DKV BeNeLux You drive, we care
Wolter Koops to start using DKV BOX EUROPE for truck fleet. Mobile payment service provider DKV recently launched this OBU to enable its customers reduced waiting times and costs.
“DKV people tell us exactly what they can do for us and always keep us posted on latest developments,” says Dennis Jesterhoudt, Group Controller at Wolter Koops. With DKV I can always rest assured.” This is also thanks to a robust bond of trust, he adds. “We have been working with DKV for over thirty years continuously because of the good contacts between us and the fact that we keep each other on the alert. We have one single point of contact who arranges virtually everything for us to ensure optimum service levels provided by DKV.”
The point of contact referred to is Hans Cousserier, Sales Team Manager at DKV. He says that partners like Wolter Koops are greatly helped by the simplicity of DKV BOX EUROPE. “This on-board unit (OBU) enables customers uninterrupted trips all over Belgium, France, Spain and other West-European countries.” DKV recently added Bulgaria to this portfolio, while Poland is about to be included as well. “We arrange all-in tolls settlement for all countries for the benefit of our customers, who now experience a huge simplification of data currents.” One truck trip now produces just one bill, and consequently far less hassle and paperwork. The OBU basically supports a package consisting of several ‘standard’ countries, while customers may include some other countries as extras in their OBU. This can be arranged remote, and in short time, which also goes for automatic software updates. Drivers themselves need not do anything for this.
“We are heading in the direction of each individual country having some sort of tolls system. In such conditions, a haulage firm is in need of the truck technology required for unimpeded travel,” Dennis Jesterhoudt resumes. “As a result we choose not to plug our OBUs into the 24-volt socket, but instead to install them into our trucks in our own garage.” So in his view it is just a matter of time before our people have equipped all trucks with the DKV BOX EUROPE.
Successful pilot stage
The introduction of DKV BOX EUROPE was preceded by an extensive pilot course, in which several DKV customers were invited to drive a certain amount of kilometres each day using the new OBUs. DKV then needed to demonstrate that the data produced were correct and that charged amounts were treated on an individual basis, so without applying roundoffs or unjustified additions.
Since Wolter Koops has been in business with DKV for over thirty years the company was an obvious partner in the pilot. “We took part in the testing with 150 trucks,” says Jesterhoudt. “It all went extremely well, so a logical outcome for us was to officially start using DKV BOX EUROPE when the possibility came. During the testing stage DKV had made someone available for us, ready to see to all our questions and to keep us informed about everything. This also worked out fantastic for us.”
More and more important
The practical benefit of DKV BOX EUROPE is twofold. On the one hand drivers now find it easier to verify things. A single green light coming up on the OBU indicates that everything is OK; a beep (when passing a toll post) tells them that the truck was registered by sensors and that the required transactions were sanctioned by the software.
On the other hand, European legislation is moving into the direction of a toll network being a hub for interoperability of the various technologies applied by all toll operators involved. This means that DKV BOX EUROPE will support an ever-growing number of countries and toll operators in the future. Soon the OBU will be functioning on for instance Polish toll roads as well. “In the past, partners like Wolter Koops could visualise a need for up to seven toll boxes for each vehicle,” says DKV’s Hans Cousserier. “From now on, using DKV BOX EUROPE means that drivers need to watch only one OBU and that haulage firms get just one bill for each truck. We are convinced that the corresponding time gain and cost advantage make our OBU a solution for any fleet. Regardless of whether it contains four or four hundred trucks.”