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From two trucks 30 years ago, Dutch operator Jan de
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Rijk Logistics has blossomed into a 500truck operation. To top it all, director Jacqueline de Rijk has become Transfrigoroute International's first woman president. Patric Cunnane reports from southern Holland.
01 ver the next four years, Jacqueline de Rijk is set to become one of the most prominent figures in European road transport. In January she was elected the first woman president of Transfrigoroute .ternational, the trade association formed 'any so years ago to protect the interests of wrators of controlled-temperature transport. Jacqueline is also co-director, with husband n, of 500-truck haulage operation Jan de .jk Logistics, with depots in 17 countries. 7en on a brief visit to Holland, CM formed e impression that every second truck in the 14°1 area carries the Jan de Rijk livery.
Delighted to be at the helm of what she calls e "Transfrigoroute family", Jacqueline has t some clear goals for her time as president: want to work with other big transport corn panies in Europe and the International Road Transport Union to make sure that Brussels hears our voice," she says. Of particular concern is the state of Europe's tunnels. "Italy's almost closed," she says, "As reefer operators we need the tunnels because we are carrying time-critical goods."
She would also like to see road pricing policies standardised: "Germany is introducing a is-cent/km tax, whereas we have a vignette system. All the other European countries will follow the German example, and we don't like it—but we would prefer one system because of all the countries we operate in." She believes that standardisation would make for a more level playing field and would enable operators in western Europe to compete with hauliers from eastern Europe, who have much lower costs.
Transfrigoroute is also lobbying to have the life of the ATP certificate extended from six years to nine on the grounds that the existing regulation does not take account of the longer life of modern trailers.
Perishable goods
Her own company's interests range widely, to include much more than perishable goods. It carries components for Daf and Mercedes, aero engines, medical equipment and computers. It is also heavily involved in air freight, including the transport of food and flowers, which are also refrigerated.
Jan de Rijk began with two vehicles; much of its growth has been by acquisitions. Jacqueline is keen to extend the firm's involvement in intermodal transport. The company's headquarters at Roosendaal in southern Holland is only 5okm from Rotterdam and a railway line brings goods direct from the port into its depot. Her dream is to make much more use of services such as the intermodal link from Amsterdam to Milan: "A train leaves Amsterdam at 6pm and arrives in Milan at 7.3oam. It's beautiful—it carries the equivalent of six truckloads. To do the same by road you would need twice as many drivers' hours."
Ask Jacqueline de Rijk about daily problems facing Dutch operators and many have a familiar ring. Recruiting drivers has been difficult, although the situation has eased recently because of a number of closures— bad news for drivers, good news for employers. Supermarket deliveries, with their narrow windows, have always given hauliers grief but this has been further exacerbated by bans on night-time deliveries: "Supermarkets do not open until 6arn and we have to deliver every day because they don't hold over any stock," she says.
But a new and invisible enforcer could lead to a showdown with the Dutch department of transport. A network of 28 hidden weighing sites are being introduced on major roads to catch overloaded vehicles. A camera registers the vehicle number and each axle is tested individually. But, as de Rijk explains, this takes no account of what happens when a trailer on multi-drop work begins unloading: "You load correctly but once you unload some stock it alters the loading on each axle—with a full truckload you have no problems."
Transfrigoroute and others have also campaigned successfully for extra time to meet new regulations on noise: "We have been given three years to introduce 'whisper trailers' and we have asked for tax breaks for purchasing this equipment," she explains.
Jan de Rijk bought its Roosendaal HQ from Dutch electronics giant Philips. As well as a railway link, it has substantial warehousing that is entirely automated and is open 24/7. A shift system employs 35 traffic clerks to service an operation that sits in a neat triangle between Rotterdam, Antwerp and Brussels. The traffic office is surprisingly quiet—ringing phones have been replaced by satellite communications linking 500 drivers and 17 European depots.
For Jacqueline, however, it's no longer a case of all work and no play. She regularly visits the company's Dublin depot and takes time for a few days' holiday in Ireland, a country she adores. But between now and the end of her tenure in 2006, she dearly has a lot she wants to achieve with Transfrigoroute arid, being a prominent woman in a male-dominated industry, many people will be watching her progress with interest.