As Holland’s biggest water company Vitens supplies drinking water to all households in eastern and central Holland. Through expanding, take overs and fusions Vitens may call itself the biggest supplier of drinking water in the Netherlands. With a fleet of cars of some hundreds of Renault vehicles is Vitens one of the bigger fleet customers of Renault. Some 40 vehicles of the fleet are cooling vans. These cooling vans are used to transport water samples under specific temperature- conditions.
These water samples are taken amongst other aspects to guard the water quality as well in the piping system as well at the consumer taps. Veba Meditemp is a Dutch producer of specific cooling boxes which are used in a higher segment. With a production of several thousands of cooling boxes per year the company takes care over almost 25 years for the specific needs of cooling transportation. When a traditional cooling van was not adequate enough because of specific customer demands, a cooling box of Veba was brought in action.
Veba’s costumers were until 2007 only costumers of the higher segment. One could then think of transport of medicines, samples of Foodcontrol authorities, blood samples of the Red Cross etc. The Sale of the VebaBox was especially done at those who required high standards because the Cooling boxes are extremely reliable due to applying several cooling engines so that it was not possible that the whole cooling system dropped out and the cooling boxes kept on cooling even with less power.
 

Veba and Vitens started mid 2003 with the development of a new big cooling box which could replace a cooling van, so this resulted in 2004 by purchasing 30 vehicles with VebaBoxes.
Veba had already some years of experience with the production of big transferable cooling boxes which should replace the traditional cooling vans. This replacement of cooling vans by VebaBoxes was mostly done at the “high-end”market. The VebaBoxes were purchased in that year together with the Renaults by the construction of a lease-plan contract. The managing director of Veba Meditemp Peter van den Hoogen: “At that time we did not realize the important background factor when one purchased a VebaBox. We were just filling in specific requests of our clients. We did not realize that transferability was the main reason so it turned out by saving money which was also a decisive advantage for Vitens.
 

After 5 years intensively daily use of cooling vans Vitens decides on purchasing new vehicles (Renault Kangoo) The VebaBoxes will be demounted and installed in the new cars.The advantage of the VebaBox will be after demounting, the original condition of the VebaBox and thus represent a high market value
This reflects of course the level of the lease sum which compared to a traditional cooling van will be lower. The VebaBoxes are after the first 5 years written off financially and are capable of another 5 years in the new vehicles.
The VebaBoxes were thus taken over by Vitens from the lease company for € 0,00 so Vitens will be driving for the coming 5 years with their new “cooling vans “ for the amount of a not cooled vehicle. Van den Hoogen: “There will be an enormous financial advantage for let’s say 10 years not to be mentioned the other benefits like the cooling which goes on even when the car stops ( by a Battery Power Pack supplied  through Veba) the reliability ( by using twice as much cooling engines)  and the accurate temperature control at high ambient temperatures.That is why we are so successful with the VebaBox as an alternative for a traditional cooling van.
 

PON (VW) as well as Renautl Nederland are important players in the field of commercial vehicles. Veba has created co-operations with these importers to get a good position in the market of the VebaBox. Sales trainings as well as technical schoolings are now given to the importers and resellers. Our target is transfer of knowledge. By our solid strategy and of course a top brand, a marketshare has been gained of over 50% of smaller cooling vans. The biggest fleetowners of cooling vans are now at Veba’s. For example the company Eurofins with appr. 60 VebaBox “cooling vans”and food controllers. Marketing trainings at the commercal car resellers have to lead finaly to a more common use like the catering company anywhere. Because of the highest quality standards in the field of cooling transportation it was quite easy for us to achieve a “make”under the trademark of Renault for the VebaBox.
We got quite some advantages with the co-operation of the importers because we were coming from a professional World so says van den Hoogen.
There are tight co-operations foreseen with other importers and manufacturers next to VW and Renault.
 

The Success in the Netherlands has been copied
In various European countries. There are distributors in Germany, England, France, Spain and Portugal, next to our own plant in Eastern Europe. Peter van den Hoogen: “We are using opportunities together with our clients. Generally in the automotive sector it is really going bad, so you have to find ways to survive. The VebaBox offers to a commercial car seller the opportunity to talk with a local caterer or courrier company. These attach great importance to cooled transportation.  A cooling van  was financially for them in the past never very interesting. There will be new opportunities for the reseller by the VebaBox in selling a commercial car. Also the advantage that the caterer for example will trade in his car in a few years because the value remains high letting the car in its original shape. The user will especially nowadays calculate by saving. Car body sellers and designers will survive better by getting opportunities. We are pleased to inform them  about strategies and possibilities of cooling vans. We provide at the moment ( in the recession period )appr. 250  vehicles annualy with a VebaBox. In the whole of Europe  600 VebaBoxes are sold. This will be doubled the next few years. The biggest part of it will be existing cooling van owners. A minor part are new clients who never would have bought a traditionnaly built cooling van.

The potential of particularly this last Group is very big and offers great opportunities for the (re) sellers, according to van den Hoogen.