Bremerhaven, 30.05.2008 – The fact that Germany de-
fended its position as world export champion for the fifth time in a row last year is thanks in particular to the Ger-
man automobile industry, whose business is still boom-
ing despite the strong Euro. In 2007 approximately four million vehicles were exported, more than 1.1 million of which overseas.

Hardly any of the proud buyers of a new car in the United States, Japan or Australia who have decided on a car made in Germany realize that their brand-new vehicle has a journey of several thousand kilometers behind it before the ignition key is turned for the first time.

Nowadays the automobiles are usually transported to their port of destination all over the world on special cargo ships, so-called car carriers. To be able to trans-
port as many vehicles as possible, the decks in the hold of these ships are scarcely higher than the automobiles they transport. The valuable cargo can therefore be stow-

The “Asian Captain” – With a length of 200 meters, a width of 32 meters and a capacity of 6.000 cars, this Panamanian-registered ship is one of the largest automobile transporters in the world

VOLK Diesel Tow Tractor DFZ 20 N “Carcarrier” – With a vehicle height of less than 1.60 meters, it is excellently suited for use on automobile transporters

around 200 meters and a width of 30 meters.

Since every single car is brought on or taken off board under its own power, the loading and unloading of automobile transporters is an extremely costly matter in terms of time and manpower. It occurs every now and then that a car fails to start, usually because the battery has discharged during the long sea voyage. In these cases, everything has to happen fast, for due to the extremely tight space below deck, one disabled car can impede the unloading of all behind it.

So that no time must be lost, disabled cars are usually towed off board. Many car carriers have on board VOLK Diesel Tow Tractors designed especially for this pur-
pose, which accompany the ship year in and year out to the seaports and auto terminals of the world. There is probably no other area of use in which VOLK vehicles travel such great distances during their lifetime, as over the years they can cover several million nautical miles.
 

cm. Due to the particularly low positioning of the centrally situated driver’s seat, headroom is maintained to a great extent.

To ensure that spare parts can be obtained in every port of the world when necessary, the availability of spare parts is already taken into careful consideration in the design phase. Here VOLK’s over 20 years of experience in this specialized area of application pay off.

The standard multi-layer coating and the optional zinc-
dipping of the vehicle chassis and the driver’s cabin ensure that VOLK Diesel Tow Tractors are optimally protected against corrosion. Nowhere is this more important than on the high seas, where the vehicles are permanently exposed to the salty and damp ocean air.

In 2008, Germany will probably lose the title of world ex-
port champion to China for the first time. In this respect, the continuing shift in the international balance of power is also reflected in the foreign trade statistics. Unnoticed

Two harbor tugboats pull the automobile transporter "Don Quijote" from its waiting position on the Weser to the Bremerhaven International Seaport – the 1998-built ship can carry almost 6.000 cars

A regular guest in Bremerhaven – with a capacity of approximately 1.000 cars, the “Autorunner” is among the smaller of the car carriers

VOLK is not affected by this anyway, because imported cars are also often unloaded by a VOLK tractor after their long voyage, most of them in Bremerhaven, the German “automobile port”.

innovation@work^®