“I’d have said they were crazy” – Vincent De Bie has been a long-haul driver for decades

Vincent De Bie steps briskly from the cab of his Actros 1942, which he has just manoeuvred into position in front of the loading ramp of the cross-docking warehouse. As soon has his truck is fully loaded he will set off for Italy. Vincent De Bie has been in the long-distance international haulage business for a long time. Two trips a week to Milan are the norm for him. “I was a young man when I started in the international transport business. Mainly because there was good money in it. I don’t mind admitting that. Since I’ve had this routine, I feel happy at the end of the week when I’ve completed the two long trips,” says Vincent De Brie. In his 35-year career he has seen how much the transport industry and the trucks have changed. “Just think about how much new technology is in the Actros.”

Vincent has already got used to the MirrorCam. And there are other systems he finds useful, too. “The new Predictive Powertrain Control is really impressive. If you’d told me in 1985 that one day I’d be driving a truck that could display the best speed for the next roundabout and automatically apply the brakes when approaching a built-up area or a 30 km/h zone I’d have said you were crazy.”

The company, which operates both domestically and internationally, has recently invested heavily in the future with the acquisition of fifteen Actros vehicles. Not only that, it has also completed a two-stage full renovation of the cross-docking warehouse. “First we built a new warehouse with twelve loading ramps, then we demolished the original warehouse to make room for an annex to the new one. That means we now have 45 loading ramps available in total. Now that the building is finished, the conveyor belt is being installed so that in future we will be able to move pallets through the warehouse completely automatically. At the same time, work has started on the renovation and expansion of our office building on the opposite side of the road,” Laurent Van Mieghem explains. 

He adds that the company is currently building an additional warehouse in the industrial area at Tubeke, around five kilometres away. Goods will be stored for a maximum of 48 hours at the new cross-docking warehouse, one of Van Mieghem Logistics’ three platforms in Belgium. “As well as the warehouse in Saintes, we have a brand new platform in Machelen, which serves the north of the country, and one in Fleurus for the south-west of Belgium. The flow of goods between the three platforms takes place in night shuttles so we can avoid traffic problems as much as possible.”

Trials with long trucks.

Van Mieghem Logistics is making its own effort to help reduce traffic congestion. The company already has two long trucks in operation between the Netherlands and Belgium. They are working effectively and were integrated easily into the organisational structure. “You have to apply for a permit for each route you use a long truck on. It’s similar to what abnormal load specialists have to do all the time. The only problem is that Flanders has more complicated rules than the Netherlands and Wallonia, which are more on the same wavelength where administrative details are concerned,” says Laurent Van Mieghem. In Flanders there is a system which gives you penalty points for every road junction you encounter. “You might be able to get a shipment from Roeselare to Halle but not make it all the way to Saintes because there is one roundabout too many. It goes without saying that that’s not really productive,” says Laurent Van Mieghem.

– Laurent Van Mieghem

Van Mieghem’s international operations mainly cover the countries surrounding Belgium, although there are also regular links with Great Britain, Italy, Switzerland and even Hungary. Brexit, which will only have an impact on transport towards the end of the year, is not a source of concern for Laurent Van Mieghem. “We are an accredited customs agency and can complete all the formalities on our own premises. This puts us in a stronger position than a haulier who has to process all the customs clearance documents at the border,” says Laurent Van Mieghem with a confident eye on the future.

Photos: Dirk Willemen