Tour along the coast: Andreas Freiholz and his Actros 2530

Andreas has been working for the drinks wholesaler for 30 years now. His working day begins at 7 a.m. in the company yard on the edge of Eckernförde – unless you count the 30 minutes’ drive from his home in Schleswig too. More than 20 trucks are kitted out for their delivery trips. Packed pallets are there all ready. Forklift trucks do their rounds between the warehouse building and the cargo areas of the trucks.

125 years.

There is lettering on the truck’s sunblind referring to the company’s 125 years of history. “I drive the ’anniversary truck’,” explains Andreas. “That’s why the registration plate has 125 on it.” Today he has to deliver to five restaurants and a supermarket, stock them up with drinks and take the empty bottles and crates back to the warehouse in Eckernförde. When loading up the trucks the drivers make sure to work efficiently. The pallets for the first address go into the cargo area last. And there has to be enough space left for a hand-operated forklift. “We use that to take the drinks into the store rooms. That’s part of the service,” says Andreas.

In the logistics office next to the warehouse, the company bases in Eckernförde and Flensburg are marked on a map. The area the company delivers to is the east coast in the north of Schleswig-Holstein, right up to the Danish border and to the west roughly twelve kilometres past the A7 motorway. None of the addresses is more than 60 kilometres from one of the company depots. Restaurants in the region depend on functioning logistics. If they could not sell drinks, that would soon create a big hole in their takings. Some establishments have to make their money for the whole year in the limited holiday season. Andreas and his colleagues must always be in a position to deliver promptly.

Busy summer.

Not only restaurants, cafés and hotels are supplied. Hospitals, old people’s homes, canteens and supermarkets also buy their drinks from Behn. 1000 addresses are delivered to, of which 800 are in the hotel and catering business. Particularly in the summer months when there are large numbers of tourists in the Baltic Sea holiday region, the holiday chalets and apartments, bars and restaurants and the campsite kiosks all depend on the efficiency of the Behn truck fleet.

The company uses the trucks for as long as possible. Thanks to the manageable delivery area they do about 30,000 kilometres per year. Andreas, who has been working for Behn since 1990, grins and says: “I don't want to part with this truck again that soon.” Besides the Actros trucks, there are seven Atego in the Behn fleet too, which are popular with the drivers who do lots of deliveries because of their low entry. For Andreas’s trips, the Actros is perfect. He’s happy about the general reliability in day-to-day driving of the 80,000 kilometres to date. Plus: “In spite of its length, thanks to the third steerable axle it’s very manoeuvrable.” Also, Andreas has nothing but praise for the comfortable seats and the comfort of embarking and disembarking.

The next delivery is for a hotel away from the coast, on a lake. The driveway is narrow and the tradesmen's entrance is at the back of the building. Andreas reverses the Actros down the track. The part of his job that starts now is the more physically demanding side to his job. With the help of the small forklift, Andreas brings several pallets out of the hotel cellar to a small patch of yard next to the truck.

He soon has sweat on his brow. He makes a note of the quantities and takes the ordered drinks into the building. Then he puts the empties into the cargo area of the Actros. A short chat with the kitchen staff. Yet more paperwork. Then he can carry on – back to the coast.

Photos: Sebastian Vollmert