and Rotterdam.

Tank Management, according to H.Essers, has a turnover of €40 million, with 35 employees. Its fleet comprises 800 modern ISO tanks capable of transporting liquids at different temperatures with a range going from -10° to +120°C. As with Huktra, all units are equipped with real-time track &

trace. The temperature inside Tank Management’s fleet can be remotely monitored and controlled.

With this acquisition, H.Essers is greatly expanding the geographical footprint for liquid chemical logistics.

Huktra already had branches in Belgium, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and Romania. The takeover of Tank Management has added France, the Netherlands and Scandinavia to the list.

With these additional regions, the service area is also being expanded.

The multimodal transport range for liquid chemicals now extends throughout Europe, from Gibraltar to

9376

BELGIUM Belgian logistics enterprise, H.Essers, has expanded its multimodal transport portfolio with its latest acquisition.

H.Essers earlier this month acquired Tank Management which specialises in liquid chemical transport services.

This transaction follows H.Essers’ purchase of tank container business, Huktra, more than two years ago, delivering integrated and sustainable logistics solutions to the hazardous chemical goods industry.

The Tank Management family business was founded in Oslo in 2006 and has evolved into a European specialist in the

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NEWS INTERNATIONAL EUROPE Moermansk, from Ireland to Urals, and beyond.

H.essers expects to focus on temperature controlled liquid transport tasks for the chemical industry as Tank Management provides heated and cooled transport of liquid pharma goods and food products.

“After the substantial growth Tank Management has recorded in recent years, it is now time for the next step,” the families Nordbo & Philippe, the owners of the Norwegian-French company said in a joint statement.

“Thanks to the acquisition by a strong industrial player such as H.Essers, Tank Management will continue to excel in service, to grow and to expand its expertise in the coming years.”

H.Essers CEO, Gert Bervoets, also has strong confidence in the future.

Ambrogio has more than 500 Kässbohrer vehicles in its fleet.

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“The acquisition of Tank Management fits into our strategy of sustainable development of synchromodality within the chemical segment,” said Bervoets.

“It enables us to offer our customers a new way of managing transport flows, which are not only more efficient but, thanks to this approach, also more sustainable. It’s a win-win situation for all parties: customers, logistics service providers and our community.

“Tank Management is a family business that shares our values.

“As is the case in our company, safety and quality are paramount. As an example, material and equipment are renewed with a high frequency, to ensure that the operations meet the most stringent standards and strictest requirements.

“We are very much looking forward to

welcoming our new colleagues into the warm-hearted H.Essers family and to shaping our future together,” he said.

The acquisition was completed in July 2020 and the current Tank Management Directors will maintain their positions on the Board.

The focus in the first phase, according to H.Essers, is on the integration and consolidation towards one entity, specifically for conditioned liquids transport for the chemical industry.

This entity represents a turnover of €100 million euros and a fleet of 2,000 ISO tanks.

EUROPE European logistics service provider, Ambrogio, specifies Kässbohrer for environmentally-friendly intermodal vehicles.

NEWS

EUROPE Ambrogio has invested in 200 Light Swap Body K.SWAU CL and 80 Light Container Chassis K.SHG L which brings the total number of Kässbohrer units over the last three years to more than 500 vehicles.

Ambrogio Group President, Livio Ambrogio, and Kässbohrer President, Çetin Nuhoğlu, have commented on their longterm partnership which started almost 30 years ago.

“With respect to equipment, we continue our investment policy, focusing on international combined transport, to comply with growing market requests for most flexible and efficient intermodal transportation service,” said Livio Ambrogio.

“To pursue our growth strategy, we are glad to cooperate once again with our long-lasting partner Kässbohrer,” he said.

Among its complete intermodal product range, Kässbohrer offers the lightest Swap Body in the market, K.SWAU CL, which provides maximum payload leading to reductions in trips and emissions.

Nuhoğlu underlined the importance of long lasting partnerships.

“At Kässbohrer we cultivate long lasting partnerships and our partnership with Ambrogio built on mutual trust is the most valuable,” he said.

“Extending beyond supplying Ambrogio with the highest quality, efficient and long lasting vehicles, both companies openly work to attain more efficient and environmentallyfriendly operational solutions.

“We work together for a sustainable future.

“We vigorously continue our R&D activities in weight reduction and

more capacity without compromising from safety, performance, and vehicle life to support our industry and our customer’s efforts in emission reductions. With our widest product range, we present the widest range of innovations. Concrete examples of our developments within our complete intermodal product range are the lightest swap body in the market K.SWAU CL, and light container chassis K.SHG L, both of which are preferred by our long-lasting partner Ambrogio.

“Ambrogio’s latest investment confirms the performance of our intermodal product range. We are looking forward to cooperating with Ambrogio for many more years.”

Kässbohrer’s Lightest Swap Body in the market K.SWAU CL has C45 transportation code and 34 euro pallet capacity. K.SWAU CL enables lower cost in operations with its robust design, allowing for stowing and freight opportunity. Furthermore, the light swap body is offered with 24 vertical stainless steel reinforcements that are integrated into the curtain which eliminates the need for side rows. Vertical reinforcements enable faster and user-friendly loading and unloading operations, which is appreciated a lot by the field operators.

Kässbohrer’s Light Container Chassis K.SHG L is engineered to handle both containers and swap bodies with C45 transportation code and the innovative design enables safe and easy loading of containers with only four locks.

Kässbohrer’s after-sales services network has 581 services in Europe and Russia. The OEM also offers non-stop roadside assistance through

Kässbohrer Hotline 24/7 available in 27 countries and 23 languages.

GERMANY Truck rental agency, Niedersächsischer NutzfahrzeugHandel (NNH), has tasked Dutch heavy equipment specialist, Broshuis, with an ambitious project.

NNH, part of the NuFaTec Service Group, has been using 100 container chassis (type MFCC HD and NNH) from Broshuis since 2019. The OEM said this went so well that the rental agency opted to order an additional 250 container chassis of the same type in March 2019.

The first 100 units of the latest order have been delivered to the NNH head office in Deensen, Germany.

The remaining 150 chassis, according to Broshuis, will be delivered late 2020.

“Robust, durable, reliable, easy to use and the right price-quality ratio – that is what we appreciate the 100 new MFCC HD for, and our customers are very enthusiastic about this multifunctional all-round container chassis,” said NNH owner and NuFaTec Service Group Director, Daniel Wenzel.

“For this reason we remain loyal to our partner Broshuis and we continue to use this proven chassis for the transport of containers in the rental sector,” he said.

The order to deliver a total of 250 units is the largest commercial order of MFCC HD container chassis for Broshuis.

“We are proud that NNH, one of our oldest and most experienced customers, has placed such a large order,” said Andreas Mai, owner of Chassis-Kontor GmbH Bremen and responsible for selling chassis of W W W. G LO B A LT R A I L E R M AG . C O M / G L O B A L T R A I L E R / 1 3

NEWS INTERNATIONAL EUROPE the Broshuis brand on the German market. “For Broshuis, this is proof of the top concept of the new MFCC HD container chassis. We are therefore very happy that with the MFCC HD we were able to open a new chapter in the long-term collaboration with NNH.” Broshuis said it meets the high demands of operators with the threeaxle, low maintenance MFCC HD container chassis, which is intended for the transport of containers with flexible lengths ranging from 20’ to 45’.

Adaptability for different container lengths, according to the OEM, ensures the suitability for use in a one-man company which can cut outsourcing costs. For customers, this is essential for reducing their Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

“Only Broshuis can supply us with the MFCC HD, a product that can be used in the most demanding areas of application for our customers,” said Wenzel.

NuFaTec Service Group, for more than 25 years, has facilitated rental, sale and repair services of commercial vehicles, cranes and aerial work platforms in Germany.

GERMANY German OEM, Schmitz Cargobull, presents a compilation of its latest product and service innovations that aim to reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for fleets.

One highlight, according to the trailer manufacturer, is the introduction of telematics as standard equipment for curtainsiders. The main focus of product development was on reducing weight while maintaining the same robustness, cooling efficiency for temperature-controlled freight and digital networking.

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Schmitz Cargobull goes digital with its latest innovations.

The S.CS Curtainsider demonstrates the OEM’s consistent principle for chassis design from weight-optimised X-LIGHT to a heavy duty version with high load capacity.

Meanwhile, the S.KO COOL SMART box semi-trailer has a new robust air distribution system that optimises airflow in the trailer for greater thermal efficiency.

In addition to developments with its tipper range, Schmitz Cargobull has also unveiled a new generation of truck bodies (M.KO/Z.KO) and drawbar trailers with ATP / FRC certification.

TrailerConnect telematics makes the OEM’s trailers ‘smart’ and is now a standard inclusion for the S.CS SMART curtainsider.

As for high productivity, the EcoDuo combination stands out as serviceable transport concept where two standard semi-trailers are connected to each other via a dolly (which is then coupled to a prime mover or tractor unit).

The company is also relaunching its

trailer swap chassis A.WF and central axle swap chassis Z.WF for the transport of short swap bodies and a new swap box W.BO. Schmitz Cargobull also delivers an entry-level contract ‘Service Trailer Basic’ which covers material and labour costs for maintenance and wear of axle and brake components.

Schmitz Cargobull also appointed new management for its Cargobull Parts & Services subsidiary, effective 1 July 2020.

Patricia Aznar and Britta Sprey will join Schmitz Cargobull Chief Sales Officer, Boris Billich.

At the end of June 2020, Managing Director Dr Peter-Hendrik Kes retired.

After completing her studies in industrial engineering, specialising in mechanical engineering, Aznar began working as a technical engineer at Schmitz Cargobull’s Spanish plant in Zaragoza in 2001.

Here, the Spanish born engineer helped to set up the production site. In the following 12 years, Aznar

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NEWS INTERNATIONAL EUROPE worked in various departments and in 2014 transferred within the group to Schmitz Cargobull’s Business Development department in the After Sales division in Altenberge. As Head of Spare Parts Order Management, she worked on standardising sales processes and systems. Outside of work, the mother of two is an avid tennis and paddle tennis player.

Sprey began her career at Schmitz Cargobull in 2003 with a dual course of studies in business administration.

She completed her studies in 2007 at the University of Applied Sciences in Münster. She then started as a logistics planner in the product development process at the Vreden plant. Subsequently, she worked as a group leader in the Schmitz Cargobull production system and later as a strategic purchaser. Here, she played

DHL’s virtual AGM in session.

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a decisive role in the introduction of the ‘Cargobuy’ purchasing platform. In 2017, Sprey transferred to Cargobull Parts & Services as the Head of Supply Chain Management.

In addition to her new function as Managing Director, Britta Sprey will also take on the “After Sales” product line management for Service Net, Assist Center and Spare Parts. In her free time, Britta Sprey enjoys running and hiking.

“We are delighted that we have been able to gain such a powerful and dedicated duo, Patricia Aznar and Britta Sprey, from our own ranks for the responsible Managing Director positions,” said Billich. “With their profound expertise and company knowledge, they will continue to build on and expand Cargobull Parts & Services’ many years of success.”

GERMANY Frank Appel, Deutsche Post DHL Group CEO, said the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the importance of logistics – the backbone of the global economy.

Deutsche Post DHL Group recently held a virtual Annual General Meeting (AGM) and reported it is prepared for the post-pandemic period.

“We can be proud of how we’ve risen to the challenge so far,” said Appel. “The crisis shows how robust Deutsche Post DHL Group is.”

According to Appel, Deutsche Post DHL Group is making a fundamental contribution to overcoming the crisis.

By transporting medicines, protective equipment and medical equipment around the world, and maintaining trade flows, the company has kept the world running.

“Without us, manufacturing would grind to a halt,” said Appel. “We supply people and businesses with important goods. Never before have our services been so urgently needed.”

Appel was correspondingly confident with regard to the group’s earnings guidance for the current year, issued in July, and the medium-term financial targets.

“We’ve managed to implement the right measures in many areas,” said Appel. “Deutsche Post DHL Group will emerge stronger from this crisis.”

Operating profit for 2020 is expected to reach between €3.5 billion and €3.8 billion. For 2022, the group expects EBIT of around €4.7 billion to more than €5.3 billion, depending on the course of the overall economic recovery.

Appel said the fact that Deutsche Post DHL Group is coming through the crisis so well is due to its robust

NEWS

EUROPE

ZF re-opens Erich Reinecke test track.

business model, long-established corporate culture and clear strategic direction. “’Strategy 2025’, presented in fall 2019, has kept the group on track despite the uncertain environment,” he said Appel. “The strategy focuses on the right issues: globalisation, e-commerce, digitalisation and sustainability. These trends have become all the more relevant in this time of crisis, or are even accelerating rapidly due to the pandemic.”

In his address to shareholders, Appel indicated that he was very satisfied with the recently announced financial results for the first half of 2020.

Despite the challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Appel reported that all five divisions were profitable and that Deutsche Post DHL Group continued to grow overall. The second quarter saw group revenue

up by 3.1 per cent to €16.0 billion – driven in part by the boom in e-commerce. Operating profit rose by 18.6 per cent to €912 million.

GERMANY Manufacturing company, ZF Friedrichshafen, has opened its expanded Erich Reinecke test track in Jeversen, Germany.

The test track, following an investment of around €18 million, is reported to advance ZF’s commercial vehicle testing capabilities.

Leveraging ZF’s recent acquisition of WABCO, the expanded facility will play an even greater role in the testing and development of new solutions and technologies to help drive the commercial vehicle industry’s vision of an autonomous, connected and electric future.

The test track has a new 3.6km

oval circuit which incorporates a mix of curves and straight sections to replicate a wide range of road conditions to simulate reallife highway driving conditions.

Significantly advancing ZF’s testing capabilities, it will support the development of advanced technologies including lane departure systems, traffic jam assistants and highway pilots up to autonomous driving.

The extended facility also includes a new state-of-the-art 1,000-squaremetre project and customer centre as well as two additional truck halls.

“Leveraging the recent acquisition of WABCO, this investment underlines ZF’s focus on developing and testing technologies such as autonomous driving and e-mobility even faster for our customers in line with the Group strategy ‘Next Generation Mobility’,” W W W. G LO B A LT R A I L E R M AG . C O M / G L O B A L T R A I L E R / 17

NEWS INTERNATIONAL EUROPE said Wilhelm Rehm, Member of the Board of Management of ZF Friedrichshafen AG with responsibility for Commercial Vehicle Technology, Industrial Technology, Materials Management. “This unique test track consolidates ZF’s position as a global technology leader and offers exactly those extensive dynamic test possibilities which are necessary to fully exploit the growth opportunities for our company in the commercial vehicle segment.”

“The expansion of the test track in Jeversen by the ZF Group is of great importance for the research and development of vehicle systems for automated and networked driving,” said Dr. Bernd Althusmann, Lower Saxony’s Minister of Economics, Labour, Transport, and Digitalisation.

“ZF’s Commercial Vehicle Control Systems division is developing complex assistance systems for commercial vehicles there and thus contributes to realising the vision of future autonomous, connected, and electrified driving. As this investment clearly demonstrates, in the mobility state of Lower Saxony we are focusing on advanced future technologies and innovative solutions which will help pave the way for tomorrow’s mobility.”

“The expanded and modernised test track offers us the necessary capacity to significantly expand the development and testing of cuttingedge technologies,” said Dr Christian Brenneke, Senior Vice President Product Engineering with ZF’s Commercial Vehicle Control Systems Division. “Today [25 August 2020], the test track already plays a central role for our innovative systems that make trucks, buses and trailers safer and more efficient. As we increasingly 18 / G L O B A L TR A I L E R / I SS U E 5 5

focus on autonomous, networked and electrified vehicles, the growing complexity of the systems we develop requires ever more advanced test and validation capacities. The extension of our test track enables us to test innovative driver assistance systems up to fully automated driving and mobility concepts.”

“In addition to setting new standards for a progressive and forward-looking test environment, the test track expansion represents a clear and significant further commitment by ZF to the region and to Germany as a research and development hub,” added Alexander Rohde, Managing Director and Track Project Leader, with ZF’s Commercial Vehicle Control Systems division.

The test track is named after Erich Reinecke, a former WABCO Vice President of Group Engineering, who died in 2008. During his career, Reinecke played a major role in the development and market launch of a multitude of electronic control systems for commercial vehicles.

NETHERLANDS Logistics company, ETC Holland, has invested in 15 lightweight LAG tipping silo trailers.

The first five large volume silo tankers of the series, according to LAG, are currently being delivered.

While some of the new trailers will replace used equipment in the fleet, the remainder of the order will reportedly be used to bolster the business’ local operations and penetrate new markets.

LAG Trailers supplies the Dutch carrier with a very light tipping silo which weighs 6750kg. The silo tanker has a volume of 63 cubic metres and also features a tipping unit.

For ETC Holland General Manager, Erik Smits, the air cooler is an essential part of company’s equipment.

“The climate is changing and customers are asking for it more and more often,” he said.

Further specifications place particular emphasis on safety and hygiene according to LAG. “In order to improve the userfriendliness and safety of the driver, the vehicle’s pressure outlet is located at the bottom, while the top side is fully coated with an anti-slip layer,” said LAG. In addition to expanding its fleet, ETC Holland also recently purchased a new lot of land which will soon house the company’s headquarters.

“ETC follows an ambitious but realistic growth plan,” said Smits.

“We want to grow on a foundation of quality. The new silo trailers are necessary to carry out and expand the daily operations. Our new headquarters will be the logical next step that will clearly put ETC Holland on the map.”

NETHERLANDS Dutch trailer manufacturer, Van Eck, is developing a prototype high productivity trailer combination for the Aeroflex project.

“The starting point of the Aeroflex project is to work with larger and heavier, but also more versatile combinations in order to achieve more efficient road transport in Europe,” said Aeroflex project lead, Ben Kraaijenhagen.

“This project also explicitly looks at the intermodal possibilities of the developed vehicles,” he said.

The prototype trailer that is being developed at Van Eck is a greatly

NEWS

EUROPE improved version of a trailer that was developed for an earlier project.

“As a result, this trailer has become significantly more versatile,” said Van Eck engineer, Tom Bertens.

“In the first place, the trailer is now also suitable for transport on the train.

“Furthermore, there is a coupling at the rear under the chassis, with which a dolly can be coupled, which in turn couples with a second trailer. This creates an A-double, twin trailer or Van Eck Super Eco Combi, of two trailers. This is in line with the goals of Aeroflex and with developments that play a role elsewhere in European road transport.”

Bertens said that more aerodynamic aids have been fitted on the side and rear to further reduce the tractor’s fuel consumption. “’Cargo Cams’ have also been installed at the front and rear of the load compartment,” he said. “These are cameras to better estimate the loading volume and we have developed a software program especially for this

trailer that allows the planner to load the trailer optimally.”

These aerodynamic features, according to Van Eck, will also be tested in the intermodal shipment if they withstand all forces coming from the high speeds.

“Now that the trailer has been made suitable for transport by rail, we will see when we can start with a testdrive where the trailer will be put on the train in Luxembourg and taken off again at the Spanish-French border,” said Bertens. “The versatility of the Aeroflex trailer is demonstrated by the fact that it can also be part of a Super Eco Combi or Twin Trailer combination.”

“As a project committee, we have always advocated for Van Eck’s involvement in this project,” said Kraaijenhagen. “This company thinks along with logistics systems. You can also see that in their product portfolio.

They are better than anyone familiar with the requirements of sub-sectors in road transport and can therefore

Polish OEM, Wielton, shares a Covid-related update.

respond in a practical manner to the questions we are working on with this project.”

The Aeroflex project aims to develop and demonstrate new technologies, concepts and architectures for complete vehicles that are energy efficient, safe, comfortable, configurable and cost-effective, while ensuring that the varying needs of customers are satisfied by being flexible and adaptable with respect to continuously changing operational conditions.

The project title is an acronym for: Aerodynamic and Flexible Trucks for Next Generation of Long Distance Road Transport. It started in October 2017 and is expected to roll out its completed technologies in 2025.

The project has also received funding from the European Union’s Horizon2020 research and innovation program.

POLAND Wielton has confirmed its Wieluń plant has maintained stable operation amid Covid-19.

This is due to procedures implemented and cooperation with local authorities and sanitary and epidemiological services.

Wielton has successfully limited the spread of coronavirus in its plants in Wieluń according to Wielton Managing Director and Vice President of the Management Board of Wielton, Piotr Kuś.

“With more than 1,700 employees at the site, only seven people are actively infected with Covid-19 – which accounts for 0.41 per cent of the total number of people employed in the Wieluń plant,” he said. “On the other hand, 11 employees of Wielton’s plants are currently W W W. G LO B A LT R A I L E R M AG . C O M / G L O B A L T R A I L E R / 19

NEWS INTERNATIONAL EUROPE

Wielton R&D centre.

in quarantine. A positive trend is the constantly growing number of recoveries, which in total since the beginning of the pandemic already amount to 139 people.”

In the second week of August, there was an annual technical break at the Wielton plant. It coincided with the increase in the identified cases of the Company’s employees infected with Covid-19 and the qualification of the Wieluń County to the so-called red zone. The interruption period was used to conduct 1,200 employee screening tests. Moreover, since the beginning of the pandemic, Wielton has conducted over 500 commercial tests among Wielton employees.

“Taking into account the relatively small percentage of infected people, after the end of the annual technical break, our plant returned to full-time operation,” said Kuś. “Thanks to this, we maintained the continuity of production. Infections and the county’s classification to the red 20 / G L O B A L TR A I L E R / I SS U E 5 5

zone did not affect our supply chain. All components and materials necessary for production were and are delivered on a regular basis. Our plants in Wielton cooperate without any problems with other effectively operating entities from the Wielton Group.”

Wielton closely cooperates with local authorities, sanitary and epidemiological services and other institutions that provide assistance in the fight against the pandemic.

The tests used for mass screening were financed by the Lodzkie Voivodship with the support of the County Office. The entire screening process in Wielton was carried out in cooperation with the local government authorities and Sanepid.

“From the moment the first infection was discovered in the facility in Wielton, Wielton’s cooperation with the authorities and services was appropriate and very important,” said Barbara Sułkowska, Director of the

County Sanitary and Epidomyological Station in Wieluń “The exchange of information and the transfer of data on contacts between employees necessary for an epidemiological investigation were positive.

“This allowed us to quickly take the necessary actions and decisions.

Conducting screening tests on such a large scale was very important from the point of view of the safety of people working in Wielton.

This prevented the infection from spreading further. At the moment, the bonfire in Wielton is put out.”

Even before the red zone was designated in the Wieluń district, Wielton reportedly introduced rigorous procedures and changes in the organisation of work. The company ensures regular disinfection of all rooms in the plants and limited direct contacts between employees.

Wielton has adopted procedures to be followed when coronavirus infections are detected among its employees. A staff monitoring the situation of the Wielton plant was also appointed.

SPAIN Shipping company, Transportes Pibejo, based in Navalcanero, Madrid, has expanded its fleet following the acquisition of 50 used Lecitrailer semi-trailers.

In the operation, 28 parcel vans and 22 tarpaulins were delivered, all of them selected jointly by Lecitrailer’s second-hand vehicle consultants with the client.

The vehicles, according to Lecitrailer, have been overhauled for their tuneup and subjected to the strictest quality controls in the Lecitrailer aftersales service bases.

NEWS

EUROPE UK Haulage operator, Kersey Freight Ltd (KFL), has added 20 new SDC Freespan Curtainsiders to its 180 strong trailer fleet, in addition to 24 new trailers from the manufacturer in 2019.

Specialists in the UK road haulage sector, KFL placed the order following a number of key contract wins earlier this year, with the new trailers going into service from mid-August.

Traditionally running SDC posted curtainsiders, this is the first time KFL opted for the post-less design which requires less driver intervention when loading and unloading. A personalised trailer spec will further enhance KFL’s uptime with BPW eco-plus 9-ton axles and low maintenance drum brakes, Haldex Generation 3 braking, full LED lighting, SDC’s universal coupling box and additional toolbox storage.

“Kersey Freight is trusted by some of the UK’s biggest retailers and manufacturers to deliver their products on time and our new fleet of curtainsiders will ensure we continue to achieve this,” said KFL Fleet Manager, Robert Steele.

“When I saw the Freespan model earlier this year I was impressed by what it has to offer, the practical design and user-friendly operation is favoured by our drivers and will bring significant savings to our everyday operations.

“Out of the 180 trailers that we operate, 121 of these are SDC, we have always found them reliable, wellbuilt, and robust enough to stand up to our demanding haulage operations.

Matt and the team have provided us with excellent service and back up, which has helped us to achieve the best service possible to our customer

Kersey Freight places bulk SDC curtainsider order.

base,” he said.

Investing in a modern vehicle fleet has been central to KFL’s growth strategy since 2004, expanding its service portfolio while minimising fuel usage and carbon emissions. KFL’s services operate like clockwork from two main depots in Suffolk and Yorkshire, with the recognisable blue and yellow adorned vehicles transporting all types of goods from pallets to containerised and hazardous cargo.

“I am delighted to see another batch of SDC trailers on the road with Kersey Freight, a well-known name in the industry and key provider of haulage services throughout the UK,” said SDC Trailers UK Sales Manager, Matt Kerrison.

“SDC’s EN 12642-XL rated Freespan Curtainsider has been a popular choice among UK hauliers thanks to the highly functional design and robust chassis.

“Our engineers continue to streamline our products in line with market demands, setting the industry standard for quality and customer satisfaction.”

UK Food company, Hovis, is modernising its double deck trailer fleet with an initial order of 30 units from Tiger Trailers.

With millions of loaves departing from Hovis’ regional bakeries and UK distribution centres each day, vehicular and logistical efficiencies are key to the iconic firm’s operations, and Tiger Trailers’ innovative moving deck double deck solution has been designed to maximise trailer capacity and reduce operating costs.

The baker’s new straight-frame moving deck double deck trailers have a wedge design to enable full load utilisation inside, and Tiger Trailers’ team was set the challenge of accommodating two different sizes of bread basket, which drew upon the manufacturer’s designers’ and engineers’ depth of talent to accomplish. It also provided the opportunity for Tiger’s consultancy approach to be demonstrated, working especially closely with the customer throughout the contract.

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NEWS INTERNATIONAL EUROPE / NORTH AMERICA In addition to maximising the flexible bread basket capability of their new moving deck double deck trailers, Hovis also had weight-saving and ultimately fuel-saving aims in mind, and Tiger Trailers provided an ideal solution in the form of its new lightweight composite body panel.

“Swiftly following the urban delivery rigid vans they produced for us in their most recent Hovis contract, we worked with Tiger to develop a solution that fits our operation perfectly. As always, the end result is impressive, and these trailers are already delivering great operational savings,” said Hovis Head of Logistics Operations Support, Tony Stuart.

As a long-standing customer of Tiger Trailers, Hovis has previously turned to the innovative manufacturer for trailers and rigid bodies of varying sizes up to 15 tonnes, including

Hovis renews fleet with Tiger Trailers.

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a recent batch of 45 bespoke 7.2-tonne convenience urban kerbside delivery vans with side doors, a number of which featured solar power.

Tiger Trailers’ thirty initial moving deck double deck trailers destined for putting Hovis’ bread on the nation’s tables were completed with full-length hydraulic moving decks, utilising Tiger’s proven in-house 4-ram lift system, which is now fitted to in excess of 1,000 trailers.

“Tiger’s whole team were delighted to be working so closely with such a relatable product and iconic name on a project that required significant skill in order to meet the customer’s bespoke requirements,” said Tiger Trailers Director, Daniel Challinor.

“We’re looking forward to seeing Hovis’ new double deck trailers on the road and working with their team again soon,” he said.

US Utility Trailer Manufacturing Company has congratulated its customer, C.R. England, on its 100th anniversary.

Founded in 1920, C.R. England is a refrigerated trucking and transportation company located in Salt Lake City, Utah. To commemorate the business’ 100th anniversary, Utility Trailer Manufacturing in conjunction with 1580 Utility Trailer presented CR England a Utility 3000R refrigerated trailer.

The trailer features Hendrickson ULTRAA-K, TIREMAAX Pro, Bendix Air Disc Brakes on Conmet Preset plus alum hubs, Thermo King S-600 refrigeration unit, and a custom 100th anniversary graphics package.

“When you think about C.R. England, our dealership and Utility, you will see 10 generations across three families and three separate businesses all working together to achieve success,” said Justin Deputy, President of 1580 Utility Trailer. “We’ve been blessed to have a strong relationship with C.R. England for nearly 40 years and witness their ongoing success.”

Craig Bennett, Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Utility added: “We are proud to gift this commemorative trailer to C.R. England. We recognise them as one of the top leaders in the refrigerated transportation industry and congratulate them on this great achievement”.

C.R. England services include National, Mexico, and Regional Truckload service in addition to Dedicated and Intermodal services.

US ACT Research has reported a lift in net trailer order results for the US market.

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NORTH AMERICA

Utility celebrates fleet milestone.

Net US trailer orders of 28,139 units, according to ACT Research, were a significant improvement (up 49 per cent) from July’s uptick and well above August 2019’s level (up 16 per cent).

Before accounting for cancellations, new orders of 29,000 units were up 46 per cent versus July and 96 per cent better year-over-year.

“Conversations in recent months have indicated a change in fleet perspective, frequently phrased as more requests for quotes, ongoing negotiations, or a simple statement that ‘the phone is ringing a lot more lately’,” said Frank Maly, Director–CV Transportation Analysis and Research at ACT Research.

“That shift started in late June, and we saw a minor gain in orders in July,” he said.

August Orders, said Maly, included large fleet demand with strong e-commerce support, which bodes well for dry vans and reefers but provides minimal benefit for vocational

categories.

“With large fleets seeing better volumes and rates, they may be moving with a more bullish perspective than we perceive, and while trailer OEMs welcome the interest, they are wondering if the recent order strength has ‘legs’,” he said.

ACT Research’s State of the Industry: U.S. Trailers report provides a monthly review of the current US trailer market statistics, as well as trailer OEM build plans and market indicators divided by all major trailer types, including backlogs, build, inventory, new orders, cancellations, net orders, and factory shipments. It is accompanied by a database that gives historical information from 1996 to the present, as well as a ready-to-use graph packet, to allow organisations in the trailer production supply chain, and those following the investment value of trailers and trailer OEMs and suppliers, to better understand the market.

US The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2021 will be an all-digital experience enabling participants to hear from technology innovators from around the world.

The event will be held Monday 11 January 2021 through to Thursday 14 January 2021.

While 11 January is slated for exclusive media-only access, 1213 January will feature exhibitor showcases and conference programming. The final day of the event, 14 January, is strictly conference programming only.

For over 50 years, CES, according to the event organisers, has been the global stage for innovation, and CES 2021 will provide an engaging platform for companies large and small to launch products, build brands and form partnerships.

Verizon Chairman and CEO, Hans Vestberg, is expected to deliver a keynote speech to open the technology event.

“CES 2021 will digitally convene innovators and business leaders from around the world showcasing tech changing lives for the better on a global scale,” said Consumer Technology Association President and CEO, Gary Shapiro.

“Technology is not only connecting us to one another, but is providing solutions to many day-to-day challenges created by the pandemic and that innovation is helping us reimagine CES 2021. We welcome Hans Vestberg back to a new keynote stage and look forward to learning how Verizon’s 5G platform will evolve a wide range of industries we all rely on every day.”

Shapiro said Vestberg’s keynote will demonstrate the vital role that W W W. G LO B A LT R A I L E R M AG . C O M / G L O B A L T R A I L E R / 2 3

NEWS INTERNATIONAL NORTH AMERICA “His expertise is a strong fit with our last mile growth strategy as we continue to capitalise on e-commerce and omnichannel opportunities.”

XPO Logistics President – Last Mile, Erik Caldwell.

mobility, broadband and cloud has played in connecting the world this year and how the accelerated shift to 5G is transforming every industry.

“This time in history is redefining the meaning of connectivity for consumers, industries and society as a whole — imagination is our only threshold,” he said.

US XPO Logistics has appointed a President for its last mile business unit.

Erik Caldwell has accepted the role and is responsible for last mile operations in the US and Canada.

The unit is reported to manage more than 10 million home deliveries and installations of large and bulky products annually, including appliances, exercise equipment and furniture.

Caldwell has 16 years of executive experience with retail and industrial supply chains.

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He joined XPO Logistics in 2017 as Chief Operating Officer, Supply Chain – Americas and Asia Pacific.

Previously, Caldwell was Senior Vice President, Supply Chain and Digital Operations with Hudson’s Bay Company; Senior Vice President, Global Rx Operations with Luxottica; and Director of Retail Solutions with DHL, where he also served as Regional Director of last mile operations. Earlier, he consulted on global operations for McKinsey & Company. He holds a master of engineering degree in supply chain management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor of science degree from the US Military Academy at West Point.

“I’m extremely pleased that Erik has joined the transportation leadership team as head of last mile,” said XPO Logistics President of North American Transportation, Drew Wilkerson, XPO’s president of North American transportation.

US Suspension specialist, Hendrickson, has acquired the Motor Wheel Brake Drum & Crewson slack adjuster business segments, based in Chattanooga TN and Berea KY, from Stemco and parent company EnPro Industries.

The business segments will operate as a division of Hendrickson Truck Commercial Vehicle Systems.

The Motor Wheel & Crewson names will be kept and used as a product name going forward.

“This acquisition will provide a platform for Hendrickson to advance our light-weight drum brake system performance and provide components that will complement our existing product portfolio. We look forward to working with our new associates and strengthening our business ultimately serving the commercial truck and trailer industry,” said Hendrickson President and CEO, Gary Gerstenslager.

US Strick Trailers is building a Fibreglass Reinforced Composite (FRC) dry van trailer.

Strick’s innovative FRC offers an optimal combination of light-weight, durability, longevity, and low-cost maintenance.

The FRC made its debut during TMC’s Annual Meeting & Transportation Technology Exhibition in Atlanta, Georgia, earlier this year in March.

Strick showcased a 53’ light weight beverage linehaul van for regional delivery and a 40’ beverage van

NEWS

NORTH AMERICA featuring an overhead door with lift gate, custom E-track system, insulation package, and Thermo King heater unit for local delivery.

“By means of a new revolutionary sidewall construction process, we’re able to combine select materials to create seamless, snag-free, fulllength FRC side-wall panels that are pultruded with a moisture-resistant P.E.T. core that is 100 per cent recyclable,” said Strick Engineering Vice President, Justin Bell.

“This process guarantees longevity as the panels will not delaminate, and the hydrophobic characteristic prevents ‘wicking’, ensuring zero water intrusion or corrosion.

“No other trailer in the market today delivers this unique and compelling combination,” he said.

The FRC, according to Strick Trailers, is available in any combination from 28’ pups to 60’ linehaul vans providing carriers a customised trailer to meet the demands of daily operations.

US Stoughton Trailers has built its 50,000th dry van trailer for courier, United Parcel Service (UPS).

The historic trailer rolled down Assembly Line 2 in the Stoughton, Wis., facility on 11 August.

Stoughton owns and operates manufacturing facilities in Brodhead, Evansville and Stoughton, Wis. Company officials and executives from both UPS and Stoughton participated in a virtual meeting to mark the milestone.

Additionally, Stoughton Trailers is also celebrating 25 years of collaboration with UPS. In consideration of everyone’s safety during the Covid-19 pandemic, all Stoughton employees wore a custom logo’d face mask.

Employees also wore a brown shirt with a commemorative logo to honour the occasion.

“UPS strives to be the most dependable logistics company,

providing businesses faster and more efficient connections to their customers,” said UPS Senior Director – Maintenance and Engineering, Bill Brentar.

“We’re proud to partner with Stoughton to deliver this reliability to meet our customers’ expectations,” he said.

“This is an important milestone in Stoughton’s history, illustrating our 59-year commitment to building quality trailers that deliver superior performance,” said Stoughton Trailers President, Bob Wahlin.

“At Stoughton, our people take great pride in our relationship with UPS,” he said.

Representatives of key component manufacturers were also present for the virtual celebration of the 50,000th UPS trailer, including: Ancra, Bendix, General Tires, Havco, Hutchens, JOST, Meritor, Phillips, Ridge Corp, Transglobal, Truck Lite and WABCO.

Stoughton achieves production milestone.

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NEWS INTERNATIONAL OCEANIA AUSTRALIA Two-thirds of heavy vehicle businesses have a safety system in their operation, a survey has found.

National Heavy Vehicle Regulator CEO, Sal Petroccitto, said the results of the 2020 NHVR Industry Safety Survey, with a sample size of 4,000 participants, demonstrates the ongoing commitment from the majority of industry to keep pursuing improved safety outcomes.

“We know industry has increasingly adopted and invested in improved safety practices over the last 10 years and the significant take up of Safety Management Systems continues to support better safety results,” said Petroccitto.

“Importantly, safety systems focus on a whole-of-business approach to safety including the important pre-trip check, which ensures vehicles are safe to operate on the road and that drivers are fit for duty before getting behind the wheel,” he said.

Industry bodies are improving Australia’s road safety.

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This survey, according to Petroccitto, provides a baseline result of the current safety environment that the NHVR can collectively monitor to understand trends and changes across safety practices.

“This information is critical as a Regulator to ensure we are providing the relevant and effective information and guidance industry needs to keep doing their job safely,” he said.

“The survey results, coupled with the recent results from the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics showing a reduction in truck fatalities by close to 18 per cent compared to the last financial year, is pleasing to see.

“Although this survey was conducted prior to the onset of the pandemic, we’re also speaking to operators about incorporating the latest health information into their safety systems.”

Key results of the survey: • 62 per cent of respondents had a basic safety system in place.

• 78 per cent of managers said they had an ongoing program of safety promo communication in their business, compared to 52 per cent of drivers and 71 per cent of loaders.

• 76 per cent of respondents agreed that relevant safety training was occurring on an ongoing basis.

The most common safety practice among owner-drivers was a vehicle inspection (97 per cent), compared to a regular personal health checkup (71 per cent), a safe driving plan (62 per cent), or keeping informed of safety issues and information (62 per cent).

The NHVR administers the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL), which regulates the transport activities of more than 165,000 businesses to achieve a safe, efficient and productive heavy vehicle industry within Australia’s supply chain.

The NHVR conducted the survey in March 2020 and received responses from a wide cross section of industry employees, including drivers, managers and operators.

AUSTRALIA Postal service company, Australia Post, has revealed that August 2020 was the biggest month in Australian online shopping history.

The number of online purchases for the month were up 8.9 per cent when compared to the 2019 pre-Christmas peak and 5.8 per cent higher than April 2020, the previous largest period.

The pre-Christmas peak was measured as the 31 day to 18 December 2019, inclusive.

Victoria continues to lead the way with online shopping growth in the state up 170 per cent year-on-year.

NEWS

OCEANIA

Toll opens a new facility in New Zealand.

This compares to a growth rate of 85 per cent across the country.

Nicole Sheffield, Australia Post Executive General Manager Community & Consumer, said Victoria had become Australia’s online shopping capital, with the state home to the nation’s five top online shopping locations in August.

“Point Cook in Melbourne’s west holds the number one spot, but suburbs like Craigieburn and Doreen in the outernorth made the top five list for the first time last month,” said Sheffield.

“What’s even more interesting is in 2019, just four Victorian postcodes made it into Australia’s top 10 online shopping locations; Victorian postcodes now hold six of those spots for the six months from MarchAugust this year.

“In July and August more than a third of all Australian online purchases were made in Victoria, which speaks to the impact Stage 4 restrictions have had on the local retail landscape,” said Sheffield.

More and more Australians are turning to online shopping with the pandemic not only prompting

seasoned shoppers to continue, but encouraging many households to try online for the first time.

“Between March and August this year over 8.1 million households have shopped online, an increase of 16 per cent when compared to the same time last year; and almost a million of these households had never shopped online before,” said Sheffield.

“In April we saw the biggest influx of new shoppers with over 200,000 new households entering the market.

In the five months that have followed over two-thirds (67 per cent) of these households have continued to shop online, with a quarter of them shopping twice or more per month on average.”

In August, the stand out categories across the nation were food and liquor, health and beauty and home and garden products, all growing 90 per cent or more year-on-year.

Online shopping continues to boom with growth for the second week of September up 79 per cent nationally, and 145 per cent in Victoria, a trend set to continue with the key online sales period and Christmas fast approaching.

NEW ZEALAND Transport and logistics company, Toll Group, has officially opened a new logistics hub in Wellington valued at approx. €15.2 million.

The site, Toll Aotea, is home to more than 60 employees and subcontractors who are expected to process around 800,000 parcels, satchels and pallets annually.

“Congratulations to everyone involved,” Toll Group said in a statement.

Toll New Zealand Executive General Manager, Jon Adams, said Toll Aotea will meet the growing demands of customers and consumers across Wellington.

“Our new Toll Aotea facility is double the size of the previous facility and means we can support the growth of our customers who service key industries across retail, construction, packaging and beverages,” said Adams.

“We’ll have close to 70 employees stationed at the facility, including drivers and warehouse workers, all committed to providing the best service to customers,” he said.

The multimodal facility is serviced by direct road, rail and inter-islander freight and plays a key role in Toll’s New Zealand network – transhipping freight from regional branches to Auckland and Christchurch.

The site which neighbours State Highway 1 is close to Wellington City Centre and is also adjacent to Centre Port Wellington.

The 8,400-square-metre warehouse sits on approximately 18,245 square metres of land. The increased space has led to efficiency increases and a reduction in manual handling.

Toll Aotea is part of a $185 million investment in the New Zealand market, with more than 300 construction jobs created throughout the project.

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Image credit: Márcio Campos

A SOUTH AMERICAN

JOURN

BRAZIL’S RANDON GROUP LEVERAGES A STRONG HERITAGE OF 71 YEARS AND BALANCES THAT WISDOM WITH THE DYNAMIC ENERGY OF A YOUNG, MODERN ENTERPRISE. IN THE PAST FOUR YEARS, THE COMPANY HAS EXPERIENCED RAPID EXPANSION IN ITS THREE MAIN DIVISIONS, EQUIPMENT, AUTO PARTS AND FINANCIAL SERVICES.

I

n the last few years, Randon Group, has invested considerably in its future – executing a strategic business plan through the expansion of its vast product portfolio. This includes the acquisition of Ferrari Industrial which opened up new avenues in aluminiun die casting, Fremax brake discs, Armetal distribution, Farloc coolants and brake fluids, Jurid do Brasil friction pads along with new hubs, drums and increased inventory capacity.

Executive VP and COO Sergio L. Carvalho said the internationalisation aspect of the strategy saw the business open new sites with Frasle India, Frasle China, Frasle Pan Americana in Colombia, Suspensys in Mexico and Randon Trailers in Peru. As for innovation and technology, the company has made gains in mobility, electronic controls, smart materials and an overall digital transformation.

“We are always guided by the principles of sustainability of the business, environment and sharing the benefits with society,” said Carvalho. “Our Randon Trailer division is by far the market leader in South America and has a complete portfolio of trailers, such as grain haulers, tippers, tanks, dry vans, reefers, side curtains, silos, flat beds, container chassis, sugar cane hauler among others. Out of the 10 most popular types of trailers sold in Brazil Randon is number-one for seven of them and second place for the remaining three. About 80 per cent of the mix sold currently is the result of new platforms developed in the last five years.”

Sergio Carvalho said the business has invested significantly in new technologies across all of its business units and many projects have already been disclosed to the public while others are still a work in progress.

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“Our Trailer division Randon has developed an electric trailer that when combined with a tractor creates a hybrid system, the Randon Hybrid R. The system uses our proprietary Suspensys E-Sys,” he said. “Basically, it works as follows: Going uphill, the trailer traction is activated automatically by the control software, reducing the load on the diesel powertrain, therefore yielding substantial fuel savings, which depending on the loading and route, can get up to 25 per cent. Going downhill and when brakes are applied, the kinetic energy is used to recharge the batteries.

Same principle as in a F1 electric car. This was announced at Fenatran (International Road Cargo Transport Trade Show) last year in Brazil and is undergoing durability testing this year and scheduled to go into production next year. The low horsepower to Gross Combination Weight (GCW) ratio allowed in Brazil by the legislation coupled with hilly terrain, makes this an attractive

COVER STORY

EY Sergio Carvalho, Randon’s Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

proposition. All this development was made internally by our CTR, Randon Technology Center. The system also improves safety and reduces brake wear.”

Randon has also launched new dry van and curtainsider trailers which were, according to Sergio Carvalho, launched with 600kg and 300kg weight savings, becoming the lightest of their type in the market.

“Both also include as optional more electronic controls,” he said. “The dry van eliminated the rivets, using now the clinch system, improving quality, sealing and durability. This system eliminated approximately 5000 rivets. The new sider has a new floor structure, new columns facilitating the handling by lift trucks. It also carries a new self-steering axle, improving tyre wear.”

A new aluminium grain hauler, with Ecoplate 3 panels, is reported to reduce equipment weight by more than 700Kg which also makes it the lightest option in its category.

To improve the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for its customers, the Autoparts Division now offers copper-free brake pads (Frasle) which meets new regulations in many countries. Also, a new trailer ABS (Master) was created, new piston type brake chambers (Master), lightweight trailer suspension system (Suspensys), E-Sys (Suspensys), truck full air suspension for MAN trucks (Suspensys) among other innovations.

Randon Group’s headquarters are located in Caxias do Sul, RS, Brazil and its products can be found in over 100 countries. There are 22 manufacturing facilities worldwide and six distribution centres. The group is composed of Autoparts Division with 51 per cent of the sales revenues (Frasle, Master JV, Jost JV, Suspensys and Castertech), Randon Equipment with 45 per cent of sales revenues (trailers, rail cars and off-highway) and financial Services 4.0 per cent of sales revenues (Randon Bank, Consortium, Randon Ventures).

The Equipment Division has manufacturing facilities in Brazil (Caxias do Sul-RS, Chapeco-SC and Araraquara-SP). Last year it created a JV Randon Triel in Erechim–RS for manufacturing of specialised trailers. It also has a plant in Rosario, Argentina and a JV in Lima, Peru.

The Autoparts Division, Carvalho explained, has seen rapid growth in recent years and has now factories in Brazil (five of them in Caxias do Sul-RS and also in the cities of Sao Leopoldo-RS, Joinville-SC, Sorocaba-SP, Diadema-SP, Resende-RJ), Pinghu-China, Manasar-India JV, Pratville-AL in USA, Buenos Aires-Argentina, Montevideo-Uruguay and Monterrey-Mexico.

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Image credit: Márcio Campos

Randon manufacturing facility.

FAST FACT Randon Group’s three core divisions include Equipment (trailers, rail cars, off-highway), Autoparts (brakes, friction material, brake actuation, axles, suspensions, hubs and drums, fifth wheels) and Financial Services (bank, consortium, ventures).

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“The company has been working in the continuous upgrade of its production facilities,” Carvalho said.

“In this sense, it has been accelerating transformational initiatives that are already underway, such as the creation of an integrated logistics area and investments in start-up companies, among other actions that allow for the increase of internal and external synergies in a more effective and intelligent way. A major consolidated investment consolidated in the beginning of 2020 was the optimisation of the industrial complex at the company’s headquarters in Caxias do Sul, with high-technology resources and a 4.0 industry concept, increasing its capacity from 100 products/day to up to 130 trailers a day, with investments in new solutions for the acrylic e-coat painting system, a second assembly and painting line in Araraquara, an additional tipper line in Caxias do Sul and a new line of general cargo vans with dashboard clinch technology in Chapecó. This major innovation, the advanced automatic

storage system and integrated cutting of steel sheets, is one of the largest in the Americas and is among the largest in the world in terms of warehouse size already installed by this company. This new warehouse has 815 storage positions and over 17 processing stations, with a work capacity reaching 280 tons per day in an area totalling 2,500 square metres.”

April this year Randon restructured to accelerate operations growth. One of the changes was to get all industrial operations under the single leadership of Sergio L. Carvalho – Executive VP and COO, including the Equipment and Autoparts divisions. “The first benefits could be seen in the approach and emphasis related to the combat of the pandemic. With the abrupt stoppage of many operations on the early stages of the pandemic, a major effort was placed to maximise the synergies among the companies, insourcing of manufacturing activities, control of discretionary spending, several new businesses were won, among many other actions. Investments in new transformation technologies for products, manufacturing processes and management were accelerated.

And the benefits on the performance of the company can clearly be noticed”. The creation of the Chief Transformation Officer (CTO) position led by Daniel Ely is also helping to accelerate the process of digital transformation of the company.

In June 2020 Randon reported a robust cash position which was important during unprecedented, uncertain times. “For many years Randon keeps a robust cash position all the time,” Carvalho said. “Given the volatility of some markets and its consequences, it was a lesson learned from the past and kept up to these days. The recent pandemic crisis just proved this point again. Of course, actions were taken to perverse cash and manage the crisis. This position allowed Randon to honour all its obligations and still keep the majority of its investments plans in M&A, capacity expansion, innovation and technology and digital transformation.”

Randon group has just announced another expansion of its Araraquara-SP plant to increase trailer production capacity. It has also completed the acquisitions of Ferrari

COVER STORY

Industrial, an aluminum die casting operation and Nakata Automotive, a large suspension manufacturer. It is finishing the expansion of the proving ground under the CTR, Randon Technology Center. Randon Ventures is investing in start-ups. Significant investment is also reportedly being made in technology and innovation for both products and manufacturing processes.

The manufacturing segment in Brazil, according to Carvalho, represents important results in the country’s economy, despite the decrease in importance over the past few years. “Within the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and in alignment with the reflections of this pandemic in the global economy, there is an expectation of a significant decrease in the Brazilian Gross Domestic Product (GDP), especially due to social distancing measures,” he said. “In the road implements segment, the most difficult period was back in April, when the most negative commercial effects of the Covid-19 pandemic were experiences, with a decline in production and sales volumes.

However, in May the volumes started to show a gradual recovery, which intensified in June.

A fundamental element in this scenario was the strengthening of agribusiness activities, with favourable currency exchange conditions (national currency devalued in comparison to the US dollar), record food harvests and consumption demands throughout the globe.

However, other segments also stood out, such as those related to essential products and the transportation of goods, in order to meet the demands of growing e-commerce activities.”

“In general, all the segments of the Brazilian economy use road implements in their chains, to a lesser or greater extent. This is the reflection of a transport matrix that prioritizes road transport, with more than 60 per cent of all transports being through roads. In the heavy goods segment, the volumes transported are increasing. Brazil has been making progress in the last two decades with an increase in the total gross weight transported, as well as in the size and dimensions of cargo vehicle combinations. In the light goods segment, due to restrictions on access to urban centres and the increased fractioning of the consumer goods being transported, there is an increase

in the number of smaller vehicles in order to meet the demands of this segment, closely associated with the last-mile concept.”

In a continuous effort to preserve people’s health, not only of its collaborators but of the communities where Randon Companies operate as well, the company developed dozens of actions aimed at reinforcing collaborative initiatives aimed at controlling the pandemic.

“Our group has been donating mechanical respirators to local public hospitals in addition to rapid tests, masks, hand sanitizer, food supplies, among other items,” Carvalho said. “In support of local scientific production, the company also donated components and parts for the production of low-cost mechanical respirators, as well as supplies for the production of hand sanitizers, to be developed by the University of Caxias do Sul. The company also made some adjustments to some of its factories so that they could manufacture ventilators, an initiative developed in partnership with Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer, as well as plastic parts for face shields.”

The Randon Companies also promoted awareness campaigns for truck drivers throughout the country, handing over hand sanitizer and masks, helping over 60,000 people.

“In addition to several collaborations and partnerships with various public and private institutions in order to face the Covid-19 pandemic, the Randon Companies mobilised to manufacture face masks,” said Carvalho. “The company was part of a project led by the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) aimed at manufacturing two parts deemed essential for the assembly of these protection items, which were then given to health care and security professionals engaged in the fight against the new coronavirus. Part of the plastic injection process at the Controil unit, controlled by Frasle, was adjusted so that it could manufacture polyamide frontal supports and thermoplastic elastic bands used in the assembly of these facial protections. Operating in hydraulic and polymer brake systems, the unit is the only one in the group with the technology required to manufacture plastic or rubber parts. Recyclable materials were used to produce frontal supports and elastic bands. The frontal supports and elastic bands manufactured by Controil were distributed to other partner companies participating in the project, which assembled the face masks with the support of the Brazilian Armed Forces.” www.randon.com.br

Randon’s proprietary Suspensys E-Sys for electrification.

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A POWER IMPRESSION

SOUTH-CENTRAL EUROPE IS RIFE WITH HEALTH AND ECONOMIC CRISES EXACERBATED BY POLITICAL TENSIONS BOTH DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL. ITALY IS A REMARKABLE PLACE THAT CONTINUES TO DEFY THE ODDS.

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uring the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, in March, European Central Bank (ECB) President, Christine Lagarde, dismissed calls by Italy for financial assistance. Lagarde, however, changed her tune after her initial response was met with disdain from the financial market community to one of commitment to avoid fragmentation for the euro area. The President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, responded by saying that Italy had a right to expect solidarity from beyond its borders rather than obstacles.

By 18 March 2020, ECB announced it would spend €750 billion to purchase bonds issued by national governments which according to Lagarde equated to extraordinary action for an extraordinary time.

The Economics Editor of the Guardian newspaper, Larry Elliott, claimed that this announcement from the ECB was evidence that without a massive

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support package, the eurozone – a monetary union of 19 of the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro as their common currency – was in danger of collapse. He wrote: “The situation is immensely more dangerous — both economically and politically — than it was when spiralling Italian and Spanish bond yields prompted Mario Draghi’s [President of the European Central Bank between 2011 and 2019] ‘whatever it takes speech’ in 2012.

With people dying in their thousands, borders

MARKET REPORT

FUL

closing and activity collapsing, the entire European project is at risk”.

EU leaders met via video conference on 26 March 2020 and were unable to agree on an economic response to Covid-19. The day prior, nine eurozone countries (Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain) called for a common debt instrument called ‘coronabonds’ to mitigate coronavirus-related damages.

These leaders said in a joint statement: “We are all facing a symmetric external shock,

for which no country bears responsibility, but whose negative consequences are endured by all”.

The eurozone’s ‘frugal four’, which includes Austria, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands, rejected the idea of issuing joint debt to finance economic recovery in Southern Europe. Issuing a joint debt, according to Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte would be “crossing the Rubicon” because it would turn the eurozone into a ‘transfer union’ in a way that was not foreseen by the Maastricht Treaty – the code that established the EU and laid the foundation for a single form of currency.

Coronabonds, according to Dutch Finance Minister, Wopke Hoekstra, would introduce the threat of ‘moral hazard’ by disincentivising the economic reform in debt-ridden Southern Europe. Hoekstra also requested that the European Commission investigate why countries such as Italy and Spain had not made adequate economic reforms since the 2008 financial crisis.

Other economic commentators including a correspondent at Wall Street Journal reviewed this situation and found that if the Covid-19 crisis was to eventually cause Italy to default on its debt, the reverberations would be felt across Europe and the rest of the world. Italy, with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of nearly $2 trillion is said to be ‘too big to fail, too big to bail’.

German economist and Executive Director of The New Zealand Initiative said that not a single European country is doing well which means there is a limited willingness for European countries to aid each other.

“An almighty economic earthquake is in the making,” he said. “In a few weeks or months, several large European economies will require bailout and assistance packages. These will be several times larger than anything Europe has seen. Yet no country, central bank or institution will be eager or even able to provide them.

Even the gargantuan sums on the table now will not be enough. Incidentally, forget about the International Monetary Fund. It was already stretched when it got involved with Greece last time. It cannot bail out all of Europe when the euro collapses.”

Another industry commentator of interest, more focused on the trailer side of things, is Gary Beecroft who studied Mechanical Engineering at Edinburgh University and completed a Masters in Automotive Engineering at Cranfield.

After a brief stint as a Radar Engineer, he worked for Rover Group in Oxford where the Mini is still produced and then moved to Ford in Cologne, Germany, to work on the Mondeo program. Then it was back to Cranfield to do an MBA. In the 1990s Beecroft worked for an economic consultancy based in London.

“I worked with vehicle and component manufacturers forecasting demand for specific types of vehicles, systems, components and technologies,” he said.

“A German bank contacted me and asked if we could forecast future demand for truck trailers – something that no–one in Europe had done before I believe.

From 2000 I carried on doing the same type of work but for my own company, CLEAR International.”

CLEAR, according to Beecroft, is focused on working with companies active in automotive and transport markets. The projects he engages in focus on the future demand for products and services as a result of changes in technology, markets, business processes and legislation. CLEAR specialises in forecasting heavy trailer markets on a global basis.

“In the 1990s the trailer forecast only covered a few West European countries and only looked at trailer registrations and body type,” he said. “In 2003 there was a recession in Europe and a lot of the consulting work I was doing dried up.

I was looking for something that would provide a regular revenue stream, so I

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Despite economic recession, Italy’s road freight businesses are keeping busy.

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“IN THE LAST ECONOMIC CYCLE, THE LARGE EUROPEAN ECONOMIES ALL PEAKED IN 2007/08 AND FELL INTO RECESSION IN 2009.

BY 2011 GERMANY HAD RECOVERED TO THE GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP) LEVEL OF 2008. ALL THE OTHER ECONOMIES GOT BACK TO THE LEVEL OF 2007/08 AT SOME TIME BE T WEEN 2013 AND 2017 WITH THE SOLE EXCEPTION OF ITALY.” Gary Beecroft CLEAR International

decided to launch the trailer forecast as a regular service. I started with a twice a year report covering the big five European economies: Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain. Gradually the report expanded to cover 15 West European countries and in addition to the registrations forecast both production and parc (fleet size) were added.”

In 2004 several East European countries joined the European Union and it was immediately apparent to Beecroft that there would be a huge expansion in the market for commercial vehicles in that region, so an East European Trailer report was launched in 2005. Subsequently some databases were added to cover the trailers market in the major regions outside of Europe plus provide a trailer production by manufacturer forecast.

So, what is the trailer market like in Italy and what makes it stand out from other European countries?

“In the last economic cycle, the large European economies all peaked in 2007/08

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and fell into recession in 2009,” Beecroft said. “By 2011 Germany had recovered to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) level of 2008. All the other economies got back to the level of 2007/08 at some time between 2013 and 2017 with the sole exception of Italy. Italy’s GDP kept falling until 2013 then grew incredibly slowly until 2019. This lack of economic vigour since 2009 has of course been bad for commercial vehicle demand.

“Trailer demand fell to 8,400 in 2009 having peaked at 17,800 in 2007. Demand was still at 6,600 in 2014 but then a rapid recovery got underway peaking at 16,100 in 2017. There were small falls in the market in 2018 and 2019 and a 25 per cent fall in 2020 due to covid-19 is likely.”

At the moment, according to Beecroft, a strong rebound in 2021/22 is forecast with further growth in 2024. “However, that would only bring the trailer market back to the level of 2016 – well below the last peak of 2017.

Given the fact that there is now a second peak of the coronavirus developing in Western Europe even this forecast is contingent on the virus at least remaining under control, with infection levels staying well below what we saw in March to May 2020.”

Italy’s economy has impacted the domestic trailer market. Beecroft said that many famous Italian trailer brands have never recovered

MARKET REPORT

from the 2009 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and though some are still around they are operating with much reduced output levels.

In recent years many European trailer builders have expand into the Italian trailer market. Beecroft has analysed these major players.

“Menci, Tecnokar and Viberti are the leading Italian brands but the big German exporters of Schmitz Cargobull, Krone and Kögel have had higher market shares than the domestic firms in recent years,” he said.

Beecroft has observed much political instability in Italy and many changes of government and leadership which does not help the country’s economy especially with investment levels that are well below pre2009 figures.

“Industry needs political stability and economic growth in order to have confidence to invest,” he said.

JOST Italia

Next year will mark 50 years of JOST Italia S.r.l. which was established in 1971 near Milan. The new headquarters were founded in 1979 and with the purchase of a building plot of 2700 square meters, 1400 square meters warehouse plus offices were built.

The 12 employees of JOST Italia take care of all commercial aspects to supply both trailer OEMs and the official network. They focus on the distribution of original spare parts, only thanks to the strong relationship with the dealers towards a complete and well-stocked warehouse in order to guarantee a widespread presence.

Moreover, they have set up a dedicated technical assistance team as an aftersales service that works in synergy with an assistance network of authorized workshops, but also to support the technical offices of trailer OEMs. Since JOST’s acquisition of the Mercedes Benz axle division in 2015, a restructuring of the service network has been necessary. In addition to the dedicated team, JOST Italia and the customers can rely on a network of 120 workshops distributed throughout the Italian territory. These workshops can count on an equally widespread sales network. Now there are 70 authorised dealers and also about 100 distribution warehouses / branches distributed throughout the territory that must be added.

A team of three external sales managers deals with the direct contacts with the

For five decades, JOST has made a positive impact on the Italian trucking industry.

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 THE EAST EUROPEAN TR AILER DEMAND FORECAST FOR THE FIVE-YEAR PERIOD FROM 2020 TO 2024 HAS BEEN REDUCED BY 52,000 TR AILERS WITH THE LARGEST MARKE TS OF TURKEY, POLAND AND RUSSIA ACCOUNTING FOR OVER 60 PER CENT OF THAT REDUCTION. customers that include additionally more than 300 Fleets and end users.

JOST Italia also provides an on-demand training service formulated ad hoc for the customer (for example fleets) or collaborator (for example the sales office of the dealer or technicians of the authorised workshop).

Market shifts for heavy trailers in Eastern Europe

Transport consulting group, CLEAR International, has released its September 2020 forecast for the East European heavy trailer market.

Demand for trailers grew by 4.4 per cent in Eastern Europe in 2018 then fell by 12.7 per cent in 2019 as evidence of a cyclical downturn became more apparent. At the beginning of 2020 another modest decline in trailer demand was forecast for Eastern Europe but the outlook quickly worsened as the Covid-19 pandemic started to close down parts of the economy. A reduction of new trailer registrations of 24.5 per cent if now forecast for 2020, and that figure assumes that the second wave of the virus, which is already in evidence, Industry, according to CLEAR International’s Gary Beecroft, needs political stability and economic growth to have the confidence to invest.

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is at least contained.

Trailer sales in 2018 were the third highest on record, only surpassed in 2007 and 2008.

The forecast now is that registrations of new trailers will not match the 2007/8 level until after 2024 but will surpass the 2018 level in that year.

However, the short-term outlook is anything but positive according to CLEAR International. Demand for both trailers and trucks has continued to plunge in 2020.

The East European trailer demand forecast for the five-year period from 2020 to 2024 has been reduced by 52,000 trailers with the largest markets of Turkey, Poland and Russia accounting for over 60 per cent of that reduction. The largest fall in demand will occur in Poland – a country that was a model of stability in the 2009 Global Financial Crisis – Poland was the only country in Europe not to have a recession in that year.

Russia, the largest trailer market in Eastern Europe until 2010, suffered a 50 per cent fall in demand between 2011 and 2015, but had an astonishing recovery in 2017/18 and is now the largest market once again.

Turkish demand reached a new low in 2019

MARKET REPORT

but recovery has already begun, though it will remain in third place behind Poland until the end of the forecast period.

Whereas the demand for road transport (measured in tonne-km) in Western Europe has yet to recover to the levels that were typical before the 2009 recession, in Eastern Europe both domestic and international road transport demand has continued to grow every year. Every year that is until 2018 when growth stalled. Slowdowns in Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Poland and Hungary were enough to halt the growth which has been continuous since 2000.

There was some growth in demand in 2019 but this was mostly due to international activity in Poland and Lithuania and it will not be sustained into 2020.

“Turkey will be the only country in Eastern Europe to see any growth in trailer demand in 2020 but it is recovering from a very low base,” said CLEAR International Managing Director, Gary Beecroft. “Russia will have the smallest decline in the region,” he said. “Other countries will see falls of between 15 per cent and 50 per cent.” www.globaltrailermag.com

I NTE RVI EW WITH SAF-HOLLAN D ITALIA G E N E RAL MANAG E R, CRISTIANO STU RARO Q: Are there any news or developments regarding operations in Italy?

A: The Italian subsidiary of SAF-Holland operates from Verona, northeast of Italy, well connected to Germany and to the main Italian highways. SAF-Holland Italia started its activity in 2002; nowadays 13 people works in SH Italy and I am the Managing Director since end of 2015. During these past years, we developed the business of SAF-Holland in Italy with a good cooperation with all Italian trailer builders and truck importers. The focus on after-sales and a better commercial coverage of the market have been the turning point of our strategy in Italy. Actually, our growth also continues in a difficult year like 2020.

Q: Can you comment on the Italian trailer market?

A: In the first eight months of 2020 the Italian trailer market collapsed of 32. 2 per cent compared to the same period of 2019 (total numbers, January-August: 7,047 units against 10,394 in 2019). The worst period of the lockdown, (March-April) seems to be behind us and trailer builders are now more positive looking at the next months.

In general, the Italian trailer market is still dominated by foreign trailer builders with a total market share of 62 per cent on the total registrations, while Italian manufactures covers the remaining 38 per cent and are very strong in certain applications such as tippers and low-beds.

Q: Has there been a spike in demand for any particular products or services?

A: Demand remains on a high level for tippers and reefers (coolers), while curtainsiders suffered the most. There is an increasing demand for renting semitrailers and telematics solutions in order to keep track of all the important information on the trailer. Market shows interest about tire pressure systems, which maintain the pressure of tires across the trailer, improves fuel consumption and protect the wear of tires.

Q: Would you like to contribute any comments on Italy’s economic situation and how that affects the trucking industry?

A: Starting from the end of February the Covid-19 containment measures introduced by the Government has having a deep affect the economy influencing production, investment and consumption decisions and very negatively affecting the labor market. Our truck and trailer industry has also been affected, however the sector shows signs of improvements and the outlook is positive.

Q: Are there any third party reports or government announcements that stand out?

A: Yes, I think it is very important to take into consideration the new measures decided by our Government during August. Actually, the Italian Government supports our industry with incentive measures in favour of investments made by transport companies. These measures will be valid for the next two years (2020-2021) and will terminate June 2021.

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TRAILER DESIGN

WEIGHT SAVING SOLUTION WITH JOST OPTIMA

IDEAL FOR LONG-DISTANCE TRANSPORT APPLICATIONS, JOST OPTIMA IS A NEW WEIGHT-OPTIMISED LANDING GEAR DESIGNED FOR GREATER EFFICIENCY.

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hen travelling across Europe, nearly all trailers on the road are equipped with telescopic landing gears from JOST. This is no surprise, as JOST’s decades-long experience in the construction of landing gears means that they know exactly what their customers need. The landing gears from JOST are not only extraordinarily robust and particularly diverse but are also proven in daily use millions of times over.

With the landing gears’ flexible and modular design it is easy to adapt to all important customer requirements, from standard to specialised applications. The Modul landing gears all feature the patented drive, which is optimally protected due to its internal design, requires no maintenance and offers many other advantages during operation. The large lift achieved by a single turn of the crank with a low cranking force makes operation easy and convenient. Switching between high and low gear is quick, easy and safe. The modular design also gives a variety of versions with different mounting and bolting heights, cranks, connection shaft lengths, and foot types. All Modul landing gears are protected against environmental influences and falling rocks by a high-quality powder coating.

OPTIMA is the ideal solution for long-distance transport applications. It is based on the highly reliable Modul components and offers a higher payload JOST OPTIMA landing legs.

and thus higher trailer efficiency thanks to its low weight. It is available in all three plate positions and four different mounting heights and con-forms with the market-standard mounting dimensions.

JOST is a leading global producer and supplier of safety-critical systems for the commercial vehicle industry. Under the umbrella brand JOST, the comprehensive range of products is divided into systems for the road and agriculture.

The JOST brand includes fifth wheel couplings, landing gears, ball bearing turntables, kingpins and container locks as well as components for alternating systems.

Trailer axles and truck axles are also sold under the JOST brand. The core products of the traditional brand ROCKINGER are towing hitches, drawbar eyes and drawbars for both transporters and trucks. TRIDEC offers steering systems and axle suspensions for trailers. Edbro is the specialist in the field of vehicle-mounted hydraulic systems. Its range includes front and underfloor dump trucks and trailers and extension cylinders, as well as customer-specific hydraulic construction kits.

ROCKINGER products are also for use in the agricultural industry. The new brand Quicke has been part of the JOST World since February 2020 and specializes in agricultural front loaders and implements.

JOST currently employs more than 3,500 staff across the world and has sales and production facilities in more than 20 countries on all five continents. The company is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since 20 July 2017. www.jost-world.com

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OPTIMISED FOR MORE

IF THE TRUCK AND TRAILER COMBINATION WEIGHS LESS, THE POSSIBLE PAYLOAD AND THE ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF FLEETS INCREASES. TO MAKE SEMI-TRAILER TRUCKS LIGHTWEIGHT, ECONOMICAL AND EFFICIENT, SAF-HOLLAND HAS REDUCED THE WEIGHT OF CRUCIAL COMPONENTS: THE IMPROVED PREMIUM TRAILER AXLE, A DRUM-BRAKE AXLE FOR 19.5” MEGA TYRES, THE CONVENIENT TYRE PRESSURE MONITORING SYSTEM AND EXTRA-LIGHT FIFTH WHEELS OPTIMISE THE PAYLOAD OF ARTICULATED LORRIES.

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ecause every kilogram counts in the delivery and distribution business, equipping vehicles with weight-reduced components pays off. The reason: lightweight components which are adapted to the requirements at hand save fuel and allow for a higher payload.

In addition to this, fleets can become particularly efficient and economical if the vehicles are on the move without failures and downtime.

“SAF-Holland provides fleet managers with individually tailored support for payload optimisation, with high-quality components such as fifth wheels or axles plus accessories,” said SAF-Holland Product Manager OE Europe, Elmar Weber. “This applies to the configuration and original equipment for trucks and trailers as well as to retrofitting.”

Extra-light premium axle SAF INTRADISC

BRAKE CALI PE R In combination with the SBS 2220 H01 brake caliper, the optimised SAF INTRA-DISC plus INTEGRAL trailer axle from SAF-Holland reduces the weight by eight kilogrammes per axle.

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plus INTEGRAL

With the new ten-spoke wheel end design, SAF-Holland optimises the weight of its SAF INTRADISC plus INTEGRAL premium axle. Combined with the SBS 2220 H01 brake caliper,

the trailer axle reduces the weight by eight kilograms.

“We are continuously working on reducing the weight of our products and systems,” said Weber. “On a three-axle semi-trailer, our improved premium axle reduces the weight by a total of 24 kilos ex works. Fleet operators do not need to invest any extra money for this, in contrast to aluminium rims, for example.”

In order to reduce the weight of the disc brake, the suspension specialist adapted the topology of the cast parts while maintaining the same high-performance level and long service life. The 22.5″ brake SBS 2220 H01, developed jointly with HALDEX, is designed for axle loads of up to nine tons.

70 kilos saved with drum-brake axle Commercial vehicles with 19.5″ mega tyres and the SAF INTRADRUM drum-brake axle save 70 kilograms per axle compared to previous conventional suspensions.

“Previously, 19.5″ mega tyres could only be combined with a SAF MODUL air suspension,” said Weber. “But the new combination of the SAF INTRA suspension with a 367x180 drum brake reduces the weight substantially to create clear advantages.”

TRAILER DESIGN

PAYLOAD EFFICIENCY

The proven SAF INTRA axle with drum brake and INTRADRUM technology ensures economical and safe operation. The drum brake links precisely coordinated, powerful components into a successful system – reliable and profitable, efficient and almost maintenance-free.

SAF-Holland supplies robust, lightweight componentry.

Safe journeys without a spare wheel: SAF TIRE PILOT

Leaving the spare tyre at home also saves weight and therefore costs for semi-trailer trucks. The trailer tire, steel rim and bracket weigh around 160 kilograms. Without these, the unladen weight of the tractor/trailer combination is reduced and the payload is increased – tangible added value.

The good news for cost-conscious fleet managers – Trailers do not have to be entirely dependent on having a spare wheel. The automatic tyre-inflating system SAF TIRE PILOT can prevent complete failure of the tyres. In the event of puncture damage, the control system reliably maintains the tyre pressure at the preset level, allowing the articulated lorry to safely reach the nearest

DRU M BRAKE SUSPE NSION The SAF INTRA suspension from SAF­-Holland in combination with a 367x180 drum brake for 19.5″ mega tyres saves 70 kilograms per axle. The image shows the SAF INTRA-DRUM 19.5″ in comparison to the 22.5″ version.

SAF TI RE PI LOT In the event of a puncture, the SAF TIRE PILOT automatic tyre-inflating system from SAF-Holland reliably maintains the tyre pressure at the preset level, avoiding complete failure of the tyre. The semi-trailer truck can remain safely on the road.

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 “OUR BEST-IN-CLASS SOLUTIONS, CONSISTING OF FIF TH WHEELS AND KINGPINS, CAN COPE WITH ANY CONNECTION TASK, WHE THER FOR LIGHT WEIGHT 7.5-TONNE LORRIES OR SPECIAL LOADS OF UP TO 75 TONNES.” Alan Feltham Director R&D, SAF-Holland

workshop or home. Once there, the wheel can be changed. This prevents vehicles from being left stranded and minimises downtimes due to puncture damage.

Safely connected with best-in-class solutions

The truck and the trailer should always be securely connected. This is guaranteed by the robust, weight-optimised fifth wheels from SAF-Holland.

“Our best-in-class solutions, consisting of fifth wheels and kingpins, can cope with any connection task, whether for lightweight 7.5-tonne lorries or special loads of up to 75 tonnes,” said Alan Feltham Director R&D – Fifth Wheel, Kingpin & Coupler Products Europe, Middle East & Africa at SAF-Holland. “Our products for all weight categories are under continuous further development, and we adapt them to the tractor units and their applications.”

To reduce the weight of its fifth wheels, the supplier for commercial vehicle parts optimised the topology of the mounting brackets and the top plate, among

FW32 14-W FI FTH WH E E L The SAF-Holland FW3214-W fifth wheel is installed directly in the vehicle frame and perfectly adapted to the Mercedes-Benz Actros and Antos tractor units – a great advantage in terms of both weight and payload.

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other things. Direct mounting, which eliminates the traditional mounting plate, also saves time and costs.

Chassis-integrated fifth wheel reduces the dead weight

SAF-Holland developed the FW 3214W – the first chassis-integrated fifth wheel with an imposed load of up to 14 tons – specifically for the MercedesBenz Actros and Antos tractor units.

“Because it is installed directly in the vehicle frame and specially adapted to the tractor unit, it significantly lowers its dead weight and therefore increases the payload potential,” said Feltham.

The FW 3214­ W with loadoptimised and wear-optimised coupling plates made of spheroidal graphite cast iron, is low-maintenance.

The standard single-handed operation is particularly convenient: A safety latch enables coupling and uncoupling with one hand. www.safholland.com

FW32 14-W CHASSISI NTEG RATE D FI FTH WH E E L

N EW SAF I NTRADISC PLUS I NTEG RAL DESIG N

Mercedes-Benz Actros and Antos tractor units equipped with the SAF-Holland FW3214-W chassisintegrated fifth wheel have a significantly lower dead weight and therefore an increased payload potential.

With the new ten-spoke design, SAF­-Holland optimises the weight of its premium axle SAF INTRADISC plus INTEGRAL.

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PARTNE

Logistics firms around the world are getting ready for Covid-19 vaccine distribution.

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SPECIAL REPORT

RING AGAINST

PANDEMIC

SPECIALISED TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS COMPANIES ARE COMPETING TO DELIVER WORLD CLASS MEDICAL SUPPLY CHAIN SERVICES IN THE LEAD-UP TO THE LAUNCH OF A COVID-19 VACCINE.

K

uehne + Nagel has more than 230 good practice certification in the pharmaceutical industry (GxP) operations worldwide, including the US, UK, Denmark, Spain, Luxembourg, Italy, France, Singapore, India, Panama, the UAE and Australia. The company recently opened airside pharma and healthcare hubs in Brussels, Belgium, and Johannesburg, South Africa.

Direct tarmac access at Kuehne + Nagel airside facilities is reported to ensure product integrity during the logistics journey which is important because temperature-sensitive products have low to no stability outside of their stated temperature ranges.

Kuehne + Nagel’s new premises have dedicated areas for all ranges of temperature-sensitive products and have the capacity to change or add dry ice as required for deep frozen shipment where temperatures need to be maintained below -60°C. “Today, new pharma and healthcare products tend to be more valuable, more temperature-sensitive and have additional requirements for storage and transportation conditions,” said Kuehne + Nagel Board Member, Yngve Ruud. “Such capabilities and facilities are not easily available globally. The new hubs in Brussels and Johannesburg will ensure that our pharma and healthcare customers can fully rely on Kuehne + Nagel to handle the specific challenges of integrity as well as provide end-toend visibility and regulatory compliance along the logistics journey of their sensitive products. So, they can focus on the health and well-being of their patients because this is what matters the most.”

Meanwhile, DHL, in partnership with management consultants at McKinsey & Company, is reviewing its medical supply chain to prepare for the delivery of a Covid-19 vaccine when it is eventually packaged and ready for distribution.

Leonora Lim, Vice President, Life Science and Healthcare, DHL Customer Solutions and Innovation, Asia Pacific, summarised DHL’s strategy and action plan to deliver a stable supply chain for vaccine and medical goods in conversation with Global Trailer. The logistics juggernaut recently released a whitepaper on the subject.

“An important lesson learned from the Covid-19 pandemic is that partnerships are essential for securing critical medical supplies during health emergencies. By publishing the whitepaper, DHL

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 “GIVEN THAT TEMPER ATURE REQUIREMENTS ARE LIKELY TO BE THE MAIN CHALLENGE, REGIONS WITH A PARTICULARLY WARM CLIMATE AND THOSE WITH LIMITED COLDCHAIN LOGISTICS INFR ASTRUCTURE WILL POSE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN A STRINGENT VACCINE DISTRIBUTION SCENARIO.” Leonora Lim Vice President, Life Science and Healthcare, DHL Customer Solutions and Innovation, Asia Pacific

hopes to trigger conversations between governments, NGOs, the life science and healthcare (LSH) industry and logistics providers now to start building a partnership network and enable a more timely and effective response in the future.

“We have been building our LSH expertise and capabilities over the past two decades and have enjoyed long standing and collaborative partnerships with various stakeholders, including governments and our customers. Our established partnerships meant we were able to get the necessary pharmaceuticals and medicalrelated products to those in need during the Covid-19 pandemic. We work with various local authorities across 220 countries and territories and international health institutes and NGOs to ensure that we continue to operate as an essential service getting goods in and out of countries where we were sometimes the only arrivals and departures, while ensuring safety and well-being of our employees.”

Lim said DHL will continue to work closely with various stakeholders and start preparing for the transportation of Covid-19 vaccines, ensuring that live-saving products reach as many people as possible when they are ready for distribution.

“While we have also built a solid foundation in the LSH sector (with a 9,000-strong community of LSH specialists, 118 competence centres in airports and ports globally for the specialised handling of LSH products, 160-plus Good Distribution Practice (GDP)-qualified warehouses, 15-plus Good Manufacturing Practice(GMP)-certified sites and 135-plus medical express sites, we have established a global cross-divisional task force to oversee the readiness and upscaling of our current capabilities such as our competence centres, passive cooling solutions, including supply of dry ice, etc.”

DHL, it appears, continues to build upon and leverage its infrastructure,

For deep frozen shipments where temperatures of below -60°C must be maintained, Kuehne + Nagel has the fleet and the infrastructure to get it done.

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DHL Vice President, Leonora Lim.

expertise and processes to meet the scale and scope of Covid-19 vaccine distribution when the time comes.

With such an epic freight task, it is likely that the industry, such as road transport operators and other logistics firms, will be expected to overcome new challenges.

“With speed of development as such an important factor, special approaches in vaccine development, testing and stabilisation are needed to accelerate the process chain,” Lim said. “When vaccines enter the market for emergency use (potentially as early as Q4 2020), a potential lack of stability data might mean stricter temperature requirements for the vaccine supply.

“Out of caution, producers of certain vaccines and their logistics providers can choose to adhere to extreme temperature requirements (as low as -80 °C), as compared to the conventional +2°C to +8°C or even higher as used in pharmaceutical supply chains today, as to ensure that the efficacy of the vaccines is maintained during storage and transport.

“Given that temperature requirements are likely to be the main challenge, regions with a particularly warm climate and those with limited cold-chain logistics infrastructure will pose the biggest challenge in a stringent vaccine distribution scenario.”

Currently, large parts of Africa, South America and Asia, according to DHL, may face a challenge due to lack of cold-chain logistics capacity suitable for life science products.

“Governments and NGOs would need to

SPECIAL REPORT

There are stringent storage and transportation requirements for vaccines to ensure their efficacy.

implement special measures to ensure vaccine distribution,” Lim said. “Capacity would have to be increased and scaled in order to reach the global population. It is important to consider innovative packaging and passive cooling solutions, such as dry ice, to keep vaccines at their optimal temperature, innovative and specialised transportation modes to reach populations in less accessible regions, as well as recycling opportunities and optimal waste management in the case of one-way packaging.”

DHL is consulting with McKinsey & Company to review its medical supply. Lim elaborated on this partnership.

“In collaboration with our analytics partner McKinsey & Company, DHL has drawn on our decades of global logistics experience to offer a view of the logistics challenge for vaccine transportation in the coming months,” Lim said. “The whitepaper aims to urge governments, NGOs, vaccine suppliers and logistics companies to start early with informed planning, teamwork and effective partnerships to be able to secure critical medical supplies during health emergencies.”

DHL reported that more than 250 vaccines across seven platforms are being developed and tested. Also, the logistical challenges of maintaining stringent temperature requirements (up to -80°C) during transportation and warehousing, for instance, is a concern when the current network generally distributes vaccines at ~2-8°C. With this in mind, there are, according to Lim, operational challenges in the last mile road freight delivery.

“The approximate 200,000 pallets will be broken down into smaller lot sizes, substantially increasing the number of shipments to 15 million deliveries in cooling boxes, which need to be paired with the required volume of cooling bricks or dry ice,” Lim said. “The availability of cooling bricks or dry ice, and suitable packaging, will need to be taken into consideration.”

To ensure consistent temperature management is much more complicated for 15 million deliveries than for 200,00 pallets. Lim said DHL would need to consider the availability of vehicles and drivers for transportation, especially temperature-controlled fleets.

“The physical handling of ultra-deep-frozen shipments requires special equipment and processes to avoid injury, which means that a large number of couriers or consignees need

FAST FACT DHL has developed a five-pillar strategy for successful crisis response management which is reportedly key meeting supply chain challenges of future global health emergencies. The five pillars are: Develop and disseminate a clear, pre-defined emergency response plan; build a partnership network of both public-private and public-public partnerships; identify and ensure access to required physical logistics infrastructure; establish IT-enabled supply chain transparency; and create organisational structures and allocate resources to institutionalise and coordinate the entire response management including plan, partners, infrastructure and IT.

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DHL’s commitment to perfecting its own medical supply chain could set the standard for other logistics firms to follow.

to be trained,” Lim said. “Road transportation gets tricky in hard to reach places, therefore requiring careful route planning and trained handling to ensure efficacy of the vaccines during transit. To this end, we have published the whitepaper to trigger conversations in the eco-system of players in order to start planning and brainstorming for solutions.”

The projections for global vaccine distribution, according to DHL, include upwards of 200,000 pallet shipments, 15 million deliveries in cooling boxes and 15,000 flights which will require various supply chain arrangements. DHL details its multimodal approach.

“Given the urgency of getting vaccines to their destinations, air freight is the most viable mode for transporting the precious cargo across long distances, whereas road freight comes into the picture in shorter cross-border shipments and in the last-mile delivery,” Lim said. “Temperature controlled and monitored road freight services have always been part of our suite of solutions for the LSH sector and will be part of our vaccine distribution supply chain. In the three endto-end supply chain archetypes for vaccine distribution described in the white paper, road freight plays an important role. The suitability of these archetypes differs depending on the temperature requirements, transport distances, and volumes as well as factors related to cost, lead time, warehouse capacity and the availability of packaging and equipment.

During these unprecedented times it could be argued that global cooperation at least between businesses and governments to help facilitate the supply and delivery of a Covid-19 vaccine would be essential.

Lim said building a partnership network in advance of a global health emergency is important to enable a timely, effective response. “Public-private partnerships should be in the form of three-way agreements between medical supply producers, logistics service providers and health authorities/governments. During Covid-19, partnerships with private companies from non-health related industries also proved important. Partnerships among governments of (neighbouring) countries and relevant trans-national committees should be an additional goal. Because pandemics are generally global or multi-national in nature (due to both presymptomatic incubation periods and increasingly higher levels of international

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travel), countries should not try to tackle them alone.

“While new partnerships can be formed in response to unexpected challenges, most partnerships and networks should be preestablished.”

As a global logistics company, DHL has been working closely with governments and medical supply producers in the shipments of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) since the start of the pandemic. That has led to the question internally on what would happen to the entire logistics chain once a vaccine is found? As such, DHL published a whitepaper to trigger a discussion among governments, NGOs, vaccine suppliers and logistics companies.

DHL Chief Commercial Officer, Katja Busch, explained that sufficient planning and appropriate partnerships within the supply chain can play a key role in protecting lives against the pandemic as governments work to secure critical medical supplies during health emergencies. Lim added to this by saying that DHL, during the pandemic, has worked with various local authorities across 220 countries and territories along with international health institutes and NGOs to ensure the business continue to operate as an essential service while also ensuring the safety and wellbeing of its employees.

“We had the advantage of being able

SPECIAL REPORT

to tap on all Deutsche Post DHL Group’s business divisions (DHL Express, DHL Global Forwarding, DHL Supply Chain and DHL eCommerce Solutions) to keep supply chains running smoothly,” Lim said.

We mobilised our own network of aircraft, secured every available charter we could find, provided alternative multimodal solutions (for example, by using a combination of road, rail or ocean) and continued to deploy employees to warehouse operations with safe working measures in place, hence saving jobs and livelihoods in the process.”

Region-specific challenges can also complicate medical supply chains.

“There is no doubt that climate, seasons and weather generally have an impact on supply chain operations anywhere in the world,” Lim said. “Given the specific temperature requirements of medical products, we need to watch out for exposure to extreme cold or hot temperatures and changes in seasons which could change the way products are packed, handled and transported.

“In general, regions with a particularly warm climate and those with limited coldchain logistics infrastructure will face challenges. Currently, large parts of Africa, South America and Asia may face a challenge due to lack of cold-chain logistics capacity suitable for life science products.

“With speed of development such an important factor, special approaches in vaccine development, testing and stabilisation are needed to accelerate the process chain. When vaccines enter the market for emergency use (potentially as early as Q4 2020), a potential lack of stability data might mean stricter temperature requirements for the vaccine supply.

“Out of caution, producers of certain vaccines and their logistics providers can choose to adhere to extreme temperature requirements (as low as -80 °C), as compared to the conventional +2°C to +8°C or even higher as used in pharmaceutical supply chains today, as to ensure that the efficacy of the vaccines is maintained during storage and transport.

“In addition to using logistics providers with reliable temperature-controlled supply

 “THE VARIOUS DHL BUSINESS DIVISIONS LEVER AGE THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY TO OPTIMISE OUR CORE BUSINESS AND MODERNIZE OUR IT INFR ASTRUCTURE IN ORDER TO ENHANCE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE, IMPROVE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE AND INCREASE EFFICIENCY.” Leonora Lim Vice President, Life Science and Healthcare, DHL Customer Solutions and Innovation, Asia Pacific

chain capabilities, pharma-certified solutions and experience and expertise in the life science and healthcare sector, it is important to consider innovative packaging and passive cooling solutions, such as dry ice, to keep vaccines at their optimal temperature, innovative and specialised transportation modes to reach populations in less accessible regions, as well as recycling opportunities and optimal waste management in the case of one-way packaging.

DHL is also focused on improving the connectivity of its fleet.

“With Strategy 2025, Deutsche Post DHL Group sees systematic digitalisation throughout its businesses as a lever for achieving significant progress,” Lim said. “The Group will be spending around €2 billion on digitalisation and the digitalisation investment is expected to lead to yearly run rate benefits of at least €1.5 billion by 2025.

“The various DHL business divisions leverage the use of technology to optimise our core business and modernise our IT infrastructure in order to enhance customer experience, improve employee experience and increase efficiency.

“DHL Express’ Advanced Quality Control Center takes care of real-time monitoring of shipment movement at every stage of its journey to avoid any transit delays through proactive intervention.

“DHL Supply Chain’s Transport Management Center, a transportation management system linked to vehicle telematics that enhance fleet management, monitor and improve drivers’ performance, and improve visibility and security of goods “DHL Global Forwarding’s integrated one-stop customer portal for digital transport logistics, myDHLi allows customers to closely track their shipments.

Through functionalities similar to those on social media, customers can easily follow and share this information with their trading partners to keep them informed about all aspects of the shipping journey – anytime and anywhere.

“DHL Smart Sensors – our self-designed logger to protect against changes in temperature, humidity, shock, light and even air pressure, providing easy access to full visibility of your shipments.”

Lim said global public health emergencies present immense challenges ¬– and preparedness may save lives when the next crisis hits. “Access to medical products is essential to a successful health-emergency response, and preventing such supply issues in the future should be a clear goal moving forward. Lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic and investments in crisis prevention can help government leaders ensure adequate supplies.” www.globaltrailermag.com

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AT THE

TIPPING P OF CYLINDER A FAILED LIFTING CYLINDER ON A TIPPER TRUCK WILL CERTAINLY DISRUPT OPERATIONS, MAY BE EXPENSIVE TO REPAIR AND COULD EVEN ENDANGER LIFE. NICK SANDBROOK, TESTING MANAGER FOR EDBRO TIPPING CYLINDERS, SAYS RIGOROUS TESTING DURING DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE IS THE ONLY WAY TO PREVENT SUCH SCENARIOS AND OUTLINES HIS COMPANY’S DEMANDING REGIMES.

T

he lifting cylinder of a tipper truck is exposed to regular cycles of heavy loads. Yet it is expected to perform without fault over a long working life. In an industry where profit margins are narrow and equipment failure can be catastrophic, the quality of such equipment must never be in question. Thus, the testing standards set

by Edbro for its tipping cylinders are designed to ensure safe, reliable performance under all conditions.

For Edbro products, the ultimate aim is to create ‘fit-and-forget’ products that, once installed, require no servicing throughout a long working life other than an annual oil change. To achieve this level of reliability, Edbro, part of the JOST World, tests every design before production and every cylinder before dispatch, with the pass level far higher than is required in the field. In essence that is how we ensure long term performance and protect our reputation as a top-quality manufacturer.

Cylinder testing comes in two regimes, design and production. When a cylinder is being designed the principle objective has to be a strong reliable cylinder that will perform faultlessly throughout a long demanding working life. The idea behind the test procedure used by designers is to simulate the most extreme working life imaginable. The tests are long, to simulate many years of use, and they create harsh working environments to include shock loads, impacts and side forces. In effect they accelerate the test piece through the most appalling working

Edbro cylinder.

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life conceivable and only pass it if it is still going strong.

A different philosophy is required in manufacturing. Here the design has been proven, so the requirement is to test the quality of build, looking for minor imperfections that could compro-mise performance. The multiple Edbro tests carried out during production check each cylinder for pressure, functionality and leakage, and also check each component. The objective is that any cylinder made by Edbro and passed by its test regime can be expected to perform flawless-ly, no matter how arduous or long its working life.

Designing in quality

Edbro’s research and development program is world class and uses multiple specialist test rigs so that every aspect of each design can be fully tested. For example: an endurance rig is used to cycle test cylinders across their full stroke length for extended periods; typically this could be 10,000 strokes or more over a number of weeks. This is the equivalent of a long working life and at the end of this test a pass certificate is issued only if there is no wear or damage of any sort.

Fatigue tests check all the components for signs of progressive wear or other failure modes brought on by long term operation,

TIPPERS

OINT

SAFETY while dynamic load tests are constantly undertaken on cylinder casings, telescopic tubes, trunions, brackets, seals and all the individual components of a cylinder.

Other test rigs check for specific issues.

A side load test rig simulates the effects of asymmet-ric loads, such as when a truck is parked on an uneven surface and the cylinder is extended. Here oil leakage and reduced alignment of the telescopic tubes being carefully monitored. Similarly buckling tests are a vital part of the test regime and ensure each cylinder design is able to accommodate the loads it is expected to encounter in the field without sudden catastrophic failure.

Tipper trucks operate in a rough world, so Edbro has devised an impulse rig which monitors each design’s ability to withstand sudden impacts, pressure surges and similar shock loads.

The ultimate test is over-pressure testing.

Edbro will not pass a cylinder unless it has proven its ability to withstand up to 500bar for an extended period without failing. It is unlikely that a tipper cylinder will ever be subjected to such a pressure overload during its working life, but Edbro cylinders offer the comfort of knowing that – if necessary – they can.

this process the cylinder is pressurised to 150 per cent of its working pressure, to ensure that it is operating with significant safety margin.

However, there are a number of further tests, every one of which has to be passed with flying colours. Every seal and valve is visually checked for oil leaks, while pressure decay (would also be a sign of leakage) is also monitored. Every component is individually checked for quality; telescopic sections are minutely inspected for surface blemishes, marks and imperfections – not even the paintwork escapes the eagle eyes of the Edbro inspectors.

Setting the standard

All this may seem like Edbro take testing to an extreme level, but we aim to be the benchmark for long- term reliability. Cylinders that fail will almost always do so when they are tipping out a load. The load will be extremely heavy so a cylinder failure could lead to the tipping trailer collapsing back down onto the bed of the truck and causing untold damage and risking serious injury to the operator and nearby pedestrians.

In the hectic world of tipper operations, it is all too easy to assume that quality, reliability, en-durance and safety are built into every part of every vehicle. Edbro’s insistence on testing to supreme levels means its cylinders can be relied upon to work faultlessly no matter how long or how hard their working life. www.jost-world.com

Tipper, fitted with Edbro lifting cylinder, in action.

Testing throughout production

With the design proven, Edbro continues testing on the production line. The basic test is a functional one, making sure each cylinder extends and contracts smoothly over its full length, time and time again. During

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The aftermath of the Beirut blast earlier this year.

LIGHTING A FUSE ON

BY UNPACKING THE EVENTS THAT LED TO THE DREADFUL BEIRUT BLAST, AND EXPLORING HOW OTHER GOVERNMENTS AND INDUSTRY BODIES ARE IMPROVING THE SAFETY OF THE DANGEROUS GOODS SUPPLY CHAIN, THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY CAN PLAY ITS PART IN PREVENTING SUCH TERRIBLE HISTORY FROM REPEATING ITSELF.

I

t took a disastrous ammonium nitrate detonation in Beirut, Lebanon, to remind the world of the importance of handling and storing Dangerous Goods (DG). This unfortunate incident levelled sections of the Lebanese capital city and amounted to 190 fatalities and more than 6,000 wounded. According to specialists at the UK University of Sheffield, the blast had about one tenth of the explosive power of the atomic bomb that dropped on Hiroshima during World War Two. The Lebanese Prime Minister confirmed that these explosions were caused by an estimated 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate left unsecured for six years in a port warehouse.

That large quantity of the chemical arrived in Beirut in September 2013 via the Rhosus, a sea vessel that sailed from Batumi in Georgia to Mozambique and was impounded by Beirut’s Port State Control due to severe safety issues (a hole in the ship’s hull). The ship was subsequently abandoned by its owner,

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a Russian businessman, Igor Grechushkin.

According to various mainstream media sources Grechushkin opted to dump the cargo rather than sell it. The DG lot was then packed in one-tonne bags and transferred to Beirut’s port warehouse.

Herein lies the flaws of Lebanon’s DG supply chain. Other parts of the world like Australia would refer to this as a failure of the Chain of Responsibility (CoR). The aim of CoR, according to Australia’s National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR), is to make sure that everyone in the supply chain shares responsibility to ensure breaches do not occur.

Editorial credit: Alex Gakos / Shutterstock.com

SPECIAL REPORT

SAFETY Under these laws, at least in Australia, if you are named a third party in the CoR and you exercise (or have the power of exercising) control or influence over any transport task, you have a responsibility to ensure the law (in this instance: Heavy Vehicle National Law) is complied with.

A customs chief in Beirut, Badri Daher, told international media that his agency pleaded with Lebanese courts and high officials to order the DG to be removed. It is reported that letters from customs officials from 2014 to 2017 that proposed options to remove, export or sell the dangerous cargo were ignored by the Lebanese judiciary.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Supreme Defence Council has vowed that those found responsible will face punishment.

Economy Minister Raoul Nehme told the

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that the state does not intend to stay silent on who is responsible for what, emphasising that those found responsible will be rendered the “maximum punishment” possible.

Information Minister, Manal Abdel Samad, said that all port officials who have handled the affairs of storing the ammonium nitrate such as guarding it and handling paperwork are subject to house arrest.

Investigations into the Beirut tragedy at the time of writing are ongoing.

DG safety in Australia is considered a top priority.

A webinar hosted by National Bulk Tanker Association (NBTA) earlier this year outlined the results of a study on

FAST FACT The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator in Australia reported in July this year that about 35 per cent of road tankers that comply with the Regulator’s PerformanceBased Standards (PBS) high productivity scheme are spec’d to carry dangerous goods.

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Governments, industry bodies and manufacturers around the world are taking a closer look at how they can improve dangerous goods supply chains.

FAST FACT China is set to reinforce the safety of transporting Dangerous Goods (DG) by focusing on the rectification of violations such as addressing non-compliant tankers carrying liquid DG. CIMC Group is working towards stimulating the replacement of non-compliant vehicles across China’s semi-trailer market.

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DG movements in New South Wales, Australia.

The aim of the study, predicated on data taken from the fleets of a number of tanker operators, was to plan for future infrastructure needs of the DG tanker sector.

One of the key issues identified in the study was the steady proliferation of tunnels in the NSW road network through which DG vehicles are prohibited to travel. The issue here is that the alternative routes that DG vehicles are required to use may not necessarily be upgraded to the required standards for said vehicles because they are not considered to be primary arterial roads anymore.

Transport Certification Australia (TCA) Strategic Development Officer, John Gordon, started by thanking the companies who had participated in the study and acknowledging that the TCA had received really good engagement from the DG industry.

“We had 152 vehicles which provided 12 months of data equating to millions of records of trips all over Australia,” said Gordon. “We’ve handed this data to the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB), and made sure the data we’ve received is handled securely, de-identified and aggregated data is all that is being used in the study.”

Gordon said each of the vehicles engaged in the study averaged close to 3,000 hours travelling time adding up to almost 450,000 hours of vehicle movements overall, making it a robust amount of data from which to draw conclusions.

“One of the key findings was just how far these vehicles travel – all over Australia – and the fact that NSW is very clearly a major hub for the national DG tanker operations.

“The interconnectivity of this operation is very critical for us to understand and we were also able to see the regionality of it with some of the national highways seeing upwards of 100,000 vehicle movements per year,” he said.

Gordon described a couple of critical learnings that the TCA had gained from the exercise.

“The willingness of industry to share data under the right consent arrangements was very pleasing and most of the data was very usable,” said Gordon.

SPECIAL REPORT

He added that the TCA was also planning to do detailed analysis of other precincts including ports and rail hubs.

Overall, a primary goal of the DG road tanker study is to elevate the findings to a ministerial level to ensure road infrastructure decision makers have an accurate and upto-date record of DG vehicle movements in NSW. This is expected to assist in the development of appropriate infrastructure on DG routes, particularly those which were formerly major arterials that have been supplanted by routes with tunnels which cannot be used by DG vehicles.

For additional context, Transport for NSW (TfNSW) commissioned the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) to undertake a DG movement study in September 2019. The aim of that project was to determine where DG are being transported by road in NSW, with a focus on the Sydney metropolitan region, in order to identify and protect DG routes.

The study has encompassed the transportation of bulk tanked flammable gas, flammable liquid and chemicals, with the use of telematics data to identify movements.

Transport Certification Australia (TCA)

undertook the analysis in a de-identified and aggregated manner to ensure the privacy of participants.

Four industry associations – Road Freight NSW, National Bulk Tanker Association, Gas Energy Australia and National Road Transport Association – participated in the project.

According to Formula Chemicals Director and Road Freight NSW Chairman Leigh Smart a total of 152 DG tanker operators took part in the study by allowing TCA to access and collate their telematics data.

“This provided a broad representation of the industry and presented valuable evidence-based insights into the various types of DG movements in NSW, and particularly around the Sydney basin,” said Smart.

“The information will be collated and analysed for the preparation of the final Report.”

Smart said TCA will be in contact with the individual companies that took part in the study to supply the results of the analysis undertaken for their own in-house use.

“In Formula’s case, it was found that over a 12-month period there were over 22,000 DG movements throughout NSW,” said Smart.

“The information provided has helped in streamlining our operations and to limit the number of DG movements and duplications in some areas.

“It is proposed that an industry consultation workshop will be undertaken at the completion of the project where the outcome of the study will be presented.

“I would like to thank everyone who was involved in the project for their support as the outcome will assist TfNSW in identifying and implementing strategies to protect and improve DG routes,” he said.

It is imperative that all participants of the DG supply chains do their due diligence at all times to ensure safe outcomes for everyone. www.globaltrailermag.com

The consequences of neglecting the storage of dangerous goods can be extremely severe.

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WORLD EVENTS

TRUCK TRAILER AND TYRE EXPO 2020

5-7 NOVEMBER

CIDCO Exhibition and Convention Center Mumbai, India The Truck Trailer and Tyre Expo (TTT) has been connecting all the stakeholders in the Indian automobile sector including manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, OEMs and members of the Allied Industry and stand as a meeting platform between the international community and the Indian Automobile stakeholders to meet each other and establish business communication. The event aims to bring together the industry players for mutual benefits and eventually bring a developing change to the industry over the period of time.

AGROTECH 2020 FAIR

6-8 NOVEMBER Poland Agrotech at Targi Kielce is the largest agricultural technology exhibition in Poland. The International Agricultural Technology Fair is also the largest exhibition in the country among all industries. The numbers speak for themselves: record area in 2019 - over 66,000 square metres and over 75,000 visitors. A comprehensive, international exhibition and over 750 exhibitors from 21 countries of the world is another advantage of the Agrotech fair in Kielce according to Grzegorz Figarski, Project Director. www.targikielce.pl/en/agrotech

www.trucktrailerntyreexpo.com

INTERMODAL ASIA 2021

16-18 MARCH Shanghai, China The Intermodal Asia exhibition and conference will bring together the leading international decision-makers from over 90 different countries, from all areas of container transport and logistics, making it the most important industry annual meeting point in Asia according to the event organisers. www.intermodal-asia.com

TRANSPORT SCANDINAVIA 2021

1 5 - 17 A P R I L Herning, Denmark Transport 2021 is an inspiring fair for all those with roots in the transport industry. This is the place to find new vehicles, new equipment, new services and new ideas. The Transport trade fair was launched in 1988. Since then more than 450,000 professionals from the transport industry have attended the event. www.transport-messen.dk

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KEEP A LOOK OUT Elmia Lastbil 2021 2-5 June Jönköping, Sweden www.elmia.se/en/lastbil

I N N OTRAN S 2 02 1

27-3 0 APR I L Berlin Exhibition Grounds Berlin, Germany InnoTrans is an international trade fair for transport technology and takes places every two years in Berlin. Subdivided into the five trade fair segments Railway Technology, Railway Infrastructure, Public Transport, Interiors and Tunnel Construction, InnoTrans occupies all 41 halls available at Berlin Exhibition Grounds. The InnoTrans Convention, the event’s top-level supporting program complements the trade fair.

Transport Logistic China 2022 15-17 June Shanghai, China www.transportlogistic-china.com Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology Symposium 16 TBC China www.road-transport-technology.org/ conferences/china-2020

www.innotrans.com

TRANSPORT LOGISTIC 2021

4-7 MAY

Messe München Munich, Germany One of the leading transport and logistics events in Germany, Munich’s aptly named Transport Logistic show saw more than 2,374 exhibitors and some 64,000 from 125 visitors from 125 countries and regions in 2019. www.transportlogistic.de

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M E GATR E N D S

DOWN

DAKOTA WAY ROAD TRAIN ACCESS IN THE US IS EXPECTED TO EXPAND.

L

egislators in North Dakota are expected to back a repeal of length and weight restrictions on truck and trailer combinations. This would be one step closer to seeing road trains operate on US roads in that region.

Moving forward with a pilot program first touted last year could become a distinct reality by as early as November as lawmakers look for solutions to meet a growing freight and oil task amid an alarming driver shortage.

Senate bill 2176, originally put forward by Republican Senator, Larry Luick, and passed in April, 2019, stated ‘North Dakota may be the optimum low population state to study this issue’.

Luick has been a vocal proponent of trialling Australian style multi-combination road trains involving a heavy duty rig pulling up to three or four trailers at a time.

“The restrictions on drivers, the capabilities of the work force, acquiring people that maybe shouldn’t be allowed in the trucks themselves are driving that number and the problem is increasing,” he said.

Resurgent interstate commerce following freight movements affected by Covid-19 have given lawmakers hope that transportation demands will also rise.

A road train pilot program can be sought from the Governor Doug Burgum by executive order should Minot Senator Oley Larsen follow through with the bill.

“There is absolutely the authority for the Governor to make changes, and nothing seems to be ruining the roads by us following the current truck trains we’re doing now,” said Larsen.

On 24 March, Burgum lifted load restrictions on state highways declared under public health emergency for Covid-19. The order was subject to the provision that no state highway was negatively impacted or no public safety risk was determined.

Under the proposed pilot program, the North Dakota Department of Transportation and North Dakota Highway Patrol would be responsible for

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managing new mass and length limits on the new truck combinations which would run empty during initial evaluations.

Operations might also be restricted to reduced traffic periods like the early morning and police would be empowered to remove road trains from the road during inclement weather or permitted to provide special escort.

Legislators are also looking for cooperation from Minnesota and South Dakota, neighbouring states whose by and large flat topography is considered safer for evaluating a regional pilot program which would shift the road trains from rural roads to interstate highways.

A state assembly vote would need to be rubberstamped before it can be passed as legislation in Washington.

“We have an opportunity to not only move freight more efficiently here, but also safer, and also cleaner for the environment,” said Luick. “I think if we give industry a little bit of leeway as far as encouragement to do something more, they will take it upon themselves to figure out the efficiencies.”

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ON THE QUEST TO BECOMING THE FIRST TRULY GLOBAL ORGANISATION IN THE HISTORY OF TRAILER MANUFACTURING, CIMC VEHICLES HAS LEARNED THAT STAYING TRUE TO A GRAND VISION DOESN’T PRECLUDE STRATEGIC FLEXIBILITY.

PERSE VERANCE D [Story & Interview by Sebastian Grote]

avid Li, General Manager of CIMC Vehicles, the trailer building arm of China’s International Marine Container (CIMC) Group, isn’t quite what you’d expect of a man who has built a €1.93 billion industrial empire from the bottom up.

Distinctly humble in his bearing and refreshingly unpolished in his language, the industry veteran is enveloped in an aura of authenticity and adventure that is much more Silicon Valley than Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (the official jargon for a giant business incubation area the Chinese government has set up across the bay from Hong Kong to help local businesses connect more easily with the western world).

As such, there is nothing imperious about Li laying out his plan to build the world’s first international trailer building company – only genuine excitement in an idea so captivatingly grand that it would arguably suit an intrepid start-up more than an asset-rich manufacturing firm operating FAST FACT in a time of extreme economic volatility.

CIMC Vehicles’ US subsidiary, Understanding the phenomenon that is Vanguard, is currently finalising CIMC Vehicles is therefore not so much a construction of a second factory in question of mapping out the business itself Trenton, Georgia. The €32 million as it is one of getting to know the man manufacturing plant will eventually employ 400 people and produce behind it – a scenario akin to US start-up 10,000 semi-trailers annually.

Tesla, which is largely dependent on the

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MIND

A KEY TALKING POINT OF THE 2014 IAA COMMERCIAL VEHICLE SHOW, THE BRUISED RUSSIAN ECONOMY HAS FAILED TO TURN ITSELF AROUND IN TIME FOR THE NEXT EDITION OF THE ICONIC EVENT. WILL IT STILL CONTINUE TO OWN THE CONVERSATION, THOUGH? [ Story by Sebastian Grote ]

M

uddling through the longest recession since the turn of the century, Russia has racked up a sizeable budget deficit and is on track for yet another year of negative growth. Meanwhile, the prospect of fiscal relief is growing distant, with oil in a bear market after closing below $40 a barrel in August – theoretically making for a highly dramatic narrative in the lead-up to the largest transport industry gathering on the planet.

But if you ask Denis Krivtsov, head of Russian OEM, Tonar, the country’s fragile economic state doesn’t necessarily mean it will become as prominent a topic as it was in 2014, when the Ukraine conflict and the annexation of Crimea were still fresh in mind and the European Union (EU) put an abrupt hold on west-east trade.

According to Krivtsov, much of the western trailer community has since found

new growth potential in the heart of Europe and the still-sprawling east of the continent, leaving Russian businesses alone in dealing with what could be the most severe market slowdown in a decade or two. As a result, he says it is now up to the domestic transport equipment community to consolidate ahead of the parliamentary election in mid-September, which is hoped to give the battered economy a much-needed boost.

“The Russian economy hasn’t really improved much since the last instalment of IAA. In fact, many local businesses have since folded as they simply refused to learn from the last crisis,” he explains – pointing to the EU’s recent decision to prolong economic sanctions against Russia until 31 January 2017.

In August 2016, the Financial Times publically wondered whether Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was intending to drive everyone else in US retail crazy. The reason: Bezos is on a mission to re-define the classic concept of retail logistics. Instead of outsourcing the whole process, he set up a complex in-house transport network that has been aggressively expanding its reach, capabilities and capacity in the logistics and distribution arena over the past year or so. As part of the process, the Seattlebased company is now operating thousands of trailers emblazoned with Amazon’s logos acrosss North America. In Europe, Amazon is expanding rapidly as well, potentially making it a key talking point of the next IAA.

PEOPLE TO WATCH

THE

HUMAN

ELEMENT ALBEIT A SUBSTANTIAL BUSINESS EXPENSE, VISITING A TRADE SHOW LIKE IAA IS A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO MEET SOME OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN COMMERCIAL ROAD TRANSPORT IN THE FLESH – A KEY ADVANTAGE IN THE DIGITAL AGE. [ Story by Sebastian Grote ]

F

rom wireless connectivity to electric mobility, the digital world is slowly infiltrating every aspect of commercial road transport. Yet although high technology is expected to dominate the conversation at this year’s IAA Commercial Vehicle Show in Germany (see page 52), it will be people that ultimately set the narrative. In fact, there is a distinct irony to the rise of technology in the manufacturing, according to best-selling US author, Daniel Pink, who has found that forging personal relationships is becoming ever more important as skill-sets evolve and demand more cognitive proficiency.

So-called ‘thought jobs’, as Pink puts it, require a higher level of creativity, problem-solving prowess and out-of-the-box thinking, meaning that in order for a business to be successful, leveraging the unique human element behind each employee is key.

FAST FACT According to Russian Economy Development Minister, Aleksey Ulyukaev, the country’s economy is set to grow in the near future, as “the situation in the real sector of economy is improving and the dynamics of industrial production are positive”.

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As such, he says fostering personal relationships in real life, for example in the context of a trade show, will ultimately help businesses become more profitable.

In line with Pink’s assumption, Global Trailer has selected ten prominent individuals that have the potential to put their mark on the 2016 edition of the largest global transport industry gathering – either by attending it or as the subject of intense discussion. www.globaltrailermag.com

ALEXANDER DOBRINDT, GERMAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Germany’s Federal Minister for Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Alexander Dobrindt, is slated to officially open the 66th IAA Commercial Vehicle Show in Hanover.

Dobrindt recently made headlines in Germany when he proposed self-driving vehicles in Germany should be fitted with a black box that is able to record specific details of an accident, much like in the aviation industry. According to newswire, Reuters, his proposal would require drivers to stay seated in front of the steering wheel, even tough they may not have to pay attention to traffic or actually steer. Despite that cautionary measure, Dobrindt approved six German cities – Hamburg, Munich, Ingolstadt, Düsseldorf, Dresden and Braunschweig – to become testing grounds for self-driving vehicles as part of a US$89 million (€80 million) project.

İIFFET TÜRKEN, KÄSSBOHRER As the Executive Board Member responsible for Business Development at German OEM Kässbohrer – which is part of the Tirsan Group, the largest trailer manufacturing company in Turkey – Türken is considered one of the most influential personalities in European trailer building, and one of the most powerful women in the global transport equipment industry. The now 44-year-old joined the Tirsan Group in 1996 after graduating from Bogaziçi University in Istanbul and has since been stirring up Europe’s trailer building landscape – helping establish the Kässbohrer brand amongst the top ten in Europe.

PETER SIJS, TIP TRAILER SERVICES Overseeing the procurement processes for a 71,000-unit strong fleet that covers some five billion kilometres every year, Sijs, Services and Sourcing Operations Leader Europe at TIP Trailer Services, is considered one of the most influential people in Europe’s transport equipment industry. Having to replace up to 15,000 trailers annually, TIP Trailer Services spends an average of €30 million per year on parts alone – prompting Sijs to work closely with component suppliers and OEMs to leverage the latest in technology and develop new strategies to create competitive advantages. Most recently, he collaborated with German braking specialist Knorr-Bremse on the development of the company’s awardwinning iTAP system with FleetRemote functionality.

W W W. G LO BALT R AI L E R M AG. C O M / G L O B A L TR A I L E R / 5 9

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