‘Can you build a moving floor trailer like this for us?’ Zeeland is home to a group of transport companies with one big thing in common – Kraker Trailers. One of these companies was Minnaard Transport, the buyer of the very first self-supporting moving floor trailer that Kraker ever built. A story of trust, loyalty and honesty.
The story begins with tippers. ‘We used to use them at Minnaard,’ explains Wim Minnaard. ‘Tippers from Axel. And they worked really well. But we increasingly began to see moving-floor trailers on the roads. We carried a lot of pallets, a lot of loose goods and started to witness a shift around us. Whenever we spotted another moving-floor trailer, I would quickly take pictures of its details. My interest had been piqued and I quickly realised that this was the future. My then employer, Minus Goud (I was not part of management of the company at the time) and I asked Jan de Kraker if he could build a trailer specifically for Minnaard.’ With that question and the stack of photos I gave him, Jan got to work and together, Kraker and Minnaard developed a Kraker moving-floor trailer on a self-supporting chassis - for Minnaard.
Collecting the first moving-floor trailer
‘My father, a driver at Minnaard, went to collect the first moving-floor trailer from Axel. We were all standing there in Vaartwijk nervous and sweating, my father had heard that you could not unhitch a loaded trailer like that. He’d heard that they could break away, we told Jan all about it. His reaction? ‘Just unhitch it. If it breaks away, better here than somewhere on the road!’
The trailer did not move an inch, but that moment has stayed with us all to this day. You can’t imagen how relieved we were!’, Wim recalls.
‘Looking back on it now, we didn't need to be so nervous when that first moving-floor trailer was delivered because every last nut and bolt had been thought through, long and hard. Nothing had been left to chance, everything had been thought of. Yes, it was a beautiful piece of craftsmanship,’ says Wim.
Welding has always been stronger, right?
We leap forwards in time, to K-Force. ‘When Jan told me about his plans for K-Force, I was a little shocked. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Call me old school, but for me, a weld was always stronger than a bolt. But Jan saw it differently, he really believed in it. Jan being Jan, he doesn't just blurt out his opinion, he thinks things through carefully before making an informed decision. His strength lies in weighing up what people tell him,’ explains Wim.
‘He never abandoned the idea of a bolted trailer. He had everything calculated and worked out. And, to be fair, he was right. A bolted construction is in no way inferior to a welded one. The modular principle even makes it stronger and more user-friendly. But this development really exceeded my imagination – it was very much Jan’s project. Minnaard was one of the companies to operate a K-Force prototype. When we introduced the K-Force and began the test drives, we made a real event out of it – with striking lettering and lots of attention. We had organised it as a surprise for Jan.’
‘The focus in the first series of K-Forces was too much on weight. Because all those Zeelanders, ourselves included, are stubborn by nature and often load just a little too heavy. That caused some problems, especially in the kingpin section. But after the K-Force’s teething problems had been resolved, it became a very good, reliable trailer. I think I can speak for my colleagues from Zeeland when I say that we have all always stood right behind Jan.’
Minnaard, De Groen Transport and Bosman
Wim Minnaard was perfectly happy at Minnaard Transport. A nice company, not too large, plenty of personal contact with customers and employees. Minnaard also did a lot of driving for De Groen Transport, with which it had a very good relationship. ‘It means that you talk about other things, not just transport. That’s how we got on to business succession. De Groen Transport was struggling with the fact that it didn’t have a successor generation ready to take over - something that was making the owners quite uncomfortable. I said “when the time comes, Minnaard will take over De Groen”. And so we did, in 2014. We had two companies, Minnaard and De Groen. Both were doing well, but we ran into the exact same problem - there was no family to continue operations. In 2017, we found ourselves facing a dilemma. We could not continue at the location that we were using, which meant that we had to build new on an industrial estate. My colleague and I weren’t really looking to do that though, we didn't want to become a big company. So we found ourselves in a situation that didn’t seem to have a solution,’ recalls Wim.
‘I started talking to Giljo (Bosman) and explained to him that Minnaard would come to an end one day. You know, we could have gone on for many years, everything was going well, but that end point was always getting closer. It’s at that point that Giljo said “if you want to quit Minnaard, just give me a ring”. That stuck in my head, so eventually, I did give Giljo a ring. It was around the same time that another Zeeland transporter, Van de Swaluw, transferred part of its business to the AB Texel Group. Half went to Bosman, the other half to AB Texel. But that meant that we all became major competitors of one another, which was not something that we had ever intended.
When we asked AB to help come up with a solution, they were quite open to the idea -. in exchange, they were looking for a stake in each of the companies. Giljo was looking for a commitment from me that I would remain involved with the Minnaard that integrated into Bosman. So these days, you’ll usually find me at Bosman in the morning to oversee things with Wiebe. He’s a director, but it’s good for him to have some experience looking over his shoulder, someone he can consult with. You tend to find Giljo in the garage (KTTC) and me at Bosman’s office. It’s a nice, workable situation. Sometimes the thought of “isn’t it time to quit?” goes through my head, but I still enjoy it far too much for that. Being in complete charge of a big company like Bosman doesn’t appeal to me at all. I love working at Bosman, but I would be happy with a company with a combination or 25, like at De Groen where everyone knows one another. Don't get me wrong though, I also really enjoy working on this side of things. When you work at such a big company, it opens up a whole other world to you.’
‘We know each another’
‘That partnership with AB Texel has meant that certain things have changed, but Giljo, Wiebe and I are working hard to make sure that that typical Bosman culture continues. It suits us as individuals and the region. We are Zeelanders, we all know one another. Put us at a party and we will seek one another out. Ultimately, we do compete with one another in our own way, but we give one another space too.’
Wim Minnaard is maybe one of Kraker Trailers’ longest-standing customers and has a special bond with Jan. It’s a relationship that, if it’s up to Wim, will go on, even if the time one day comes for him to leave the industry.