Jelle Van Gestel is responsible for the transport division within the Aertssen group. A fleet where transport assignments are extremely complex and where driver training plays an unexpectedly important role.
Jelle Van Gestel testified last Thursday during an event organized by Drivolution, a company that specializes in the training and guidance of drivers and with which Aertssen has been working for 7 years. Aertssen employs approximately sixty drivers for its exceptional transport with a fleet of 36 tractor units and 70 semi-trailers. Transport orders are becoming increasingly complex, especially for the transport of wind turbine components whose blades can now be up to 80 meters long. The level of competence of the drivers must therefore be particularly high.
“Not only are the dimensions and weight of the parts to be transported constantly increasing, but the regulations are also becoming increasingly complex,” explains Jelle Van Gestel. “And I don’t have to explain to you that, given the value of the goods, any incident can have enormous financial consequences. That’s why we put a lot of emphasis on driver training: new drivers start with four days of training, then they drive a 4×2 tractor before gradually moving on to more complex truck combinations. I would say it takes five years for a driver to be fully trained. And we are fortunate that we can count on some real artists.”
Aertssen has been using the services of Drivolution since 2019. “We needed outside expertise to analyze and use the data from the on-board computers. It started in the context of Code 95, but we soon wanted to have more control over the efficiency of driving behavior. For example, we were able to measure the enormous impact of braking on the consumption and maintenance costs of an 8×4 tractor with thirteen rear axles. Drivolution’s coaching tool helped us enormously.”
The next step was taken after two accidents that occurred shortly after each other. “We wanted to refine the set of skills that our drivers need to master based on the complexity of the transport assignments,” continues Jelle Van Gestel. “We have identified 168 and gradually each driver has been given a kind of passport that allows us to perfectly match the driver’s skills to the transport assignment and plan the right training.”
