Muenster The truck supplier Schmitz Cargobull has made it to the top of the list of German family companies whose business was ruined by Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine. The Münsterländer lost 400 million euros in company sales from one day to the next, CEO Andreas Schmitz revealed to the Handelsblatt last week – and with it almost a fifth of the business revenues.
Right at the beginning of the war, the EU Commission put the Westphalian trailers and truck bodies on the red list of export goods because they seemed suitable to Brussels to make it easier for Russia to transport war equipment.
Schmitz Cargobull’s national sales department subsequently closed, as did a production plant near Moscow with almost 100 employees. A repair workshop near Kyiv with 32 people also temporarily closed its doors after employees were shot at by Russian soldiers.
But as great as the force with which the Ukraine crisis hit the traditional company, which has existed since 1892, the speed with which the Westphalians are reacting to the new challenges seems just as impressive.
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Fuel-saving innovations are intended to tempt customers to make far-reaching new purchases in view of the sharp increase in diesel prices. And keep your business going.
29 innovations at the upcoming IAA
At the IAA commercial vehicle trade fair in Hanover, which starts on September 20, Schmitz wants to present 29 new product solutions that are intended to help save fuel. The company boss had 35 employees work on improvements for his trailers and truck bodies. Their goal: to reduce diesel consumption as much as possible.
Even last year’s weak business result did not prevent Cargobull from investing 48 million euros in research and development, 26 percent more than in the previous year. With some unusual results: The Westphalian company designed a semi-trailer whose roof can be lowered by 50 centimeters at the rear. If the storage space is not needed there, a slope can be created to the rear if required. “This gives you something like an aerodynamic teardrop shape,” says Cargobull boss Schmitz. This reduces diesel consumption by five to ten percent.
Fuel-saving innovations are intended to tempt customers to make far-reaching new purchases in view of the sharp increase in diesel prices.
Schmitz also wants to attract truck customers who offer refrigerated transport with a fuel-saving innovation. Instead of driving the equipment with diesel engines, as before, his trailers gain the energy they need mainly by braking on the rear axle. The electricity generated in this way is stored in a battery in order to then transfer it to the air conditioner.
“Under full load in the cooling phase, the cooling units usually require up to 15 percent of the energy of the entire train,” explains the 54-year-old great-grandson of the company founder. The possible energy reductions are therefore considerable.
Digital products should also help to save energy more – especially telematics devices that Schmitz Cargobull has been developing for over 20 years. In the past, they simply indicated where the trailer was and whether the tire pressure was correct. In the future, the data boxes will also make route planning easier. A sophisticated data management center provides shippers with valuable information about which haulage companies have free capacities that can be used at short notice. This avoids empty runs.
The wealth of new developments is intended to help Schmitz Cargobull get back on track in terms of yield. Because Europe’s largest manufacturer of semi-trailers, trailers and truck bodies lost it entirely in the past financial year.
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The Westphalians increased their sales by an enormous 45 percent, which drove sales up to 2.3 billion euros. However, because raw materials and supplier parts became far more expensive than planned, without the company’s own sales prices being adjusted, 15 million euros before taxes and interest were missing from the till. For the first time since the 2009 financial crisis, the company from Altenberge was in the red. The three branches of the family will have to forego a dividend this year.
Our order books are well filled. Schmitz Cargobull CEO Andreas Schmitz
In addition, the sanctions against Russia are affecting purchasing. Literally overnight, Brussels put one of the main suppliers of laminated birch wood, without which hardly any trailer flooring can do, on the sanctions list. There were production stops at the Altenberge and Vreden plants. Delays in delivery were the result – and still are today.
It is now hoped that the earnings situation will turn around again in the financial year that started in April. “Our order books are well filled,” says the CEO optimistically, “sales are five percent up on the previous year.” There is no sign of a downturn in the economy, which truck manufacturers traditionally feel early on.
There is a headwind in the industry
But the prospects are by no means rosy: Between April and August, according to the Federal Statistical Office, the mileage of trucks on German autobahns fell month by month. July alone was a tiny exception with an increase of 0.9 percent. This should not be a good omen for future orders from the logistics sector.
A further complication for Schmitz Cargobull is that the competition is also working on lucrative energy-saving solutions. The Swabian truck outfitter Kögel has also included a refrigerated trailer in its range that uses the braking and kinetic energy of the rear axle to generate electricity. However, the technology does not come from the Bavarians themselves, but from the axle manufacturer SAF Holland.
>> Read here: Up to 86 percent more expensive: What the energy price shock means for companies and consumers
And the second German rival, the vehicle factory Krone from Emsland, announces eleven new products for the IAA at the end of September and does not skimp on modesty. Before the start of the trade fair, it was boasted that Krone’s trailer technology was capable of “reducing fuel consumption and thus also CO2 emissions from semitrailer tractors by 20 to 40 percent”. The fight for market shares is therefore unlikely to improve the recently narrow earnings of truck suppliers.
Not every innovation is likely to quickly find its way onto German roads: Schmitz Cargobull has designed a double articulated lorry, the second trailer of which is attached to the first with an additional chassis – intended for long-distance traffic on the motorway. In tight city traffic, according to the concept, the trailers can be separated from one another and – like a conventional articulated lorry – maneuvered individually.
That would allow the tractor to transport twice as much, advertises company boss Schmitz. “You could save at least 25 percent fuel that way.” But the train needs a permit in this country.
In Finland and Sweden, the 31.50 meter long trailers have long been on the road, and even Spain allows the use of longer trucks. In Germany, on the other hand, there is only one test that is hardly noticed until the end of 2023, which not even all federal states have joined. But even there, anything that protrudes more than 25.25 meters is prohibited.
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