Kuunders chooses Knapen Quality
Agricultural contractors Kuunders from Deurne is a familiar customer at Knapen Trailers. The company specialises in transport for the agricultural sector and operates an impressive fleet of Knapen moving floor trailers. The oldest Knapen trailer at Kuunders was bought back in 2013 and is still being used out on the road.
We spoke to driver Hein Geene. Hein is 52 years old and has worked at Kuunders since he was 18. Hein currently drives his dream team: a Volvo FH500 truck with double rear axle and a Knapen moving floor trailer. This combination is stable and comfortable to drive. The self steering axle makes manoeuvring in tight farmyards and negotiating narrow country lanes a breeze. There's no torsion on the bends, it drives smoothly and it's very fuel efficient.
“I am extremely satisfied with my Knapen moving floor trailer, it has great steering and a robust construction.”
The PowerSheet® system that is mounted on all Knapen Trailers at Kuunders is very practical explains Hein. Thanks to the Knapen remote control, he doesn't even need to get out of his cab to close or open the roof sheet. That's ideal if you have to load and unload several times a day or at sites where it's difficult to leave the cab. The tyre pressure system on the tyres maintains the pressure constantly at 9 bar and sends a message to the cab if there is a a pressure loss.
All the transport done by Kuunders both nationally and internationally focuses on the agricultural market. The company is mainly active in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France where they transport a wide variety of loads with their Knapen moving floor trailers. The loads consist of various varieties of vegetables ranging from corn cobs to spinach and from beans to chicory, but they also carry grain, compost, manure and straw.
To enable different types of loads to be transported on the same day, the moving floor trailer must be meticulously cleaned on site. Kuunders has equipped a number of moving floor trailers with an optional high pressure washer to facilitate this.
“In the peak season three drivers worked in shifts and covered a total of 160,000 km in four and a half months with a new Knapen trailer.”
We put our brand new Knapen moving floor trailer to the test in extreme conditions during the busiest period of the year. We drove it 24/7 for four and a half months. The only 'incident' during this punishing marathon was a damaged rim caused by a sharp bend and due to the rigid axles of that particular trailer. This demonstrates the exceptional quality of trailers from Knapen.
Hein says that a Knapen moving floor trailer is much lighter than a tipper truck and needs fewer hydraulics to operate. And there is no risk of tipping over when unloading with a moving floor trailer. So choosing a Knapen moving floor trailer rather than a tipper was an obvious decision. In all the years that Hein has been working as driver he has seen and experienced many things, but one thing is certain:
“A Knapen trailer simply has a far more robust construction that any other brand of moving floor trailer.”
