English - Nooteboom Giants on the Road Magazine English - Nr. 5 - 2018 | Page 13

COMPANY PORTRAIT
IN WHICH REGION IS DESUTTER GROUP ACTIVE?
Jan: “Kranen Desutter is active throughout Belgium and part of northern
France. The area where the heavy goods vehicles of Destrans and Ville
de Courtrai operate is roughly between Paris and Rotterdam. Just over
ten years ago the Desutter Group had many regional customers within
a radius of 50 km around Kortrijk. These days we concentrate more and
more on large infrastructural projects and the seaports of Zeebrugge,
Gent and Antwerp.”
ENDURING RELATIONSHIP WITH CUSTOMERS AND SUPPLIERS
Frederik: “We regularly check the price, quality and service of our
suppliers. In doing so we find the personal relationship with the repre-
sentatives of our suppliers extremely important. For trucks, trailers and
cranes there are (bar a few exceptions) only three makes in our fleet:
Volvo, Nooteboom and Liebherr. We have around thirty Nooteboom
semi-trailers and that includes some ballast trailers for our cranes.
Because the trailers are properly maintained in our own workshop, the
Nooteboom trailers have an extremely long life. The oldest Nooteboom
trailer in our fleet was built in 1991.”
WHAT IS THE COMPOSITION OF THE FLEET?
Jan: “At Kranen Desutter we can offer a wide range of cranes: telescopic
cranes with a lifting capacity of 40 to 700 tonnes and mobile tower
cranes that were added this year. The fleet of Destrans consists of around
forty combinations for the transport of various materials, asphalt,
building materials and contaminated soil. The fleet of Ville de Courtrai,
with twenty combinations, is smaller, but all the vehicles are suitable
for abnormal transport. With these three activities – crane hire, tipper
transport and abnormal transport – we can offer our customers one-
stop-shopping when they are involved in large projects.”
WHAT ARE THE STRONG POINTS OF THE DESUTTER GROUP?
Frederik: “I can summarise that in a few words: flexible, service, acces-
sibility and skilled personnel. Desutter Group is a service provider and
in this business the experience of our personnel is often a determining
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All transport activities are construction related
factor. Because of our experience at large projects we are often able to
offer our customers better - and in many cases cheaper - solutions.”
PLANS FO R THE COMING YEARS
Jan: “In the past few years we have invested continuously. First of all by
taking over two companies, followed by investment in the new building,
replacing vehicles and expanding our fleet. We intend to expand the
business even further in the future. The emphasis will be on our presence
around the major seaports, industrial projects and infrastructure.
Everything at the Desutter Group exudes quality. And we’re not just talk-
ing about their transport vehicles or skilled personnel. Quality down to
the last detail. The cup of coffee that was offered us during the interview
was served with the handle on the right. I would not be surprised if they
are so perfectionistic that they would serve it with the handle on the left
to a left-handed visitor. Perfection down to the last detail!
That’s what the Desutter Group stands for. ■
Desutter specialises in the transport of long and wide loads
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