Here’s something you’ll never see downtown, let alone downcity. A 50 tonnes bulk feed hauler, the king of the backroads. When speaking big rigs, anyway. Traveling between the feed mill -its homebase- and livestock farms. Just rolling along, yet frequently twisting, turning, and reversing. Often driven by experienced, senior drivers, both age- and driving skills-wise.
In the lead, a 2023 DAF XF 430 FT 4×2 tractor, powered by the 12.9 liter MX-13 engine (PACCAR’s biggest in-house turbodiesel).
Conventional door mirrors, combined with DAF’s Corner View camera/display system, making both the curb mirror and front view mirror obsolete.
A few weeks ago I posted this DAF XD, the manufacturer’s regional delivery truck and tractor. Exactly the same design language, yet the XF is clearly of a higher rank, quite literally. Also, the XD is not available with the big MX-13 power unit.
Coupled to the DAF is a 2014 Welgro (the Wellink family from Groenlo, NL), pneumatic discharge semi-trailer, capable of transporting around 33 tonnes (72,750 lbs) of animal feed.
Both the second and third axle counter steer when the tractor makes a turn. You can see the long push-and-pull rods of the mechanical steering system, guided by the tractor’s fifth wheel coupling, above the semi-trailer’s fenders.
Multiple pictures of classic Welgro bulk feed bodies and trailers can be found on their website, I picked a few.
Back to the beginning, the sixties. The Unimog is perfectly capable of towing the bulk feed trailer and carrying bagged feed (my guess, given the tarpaulin cover). After all, it was designed as an agricultural all-rounder.
From the late sixties I’d say, a then brand new ‘Frog DAF’ A1900. In those days, a straight 4×2 truck was big enough to fill the silos at the farms.
These arrived a decade later, yet they were only used by large feed mills. A 4×2 tractor, towing two identical, single axle semi-trailers. The leader of the pack is a Volvo F10/F12, introduced in 1977 as the F88/F89-series’ successor.
Nowadays, such doubles are non-existent in the Netherlands. Tandem and tridem axle bulk feed semi-trailers have taken over the whole market, with Welgro in the role of dominator.
The current state of affairs. On the road, at the farm and in the factory.
Related article (featuring a similar rig, with a bulk load of detail pictures):
CC Global: Volvo And Welgro – How Animal Feed Is Hauled From The Mill To The Farm
Nice truck but 430hp @50 Tonne ? It would struggle with our terrain, 600+ of Cummins is well down in the gearbox @ 50 Tonne pointed up hill, my daily drive until injury put me out of the driving seat
510 & 530 DAFs do the heavy lifting over here, smaller hp versions are most commonly car transporters or other light loads,
The Netherlands are flat. And below sea level for increased oxygen density. 🙂 You can only drive so fast with the wooden clogs while looking at tulips and thinking about the ice-cold Heineken at the terminal…
Correct on all counts, yet we must not forget to mention the Swedish clogs.
I’m on my second glass of wine (time to wine down…) trying to get excited about some sheetrock/drywall work I really don’t want to do tomorrow in a rental house, so I’ll comment a bit this Sunday evening… 🙂
I know not all of them are like this, but I enjoy seeing the technology and style of the trucks you show us from Europe. Traveling the highways here for an average of about 25k miles a year these days I do look at all of the trucks much more than I used to; while there are still a few highly adorned (and generally heavily chromed) Peterbilts and Kennys, and sometimes you see a fairly loaded Freightliner Cascadia and a few Navistars, often it’s just basic white Freightliners with not even a chrome grille but a black plastic one and some very basic Volvos, i.e. the Camrys and Altimas of the hauling industry.
I’m sure they work just fine but there’s almost or actually zero passion or pride in their ownership, unlike what we see in these – bespoke paint colors, high tech lighting, mirrors/cameras, real technological progress, actual styling instead of like over here just something vaguely aerodynamic that could be anything until the grille shape defines it but usually all with panel gaps that you literally can stick a thumb (or two) through and half-assed lower and/or side skirting that isn’t any better or higher quality than a wanna-be Fast’n’Furious fan would hang on their ’99 Integra, never mind the rigs I see that are in the middle of nowhere obviously going long distances with their “trailer-tail” or other fuel-saving devices not even deployed yet the driver probably constantly complaining about fuel prices, in other words so much more seemingly possible for almost zero incremental cost….and not at all even touching on the abysmal basic safety equipment vs the rest of the road traffic that could be (but rarely is) deployed such as side under-rider bars etc.
Over here it’s usually (almost always?) mostly kind of the minimum generally and usually looks like it was done with zero care or much pride as far as the manufacturer is concerned, yet the MANs, DAFs and Volvos, Scanias, Mercedes’ etc from your side of the pond almost always are very interesting and seem to be at the forefront of what’s possible, i.e. what you’d expect to see in a truck showroom or factory display center, not literally commonly seen on the road.
I’m sure both sides of the pond’s hauling companies have costs and the bottom line as a huge (main?) proportion of their purchasing decisions, it’s just weird how it seems to be so different.
And don’t get me started on the trailers and specialist things that you often show, it’s not that I’m an expert on these things at all, yet I do believe that there is way more tech, efficiency, and productivity built into the Euro-side of things than what’s over here, especially when it comes to curtain-siders and such as compared to our main two trailers – rigid 53′ boxes and skateboard flatbeds with manually tarped loads . It all seems to be much more “What can we do” vs just “That’ll do”.
On some of our road trips, we’ve counted truck brands as a way to pass time. When doing that, we’ve gotten thoroughly sick of white Freightliner Cascadias. I often find myself with “grass is always greener” envy when reading Johannes’ posts.
I have made the same observations for some time. I have a few thoughts on them, but they may not fully explain them.
Probably the biggest explanation is that in the US, large trucking companies predominate; and these are often very large, with hundreds and thousands of tractors and who knows how many trailers. And these companies are run like most other large companies, with a brutal control of costs. Trucking has become hyper-competitive, so every penny saved makes a difference over a giant fleet.
It was quite different in the ’70s, which was the golden era for the independent trucker. The mileage fee they earned was still very healthy, and they could afford to dress up their trucks. In fact, every truck maker had very clear lines of trucks, those that appealed to independent trucker and those for fleets. Obviously the percentage of independent truckers has declined drastically, and the small ones left often just imitate the fleets, as it’s the only way to compete. There are still some exceptions, but the number of “dressed” trucks has very much declined with the reduced income that truckers generate per mile.
There are of course some local/regional specialty trucks that don’t compete in that ruthless market, and some of them still take pride in their rigs. But as these kinds of companies (think local concrete/gravel companies) all get bought out by private-equity backed large companies (think Knife River) their trucks all start to look the same.
I strongly suspect that many of the very specialized trucks Johannes has shown us are owned by owners/companies that provide a specialized service, and thus are not in the ruthless competition for freight haulage between Hamburg and Istanbul. Some may be so specialized that they effectively have no competition, or very limited, given the nature of their business and the huge capital investment required for their equipment.
America has always been a bit more rough and tumble, especially the West. It’s a reflection of the vast spaces, the relative youth of the place (in terms of White-dominated development) and other factors. In Europe, as you know, there are traditions that are reflected in well kept older buildings, public facilities, public transport, etc..
Enough already…
As to Europe, I have two observations: one is that Johannes tends to show us trucks that are local and regional Dutch companies, and they are very clearly truck-proud. I’m not a fan of stereotypes, but the Dutch do tend to be on the fastidious side; one walk or drive through a Dutch town will bear that out. It really is very different culturally than the US.
If you spend some times on the autobahns and other freeways in Europe, the typical long haul trucks are not all that glorious either. They’re just the basic COE trucks of the various brands, and yes, they do go in a bit more for flashy styling, but it’s pretty superficial. One sees long lines of these “brummies” on the autobahn, all looking pretty much the same, with the same basic EU international-approved trailer size. These special rigs that we see here are not mostly representative of typical European long haul trucking.
(third glass…) I suppose I can’t really disagree with any of that beyond the “forbidden fruit” aspect of what I see on the Autobahn and autoroutes of Western Europe, especially some of the more eastern-europe-based outfits are of course just as into the more basic rigs as what we see over here, I suppose it’s just more interesting as they are Scanias and such instead of Freightliners…And then yes the larger companies that compete on price above all else rather than being able to charge for specialization as many of the rigs featured by JD. The other aspect is of course the regulatory environment, while US-based trucking firms seem to be generally quite good about actual mandated things usually working correctly, you do still see some quite beat-looking equipment, perhaps post-deer-strike or such that is cruising around with bodywork a-flapping whereas I suppose in some parts of Western Europe that’s simply not allowed to be on the road and strictly enforced…
Still, I do enjoy seeing every large blue/white and yellow Willi Betz curtain-sider on the A5 as compared to a JBHunt white cab with white trailer or Prime Inc rig with a logo seemingly done by a fourth-grader on I-80…:-) Just look at the thing, even as a COE the aero seems so much better integrated than what is over here, even though their speeds are generally far lower that what goes out here, at least in the west. Yes I realize fuel costs way more over there but the people here seem to complain about their fuel costs more than they do over there…
Anyway, a great and interesting post as usual!
Cheers!
You’ve posted a picture of a quintessential, trans-European, 40 tonnes 12-wheeler. A 4×2 cabover tractor, that’s a Mercedes-Benz Actros, with a tridem axle curtainsider.
And indeed, the late Willi Betz is a far cry from an owner/operator:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willi_Betz
The key points specifically for NL (so national transport) are:
– 50,000 kg/110,000 lbs gross vehicle or combination weight;
– then build it as compact as possible;
– and make sure the turning radius is also as small as possible.
See the article’s bulk feed hauler and the fresh milk collector below.
Here in New England most cargo van style tractor trailers are International Freigthliner or Volvo. Because all the biggest freight haulers (Fed-ex-UPS-Schnider-XPO-Swift-OldDominon) run them, and I assume it’s a straight dollar value calculation. But I’m amazed at the variety run on other big rigs. Flatbeds, Low Boys, Tank trucks, Bulk Haulers often seem to be run by smaller companies and I see a lot of Macks, Kenworth and Peter builts as well as loaded up Volvos. Also see the occasional Western Star.
One of the weird reasons for this seems to be our proximity to major ports, we see lots of containers on trucks on the highways here and oddly the tough business enviroment meant alot of big players pulled out of running their own trucks. This has left them handling the paperwork in logistics but hiring out owner operators and small firms lots of these tend to be older rebuilt trucks with high miles that are the only way to make a profit. Also results in some questionable trucks if I see a beat up old international towing a container with Jersey plates I tend to stay away form that guy.
Johannes shows us NL is the perfectly maintained Heavy Metal Funky Trucks alternate reality to the cars in Tatra87 Japan.
Always a mind expanding experience in both parts of tbe world.