The Terberg Chronicle

Page 4

By Niels Jansen (North Holland 2023)

Consequences

For twelve years after the turn of the millennium, Terberg continued to offer on/off-highway trucks with 6x4, 6x6, 8x4, 8x6, 8x8, 10x4, 10x6 and 10x8 drive, mainly for the local market. Due to fierce competition in the construction and road building industry from the major European truck manufacturers, who also entered the multi-axle market, Terberg saw its production drop to less than 100 new truck chassis per year.  It also produced special vehicles for niche markets at home and abroad, such as special crane chassis, heavy off-road dump trucks, narrow 2-meter chassis for municipal waste collection, terminal tractors and swap body carriers with asymmetric single cabs for use in ports and industrial sites.

Terberg also produced vehicles for municipal tasks. These included particularly narrow refuse collection vehicles, which were especially suitable for use in narrow alleyways. The photos show two TSR 1000 vehicles from the 1980s with Haller X3 bodies, but different cabs, above in Cologne, below in Amsterdam.

Since 2013, when truck production was finally discontinued, Terberg has focused almost exclusively on building tractors for terminal and Ro/Ro work. These workhorses are offered with 4x2 or 4x4 and 6x4 drive for total towing weights from 65 to 350 tons and are exported to more than 100 countries around the world. Whether one or a hundred units are ordered, all are built on chassis designed and manufactured in-house.

The Type 170 was the second generation of Terberg's Terminal Tractors. It was developed in the early 1980s after the first generation was successfully launched in 1973. In the decades that followed, this division developed enormously and is now the mainstay of the Dutch vehicle manufacturer.
The photo shows a Terberg Yard Tractor type YT 17, built between 1990 and 1998, taken in 2017 in the port area of Rotterdam.
The container port of Rotterdam can also be seen in the background of this picture. The YT 182 Terminal Tractor dates from 2011.
The type RT 283 is still being built at Terberg today, even though it has been further developed in the meantime. The example shown here from 2015 is underway in the port area of the island state of Malta.
The Berlin inland port, the Westhafen, is the area of operation of this Terberg Terminal Tractor with electric drive, type YT 202 EV, built in 2015.
The last two pictures in our Terberg chronicle show terminal tractors that were exhibited at the IAA Transportation 2022 in Hanover. Above an RT 283, below a YT 203 EV with electric drive.

Even the modern asymmetric cab is a Terberg in-house development. The diesel engines come from Cummins, Mercedes, Volvo and Caterpillar, and the transmissions from Allison, ZF or Clark. Since 1973, when the first terminal tractor saw the light of day at Terberg, these vehicles have evolved enormously. They are considered a success story for the family business, which today includes 26 operating companies, all of which are active in the vehicle sector. For its 150th anniversary in 2019, the company was awarded the honorary title of "Court Supplier" by the Dutch Royal Family.

 

Sources:

Wobbe Reitsma: TERBERG Benschop – Manufacturer of special vehicles, Uitgeverij De Alk bv, Alkmaar, Holland, 2018 – The book is available in Dutch and English language.

Anyone interested in ordering the book can contact the author directly: wobbereitsma@hotmail.com

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