Udo Pape: solo tour in an Actros and heavy haulage

12 centimetres to the asphalt.

The base of the low-loader is a mere 12 centimetres from the floor. “The absolute minimum. Otherwise we’d touch the ground when going over small bumps.” The width of 2.75 metres isn’t a problem, but the height is a close call: Udo lets some air out of the tyres so that the Dammann-trac and low-loader don’t exceed four metres.

Today’s tour is basically “around the corner” to the customer, an agricultural contractor in Beverstedt, which is around 70 kilometres away. “Most deliveries are to the eastern-German states, and the furthest are to Romania and Bulgaria,” says the 52-year-old. “Our top export countries are Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic.” Udo especially likes driving to Hungary and Poland, “because of the good food,” he says with a smile.

Fan of the Actros.

In the meantime, Udo is on his way to the customer. He covers about 80,000 kilometres per year. And always in an Actros. He swears by the truck. “There are two drivers here at Dammann and each of us has their own vehicle. And this is already my fourth Actros,” he says and proudly pats the steering wheel with his hand. 

And he has had experiences his fair share of excitement from time to time. For example, the low-loader didn’t want to break along with the truck any more on a tour. It had been in a workshop beforehand. It took a while until it was clear that the hydraulics and pneumatics connections had each been mixed up. Udo: “That was some work! We had to drain 12 litres of oil from the pneumatics so that everything worked again.”

“Usually, the biggest challenge is finding a route on which a 36-tonne heavy-haulage vehicle is allowed to drive,” he says. Today, everything goes like clockwork: after a ninety-minute drive, Udo arrives at the customer. Just a bit of paperwork and it’s off back to Buxtehude.

Photos: Alexander Tempel/Nina Hinterholzer
Video: Alexander Tempel