‘Blumengroßhandel’ is German for a flower wholesale business, yet this Scania’s home base is in the Netherlands. So apparently, all merchandise goes east. And with an overall length of 10.95 m (35’11”), the truck itself is also quite ‘groß’. Certainly for a 4×2 chassis.
Sleek, tight, and with a perfect fit and finish. An exemplary flower power express right there. The mother of the De Wolff brothers holding her grandchild is the personal and finishing touch.
The temperature-controlled body was made by Theo Mulder, an established name in this line of business. The cooling unit is placed on the truck’s left lower side, behind the front axle.
The Scania’s usual traveling companion is a close-coupled, 2016 Trias center-axle trailer, also with a Mulder body. The whole combination is rated at a gross weight of 37.5 tonnes (82,673 lbs).
De Wolff buys the flowers and plants at a major Dutch flower auction and then transports them to their premises nearby the Dutch-German border for further processing.
At a Dutch auction -for flowers or otherwise- the auctioneer starts with a high price, incrementally lowering the price until someone places a bid. Saves a lot of time. We’re all for it.
Related articles, other flower and plant haulers:
2021 Scania G360 6×2*4 Truck – They Don’t Make Them Like That Any Longer
2022 Scania S530 V8 And 2015 DAF XF 510 Potted Plant Movers – Wallflowers They Ain’t
Always love Scania trucks.
The sound of the V8 engine is sweetness to the ears. For me, it’s the best sounding truck.
….confirmed by an other V8-powered Scania truck at the same show:
I assume the size of the Scania is dictated by the need to support the cooling system and the necessary towing capacity. The niche of large but relatively light cargo has over the years produced some curious-looking designs. This image is of an aluminium-chassis lorry (what a truck was called in the UK) built by Jensen Motors in 1939. It was a “work-around” to avoid the 20 mph speed limit for freight vehicles over 2½ tons; lighter lorries permitted to travel up to 30 mph. That’s a 50% increase which meant each unit could deliver four loads a day instead of two or three. Originally a sidevalve Ford V8 was used, later replaced by a Perkins P6 diesel. Reynolds used these (three were built, the latter two with (petrol) four cylinder Ford power) to transport large but light (aluminium) structural components for aircraft.
Right, flowers are voluminous rather than heavy, so you make the body as big as possible and a chassis with two or three axles at most will do. Note that potted plants come with soil, so more weight.
The maximum overall length for a straight truck is 12.00 m (39’4”) here, see link to the 2021 Scania G360 at the bottom of the article (6×2*4 chassis).
That Jensen is quite the comedy, some Ealing bus after it drove through a low bridge, surely?
The UK’s regulations, back in their day, were a major producer of the odd, the weird bore/stroke hp and tax combinations being the most distortingly obvious.
Yes, the Dutch auction. Much more efficient and pragmatic. But it will never be adopted for expensive and collector items as they preclude the psychologically-motivated bidding wars that can get out of hand.
Certainly, it works fine with bulk goods. Or as a flower auctioneer says in a video: ….’otherwise we would still be auctioning flowers in the afternoon’….
Meanwhile, direct internet bidding has replaced ‘the clock’ more and more.
On a related note, the late Leslie Nielsen was too careless at the flower auction, back in the nineties…
There’s been heap of stuff from your posts, Johannes, that one just doesn’t think about when it comes to transport. But of course, flowers, which weigh about as much as a sneeze – well, compared to cast-iron ship parts, say – are also voluminous and fussy about temp, so there must be rigs to match.
Imagine, a massive rig like this to get some Forget me Nots from Holland to eastern Germany (“yes, I remember you, you came in HUGE truck, I couldn’t possibly forget”)!
The UK sees flower importers (or Dutch exporters) bringing their goods in using this sort of bulky and volume focussed truck – always impressive to see them squeeze in to a small warehouse yard.