Pascal Montassier and his Arocs 3363
Economics & Logistics
The bigger, the heavier and wider, the better. Here, Pascal Montassier and his Mercedes‑Benz low‑loaders are in their element.
Green and yellow: Pascal Montassier says it’s pure coincidence that the trucks have the same colours as Nantes football club. But it certainly does no harm to the company’s popularity in the region.
What do you do if you actually need an Arocs but you love the looks of the long-distance haulage Actros? Pascal Montassier, company director of Trans’5000 in Geneston, 15 kilometres south of Nantes, has found a solution. He simply ordered his Arocs 3363 with an Actros radiator grille. Unusual but not impossible.
Now the three-axle tractor unit disguised as an Actros pulls a yellow four-axle low-loader with recesses for wheels and excavator arms. Yellow, green and white are the corporate colours at Trans’5000, plus green and yellow are also the colours of Nantes football club. “That’s purely a coincidence,” says Pascal Montassier. But perhaps it’s a welcome coincidence, because now, ever since the fleet was painted in the new colours, the vehicles are much more noticeable. “Lots of people think we’ve expanded our fleet,” says the director with a smile.
He joined the company in 2000 to manage the fleet of three vehicles, but that wasn’t enough for this two-metre-tall, industrious man. The owner at the time wasn’t interested in expanding the haulage side of the business and wanted to hand the management of his company over to the then employee. Pascal Montassier then had to spend a year studying every weekend in order to take the exams to qualify him to head up a haulage business. From its modest beginnings, the fleet has now grown to 16 commercial vehicles, including two 6×4 and nine 4×2 semitrailer tractors. Another three are due to be added by the end of this year.
“We go where our customers send us.”
– Pascal Montassier, company director of Trans’5000
Actros on the outside, Arocs on the inside: because company director Pascal Montassier is a fan of the flagship, his Arocs 3363 was equipped with an Actros radiator grille.
Besides the heavy-duty trucks mentioned, the company also has five more low-loaders, as well as platform and TeleMAX platform semitrailers with telescopically adjustable load beds.
The fleet is rounded off by one four-axle platform truck and a further four with three axles, some of which are equipped with loading cranes. Besides the colours of the trucks, the company has gained its prominence thanks to its diligence and reliability. “For us, it’s not just punctuality that counts. If I’m not in a position to carry out a task properly and in the given time, then I tell the customer honestly.”
Heavy load: most transport jobs are carried out in the Nantes region, but the trucks also travel long distances within France.
Although most of the haulage jobs are carried out in north-west France, the green, white and yellow heavy-duty trucks have even travelled as far afield as Bordeaux or Toulouse. “We go where our customers send us,” says Pascal Montassier. For long journeys the company has semitrailer trucks with long-distance cabs equipped with a stationary air conditioning system, a fridge, horns and a sun visor with integrated additional headlamps. “The drivers who have to sleep in their trucks for three or four nights are, of course, given new trucks with the proper equipment.” The low-loaders are mainly used to transport building machinery between the dealership depots and their customers.
Everything gets transported, from track excavators to wheeled loaders or dumpers. The platform semitrailers are usually used for transporting construction materials, whether it’s empty palettes, building containers or mobile homes. But whatever is transported, it’s always moved by a vehicle with a three-pointed star.
Photos: Hans Müller
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