Rastatt, Bocholt, 9 August 2023 – The freight forwarding and logistics company, Duvenbeck,
is taking another step towards switching its fleet to low-emission vehicles. The firm tested a
fully electric terminal tractor unit at its business site in Rastatt in July this year. It was used to
move uncoupled (semi-)trailers at the factory site of a vehicle manufacturer.
“The terminal tractor unit made by the Dutch manufacturer, Terberg, has completed its first
operations in everyday service without causing any problems,” says Volker Mürb, the
Duvenbeck Branch Manager in Rastatt, summarising the results. “The performance of the
electric motor is in no way inferior to that of a diesel engine. It was easily possible to
complete a day‘s shift without having to recharge the battery.”
Duvenbeck manages the trailer yard for a vehicle manufacturer. This involves a large-scale
parking area where the truck trailers and swap bodies, which are full of components that
have been supplied, are made available so that they can be driven to the relevant unloading
points at the factory. Duvenbeck uses so-called handling vehicles for this purpose and
operates ten of them at Rastatt. Duvenbeck completes several hundred handling
movements there every day. Testing an emission-free electric variant forms part of the
company’s response to the increasing calls for sustainability by customers in the automobile
industry.
Duvenbeck and the customer will now examine whether the test should be turned into a
long-term phase lasting one year. The company has used tractor units powered by a diesel
engine to move the trailers up to now. The capacity of the battery of the Terberg YT203-EV
electric variant, which has been tested, is 150 kilowatt hours (kWh) and the unit is roughly
two-and-a-half times more expensive than the diesel version. It is also necessary to have the
appropriate charging infrastructure. “Overall, any switch to electrically powered terminal
tractor units would entail significant additional investments,” Mürb adds.
Duvenbeck has been working in the trailer yard management business in Rastatt for more
than 25 years. Its services include coordinating and scheduling the incoming and outgoing
truck trailers and swap bodies as well as opening, closing and making available the trailers,
depending on the vehicle manufacturer’s needs and production procedures; Duvenbeck is
also responsible for securing loads. Duvenbeck’s complete fleet includes 1,500 articulated
units, consisting of a tractor unit and trailer, 3,500 trailers and 1,000 swap bodies. They are
mainly used for customers operating in the automotive industry.
Photo 1: Enough battery power for a day shift: the fully electric terminal tractor unit being tested at
the Duvenbeck site (photo: Duvenbeck)
About Duvenbeck
The Duvenbeck corporate group is a logistics firm that operates on the international stage and offers
the complete range of services. Duvenbeck is one of the leading logistics companies in Europe with
more than 6,000 employees working at over 33 business sites in eight different countries. The firm,
which was founded in 1932, is a full-service logistics company specialising in the lead logistics, freight
forwarding, third-party logistics segments and it also offers cross-docking, sequencing and trailer
yard services. Duvenbeck has its own fleet of 1,500 vehicles and they are mainly used to serve well-
known customers in the industrial logistics sector, including the automobile, consumer goods,
plastics and agricultural vehicle industries. For more information, please go to:
www.duvenbeck.de
Contact details:
Sabine Dieks
Marketing
Phone: +49 2871 2192136