Schmitz set to build Tautliners
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• Trailer manufacturer Boalloy's parent Marling Industries has formed a joint venture with German builder Schmitz to build Boalloy's Tautliner curtainsiders under licence.
Schmitz and Marling will invest 22m in a new factory in western Germany which will produce 20 Tautliners a week, with the potential to double output. The site has not yet been named, but the company will be called Tautliner Deutschland Verwaltungs and will be controlled by Boalloy's chief executive Tom Skinner. It is due to open by the middle of next year and Boalloy says the aim is to exploit the new Eastern European markets. Initially it will only produce Boalloy's Tautliner ranges from 3.5tonne rigids to top-weight semi-trailers.
Its only Continental partner SO far has been Tautliner Europa in Holland, although managing director Gerald Broadbent has said he wants to set up a network of European sister companies before the advent of the Single European Market.
Meanwhile, trailer builder York has set up 14 service outlets in eastern Germany, boosting York's German network to 40. Minimum standards for all agents include a "reasonable" rate structure and a 24-hour mobile service.
The 14 new workshops are at Rostock, Hagenow, Neubrandenburg, East and West Berlin, Frankfurt/Oder, Magdeburg, Halle, Lauchhammer, Meissen, Gorlitz, Chemnitz, Jena and OelsnitzNoglt.