The city of ‘s-Heerenberg sits in the flat fields of the Netherlands’ far east, bordering Germany and providing easy access to major road freight routes which keep the European economy moving ahead. It is also home to a well-known name in New Zealand and Australian transport – Mainfreight.
The distinctive blue Mainfreight logo, in large, bold lettering, adorns the series of warehouses spread across the local landscape, heralding a parade of similarly logoed trucks, hauling trailers to and from the expansive logistics hub.
Background
The Mainfreight story is emblematic of its home nation, New Zealand; punching above its weight. Established in Auckland, New Zealand 1978, Mainfreight expanded its operations into Australia in 1989. This was followed by its public listing on the New Zealand stock exchange in 1996 and a push into the US and Asian markets, kicking off in 1999 and reaching its pinnacle in 2007.
The Mainfreight Group now offers logistics solutions across ocean and air freight, road transport and warehousing, on a global basis, utilising 300 branches in 27 countries, with 11,000 team members. The freighter’s big step into the European freight industry came with the purchase of the Wim Bosman Group in 2011. This Belgian/Dutch group ran a large logistics operation across Europe, which Mainfreight readily leveraged as the foundation to develop its current continent-wide operations.
The operation in Europe has five cross docks in Belgium and the Netherlands, with additional docks in France, Poland, Romania and the UK. The ’s-Heerenberg facility runs 275 trucks, but the fleet total in Europe is now over 400 company-owned trucks and the Mainfreight fleet utilises well over 500 drivers to keep the wheels turning.
Although the New Zealand and Australian operations generally utilise owner drivers in Mainfreight-liveried trucks, its focus in Europe has been to use employed drivers in a company owned fleet.
This came about when Mainfreight made its first foray into Europe with the acquisition of the Bosman Group, which primarily used employee drivers – common in the European freight logistics sector.
Crossing Borders
A major issue affecting Mainfreight’s European operation is that of international border crossings. Although the EU does aim towards a commonality of regulations across member states, there are many legal requirements to be addressed each time a truck crosses a border.
“Here in the Netherlands, our semi-trailers are allowed to weigh 50 tonnes, but three kilometres from here, across the German border it’s 40 tonnes. In Belgium, it’s 44 tonnes, in Austria, it’s 38 tonnes,” explains Mainfreight Europe CEO, Ben Fitts.
“We have to carefully plan, even if you’re passing through a country as you’re going from the Netherlands through to one of our Romanian branches, for example. You have to load it to the most difficult legislation.
“Then there is other legislation in Europe around cabotage. A foreign truck driver can pick up an international load outside their own country and deliver it in that same country, but they can only do that three times, then they have to do an international load, after seven days.
“So, when a truck is coming from Poland, with goods here in the Netherlands, often it fits better if it then takes a domestic load. Otherwise, there’s too much waiting time for the truck if they have to wait until the next evening for their departure to Poland.”
Mainfreight’s solution? On that same day, they use the truck for domestic run or another international trip.
“You have to keep the time standing still for a truck as low as possible, keeping productivity as high as possible,” says Ben.
European Operations
Ben sees a major difference between operating a freight business in Europe compared to Australia and New Zealand is the use of technology, particularly drivers’ travel times.
Since 2006, the company has been dealing with digital tachographs, which have been progressively updated over the years.
“This means that the truck driver here in Europe is controlled and restricted; there is no logbook,” says Ben.
“If you’ve driven four and a half hours, but actually it was four hours and 35 minutes, it’s marked as that by your tachograph, on your personal card.
“This could mean a penalty up to 90 days after it occurs, the data stays on the card for 90 days.”
For Mainfreight Europe, these strict safety-oriented rules mean a decrease in the trucks’ productivity, as the drivers have to be aware of the requirement to find a suitable location to stop and rest.
“It can be difficult to manage, because we have many large retail customers, with time slot bookings, and tight windows within which to deliver. If you’re not on time, you have to rebook and this can cause additional inefficiencies,” Ben explains.
Operating in several countries and locations can be a logistics jigsaw puzzle.
Mainfreight Europe has a domestic fleet based in the Netherlands with Dutch truck registrations, which drive domestically and internationally. It’s a similar set up out of the Belgian branch. There is also a fleet based in Poland with Polish licence plates, with a local Polish team of drivers, that are mainly focused on international trips. Trucks depart from the cross-dock facilities, and run line haul to different parts of Europe, with international loads.
The ‘s-Heerenberg facility is a base for Mainfreight drivers to sleep and refresh. There is also a Romanian branch, with trucks registered in Romania and a Romanian driver team.
These are running line haul between Romania and the Netherlands, Belgium and France, but also all over Europe. Drivers coming in from Poland and Romania are on a three-week-on, one-week-off roster. Using this system, four drivers share three trucks, which works well for the company’s Eastern European drivers, who primarily complete international runs.
Dealing with differing international requirements can cause issues, particularly with drivers’ wages differing in each country. If a truck is driving through Germany, the operating company must pay wages which are in line with the German wage law. This has to be factored into the equation when the teams are pricing.
“It’s quite a complex calculation to figure out exactly what it’s going to cost and what to pay the driver,” says Ben. “Perhaps he was 18 hours in France, and then 10 hours in Germany each with different wage legislation.
“It’s a form of protection for the transport companies in the countries where the wages are higher, especially places like Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium.”
The right fit
With its drivers traversing many countries around the EU, Mainfreight Europe needs to ensure it hires the right people for such long trips.
“A lot of effort goes into recruiting the right drivers,” says Ben. “We’re proud of our driver team. They’re our ambassadors on the road and part of the family. When you see our fleet, it’s a modern fleet, it’s well maintained.
“They are on their own for a lot of their working day, but they’re still very much part of the wider team. In the Netherlands, as an example, it’s not easy at all to recruit, but we don’t have a high turnover of drivers.
“We have a lot of ‘Legends’ – 20 years, 30 years, 40 years driving. We have even had two 50-year legends. That would be from the previous company, of course.
“You’ll start off with a young driver, and they might come out of school, and through our driver academy. They might start driving a van, and they’ll get the appropriate licence to move on to a bigger truck after that. Eventually, if they have ambition to drive internationally, they’ll work their way up to that.”
Mainfreight Europe’s operations in ’s-Heerenberg has more than 10 per cent of the drivers are female, while the average in the rest of the Netherlands is below two per cent. Ben puts this down to the company’s culture.
“We are more accommodating with flexible working hours that match with home commitments,” he says. “And they tend to be very good, careful and courteous. The job is now less physically demanding which helps.”
With a large driver base and constantly moving trucks, Mainfreight Europe is able to build on this employee flexibility. For example, it has many truck drivers who only want to work four days a week. This means on the fifth working day, the truck can have a driver who works only two days a week.
“Those people on two days a week are some of our best drivers,” says Ben. “We have an award for the Driver of the Year, and we’ve had three female driver winners.
“It’s all about fuel economy, accidents, no damage, no complaints and feedback from our planning team, or customers.”
The fleet also relies upon a workshop of 15 team members, which is complemented by nine employees working on the recruitment and retention of drivers, who are tasked with meeting complex EU rules relating to training, and keeping the drivers’ licences up to date and compliant. With a large contingent of international drivers, understandably communication is also a major issue to address.
The company’s default, or common, language is English, particularly where team members don’t speak the same language. However, every truck in the fleet has an onboard computer that will translate text messages from the driver’s native language, say Polish, to the native language of the fleet dispatcher, for example Dutch.
In addition, Mainfreight’s transport management system sees all depots connected with all of its trucks, via telematics. This way any driver can easily see and access all their logged jobs for each day, via a tablet, or onboard computer. Jobs are also tracked and completed using the same system.
Truck Specifications
When it comes to updating its fleet, or buying new vehicles or equipment, Mainfreight is proactive in obtaining driver feedback on specifications. For a fleet this size it is important to try to build in as much versatility as possible, as seen by its acquisition of a sliding trailer roof to accommodate crane loading.
The majority of Mainfreight Europe’s trailer fleet – some 90 per cent – is from one brand, with the company using two major truck brands – DAF and MAN. Concentrating on one major brand means it is able to carry out a lot of the parts repairs and replacement, damage repair and painting in its own workshop at the ‘s-Heerenberg facility.
As a result, about 60 to 70 per cent of the fleet can be serviced at the main base. Its onsite mechanics get comprehensive training from DAF and MAN, while Mainfreight utilise the on-board diagnostics to organise maintenance and ensure spare parts are available.
High Tech Storage
The use of technology and telematics is embedded in Mainfreight’s core activities – not just for drivers. Its warehousing team employs an inventory reconciliation robot, which can roam in a 52,000-square-metre warehouse, so that each night it will go through every aisle and perform an inventory reconciliation.
The robot uses a telescopic boom with multiple cameras, to go along the aisles and photograph each of the barcodes on the pallets to record and reconcile the inventory each day. The collected data is transferred to the inventory management system, where any mismatches are highlighted and reported to the relevant team for action. The system can go one step further, calculating which are the fast-moving and slow-moving products.
Mainfreight is trialling new software that helps to optimise routes when selecting and collating orders in the warehouse, so as to reduce walk times and enhance accuracy and productivity. Another early-stage trial innovation is the use of augmented reality glasses, where a warehouse team can scroll through large amounts of inventory data using the glasses.
Towards Sustainability
Ben says Mainfreight has acknowledged the importance of sustainability in its business, spurred on by its corporate customers’ own needs.
“They look to us for the part that we play on that. Sustainability is important to Mainfreight and always has been,” he says.
“Now we help our customers to understand the impact of using Mainfreight is having on their supply chain, in terms of carbon emissions. For example, one of our customers could say, ‘how do we know that we are becoming more efficient and we’re burning less carbon?’ “Whether it’s moving by ocean freight, air freight, or on the road around Europe, or even using the barge network (which is an important part of European distribution), we can show them exactly how much carbon has been emitted through the course of that freight movement, and that’s available online via our web portal.
“We take that information and report it back to our customers and then sit with the customer and to figure out ways to bring efficiency into that supply chain.”
There are some intermediate steps available to Mainfreight before going to entirely zero emissions, like the use of HVO (hydro treated vegetable oil), which is a key point raised by its customer base. Ben Fitts said the company’s transition to zero emissions is an inevitable and staged process.
“It will happen, but at this time it’s quite expensive, European truck manufacturers, from this year on, can only produce trucks with 15 per cent lower CO2 emissions,” says Ben. “There’s a high penalty, and one manufacturer already makes the electric truck cheaper to stimulate you to buy one.
“If you want to buy a 16-litre 670hp engine with a lot of CO2 emissions, you pay a penalty, right with it.
“The prices will go up in the next few years, from 15 per cent it will grow until it’s at 40 per cent or 50 per cent, so you are forced to go to zero. They will be driving it into the fleet, whether you like it or not.”
Mainfreight is all too aware that a rise of 10 or 20 cents a litre for diesel will be a major impetus towards vehicle electrification, which will be amplified in places like the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, facing hikes in toll rates from August 2026.
Conversely, zero emission trucks have a zero road toll and Mainfreight knows it has got to be prepared for that. Like many fleet operators, Mainfreight Europe needs to consider the use of HVO, which is mixed into diesel in depot fuel tanks.
As a result, it runs it on every truck. HVO levels are below five per cent but the levels are rising and new customers are asking for more. The price difference between the current diesel and HVO is between 25 and 45 cents per litre, but customers are now willing to pay more.
“We started working with electric trucks three years ago, with two trucks,” says Ben. “We bought two distribution trucks, and last year we bought two prime movers, one for line haul and one is doing port operations, carting containers between the barge terminals here.
“When you look at the technology from three years ago, with the Volvo and now the MAN this year, you see how it’s moving very fast. There’s a big improvement and, on the shorter journeys, you will be able to substitute with electric relatively easily, but it’s those longer distances which are going to be difficult.”
Ben says there is an issue using electric vehicles on the shorter (300 kilometres or less) domestic runs, which account for 75 per cent of the trips.
“The problem is the electricity grid, and, of course, the price of the trucks. We could have 70 per cent of our domestic trucks being electric. However, then we have the grid problem,” he explains.
There is also the logistics issue of equipping each of its facilities with electric charging capabilities. A survey of its facilities revealed potential deficiencies of power supply capacity, with its main Dutch site not having enough capacity to run most of its distribution trucks on electric.
“There’s a few things we can do in the interim, but it’s a challenge to get enough electricity at certain times of the day,” says Ben. “We are working with the electric power providers to understand when their high usage periods are and when they’re not.
“We can be a bit flexible, about when we actually are drawing down electricity. It might be that there’s very little electricity available to us between five and eight o’clock at night, when everyone’s coming home, cooking and turning the TV on and whatever else, the heavy power electricity usage period.
“So that’s not a good time for us to be charging an electric truck. However, between nine and one o’clock in the morning, there’s enough electricity available for us to be able to do it.”
However, there is the prospect of possible light at the end of the tunnel for the company, with a new development for the area slated to be built by 2032.
Looking Forward
While the Mainfreight-liveried trucks are a common sight in the Netherlands or Belgium, Mainfreight reckons it is only really just getting started in Europe’s massive transport landscape. While those two countries are seen as lucrative markets, Ben sees growth coming from moving further into other areas, like the UK, France, Poland and Romania.
As one of the bigger players in Europe, Mainfreight Europe is taking advantage of its well-established footprint, purchasing smaller family-owned companies that are finding it prohibitive to invest in electric vehicles or other alternative power.
“We purchased a company to get started in 2011,” says Ben. “We’ve grown on our own since, and that’s how we’ve done it all around the world, as Mainfreight.
“Our culture is really important to us, and by purchasing other companies, you risk diluting that culture.
“Acquisitions can bring in added complexities, so our preference is to perform well for our customers, look after our team and if we do that, we’ll keep growing.
“The UK is probably quite a good example, where we had nothing at all in the UK at the start of 2016. Then we opened our first office handling freight coming in and out of the network from around the world.
“Since that point, we’ve opened two further air and ocean offices. We’ve just got our second warehouse there, and we now have a transport business starting. That’s our organic growth model.”
Ben proudly declares that Mainfreight’s success in the fiercely competitive European market comes down to culture, drawing on its original New Zealand roots.
“There’s a few things, certainly our culture – bottom up with the team making decisions. We promote from within so there’s an exciting and fulfilling career for those that seek it,” Ben says.
“We’re a big business, but we operate, in a lot of ways, like a family business, the team feel like they’re a part of something exciting.”
That approach, Ben says, helps Mainfreight when dealing with customers, who appreciate a personal approach, as well as in its daily operations. “We have good people in senior roles that have come through the business and can hold a conversation with a customer. They’re familiar with the operations because they’ve come through it. That’s really pretty powerful.”
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