"Signal for greening."

Van der Linden of Hillegom recently chose a special Scania G370 6×2 rigid truck with trailer. On the roof of the truck are solar panels that will provide power to support the electrical system. This power no longer needs to be generated by the alternator, so the engine does not have to work as hard. This saves some 5-7% of fuel and therefore CO₂ emissions. Sustainability is the primary focus here, and if it's up to director and DGA Frans Zoetmulder, it won't stop there. "I am constantly looking for opportunities to reduce our carbon footprint and send out a signal for greening. Of course with a healthy business case, because of course we do have a business to run."

Van der Linden is a medium-sized logistics service provider that drives for clients such as Twinpack and Vegro. Consequently, there is a lot of towed equipment on the premises, with the advertising of those customers on the side. "Our trucks and our drivers are the calling card for these companies. Recently, in addition to our company name, our contact information has also been very modestly displayed on the trucks; after all, there are more carriers named Van der Linden! But we always serve our customer and drive with their advertising. For example, we also take care of the entire planning in order to relieve our customers." Since Frans Zoetmulder took office in 2019, the company has grown from 20 to 33 vehicles.

IM Efficiency from Helmond developed the solar panel technology with SolarOnTop. Zoetmulder explains, "I came across IM Efficiency's path via via and just picked up the phone. An important condition for me was that the system could be integrated smoothly into the architecture of the Scania. I don't want any opposing opinions when things go wrong unexpectedly. That's why I asked the Scania dealer to confirm this to me, and they got as far as Sweden for this. See, that's a partnership that allows us to innovate further. By thinking in solutions! I benefit from these efforts now, but I think IM Efficiency can also take a big step now that they have direct contacts and an approved product with a major OEM with SolarOnTop."

Van der Linden operates several brands of trucks. Since Zoetmulder took office, the focus is now more on trucks that are ready for the future. His approach here is clearly the "total cost of ownership" concept. "A more expensive investment does not have to directly result in higher operating costs. You also have to be ready for changing - and greening - customer demand. "I want that, if our customers want it, our trucks can also run on HVO, and with the modern generation of Scania engines that is not a problem. An additional advantage is that product development is going very fast at the moment. Every new vehicle is better and a lot more economical than an identical vehicle from a few years ago. We also looked at LNG as a fuel, but we don't do enough mileage for that. We simply couldn't make that business case yet." He does continue to follow these developments closely.

A service contract was also signed on the new Scania at the local Scania dealer in Sassenheim. Here, too, Scania's innovative nature plays a role. "All new Scania's are 'connected' as standard and communicate with the workshop. This allows them to watch, schedule service early and prevent unplanned breakdowns. We unburden our customers and I expect the same from our suppliers," says Zoetmulder.

Frans Zoetmulder has had an extensive career in logistics that has taken him to many places in the transportation industry. Among other things, he was the founding director of ERS Railways in Rotterdam and stood for intermodal logistics by rail. He now puts this broad knowledge and experience into practice in a family business founded at the beginning of the last century. Over time, Van der Linden developed into an all-round logistics service provider. In 2019, Ard van der Linden (now 4^e generation) and Frans Zoetmulder agreed that all of the company's shares would be acquired by the latter.